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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
Given the things Lex has seen with his own eyes, and the things he has learned through investigation, he has every reason to believe the Earth is threatened with imminent invasion by superpowered alien beings with vastly advanced technology. Given the overwhelming nature of this threat, Lex is clearly operating in crisis mode: he has to do everything possible to prepare the human race to face such an invasion, and he has to do it all as quickly as possible, since he has no idea when Zod, or someone like him, will reappear. And Lex is the one doing it because he's the only one who will -- the only one who has recognized this threat and been willing to step up to combat it.
Lex knows, as would anyone who'd stop to think about it, that any such alien invasion won't just target non-mutants. Moira and Chloe are in every bit as much danger as everyone else. This is their war, too, whether they want to acknowledge it or not; unless they somehow manage to sell out the rest of the human race to the invaders in return for being spared, they will be targets right along with Lex and his army and every civilian everywhere. So what Lex is doing is to their benefit as much as it is to every other human's. Lex is not 'taking advantage' of them -- he's trying to prepare them for war. Trying to help them survive.
Moreoever, with Moira, Lex did not begin with demands. He roused her from a catatonic state (for which most people would be grateful), and evidently explained that her powers were needed. Even if he didn't immediately bring up the coming alien invasion, it must have been made clear to her that a large number of the kryptonite mutants were demonstrably dangerous, and that her power could be a vast help in restraining them from harming innocent people. (Also, in Lex's experience, Moira's powers appear to be unique, which does leave her with a certain responsibility for her fellow human beings, since not just anyone can do what she can, which explains Lex's urgency in trying to recruit her help).
As far as Moira having 'committed no crime,' I remind you that, by the time Lex let the other mutant get physical with her, Moira had already caused Chloe to run Lex off the road and then bash him over the head in order to steal his flash drive, which was not only a serious crime (or, really, multiple serious crimes) but was highly likely to have left Lex injured or even dead. So it was Moira who first physically assaulted Lex, at a time when he had done nothing but wake her up and then insist on talking to her about something of vital importance rather than allowing her to simply walk out with an untested drug in her system and a power which could make her a serious threat to the public.
no subject
I'm sorry, you did not address any of my points or questions or issues with your line of reasoning. At all. You proceeded to construct the story in the most implausible and favorable light possible to Lex, irrespective of what we actually saw on screen, and minimizing his crimes beyond reason. What's more, you keep making assumptions about Lex's motivations, rights, his rights in terms of realizing his ambitions, and his right to do as he pleases with other sentient human beings.
Perhaps most importantly, all these motivations and intentions your attributing to Lex are your own, are not textual. Lana, too has been attacked by mutants and by aliens, I'm not going to go ahead and assign unsubstantiated/unspoken motivations to her actions. Lex could very well be developing this army to increase *his own* power. He's talked for more often and far more vehemently about securing power than this "protecting the world" fiction you're attributing to him. Even if he was sincere, it doesn't at all give him license to usurp people's rights. Why him? Why is he so special? His goals don't justify his inhumane methods, I don't care what they are or what you insist they are.
You're, quite frankly, Making Shit Up a lot of the time in the above account of the episode. Prime examples: "Even if he didn't immediately bring up the coming alien invasion, it must have been made clear to her that a large number of the kryptonite mutants were demonstrably dangerous, and that her power could be a vast help in restraining them from harming innocent people." He didn't frame it that way. At all.
and: "In short, Lex tried to recruit a woman who could have been of great assistance in saving the Earth...he was unable to convince her that protecting not just herself and her daughter, but everyone else as well, was more important than her personal anger with him for daring to ask her to step up and fulfill her responsibility to the rest of the human race." All this crap you say about the human race and saving it and the aliens? Was NOT in the episode.
Not that it would give him all the outrageous liberties you're endowing him with, anyway, because even if he did he still has no right to do this to the mutants or to Moira. He's kidnapping innocents that committed no crime. This "they're dangerous" crap by virtue of their identity means absolutely nothing, justifies nothing. It's tenuous, emotionally-driven witchhunting/scapegoating logic.
And this: "If Lex does, at some point, have to eliminate Chloe and/or Moira, I will not blame him -- he tried his best to save them, but he has greater responsibilities" is easily one of the most disturbing things I've ever read and seems straight out of a Third Reich propaganda handbook. Congratulations, you've succeeded in blowing my mind, so I'll just step out of this right now because I can't mask my disbelief and offense at this at. all.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2007-04-21 08:02 am (UTC)(link)By contrast, the people Lex is holding on an ongoing basis have committed serious crimes; Moira is the only one I can think of who might not have been guilty of anything beyond abusing her daughter...at least, up until she sent Chloe to endanger Lex's life by running him off the road.
Moreover, I have seen no gratuitous torture of Lex's captives. He has tested them, certainly, and no doubt pressured some, when necessary, but not beyond reason; so far as I saw, he did nothing unreasonable to Moira. And there's been tagging and sampling of other mutants who were then immediately released (presumably these are the mutants who have not yet harmed anyone), but clearly these subjects are not badly hurt, either, since they're returned to their homes with no traumatic memories and, evidently, no lingering physical pain. Hardly torture. Admittedly, in Chloe's case, it seemed as if she were at least partially conscious during the sampling process, but she didn't strike me as being in physical pain, and I suspect her case was an anomaly, since no practical purpose would likely be served by deliberately keeping the test subjects awake, and Lex has never shown any inclination to pointless sadism. (It is possible that Chloe's particular mutation rendered the usual anaesthic ineffective.)
As for Lex's motivations, they seem perfectly clear to me, given everything he has seen and discovered in the course of the series. It is, of course, your prerogative to see them differently. Sorry to blow your mind.
Last post, really this time.
Actually, Hitler and the Nazi party would beg to differ. They believed that these groups *were* actually dangerous and had to be used or eliminated, their enemies and "people in their way" eliminated, and using some of your very lines of reasoning. That's the point. You're justifying all that Lex is doing (using motivations he rarely if ever vocalized, to boot) based on dehumanizing a group of people and reducing them to his objects/tools See where I'm going with this? Using the acts of a few people to justify condemning, using, and exploiting an entire group of people wholesale is unethical and logically fallacious. I don't buy your logic of collective punishment, scapegoating, and re: the entitlement that we should allow "enlightened" folk who've pinpointed the "problem" and have come up with a final "solution". I've not even been convinced of their end to be any where near convinced of their inhumane means. Designating someone the "savior" of the human race, the only entitled and enlightened one, that can do as he pleases based on tenuous evidence and emotionality rings close to a lot of dictators' views of themselves. Flouting hundrefs of years of law and justice, who is Lex to be judge, jury, executioner, and military?
If you don't see what's wrong with what Lex has done with the people he's holding prisoner or seized--people like that kid or Chloe who were minding their own business and a threat to no one--then I've really learned more than I needed to learn this morning about how and why unspeakable atrocities still continue in the world. Don't apologize, obviously I'm still knee-deep in naive, sitting here thinking we've progressed past the point where things like this are still vehemently defended and even supported.
Re: Last post, really this time.
The vast majority of mutants on SV have been demonstrably dangerous; even Chloe and Clark acknowledge this, hence their dismay at discovering that Chloe is a mutant, and Chloe referring to herself as a time bomb. Even so, Lex doesn't simply lock up every mutant he can find. He tags and samples them, yes, and leaves them to peacefully awaken in their own beds the next morning, with no traumatic memories or physical aftereffects, to go happily about their own lives. How is this torture? And how is Lex supposed to find anything to cure those who want/need to be cured unless he does study the problem?
Given what we have seen on SV, Lex has held no one long-term unless that person has committed crimes and poses a threat to the public. (Again, recall the mutant farmer who was merely observed from a distance until Lex discovered he'd been enslaving and killing his workers, at which point Lex ordered him captured.) Would you prefer that dangerous people run loose, instead, to create more victims? Are you advocating anarchy?
As for why Lex is the one doing these things, as opposed to someone else -- I say again that he is the only one who has seen the problem and stepped up to deal with it. You might as well ask who appointed Clark to rescue people. Like Lex, if he sees the need, he steps in. Does that make him 'evil' by your standards, as well? Clark has certainly killed, if that's where you draw your line, and he has contribued to many people being locked up, as well. The fact that he lacks the means to establish his own holding facility is hardly relevant.
no subject
By contrast, the people Lex is holding on an ongoing basis have committed serious crimes; Moira is the only one I can think of who might not have been guilty of anything beyond abusing her daughter...at least, up until she sent Chloe to endanger Lex's life by running him off the road.
Moreover, I have seen no gratuitous torture of Lex's captives. He has tested them, certainly, and no doubt pressured some, when necessary, but not beyond reason; so far as I saw, he did nothing unreasonable to Moira. And there's been tagging and sampling of other mutants who were then immediately released (presumably these are the mutants who have not yet harmed anyone), but clearly these subjects are not badly hurt, either, since they're returned to their homes with no traumatic memories and, evidently, no lingering physical pain. Hardly torture. Admittedly, in Chloe's case, it seemed as if she were at least partially conscious during the sampling process, but she didn't strike me as being in physical pain, and I suspect her case was an anomaly, since no practical purpose would likely be served by deliberately keeping the test subjects awake, and Lex has never shown any inclination to pointless sadism. (It is possible that Chloe's particular mutation rendered the usual anaesthic ineffective.)
As for Lex's motivations, they seem perfectly clear to me, given everything he has seen and discovered in the course of the series. It is, of course, your prerogative to see them differently. Sorry to blow your mind.