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Smallville 6.19 Progeny
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.
no subject
I was appalled at him keeping the mutants prisoner and experimenting on them. He believes there's an alien invasion? This to me doesn't justify what he's done. He could just as easily justify keeping *Clark* a prisoner with Green K and forcing him to use his abilities for his war, and that would sure not set well with me.
I hated seeing Lex turn into the person he's become, and I know canon demands all this, but it's very hard for a Clexer to continue watching. I do because I guess I'm a glutton for punishment ;) but I happily live in my own little world of AU Clexiness. ;) I approach the final episodes with trepidation and a growing sense of horror! Even Lana, who I am not particularly fond of, sure got a kick last night that *hurt*, and I felt sorry for her.
Next week's episode looks interesting, but knowing TPTB at SV, I'm not holding my breath that it won't be screwed up.
no subject
Yes, I agree with you about Lex easily justifying keeping Clark prisoner; in fact, it seems to me that his torture of Arthur and Victor and Bart symbolically represent torturing Clark, and his experimentation on Chloe is symbolically experimentation on Clark, too--and that can't be a good thing, from a Clex point of view.
I think Clexers are just going to have to do what they have always done: write AUs or stuff set in the past or the future. I still have a lot of investment in fanonical Lex, the one who gets redeemed, and I think the beauty of fanfic is we can always have that Lex, no matter how dark he goes in canon.
It will be nice to get an episode where Clark and Lex get lots of interaction (though let's not say too much more about the ep for folks who are trying to stay completely unspoiled).
no subject
You're right about Clexers having to write our own universe, past or future or AU. When I wrote my first Clex fic, it was very happy and still had some of Lex's darkness, but nowhere near what we've seen this season! I figure as the son of Lionel he's going to have *some* darkness somewhere! ;)