Lockdown

Overall

Steven S. DeKnight continued his winning streak with this episode. The paths of the characters, the paths of the story, and the paths of our emotions were expertly channeled in an episode that held infinite danger and infinite promise. He has delivered the most complete episodes of the season.

The directing, acting, and production also excelled, perfectly actualizing DeKnight's concepts. This episode shot past "Fanatic" and delivered a product that was like a miniature movie: great and subtle emotion in the characters, beautiful camera shots, flawless music binding the scenes together, and exactly the right impact when Jonathan slams his axe or the helicopter bursts in front of the screen. This episode contained the most "Oh my gosh, this is good" moments since "Hidden."

We were emotionally invested in the characters, not because the writing dwelled on filler conversations, but because we saw how they reacted when they were driven into a corner and forced to make a decision. (Lex, Lana, Jonathan, Clark…) The action was packed tight, sometimes contained in a few lines, instead of being inflated into a filler scene – and that was all we needed. Less is more.

Not to say that they neglected anything. The story touched on all the issues we needed. Even with such a fast pace and personal focus on Lana and Lex, it covered Jonathan's campaign, Martha's feelings about the check, Lois's maturing and struggle about the check, introduced the threat of Lionel, and featured Chloe doing something other than listening to Clark and typing on her Daily Planet computer (although she does those, too). And while covering these issues, the scenes were not "boxes checked off" scenes – they included all the strong personalities and the peculiarities of their dilemmas. (Lois unsure whether to tell Jonathan, telling Jonathan, apologizing and having Martha stop her after Martha tells Jonathan – full of characteristic detail. Or Lana and Lex bonding in the panic room, Lana sweet again, Lex vulnerable again. The bond established was believable because it was forged by going through things together.) They even showed the psychiatrist's videotape of Flynn, not to mention how Clark and Chloe got in, switching from cute comedy to solemnity without a hitch. Not only that, but the fate of Sheriff Adams was not rushed but introduced, played out, and concluded so that we felt the full impact. In forty minutes, this episode packed in three times the action of last week and still gave the characters space to live.

There were only a few things I would have changed about this episode. One of them was the fact that, as always, Clark is wronging Lex. He acts suspicious and badmouths Lex, while Lex is seen to deeply miss him, to think about him a lot. I'm glad Lex was himself again, believable again – the needy, wistful kid under the business-like exterior, as an emotionally abused and very needy person who wanted family and friends would be. That was very real. But Clark was not believable as himself, as his character. He was harsh, judgmental, and unreasoning, three things he never is with anyone else and really shouldn't be toward Lex. He should have a soft spot for Lex – he saw the terrible neediness closer than anyone else. The problem, however, although still an obstacle, was much better handled than it was in "Fanatic".

Another thing I would have changed is the theme of "I can't believe he/she has been lying to me all this time!" It seemed that at every turn someone was making a mountain out of a molehill. ("Why would you keep this from me?" "She's got a detailed drawing from LuthorCorp. She's been lying to me for weeks." "Lex, how could you lie to me this entire time?") The things they were talking about were not life-altering issues – at least, not the first two. They were inflating small things into great importance, and letting those things skew their relationships. Only people on TV do this, and then only some, the ones who aren't as lifelike as they could be. As Marissa told Gary on Early Edition, "It's called 'having a family'." Life isn't perfect and people aren't going to read our minds and do everything to please us. We deal with it and recognize that we're all fallible – we don't make issues out of it and start throwing accusations around. (At least, most of the time.) The Kents are too functional for that. This season has Clark embracing his dysfunction.

And, finally, Annette O' Toole continued sighing through this episode. I didn't like the "black and white" comment coming from her, and definitely not the sighs.

However, the improvements – the life of the characters, the pulse of the story, and the believably tangled relationships – far outweighed the minor difficulties. Lex was himself. Lana was herself. Jonathan was himself. That's an amazing improvement. This episode ties with "Hidden" for best-written – therefore favorite – episode of the season.

Verdict: 9.88

Good/Bad Moments

1. I was startled when Lex dove into the panic room. I don't remember that it was there in "Splinter," which was when it would have come in handy, but it was definitely a good choice to introduce it in this episode. This moment reminded me of Season Three's "Shattered," when he saw the laser beam tracking him and dove behind the desk as the first shot was fired.
   
2. "At the risk of stating the obvious, whatever game you think you're playing, it's over." I liked it that he kept his cool demeanor in communicating with Flynn. His acting here was perfect: previous cool lines have been spoken with that amused, pursed-lipped smile that contradicted his hard eyes, very unmoved. (Aqua, Exposed…) This episode stripped down the hardened exterior and let us see Lex again. And it was not only moving…moments like these were fun.
3. It was reminiscent of "Jitters" as Flynn angrily addressed the camera, Lex was a hostage, Flynn shot the camera, etc.
   
4. Lana doesn't want to study, and exclaims ironically, "Sorry, wouldn't want you to be late for class!" Although Lana regained her sweetness in this episode, this moment was a bit odd for a girl who formerly was always reading.
5. "Why would you keep this from me?" "Because, Clark, every time I try to bring up the ship I saw you change the subject." "'Just don't think there's any point in dwelling on it." "I saw what came out of that ship. I watched them kill all those police officers. I almost died, and all you can say to me is 'There's no point in dwelling on it'?" Lana played a very good role here, and it was very well acted. Clark's behavior is unreasonable, and without making up a list of accusations – instead making the issue about her – Lana demonstrates the strangeness of his attitude regarding the situation. This was a well-written, well-delivered dialogue.
6. "I turned to Lex because he wants to find out the truth, not avoid it." Again, a good line. Without making frantic accusations, she calls him on something that I've found to be glaringly false in Clark – an avoidance of the truth. In previous seasons, Clark has spent his days in the caves, carried around books from the library on symbols, memorized the cave paintings, studied diagrams of where Krypton should be, stood studying the spaceship in the storm cellar, trying to find his identity in things from his planet, the world he came from. It should be Clark who's carrying around the diagrams of the spaceship – and he shouldn't be shrinking away from the idea and trying to pretend that his past and heritage (that he went to Virgil Swann to learn about) are unsavory secrets, skeletons in the closet.
7. "Spaceship. Tried the amusement park? Think they have one you can ride for a dollar." More Lex humor under pressure. "You do realize how crazy you sound right now."
8. It was a good concept to give Flynn the burnt hand. It too hearkened back to "Jitters," when Earl stared at his trembling hand – a physical reason driving them to find the truth.
9. "I was there. I was part of the sheriff's response team that got wiped out. I was under my cruiser, half dead. I saw you roll up with your equipment, and your men. You didn't even bother to see if anyone was still alive. All you cared about was hauling that ship away." He painted a vivid picture. It would have been great if they'd shown it.
10. Camera zooms in on the screen showing the scrambler, Lex stares at it. This was perfect – they didn't waste any words on it, and in case you didn't understand they explained it later, with Lana, in a way that wasn't "table-dusting". But you understand that whatever he is looking at, that is what is stopping him.
11. "Mom, I can't imagine ever loving anyone else." Lois pulls up. This was good storytelling.
12. Beautiful shot as Lana is driving down the road at night – we see the misty road and the sky, then her headlights appear.
    
13. Nice touch that Lana was talking to Chloe about her incident with Clark. It increased believability – you could definitely understand girlfriends talking over a relationship issue. It also appealed to your imagination - you can imagine the quandary that Chloe is in, on the other end.
14. "Don't worry, Lana. I'm not going to let this psycho hurt you." Looking at her meaningfully. Lana takes the opportunity to assault Flynn, and there's a camera shot of Lana and Lex kicking Flynn and the fiancée. That camera shot spoke volumes about the teamwork that was starting.
15. "Ugh…You all right? Are you hurt?" "I'm okay." "I warned you knowing about that ship would be dangerous." Lex goes limp and collapses on Lana. This was the perfect way to show that he was shot. It would have been too hurried if he had come in covered in blood – we wouldn't have had time to process it. Instead they reinforced the teamwork element and Lex's worry about Lana, plus his strength to keep fighting those extra seconds, before revealing that he's hurt. We got the full impact then. Even though I'd seen the preview with Lex bloodied and unconscious, when he collapsed and I realized he'd been hit I was shocked.
      
16. "Look, I wonder if all you nice people would mind…" All you nice people? That was rather grandfatherly.
17. "Lois, I appreciate everything you're doing, I really do. But you've got to stop sidestepping my question. Where is the money coming from?" I liked the way Jonathan pinpointed her, politely, without any of his obstinate agitation from "Fanatic" yet utterly inflexible.
18. "What is the point if the devil owns your soul?" His refusal to compromise and his insistence regarding Lionel were deeply rooted, very different from his arbitrary pronouncements about Lex. He has had personal experience with Lionel – when he asked Lionel to create the records about Clark. I liked this moment, rooted in the past, in Jonathan's history.
19. "It's not like that. He doesn't want anything from you, this is about Lex. Look, Lionel is going to do anything he can to stop Lex from becoming senator." "I'm sure that that's true, but you don't know Lionel like I do. He doesn't give anyone anything for free, there's always a price; and now I'm the one who's going to have to pay it." And the last price was Sam Ross's farm.
20. "Clark," in exasperation. "Can you at least put on the brakes before you tornado my homework?" I liked this follow-up on "Thirst" (also by Steven S. DeKnight), showing that Clark's whirlwind entrances had become the norm.
    
21. "Dostoevsky's Idiot isn't getting any smarter…" Cute line.
22. "Miss Sullivan's advice column is open for letters." This line expressed Chloe's role very well. She's found her place as a confidante. I hope they won't oversimplify that role, though, and that they'll allow her personality to dictate her decisions, as it did in this episode.
    
23. "Is that Lana?" Chloe looks at him, rolling her eyes. This moment was perfect. It isn't Lana on the phone, but sliding that line in showed the depth of Clark's fixation with that idea.
    
24. "They found Lana's car abandoned on the side of the road." Good music as the camera zooms in on Clark. Cut to side of the road, dark, wet, smoke drifting away from the cars, lights flashing – beautiful cinematography and music. This captured the emotion completely. Often in transitioning to crowded scenes, they've lost the emotion, but this kept it very personal.
25. "We had a fight." "Well, that's what people in love do, Mr. Kent. And then they make up." I enjoyed Sheriff Adams in this episode, as they brought her relationship with Clark to a climax…before the resolution. "I've said it before, but I really could use a man like you on the force instead of some of these hayseeds."
    
26. "So I think maybe – " she turns to him. Nice touch. In the beginning, Season Two, she wanted him to stay out of everything; now she's giving him her hunches.
27. "Getting a little warm in there? I hacked into the climate controls. It should hit about a buck thirty in half an hour. Give me a yell when you're medium rare." This was good – they didn't return to stalemate. The clock was ticking.
28. "It's okay. They'll be here soon." "Who?" "The police. Barney Fife out there was using a scrambler to block the wireless backup alarm." This line explains Moment (j).
29. "That's what you were shooting at." "If we were at the fair, I would have won you a stuffed giraffe." Lex says it smiling through the suffering, as if Lana has the innate power to dull his pain, and Lana involuntarily smiles back. That line, when you read it on paper, is the sort of winsome line that precedes youthful romances; but it was subtle enough that, coming from Lex, at a time when his emotions are unusually vulnerable, it didn't seem like a stock line.
30. Lex's hand rests on her shoulder for a moment. "Lana. I'm sorry you got sucked into this." "Why didn't you just tell them where the spaceship was? This isn't worth your life." "I can't tell them the truth, because they'd kill both of us." I like it that they set up his fear of telling her the truth here. The subject hasn't really come up since "Solitude," so they needed a little reminder in there before the emotional climax of his telling her the truth. Also, it set up the "truth-telling" theme well – Lex ultimately values her enough to tell her the truth, while we aren't sure if Clark does.
    
31. I really expected Sheriff Adams to shoot Flynn and be left facing the fiancée. This was another good setup. I never thought Lex's shooting the scrambler and sending the signals would be in vain, and I definitely never expected Sheriff Adams to get fatally shot. Perhaps that was another reason this episode was intensely good – the things they won were bought with an irretrievable price. Jonathan sacrifices his pride to arrive at his resolution. Lois and Martha have sacrificed his freedom by taking Lionel's money. Lex's health, Lana's emotional tie to the spaceship, Sheriff Adams, are sacrificed before Lex and Lana can go free again. There was a lot at stake, including lives; and moreover they introduced the stakes the way they introduced the plot points, building up to a climax (Sheriff Adams' death, forcing Lana's decision to leave the panic room). Wonderfully handled.
32. I thought Sheriff Adams should have appeared more feeble after she was shot. She had too much manual dexterity when she opened her coat, and she spoke too clearly. Perhaps this was intentional, part of the leave-us-guessing introduction to the issue, but once we saw the wound (and she saw the wound) she should have been a little weaker.
33. Wonderful opening after the commercial break, as the helicopter burst in front of the screen, and the camera swiveled around the Daily Planet. I would have loved to see this one in a movie theater.
34. "Sorry, Clark, but I don't have a superspeed mode, get out of here." I liked the sisterly way she kicked him out of the chair.
35. "But I am the slickest blonde you'll ever meet." I had to rewind this three times before I decoded what she was saying here. There was so much action that the actors often said their lines very quickly.
36. "The Kryptonians murdered everyone." "…God, seeing something like that – I mean, all those people you work with, your friends. No wonder he had a psychotic break." They established Flynn's motivation very well, first in this dialogue, then showing his psychiatrist's videotape. It was powerful to have a three-dimensional villain.
37. Jonathan slamming axe into log, in front of Martha, made me jump. Especially since they were just talking about psychotic breaks.
38. "I know nothing is black or white, especially in politics." That did not sound like Martha. Part of it was Annette's urgent delivery – Martha should sound more balanced and deeper-voiced. They also should have slid Jonathan's name in there, to make it more of an appeal: "I know nothing is black or white, Jonathan, especially in politics."
39. "Please don't let your pride get in the way." Sighs as she walks away. I liked the introduction of the "pride" mini-theme, but not the sigh. Martha isn't the kind of woman who sighs and shakes her head at people. She tries to reach them as long as she thinks they can be reached, and when she retreats, it's watching them.
40. The concept of someone trying to keep someone else conscious has been used many times, and the Lana-Lex scene could easily have become cliché; but instead, its use of the concept was the greatest success I've seen. For one thing, Lex became unusually passive as his faculties were numbed, obeying Lana instinctively without giving it much thought ("You have to stay conscious or you could die, okay?" "All right."), so it was intriguing to hear him saying what came to his mind without any of the usual Luthor subtext. And as he advanced further into numbness, his emotions were drawn toward the surface, until he told her the truth. This setup could have been filler: instead, it was integral to the story and to the character. A major turning point in the "truth" theme came when he worked himself up to the point of telling her the truth; a major turning point in understanding his character came when he whispered, "I have. I've thought about a lot of things," and told her about his dream; and a major turning point in their relationship later, when Lana proposes friendship, came as a result of this setup.
41. "Tell me something." "What?" "Um, anything, just keep talking, okay?" "Do you think I'd look better with hair?" Lana stops and looks at him, then laughs, beginning to cry at the same time out of worry about him. "Um, uh, I don't know, I've never thought about it." "Oh I have. I've thought about a lot of things." As Lex poured out his heart and his thoughts, it is truly like hearing a loner, someone with nobody to talk to, who has suddenly found a friend and confidante. This was very lifelike – and bittersweet.
    
42. "Clark has really nice hair." This was the perfect way to introduce the concept of Clark having something that Lex can't have. Though the writers were careful never to draw an overt parallel, it flowed seamlessly into the discussion of how blessed Clark is to have Lana.
43. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess he does." "Does he know?" "That he has nice hair?" "How lucky he is." Great music. Lana looks at him, Lex looks up at her and swallows, and Lana looks away. These subtle moments were bonding them. "I had a dream once, Lana, about how different things could be. It was, it was Christmas. Clark and I were friends again." "Well, that sounds really nice." "You were in my dream too." "I was?" Lex sighs and touches her cheek. "You were…you were the best part about it." She moves his hand back down to his side, and starts urging him to tell Flynn about the spaceship. Again, very subtle body language. It was also realistic that, with the heat getting worse and Lex fading away, they wouldn't keep the conversation up too long before going back to the spaceship situation. Everything was perfectly lifelike.
    
44. "Lex, Lex, we have to get out of here, just give them what they want." "I can't tell them where it is." "This spaceship isn't going to make any difference if you're dead. "I can't tell them where it is because I honestly don't know." "What?" She is horrified, the music changes to express her upset state. "One minute it was there – the next, nothing but static on the security cameras…" Lana looks away in anguish. "…and an empty warehouse – I'm sorry." All this time I have been utterly unsympathetic about Lana's ravenous appetite for space-knowledge, but with Lex's regret, the "things are going wrong" music, and Lana's devastating sense of loss, this scene came together and for the first time I understood what the writers were trying to do with it.
45. "How long have you known this?" "A few weeks." Lana crying. "Lex, how could you lie to me this entire time?" It would have been interesting if, in previous episodes, we'd actually seen him lie to her, or at least avoid telling her the truth, while she was hopeful and full of ideas. As it is, the harsh wording of "lying to her" looked like an overreaction – we can't really understand anything she's gone through.
46. "Because I didn't know how to tell you the truth, Lana. Your life, mine, they've both been affected so much by these meteors. That ship was our one chance to understand why. I was hoping that I might find it again before…I should have been honest with you." "Lex? Lex? Lex? Lex, Lex, please don't, stay awake…" This was the perfect climax. Directly after he tells the truth (relationship turning point, character turning point, and climax of his illness), he starts to shut down and Lana is forced to make a life-and-death decision (relationship climax, story climax). As a writer, I appreciate the perfection of that development and the power of weaving threads together.
    
47. Lana walks out. "I'll tell you where the ship is, but first you have to get Lex help. He's hurt." It was interesting that Flynn goes and checks on Lex, figuring out if he should call for help or not. He still had some sort of humanity, even though he ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it. This really was a three-dimensional villain.
48. The hospital setup was introduced with good music – not slapstick but still appreciating the comedic moment.
49. "I got it." Clark dashes through the door, Chloe strains to see him. Clark shows up behind her, and she is startled and turns around and double-takes. This was much more under-stated than DeKnight's humor in "Mortal" (while Clark crawled through the air vent) and I liked it better.
     
50. "What did you do?" Soda explodes. Chloe laughs, fascinated.
     
51. I love it that they showed the psychiatrist's videotape. It was a very vivid explanation of Flynn's motivation, and very Season Three-ish in its disturbing premise, the truth being forcibly stifled by both psychiatrists and physical means. Reminiscent of "Shattered".
     
52. "D---, I wish I could do that." This line was a bit too much for me. It wasn't very real or very funny, and it took away from the moment, which was ultimately a serious one.
53. "Sheriff?" Clark feels for a heartbeat and we see that she's dead. Clark closes his eyes for a moment. This was good. The fact that the two had their moment of conversation together as this was all starting, then that after her death he mourns for a brief moment, made the Sheriff Adams concept complete. This was much stronger than his body-finding in "Fanatic".
     
54. "Lex. Lex." I think Tom Welling didn't really have to say this as harshly as he did. I think Clark would have been too shaken and worried for that: it seemed "done for effect".
55. "And they wouldn't even let me see him. His own fiancée." That was a good line to slide in, explaining who she was and why she was on Flynn's side.
56. I liked it that we finally got to see Lana fighting for her life, fighting violently. Her Isobel moves were often clearly fake, so that you spent the time speculating on how they'd done it; and her fight with Genevieve was no different from any uncomfortable, feminine wrestling match; but this fight with the fiancée, sound effects especially, came across as much more real.
    
57. "Lex? Lex! Where's Lana?" "Get this guy outta here!" "Tell me where she is." Lex reaches up and pulls his mask down. "Warehouse Fifteen." That was such a good moment. I liked it that they didn't use a wide shot but instead used closeups of the faces to establish that connection between them.
     
58. "I got it." "We have to get out of here." "I got it." "No, no. Greg, we have to get out of here." "I got it!" Good, the way the writers packed more conflict in here.
    
59. Nice effect as Clark ran through the explosion to save Lana. They've never done something quite like that before.
    
60. "Clark? What happened?" "I don't know. Lex told me where to find you, and when I got here you were laying on the ground." "I don't understand." "You're alive, that's all that matters." This was perfect, the conclusion of the main plot bringing the "truth-telling" theme (and thus the Clark-Lana relationship) to a turning point. Good music ending the scene.
61. "I can't believe Lex would risk your life like that." "Clark – " "Lana, he knew there was no ship in that warehouse." "Clark, it wasn't his idea. I brought them here on my own." "You did?" "It was my only chance to get Lex out." "You risked your life for Lex?" "He did the same thing for me back at the mansion. Clark, if it wasn't for him, I would probably be dead. Lex saved my life." I thought this conversation should have been eye-opening for Clark. He is so insistently "anti-Lex" that when he learns something good about him, he's unhappy. That's very revealing. That's actually very ugly. If the old Clark, the real Clark, learned something good about Lex, he would have considered rethinking his opinion about Lex. He would have thought perhaps Lex wasn't beyond saving after all. Even in Season Four, when Lex destroyed the room and saved him from his attacker, he had enough humanity in him to think again. When it comes to Lex, Clark has actually regressed from Season Four. Wow.
    
62. "A little fact you might have shared with me when I was yelling at you." I like it when Jonathan sees his mistakes. Often when it comes to his blind hatred of anything Luthor, he makes mistakes and acknowledges them grudgingly, like in "Insurgence" – this episode, instead, he was motivated not by blind hatred but by experience and reason, and admitted his mistakes gracefully. This was the real Jonathan.
    
63. "The hard truth is, by taking it, I'm no longer the man you just saw on television. And I'm no longer the man you married." He also expressed himself very well. Often when he's making a strong stand for something…he babbles. This was succinct, and made him look more like a leader.
64. "I should have sold it years ago, I was just too proud, I'm sorry." This was the perfect resolution, after Martha implored him not to allow his pride to get in the way. He conquered his pride to get the money, but in a different way than she had anticipated.
65. "If you're right about Lionel, he's going to want something from you." "Guess I'll find out soon enough, but right now we have an election to win." That was strangely sanguine, coming from Jonathan. He has strange blind spots – sanguine when there's real danger, highly excited when it's under control.
66. Very moving music as Lex struggles up from the hospital bed. It was music for a struggling hero overcoming – bittersweet, but with the idea of overcoming obstacles. I thought this was an interesting choice of emotion to express…and it made me feel bad for Lex again. For several months I have been unable to relate to him or any of his relationships; this episode made him, again, the villain that you want to save.
    
67. "That doesn't look like bed rest." "Yeah. I was never really good at taking things lying down." "Well, you are a Luthor." That was a strange comment for Lana to make, considering the fact that Lionel (the only other Luthor) is, well, a jailbird, who fights with Lex all the time. She's usually more sensitive than that. However, I won't get picky with this one – this is the first episode of the season when Lana's been a sweet girl-next-door again, and the sensitivity she did show about Lex was definitely appreciated by this audience.
68. "Yeah. I guess I am. Lana, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about losing the ship." "Wouldn't matter. It would still be gone." This was well-acted – she tried to brush it off, but it still clearly hurt.
69. "You're one of the few good things in my life. I hope that won't change." "That depends on you. All I ever asked for was the truth." "And that's all you'll ever get from me from now on – I promise. Lana, we may not have the ship. That doesn't mean we can't keep trying to find it, solve all the mysteries that go with it. Partners?" "No." Lex stricken. "Let's try being friends." She smiles and hugs him, and Lex has the look of someone with his savior. It's wonderful to a writer that they tied in the Lex-Lana climax with the truth-telling theme, contrasting Clark's climax – also the truth-telling theme.
     
70. Good music as Clark come in and sees Lex and Lana hugging.
    
71. The fact is that the only reason Clark would have gone to the hospital would have been to see Lex – a fact they could have gone into a little more. This episode was forty minutes, while most episodes are about forty-two minutes: they had a little spare time they could have used to show him rethinking his opinion of Lex and deciding to go see him.
72. "The only reason Lana almost got killed was because of Lex!" "…we all know Lex. He twists everything around, one lie on top of another, until you don't know what to believe." "Oh, Lex is a snake. Believe me, I've seen his scales…" I'm not sure how the show reached the point where they could have this conversation, without my seeing Lex's scales. The writers are confused about who Lex is, and the result is the schizophrenic Lex, Lex A whom we want to save, and Lex B who is a heartless snake that good guys feel free to trample on. The writers get confused, and let the good guys trample on Lex A.
73. "I saved her from a bomb. Doesn't that mean anything?" "Yeah, you know what, it would, if she knew about it. Clark, the only reason Lana started talking to Lex in the first place was to learn more about that spaceship." "If I would have been honest with her, she never would have had - " "No, she wouldn't." Chloe's good sense and perspective again came in handy here. In "Fanatic" much of her talking and advice was filler; in this episode, she goes straight to the point, and what she says is key.
74. "I love her so much, Chloe." "I know. But all you're doing right now is pushing her away." "That's not what I want. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives." "The only way that's ever going to happen is if you tell her the truth." Star Wars-ish music, ending. This was perfect. Even without the preview, this ending convinced you that Clark was at a turning point.
    
    

Details

1. "Uh, Lex?" I thought it was strange that Lex didn't hear the guns cocked, although perhaps he delayed turning around and pretended not to hear in order to unlock/open the panic room.
2. They reused the shot of Lana getting up from the couch and flinging her arms up in protest. She stands up and makes this gesture twice, each time with a different line.
3. "She's got a detailed drawing from LuthorCorp. She's been lying to me for weeks." Aside from the hyper-sensitivity of this reaction – what exactly is Clark's concept of the ideal handling? Was she supposed to sit him down, put her hand on his, and say gently, "I know this is going to be hard, but I'm looking into the meteor showers." He hasn't given her any reason not to look into them except superficial reproaches on dwelling on the past. The whole idea of Lana deliberately concealing her work from him is based on a strange premise, that she should instinctively know that Clark has personal reasons for wanting her to remain ignorant.
4. "I'm just not sure Lana's going to feel the same way." "Then maybe she's not the one you're meant to be with." This brings up another good point. I could understand Clark's vague fear that Lana wouldn't understand, but he gathered himself and worked up the confidence to tell her at the end of Season Three. He recognized it to be his deficiency, not hers. Now, however, he is referring to it as a judgment call. After all this time he is worried about her, not about himself. That's one of the reasons why the relationship felt constrained from the beginning.
5. "Just call me back in a second, all right?" Is that what she said? Why did she tell Chloe to call her back? It would make more sense for her to call Chloe back. And if Chloe was in the middle of a conversation and either called back and didn't get answered or waited and didn't receive a call, shouldn't she have gotten worried, or at least mentioned it to Clark when they met at her dorm?
6. "To be able to make a real difference in the world, just like our son does every day." Is this a reaffirmation of Chloe's suspicion in "Fanatic" or merely Martha's attempt to inspire him? That whole issue is still unclear.
7. When Clark raced up to the lunch-eating guy to shake his soda, then raced away, why didn't his papers go flying like Chloe's?
8. It was strange that Flynn and his fiancée stood there as if they were surprised the spaceship was gone, when they had never seen it there. It would have been more natural for them to look around as if they thought they'd missed something, instead of staring at the stand where it used to be. Less dramatic, though.
9. Clark's hair was noticeably long and windblown when he arrived at the warehouse. That shot looked like something inserted later, since you can't clearly determine where he is, and the length of his hair seems to have changed. Regardless of when it was inserted – why is his hair windblown now, but wasn't windblown the other times he raced in this episode? After the hospital incident his hair was still immaculate.
   
10. "Lex told me where to find you, and when I got here you were laying on the ground." That should be "lying".
11. "A man who knows the value of an honest day's work and the responsibility of family." It's always interesting to see how Jonathan markets himself. Also interesting to note that subtle implication that Lex knows neither of these things.
12. "I think the flag might have been a bit much." Actually that's what I was thinking.
13. The preview threw off all my ideas. I had thought it would – or at least should – be Jonathan who died, but the preview showed Jonathan restraining Clark, Clark with tears in his eyes (though, come to think of it, I'm not sure how any human being could restrain Clark). It also made it look as if Lana would be the one who died, showing her in her car on the cellphone, looking at something with worry. I wouldn't be too surprised if it were Lana now, since her very small arc seems to be concluding; also, the car that crashed didn't look like the practical vehicles of the Kents. One could argue that Lana lives to be an adult in the mythology, but in the mythology Clark also lives at the Fortress of Solitude by this age, and doesn't meet Lois until Metropolis. Still, I don't think it's too likely that Lana will be the one...but this is still all guesswork, since I reject spoilers.
14. My fear for the future: that the writing pattern of "every other week" will carry over into Reckoning...
    
    (Note: These scores are for writing only, premise disregarded.)