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

[juxtoppozed.livejournal.com]

Oh sorry, commas are my friends heheh... I meant: what I was going through with Mortal, and with then then again regarding what Lex did to Lana in Promise. Both episodes, for me, impacted my view of Lex the way you describe above. (I just didn't go on about Mortal because I felt like it would make me a broken record (coming from my last entry)) As for the ambiguity, when the show didn't contradict Clark and Chloe in the next couple of eps (it's not their style imo to let something like that hang, they're pretty heavy handed about reveals) I knew they weren't going to reveal it as someone else's scheme...but yeah, Mortal and Promise were my "Progeny" so to speak :)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, I guess I would have been able to figure that out if I had read more carefully! I guess that since "Cyborg" I've felt that Lex had moved into villain territory, committing acts that were blatantly inexcusable. (And I do think Cyborg and subsequent eps made me reread Mortal as a definite plot by Lex, whereas when it first aired I thought it was still ambiguous).

Clearly, morally speaking, I'm no better than Clark and Chloe since it took Lex being a bastard to characters I actually care about for me to really hate him. :D

[juxtoppozed.livejournal.com]

Clark didn't actually know Cyborg though (he got to know him through the Lex-spurred crisis itself, when he was on the run) and I remember some being being mad that Clark went to chew Lex out (not to mention those times where the complaint is "Clark believes some stranger over Lex") The thing about Clark and his circle is...Lex didn't let them see that side of him until it hit them in the face. In Scare Clark still believed Lex's spiel about the projects being Lionel's, for instance. I think it's natural to review all the past ambiguities and mishaps when you get undeniable, in-your-face proof about a person.

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

In Scare Clark still believed Lex's spiel about the projects being Lionel's, for instance.

I've seen no evidence to suggest that the project in "Scare" wasn't one of Lionel's. And I remind you that, although Lex had been exposed to the virus later than the others, and thus had more time than the rest of them, he still chose to use an untested and potentially lethal vaccine on himself rather than using someone else as a lab rat. Not exactly 'evil' of him....