Right now I would struggle to think of a television couple with more sexual tension than Tess Mercer and Oliver Queen on
Smallville. Every time those two share a scene, temperatures climb and the tension is cut-with-a-knife thick.
It's not just that actors Casssidy Freeman and Justin Hartley are equally sexy, or that Oliver was walking around Tess' bedroom au naturale in last night's episode. The two characters have the rich backstory and complicated relationship that, when combined with the right actors, makes for scintillating television.
It's certainly steamier than the other tepid relationships on this
show. As much as we all know Lois and Clark are destined to be
together, there was never been much of a connection between the two.
Chloe dropped Jimmy like a bad habit for a serial killer, and even
without the added baggage, either of those pairs were destined to last.
The key problem is that all of those couples are so wildly different,
and while Paula Abdul may claim that opposites attract, but if they're
too different, there's no common ground to build a foundation on.
Clark is an alien, Lois isn't. The same can be said for Davis and
Chloe. And with Chloe and Jimmy, one is a super-brainy do-gooder and
the other is a down-on-his-luck photographer.
Tess and Oliver, however, are two sides of the same coin. Both are
titans of industry, both are passionate about what they believe in, and
both are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Tess
has done everything she can to get Clark to achieve his full potential
to defeat Doomsday, something Oliver agrees with.
Tess may get sidetracked by her obsession with Clark's Kryptonian
background, but deep down inside, she's the perfect soul mate for
Oliver. Hopefully both will survive next week's finale and go into
season 9 a stronger pair who can start working together (and playing
together). But if not, at least we can hope that Oliver won't give up
and he'll continue to show up naked in her bedroom.
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)