Sometimes television shows like to branch out, become adventurous and do something outside the realm of what could be considered television normality. For example, live shows, real-time episodes, prequels, flashback shows, the infamous clips show and so forth. It would seem that one of the writers at Smallville thought that it would be a great idea to do an homage to the noir films of the 40s and 50s, The Big Sleep being heavily referenced at the start of this episode. However what this writer failed to comprehend is that for a concept show to work you need one important thing, namely a plot, to make the episode memorable. Its not the idea that makes an episode popular, its the execution.<br /><br />The action begins when Chloe and Jimmy Olsen decide to have a romantic evening in at the Daily Planet offices, when suddenly a gunshot goes off and they find Lana Lang in the lift unconscious, clearly the victim of a shooting. I'm sorry to say that the wound did not prove fatal. Whilst investigating the photos of the crime scene Jimmy Olsen is knocked unconscious. Suddenly we enter Jimmy Olsen's dream like state and everything has gone 1940s on us. All the Smallville regulars are their of course, Lois being paraded around as mild titillation, Lionel being his usual ambivalent self and Clark Kent as a timid reporter who happens to be an undercover cop. Oh the irony nearly killed me there. Anyhow what follows is what could be considered the staple of a noir story; the dame in distress, a car chase, a murder, the inevitable double cross, all lovingly prepared with a smattering of 40s dialogue. 25 minutes later and Jimmy is awake once more.<br /><br />So what does Jimmy's dream contribute to the story? Well quite simply he realises that the cigarette case at the crime scene might prove a vital clue, seeing as Lana does not smoke. Now this may well have been somewhat shocking to the viewer if it were not for one problem; the writers had already drawn attention to said cigarette case earlier in the episode by having Lois steal it from the crime scene. Already the viewer is expecting something to come of the cigarette case clue before the noir action starts, so ultimately Jimmy's coma-induced fantasy reveals nothing we were not expecting. The homage, whilst being a nice idea, serves nothing to the story and feels like it was placed in there simply because one of the writers has a soft spot for the work of Howard Hawks. Of course I would also suggest that with 4 episodes left the writers realised they had very little material with which to use at the end of the season, so they needed something to pad the story out.<br /><br />So with 3 episodes now left it seems that the inevitable end of season cliffhanger is going to be squeezed into the last three episodes. One brief mention of Project Ares, Lex's latest evil scheme, ensured the show contributed something to the end of season story arc, yet apart from that it was an episode that had no place in the last few episodes of this season.