norwich36 | SV Hydro

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smallville meta

SV Hydro

Overall, I think I liked it.

Ok. I spent almost three hours typing and retyping and editing some really deep analysis about what this episode has to say about secret-keeping and the effect it has on the relationships among all the characters, but I was having trouble coming to any coherent conclusions about why, for example, Clark is driven to lie to a friend to protect another superhero's identity in the same episode that his secret-keeping finally separates him from his first love, and what parallels that foreshadows about the Clark-Lois relationship. Or whether we're supposed to sympathize with Chloe's attempt to keep everyone's secrets, or realize that such neutrality is impossible and she has to choose sides. Or whatever.

That essay may eventually get written, though I'm hoping

bop_radar will do the heavy lifting this week, since my brain apparently just wants to bask in the charming character and relationship moments in this ep, and say a few words to various characters on the show.

Chloe continues to be beyond lovely, and I loved so many of her character moments, especially breaking down with Clark, holding her own in the fight with Tori Spelling, and that hilarous scene where she's encouraging Lois to tell Clark all about the kiss with Green Arrow.

I have never, never loved Lois more than in this episode. She's becoming a real investigative reporter, and the fact that she's working with Jimmy makes me all kinds of happy. And their first meeting completely cracked me up! I loved that they had a fairly competent plan to catch Ollie, too. And I did love that we got a Clois kiss--it seemed very appropriate in an episode in which we finally (we really really mean it! Honestly! No fingers crossed or ANYTHING) say good-bye to the Clana. I do, however, find it hard to believe that a relatively inexperienced farmboy actually kisses better than a billionaire playboy. Just sayin.

Jimmy! You continue to be the cutest thing ever, but I love that your investigative skills are growing by leaps and bounds.

Lex, I have to confess I had a profound moment of satisfaction when you told Clark that Lana was carrying your baby. PWNED!!

Lois and Oliver: you are wickedly hot together. Dammit, Oliver, why couldn't you stay around for the whole season? You and Lois should at least get to have lots of sex before you depart!

Lois and Clark: hmmm. I could be persuaded, I think. Your scenes tonight were all great. However, Clark: choosing the superhero code over a friend who is trusting you? NOT ON. I think we were supposed to sympathize with you--and those alley scenes were played with great comic timing--but I really don't like the fact that you betrayed Lois' trust like that.
[Edited to add : Reading over this, I realize Clark just did for Oliver what Chloe has been doing for him all season, so maybe I'm being too hard on Clark here. But it felt different--I'm not sure if that's because he's known Lois longer than Oliver, or because I know Lois is going to marry him in canon, or what--but it upset me more than Chloe covering for Clark all the time, even it means lying to Jimmy and Lana, does.]

Chloe: I loved every single one of your scenes tonight, but I see only bad things in your future. There's just no good to come for those who keep Clark's secret. You're not only going to lose him to Lois, you're going to lose Jimmy, too--probably this season. Ouch. If you don't get some Chlark action beyond the occasional hug, you might want to consider relocating before they decide to kill you off because you've become superfluous. Or else maybe you and Lana could just run away together?

Lana and Chloe: Why the hell isn't anyone writing season 6 slash with you two? Here you both are, having a season 1 Clex level of intimacy, with the secret-telling and long hugs and general beautifulness--and now you're getting a rift of your very own! And hurray, it wasn't even caused by Lana suspecting Chloe of leaking the story, it's caused because Chloe won't tell Lana her secrets. On a show where secret-keeping is true intimacy. So clearly it's really Chloe's behavior that upsets Lana and drives her into Lex's arms. Chloe's the one Lana trusts that's keeping secrets from her--Clark is clearly just a big old beard in this equation. Dammit, where is the hot femslash, already?

Lana and Clark: Wow. I actually loved a loft scene with you both in it. Amazing! I think it was partly because it seemed completely in character that once Clark found out about the baby, it was completely over for him. And Lana, while I'm not sure *why* you chose this moment to have a pining-for-your-ex crisis, but I definitely believed that you need to be the special holder-of-the-secret, and the fact that Clark chose Chloe rather than you would definitely drive you back to Lex.

Lex: Wow. I can definitely see all the Clex fans deriving support for their "its all about Clark" theory based on that speech, which really was right out of your "I'm a bad man in need of a savior" playbook, which you used on all your ~~Clark substitutes~~ serious girlfriends before--but dude, the part of you that isn't playing Lana and may partly believe that crap is really fucked up. You get that, right?

Lana: Um, damn. If there was ever a less gracious way to accept a proposal of marriage, I don't know what it could be. On the other hand, KK, your acting was stellar tonight--those last two scenes actually sold me on the otherwise laughable premise that Lana needed EVEN MORE CLOSURE than the 450 bazillion times she's already broken up with Clark to finally accept Lex.

Lex and Lana: At this point, you both deserve each other. Seriously.

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If I were to choose an episode to start rewatching with, would you recommend this episode or would it remind me of everything I hate about the show currently?

Hmm. I guess that depends on what, precisely, you are hating about the show currently. There is a good bitchy scene between Clark and Lex, and another one between Lex and Lana when he finds out she's been thinking about Clark, but on the other hand the final Lexana scene is pretty much Lex being very ~~drippy~~ emotional toward Lana.

Next week is the justice league episode--that might be a good one to start rewatching with.

You'd like this one I reckon. It has VERY cute Oliver/Lois/Clark-ness. Just fast forward through the Lexana, yo! ;-)

Very nice review, Norwich. Any comments on Tom's directing? I'd like to read your observations.

I did know that Tom directed this, but I'm not sure I precisely noticed the directing choices as I was watching, except that everyone in the cast looked particularly lovely. It is interesting that when he's directing himself, Clark comes off as much more likeable than normal--I mean, I was kind of annoyed at some of the choices Clark made in this episode, but I was still largely sympathetic because he was so damn charming! I loved the scene where he hugged Chloe, and that other scene where he's in GA gear reacting to kissing Lois, particularly.

OMG! Was this the ep that Tom directed?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!!! *flails* It was so damn good! I'm going to have to rewatch with thoughts on it... *runs to do so*

what you said! i'm happy to let you do the medium-heavy lifting for me. *g*

i actually enjoyed this episode, on the whole, and liked chloe very, very much. to someone of my age, clark's stepping back completely after learning of the baby is perfectly sensible. (i've seen other, younger women say that that means his values are screwed up. nah, they're just very old-fashioned.)

KK's acting was better than usual, you're right. i still think lana is a toad, and she's ludicrously thin, enough so that it stopped me cold in the loft scene.

ok, enough of me. but it's fun being able to be mostly positive about the show the day after!

Oh, I completely agree with you about Clark's motives. He's very traditional in some ways, and I don't blame him at all for thinking that when you're having a baby with someone, it changes things--because I think it ought to change things. Not that I think this means Lana has to marry Lex, if she really doesn't want to, but I do think if she's going to keep the baby rather than have the abortion, she ought to be thinking not only about her own self-interest but also the baby's interests in making decisions about the future.

well said! and exactly so. but the way she looks, i'm wondering about that baby...

Well, this is SV, where Martha didn't show at all until she was 9 months pregnant, so I'm not really surprised.

Um ... I am kinda working on a Chlana that takes off right in S6 ... it is definitely in beginning stages, but it's going ...

I liked this episode bunches! And, how does Clark know how to kiss better than Ollie??? Just wondering who he has been kissing to get so good.

Hee! Probably Lex and Ollie, is my guess.

I do, however, find it hard to believe that a relatively inexperienced farmboy actually kisses better than a billionaire playboy. Just sayin.

That's because Clark got all his practice kissing another billionaire playboy. *cough* :P

Seriously, at this point, I don't know what SV is trying to say about secrets. Every single thing on this show has such double standards that it's not even funny. I think the general rule is "everything is bad...unless Clark does it." *eye roll*

Oh, yes, I did have that thought. Actually, my guess is at this point he's been kissing two billionaire playboys, and has picked up a lot of their techniques.

I actually wrote up the essay on secrets, though I don't know how coherent it is. It's hard to write on that subject without referencing every single episode of the show, you know?

Ha, I just wrote my commentary and it made me all kinds of non-happy with the episode. I should just read yours and I'd like every ep of SV. You always pick out all the awesome stuff! I think I need someone to decode SV for me before I can truly enjoy it.

Lana and Chloe: Why the hell isn't anyone writing season 6 slash with you two? I want to! I want so much, but I've never felt that I was good at writing these two. But seriously, I ship them as of this episode (I felt similarly about them in S2/3, but in between, not so much).

On a show where secret-keeping is true intimacy. O.O You give good meta!

And you're right, I was so blinded by the "Oh no, Clana" that I didn't notice, but KK really did act well in this episode.

I was sure from the beginning that Lex and Lana were going to be a trainwreck, but the SV writers have once more managed to set it up for more horror than I expected, now that Lana has accepted in this strange way. This is going to be DOOM.

Oh, yes, please, write some Lana/Chloe slash!! I didn't like Lana enough in S2 to really get into it then, but now I am totally craving it.

And yes, I agree that Lexana is going to a place of doom--but hopefully now at least they will move forward instead of circling the same issues/conversations over and over and over again.

I have never, never loved Lois more than in this episode. She's becoming a real investigative reporter, and the fact that she's working with Jimmy makes me all kinds of happy.

A few weeks ago,

huzzlewhat made this really lovely comment about why Lois works for her as a character. It was something along the lines of being able to see the qualities of iconic Lois in her to the point that it's almost incidental that she hasn't yet fallen deeply in love with journalism. It was like, "She's who she's supposed to be; she'll find her career in time."

Last night? I saw that. I felt it while I watched Lois and it thrilled me to pieces. She was Lois Lane -- brash, impulsive, fierce, funny, unexpectedly insightful and dogged about something that she knows in her heart matters. She was wonderful. It was like watching Crusade-Devoted all over again, back when she was really brimming with the promise of her iconic future.

I loved that they had a fairly competent plan to catch Ollie, too

Oh, absolutely. But-for the fact that Lois brought Clark into it and thus he got the jump on it and warned Ollie, the plan would have worked, too. 'Cause there's no way Ollie wouldn't have responded to Lois' "distress call" if Clark hadn't been playing back-up.

Jimmy! You continue to be the cutest thing ever, but I love that your investigative skills are growing by leaps and bounds.

Jimmy THREW DOWN. That was completely MADE OF WIN.

Lex, I have to confess I had a profound moment of satisfaction when you told Clark that Lana was carrying your baby. PWNED!!

I think what most worked for me about that -- despite the creative team's continued insistence that the only history Clark and Lex have between them now and the the only reason they'd ever have to be at each other's throats is Lana -- is that it put an end to the show's attempts to have its cake and eat it, too in terms of Clark being all outraged that Lana is with Lex. While the audience knows that Lex manipulated the circumstances that led to their break-up, Clark has never known that, but the last few times he either talked about Lex/Lana to others or to Lex, he's acted as though his break-up with Lana was somehow Lex's fault. But based on what Clark knows from an intra-textual perspective -- as opposed to what the creators and the audience know meta-textually -- he himself is the only person responsible for his and Lana's break-up; he could have had her had he been willing to be honest with her, but he wasn't and he's the one who pushed her away. If Lex took advantage of that might make Clark sick at heart, but by the time that happened as far as Clark knows, he had already relinquished whatever claim he had on Lana.

So it was nice that Lex pointed out to him that Clark's the one who broke Lana's heart and Clark didn't have a response. Yeah, Lex is being an asshole because he knows he used Hypno-Ho to cause problems for them, but he also knows that Clark doesn't know that. So it's exactly what he should have said to Clark under that circumstance and Clark's inability to fire back a response was wholly appropriate based on what he, as a character, actually knows of the whole situation.

:Glomps you: I didn't know you were even watching SV anymore! Well, I saw you posted something the other day, but it was spoilery so I didn't look. I miss talking about episodes with you.

Last night? I saw that. I felt it while I watched Lois and it thrilled me to pieces. She was Lois Lane -- brash, impulsive, fierce, funny, unexpectedly insightful and dogged about something that she knows in her heart matters. She was wonderful. It was like watching Crusade-Devoted all over again, back when she was really brimming with the promise of her iconic future.

Yes! I just rewatched several early s4 episodes over Christmas with my brother, since he was borrowing my DVDs, and I'd forgotten how much fun Lois was in those first few episodes. And she's definitely back. I just hope she doesn't lose her focus when Ollie departs.

Jimmy THREW DOWN. That was completely MADE OF WIN.
I loved that scene so much!

So it was nice that Lex pointed out to him that Clark's the one who broke Lana's heart and Clark didn't have a response. Yeah, Lex is being an asshole because he knows he used Hypno-Ho to cause problems for them, but he also knows that Clark doesn't know that. So it's exactly what he should have said to Clark under that circumstance and Clark's inability to fire back a response was wholly appropriate based on what he, as a character, actually knows of the whole situation.

I'd actually forgotten all about Hypno-Ho and Lex's machinations, because honestly, Clark is the one who caused the breakup, when he made his decision in "Reckoning." Everything else was just foot dragging. And I think that deep down, Clark knows that--it's just easy to externalize it onto Lex now that he's convinced Lex is evil.

However, Clark: choosing the superhero code over a friend who is trusting you? NOT ON.

It's not on and really, it is different from the Clark-Lana-Chloe dynamic because as far as I recall, Clark hasn't ever actively encouraged Ollie to tell Lois the truth. Chloe, at least, seemed to recognize that Clark actually wasn't being fair to Lana in keeping something like the truth of his origins from her while trying to maintain a romantic relationship with her.

That's ultimately the difference between Clark helping Ollie keep that secret from Lois vs. Chloe keeping Clark's secret from Jimmy or, now that Clark and Lana have broken up, Lana. And even when Clark and Lana were still together, Chloe told Clark that what he was doing was wrong and unfair. She kept the secret because he asked her to and because he's her friend, but she never let him think that what he was doing was Okay. As far as I can tell, Clark doesn't think it's problematic that Oliver is lying to Lois about such a fundamental thing even though Lois and Oliver are romantically involved. That's why it feels so much more wrong than what Chloe did for Clark. Chloe at least understood that it actually wasn't cool of Clark to keep the fact of his true heritage from Lana while dating her.

I think it was partly because it seemed completely in character that once Clark found out about the baby, it was completely over for him.

It was very Superman-ly of Clark. Superman? Is not that guy. He's not the guy who could blithely break up a family or potential family and I loved Clark recognizing and acknowledging that he's not that guy either.

And Lana, while I'm not sure *why* you chose this moment to have a pining-for-your-ex crisis

I'm not either and I'll be honest: I actually found it kind of appalling that she was pushing for a showing of such deep emotional intimacy from her ex-lover while not only pregnant with another man's child but mulling that man's marriage proposal. What was she going to do if Clark had told her or if he'd expressed a desire to get back together with her? Break it off with Lex and run back into Clark's arms before telling him she was pregnant by Lex? 'Cause I didn't miss the "Oh, shit, I'm busted" look that crossed her face when Clark told her he knew about the baby.

but I definitely believed that you need to be the special holder-of-the-secret, and the fact that Clark chose Chloe rather than you would definitely drive you back to Lex.

This is actually the only reason the loft scene worked for me at all from Lana's end. It still kills her to think that there's something Really Significant about Clark that Clark's never shared with her and once she realized that Chloe knew it, I read her approach to Clark at the end as a last-ditch effort on her part to be pulled into that Inner Circle she's always wanted to be a part of. In other words, it wasn't about her deep, lingering love for Clark; it was about her desire to be important enough and special enough to him that he'd trust her with something that's obviously huge.

KK really worked it in those last two scenes, but honestly, this is the most actively unpleasant and unlikeable I've found Lana to be in a while.

It's not on and really, it is different from the Clark-Lana-Chloe dynamic because as far as I recall, Clark hasn't ever actively encouraged Ollie to tell Lois the truth.

Actually, in one of the early Ollie episodes, either "Arrow" or "Reunion," there's a tag scene with Clark and Ollie in the barn where Clark does encourage Ollie to tell Lois, and says something like he's found out you can't have a real relationship with someone if you don't tell them your secrets.

It was very Superman-ly of Clark. Superman? Is not that guy. He's not the guy who could blithely break up a family or potential family and I loved Clark recognizing and acknowledging that he's not that guy either.

Thank you! I've been trying to articulate that all day, and you did it much better. I can't believe how many people are interpreting that scene as Clark being furious at Lana (?!?) or seeing her as "used goods" (!!?!), when it seems obvious to me that Superman does not break up families.

*Cough* Right, Bryan Singer? *Cough*

This is actually the only reason the loft scene worked for me at all from Lana's end. It still kills her to think that there's something Really Significant about Clark that Clark's never shared with her and once she realized that Chloe knew it, I read her approach to Clark at the end as a last-ditch effort on her part to be pulled into that Inner Circle she's always wanted to be a part of. In other words, it wasn't about her deep, lingering love for Clark; it was about her desire to be important enough and special enough to him that he'd trust her with something that's obviously huge.

Definitely. Well, since sharing secrets=love to Lana, if he told her, that would mean he loved her more than Chloe (or at least as much as Chloe). I thought it was very telling that she accepted Lex because he "shared parts of himself with her that he hadn't shared with anyone else," or something like that. I agree that Lana comes off really poorly in this episode.

Ah, sorry, hon--I let you down a bit this week what with being kidnapped to a winery and all... but don't worry! There's heaps of time for more heavy meta on this ep. I'll be mulling over it all week.

Meanwhile, I still need to get the squee out of my system:
however, find it hard to believe that a relatively inexperienced farmboy actually kisses better than a billionaire playboy. Just sayin.
I know, I know!! I had to fanwank that as their mouths just fitting each others really really well. Or something.

I agree about the Lana/Chloe. I loooved that moment when Lana got a call from Chloe just as Clark arrived for Lex. Potentially the Chlana could be really interesting and tension-ridden this season.

KK's acting WAS stellar.
actually sold me on the otherwise laughable premise that Lana needed EVEN MORE CLOSURE than the 450 bazillion times she's already broken up with Clark to finally accept Lex.
Uh, yeah. It was daft, but KK sold me on it completely. She was great to watch. Bless her for having the patience to play this scene AGAIN and attempt freshness. *g*

At this point, you both deserve each other. Seriously.
HA! You know, I luff them, but the bitchy/snarky part of me really felt with this episode that they were the depressing/dysfunctional/downbeat couple in comparison to the fun/playful/sparky couple of Lois-Oliver. And when given a choice between being part of one relationship or the other, I totally understand why Clark chose Lollie. :-p

Don't apologize for having a social life! I hope you had fun at the winery.

Oh, I guess I can allow Lois to think that the man who will become the man-of-her-dreams is a great kisser. :D The Clois stuff in this episode was great, but I'm glad it wasn't *too* anvilly.

It's really not fair to me that Clark gets his PICK of threesomes!

No! It's not fair! *frowns at Clark* But it is very funny. *laughs with Chloe*

it seemed very appropriate in an episode in which we finally (we really really mean it! Honestly! No fingers crossed or ANYTHING) say good-bye to the Clana.

Are we SURE? I mean really, really SURE? *crosses fingers just in case*

I love how sqeeful you are over this ep! Like I've said other places, it took me a while to get into this one, but when I did, I loved it. I think Chloe, as well as the Lois - Jimmy stuff sold it for me. I'm just still freaked that I loved Lois so much!

And, also? *points to icon*

Oh, yeah, he's definitely fucking hot! And I am excited by your Lois conversion.

I fear, though, that the Clana will return--like death and taxes, it is simply inevitable.

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SV Hydro

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part I

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part II

Re: part II

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