Voice of Reason: Season Six: Promise

Chloe has a strangely blank expression on her face as she carries boxes in the opening montage. I wasn't sure if this was an intentional moment, as she hides her feelings about the wedding - but it ended up feeling more like Allison Mack was trying not to look at the camera. This would have been more effective if she had been looking around at all the preparations, either awed at the magnificence and getting the "small and insignificant" feeling, or concerned at all the celebration over a wedding bound to end in disaster.

Beautiful shot of the Clark-Lana picture flying out of the barn at night.

The whole opening montage should have ended the episode before "Promise". 1) Musical montages with tender music make such heartrending endings, not beginnings, 2) ending that way, with the preparations for the wedding being made ominously, and the picture flying out of the barn window, would have made for a great cliffhanger, and 3) it would have given a sense of painful inevitability to the wedding and a feeling that Lana did indeed need to be saved. The use of the montage in the beginning made me feel like I had landed in the episode without any context.

It used to be that in Clark's dreams, he saw what he wanted. He flew over to Lana's house, he flew down to the caves and put the key in the wall. Now in Clark's dreams, he stabs Lex. (Maybe I'm completely behind the times, but can someone tell me again why he "hates" Lex, who kept reaching out to him for so long, even trying to connect with him less than a year ago? "Mercy," anyone? And how about "Slamming the door in his face over and over only helps turn him into what you think he already is"?) Clark then, holding the dagger dripping with blood, explains to Lana, "I saved you." If you ask me, this is the part where he should have woken up in a cold sweat.

Clark starts throwing bundles of hay. I can understand the need to vent, but somehow this form of venting looked childish. Splitting firewood with his fist ("Kinetic") and punching the wooden pillar thing in the house ("Rogue") was much more controlled, mature venting, and also came from much stronger motivation (Chloe almost died, Jonathan was in jail). Lana's getting married. Yes, it's tragic, but he's known about the wedding for months. Maybe this would be his first reaction, but by the wedding day, he should have had a grip.

During the wine cellar scene, Chloe was completely out of character.

"That's it? (disbelief) You've filled your damsel-in-distress quota for the day, and you're just going to walk away." I believe Chloe just told Clark to move on last episode, which in Smallville World took place several days earlier.
"Lana's not my hero, Clark - you are." What did that have to do with anything?
"And this whole idea that you're still hiding who you really are, that you're giving up the one person that you totally love - " Okay, does Chloe have feelings for Clark or not? Is she not always cautioning him against crossing a line from which he can't return? Not to mention the moral implications here: Chloe thinks that true love justifies all, including stealing a bride on her wedding day?
"She's marrying a monster and trapping herself into a loveless life." There's so much to say about this moment. But the first thoughts that come to mind: Chloe's always been pretty supportive of Lana's relationship, despite her personal opinion regarding Lex; if Chloe feels that strongly about it, she should have spoken to either Clark or Lana about it before the wedding day; and, again, this is far from the "move on" message she's usually sending Clark's way. Of course, she now suspects Lex of kidnapping her - making him much more imposing. But if she sees him as a kidnapper and killer, truly a threat to Lana's safety, then she should have gone to Lana in "Freak".

Meanwhile, Clark makes several good points, all of which he completely ignores later:

"If Lana didn't want to marry Lex, she wouldn't."
"I'm protecting her."
"Letting Lana go is the hardest thing I've ever had to do." It's shallow to rank this as his worst emotional trauma, but "letting go" is the key phrase here. He did it in Season Three, protecting her from his dark side, and he's continued to let go during Season Four and during their relationship in Season Five. While Season Six certainly brought back a much more believable chemistry between them, she's spent it all living with Lex. "Letting go" has been happening for a long time now.

Clark seems to disappear. This was a nice moment, taking everyone aback.

There's some intriguing, "something is happening" music as Clark fingers the watch, and as Martha enters - then it peters out, and a cookie-cutter conversation in which nothing happens ensues. Strange, both the misleading music and the conversation.

Martha leans forward, eager to share her tale. "Your father and I almost didn't get married." My brother immediately groans. Martha launches into her story, essentially concluding with the ethical insight that you need to go with your gut - a completely un-Martha-like piece of counsel. What mother - particularly wholesome Martha - would give that advice?

Clark's face lights up. So Chloe and Martha, the two people who wanted him to get over Lana's marriage, have now convinced Clark to do his best to sabotage the wedding since, after all, he loves this woman. Not only was this completely out of character, but it made Clark look easily swayed (six years of convictions, down the drain) and poorly motivated (basically because the womenfolk told him to).

Lana pulls Clark to her and kisses him. This was so wrong. While my initial reaction was excitement, the truth is, the only catalyst for this sudden change is the fact that Lana knows Clark's secret and has heard Clark admit his love for her. She practically knew his secret before, and for weeks - especially since "Trespass" - she can't have doubted that he loved her. To break up with the father of her child (to all appearances) a few hours before the wedding, just because she saw heat vision and heartache in action, is pretty heartless. And she's smiling and joyful, no regrets. Even though she's about to break Lex's heart and still, apparently, loves him. When did Lana become so thoughtless?

Nice shot of Lex's pupils dilating.

Beautiful shot of Lex looking out the window, buildings reflected in the window.

Interesting conversation between Lex and Lionel, with Lex preoccupied, more vulnerable than usual. Opening up to Lionel. Honestly talking about what he feels. Last wedding, in "Exodus," this was Lex and Clark talking in the mansion, with Lex fearing that the wedding is off. Somehow the parallel made this scene bettersweet.

The emotional, surreal atmosphere in the crypt was perfect. To see Lex murder someone, or at least beat him to the edge of his life - this is the only way they could have done it without completely stretching our credulity. I didn't compare this with the childhood beating he inflicted on Duncan - if the thought had entered my head, I would have been extremely skeptical that, after his guilt and his recent Duncan-related trauma, he would immediately fall back into the same mistake. But with a completely different atmopshere, with classical organ music in the background (I love classical piano and organ in Smallville), cold hard stone for the lethal blow, and an other-worldly feel to the whole scene, this worked. There's something aesthetically pleasing about a painfully picturesque crime.

Lex opens the door, to Chloe's traumatized expression. "Is it time?" he asks, truly appearing to forget that he had her kidnapped and strapped to a table. Chloe says, ominously, "It was..." Why is Lex so natural when talking to her, and why is Chloe acting like Lana died?

The first of several replayed scenes: Lana appears to be happy with Lex. Since we already knew she was unhappy and suspicious, the scene didn't take on any special significance by being replayed.

I liked it that during the replayed scenes, things were spiced up by different performances (notably the delivery of the "game hens" line) and different camera shots and occasionally changed dialogue. A bit of a rip-off from "Heroes," perhaps, but a nice concept just the same.

Nell: "I'm so proud of you." Why? I would have a long paragraph about this moment, but I can't put it any better than Otto Berkeley did here.

I know it was supposed to be a significant and sweet parallel that, while Martha counseled Clark to tell Lana his secret, Nell counseled Lana (whether she knew it or not) to find out Clark's secret. But what it really meant was that neither Clark nor Lana would have ended up imagining a proposal at 5:00 p.m. if they hadn't been pushed to do things that caution would urge against. Two problems. 1) Bad motivation. 2) Older female relatives don't tell kids, when faced with life-changing choices like marriage, to go ahead and follow their first instincts. This was shallow.

"And naked male jello-wrestling at five." Lana wanders on, preoccupied. I enjoyed Chloe's sense of humor emerging even in her concern for Lana.

Second replayed scene: Lana and Clark have the same conversation they did earlier, and it doesn't take on any more significance than before. Lana is still happily promising to run off with Clark, carrying Lex's child.

"You know Clark's secret, don't you? I've been watching you since you started seeing my son, and you've been getting closer and closer to finding out the shocking truth about Clark Kent." This was an intriguing moment. Yes, part of this was that Lionel knew Lana better than we thought he did. And having Penetrating Lionel back was good. But part of it was that, yet again, Lana can't hide the fact that she knows Clark's secret. Her expression gave it away in "Reckoning" to Lex, and gave it away to Lionel in "Promise". Clark's reasons for not telling her are clearly just as valid now as they were in "Reckoning".

Chloe and Lex walk around chummily, shoulder-to-shoulder. "No, she just vanished. She won't answer her cell. Sorry, Lex, I don't know what to say, but I'm sure there's an explanation for all this." Again, strange moment as they seem more like best buds than suspicious enemies. I'm not saying which I'd prefer; this issue has been mixed up for so long that I really don't know any more which would be more consistent; but considering that Chloe just called him a monster and a few days earlier suspected him of kidnapping her, it seems like there would be a little less comfort there. On the other hand, Lex has been treated like dirt in this episode, and it's strangely refreshing to see someone sympathetically treating him like a human being. Humanity still dwells in Smallville.

Clark practices proposing to Shelby, while Lex waits at the church. He then remarks that his proposal was too corny. It was, but the bigger problem with this scene is this: Future Superman is going to propose to someone else's pregnant girlfriend on her wedding day. At the exact same time she's supposed to be marrying someone else. This is...slimy.

Then comes the worst Clark moment in years, worse even than the football jock moments. Appallingly, Clark finds Lana after the wedding, and tries to convince her to leave her husband and be with him. This is sick.

Lionel kisses Lana's cheek. She flinches. This was such a compelling moment...you wanted to pull him away from her.

Clark and Lex look at each other, Clark's anguish on his face, Lex's face - not smug, but satisfied. Someone who didn't know their history could think it a friendly gesture. But we read the subtext and feel stricken. Good, subtle moment, at least on Lex's side...Clark is looking like a pretty pathetic Superman. Question of the week: Will his anguish this week at least strengthen him, or will he continue to be an emotional cripple?




Promise Overall As compelling as the motivating situations were, this episode had two major problems. The Time-Jumping Structure I don't think they gained anything by using this structure, and I can name several things they lost: The structure made the plot predictable. By showing early in the day, then late in the day, then early in the day, the writers inadvertently gave us all we needed to connect the dots. For example, when we saw Clark rescue Chloe, Lana happily promising to meet Clark and break up with Lex, then saw her "happy" with Lex earlier, we knew that the reason she changed her mind was because she had set up Chloe and that now she knew Clark's powers. Granted, we only knew this from playing the promos in slow-motion and seeing her in the wine cellar last week: chalk this one up to injudicious marketing, if you want; but the fact remains that instead of being intrigued, we were first confused, then easily moved ahead of the story. The structure forced us to watch the same scenes – sometimes long ones – over again. I know watching these scenes in a "new" context was supposed to give them new meaning and make them more interesting…but as I noted above, we had already caught on to the real context. When we saw Lana "happily" talking to Lex, we never thought she was happy. So showing her waking from a dream about Clark and wandering listlessly before "happily" talking to Lex didn't tell us anything new. Same for the Clark and Chloe scene in the wine cellar. I spent the whole first scene waiting for that shot of Lana crouching behind the wine bottles; when it finally did come in the second Clark and Chloe scene in the wine cellar, the whole situation was old news. The structure made us feel like the episode was about to start. First, unrelated to the time-jumping issue, it opened with a musical montage, soft music playing. Musical montages with soft music playing only work toward the end of an episode – winding up emotions that had already been built up. Maybe this problem could have been solved by a "previously on Smallville" montage, which could have gotten our emotions worked up enough that this musical montage would seem like a continuation…but as it was, I felt after the teaser like the episode hadn't started yet. Then the time-jumping issue kept restarting the episode. As soon as one plot would go anywhere, an elegantly designed card would pop up and rewind time. Thirty minutes into the episode, we were watching the same footage we had watched at the beginning. This created a feeling of, "Okay, when is it going to start?" Showing the events chronologically would have let us feel like we were making progress. The structure distracted from the powerful nature of the chronological reality. That's a mouthful, but here's what I mean: Jumping from one person's dream sequence to another person's dream sequence, from one person's reality to another person's reality, made me wary and prevented me from fully abandoning myself to the moment. I never had a chance to fully identify with some of the characters, even when their actions were set up with powerful circumstances. Lex hiding the body merely seemed other-worldly, as if the wrong Lex had stepped into the Smallville show; Lana buoyantly promising to meet Clark, kiss included, seemed so random initially that for a moment I thought it was another dream sequence; and Lionel's turn for the villainous, instead of intriguing me, made me think, "I give up. We're never going to figure him out." If these events had been shown chronologically, with the events leading up to them, it would have been easier to identify with the characters. Unmotivated Behavior The moments where we should have understood and didn't, unfortunately, were matched by the moments of random/ambiguous/just-plain-confusing behavior that we could never understand. Chloe urging Clark to sweep Lana off her feet. In accordance with "The Rule," Chloe becomes a cheerleader for Clark to do anything he doesn't want to do. If Clark had been ready to barge in, Chloe would have been cautioning him against interfering where he doesn't have a right to interfere – which I would have found much more believable. But Chloe's convenient dialogue here, which completely overlooks her attraction to Clark, and her calling Lex a "monster," when she was the one in "Wither" who encouraged Lana to "dive in" to that relationship, has no foundation. Chloe is a conversational pawn in the writers' hands. Clark trying to win Lana back. First of all, the ethics of trying to win her back on the day of her wedding are never addressed. But we get the impression that, since Lex is vaguely suspected of being "bad", it's okay to go behind his back and lure the love of his life away from him. Second, why does Clark suddenly decide that it's okay to lay it all on the line? The evidence: Chloe urges him to, then Clark leaves her in something of a huff, then Clark delivers a speech in his living room in which he convinces himself that she was right. A total U-turn. So ultimately, the reason Clark tried telling Lana his secret was because...Chloe told him to. Once again, Clark doesn't have a mind of his own. Third, the fact that Clark is now rejecting his former reasons for not telling her means a) all the stalling for the past six years was just foolishness, or b) Clark's so desperate to get her back that he doesn't care about her safety and the other reasons for not telling her. Either way, Clark ends up looking pretty foolish. Yes, there was plenty to love about this episode. The cinematography was brilliant. Kristin Kreuk shone as Lana. Lex was perfect as the man who would not be blackmailed, the husband-to-be longing for marriage, the tormented son once again under the thumb of his father, and all-around morally grey character. (Completely villainous characters are no fun...right now he's got that Magneto-ish, self-deceived, dignified style.) And the complex set of circumstances that landed Lex under his father's thumb and Lana in an unhappy marriage were so strong that this could have been an earth-shattering episode. But, let's face it, the stylized presentation was just too much...and the main character was just too absent. The purpose of conflict is to bring out inner character. And Clark's inner character was...pliant. My final thought: Good enough, but this episode could have been so much better. Verdict: 7.2 Good/Bad Moments Chloe has a strangely blank expression on her face as she carries boxes in the opening montage. I wasn't sure if this was an intentional moment, as she hides her feelings about the wedding - but it ended up feeling more like Allison Mack was trying not to look at the camera. This would have been more effective if she had been looking around at all the preparations, either awed at the magnificence and getting the "small and insignificant" feeling, or concerned at all the celebration over a wedding bound to end in disaster. Beautiful shot of the Clark-Lana picture flying out of the barn at night. The whole opening montage should have ended the episode before "Promise". 1) Musical montages with tender music make such heartrending endings, not beginnings, 2) ending that way, with the preparations for the wedding being made ominously, and the picture flying out of the barn window, would have made for a great cliffhanger, and 3) it would have given a sense of painful inevitability to the wedding and a feeling that Lana did indeed need to be saved. The use of the montage in the beginning made me feel like I had landed in the episode without any context. It used to be that in Clark's dreams, he saw what he wanted. He flew over to Lana's house, he flew down to the caves and put the key in the wall. Now in Clark's dreams, he stabs Lex. (Maybe I'm completely behind the times, but can someone tell me again why he "hates" Lex, who kept reaching out to him for so long, even trying to connect with him less than a year ago? "Mercy," anyone? And how about "Slamming the door in his face over and over only helps turn him into what you think he already is"?) Clark then, holding the dagger dripping with blood, explains to Lana, "I saved you." If you ask me, this is the part where he should have woken up in a cold sweat. Clark starts throwing bundles of hay. I can understand the need to vent, but somehow this form of venting looked childish. Splitting firewood with his fist ("Kinetic") and punching the wooden pillar thing in the house ("Rogue") was much more controlled, mature venting, and also came from much stronger motivation (Chloe almost died, Jonathan was in jail). Lana's getting married. Yes, it's tragic, but he's known about the wedding for months. Maybe this would be his first reaction, but by the wedding day, he should have had a grip. During the wine cellar scene, Chloe was completely out of character. "That's it? (disbelief) You've filled your damsel-in-distress quota for the day, and you're just going to walk away." I believe Chloe just told Clark to move on last episode, which in Smallville World took place several days earlier. "Lana's not my hero, Clark - you are." What did that have to do with anything? "And this whole idea that you're still hiding who you really are, that you're giving up the one person that you totally love - " Okay, does Chloe have feelings for Clark or not? Is she not always cautioning him against crossing a line from which he can't return? Not to mention the moral implications here: Chloe thinks that true love justifies all, including stealing a bride on her wedding day? "She's marrying a monster and trapping herself into a loveless life." There's so much to say about this moment. But the first thoughts that come to mind: Chloe's always been pretty supportive of Lana's relationship, despite her personal opinion regarding Lex; if Chloe feels that strongly about it, she should have spoken to either Clark or Lana about it before the wedding day; and, again, this is far from the "move on" message she's usually sending Clark's way. Of course, she now suspects Lex of kidnapping her - making him much more imposing. But if she sees him as a kidnapper and killer, truly a threat to Lana's safety, then she should have gone to Lana in "Freak". Meanwhile, Clark makes several good points, all of which he completely ignores later: "If Lana didn't want to marry Lex, she wouldn't." "I'm protecting her." "Letting Lana go is the hardest thing I've ever had to do." It's shallow to rank this as his worst emotional trauma, but "letting go" is the key phrase here. He did it in Season Three, protecting her from his dark side, and he's continued to let go during Season Four and during their relationship in Season Five. While Season Six certainly brought back a much more believable chemistry between them, she's spent it all living with Lex. "Letting go" has been happening for a long time now. Clark seems to disappear. This was a nice moment, taking everyone aback. There's some intriguing, "something is happening" music as Clark fingers the watch, and as Martha enters - then it peters out, and a cookie-cutter conversation in which nothing happens ensues. Strange, both the misleading music and the conversation. Martha leans forward, eager to share her tale. "Your father and I almost didn't get married." My brother immediately groans. Martha launches into her story, essentially concluding with the ethical insight that you need to go with your gut - a completely un-Martha-like piece of counsel. What mother - particularly wholesome Martha - would give that advice? Clark's face lights up. So Chloe and Martha, the two people who wanted him to get over Lana's marriage, have now convinced Clark to do his best to sabotage the wedding since, after all, he loves this woman. Not only was this completely out of character, but it made Clark look easily swayed (six years of convictions, down the drain) and poorly motivated (basically because the womenfolk told him to). Lana pulls Clark to her and kisses him. This was so wrong. While my initial reaction was excitement, the truth is, the only catalyst for this sudden change is the fact that Lana knows Clark's secret and has heard Clark admit his love for her. She practically knew his secret before, and for weeks - especially since "Trespass" - she can't have doubted that he loved her. To break up with the father of her child (to all appearances) a few hours before the wedding, just because she saw heat vision and heartache in action, is pretty heartless. And she's smiling and joyful, no regrets. Even though she's about to break Lex's heart and still, apparently, loves him. When did Lana become so thoughtless? Nice shot of Lex's pupils dilating. Beautiful shot of Lex looking out the window, buildings reflected in the window. Interesting conversation between Lex and Lionel, with Lex preoccupied, more vulnerable than usual. Opening up to Lionel. Honestly talking about what he feels. Last wedding, in "Exodus," this was Lex and Clark talking in the mansion, with Lex fearing that the wedding is off. Somehow the parallel made this scene bettersweet. The emotional, surreal atmosphere in the crypt was perfect. To see Lex murder someone, or at least beat him to the edge of his life - this is the only way they could have done it without completely stretching our credulity. I didn't compare this with the childhood beating he inflicted on Duncan - if the thought had entered my head, I would have been extremely skeptical that, after his guilt and his recent Duncan-related trauma, he would immediately fall back into the same mistake. But with a completely different atmopshere, with classical organ music in the background (I love classical piano and organ in Smallville), cold hard stone for the lethal blow, and an other-worldly feel to the whole scene, this worked. There's something aesthetically pleasing about a painfully picturesque crime. Lex opens the door, to Chloe's traumatized expression. "Is it time?" he asks, truly appearing to forget that he had her kidnapped and strapped to a table. Chloe says, ominously, "It was..." Why is Lex so natural when talking to her, and why is Chloe acting like Lana died? The first of several replayed scenes: Lana appears to be happy with Lex. Since we already knew she was unhappy and suspicious, the scene didn't take on any special significance by being replayed. I liked it that during the replayed scenes, things were spiced up by different performances (notably the delivery of the "game hens" line) and different camera shots and occasionally changed dialogue. A bit of a rip-off from "Heroes," perhaps, but a nice concept just the same. Nell: "I'm so proud of you." Why? I would have a long paragraph about this moment, but I can't put it any better than Otto Berkeley did here. I know it was supposed to be a significant and sweet parallel that, while Martha counseled Clark to tell Lana his secret, Nell counseled Lana (whether she knew it or not) to find out Clark's secret. But what it really meant was that neither Clark nor Lana would have ended up imagining a proposal at 5:00 p.m. if they hadn't been pushed to do things that caution would urge against. Two problems. 1) Bad motivation. 2) Older female relatives don't tell kids, when faced with life-changing choices like marriage, to go ahead and follow their first instincts. This was shallow. "And naked male jello-wrestling at five." Lana wanders on, preoccupied. I enjoyed Chloe's sense of humor emerging even in her concern for Lana. Second replayed scene: Lana and Clark have the same conversation they did earlier, and it doesn't take on any more significance than before. Lana is still happily promising to run off with Clark, carrying Lex's child. "You know Clark's secret, don't you? I've been watching you since you started seeing my son, and you've been getting closer and closer to finding out the shocking truth about Clark Kent." This was an intriguing moment. Yes, part of this was that Lionel knew Lana better than we thought he did. And having Penetrating Lionel back was good. But part of it was that, yet again, Lana can't hide the fact that she knows Clark's secret. Her expression gave it away in "Reckoning" to Lex, and gave it away to Lionel in "Promise". Clark's reasons for not telling her are clearly just as valid now as they were in "Reckoning". Chloe and Lex walk around chummily, shoulder-to-shoulder. "No, she just vanished. She won't answer her cell. Sorry, Lex, I don't know what to say, but I'm sure there's an explanation for all this." Again, strange moment as they seem more like best buds than suspicious enemies. I'm not saying which I'd prefer; this issue has been mixed up for so long that I really don't know any more which would be more consistent; but considering that Chloe just called him a monster and a few days earlier suspected him of kidnapping her, it seems like there would be a little less comfort there. On the other hand, Lex has been treated like dirt in this episode, and it's strangely refreshing to see someone sympathetically treating him like a human being. Humanity still dwells in Smallville. Clark practices proposing to Shelby, while Lex waits at the church. He then remarks that his proposal was too corny. It was, but the bigger problem with this scene is this: Future Superman is going to propose to someone else's pregnant girlfriend on her wedding day. At the exact same time she's supposed to be marrying someone else. This is...slimy. Then comes the worst Clark moment in years, worse even than the football jock moments. Appallingly, Clark finds Lana after the wedding, and tries to convince her to leave her husband and be with him. This is sick. Lionel kisses Lana's cheek. She flinches. This was such a compelling moment...you wanted to pull him away from her. Clark and Lex look at each other, Clark's anguish on his face, Lex's face - not smug, but satisfied. Someone who didn't know their history could think it a friendly gesture. But we read the subtext and feel stricken. Good, subtle moment, at least on Lex's side...Clark is looking like a pretty pathetic Superman. Question of the week: Will his anguish this week at least strengthen him, or will he continue to be an emotional cripple? Details In Clark's dreams, Lana wears blood-colored lipstick. Was there some sort of symbolism to this, or was it just to make it all very, very strange? On Clark's wall, there is a poster of the earth: the light parts of the earth form an "S". Lionel listens to Lex's phone conversation with Dr. Langston. "It's my wedding day. Whatever it is, it can wait. Is something wrong? I'll be right there." That wasn't much information. Actually, it wasn't any information. Yet, later, Lionel finds the body. How on earth did he gather that the body would be there? Was this shot of him listening supposed to indicate that he was pressuring Dr. Langston to blackmail Lex? As Lex and Lana walk out, showered with flower petals, one of the extras drops something and looks at the floor at it. Then an extra with a camera pretends to take a picture, then looks at the floor, apparently at the dropped object. Two episodes in a row have ended with a shot of a main character's eyes. © Voice of Reason, 2007