Commencement

Overall

Last week I stated that they would need to use every minute of this episode to make up for "Forever".

They did.

This episode was a fantastic finale.

This episode successfully fused past, present, and future. It began with the past (the return of the meteor shower is bound to evoke some memories), it ended with the future (if you've seen the movie you understand what the Arctic ending is about, and Lex's dark side is breaking through) - and the issue, uniting the three stones, was all about the present (and the countdown clock never lets you forget it). Furthermore it made sense of the episode "Scare". The return of the meteor shower (part of Clark's worst fear) - the Lex of the future (Lex's worst fear) - Jason's failure to protect Lana and Lana stabbing Jason's mother (a twist on Jason's worst fear) all seemed to complete what "Scare" started. This episode, from the brilliant opening recap to the final suspenseful second, brought meaning to a random season, and that's a remarkable accomplishment. Hats off to the writers.

Structure

They did everything right. The issues were introduced in the first act, all the main characters had their climaxes (in a way that they were all tied together instead of being abstract), and the whole episode, far from being predictable, was shocking...it was one big surprise. They handled the long and complicated where-when-why-how problems, which were already in a knot, by pulling the Alexanderian feat of cutting them altogether; the episode, instead of relying on the arc's complicated history, stood on its own. Genevieve was not permitted to complicate things, and all you needed to know was shown in the opening recap. A+.

Jason

Jason's return from "death" was possibly the biggest surprise of the episode. I think they made a good call: it was actually easier for me to believe in his life this week than in his death last week. And this episode made Jason more human - instead of being the sick, random, drifting-in-conviction Jason who bewildered us all year, you at last got a glimpse of insight into his twisted psyche, saw why he was who he was, saw his neediness. Just as this episode made sense of an aimless season, it also made sense of an aimless Jason. (However, now that we know what he's about, he can go ahead and die from the meteor. :) )

Genevieve

The writers handled this perfectly. In the past, Genevieve seemed to make every scene she was in slightly corny and very flat. Tonight they didn't waste any time or let her distract the viewers' attention longer than was necessary. Isobel and Genevieve did not take over the finale; they were not the climax, they were the beginning of a series of climactic events. This arrangement was much better, especially since the viewers knew that Isobel was going to kill Genevieve eventually. And now Isobel is gone, Genevieve is gone, and once Jason's gone maybe the writers can get back to the essence of Smallville without the season's three most pointless characters.

Lana

This episode broke the two Lana-molds the show has created, in a very good way. Instead of holding him back, Lana finally took a part in shaping who Clark is destined to be. This is even better than Season Two.

Lex

The meteor shower, appropriately, bared everyone's souls. In consideration of everyone's emotional, volatile state, Lex's transformation to snarling villain was surprisingly natural: an onlooker, unaware of what transpired behind the scenes, would merely think he was going through an emotional crisis like everyone else. Only twice before have we seen that intense rage and raw, animal-like emotion from Lex - once after returning from the desert island, and once when being tormented by Lionel in Belle Reve. This third time is from such a different source (touching Lionel/the stone), one so much less deep, that we can't expect it to last. I can see potential in Lex's acting like this, somewhere down the road, but it would be like the Lana-transformation to have him suddenly transform overnight. They will bring him back to "himself", whatever state that is. But I hope they won't have yet another convenient amnesia solution in the cave. Probably what they'll do is have the effect broken when Lionel either wakes up or dies. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Clark

Clark finally gets roused to action, though it certainly takes a lot to wake him up. The role Clark played was actually one of the weakest until the end, as until then he wasn't coming across as a central character. You wonder why it took so much for him to be roused to get the stones, you wonder why he doesn't rush away from the commencement at once after the evacuation, you wonder why he gives his parents every reason but the serious one as to what he must do, you wonder why he walks so dreamily toward the table with the stone when the future of the world is at stake. He seems to be reluctant to act. But when you think about this episode, you think about the final scene, and that scene is enough to outweigh the rest of his role tonight.

Good Moments and Elements

1. The Biblical parallels in the Superman story (father sends his son to earth, son saves the world) have always been obvious, and this episode brought on more. Clark believes that his father has set upon him a near-impossible task, but he is the only one who can accomplish it. (He even asks Jor-El if he was the one who sent the meteors, showing that he felt himself forsaken..."Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?") In staying behind, with a meteor shower coming that could be deadly, he is sacrificing himself to save the world. When he touches the crystal of knowledge, it appears that he undergoes some kind of pain, suffering for some time before waking up, alive, for the final scene.
2. The scene in the second act where there is a camera shot of Lana's hands washing off blood in a silver basin of water is parallel to Pontius Pilate washing his hands in a silver basin basin of water.
3. Lex was so manic in this episode...most of it coming after he touched Lionel/the stone. It's an interesting point that raises questions, such as: Is this the climax of Lex's building emotions, or a reappearance of Alexander? Or is there something about touching the Transformation Stone that causes erratic behavior? (Lana's change would seem to confirm that, while Lionel's apparent lack of change would seem to contradict it.) And, of course, aside from questions about the source of the change, there's the other question...is this a turning point? (My guess is "no", but I've been wrong before.)
4. Allison Mack was great when she portrayed Chloe lying for Clark - hesitating a moment and bracing herself, then saying something with forced conviction without being obvious. Her subtle acting and the cinematography let you into her head. I love Chloe's staunch allegiance; with so many characters undergoing unsettling changes, it's reassuring to have her loyalty in the show.
5. Clark saving the little boy. I loved that. You honestly didn't know whether the kid was going to die or not - you half-expected it to be a parallel of the Lana scenario from the Pilot. The father's reaction as he calls back "Thank you" while backing away with his child, the truck bouncing against his back in the child's hands, was very real.
6. Chloe: "Lex, be careful. It could be dangerous!" Without stealing any impact from what followed, that moment still made me laugh.
7. Somehow it struck me as pleasantly Lord-of-the-Rings-ish when Lois was staggering up the hill, looking at something unseen. Very movie-like. Part of it was the epic music, and part of it the classic idea.
8. Intriguing element: Lana returning to Lex after giving Clark the stone. He's the only one with enough power to protect her...anyone else with that power (Lionel, etc.) would take advantage of her. Lex is the only one she can moderately trust; she has no choice. That whole scenario has a lot of next-season potential. It reminded me slightly of Season Three, when Chloe needed protection from Lionel and had to trust Lex - but more complex, given the romantic angle and the Lex-wants-the-stone angle. (Of course, the stone's long gone, but presumably Lex doesn't know that yet.) It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
9. The writers brought back the "It'll be interesting to see ______" question, as they always do with finales; hopefully they'll be able to integrate it more into Season Five.
10. Lex comes across as somewhat sinister when he takes the cellphone away from Lana...it was a good way to build up to what followed.
11. "Be careful, Lex - it could be dangerous!" I loved this moment - everyone laughed delightedly, partially because it was so unexpected and partially because Lex had it coming to him.
12. Pleasantly reminiscent of "Tempest" - Clark is with Chloe at a school function, when there is an announcement that a natural disaster is on the way; Lana is missing and potentially in danger, and when you see her she is in a vehicle in the air, unable to control where she's going. Instead of Martha and Jonathan and Nixon in the storm cellar, there was Martha and Jonathan and Jason in the house. Instead of the spaceship rising and opening, there is that you-don't-know-what that appears to open for Lana. It was reminiscent, without being a copy; the situations were still very original and different.

Why 9.5 Instead of Ten

The better an episode is, the more I nitpick. Somehow a near-perfect episode's flaws are more painful to me than a terrible episode's flaws...not sure why. So here are the little "splinters" that gnawed at me, with suggestions of how the weakness could be turned to strength...but when lumped together, all of them only subtract .5 from the rating.

1. During the scene when commencement was interrupted by the evacuation, there was some obvious filler, first when Chloe burst into her excited but prolonged monologue, then when Lois joined them and started babbling in her panic. Lois's wagging tongue did nothing for the story, rather subtracted something; and Chloe's, while its indications were good, could have been cut to 1/4 of the length. And neither of them led up to what you were waiting for...action on Clark's part. Here's what they should have done:
   • Chloe excitedly monologues about the figurative lightning rod screaming for celestial attention. That was good. Lois joins them and starts her own babbling, but this time it's for a purpose. While she's monopolizing Clark, Chloe and Clark's eyes meet over her shoulder, and Chloe realizes that he both wants and needs to go, whether it's to find Lana or accomplish some unknown task. So she distracts Lois, taking her by the arm and drawing her in the opposite direction, with an occasional glance at Clark. Sound effect. Lois turns/glances back to address him, but he has disappeared
   That would have been like the moment in "Krypto", the only element from that episode that I wish they'd kept, when Clark and Chloe realize that they are on the same side, working together to keep Lois from knowing ("Yeah, it's old..."), although Clark isn't sure why they're working together and Chloe isn't sure what they're working to keep Lois from knowing. That comradeship and teamwork is a potentially charming element in this Clark-doesn't-know-she-knows situation, and it could have been worked in beautifully with the above scenario. Also, it isn't like Clark to go passively along until he gets more information...the Clark we've come to know would dash off immediately to find Lana, as he did in "Tempest", and during that whole scene you're waiting for him to rush off and take action.
2. Clark understood that the world would be annihilated if he failed to reunite the stones...immediately. Yet when he was explaining his mission to his parents, he explained everything but the mission...piled up abstract reasons but didn't mention the real issue. (The "all he had to do was explain" thing always bothers me. The writers love the scenario when Clark has a perfectly legitimate explanation but refrains from bringing it up, instead struggling to defend himself with every other meaningless excuse he's got.) Without the actual reason behind what he was trying to do, the explanation he gave was empty and made the whole conversation look like filler. If they wanted to preserve that calm, self-sacrificial demeanor, one would think that stating a noble and epic purpose would enhance it, not take away from it.
3. Jonathan's dramatic, somewhat cliche speech to Clark, although Clark failed to provide any substantial reasons for what he was doing, made me laugh the second time I watched it. "Everything, from the time you were a little boy...until now, was for this moment." After which my brother quipped, "Even though you still won't tell me what's going on."
4. There were two scenes that particularly recalled to your mind scenes in former seasons. (Actually, there were more than two, but these are the two that I didn't like.) One was Lana's inverted good-bye scene with Clark, in which she took the secretive, mysterious, please-just-trust-me role, and kissed him good-bye. I think that stole a bit of power away from the scene, because when that was Clark's role he was so much stronger and it was so much more meaningful. The other scene was the scene in which Lois tied Clark's tie, and again that stole a bit of power away from the scene, because when that was Lex's role he was so much stronger and it was so much more meaningful. However, aside from the role-reversal, I liked Lana's scene because she's helping him instead of reproaching him, giving instead of taking; and I liked Lois's scene (to a lesser degree) because she reconnected with Clark after an empty season, despite the token Lois-punch at the end, and the fact that the whole scene was somewhat irrelevant to the plot.
5. When Chloe and Lois were returning to Smallville to find Lana, the concept of Lois distracting the soldier was a good one - potentially like Early Edition's upbeat-but-intense scenario in "The Choice". However, the comedy was lost in the prolonged, repetitive "grab his arm, turn him around, and keep scolding" routine. I think she could have gone through that once, and it would have been quite enough...but keeping it up longer stole some of the impact and became filler.
6. The whole set-up with Lois leaving was a bit irrelevant, since in a few scenes they'd all be leaving together, and her departure didn't have any weight on the plot; the touching good-bye scene was a bit predictable, with its trite banter, and came across as filler. But I'm glad they had Lois in this episode, to tie things up, and at least they did use her again in the right way: actively (and positively) involved in the plot.
7. The drama of Jonathan and Martha's subdued "You know those meteors can kill him" exchange was great, but it was lessened when Clark was seen in the midst of the meteors without being affected.
8. The inconsistency of the kryptonite is convenient and usually excusable, but this time, with the kryptonite glow suddenly shutting off, it was particularly distracting. We've been told that there is interaction between Clark's blood and kryptonite, so wouldn't it get gradually diluted from increased distance, instead of passing a "ten yard mark" and suddenly shutting off?
9. "[Journalism?] Kill me first. Even if I could spell, with my luck, I'd probably end up across from the most bumbling reporter on the masthead." It seemed like they were really packing in Lois's overt references to the future. I think, again, that in these cases less is more. A little allusion is funny and cute. But when every other sentence is so specific, it becomes overdone. A nightmare about a guy wearing a red cape?
10. "Where's Clark?" Jonathan looks distinctly uncomfortably. "Ah...he's not here..." He had no idea where specifically Clark was, so he wasn't hiding anything - why did he act like he knew something he wasn't telling?
11. "What happened to your survival instincts, Dad? Fire and brimstone are about to rain down from the sky, and you're sipping a cocktail like it's Sunday at the country club." That line was so long that it lost its punch midway. Lex's lines are too long this season: I prefer them short and concise, like, "It's not that. I just don't like you." Or, when Nixon was describing the farmer's claim that he saw something fall from the sky, and Lex said dryly, "We all did." Or even when Hamilton warned him that he was opening Pandora's box, and he replied, "I'm just the key, Doctor." Lex is too articulate for these rambling "punch-lines". Make 'em short and sweet. (Also bring back the personal digs of "Accelerate". The old Lex would have said something about Lionel's lack of concern, then noted that Lionel would, after all, probably be at home in fire and brimstone...)
12. "The stones? But they have nothing to do with me!" This line left me torn between irritation and a deep sense of pity.
13. "You know, for a woman without a heart, Genevieve Teague certainly had a lot of blood." That line was supposed to be said with a grim smile, making for a gruesome effect; but it came across as a poor attempt at dry humor.
14. During this season, Lex's interaction with his father has been somewhat generic and bland ("Dad, if you want to play games, there's a deck of cards in the parlor."). Why does he touch the stone, then crawl forward whispering darkly, "You did create the son you always wanted"? Lionel has barely interacted with him, much less shaped him.
15. When the meteors begin showering down, a soldier turns around and exclaims under his breath, "What the..." Did everyone in Smallville expect the meteors except one clueless soldier?
16. Why does Lois drive away from Smallville without Chloe?

Details

1. Chloe and Lana did not accept their diplomas. Clark did. In the future, presumably, Chloe doesn't exist, Lana is a struggling single mom, and Clark rises to great heights. Symbolism?
2. Formerly, when Jor-El sent Clark dreams, Clark would sleep-float and wake up in strange places. It might have been interesting if they had done that again - and perhaps even shown his sleep-floating, which you've never seen, except for a glimpse in "Metamorphosis". It would be an interesting twist, and would eliminate the need for some of the snippets of filler that came in later.
3. Why did Jonathan sound so reproachful with Clark after Clark woke up from a nightmare? Not very fatherly. Jonathan has come across as rather self-centered this season.
4. It has been argued that Clark should have seen the kryptonite in Lex's vault. However, that presupposes that Clark used his x-ray vision to find the final element. He clearly did not use his x-ray vision but followed his hearing instead. He has stood in this room many times without being affected by the kryptonite, so the vault must be made of lead, which Clark could not have seen through. The writers should have clarified this by showing him trying to look through the vault and being unable to see through it.
5. The symbols that scrolled through Lionel's brain read:
   F A L S W N T V I R E P I X A C H
6. The season officially ended, and Clark never received a new power (unless you want to count getting Chloe as an ally). Of course, with the way this episode ended, chances of acquiring new powers are looking good...we'll see.

The Future

Points to ponder...

© Voice of Reason, 2007