Smallville: Power

[norwich36]

Things I hated:

1. Characterization whiplash. Argh. Dear Smallville writers, PLEASE stop making characters like Chloe (and Martha) say something that directly contradicts a sentiment they expressed one or two episodes ago just because Clark needs someone to challenge his current stupid or misguided romantic decision of the week romantic situation. It really makes Chloe (and Martha) look extremely inconsistent, and it ANNOYS THE FUCK out of viewers.

2. Clark turning into crazy-man with every single person he interviewed. WTF, Clark? Immediately accusing everyone you talk to of kidnapping Lana, or contributing to her kidnapping, is not really a strategy to build trust.

3. Chloe's weird-ass warning to Lana, when Lana showed up a month before the wedding. If Lex is really dead (as far as Chloe knows) why was she so over-the-top about the dangers of pursuing Prometheus?

Things that made me laugh and laugh:

1. The low-rent Mr. Miyagi and the whole G.I. Jane training sequence. Oh, I liked the intention behind it--Lana eliminating her vulnerabilities and developing the emotional stability to handle super-powers, and I thought Lana looked amazing during those sequences--but seriously, tears of laughter at how silly and formulaic that whole section of the episode was. (And I was really just waiting for Faux Miyagi to make a speech about power corrupting, and he did not disappoint).

You would think that the whole "Lana with superpowers" should go in this section, too, but actually for the moment it's not going here. If I thought that after next week Lana would be left with powers, yes, I would laugh and laugh at this plot development being the apotheosis of the producers' series-long Lana worship, because seriously? This is the ending they think appropriate for the girl who was destined to be the one left behind in Smallville? The one whose fate is to have an ordinary life? But the fact is, I don't for a minute think Lana is going to make it through her last episode with actual superpowers--she'll either lose them (99% probability) or die nobly (1% probability), so I'm not too worried.

Things I loved:

1. Lana's hair. The haircutting sequence (marking a change of status, personality, or intent) is a little formulaic, but on the other hand it's a callback to Lionel doing the same thing way back in the season 3 finale, so I'll give it a pass--and the haircut itself was cute as hell.

2. Tess! I love that she's looking out for Lana as she goes full-throttle after Lex, and I love that we got the backstory that she was actually involved in Lana's kidnapping. Speaking of which:

3. A million gold stars to the Smallville for answering the question so many fans had at the end of last season: where the hell did Lana get a video camera from--and why the hell did she decide to break up with Clark--minutes after waking up from a coma?

4. A Chloe and Lana scene, YAY!!!!!!!!! (Although "you two make a perfect couple", BOO! Let the femslash fly free, baby)

5. Infighting among the Luthorcorp staff. This is the kind of byzantine politics I was hoping to see this season, and it's fun that we had the return of minions we've seen before. Though damn, did Tess actually kill that guy, right after criticizing him for killing someone else ? Hardcore, Tess.

6. The fact that it turned out that Lana was responsible for her own disappearance; she wasn't a victim, but rather an agent. And as over-the-top as her pursuit of superhuman abilities was, I did love the fact that she actually prepared herself for them in advance, and I loved that her motives weren't vengeance but actually a desire to help the world like Clark. It's great that Clark is her inspiration. And her desire to make herself invulnerable so she's no longer a liability to Clark makes absolutely perfect character sense, given what the Luthors have done to her in the past.

(I have to confess to being a little disappointed that the Lana in the tank wasn't a clone, though, because Lex making Lana clones would have been perfectly in character for him.)

7. "Lana Lang was born to be a martyr." Oh, SNAP. I actually approve of the fact that Tess made that decision, though, because now that she's actually crossed the line of killing to stop Lex, it makes perfect character sense to me that she would kill Lana to end the threat of Prometheus permanently. Sure, she started out the episode wanting to protect Lana, but I think her hatred of Lex trumps that, and certainly her sense of Lex as a threat makes it logical.

8. Which made her final scene with Lana absolutely perfect. "I don't want you to make the same mistake I did....Every second you're consumed by hate is another second Lex is still in control of you." I loved that.

Things I am kind of meh about
Is this the ep that AM directed? I don't know that I was particularly impressed. (To be fair, I should watch it again now that I know the plot so I can pay attention to shots and camera angles and things.)

Comments

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

It certainly seems to be out of left field, though as I said to xantalyn above, it makes a certain amount of sense, given that two of the prominent themes this season are (1) Clark inspiring people to be better and to do their part to help the world and (2) the dangers of superpowers to ordinary people (e.g. Chloe and Brainiac). Also it continues Lana's desire to not be a vulnerability to Clark.

But it does seem like a huge break with the trajectory established for Lana from the beginning of the show: Lana as the one who gets to have an ordinary life, even if that means she's the girl who gets left behind.