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I had some serious issues with Lexmas, but I think that last scene with Lex made it absolutely worth it. Behind the cut, musings on the episode: whose Marysue fantasy was it? Shockingly, I suggest, not simply Almiles'.
I thought Rosenbaum's acting choices at the beginning of this episode were...interesting. He seemed more stunned and bemused than actually happy, and the transition to happiness seemed to take place off camera. I don't often think about the acting choices when I'm analyzing Lex's characterization, but I did wonder how much MR was really onboard with this "always in love with Lana" thing, and whether he was deliberately undercutting that throughout the episode.
Not that I'm gagging too much about the Lexana, because really this Lana was not Lana, she was just a symbol for "person who actually loves Lex"--that much was clear. And DAMN, how much fanfic have Al & Miles been reading, that Lex's kids are Alexander and Lily? Really, I was highly amused at the whole "Lex wakes up in his mother's skewed Marysue fanfic" scenario.
Though honestly, by the end I was thinking that a much more FUN reading of this episode is that Lex's mom was NOT really trying to teach him about sacrifice, she was trying to actually DRIVE him into the position he ended up taking, because you would assume that from that "wisdom-in-the-afterlife" place she seems to be coming from, she must have known that his two biggest fears are losing people he loves and losing to his dad, and her scenario gave him both at the same time. It's hard to imagine anyone who knows Lex thinking any other outcome was possible in that scenario. And ever since we found out she killed Julian, I've always suspected that in Lillian's world--even though she loves Lex--winning against Lionel was more important than Lex's well-being. And what better way to ensure Lex beats Lionel than to start him on the path to power?
I almost suspect the writers of DELIBERATELY setting up the scenario in which Lillian's motives are Machiavellian, not benign, because Lex explicitly criticized Lionel for "playing God" with his life--but that is exactly what Lillian is doing too, in a way--trying to give divine guidance, so to speak.
But regardless of the blecky idea that he is choosing to go evil ultimately for Lana's sake (you can just insert Clark back in there, since "Lana"="love object"), I COMPLETELY loved the fact that they've given Lex an organic reason to go bad. And really, a GOOD reason--flawed, certainly, but it grows out of his own experiences and therefore is in perfect keeping with his character. So YAY! Not just a light switch, but a deliberate path, taken for what he sees are good reasons. And he was SO wonderfully bad-ass in that last scene.
(Though him going mano-a-mano with Jonathan Kent? Can be nothing but humorous. It reminds me of basingstoke's Smallville/Austin Powers crossover, with Lex telling Scott Evil about his father's lame nemesis, some farmer in Kansas. I mean, COME ON. Give Lex a worthy adversary, please. Oh, I know, dirt will be dug up relating to Clark, which will widen the rift, etc. etc., but I still find this whole Jonathan runs for Senate thing ridiculous).
The rest of this story was fairly silly--saving Santa Claus? Please! Chloe was damn cute, as always, but that whole storyline was way contrived. I wish they hadn't bothered, and had just gone into more detail about the alternate Lexworld.
I haven't looked at anyone else's reviews yet, but I'm sure a prevailing theory, outside the "mom-created marysue" one, is that Lex was inventing this whole thing in his own mind. And if MR thinks that, that leads me to end with his acting choices, as I began. I was interested in the way he seemed to be undercutting the text deliberately in several places--like, he made Lex seem happy to be congratulated by Jonathan, but not too happy--as if, getting the accolades from the Kents he always wanted, they didn't actually satisfy him as much as he wanted. This was all in facial expressions, obviously, but also in the way he kind of underplayed his verbal expressions of joy.
And if I am reading this properly, it makes me love MR all the more, because he's kind of subtly suggesting that it is not actually just the fear of loss (of Lana) driving Lex's new quest for power, but far more the fact that getting what he "always wanted" wasn't really satisfying, in the end. Just like most Marysue stories are ultimately dissatisying because it's all *too* perfect, and so must end with some sort of tragic death--so he drives himself out of his dead-end fantasy by forcing a false catharsis. False, because though on a conscious level he says he's seeking power to avoid the pain of loss, on a subconscious level he's seeking it because his fairytale life was too unsatisfying.
Or maybe that's fanwank. But I like it, nevertheless.
I thought Rosenbaum's acting choices at the beginning of this episode were...interesting. He seemed more stunned and bemused than actually happy, and the transition to happiness seemed to take place off camera. I don't often think about the acting choices when I'm analyzing Lex's characterization, but I did wonder how much MR was really onboard with this "always in love with Lana" thing, and whether he was deliberately undercutting that throughout the episode.
Not that I'm gagging too much about the Lexana, because really this Lana was not Lana, she was just a symbol for "person who actually loves Lex"--that much was clear. And DAMN, how much fanfic have Al & Miles been reading, that Lex's kids are Alexander and Lily? Really, I was highly amused at the whole "Lex wakes up in his mother's skewed Marysue fanfic" scenario.
Though honestly, by the end I was thinking that a much more FUN reading of this episode is that Lex's mom was NOT really trying to teach him about sacrifice, she was trying to actually DRIVE him into the position he ended up taking, because you would assume that from that "wisdom-in-the-afterlife" place she seems to be coming from, she must have known that his two biggest fears are losing people he loves and losing to his dad, and her scenario gave him both at the same time. It's hard to imagine anyone who knows Lex thinking any other outcome was possible in that scenario. And ever since we found out she killed Julian, I've always suspected that in Lillian's world--even though she loves Lex--winning against Lionel was more important than Lex's well-being. And what better way to ensure Lex beats Lionel than to start him on the path to power?
I almost suspect the writers of DELIBERATELY setting up the scenario in which Lillian's motives are Machiavellian, not benign, because Lex explicitly criticized Lionel for "playing God" with his life--but that is exactly what Lillian is doing too, in a way--trying to give divine guidance, so to speak.
But regardless of the blecky idea that he is choosing to go evil ultimately for Lana's sake (you can just insert Clark back in there, since "Lana"="love object"), I COMPLETELY loved the fact that they've given Lex an organic reason to go bad. And really, a GOOD reason--flawed, certainly, but it grows out of his own experiences and therefore is in perfect keeping with his character. So YAY! Not just a light switch, but a deliberate path, taken for what he sees are good reasons. And he was SO wonderfully bad-ass in that last scene.
(Though him going mano-a-mano with Jonathan Kent? Can be nothing but humorous. It reminds me of basingstoke's Smallville/Austin Powers crossover, with Lex telling Scott Evil about his father's lame nemesis, some farmer in Kansas. I mean, COME ON. Give Lex a worthy adversary, please. Oh, I know, dirt will be dug up relating to Clark, which will widen the rift, etc. etc., but I still find this whole Jonathan runs for Senate thing ridiculous).
The rest of this story was fairly silly--saving Santa Claus? Please! Chloe was damn cute, as always, but that whole storyline was way contrived. I wish they hadn't bothered, and had just gone into more detail about the alternate Lexworld.
I haven't looked at anyone else's reviews yet, but I'm sure a prevailing theory, outside the "mom-created marysue" one, is that Lex was inventing this whole thing in his own mind. And if MR thinks that, that leads me to end with his acting choices, as I began. I was interested in the way he seemed to be undercutting the text deliberately in several places--like, he made Lex seem happy to be congratulated by Jonathan, but not too happy--as if, getting the accolades from the Kents he always wanted, they didn't actually satisfy him as much as he wanted. This was all in facial expressions, obviously, but also in the way he kind of underplayed his verbal expressions of joy.
And if I am reading this properly, it makes me love MR all the more, because he's kind of subtly suggesting that it is not actually just the fear of loss (of Lana) driving Lex's new quest for power, but far more the fact that getting what he "always wanted" wasn't really satisfying, in the end. Just like most Marysue stories are ultimately dissatisying because it's all *too* perfect, and so must end with some sort of tragic death--so he drives himself out of his dead-end fantasy by forcing a false catharsis. False, because though on a conscious level he says he's seeking power to avoid the pain of loss, on a subconscious level he's seeking it because his fairytale life was too unsatisfying.
Or maybe that's fanwank. But I like it, nevertheless.
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I'll be doing my own post as soon as it all settles, so I'll shut up, now!
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Lex's mom was NOT really trying to teach him about sacrifice, she was trying to actually DRIVE him into the position he ended up taking
Exactly.
I also cannot stop laughing and laughing at the idea that becoming a *Kansas state senator* is the clear road to POWER! POWER! bwa-ha-ha-ha power!
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And this I also cannot stop laughing and laughing at the idea that becoming a *Kansas state senator* is the clear road to POWER! POWER! bwa-ha-ha-ha power! made me laugh so hard the person across the hall came over to see what was so funny.
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I haven't looked at anyone else's reviews yet, but I'm sure a prevailing theory, outside the "mom-created marysue" one, is that Lex was inventing this whole thing in his own mind. And if MR thinks that, that leads me to end with his acting choices, as I began. I was interested in the way he seemed to be undercutting the text deliberately in several places--like, he made Lex seem happy to be congratulated by Jonathan, but not too happy--as if, getting the accolades from the Kents he always wanted, they didn't actually satisfy him as much as he wanted. This was all in facial expressions, obviously, but also in the way he kind of underplayed his verbal expressions of joy.
And if I am reading this properly, it makes me love MR all the more, because he's kind of subtly suggesting that it is not actually just the fear of loss (of Lana) driving Lex's new quest for power, but far more the fact that getting what he "always wanted" wasn't really satisfying, in the end.
I read it differently, and I think there were two levels to what MR was doing with Lex in the visions: First, Lex simply is *unused* to open, genuine expressions of love and affection. He's been hugged a total of, I think, four times in canon across four and a half years -- by Clark in Prodigal and again in Asylum and by Lana in Covenant and Gone -- *and* he simply hasn't had people consistently telling him that they like, respect and admire him. Lex is not used to being on the receiving end of open expressions of emotional affection and connection, and he's *really* not used to it from this *particular* group of people -- Clark, the senior Kents, Chloe, Lana -- all of whom have spent the better part of the last year and a half or so enaging in varying degrees of heaping contempt and scorn on him.
So I think that MR, who's always been very attentive to both Lex as a character and how the *other* characters react to and perceive Lex, totally got it that the AU would be a disconcerting experience for Lex from the get-go. Then, there's the fact that the vision is a life regular!Lex would never imagine for himself -- middle-class, on a budget, *not* the world's greatest fill-in-the-blank (since I do think that even if he walked away from Lionel/Luthor Corp, Lex would still push himself to be the best at whatever he ultimately chose to do, and I think what he'd choose to do would be something that also left him financially comfortable), loved and respected by the Kents, etc. So in the early moments of the vision, there's all that bemused (and amusing) confusion from him. I disagree, though, that Lex's acceptance of the happiness of the vision seemed to take place off-screen. On the contrary, what *I* really loved about Rosenbaum's performance was the way the tentativeness of Lex's interactions suggested a *gradual* warming up to, and ultimate acceptance of, the fact that yes, this was his life and yes, he was happy in it. Lex comes to that realization at the Kents' Christmas party -- "This isn't how I ever imagined my life, but I've never felt this happy before" -- but it's been building throughout the episode up until that point. It's very subtle, nuanced acting. It may *seem* like undercutting, but I don't think that's actually what it is. To me, it read, quite appropriately given the nature of the vision, as a man who finds himself thrust into the midst of a life he never imagined for himself, complete with emotional connections he's not used to having, who is at first taken aback but then comes to realize that maybe, just maybe, he really *could* happily live that life despite it not being what he ever envisioned for himself.
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But I do agree with your comment below that it is hard to imagine Lex *remaining* happy long in this scenario. Not just Lionel but also Lillian (with that Napolean watch) have been inculcating that desire for greatness in him his whole life--it's not something he could really give up and still be Lex. And even in the dream/vision, he can't walk away from the struggle with Lionel, which is really what would a necessary component to him truly being happy. Is there any way Lionel isn't going to *know* who Chloe's inside source on Luthercorp is for her expose? So even if the alternate reality continued and Lex *hadn't* become bored or disenchanted, and even if Lana *hadn't* died, the seeds of its self-destruction were already there: either Lionel would have destroyed Lex's *whole family* in retaliation, or Lex would have once again had to enter the battlefield, this time without the resources to win.
p.s.