norwich36 | Smallville: Siren

Current Mood: bouncy

Entry tags:

Smallville: Siren

Sometimes it's really lovely to be spoiler-free!

I will say right now that all my responses to this episode come directly from my id--I virtually guarantee no actual analysis will be found in this review.

I was unspoiled, so I didn't even know Ollie was going to be in this episode, much less Black Canary. And oh, GOD, I forgot what a huge ginormous crush I have on Justin Hartley until I saw this. Oh please oh please oh please, Almiles, remember that you really really really want to make the Justice League show starring Oliver, PLEASE. *Works my mind control mojo*

I'm afraid my ability to analyze the Oliver parts of this episode were hindered by the fact that I was staring at him in all his scenes in helpless adoration. Especially in the opening scene with Lois, where my reaction to his shirtlessness was just about the same as Lois's. God, I want some Ollie/Lois RIGHT NOW.

Especially because that final Lollie breakup scene, and the following scene with Clark and Lois? Broke my heart into tiny little pieces. OH GOD, Lois, I just want to give you giant hugs. And DAMMIT, SV! I was just commenting on Bop's Clois vid earlier today on how Clark/Lois is actually lighthearted and free from the tragedy that weighs down SV, and here the show goes and makes me a liar. I mean, characterization-wise, it's actually brilliant to give Lois a real--and realistic--obstacle to getting together with Clark. And it was really smart of them to connect it to her relationship with her dad, and have her acknowledge the importance of the mission even if she couldn't bear being left behind. But dammit! I want this show to stop breaking Lois' heart, thank you very much. *Sniffle*

As for the rest of it...well, Lana in glasses is even more gorgeous than normal, if that's physically possible, and I need an icon of that scene right now. I'm not sure what I think of the Lana-Lionel storyline, though. I appreciated the fact that she wiggled out from under his manipulation, but having Lana warn Lionel about Lex was a pretty big WTF--both the suggestion that she knew him better than Lionel did, and the idea that Lionel is some innocent who needs Lana's protection from Lex. Story-wise, I can see they're just setting up more foreshadowing that Lex is going to kill Lionel (for those audience members who have NEVER WATCHED THE SHOW BEFORE and therefore need to know that), but character-wise it was really dopey. Just as it was dopey to suggest Lionel needs Lana's surveillance footage, as if he doesn't have his own.

I did like the Lana-Clark stuff in the episode, though. The opening scene of awkward was beautifully played, as was their fight. Though honestly? Even though I empathize with how betrayed Clark must feel that Lana didn't know Bizarro wasn't him, my reaction to what he said to Lana in the fight scene was a giant "Fuck you, Clark." It's human of him to resent her for loving Lex and Bizarro, and with humanness can come pettiness, but that didn't stop me from wanting to slap him in the face in that scene. He has legitimate grievances against Lana--like his accusation that she only tells him the truth when she's threatened--but criticizing her for loving Lex and Bizarro really seemed like hitting below the belt.

Despite my emotional reaction to it, I thought TW and KK really nailed that scene--so much so that even though I thought Lana's speech about how hard it is to wake up knowing that you're going to fail the only person you've ever loved" was a little emotionally manipulative, it still made me tear up. And it made the reconciliation scene sweeter. I had been pretty mad at Clark, but I loved that he not only tried to make amends in the final scene but that he did so by admitting some of his own misdeeds--because we all know Clark, under redK, has made some pretty poor choices too. Maybe not as bad as Lana, but it's good (and good for their relationship, even it is eventually doomed) that he can acknowledge that.

Umm, was there other stuff in the episode? I liked the actress playing Black Canary; they can add her to my fantasy Justice League show and she can have sex with Chloe, who in my fantasy JL show is the carry-over character from Smallville. (I know, I know, DC canon, GA and BC hook up, blah blah blah--but right now I'm in a Lollie frame of mind and not acknowledging that, and Chloe clearly has a bit of a crush on BC--what does she say? her leap off the building was "really smoking cool" or something?)

I thought Lois was absolutely adorable in her lame attempt to cover up Ollie's secret identity from Chloe and Clark. Oh, and the fight scene between Lex and Ollie kicked ass. I really want an icon of that scene where time is frozen because we're seeing it from Clark's perspective and Lex is firing two guns at the same time. Awesome. It was nice to see Lex getting his badass on AND holding his own AND having competent security for once in the whole damn show. He might have taken both GA and BC down if Clark hadn't interfered, so yay for competent villainy.

Ok, my id has run out of things to say, so I think I'll go read other people's intelligent analyses.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And it was really smart of them to connect it to her relationship with her dad, and have her acknowledge the importance of the mission even if she couldn't bear being left behind.

I noticed the connection to her dad right away too, and it's really a great touch. I think it's easy for viewers to simply think this is just dramatic irony because we already know how the future turns out, but if we actually take Lois' life as it is, her fear of being "left behind" is very real. She knew her dad did care for her and she loved him back, but the fact that he had never put his daughters first before the world brought on a lot of heartaches for both of them while growing up.

Just as it was dopey to suggest Lionel needs Lana's surveillance footage, as if he doesn't have his own.

It was just flat out ridiculous, I think it's just a plot device to have Lionel threatening Lana, and so on and so forth.

It's human of him to resent her for loving Lex and Bizarro, and with humanness can come pettiness, but that didn't stop me from wanting to slap him in the face in that scene. He has legitimate grievances against Lana--like his accusation that she only tells him the truth when she's threatened--but criticizing her for loving Lex and Bizarro really seemed like hitting below the belt.

IMO he just had been bottling up his feelings regarding the whole thing, and the moment Lana started tearing into him again, it broke the last straw.

I thought Lois was absolutely adorable in her lame attempt to cover up Ollie's secret identity from Chloe and Clark. Oh, and the fight scene between Lex and Ollie kicked ass. I really want an icon of that scene where time is frozen because we're seeing it from Clark's perspective and Lex is firing two guns at the same time. Awesome. It was nice to see Lex getting his badass on AND holding his own AND having competent security for once in the whole damn show. He might have taken both GA and BC down if Clark hadn't interfered, so yay for competent villainy.

Yeah, these are really two cool moments of the episode. I'm seconding the YAY! :D

I think it's easy for viewers to simply think this is just dramatic irony because we already know how the future turns out, but if we actually take Lois' life as it is, her fear of being "left behind" is very real. She knew her dad did care for her and she loved him back, but the fact that he had never put his daughters first before the world brought on a lot of heartaches for both of them while growing up.

Yes. I really liked that they grounded her fears in her backstory, because SV is not always careful like that *Cough* See: the suggestion that Lionel needs Lana's wisdom and protection in this episode *Cough*.

IMO he just had been bottling up his feelings regarding the whole thing, and the moment Lana started tearing into him again, it broke the last straw.

Oh, for sure. And really, intellectually I have sympathy with him in that scene, which is why I was surprised that emotionally I ended up being more on Lana's side--and that's directly because of his comment about loving Lex & Bizarro (even though I basically agreed with most of the rest of the points he made).

I really loved this episode and then I went to TWOP and got pissed off that in their rabid Lana hatred, they'd missed some awesome points.

I felt that Lana telling Lionel that she knows Lex better than he does was justified. Stemming from last week, we could see that Lionel is really blind when it comes to what he has done wrond in his relationship with Lex. So in the sense of seeing Lex as a creature with emotions, I don't think Lionel quite gets it.

It seems to me that Clark and Lana are finally beginning to have a mature relationahip towards the end there.

I felt that Lana telling Lionel that she knows Lex better than he does was justified. Stemming from last week, we could see that Lionel is really blind when it comes to what he has done wrond in his relationship with Lex. So in the sense of seeing Lex as a creature with emotions, I don't think Lionel quite gets it.

I can agree with you that Lana probably knows Lex better as a person, because she actually sees him as a person rather than as an extension of her ego. I was objecting more to the idea that Lana knows better than Lionel what sort of threat Lex poses.

Though I suppose, thinking of it, that because Lionel created Lex he does have a blind spot to the concept that Lex could turn against him to the extent of murdering him.

He has legitimate grievances against Lana--like his accusation that she only tells him the truth when she's threatened--but criticizing her for loving Lex and Bizarro really seemed like hitting below the belt.

I don't disagree that it was a low blow, but I think it was a response to her attempt at emotionally manipulating him. The 'knowing you're going to fail the only person you've ever really loved' line is the one that immediately precedes his comments about Lex and Bizarro. I mean, looking at it from Clark's perspective, that statement is patently untrue because just last week Lana admitted that she was in love with someone who only looked like but wasn't really Clark. Basically, he's calling her on the emotional manipulation in a way she can't really deny -- she did love Lex and she did love Bizarro. She may not have loved either of them as much as she loves Clark, but she did love them and it's simply not true to claim that she didn't (which her 'you're the only one I've ever really loved' assertion implicitly does).

Story-wise, I can see they're just setting up more foreshadowing that Lex is going to kill Lionel (for those audience members who have NEVER WATCHED THE SHOW BEFORE and therefore need to know that), but character-wise it was really dopey. Just as it was dopey to suggest Lionel needs Lana's surveillance footage, as if he doesn't have his own.

I agree that it was dopey, but I still liked the character beats there. I liked it that Lana diffused his threat by coming clean with Clark herself. And in keeping with the idea that Lex has almost completely surpassed Lionel, I liked it that Lionel tried the same tactic on her that he's already used (re: Action and threatening to tell Clark about the kidnapping), but did so without anticipating that she'd have any kind of countermove this time. The series could be sharper about it, but I think it's trying to suggest that Lionel -- either through Jor-El's influence on him and/or the overconfidence he's gained by insinuating himself into Clark's inner circle -- is, well, slipping. By discounting his own influence on Lex like he did last week, he's discounting Lex's capacity for ruthlessness. Despite the fact that Lana was clever enough to get out of her marriage to Lex (and cause Lex some significant trouble for a few days while doing so), Lionel still assumes that he can bully her, only to be surprised this week when his effort to do so didn't work at all. He is, no pun intended, the lion in the winter, only he doesn't realize it yet. He probably won't until he's, like, drinking the Scotch Lex poisoned or staring down the barrel of the gun as Lex pulls the trigger.

I did think it was gilding the lily to have Lana telling Lionel to "be careful," though. That was weirdly heavy-handed, even within the context of Lana trying to be a better person (I assume that's the point of the whole "this isn't about you, it's about me and Clark pulled me back from the brink ..." segment of dialogue). It's one of those things where it doesn't make sense from the perspective of normative human interaction. I mean, you get one chance to extort me into marriage by threatening to kill my soulmate and we are never friends again!

I mean, you get one chance to extort me into marriage by threatening to kill my soulmate and we are never friends again!

LOL! Seriously.

I don't disagree that it was a low blow, but I think it was a response to her attempt at emotionally manipulating him.

Intellectually I agree with your arguments here--including the fact that she was emotionally manipulating him, and he was just countering her arguments--and intellectually I've been wanting Clark to hash out some of his issues with Lana for a while now. But emotionally I was entirely on her side. I think it has to do with the whole Bizarro thing--I really don't blame her for not knowing it wasn't Clark, because he didn't give her any reason to think that (whereas he actually injured Chloe, as I believe you pointed out in your review last week.) And while intellectually I completely empathize with Clark's sense that Lana betrayed him by not realizing it wasn't him, I actually think Lana is the one who suffered the more profound injury at Bizarro's hands. Basically, Bizarro raped her and deceived her in the most profound and intimate way for an entire month. She may have "loved" the Clark she thought he was, but she didn't really love Bizarro--he was abusing her trust. So even though I find Clark's response to that understandable I am still so much on her side because of *that* that I can't get past that when he throws her own victimization in her face.

I liked it that Lana diffused his threat by coming clean with Clark herself. And in keeping with the idea that Lex has almost completely surpassed Lionel, I liked it that Lionel tried the same tactic on her that he's already used (re: Action and threatening to tell Clark about the kidnapping), but did so without anticipating that she'd have any kind of countermove this time.

Oh, I really do love that Lana is getting shrewder in her dealings with Luthors, no question about it. I don't like them implying that Lionel is slipping, though, because it's more satisfying to me if Lex takes him out when he's at the height of his game rather than when he's lost his edge.

Oh please oh please oh please, Almiles, remember that you really really really want to make the Justice League show starring Oliver, PLEASE. *Works my mind control mojo*

Hell,yeah! I'd watch. Although, I think a solo GA show might have more of a chance than an expensive ensemble effort. Alas, Supergirl might have more of a chance than anything else. Although I like Kara, I'd MUCH rather watch Ollie in a spin-off.

And it was really smart of them to connect it to her relationship with her dad, and have her acknowledge the importance of the mission even if she couldn't bear being left behind.

The stuff about her dad came out of left field and I was SO pleased to hear them going there with her. Sometimes I roll my eyes when they play the Army brat card to heavy with her, but this was a beautiful and fitting tie in.

He has legitimate grievances against Lana--like his accusation that she only tells him the truth when she's threatened--but criticizing her for loving Lex and Bizarro really seemed like hitting below the belt.

Agreed. They both have legitimate reasons to be disappointed with each other, but that's why this was such a great scene - they finally blew the lid off the angsty silence that usually defines their relationship. No matter what else happens between them, they are in a much healthier place with each other.

and Chloe clearly has a bit of a crush on BC--what does she say? her leap off the building was "really smoking cool" or something?)

Hee! ILU.

I'd be totally happy with a solo GA show, really. He could be working with Kara, too, if that would make it more popular. I just LOVE Justin Hartley as Oliver, and want to get more of him any way I can.

that's why this was such a great scene - they finally blew the lid off the angsty silence that usually defines their relationship. No matter what else happens between them, they are in a much healthier place with each other.

I agree. And damn, TW and KK just really knocked that scene right out of the park, acting-wise.

I'm glad you caught that little bit of Chloe femslash--I keep thinking if I drop hints in reviews maybe someone will write it!

remember that you really really really want to make the Justice League show starring Oliver, PLEASE. *Works my mind control mojo*
*joins you in pleading*

and here the show goes and makes me a liar
Hee! Yes, I said somewhere else that this Clois icon of mine used to feel quite AU, in being a very rare moment of serious affection between them. But no longer!

having Lana warn Lionel about Lex was a pretty big WTF--both the suggestion that she knew him better than Lionel did, and the idea that Lionel is some innocent who needs Lana's protection from Lex
Yeah, I like your comments on that scene--it was the weakest written in the whole ep, I think. And definitely quite WTF. I found I couldn't even bring myself to mention the 'no you don't!' line.

r. I had been pretty mad at Clark, but I loved that he not only tried to make amends in the final scene but that he did so by admitting some of his own misdeeds
I felt the same way. It was a bit light on, and there are legitimate criticisms to be made of both characters, but overall I was sold on the emotional direction they took it in.

*joins you in pleading*

It would be such a wonderful spinoff.

I felt the same way. It was a bit light on, and there are legitimate criticisms to be made of both characters, but overall I was sold on the emotional direction they took it in.

I liked your comments on both of the Clana scenes in your review, and the parallelism you pointed out between Lana and Lois, and their reactions to living with someone who has a dual identity.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Smallville: Siren

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

p.s.

Re: p.s.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject