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More thoughts on Lexmas, focusing mainly on Lex's vision, and a little on Lana's role in it.
Although I like what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mecurtin is calling the "Medea" theory of Lillian (and she quoted me! I was so excited!!!), I really doubt that was the interpretation M&G actually intended for this episode, so I want to say a little more about Lex's vision as the projection of his own unconscious wishes, hopes and fears.
I think this episode is best read not as an actual vision of an alternate future, but as Lex's fantasy or dreamscape. He gives himself the fantasy of the life he *thinks* he wants --marriage, love, suburban life, 2 kids, acceptance by the Kents--but ultimately he realizes it's unsustainable, that love is insufficient to protect him from hurt. He's learned this, ultimately, from Lillian, the woman he loved most of all, but who abandoned him twice: first by killing Julian and secondly by dying when he wanted most desparately to save her.
So even though Lillian, to his subconscious, represents the "other road," the path that is not his father's, and the path of love --which is why, in his dream, she's the one offering him this choice--in his real life he has been taught *by Lillian* that this road only leads to loss and pain. In the dream, the loss/pain of Lillian and Julian's deaths becomes represented by Lana's death, which acts as the catharsis to (a) drive him back to reality and (b) make the only choice that he can (canonically) make: rejecting the uncertainty of love for the certainty of power.
bop_radar has a really amazing review of this episode here, which points out the explicit parallels between Clark and Lex this season. Both, she points out, are given the opportunity to reject their destiny (Clark becoming human, Lex being offered the choice of an ordinary life) and both ultimately reject it. In each case, Lana serves as a catalyst, and while I realize that is the sort of thing that causes fandom to collectively groan and gnash their teeth, it actually makes sense that Lana be the catalyst for Lex *because* she is for Clark, and they're being so consciously paralleled this season. And because, in both cases, she really *is* a symbol: she represents normal life: humanity for Clark, and a normal middle-class life for Lex. In other words, Smallville (minus the mutants). I was worried that the writers had some longterm Lexana on the horizon, but ironically this episode has convinced me they don't, because Lana is here so closely identified *with* Smallville. Clark can't give her the kids she wants, and Lex can't give her smalltown life, so really, in the very episode that seems to cement her centrality in the lives of Lex and Clark, she is being left behind.
That's so clear in the way they've been depicting Lana v. Chloe's relationship to Clark in this season, too. Throughout the whole series, in a sense, Lana has been Smallville and Chloe Metropolis, but they're really emphasizing it this season. Lana is the girlfriend, the one he's celebrating CHristmas with, his home; Chloe's the one in Metropolis, pushing him to action, to help others. (I still think the whole Santa storyline was uber-cheesy, but I do think it depicted accurately the way Lana is increasingly Clark's past, or what he has to leave behind, and Chloe is the future, pushing him to become Superman).
That makes me think there must be a significant storyline coming up with Lex and Chloe, if they are so consciously paralleling Lex and Clark. (Of course, there still might be Lexana, but the end of Lexmas makes me think that at least it won't be Lex *pining* for Lana, since if he has chosen the path of power, he'll be manipulating her or possessing her, not hopelessly longing for her.)
Although I like what
mecurtin is calling the "Medea" theory of Lillian (and she quoted me! I was so excited!!!), I really doubt that was the interpretation M&G actually intended for this episode, so I want to say a little more about Lex's vision as the projection of his own unconscious wishes, hopes and fears. I think this episode is best read not as an actual vision of an alternate future, but as Lex's fantasy or dreamscape. He gives himself the fantasy of the life he *thinks* he wants --marriage, love, suburban life, 2 kids, acceptance by the Kents--but ultimately he realizes it's unsustainable, that love is insufficient to protect him from hurt. He's learned this, ultimately, from Lillian, the woman he loved most of all, but who abandoned him twice: first by killing Julian and secondly by dying when he wanted most desparately to save her.
So even though Lillian, to his subconscious, represents the "other road," the path that is not his father's, and the path of love --which is why, in his dream, she's the one offering him this choice--in his real life he has been taught *by Lillian* that this road only leads to loss and pain. In the dream, the loss/pain of Lillian and Julian's deaths becomes represented by Lana's death, which acts as the catharsis to (a) drive him back to reality and (b) make the only choice that he can (canonically) make: rejecting the uncertainty of love for the certainty of power.
bop_radar has a really amazing review of this episode here, which points out the explicit parallels between Clark and Lex this season. Both, she points out, are given the opportunity to reject their destiny (Clark becoming human, Lex being offered the choice of an ordinary life) and both ultimately reject it. In each case, Lana serves as a catalyst, and while I realize that is the sort of thing that causes fandom to collectively groan and gnash their teeth, it actually makes sense that Lana be the catalyst for Lex *because* she is for Clark, and they're being so consciously paralleled this season. And because, in both cases, she really *is* a symbol: she represents normal life: humanity for Clark, and a normal middle-class life for Lex. In other words, Smallville (minus the mutants). I was worried that the writers had some longterm Lexana on the horizon, but ironically this episode has convinced me they don't, because Lana is here so closely identified *with* Smallville. Clark can't give her the kids she wants, and Lex can't give her smalltown life, so really, in the very episode that seems to cement her centrality in the lives of Lex and Clark, she is being left behind.That's so clear in the way they've been depicting Lana v. Chloe's relationship to Clark in this season, too. Throughout the whole series, in a sense, Lana has been Smallville and Chloe Metropolis, but they're really emphasizing it this season. Lana is the girlfriend, the one he's celebrating CHristmas with, his home; Chloe's the one in Metropolis, pushing him to action, to help others. (I still think the whole Santa storyline was uber-cheesy, but I do think it depicted accurately the way Lana is increasingly Clark's past, or what he has to leave behind, and Chloe is the future, pushing him to become Superman).
That makes me think there must be a significant storyline coming up with Lex and Chloe, if they are so consciously paralleling Lex and Clark. (Of course, there still might be Lexana, but the end of Lexmas makes me think that at least it won't be Lex *pining* for Lana, since if he has chosen the path of power, he'll be manipulating her or possessing her, not hopelessly longing for her.)
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I'm extremely happy this morning and your comment makes me even more so! I love chatting things over with you because you prompt me to articulate further on ideas that are formenting in my mind. I guess I hadn't realised that other people didn't see SV as a potential triple tragedy... I do think there's maybe an essay in that. Perhaps I'll have time over Christmas!
Clark's life is definitely tragic. He's immortal for starters - everyone he loves will die before him (remember the graveyard?) and he will become what he dreads becoming (an alien who 'rules them with strength' - to the extent that being Superman will isolate him from/above other people, force him to exercise power over others that he's uncomfortable with and deny him a 'normal' human life).
Yes, that's right. Lana dies as an old lady. I loooove the idea that she might raise Lex Luthor's child with Pete though. That is just brilliant! But oh how I wish Pete hadn't been such a disaster in SV. I have Pete issues. Oddly, it's the one thing I just can't forgive Al&Miles for.
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Of course you're correct about Clark's immortality being a tragedy--and that scene with the gravestones strongly supports that reading. They've been setting this up from the beginning--I'm not sure how I missed that.
As for Pete--yes, what a complete waste of a good character AND a good actor. Though sometimes I want to give the producers the benefit of the doubt--like, how much is all the teen drama that took up so much story time (and took time *away* from developing minor characters more, or presenting more coherent Luthercorp storylines) a product of being on the WB and having pressure to capture a particular demographic? We know for sure that the network did stupid things like make them take that actress who played Victoria Hardwick--who could have made a very convincing ongoing foil to Lex, if she had been played by someone who could ACT).
But on the other hand, I can understand why Sam Jones got fed up and quit. I sometimes wonder why Annette O'Toole is still hanging on--she's amazing but completely underused, and they only give her about one good episode a season.
no subject
Yes, I tend to forgive the producers a fair bit because some parts of the show scream that they were done to appease the WB/certain demographics. I can't imagine how they work under those type of restrictions - they seem to stay sane by adopting a lackadaisacal/philosophical approach to the overall plot consistency. I understand why it drives fans nuts (and I have screamed at them giggling about plot holes myself at times) but I also see why they have to be this way. And I just love how much they HAVE managed to get into the show.
Annette is brilliant - I suspect she stays on because she likes the cast and crew so much. I've heard her talk about how it's like a big family and she seems to adore everyone she works with. I certainly wish they used her more though - she's a wonderful actress and I love it when they give her interesting things to do.