Villainess Review: Christina Riley (Superboy)

I had been familiar with the Superboy comics and TV series, but regarding the latter, I hadn't seen a snippet of it until about a decade ago on YouTube, and it was this very episode, "Werewolf." So in the episode, the Daily Planet received a brief piece of video footage from a young woman named Christina Riley, who later reveals that the video provided evidence of a werewolf prowling in the woods. After Clark Kent voiced his belief in Christina's statements, he is paired with Christina on this quest, which features Christina naming a suspect: Professor Canaris.

Christina informed Clark that there had been mauling attacks in a six month span, and she knows that Canaris is involved, adding that he had knowledge of the occult. Similar to all werewolf related episodes and movies, the folklore is mentioned; a pair of basic facts such as a person being attacked by a werewolf becomes one, and that silver kills them. The latter part plays a role when Christina pulls out a silver knife, as she planned on killing the beast.

Christina and Clark went to look for Canaris, only to spot him entering his office--which was revealed to be empty. The pair wait him out just as the full moon rises, but to Clark's bewilderment, he suddenly notices that Christina has disappeared. Meanwhile, Canaris emerges as a werewolf, proving Christina's suspicions correct, leading to Clark shifting into Superboy and fighting against Werewolf Canaris. The knife was dropped prior to the melee, but it comes into play, as the fight ends with Canaris impaled on the knife. So the werewolf is killed and defeated, but the story doesn't end there.

The Daily Planet later received news that a victim was mauled to death on that same evening, leading to the conclusion that a second werewolf was prowling. It was later revealed that Canaris had an assistant: none other than Christina Riley herself, and with that, two and two equals a vicious she-wolf. As for Christina, she was out with Clark on the following day, and when day turned to evening, they were out on a date, with Christina looking at the full moon and being assured that her curse had been lifted--as she had been looking to have Canaris killed to remove the curse.

However, while some folklores state that killing the werewolf that passed the curse would remove it, others state that nothing ends it, and unfortunately, Christina learned that the hard way when she saw hair appear on her hand. She rushed to the restroom, where (after seeing more hair on her face) she completed her villainous transformation and emerged as a werewolf, which was followed by Werewolf Christina prowling and causing panic. Superboy fought against the sinister she-wolf, with Lana Lang arriving and revealing Christina as the werewolf, after which Superboy powers down and attempts to get through to Christina. In response, Christina attempted to lunge at Clark, only to end up shot with silver bullets by Matt Ritter.

"Werewolf" was the 19th episode of Superboy's third season, and aired on February 13, 1991. The episode's main (but tragic) villainess, Christina Riley, was played by the immensely well-known Paula Marshall, who has been all over TV since this appearance. She played Iris West on the original Flash series, played another villainess on Diagnosis Murder, served as a regular on Gina Gershon's short-lived series, Snoops, and guest starred on Two and a Half Men (among many other shows). Christina Riley was an amazing character as well as a terrific villainess; there was a lot of warmth and kindness in Christina, and though her villainy was reluctant, she still showed immense viciousness in her werewolf form. Speaking of Christina's werewolf form, I do love the look; very vicious-looking werewolf hybrid. Actress/stuntwoman Kelly Erin actually portrayed Christina's villainous werewolf form in the episode.

This was an amazing performance from Marshall, as we see her act out Christina's kindness very well, as well as her drive to remove her curse. It would not be the last time that Paula Marshall played an evil female werewolf. She did so two years later in 1993's Full Eclipse, though her character, Liza, was a full-fledged villainess. Christina was only evil in her werewolf form, and even then, she wanted to be free of her curse.

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Click here for Christina Riley's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!