Redux, indeed. Redux of a plot we've seen twice before but without even the glowy-green meteor rocks to make it, oh, I don't know, make sense.

A perky cheerleader has been sucking the life out of triads of young men for the past century, in an attempt to stay in high school, "the best times of anyone's life." Her baffling existence plays out in the background of this episode.

If there's an edict to move away from the meteor plotlines, it's not working out real well. With the kyrpto-freaks, it gets a bit repetitive, sure, but without them, it's The X-Files week after week without even pretending to move around the country.

Obviously, if youth-vampire Chrissy is that old, she's not a krypto-freak, and if she's only recently settled in Smallville, then it doesn't really make the case that the WB announcer is trying to make, that it's a "town full of secrets."

I will, however, cut it a bit of slack; determining the truth about the mysterious hyper-aged corpses of the students makes Clark realize how much he's starting to enjoy journalism. Hurrah!

This is important, of course, because the new principal of Smallville High is concerned about Clark's future and his goals. He takes him to task for being a slacker and not having enough extra-curriculars. Never mind that Clark could have a perfectly plausible excuse ("My parents own a farm, I have to spend most of my spare time doing chores so we don't starve or go broke.") - which can't be that uncommon in a supposedly rural area like Smallville - but he doesn't even bring it up.

And in weaves the third subplot of the week. The Kents are starving, and going broke, and quickly. Martha's new job still isn't enough to pay the bills, and she tentatively suggests that she might call her father. Clark is intrigued; he's never met or talked to the man, and would very much like to meet him.

There's bad blood between Jonathan and his father-in-law, and their confrontations are probably the "redux" of the title; he's never approved of his daughter marrying a "hick farmer who couldn't possibly support her" and he views this visit as proof that his predictions have come true.

"And we don't want you meeting my Uncle Jesse, either..."

Despite Clark's best attempts, there is no reconciliation forthcoming; in fact, part of the reason behind the estrangement is Clark himself. Jonathan and Martha just weren't sure they could trust him with the big family secret when Clark was younger and couldn't control his powers, and now that he is, they're still not sure how he would react.

And because all that wasn't enough, there's also a set-up subplot for future episodes, involving Lana's parents' last days. After she discovers photographs of her mother with a strange man, taken only a year before she was born, and Nell refuses to spill, she asks Lex to look into it. His people return a lot of information - information that may change Lana's world. (Look at me, getting all WB announcer guy on you.)

Her parents were separated that year, and her mother was involved with this mysterious "other man." Although they did get back together, it appears that the timing is such that Lana's biological father may not be the one buried in the Smallville cemetery.

Given that the death of the Langs was a TV construction, this should be a very interesting development. Making Lana and Clark both orphans with not-so-hidden yearnings to know their real families created a good parallel, but while Clark has not spent nearly enough time thinking about his family, Lana has done both their shares of agonizing. Maybe this can turn the tables.

The episode worked well on the whole, actually; it's just when you have to pick it apart that it doesn't quite stand up. There was a lot going on, but most of it was subtly played and laid the groundwork for future episodes. The scenes with Granddad (played by George Coe, a TV veteran) in particular are very good; the guest star caliber is a real coup for the casting department. He brings out the best in Tom Welling's acting, though the writing could have been a bit better.

Principal Reynolds is also a promising character, and a former headmaster of Lex's from private schools. He's got a bit of a grudge against the Luthors, and refuses to cut Clark any slack for his friendship with Lex ("a person is judged by the company they keep"). He likes Chloe's Wall of Weird, encourages her to back it up, and is no doubt intended to play a much larger, more integral role than the late Principal Kwan.

There's still no excuse for Chrissy, except maybe that the script was written last year when krypto-freaks were all the rage, and was simply retooled and dropped, as last week's probably was as well.

Next week, though, will plumb the depths of more family secrets, and maybe answer some of the questions that have been left hanging about Clark's adoption process. And ooh! More Lionel Luthor!

Sarah Stanek