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Smallville: Kandor
There were a couple of good moments in this episode, but I have to say that overall I was extremely disappointed. It seemed like a big bait-and-switch to make it look like Clark was going to have an actual chance to get to interact with Jor-El, and then only give him a few dying seconds. Especially since the timing seems extremely contrived. The Kandorians arrived months ago, but it was only when Clark happens to be on another continent searching for Jor-El that he shows up at the farmhouse? RLY??????????? Oh stupid plot contrivance, I did not miss you.
Things I did like:
1. I am not, to be honest, very invested in the Kandor plot--these days I'm mostly tuning in to watch the Clark/Lois show, and the shirtless Ollie show, and the Chloe-turning-morally-grey show; so far my main interest in the Kandorians has been because it gives Tess a chance to be a badass. But having said that, it was nice to get a little backstory on the Jor-El/Zod friendship. I still can't help thinking Clark and Lex did this plotline a lot better
2. I loved the visual look of Jor-El's trial: very Superman II, and that was always my favorite Krypton scene. There's something very eerie about that spinning prison thing with the giant faces.
3. Chloe has been taping everything at the farmhouse? How very Lexian of her. I do love the fact that every single episode we're getting these hints that she's going to a darker place; I'm very curious as to how far they're going to take her down that road.
4. It was nice to see Oliver getting a chance to be supportive to Clark, for a change.
5. It seems pretty momentous that Tess now has confirmation from his own mouth that Clark is Kryptonian. I wonder where that's going to go. I'm also glad that it's clear her partnership with Zod is all about her own agenda, not his, and that she's resisting his seduction techniques. (Bleh. I don't find Zod attractive AT ALL).
On the other hand, her hero worship of the Kandorians seems so damn out of character for her. Well, not really out of character--she has always had an idolization of the Blur, and a fascination with Krypton, but she's normally so pragmatic it really surprises me that she authentically believed that the Kandorians could save earth. I hope Jor-El's talk set her straight.
6. Clark talking to Ollie on the Kent porch about his two dad's deaths made me choke up a little. Oh, CLARK. *Hugs him* Dammit, I am so mad at the writers for not letting you get to have a real conversation with your dad.
Things that really annoyed me (besides the major plot contrivance I already complained about):
1. I don't think the actor playing Jor-El looked at ALL like Clark, which, considering young Jor-El looked exactly like him, bugged me.
2. I didn't like the fact that Clark told the so inconspicuously marked grave of his dad (headdesk! Clark, you are trying to avoid the Kandorians finding you, so marking graves with Kryptonian symbols seems just DUMB)
that he couldn't save Zod "because I know what he becomes." (A) Just because Zod made certain choices in his other life doesn't mean he's necessarily doomed to make the same ones here. (B) That seems VERY unsupermanly to me; Superman doesn't give up faith in people like that.
This is not to say that I like Zod or even want him to be saved, but it's the principle of the thing.
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I totally believe Tess to be a full-on hero worship kind of girl--isn't that what defined her early relationship with Oliver and then with Lex? She's the type of personality that needs a hero even though she's perfectly capable in her own right.
And yes! I hated that he didn't have a conversation with Jor-El. Chloe had more face time with him and that's just sad :\
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I feel so cheated by the whole Jor-El plot, it just makes me crazy.
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that he couldn't save Zod "because I know what he becomes." (A) Just because Zod made certain choices in his other life doesn't mean he's necessarily doomed to make the same ones here. (B) That seems VERY unsupermanly to me; Superman doesn't give up faith in people like that.
He's not Superman yet though. This entire season is about Clark's final learning curve before becoming Superman, and honestly, if he didn't try to take a different approach with Zod after what happened with Davis/Doomsday, I'd be thinking, "Well, just go ahead and put him in the cape and tights, then, because he's learned all he can learn before taking that last step." I fully expect that because Clark will become Superman, he'll ultimately decide that preemptively striking out against Zod isn't the way. But he should at least consider it, given how things turned out with Davis. In other words, Clark tried the Saving Someone By Giving Them the Benefit of the Doubt route with Davis and, from his perspective, it's part of what got Jimmy killed. It makes sense, from a growth and learning place, for Clark to question that approach now that it looks like he'll be faced with a similar dilemma this season.
I'm not articulating it well, but I think that the situation with Davis has shaken Clark's belief that anyone can be saved if others just believe in them enough. That belief has to be put to the test again before Clark can assure himself that for him in his role as a proactive hero -- regardless of what Oliver or Chloe or anyone else might think -- the belief is still a bedrock principle of his moral/ethical ethos. Davis was an intervenining event that shook the belief. If the Davis situation had never happened, I'd expect Clark to be willing to try changing Zod or reaching him. But the Davis situation did happen, and Clark wouldn't be a person if he didn't re-evaluate how his own belief system might have contributed to it, and whether he needs to adjust that belief system going forward.
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That definitely makes sense, and I can see that Clark still isn't quite Superman yet, so he has some learning to do. It may even be a wiser decision for him *not* to give Zod the benefit of the doubt; this Zod is clearly a lot closer to the one who destroyed Krypton than he is to Jor-El's good buddy. I'm just not sure how, after Davis *and* Zod, that Clark's ever going to get back to the place where he tries to change villains by believing in them--so I have a hard time not seeing this as a step backward.
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imagine taking the big bad of his ENTIRE life and having him actually make Zod a good and decent man? That would turn Clark hero faster than anything they've ever shown on this show before. You've got a villain who is comfortable wearing the villain's clothing and Clark actually finds a way to reach out to him and save him.
I hope the show goes in this direction. Clark's squashed many a bad guy before--> it's time for him to save one, the ultimate one.
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I think what Clark's going to conclude at the end of all of this are a couple of things that amount to a tweaked version of his Giving People the Benefit of the Doubt philosophy:
1. There are levels to it. Someone like Mia, for example, who's still young, whose worst 'transgressions' are, perhaps, ones against herself, probably can be helped by having someone else show her the way. But if someone's as far gone by the time Clark gets to them as Zod is, then a different approach is needed, which is ...
2. ... to the extent that you pre-emptively strike, you do it around strategy and thwarting a plan (or 12). Not by killing the person.
So, I think that with Zod, Clark's going to go into it thinking he can't influence Zod into being a better person, so his real issue is How Do I Contain Him? Does he (a) just kill Zod while Zod is powerless? Or does he (b) come up with a strategic, non-lethal way to neutralize him. Now, he tried (b) first with Davis, so I think the struggle for him will be around (a). And he may come close to acting on that, only to pull back and realize that no, for his heroic ethos, (b) is still always the better way.