Entry tags:
SV: Oracle
Well, that rocked.
I am torn on the interpretation of Lionel, now. Are we to assume that he is only possessed when his eyes are glazed over, or was that just to make it clear to people who were a little slow to realize he was possessed by Jor-El? My guess is that we're supposed to think that he's only possessed when his eyes are glazed over, which makes me completely reassess certain aspects of "Mercy."
Are they really, really redeeming Lionel? Oh, please tell me that this is just some deeper game Lionel is playing, where he tells Martha the truth in a manner similar to Lex telling Lana the truth about the Fine experiments: as part of a broader plan to get her to trust him and be more enmeshed in his plans. Because this "everyone is suddenly trusting Lionel" thing is deeply disturbing. Even though I am in favor of Mionel, I am very glad that Martha doesn't just buy his apology at the end of the episode. (And I'm glad they finally explained why she trusted him--at least she *believed* he was trying to redeem himself, which, if naive, at least explains some of her behavior toward him.)
I suppose another explanation could be that Jor-El is influencing him on a subconscious level, even though he is not consciously aware of what is going on. But as much as I love Lionel, if he ends up being redeemed after everything he has done....I will be very angry.
I did really love Martha in this episode. I loved her attempt to talk some sense into Clark, after his conversation with "Jonathan," and her own scene with "Jonathan" was amazing. AOT just rocked the house in that scene, and also her final scene with Lionel.
I also loved Lex to death in this episode. Yay for a motive that makes sense and is heroic in its own way: trying to save the world from a disease unleashed by invading aliens. I also loved that he *told* Clark "I was the good guy here." He was, even if he was played--and he knew he was being played, so he was trying to play Fine. (He's invulnerable now, or infected with Brainiac? Or both? What do people think? The previews for next week look awesome, btw).
The Lexana stuff was wonderful. I really love how he's maneuvering Lana deeper and deeper into his web, but telling her about it every step of the way. He really knows how to play her, and yet she's clearly one of the people under his protection now, as his conversation with Clark at the end revealed. Tonight, I could really *see* the iconic Lex Luthor in every scene he was in, and I couldn't be happier.
No other intelligent commentary, just a bunch of lines I liked:
"To save this world, you're got to kill Lionel Luthor."
"Hand me a cloak and call me Horatio."
"I need a night life."
"I can't exactly look for a file called my evil secret."
"Help yourself--everybody else does."
"That's Clark's specialty--barging in where he's not invited and making you feel like it's your fault."
I am torn on the interpretation of Lionel, now. Are we to assume that he is only possessed when his eyes are glazed over, or was that just to make it clear to people who were a little slow to realize he was possessed by Jor-El? My guess is that we're supposed to think that he's only possessed when his eyes are glazed over, which makes me completely reassess certain aspects of "Mercy."
Are they really, really redeeming Lionel? Oh, please tell me that this is just some deeper game Lionel is playing, where he tells Martha the truth in a manner similar to Lex telling Lana the truth about the Fine experiments: as part of a broader plan to get her to trust him and be more enmeshed in his plans. Because this "everyone is suddenly trusting Lionel" thing is deeply disturbing. Even though I am in favor of Mionel, I am very glad that Martha doesn't just buy his apology at the end of the episode. (And I'm glad they finally explained why she trusted him--at least she *believed* he was trying to redeem himself, which, if naive, at least explains some of her behavior toward him.)
I suppose another explanation could be that Jor-El is influencing him on a subconscious level, even though he is not consciously aware of what is going on. But as much as I love Lionel, if he ends up being redeemed after everything he has done....I will be very angry.
I did really love Martha in this episode. I loved her attempt to talk some sense into Clark, after his conversation with "Jonathan," and her own scene with "Jonathan" was amazing. AOT just rocked the house in that scene, and also her final scene with Lionel.
I also loved Lex to death in this episode. Yay for a motive that makes sense and is heroic in its own way: trying to save the world from a disease unleashed by invading aliens. I also loved that he *told* Clark "I was the good guy here." He was, even if he was played--and he knew he was being played, so he was trying to play Fine. (He's invulnerable now, or infected with Brainiac? Or both? What do people think? The previews for next week look awesome, btw).
The Lexana stuff was wonderful. I really love how he's maneuvering Lana deeper and deeper into his web, but telling her about it every step of the way. He really knows how to play her, and yet she's clearly one of the people under his protection now, as his conversation with Clark at the end revealed. Tonight, I could really *see* the iconic Lex Luthor in every scene he was in, and I couldn't be happier.
No other intelligent commentary, just a bunch of lines I liked:
"To save this world, you're got to kill Lionel Luthor."
"Hand me a cloak and call me Horatio."
"I need a night life."
"I can't exactly look for a file called my evil secret."
"Help yourself--everybody else does."
"That's Clark's specialty--barging in where he's not invited and making you feel like it's your fault."
no subject
Well, I love to hate Lionel, as it were, but we're on the same page as far as *this* actually being a redemption arc. And I realized, this morning as I was driving in to work, that it bothers me *so much* because it's a redemption that has *nothing* to do with Lionel himself, and everything to do with Kryptonian machinations.
To break it down: Even if one believes, as some people do, that Lionel was not only transformed thanks to his soul possession of Clark's body in Transference but that he also never reverted back to his old self in Onyx (but was instead using that as a ruse to exert a different type of influence over Lex), that's still something Lionel hasn't *actively sought*. The only reason he and Clark traded bodies was because Lionel was inexcusably trying to trap *Lex's* soul inside Lionel's *dying and imprisoned body*. Lionel was attempting an unquestionably evil act and unexpectedly got a moral bonus in the bargain. But he didn't *want* redemption back then; he didn't seek it out. It was conferred on him through, apparently, the magical healing powers of Clark's physical form.
Alternatively, if S5!Lionel is being entirely or regularly controlled by Jor-El, or Jor-El has been subconsciously working on him even when he's not actively being used as Jor-El's avatar, again, none of the temperance or mercy of compassion we're seeing in Lionel, at least towards the Kents (and possibly Chloe), is coming from or about *Lionel qua Lionel*. It's not Lionel actively trying to be a better person because he *wants* to be; it's because someone else is influencing him, quite literally, in that direction.
We've talked about this before, but many of the things Lionel's done are well-nigh unforgivable, but certainly, if he's supposed to be racking up moral credits towards redemption, then surely those credits should be *his own doing*. And they're not. If Lionel isn't fully in control of himself and hasn't been since Commencement, then his soul doesn't and *shouldn't* get the benefits.
There's also how facile it is: All if forgiven because Lionel's willing to help Clark and protect Clark? I'm sorry, but the question of moral righteousness doesn't *just* come down to whose secrets one is willing to protect. And it also doesn't just come down to whose *side* you're on, if the tenets and principles of that side aren't somehow *actively* your own. Lionel not sending Clark to a lab *now* doesn't somehow completely and totally undo all the other truly awful things he's done *before* now.
no subject
I totally agree. I'm still holding on to a slender hope that Lionel is still playing everyone, at least to the extent the Lionel has control of his own will right now, because I really fear the scenario in which Lex is responsible for Lionel's death and is made to look like a bad guy because after all, Lionel is *reformed* now.
::Rage blackout::
Though what might be an interesting twist is if everybody is convinced that Lionel is reformed, but he's not, he's really playing them, and Lex is the only one who figures it out and has to deal with him. If only I could believe SV writers were capable of pulling off something that subtle!
no subject
I agree--I would have a rage blackout if the Lex-kills-poor-old-reformed-Lionel plot played out. And
*shudder*