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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.
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Moreover, and as I have said before, Lex is apparently locking up only those people who would otherwise be locked up by the authorities anyway for having committed crimes.
Just because the authorities should be locking them up anyway, doesn't give someone else the right to step in and try to do their job. There is a system for a reason, because no individual has the right to play God, and one person's view of what the authorities would or should lock someone up for, doesn't always tally with the majority of the rest of their society.
Not to mention, even though Moira believes she's abused her power with Chloe and she does highly questionable things when she feels cornered by Lex, there's no reason to believe that in canon Moira has done anything along those lines of being worthy of prosecution before Lex pushed her. Considering Lex's team has pulled innocent people, who are meteor infected but haven't done anything wrong, off the street (and the show isn't devoted to cateloguing each and every mutant Lex captures) I don't see that you can argue that every mutant Lex grabs is a good thing. We have dubious methods, we have a number of instances of Lex acting without the consent of the infected people involved, and we have him acting without any authority to do so. Perhaps you don't see damning evidence there, but I at least see room for doubt and for questioning.
I think there is validity in believing that a greater person or organisation should 'dirty' its hands for the greater good of all. I don't always agree with it, but I can see the reasoning behind it. However, surely there needs to be checks and limits in place, some kind of accountability, and authority given for these actions in the first place. I see none of that with Lex. And even if you believe absolutely in his good intentions, if he has the right to march in and do what he likes in his quest to save the world just because he is able to do it, then so does anyone else. There's no rules or reasoning that give him the right to do what he does other than that you trust his judgement and motives, and that makes him dangerous, because motives change. Judgement changes. There's no reason that anyone else, without the same motives you agree with, can't walk in there and do the same thing. That in and of itself put Lex's actions into question, in my book, because he will not submit to that kind of rules and believes himself above everyone else. Then to add morally dubious actions on top of it?
I dunno, I love Lex, and I can see why and where you're coming from because a part of me still wants woobie, good Lex and Clex and all that good stuff. But, objectively, he's doing some questionable things and he's doing them the wrong way. He's not good Lex anymore, even if he believes he's doing the right thing. The fact is, he's not just getting his hands dirty, he's slowly but surely causing some extensive harm, and he doesn't appear to be bothered by it. This isn't just a case of being willing to undermine your own ethics for the greater good, this is actually letting your ethics go. And when he's letting your ethics go, you have to question when his motives are going to change. 'The ends justifies the means' doesn't carry a whole lot of weight if one day you stop needing the justify those means. That's where Lex is getting dangerously close to.
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At the time Moira sent Chloe after Lex, all Lex had done was to awaken Moira from a catatonic state and ask for her help. No, he hadn't let her leave; she'd been given an experimental drug, and her powers were potentially dangerous even without the drug, so just letting her walk out would have been dangerous not only to her but to everyone around her. Yet Moira has Chloe run Lex off the road and then bash him over the head and steal his flashdrive; these are, in fact, serious crimes worthy of prosecution, committed at a time when Lex had in no way harmed or mistreated her.
The fact is, he's not just getting his hands dirty, he's slowly but surely causing some extensive harm, and he doesn't appear to be bothered by it.
Actually, we've seen indications that he is bothered by it. He has nightmares. He tells Lionel he's worried about being seen for who he really is. He tells Lana he prays that he doesn't get what he deserves. Lex is suffering the emotional consequences of his actions; he just can't afford to let his own pain stop him from doing what needs to be done. Which, in my book, is pretty heroic.
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Actually, that isn't canon. We don't know exactly what Moira told Chloe to do. She didn't tell Chloe to turn a gun on Lex to get out, and a command to get out for her own safety is a fairly morally safe thing to do. And yet, there was Chloe with a weapon pointed at Lex because he stood in her way. I wouldn't be surprised if Moira's instruction was more along the line of 'Lex Luthor is holding me hostage, find out where I am so you can get me out.' Or whatever.
The only nightmare I'm calling to mind is over the fake!baby? That's kind of a whole seperate issue with me and my opinion of Lex, and I can't see even the slightest excuse if he was behind Lana's fake pregnancy. As for what he's told Lana and Lionel, he doesn't really seem to have the most honest relationship with either. Actually, I'd hazard that his relationship with both seems to be more fraught with lies and manipulation than anything else. He doesn't even appear slightly remorseful during the actual doing of any of these things, and as the Lexana relationship has shown Smallville doesn't have a problem with showing beneath Lex's facade when he turns away from someone he's trying to fool, so I don't buy that he's just hiding his 'real' emotion behind a mask to get the job done. Actions speak louder than words, particularly when those words are to people you're rarely honest with. That's not heroic, that's just doing what you please because you can.