Instinct

Alien Superman ally, sometime-nemesis Maxima is introduced in an episode that, if anything, at least established a connection between Lois and Clark. When Maxima arrives on Earth, she comes looking for the Kryptonian man whom had escaped his planets' destruction who might be able to withstand the same passion and power that Maxima possesses. When Maxima goes from male to male unable to find the suitor, she remains unsatisfied- until she finds who she is looking for. Only then is her heart shattered when she learns that Clark has accepted that his future is on Earth, not be be with a queen from an alien world, even though he might relate more to her than any other human woman on Earth. For these reasons, it's good to see Clark stay committed to his calling on Earth, and to see that he pulled away from Maxima's passions because of Lois' being there. But it is also largely an immoral episode that really only explored one small element of the Maxima character.

Several unrelated notes from the episode: the Actress to play Maxima looks like Caity Lotz who plays Canary/White Canary Sarah Lance in the CW Arrow-verse. Two: I wholeheartedly agree with Chloe that Jimmy's jealously of Clark and constant insecure suspicions of Chloe's infidelity are getting tiresome and broken record. A perception and obsession that unfortunately would only get worse and more destructive (not to mention tiresome and exhausting for the viewer) as the season went on.

Three, I assumed Maxima was a canonical DC character, she shows up again played by a different actress on Supergirl's Earth. She is one of very few examples where I can unequivocally say Smallville gave the same character far greater depth. Or at least, showed more than the stereotypical hot kick-ass female alien trope.

It is neat to see proof that Lois and Clark have a connection rather than just explosive chemistry. Ironically enough proved by literal chemistry and alien psychology. They'll doubt where to go and what to do about it for a while longer but this is the first time either of them have actually considered that, to quote a Disney classic 'there may be something there'. It's also nice to see that the line in Supergirl where Maxima says she once sought to make Kal'el her mate wasn't throw away line created by the Supergirl writers to create a connection to Superman out of thin air. But ultimately, if I hadn't already seen Supergirl and Arrow before going back to Smallville to watch season-8 for the very first time, I wouldn't have seen anything except cheap, tired attempts to hook viewers and keep the tension between characters alive alive...at the all-too-familiar expense of actually being an interesting or even watchable episode.

Season 8 introduces another DC character with Maxima, and the result is another enjoyable entertainment driven episode, which is even more enjoyable on second viewing, since I know how dark and boring many of the upcoming season 8 episodes will end up being. Considering Smallville usually alters comic book characters drastically to make them more reality based, Maxima is surprisingly closely adapted from the comics. The best thing about "Instinct" is that it escalated the Clark/ Lois dynamic, as has been handled very well in the early episodes of season 8. Not so well handled is the annoying scenes between Jimmy and Chloe about Clark. Having Jimmy get repeatedly jealous about Clark after 2 seasons has more than run it's course, and it only comes across as juvenile at this point.