Voice of Reason: Season Five: Cyborg

Cyborg

Overall

After peaking at "Reckoning," this season seemed to plunge into a slump, almost as if it had exhausted the ability to evoke emotion. Although "Tomb" was a relief from "Vengeance" and wove its dark atmosphere with success, neither episode contained any strongly compelling dilemmas or characters to take away with you: once I turned off the TV, both episodes faded away. This episode did not appear from the description to be anything new, and, considering we'd had two disappointingly hollow results from guest writers, my hopes were not high for "Cyborg".

I was pleasantly surprised.

Although the episode contains some important plot points, the highlight of "Cyborg" was not the plot, but the refreshingly real relationships. Not only did Caroline Dries succeed in comprehending the rhythm and pulse of Smallville episodes, she managed to capture something that has eluded both guest writers and regular writers – character. Clark and Victor developed amidst life-threatening incidents a unique and real relationship – unquestioning and uncurious about each others' powers, reading each others' thoughts, and caring about the same things. They understood each other. And we knew they did, even though they didn't have a long talk about it. Clark and Lana encountered a hitch in their relationship, smoothed slightly by Victor's successful crossing of the bridge where they halted. Lana didn't say anything accusing, Clark didn't say anything defensive, but there was an unspoken conversation in which Lana pled with him and Clark was wrenched with fear. And that wordless communication was more powerful than all the verbal battles and vocalized frustration this season.

Even Martha and Lionel's scenes were improved. Every Martha-Lionel scene since "Fanatic" has been exactly like every other scene - "I'm here, Martha…" and "If you ever need anything…" repeated endlessly. While incorporating that angle, Caroline Dries recognized the dynamics of their relationship better than any other writers for two years. "Nothing I can't handle." "Oh, I don't doubt that for a minute." In previous episodes, Lionel treated Martha as the unfortunate damsel, running out of money, dealing with Jonathan's career, losing Jonathan, etc. He desperately wanted to rescue her and have her lean on him. This time, he respected her. He admired her strength and capability. This relationship was much closer to the one they formed in Season Two.

Not every character was perfect. Lex, appearing to be constantly bored, flipflopped between a casual pretense of seriousness bordering on mockery, and utter flippancy. Sometimes Caroline Dries achieved her adherence to personality by having a character repeat a line of dialogue we'd all heard before (Moments j and l). And Martha's wisdom was in doubt when she failed to disclose the blackmail situation to Clark, who would need to be especially careful about his powers with someone watching him.

The plot had the opposite problem. It was not difficult to believe, but far too easy. We conjectured from the start that Lionel had sent the DVD, especially with his convenient appearances; Chloe always finds out that the object in question is related to LuthorCorp; and when Cyborg was retaken, we knew that Clark would burst in and make a last-second, special-effects rescue. Up until the last line, there were no surprises.

Nevertheless, "Cyborg" is a refreshing change. Faced with a choice between a clever plot with unexpected twists mapped out on a chart, or a simple plot portrayed by characters that live, I would choose the characters any time.

Verdict: 7

Good/Bad Moments

Caroline did a wonderful job at portraying Cyborg's wry sense of humor in dealing with heartbreaking circumstances. Never did we question his pain, but neither did we question his ability to make light of things with drastic understatements. "You should be dead." "Wouldn't be the first time."
This time, Lana's first reaction is to call Clark. Not Lex. This episode was so much more believable in terms of character.
As soon as Martha began watching the DVD, we were confident that it revealed something about Clark and that Lionel had sent it. They should have gone ahead and shown the whole video for greater impact here, because by the time they showed it we'd already figured it out, making it anticlimactic. Also, we've all become immune to "leave you hanging" issues, after all the loose threads of Season Four.
"How'd you get here so fast?" It was a good touch that Lana noticed Clark's speed. It's the little things like this, or like Chloe's papers blowing away on his arrival, that remind us of the practical issues of having powers.
"You're not the only one who drinks a lot of milk." This was a great line, meeting Cyborg on his own ground. He earned the courtesy of "no questions" by pointing out Cyborg's reticence and at the same time earned Cyborg's respect...all with humor. If only we could be this proud of Clark all the time.
"I've kinda got this thing with being experimented on." Wait until you meet your mother's best friend. (As my brother pointed out, sometime in the near future Clark will be upset when Martha displays loyalty to Lionel, and Martha will protest, "Clark, Lionel's done nothing but help us. I know you're upset, but he was there when..." "When Dad wasn't." Martha realizes. "Oh, Clark..." I really hope we can avoid that conversation.)
The relationship between Clark and Victor was excellently done. They understood each other, shared each other's grief, without stepping past the line of male reticence.

So much was conveyed without words.

It was good for Clark to have a male to hang out with. This was an episode about the guys, and, unlike "Aqua", it showed how important it is to the show that Clark have a male to communicate wordlessly with. Deprived of Jonathan, Pete, and Lex, who talked about girlfriends, dilemmas, and life from the male perspective ("...already she she's sneaking into your bedroom, posting pictures in your locker, and practically asking the parents to book the wedding chapel. What's your secret, Clark?"), the bulk of Clark's interaction is with potential love interests. The ending of "Forever" when he walked off between Lana and Chloe said it all...or at least made us say it all for him. ("Grow up.") If he's going to become a man, as I hope he is, he needs to be interacting with the guys.
"So what's he going to do, keep lying to her and hope she doesn't notice how different he is?" This slightly resembled Lex's problem above, but it had crucial differences. First, Lana's voicing the female point of view in a boyfriend-girlfriend dilemma. It's a believable response, even if she didn't happen to be in the same dilemma. Second, after Lana had finished, she suddenly realized what she had said and how applicable it was. Kristin Kreuk's subtle acting kept this from being obvious and slapstick - we all know how it is to say something passionately, then in the following silence realize how appropriate or inappropriate it really was.
"We need to talk!" "And you need to work on your entrance, Clark." They've already used this scenario so many times. Clark's melodramatic entrances became a joke in the otherwise serious "Legacy" (when he burst in shouting "You betrayed me!" everyone in our house laughed and groaned), and they've been resented ever since Season Two, when he first decided to discard all semblance of courtesy. The answer to Judgmental Clark is not to have Lex mock his rudeness, or have someone groan, "Here we go again!" – it's to make him more courteous and less judgmental.
"Lex has done a lot of things [I don't agree with], but I [don't think/can't believe] he would [go this far/do anything illegal/do something like this]." We've heard a lot of variations of this line.
Clark tackles two guys with guns and sends them running, and Lana stays conscious. I was impressed. In all fairness, her mystification with Clark's powers is quite understandable, and her gentle, fearful questions toward the end were heartrending - it's just that all this comes on the heels of Season Four and its soapish Lana obsessed with secrets and lies. I didn't mind this episode's Lana - I did mind the Lana of "Splinter" and "Fanatic". It's different when she
a) knows without a doubt that Clark has powers and other secrets about himself that he won't share with her, and
b) is troubled because she loves him (not, as it occasionally seems, because she hates him).
"…not Lex's style." We've heard Chloe give variations of this line, too.
"The heart has a way of clouding one's better judgment." Characters with issues should never articulate their own issues. This was a good summary of Lex's problem and insecurity, but it should have been used in the writer's room and breathed through Lex's every move, not stated onscreen by Lex himself. This was reminiscent of "It's a stepping stone" in "Fanatic".
"You want me to relax, put away the drill!" This was another sampling of understated humor. I love the subtlety of this - it wasn't contrived at all.
"Nice tackle." Clark has just burst into the room and beaten up a doctor about to inject a mind-controlling substance into his temple, and Cyborg comes out with this. I liked that. It's been a long time since Smallville's mastered the balance of being offbeat without being slapstick.
Cyborg and Clark, without missing a beat, calmly jump off the roof. This was part of the bonding experience and the teamwork relationship - perfect.
"You're a hero, Kent." A lot of this had been done before, in "Aqua"...but it was much better this time around.
The scene as Lana and Clark watched their relational dilemma play out to an unknown ending was compelling. It wasn't overdone.
The final discussion between Lana and Clark was the most compelling discussion they've had about Clark's secret in the history of Smallville. Lana actually asked him to tell her the truth - and she didn't accuse, question suspiciously, cast blame or put on pressure. She wasn't jealous of his secret and she wasn't angry with him. Instead she was worried that he had become disenchanted with her, fallen out of love, and didn't think enough of her to tell her the truth. Lana has been abandoned and betrayed by everyone. It's heartwrenchingly believable that she would have that fear, and admirable that she would overcome it enough to be straightforward and non-defensive. Her two questions - asking him to tell her the truth, and asking him if he still loved her - were incredibly vulnerable. Lana was heartbroken; Clark was sad. My favorite discussion-of-Clark's-powers scene this season - even though the discussion was one-sided, his silence said enough.
Good ending montage – opera music in the background, Martha watching the DVD melt in the fireplace, Lionel paying his henchman. It seemed to connect them. (Far more, in fact, than the scenes when they were together.) The only drawback was that we, or I, associate those montages with revelations, while there was nothing surprising about DVD melting or henchman paying – certainly not like the episode that ended with Lionel pointing a gun at himself with opera music playing (“Crisis”).
"Don't worry. You're safe with me…Kal-El." Apparently my logical reasonings in "Hidden" and "Vengeance" why Lionel's behavior wasn't warped by Jor-El were for naught. Perhaps Jor-El's emotions and relationships affect Lionel regarding only Clark. Whatever the explanation, it is all unclear, in the same way that the "hot potato" game with the stones was unclear last season. (That's a bad thing. Remember Lionel proclaiming "She is the Chosen One"?) It's also borrowing from last season's gimmick – the familiar "changed man" after being possessed by a Kryptonian. But the season's not over yet, and hopefully they have a concrete plan for this character warp.

Details

Glen Winter did an excellent job at directing this episode. So did the gaffer, whoever it was - the lighting combined with the cinematography made for some great shots.
Kristin Kreuk's driving was a bit odd. Nobody drives with both hands on top of the wheel.
If jumping from that building made the cement crumble, I want to know how Clark landed in "Hidden".

In "Cyborg"...

In "Hidden".
How did the warehouse video survive? This isn't necessarily a goof, just a question. Perhaps we're supposed to assume that the destroyed camera fed its information into a computer that wasn't in the warehouse.
The first time Lex addressed Clark's habit of barging in and complaining or accusing loudly (in "Jinx"), he did it calmly and amusedly, perhaps a little dryly. This time he was flippant and mocking. According to "Lexmas" and in keeping with the first three seasons, Lex wants it all, friendships included. According to previous seasons, he's needed Clark's relationship for a long time – he looked to Clark like a brother, like the brother he lost. ("You're like the younger brother I never had.") He also craved a relationship with his father and involvement in family affairs. At times he was "heartless", but never really: he was always driven to do the heartless deed by desperation from childhood issues. To jump from that to his constantly mocking Clark, coolly trumping his father, and experimenting with mind control doesn't make sense. We never saw anything to trigger this change of heart, but we are being shown the effects as if we are supposed to understand why they are there. We've gone from a Lex who is desperately torn to a Lex without any inner conflict whatsoever.
It looked like Victor was going to pick Catherine up, but realized that she was too tall.




Cyborg Overall After peaking at "Reckoning," this season seemed to plunge into a slump, almost as if it had exhausted the ability to evoke emotion. Although "Tomb" was a relief from "Vengeance" and wove its dark atmosphere with success, neither episode contained any strongly compelling dilemmas or characters to take away with you: once I turned off the TV, both episodes faded away. This episode did not appear from the description to be anything new, and, considering we'd had two disappointingly hollow results from guest writers, my hopes were not high for "Cyborg". I was pleasantly surprised. Although the episode contains some important plot points, the highlight of "Cyborg" was not the plot, but the refreshingly real relationships. Not only did Caroline Dries succeed in comprehending the rhythm and pulse of Smallville episodes, she managed to capture something that has eluded both guest writers and regular writers – character. Clark and Victor developed amidst life-threatening incidents a unique and real relationship – unquestioning and uncurious about each others' powers, reading each others' thoughts, and caring about the same things. They understood each other. And we knew they did, even though they didn't have a long talk about it. Clark and Lana encountered a hitch in their relationship, smoothed slightly by Victor's successful crossing of the bridge where they halted. Lana didn't say anything accusing, Clark didn't say anything defensive, but there was an unspoken conversation in which Lana pled with him and Clark was wrenched with fear. And that wordless communication was more powerful than all the verbal battles and vocalized frustration this season. Even Martha and Lionel's scenes were improved. Every Martha-Lionel scene since "Fanatic" has been exactly like every other scene - "I'm here, Martha…" and "If you ever need anything…" repeated endlessly. While incorporating that angle, Caroline Dries recognized the dynamics of their relationship better than any other writers for two years. "Nothing I can't handle." "Oh, I don't doubt that for a minute." In previous episodes, Lionel treated Martha as the unfortunate damsel, running out of money, dealing with Jonathan's career, losing Jonathan, etc. He desperately wanted to rescue her and have her lean on him. This time, he respected her. He admired her strength and capability. This relationship was much closer to the one they formed in Season Two. Not every character was perfect. Lex, appearing to be constantly bored, flipflopped between a casual pretense of seriousness bordering on mockery, and utter flippancy. Sometimes Caroline Dries achieved her adherence to personality by having a character repeat a line of dialogue we'd all heard before (Moments j and l). And Martha's wisdom was in doubt when she failed to disclose the blackmail situation to Clark, who would need to be especially careful about his powers with someone watching him. The plot had the opposite problem. It was not difficult to believe, but far too easy. We conjectured from the start that Lionel had sent the DVD, especially with his convenient appearances; Chloe always finds out that the object in question is related to LuthorCorp; and when Cyborg was retaken, we knew that Clark would burst in and make a last-second, special-effects rescue. Up until the last line, there were no surprises. Nevertheless, "Cyborg" is a refreshing change. Faced with a choice between a clever plot with unexpected twists mapped out on a chart, or a simple plot portrayed by characters that live, I would choose the characters any time. Verdict: 7 Good/Bad Moments Caroline did a wonderful job at portraying Cyborg's wry sense of humor in dealing with heartbreaking circumstances. Never did we question his pain, but neither did we question his ability to make light of things with drastic understatements. "You should be dead." "Wouldn't be the first time." This time, Lana's first reaction is to call Clark. Not Lex. This episode was so much more believable in terms of character. As soon as Martha began watching the DVD, we were confident that it revealed something about Clark and that Lionel had sent it. They should have gone ahead and shown the whole video for greater impact here, because by the time they showed it we'd already figured it out, making it anticlimactic. Also, we've all become immune to "leave you hanging" issues, after all the loose threads of Season Four. "How'd you get here so fast?" It was a good touch that Lana noticed Clark's speed. It's the little things like this, or like Chloe's papers blowing away on his arrival, that remind us of the practical issues of having powers. "You're not the only one who drinks a lot of milk." This was a great line, meeting Cyborg on his own ground. He earned the courtesy of "no questions" by pointing out Cyborg's reticence and at the same time earned Cyborg's respect...all with humor. If only we could be this proud of Clark all the time. "I've kinda got this thing with being experimented on." Wait until you meet your mother's best friend. (As my brother pointed out, sometime in the near future Clark will be upset when Martha displays loyalty to Lionel, and Martha will protest, "Clark, Lionel's done nothing but help us. I know you're upset, but he was there when..." "When Dad wasn't." Martha realizes. "Oh, Clark..." I really hope we can avoid that conversation.) The relationship between Clark and Victor was excellently done. They understood each other, shared each other's grief, without stepping past the line of male reticence. So much was conveyed without words. It was good for Clark to have a male to hang out with. This was an episode about the guys, and, unlike "Aqua", it showed how important it is to the show that Clark have a male to communicate wordlessly with. Deprived of Jonathan, Pete, and Lex, who talked about girlfriends, dilemmas, and life from the male perspective ("...already she she's sneaking into your bedroom, posting pictures in your locker, and practically asking the parents to book the wedding chapel. What's your secret, Clark?"), the bulk of Clark's interaction is with potential love interests. The ending of "Forever" when he walked off between Lana and Chloe said it all...or at least made us say it all for him. ("Grow up.") If he's going to become a man, as I hope he is, he needs to be interacting with the guys. "So what's he going to do, keep lying to her and hope she doesn't notice how different he is?" This slightly resembled Lex's problem above, but it had crucial differences. First, Lana's voicing the female point of view in a boyfriend-girlfriend dilemma. It's a believable response, even if she didn't happen to be in the same dilemma. Second, after Lana had finished, she suddenly realized what she had said and how applicable it was. Kristin Kreuk's subtle acting kept this from being obvious and slapstick - we all know how it is to say something passionately, then in the following silence realize how appropriate or inappropriate it really was. "We need to talk!" "And you need to work on your entrance, Clark." They've already used this scenario so many times. Clark's melodramatic entrances became a joke in the otherwise serious "Legacy" (when he burst in shouting "You betrayed me!" everyone in our house laughed and groaned), and they've been resented ever since Season Two, when he first decided to discard all semblance of courtesy. The answer to Judgmental Clark is not to have Lex mock his rudeness, or have someone groan, "Here we go again!" – it's to make him more courteous and less judgmental. "Lex has done a lot of things [I don't agree with], but I [don't think/can't believe] he would [go this far/do anything illegal/do something like this]." We've heard a lot of variations of this line. Clark tackles two guys with guns and sends them running, and Lana stays conscious. I was impressed. In all fairness, her mystification with Clark's powers is quite understandable, and her gentle, fearful questions toward the end were heartrending - it's just that all this comes on the heels of Season Four and its soapish Lana obsessed with secrets and lies. I didn't mind this episode's Lana - I did mind the Lana of "Splinter" and "Fanatic". It's different when she a) knows without a doubt that Clark has powers and other secrets about himself that he won't share with her, and b) is troubled because she loves him (not, as it occasionally seems, because she hates him). "…not Lex's style." We've heard Chloe give variations of this line, too. "The heart has a way of clouding one's better judgment." Characters with issues should never articulate their own issues. This was a good summary of Lex's problem and insecurity, but it should have been used in the writer's room and breathed through Lex's every move, not stated onscreen by Lex himself. This was reminiscent of "It's a stepping stone" in "Fanatic". "You want me to relax, put away the drill!" This was another sampling of understated humor. I love the subtlety of this - it wasn't contrived at all. "Nice tackle." Clark has just burst into the room and beaten up a doctor about to inject a mind-controlling substance into his temple, and Cyborg comes out with this. I liked that. It's been a long time since Smallville's mastered the balance of being offbeat without being slapstick. Cyborg and Clark, without missing a beat, calmly jump off the roof. This was part of the bonding experience and the teamwork relationship - perfect. "You're a hero, Kent." A lot of this had been done before, in "Aqua"...but it was much better this time around. The scene as Lana and Clark watched their relational dilemma play out to an unknown ending was compelling. It wasn't overdone. The final discussion between Lana and Clark was the most compelling discussion they've had about Clark's secret in the history of Smallville. Lana actually asked him to tell her the truth - and she didn't accuse, question suspiciously, cast blame or put on pressure. She wasn't jealous of his secret and she wasn't angry with him. Instead she was worried that he had become disenchanted with her, fallen out of love, and didn't think enough of her to tell her the truth. Lana has been abandoned and betrayed by everyone. It's heartwrenchingly believable that she would have that fear, and admirable that she would overcome it enough to be straightforward and non-defensive. Her two questions - asking him to tell her the truth, and asking him if he still loved her - were incredibly vulnerable. Lana was heartbroken; Clark was sad. My favorite discussion-of-Clark's-powers scene this season - even though the discussion was one-sided, his silence said enough. Good ending montage – opera music in the background, Martha watching the DVD melt in the fireplace, Lionel paying his henchman. It seemed to connect them. (Far more, in fact, than the scenes when they were together.) The only drawback was that we, or I, associate those montages with revelations, while there was nothing surprising about DVD melting or henchman paying – certainly not like the episode that ended with Lionel pointing a gun at himself with opera music playing (“Crisis”). "Don't worry. You're safe with me…Kal-El." Apparently my logical reasonings in "Hidden" and "Vengeance" why Lionel's behavior wasn't warped by Jor-El were for naught. Perhaps Jor-El's emotions and relationships affect Lionel regarding only Clark. Whatever the explanation, it is all unclear, in the same way that the "hot potato" game with the stones was unclear last season. (That's a bad thing. Remember Lionel proclaiming "She is the Chosen One"?) It's also borrowing from last season's gimmick – the familiar "changed man" after being possessed by a Kryptonian. But the season's not over yet, and hopefully they have a concrete plan for this character warp. Details Glen Winter did an excellent job at directing this episode. So did the gaffer, whoever it was - the lighting combined with the cinematography made for some great shots. Kristin Kreuk's driving was a bit odd. Nobody drives with both hands on top of the wheel. If jumping from that building made the cement crumble, I want to know how Clark landed in "Hidden". In "Cyborg"... In "Hidden". How did the warehouse video survive? This isn't necessarily a goof, just a question. Perhaps we're supposed to assume that the destroyed camera fed its information into a computer that wasn't in the warehouse. The first time Lex addressed Clark's habit of barging in and complaining or accusing loudly (in "Jinx"), he did it calmly and amusedly, perhaps a little dryly. This time he was flippant and mocking. According to "Lexmas" and in keeping with the first three seasons, Lex wants it all, friendships included. According to previous seasons, he's needed Clark's relationship for a long time – he looked to Clark like a brother, like the brother he lost. ("You're like the younger brother I never had.") He also craved a relationship with his father and involvement in family affairs. At times he was "heartless", but never really: he was always driven to do the heartless deed by desperation from childhood issues. To jump from that to his constantly mocking Clark, coolly trumping his father, and experimenting with mind control doesn't make sense. We never saw anything to trigger this change of heart, but we are being shown the effects as if we are supposed to understand why they are there. We've gone from a Lex who is desperately torn to a Lex without any inner conflict whatsoever. It looked like Victor was going to pick Catherine up, but realized that she was too tall. © Voice of Reason, 2007