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Smallville 6.14 Trespass
First of all, I thought a lot of the sequences in this episode--especially the one where the photographer was chasing Lana in the hospital--were beautifully shot. I'm not really a big horror fan, but I thought that as a horror episode this was quite well done, even though the identity of the stalker was pretty damn obvious. In fact, KK might consider making horror movies--she does the traumatized but stalwart heroine thing very, very well. And if you will pardon a shallow observation, she looked amazing in that purple robe in the opening scene. And I have to continue to give KK props for her acting this season; I saw the last few minutes of a rerun of a season 1 ep right before this started, and it was absolutely mind-boggling how much she's improved in the last two seasons. Even when she obviously had a cold, she was fantastic to watch. That scene where she convinces stalkerguy that she never wanted any of this and she was trapped? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
And Lana was very interesting in this episode, too. I was rather impressed by the way she utilized her legitimate peril to continue investigating Clark. On the one hand, as Chloe pointed out, she put herself in danger to protect his secret, and yet she was playing on her friends' desire to help her to continue investigating. I suppose I ought to be appalled at the way she was exploiting the Kents' hospitality, but I was more amused than anything. And AMAZED at the continuity with her ex-meteorite necklace. I was happy that Chloe is smart enough to password protect important files on her computer, though.
I don't know if Chloe and Jimmy are getting back together for real or not, but damn. I'll take Jimmy if Chloe doesn't want him. He was amazing tonight--I *loved* him threatening Clark--a girl like that is worth spending your life in a body cast. Oh, Jimmy. And then helping out Clark when he was the last person in the world Jimmy wanted to help. Chloe, you need to appreciate that boy!
The thing that impressed me about the final Lexana scene is how much better Lana is getting at lying to Lex. I guess that's a good thing? I wish they would let those two actually kiss, though. For an engaged couple, they are remarkably sexless.
Though that's ok--clearly all of Lex's sexual energy is still directed toward Clark. Wasn't that final scene fantastic? God. For once Clark actually APOLOGIZED for something that he needed to apologize for. I was so impressed, even if Lex wasn't. And here they are, breaking up again, even though it won't take anymore than Clark's breakups with Lana ever do. But damn, Lex pwned that scene. "What I want is to make Lana happy for the rest of your life and for you to be there on our wedding day to see what you lost." Ha ha, Clark, you could have had
part I
It's appalling in a theoretical sense, I think, because of course in RL this is intrusive, indefensible behavior. But Chloe and Lex also engaged in this kind of behavior, so it felt like Lana was going through a rite of passage as a SV character. So it didn't bother me from a practical perspective because it's part of the show's ethos. What did bother me was Chloe, once again, trying to pawn Lana's bad behavior off on Lex/Lana's association with Lex. I'm pretty sure I'm not misremembering that entire episode in S2 where Chloe didn't talk to Lana because Lana invaded her privacy by snooping on her computer, so it was weird to hear Chloe excusing similar behavior as though Lana could have only ever done something like this if she were dating the Prince of Darkness. I liked it that Lana multi-tasked in her (975th) hour of peril; it showed moxie and agency on her part. So I can't help but dislike it when the writers undercut those moments of moxie, agency or initiative on her part by hardly ever letting the other characters hold her accountable for them.
The thing that impressed me about the final Lexana scene is how much better Lana is getting at lying to Lex.
She's definitely smoother at it, but he didn't believe her, IMO. Like I told Bop, his line to Clark about "understanding the allure of trying to unravel the mystery of Clark Kent," or whatever it was pretty much only makes sense if Lex did not believe Lana. If he'd believed her but was still inclined to think she had mixed motives, then he would have assumed that her un- or subconscious motive was that she still had feelings for Clark. That he so specifically honed in on the idea that Lana's trying to unravel Clark's mysteries strongly suggests to me that he correctly pegged what she was really up to.
I wish they would let those two actually kiss, though. For an engaged couple, they are remarkably sexless.
I find this really weird, particularly when one remembers that the entire denoument of Wither was about them getting busy with each other. Like, if the show was trying to say that theirs is a chaste relationship because they don't really love each other or whatever, then why spend the entire denoument of an episode on them sexin' each other? It also doesn't make sense as any kind of statement about Lana, either, because we know she wanted to get with the sexin' when she was with Clark even after he pulled away from her. And wasn't Bound all about Lex's voarcious sexual appetite? The sexlessness of current Lex/Lana doesn't make sense from any perspective of character continuity that it would be examined.
Re: part I
I agree with you, here, as I said upthread. And it's particularly odd, because I felt like Lana snooping on the computer was *deliberately* paralleling her actions in S2 (just like discovering the necklace was another reference to season 2).
I find this really weird, particularly when one remembers that the entire denoument of Wither was about them getting busy with each other. Like, if the show was trying to say that theirs is a chaste relationship because they don't really love each other or whatever, then why spend the entire denoument of an episode on them sexin' each other? It also doesn't make sense as any kind of statement about Lana, either, because we know she wanted to get with the sexin' when she was with Clark even after he pulled away from her. And wasn't Bound all about Lex's voarcious sexual appetite?
Well, the denoument of Wither was absolutely necessary to the pregnancy storyline--but for all we know that's the only time Lex and Lana had sex. Maybe that's why Lana's suddenly dangling after Clark again? She's not getting enough at home? :D She must have blanked out the part about how he became Mr. Frigid after "Hidden."
I'm not sure we're supposed to have read "Bound" as a statement of Lex's sexual appetites as much as an example of the way he uses people. :Gags: I know it makes no sense to divorce these two things, but the logic of "Bound" is already outside the bounds of our earth logic, as far as I'm concerned.I did read some interview with Almiles where they said they don't conceive of Lex as being very sexual. (!!!!) Clearly, they never watch Rosenbaum's scenes.
It really isn't fair. Every other character on this show gets to be supersexed when they are evil; if Lex is evil now, he should at least be getting lots of sex.