SV 6.15 "Freak"

[norwich36]

A great directing debut for MR!

Spoilers for "Freak" behind the cut


Yeah, what do I know about directing? I did notice there were a lot more shots with natural light than is normal in an SV episode (like the exterior of Tobias' house the first time Clark and Chloe visited), which I liked. I also thought the night scene with Clark and Lana outside Tobias' house was beautifully lit, and they both looked gorgeous in the multicolored lights. Ditto with the final Chloe-Clark scene--they both looked gorgeous.

To turn my attention to the plot: I was a little bit spoiled for this episode, so I've been playing around with idea of Chloe the meteor freak all week. On the plus side, it will probably make Chloe re-evaluate how she thinks of meteor "freaks," which is probably a good thing. (I noticed a real terminological distinction in this episode; Chloe consistently referred to them as meteor freaks while Clark and Lana talked about people with "meteor powers," which I thought was interesting.)

Lana was surprisingly open toward the meteor infected in this episode; I'm trying to decide how much this is a consequence of deciding Clark is meteorinfected and trying to protect him, and how much this means she *was* faking out Lex in that episode earlier this season when she said she didn't have a problem with him experimenting on them in level 33.1 if in fact he was. Regardless, I loved Lana in this episode. I thought it was really cute that she went bowling with Chloe for her bachelorette party (and also VERY SLASHY--as was the fact that her fiance had her girlfriend best friend kidnapped and anal probed experimented on, as if she were Clark his rival.) I adore these cute Chlana bonding scenes.

I also liked Lana calling Chloe on her suspicions about Lex. Chloe's been doing the dance of avoidance on that score for good reason, but I'm interested that Lana is apparently starting to wake up to the reality that Lex is concealing things from her. In fact, watching her conversation with Lex and her subsequent attempts to save Tobias, I had an epiphany: Lana is to Lex as season 1 Lex was to Lionel. Well, except for the whole marriage and pregnancy thing :cough Luthorcest cough: In season 1 Lex knew that his father was shady, and thought he was smart enough to play his games and win--and yet he was still using the Luthor name and money to try to make things better for the people Luthorcorp hurt, and investigating Clark while simultanously trying to protect him from his father. Now Lex is Lionel, in terms of power, finesse, methods, and desire to protect his power base even at the expense of other people's lives; meanwhile Lana thinks she can play in his league, and she really is getting better at it, but she's really no match for him.

Still, it's fun to watch her try to play. I loved that she was using her Luthorian power to try to rescue Tobias (and rescue Clark in the process)--it almost made up for the burn that now Clark has another go-to billionaire when he needs some financial help to save people. Ouch. That hurt my Clexy heart in a way that Lana doing it did not, for some reason--maybe because I'm looking at her as Lex's good side, since she's symbolically representing him so thoroughly. Did anyone else think that the fact that she almost killed the doctor was supposed to parallel Lex shooting Roger Nixon, or am I stretching things there? (Has Lex ever found a flattened bullet? I'm blanking on this, although I'm sure that scene was echoing something else).

And meanwhile, Lex was thoroughly awesome in his bad-assness in this episode. He's no longer giving his characteristic tells when he lies to Lana; he's become incredibly smooth. And I love that he maintained his urbanity when he threatened the doctor, because *that's* the Lex Luthor I want to see: smoothly evil, powerful, and sexy as all hell. Damn, that last scene? When he's looking at the images of Chloe being tortured and orders that she be watched carefully? Rocked my SOCKS off.

Ok, I guess I should talk a little bit about Chloe, since it was a Chloe-centric episode and all. And after thinking it over for a while, I think I'm cautiously liking the Chloe-as-a-metoer-freak retcon. True, it could end up with her in Belle Reve, but that has been foreshadowed as a possibility for a while, so it's not bothersome. At least now we get a completely new option: superChloe! She can join the Justice League and fight crime! Yay! Let the betting begin on what her superpower is going to be. And if she is a walking time bomb, Clark is going to be her own personal bomb squad. Awww! I loved that scene a LOT.

I also really loved Clark in this episode. He's starting to be able to investigate stuff on his own (at least if hacking skills aren't required), and I thought he played that hospital scene where he got the laptop very well. Smart of him not to just vanish! And wow, that scene where he used his heat vision to remove the tag from Chloe was also really well-played. My favorite scene with him, though, was actually that scene with Lana, where he lies/tells the truth very convincingly ("I don't know where you got the idea I'm a meteor freak") while at the same time thanking her for protecting him. That was a very sweet scene--I loved that Lana saying he was still the same Clark Kent, meteor powers or not. Will that carry over into knowledge that he's an alien, given her negative encounters with all the Kryptonians? Hard to say, but I am liking her character growth, nonetheless.

And finally, Jimmy was wonderful in this episode! I had a feeling Chloe was going to turn up in her own bed like all the others, but I loved how worried he was and that little conversation with Clark about playing it cool and not telling her how he really feels.

Comments

[kantayra.livejournal.com]

Lana is to Lex as season 1 Lex was to Lionel.

Wordy McWord. *sniff sniff* Poor Lex... You were so sweet and pure once. It just makes me want to go back in time and give him Clark's ass from the get-go. :(

(Has Lex ever found a flattened bullet? I'm blanking on this, although I'm sure that scene was echoing something else).

Lex did have a bunch dangling for strings on the ceiling in his Big Room Dedicated To Clark!Love. I don't think we've ever gotten one shot like the one in this ep exactly, though.

I thought he played that hospital scene where he got the laptop very well. Smart of him not to just vanish!

I know! It was almost shocking that Clark didn't make a complete mess of things and give away his secret. Our boy's finally learning. *sniff sniff*

And, yeah. So much awesomeness here. I'll just say 'word' and leave it at that. This ep r0x0red my s0x0rs.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Poor Lex... You were so sweet and pure once. It just makes me want to go back in time and give him Clark's ass from the get-go.

Yeah, but even if Lex knew the truth, I still think somehow the combination of Jor-El and Lionel would have end up screwing things up. Poor doomed fated Lex! (He can be rescued in fiction, but on the show? He was always screwed. Except in the reality where the fangirls take over the scripts, of course).

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your icon. I was just thinking the other day that someone should write a story where the brand doesn't disappear, and it drives Lex crazy that he has this mysterious mark that he can't explain, and he starts having dreams about Clark kneeling in front of him, and, well...nature takes its course.

[serenography.livejournal.com]

*grumble* I just typed this comment and promptly lost the whole thing.

I'm glad you liked this episode, I did too. But I love all the character progressions.

Regarding Lana and her seeming prior approval of Lex's experimentation: I saw her position as approving of him researching how to defend humans from the aliens, and not meteor freaks. Her traumatic experiences with Namek and Aethyr murdering all those policemen before her eyes left her with just a little bit of an alien paranoia.
All of the characters have had good and bad experiences with meteor exposed characters. It's never made sense to me that any of them would have a blanket fear of all of them.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I don't know--I think Chloe is correct, insofar as we've seen it, that all the meteor affected end up dead or in Belle Reve. I think Lex/Lana/Chloe's paranoia has some justification (though I would not, of course, condone experimenting on them against their will!)

[juxtoppozed.livejournal.com]

I hate to admit it, but I really liked Lana in this episode too. Word about the growth. I mean, it's still Clark-specific (ala Extinction) but it's a step. And she seemed to have more backbone in general. I was very very surprised at how they portrayed Chloe in contrast (as you mention, the terminology...and also just the hysteria in general). It's almost as if they are switching roles on many levels; this Lana is reminding me of Chloe's enlightened "maybe Clark's a mutant/must protect him" arc in S4. They seem to not be rushing into the Lana-as-confidante thing, laying the groundwork believably, so I'm pleasantly surprised about that. The Chlark scenes (minus the jarring hysteria were good, the Clana and Lexana scenes even better. I didn't expect a solid episode, and I never expected to find myself more interested in lana than Chloe but when it comes to this show I guess wonders never cease.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I am very glad at the slow character development Lana is getting this season; I'm enjoying it a lot.

[rumpuso.livejournal.com]

Great review as always, norwich. I was reluctant to watch this episode. As a matter of fact, I tivo'd it and waited until late last night to give it a look over. No one was really talking it up on any of the fansites after it aired, so I was very leery. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the "Chloe as a meteor freak" arc went over. I thoroughly enjoyed her role in this as well as Clark's very Supermanly role also. Lex was icky and scary and absolutely what he is supposesd to be like in the future. It's shocking to see how far he's fallen sometimes. Lana was amazing. I adore her more and more as she gets closer to Clark's secret. And again, Clark was incredible in this episode. (Oh, and it must be mentioned that Jimmy was once again precious!)

You inquired if Lex ever found any smashed bullets as Lana did in this particular episode. Remember Lex's "Clark" room and all the bullets he had hanging from strings on the ceiling. It was like a windchime area in there. And did he find a bullet in Extinction? I can't really recall if he did or didn't, but I'm thinking he might have.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, Clark was very supermanly, wasn't he? I read one review that pointed out he used pretty much every one of this powers last night.

Thanks for the info about the bullets--I was sure I had seen that before, and just couldn't remember where.

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

i thought the lighting was amazing, and i was impressed by MR's direction overall (though a few cuts were too fast and jumpy for me to follow completely). he framed some really fine close-ups of the principals and directed himself extremely well. *s*

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I wish I knew more technical stuff so I could decide if he did a good job or not! But I agree, he directed himself very well! He looked the best he's looked all season.

[(Anonymous)]

(Has Lex ever found a flattened bullet? I'm blanking on this, although I'm sure that scene was echoing something else).

Lionel did. I'm pretty sure it happened during season two, while he was 'blind', if I'm not mistaken. I don't recall which episode but I distinctly remember a scene in the mansion where he bends down and picks up either a flattened bullet or something equally incriminating and rubs his thumb over it.

[mskatej.livejournal.com]

Yes, that happened in "Red".

[amandajane5.livejournal.com]

Didn't Lex find the bullets that Clark shot into his hand in Red? Or was that blind Lionel? Hmm, I totally can't remember.

[drakeofdross.livejournal.com]

Yes! That's the one that blind Lionel had the flat bullet in. Thank you. It was bugging me. (And that anon post up above was mine. Forgot to sign in.)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it was Lionel, but Lex somehow got ahold of them and had them in the CoCK.

[cinderella81.livejournal.com]

Clark totally rocked in this episode!! It's great that he's going out on his own and taking initiative ... and it was good that he didn't just disappear when taking the laptop ...

However, I can totally see the confusion in Lana ... she believes so wholeheartedly that Clark is infected that when Tobias tells her otherwise, it throws her!

And I wanna know about Chloe!!!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, I absolutely can't wait to find out what Chloe's power is! I hope it's something more fun than computer hacking!

[huzzlewhat.livejournal.com]

Did anyone else think that the fact that she almost killed the doctor was supposed to parallel Lex shooting Roger Nixon, or am I stretching things there?

Ooh! Nice call! I was so pleased about the "Lana as surrogate" thing in this ep — playing the role of early Clark for Lex, and vice versa — but I missed this parallel completely.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Ooh, if you're commenting your review must be up. :Runs to read:

[pepperjackcandy.livejournal.com]

Has Lex ever found a flattened bullet? I'm blanking on this

I think the general assumption is that he probably picked up the bullets he shot at Clark in Hug, because there've been references to flattened bullets in the CoCK in S2.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Thanks--I thought there was a specific Lexian episode, I just couldn't remember when.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Well, my bet for Chloe's power is something tech-related. They mentioned it in a few scenes in this episode how good she is at the hacking stuff, contrasting it with Jimmy's and Clark's utter uselessness at it and Chloe really is improbably good at it considering that she spends most her time working at the Planet (does she still go to college?)

Either that or something related to truth/reporting, but she already had a power like that in the S3 ep "Truth".

I was completely surprised by the bowling scene. No one in this show ever does fun stuff! It was weird, yet cool.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I've heard a lot of people talk about Chloe's hacking ability being unrealistic, but in the realm of TV skills (as opposed to RL skills) I don't think this is true. She's been practicing hacking since she was a freshman in high school, so the fact that she's very good at it after 6 years doesn't require mutant abilities, I don't think. And I want her power to be more fun than that! ::Pouts::

And compelling truth would be the obvious power, but as you say, they've already done that.

It's true, it would be nice if they showed more fun stuff like bowling on this show.

[serrico.livejournal.com]

Lana is to Lex as season 1 Lex was to Lionel.

OOOH. *ponders*

...I *like* it. :)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Thank you. *Bows*

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

I definitely think that Lana's tolerance for meteor mutants was because she thinks Clark is one. It's very consistent with Extinction!Lana, who had little difficulty with Van gunning mutants down but was simultaneously able to accept the possibility that Clark was one of them while thinking it Okay that he was. The difference with (and progression in) Freak comes in where Lana also gets to deal with another mutant whose intentions aren't horrible in Tobias. In Extinction, the other mutant she dealt with basically tried to kill her. Here, she's got not only Clark as an example that they're not all bad, but Tobias as well. So even when she gets the reveal that Clark is not a mutant, she still has an example in Tobias of a mutant who's not all bad. It's a baby step to ultimate and true tolerance on Lana's part (as opposed to what she exhibited this week, which was more Clark-specific than not).

This was the most I've liked Lana all season because she was smart and capable and an active agent in her own life. Proactive!Lana is one of the best incarnations of the character. At the same time, I wish she would just dump Lex because I honestly can't understand why she's marrying him. She cares about him, but she doesn't love him and it's clear that she doesn't trust him (I don't think she believed him at all at the end, but I think she's resigned herself to the fact that he's going to keep things from her). I suppose the money's an angle, but she really doesn't seem to care about that. Furthermore, they've actually given her a storyline that's interesting but not dependent on her romantic feelings for either Lex or Clark. She wants to know Clark's mystery, yes, but that really is different from wanting to be with him. She can pursue that storyline without being tethered to Lex.

I think that Lana can adjust her thinking about Kryptonians based on Clark in the same way she's managed to adjust her thinking about meteor mutants based on thinking he was one. She knows that he's loved and protected her, that he's protected and saved others; his being Kryptonian won't erase that knowledge. I do, however think that if there's any impediment to a return to romantic Clark/Lana, then Lana learning the real nature of Clark's secret is it. Even in Reckoning I, she had some hesitation and there, she didn't know the full import of Clark's arrival, just how much and in what way that affected her own life. In other words, I don't think that learning Clark is Kryptonian would make Lana hate him, but I do think it might put the brakes on her wanting to be with him for a while. And while she's sorting out her feelings on that count is probably when his heart turns to Lois, thus setting up the dynamic wherein Lana decides she nevertheless wants Clark, but he's moved on.

ITA that Lex and Clark were both really awesome in this episode. They both felt very much like their iconic selves, especially Lex (Clark was a leetly shaky on the dismount with the laptop 'cause hi, merely suspecting someone of nefarious actions doesn't mean you get to break the law to ascertain whether your suspicions are right or not; this is why you grow up to be Superman, Clark, and not, you know, Batman or Green Arrow).

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Good point about Tobias being another example of a mutant with good intentions.

Are you really expecting Lana to marry Lex? I'm not spoiled on this point, but I think that horrible clunky encouragement from Chloe for Clark going to the wedding is to set up some awful The Graduate -esque scene at the wedding. I mean, I still haven't gotten around to watching the deleted scene from Scare (I really have to stop lending out my DVDs and not getting them back) but wasn't Lex's biggest nightmare in that scene Lana leaving him at their wedding? Or was it turned into marrying his mother--I haven't seen it, so I don't remember which was the actual scene and which was the leaked spoiler that turned out to be false.

Oh, I totally didn't even think of the fact that Clark was stealing when he stole the briefcase. Not very Supermanly!

[pep-singer.livejournal.com]

//I loved that Lana saying he was still the same Clark Kent, meteor powers or not. Will that carry over into knowledge that he's an alien, given her negative encounters with all the Kryptonians?//

Well, she might not think of Clark differently, but I've read in other places how that means that Clark and Lana could still be together, and I just don't buy it. Just knowing Lana's behavior and attitude, I think as time went on, she would have grown tired of Clark not being there *for her*.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

While for some reason Almiles have decided to revisit the Clana, I don't think that Lana learning the secret is suddenly going to remove the real obstacle to them being together, which is that Clark is fated to love Lois Lane. Even the show has acknowledged that. I think what is being set up is that Lana is going to become another of Clark's secret keepers--though I expect this won't happen until next season, at the earliest.

And of course, I've always found LaT's argument that Lana could never truly be happy with Clark, because she needs someone for whom she is the primary focus, to be a very compelling one.

[romanyg.livejournal.com]

I thought it was really cute that she went bowling with Chloe for her bachelorette party (and also VERY SLASHY--as was the fact that her fiance had her girlfriend best friend kidnapped and anal probed experimented on, as if she were Clark his rival.) I adore these cute Chlana bonding scenes.

There has *never*, until this season, been this much potential for Chlana. Even though they shared living quarter in S2 and S5, we never saw them be more than roommates really.

Also, the idea of Chloe as Clark-substitute on the lab table makes so much meta sense.

I've gone back and forth about Lana reversing her position on the mutants. It shows character growth, yes, but so much of it is still tied up with Clark. But I do like the parallel, with Lex in Vortex, that she's willing to kill to protect Tobias.

And what will Chloe's superpower be? The tech-savvy would be good since she's already exhibited that uncanny ability since the beginning of the series, also it would make sense in that TPTB are pushing her into the Oracle role already, a la Justice.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree this is definitely the season with the most potential for Chlana ever. YAY!! (Now if we could just persuade people to write it.)

The theory that Chloe's meteor power is her tech skills seems to be the most popular one, from reading people's reviews, but I honestly don't think that *needs* to be explained by a meteor ability, when she's been working on them for 6 years. I am not at all averse to Chloe becoming Oracle, however!

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

Lana is to Lex as season 1 Lex was to Lionel.

I noticed that as well. She's even about the age to be playing his role. Too bad people weren't as huggy and supportive of Lex as they will be to Lana when she starts to go dark. Because I doubt they would let Lana go all the way evil.

I also thought it was kind of funny... we don't know exactly what Lex is up to here, but if Clark and Chloe had let it be, Lex wouldn't have been tying up loose ends. It looked like he was just tracking them for when they eventually "went off." (Or that was what I figured at the beginning of the episode.) If he was going to keep them for experimentation, I suppose he would just do it. Which goes back to Lex only really keeping mutants behind closed doors who have done something dangerous or crossed him. Lex's relationship with Chloe is entirely offscreen, but I wonder how this new revelation reflects on Lex's previous decisions not to have her fired, arrested for B+E, killed, or tortured for Clark's secret. If he can wipe their memory, he could have done so already, though, with both Chloe and Lana.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Too bad people weren't as huggy and supportive of Lex as they will be to Lana when she starts to go dark.

Well, I think Lana's upbringing probably plays a role, too. She always had people who loved her. The longer the series goes on and the more backstory we get for young Lex, the more damaged he seems to have been even before he got to Smallville. I'm not sure that could have been fixed by hugs and support, even from Clark (and it's not like he never got support from Clark in seasons 1-3). I doubt, at least as long as Lionel was alive, he ever could have really broken free, at least in the canon-verse as opposed to the fanon-verse.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I finally made it to your review... aand all I have to say is that I'm still VERY CONFUSED about the show not taking the Chloe's-superpower-is-computerhacking path. ::frowns::

(It is early and I have not had my coffee.)

[slinkling.livejournal.com]

HA - that's really funny; I just saw this episode yesterday, and was telling my husband about some of the plot points today, and when I got to the part about Chloe being meteor-infected, he interrupted me with "Please tell me that her super-power is the ability to break into any secure computer system in the world with no apparent effort. Because that's the only thing that would make that make sense."

Great minds think alike, evidently. ;-)