Smallville 6.19 Progeny

[norwich36]

Edited to add: This review contains material that most would characterize as Lex bashing, so please read at your own discretion.

You know, I've been watching Smallville from the beginning, and Chloe and Lex have always been my favorite characters, and I never thought I could choose between them. But one thing I was certain of, and that was that I would always love both of them. I certainly never thought that Smallville could ever actually make me hate Lex.

Apparently I was wrong. I haven't felt this kind of passionate hatred toward an SV character since Lionel in "Shattered" and "Asylum." I'm sure I'll eventually recover my Lex love--I eventually forgave Lionel, after all, and I do like villains--just not when they're targeting characters I love. I honestly feel guilty, since all season I've been wanting Lex to be an effective villain, and he was nothing if not effective in this episode--downright masterful, really--and I found myself actually wanting Chloe to shoot him. And I was actually happy he got hurt when Clark saved him from the bullet.

Targeting Moira was brilliant, and the way he manipulated her and then the way he kept Chloe from releasing the story--grade A effective villainy. Not only that, but his desire to control Moira made sense--he feels he needs to control the mutants both to reduce their danger to society and to counter the alien threat--I could actually kind of see that in this episode. And I still wanted to crush his skull ever time he was gloating at Moira or Chloe.

ARGH. Cognitive dissonance!! I don't want to hate Lex! I wanted sexy villainy, not really evil villainy, dammit.

I don't actually have a lot else to say about the episode. It was a very effective piece of Chloe characterization; I loved getting to see how similar her 8-year-old self was to her adult self, both in her interest in the weird and her sharp perceptions of people. And it was, of course, heartbreaking to see her regain and lose her mom. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see what Chloe's meteor power was in this, but I loved that her mom didn't actually abandon her, but had herself committed just to protect Chloe.

When Lex played the motherless card as part of his attempt to manipulate Moira, I realized that at this point every single main character on SV has lost at least one parent, which just serves to reinforce the idea that it's not the loss, it's how you deal with it. And speaking of loss, I wonder how Lana's going to deal with her double loss--first losing the baby, and then losing all faith in Lex when she finds out there never was a baby. She told Clark "I'm going to come through this like I always do," and I actually hope that's true--and that she manages to wound Lex and Lionel on her way out. Look at me, rooting for Lana against Lex and Lionel! It's like the whole world has turned upside down or something.

P.S. I am UNSPOILED for future episodes and would really, really appreciate it if people are careful about what they say in the comments so that I can remain unspoiled.

Comments

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

eeep! i'm not watching this season because i so so hate what they're doing with lex (*cough*lexana*cough*), but you kinda made me want to watch this episode! chloe backstory yay! i'll probably just read the recap on television without pity though.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, it's very powerful to see it. I don't think I would have had such a visceral reaction to Lex being evil if I had just read a description of it.

[juxtoppozed.livejournal.com]

That sounds like what I was going through with Mortal and with what Lex did with Lana. I dislike Lana but that was beyond the pale. It was inhumane on every level and regardless of the target it's the type of thing that indelibly impacts my view of a character. It's one thing to hurt people you don't know or care about, it's another to do it the one you love or care about, to utterly break that person. It made me realize why they set up Lexana in the first place (since Clex can't be textual on the show and they wanted something stronger than Lex hurting a friend, they wanted to show what he'd be capable of doing to a lover/fiance/etc).

I do wish Chloe was more strident about forming a plan of action to get the story printed in the end though. I'm interested to see what Lex's next move is. Interestingly enough, I liked him in this episode in the sense that he was owning what he was.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

*Is confused* Isn't Mortal the episode where Lex tries to find out Clark's secret by sending the meteor mutants to the Kent house? I'm trying to remember what he did to Lana in that episode.

I think that when Mortal first aired, there was still some ambiguity about whether or not Lex actually set up that situation, at least for viewers who were still basically sympathetic to Lex.

[lastscorpion.livejournal.com]

As always this season, I taped the SV episode and watched Ugly Betty, so all I know so far is what I've seen on the internets -- if Moira's power was that she could control other mutants, how did Lex keep her from controlling him? Have they retconned away his mutant healing ability?

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

His mutant healing ability has never been canonically confirmed, as far as I recall. But yeah, I kept expecting that to happen and it didn't.

[shopfront.livejournal.com]

She had to have a personal object of theirs to control them, and she didn't have anything that belonged to Lex. That's what I've put it down to now, and also possibly that she isn't aware that Lex has mutant abilities, so she had no reason to try and swipe something to control him. Honestly? Probably clumsy writing/continuation, but I think it's actually reasonably solid reasoning if you put that aside and ignore that Chloe should know about Lex being a potential mutant, and could have thought to try and swipe something of his.

Although then I don't think the case file specified that Moira needed a personal object? Though I'm not sure, I'd have to rewatch and check. So Chloe would have had to know before Lex's men grabbed her, because her best bet probably would've been to go visit Lana and grab something from the mansion. I don't remember them having a chance to grab something of his after Chloe was kidnapped though.

Also, I could be a little fuzzy on the timeline, but I think he went to see Moira post-car accident and his face was healed, when it was cut up when he saw Lana that morning. I'd have to rewatch and double check, but I'm fairly sure it was cleanly healed, and there was a bandage-type thing there when he saw Lana so there was some kind of surface damage. I took that as Lex healing really quickly, because Moira had a short time-frame on being lucid.

[c-mantix.livejournal.com]

Much darker events have happened than they did in Progeny but, from my point of view, this was one of the darkest episodes of SV ever. Superficially, part of my reaction is due to Clark's flat-affect/pained support of Chloe and Chloe's hair being darker and her looking more mature.

Everything always feels inevitable on SV but in this episode it all felt ominous to the nth degree. *fears*

I want to hug all the characters now (except Lex who gets put in the corner for badbadbadness). And I think I may need a hug too. LOL!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, ominous is a really good description. It feels like everyone is locked into their positions, and something bad is going to happen next.

*Hugs*

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

When Lex played the motherless card as part of his attempt to manipulate Moira, I realized that at this point every single main character on SV has lost at least one parent, which just serves to reinforce the idea that it's not the loss, it's how you deal with it.
Well, how you personally deal with it and your support system afterward. I think Chloe's father protected her from the truth about her mother (what he knew anyway. It's hard to tell what Gabe knows when he's MIA for three years). Lois' dad had a hard time relating to his girls, but he didn't withdraw his love. Martha is suffering from Alheimers is just confusing, and I think if Clark had been younger losing his dad, he'd be pretty screwed. And Lionel... o.O

Oi! I'm relating Chloe and Lex more and more to each other. Moira may have thought she was protecting Chloe, but she was also hurting her a lot. I think I'm reading Moira a little differently than you are, but just from what we saw on screen, I think that both Lex and Chloe are sadly better off without their mothers having an active hand in their lives.

Not only that, but his desire to control Moira made sense--he feels he needs to control the mutants both to reduce their danger to society and to counter the alien threat--I could actually kind of see that in this episode.
I do like the continuity of plot, for sure. I think my belief that Lex has good motivation is why I haven't picked a side yet. I really should be angrier at him, but I'm not (I'm biased for both of them). Though I kind of want to kick him for his confrontation with Chloe at The Planet. Lex never bothers to explain himself, and no one ever really asks him why he does the things he does. Chloe should be asking him WHY WHY WHY, and Lex could definitely try to convince Chloe that his experiments are for the greater good. He gets no cookies for choosing to be mean and snarky rather than explain.

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

>I think that both Lex and Chloe are sadly better off without their mothers having an active hand in their lives.

i think you're right about that. moira was not a force for good, so to say.

reposting to fix typos

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I agree that Lex, unlike most of the other characters, didn't have a loving parent in his life after his mom died, but for me that can only excuse so much.

I'm going to refrain from ranting, because I have Martha issues, but I just have to disagree with you that Clark would have been screwed if Jonathan had died earlier. I do agree that Chloe was definitely better off without Moira, though I don't see her as a completely negative presence because the choice she made actually *did* protect Chloe (whereas the choice Lillian made probably made things worse for Lex, in the long run).

I understand that Lex probably thinks he's defending the earth from an alien invasion, but do you really think that would matter to Chloe, after he has experimented on her and blackmailed her mom? There's no way I'd buy anything he was selling, if that was me.

And even though I think Lex's motives are intelligible--and I'm glad they're actually giving him a motive rather than making him randomly evil--I still can't condone the means he is using. Even if there was a real alien threat (which the viewers know is probably not the case), torturing people, experimenting on them, holding them prisoner and coercing them into his service are not justifiable, in my book.

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

See, my reaction was just the opposite: I desperately wanted to bash Moira's and Chloe's heads in, and I was -- and am -- totally on Lex's side. He was perfectly reasonable in his offers to both of them, and he only got tough when he had to. If the war comes, I'm blaming it all on Chloe and her psycho mother.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I probably should have been more careful in my phrasing, since I really *don't* advocate violence, even fictional violence, and I know I get upset when people say they want my favorite characters to die, so I apologize for that.

I completely disagree with you that Lex's offer to Moira was reasonable, though. (I'm not quite sure what you mean by his offer to Chloe). He was holding her hostage and blackmailing her. He endangered her life by putting her in the holding cell with the superpowered mutant to get her to reveal her power, and tried to force her to bring another mutant back to his facility. Why on earth should she have trusted him or his intentions?

I'm not saying that Moira was a shining example of heroism--she was manipulating people to protect herself and her daughter. I find her actions intelligible but not laudable. She arguably endangered Chloe several times by controlling her from afar. I find actions understandable since I can see she felt she had no other recourse, but that doesn't mean I condone them.

In the same way, I can understand why Lex, fearing an imminent alien invasion, feels it necessary to create an army of mutants. His decision is intelligible--I can understand *why* he thinks he must do this, and I'm happy the writers are giving him an intelligible motive rather than making him generically evil--but I don't condone his actions, nevertheless. Kidnapping people, experimenting on them, blackmailing them, holding them against their will and in some cases torturing them are not justifiable behaviors, in my book. I don't condone them from my government officials when they excuse them by saying they need to torture people to defend our country, and I wouldn't be in favor of an involuntary draft, so I'm certainly not going to condone Lex's similar reasoning to justify the fact that he's using people against their will, endangering them and in some cases torturing them.

I'm still trying to figure out what you mean by his reasonable offer to Chloe. Threatening to imprison her? Threatening to do something worse than imprisonment?

[juxtoppozed.livejournal.com]

Hi, please forgive me and have patience with me for a few moments...I'm having trouble following your line of reasoning. So just bear with me.

You're honestly blaming Moira and Chloe for refusing to be cowed by Lex's demands, for refusing to allow Lex to define the remainder of her existence? For refusing to *allow* Lex to threaten and manipulate her while being held against her will, for refusing to divulge secrets about *herself* that she had every right to keep to herself, she deserved to be abused--locked in a cage with another mutant *ordered* by Lex to beat her--and is thus responsible for Lex's imminent war with using his illegally obtained and unethically assembled mutant army (who are essentially slaves themselves)? Moira, a private citizen, was in the wrong for not allowing herself to be used as a weapon by someone she had *no* reason to trust or believe?

Frankly, *we* the audience with the omniscient don't know what Lex's justification is for kidnapping, imprisoning, and torturing other private human beings, nor is that in any way a justifiable means to any of his ends. What makes *Lex* so special that this woman, a private woman who committed no crime, should submit her life and power to him? What gives him a right to hold her against her will and make demands of her, make "pick your poison" type offers? He had no right to see her powers, whether she knew she had them or not. Showing him, helping him, is her right, her decision, and hers alone.

Why are you giving *Lex* the right to define her parameters of existence? Is she not an autonomous being? Are not all the other mutants, for that matter? What kind of "offer" is being held against your will and used as a pawn or to see your own daughter/killed/have your daughter killed? I'm sorry, but this makes absolutely no sense to me.

It's analogous to blaming a concentration camp prisoner for REFUSING to comply with their captor's "offers", refusing to be (further) experimented on, exploited, used as labor/a tool in the side of the war that is *detrimental* to their to their own cause and hope for freedom.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

and I found myself actually wanting Chloe to shoot him.

Me too. All season I've felt sort of a disconnect with Lex's character, but in this episode he was everything I had been saying I wanted him to be - scary, effective, villainous, for once not self-pitying - and I hated it. I didn't - don't? - hate Lex quite as much as Lionel in Asylum, but it's very close.

Even if his motivation isn't entirely selfish - which this episode thankfully did nothing to contradict - I can't agree with his methods. I just can't. Smallville's textual Lex is a sociopath. I didn't like that implication in "Reunion", but now I can't help but agreeing.

It was one of the best episodes of the season, though. I mean, it was extremely effective, so it has to be. But I'm not sure I can take watching a whole season of this Lex.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

this episode he was everything I had been saying I wanted him to be - scary, effective, villainous, for once not self-pitying - and I hated it.

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

I'm not sure I can take watching a whole season of this Lex.

Yeah. This is why I'm concerned about the way the Lexana went. If they had made it a real romance (rather than Lex, apparently, trapping her into marrying him by creating the fake pregnancy), at least we could have continued to see the human side of Lex and that would have made it somewhat easier to watch. This was just....awful. I don't WANT to hate Lex.

At the very least, we need some eps solidly from within his POV so we can at least understand his motives or something.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

If I wanted to watch a whole season of this Lex, I would be watching "Dexter".

Lex needs a minion as a sound-off piece, so we can see what his motivation is. But it would have to be damn good to convince me to cut him some slack again. It would have to be smart and it would have to make sense.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, a minion would be good. Maybe Mercy or Hope?

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I'm rooting for Lana against Lex and Lionel too. But I think I retain the ability to totally love on Lex-the-villain since I spent much of this episode very happy that he is in this position--I just feel it's about damn time, and I liked the fact that it injected real tension between the protagonists--Chloe versus Lex? Awesome!

it's not the loss, it's how you deal with it
*nods* That's a good point, and a good reminder at this time.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, real tension. Dramatically, good, I get that.

(inner five year old)

WAAAH. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO CHOOSE SIDES. I don't want Lex to be a big meanie! He was mean to Chloe's mommy! That's not nice!!!

(/inner five year old)

Clearly I'm too emo about this for actual analysis or anything. :D

[huzzlewhat.livejournal.com]

I wasn't all that thrilled with the mechanics of the A-plot, but overall I thought that this episode was truly excellent in a lot of really core, fundamental, Supermannish ways. Because the war is starting, and Clark was wonderful and warm and caring, and Lex was chilling and scary and excitingly bad. The two antagonists were exactly what they needed to be. Smallville needs a really strong villain, and Lex certainly has stepped up to the plate that had been occupied by Lionel in earlier seasons.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, they're definitely falling into their iconic roles right now, and that is good to see.

[romanyg.livejournal.com]

I've voiced my concerns for Lex's increased villainy before. And when I posted my own review, I really didn't address that, except to say how much he's becoming Lionel's son in that regard.

But I do think that he's becoming increasingly unsympathetic. And that worries me, considering how much I write him, try to crawl into his head. Any redemption for him now, if at all, will happen in DCU not in SV.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I surprised myself, I think, at how mad I got at Lex in this episode. Usually I can distance myself more and enjoy him being a badass.

[ender24]

I am so glad, I didn't miss this post of yours, despite hardly reading meta anymore.
its been a blast reading through the comments and replies by jakrar and juxtoppozed :D

very interesting points being raised, but I guess, as you said, there are not just oceans but probably universes between certain philosophical POVs.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was quite a passionate debate, wasn't it? But I agree with you, there do seem to be universes between different people's POV on this subject.