Voice of Reason: Season Six: Prototype

Prototype

Overall

"Prototype" is one of those memorable episodes that will doubtless be seen differently by different viewers.

To new viewers, the many references to previous episodes, the highly emotional scenes between various characters, and the overall plot will suggest a thrilling arc with complicated relationships.

To old viewers, Clark and Lana's damaged characters, the plot marred by several huge logical leaps, and half of the developments that can't be expected to develop further in the future, all suggest that maybe...just maybe...Smallville has run its course.

Perhaps it's unfair to side with the jaded group. And I do think that Season Six has been better than seasons Four and Five put together. But as an older viewer I have to say that Smallville has a problem: they only put out enough effort to make two or three outstanding episodes per season. This episode was good in many ways, but neglected and shabby in many others. They can't keep this up. They're losing viewers every week. We need a reason to keep watching Smallville.

In fact, that's probably one problem that will be evident to all viewers: "Prototype" gave us no clear reason to tune in next week.

The cliffhangers for each character:

Lex is building an army of superfreaks (we've known that since "Justice" - episode 11)
Lois is devoted to taking Lex down (another Very Intense Lois Goal)
Chloe is...doing nothing new
Clark is...doing nothing new
Lana is...doing nothing new
Lionel is...doing nothing new
Martha is considering leaving

While the episode was beautifully directed, and at times wonderfully acted, as an old viewer I have to say that the plot was weak, and the script didn't do the characters justice. This is the second-to-last episode of the season. We needed a better reason than this to stick with Smallville.

Verdict: 6

Good/Bad Moments

The episode opens with an expensive special effects shot - a LuthorCorp satellite floating in the air. The concept was a wonderful one, and the tracking - swooping across the LuthorCorp name, gradually focusing on and zooming in on the little eyepiece - was excellent; however, to a jaded audience who's been watching the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer trailers, the CG satellite itself was distractingly primitive. This opening shot set the tone for an episode striving to be epic and failing.
The soldiers striding through the tunnels, the pipes and lights and unearthly environment, the 3D model of the tunnels, white lines over black screen, the horn music...nice tribute to Star Wars.
With the invisible warrior 10 meters from their door, the scientist says, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." This was such a huge understatement in light of the chaos outside that, on first viewing, this line seemed downright inane. On a second viewing, knowing that this was simply a test run they'd planned...well, it still seemed inane. If he was afraid that the killing machine might maul them all, he should have had more to say than that. But this moment could also be seen as another Star Wars tribute to the nicely understated "I have a bad feeling about this"...a line used in all three original Star Wars movies.
"Get some fresh guards. I want to see him do it again." Ominous music plays. Lex is enjoying Wes' violence. I can definitely see this as a step in Lex's journey to the dark side. Lex has always been a war enthusiast - like his father, he admires and studies the war strategies of various Greeks and Romans, and at one time he taught Clark what he knew. It makes sense that this Lex would find it a pleasure to watch a carefully-designed soldier infiltrate a secure facility.
"I stuck my neck out to get the armed services committee to allow you access to military resources and personnel to R and D a single prototype, but you've already started gearing up for mass production." This is possibly one of the most contrived lines of exposition Smallville has ever had.
"Project Ares is over. I'm shutting it down." "That would be ill-advised." I love it when Lex gets subtly humorous moments like this. His expression as he delivered his understated line, already plotting the senator's fate, reminded me of his pseudo-serious examination of his artistic preferences for his psychologist in Season Three.
Lana has a Clark Moment. In a beautiful reveal (kudos to Mat Beck), it is shown that as Lex and Senator Burke conspire, Lana is outside, listening to the conversation. Loved the reveal, hated the concept. Lana knows that the Luthor mansion is covered with security cameras - she's even had fights with Lex over it, and just last episode she used them to capture incriminating evidence. Now it doesn't seem to occur to her that her eavesdropping is being recorded. This was a bad moment for Lana.
Beautiful, beautiful CG shot of the Daily Planet and the LuthorCorp building next to it. Granted, the LuthorCorp building didn't used to loom so high above the Daily Planet, and it seems like the CG shots of large buildings with glass windows become more fake-looking as the years go by, but it was still aesthetically pleasing, and a nice touch that they remembered that the buildings were next to each other.
Clark barges into Lionel's office, confrontationally. "We have to talk." We are disagreeable struck by how many times Clark has barged into someone else's private space and demanded their attention in order to verbally beat them down. Lionel humorously plays on our reactions. "Clark, you should, uh, try picking up the phone occasionally. Might be quicker. O-oh, but maybe not." I appreciated the theory behind the gesture, and I like the real life reactions that DeKnight tends to insert into his scripts, but onscreen this came across as an apology for Clark's obnoxious habit. And if a character needs to apologize for something in the script...that something should just be taken out.
"What do you know about Lana?" Well, lots of things. Namely, she's his daughter-in-law. This was an absurdly vague question.
Lionel, jovially, chuckling: "Letting go. Never been one of your strong points, was it?" Perhaps Lionel's intimate, arm-slapping familiarity here, not to mention his grammatical slip-up, was supposed to convey his nervousness. He is afraid of where this conversation might lead, so he's acting out of character and trying to make light of the situation. But 1), I have a hard time believing that socially savvy Lionel would say something so blatantly out of place. And 2), this gentle mockery came across as another apology, this time for Clark's obsession.
"And you're accusing me of, what, exactly, this time?" Lionel stresses that Clark is always accusing him of something. While this was clearly meant to convey his defensiveness, it seemed like yet another apology, this time for Clark's penchant for throwing accusations around.
"Lana came to me the day of the wedding..." That wasn't exactly what happened. Clark came to her. Clark's delusional moment here made him look imbalanced. He's picturing himself as the knight in shining armor to whom Lana fled, when in reality he was emotionally trailing after her. This should have been worded differently, for Clark's sake.
"...the day of the wedding, to tell me she wasn't going through with it, that she was leaving Lex." Watch Lionel's eyes. He looks to the side, uncertainly. He hadn't counted on that. This is a hilarious moment.
"It's surprising, Clark, what people will do when they feel they have no other options." Lionel paints an image of Lana being cornered. Why would he give Clark that picture of Lana? He has to know that Clark will eventually trace it back to him. It seems like DeKnight only wrote this line to set up Clark's cocky reply.
"If I find out that you had anything to do with Lana marrying Lex, the gloves will come off. How do you like that option?" This threat immediately recalled Clark's line to Lionel in the same office in "Mercy": "Secret or no secret, you stay away from my mother, or you'll wish I'd never saved your life." And we all know how that turned out. Clark drifted off and apparently forgot his threat. It was hard to take this moment seriously, because we know Clark's track record on following up on suspicious, angry Lionel-threats.
"Distance is good for a relationship. That is what all the guys who've moved away from me have said." Lois's delivery here made this a sweet moment. She's saying self-demeaning things, not because she's clueless and awkward and inept, but because she's trying to cheer up her cousin. This actually showed a sensitivity and sweetness that I liked seeing in Lois.
"She hasn't told me much about it." "Lot of that going around lately." "Was that jab directed at my chin?" Chloe is so despondent that Lois is comforting her. Now Clark marches in and starts complaining about her reticence, without even a mention of Chloe's troubles. He's undervalued Chloe for long enough. This was mean.
"Chloe, you know what Lex is really like. Did you forget what he did to you, what he did to your mother?" Actually yes, she did forget when Lex kidnapped her the first time, but that's not the point...the point is that Clark is using traumatic experiences in Chloe's life to goad her into spilling the beans about Lana. And it doesn't seem like a logical appeal so much as emotional manipulation.
"But if she's staying in that marriage, all I can say is she must have a d*** good reason." Clark has driven Chloe to cussing. Nice.
Our initial impression of Wes in action is that of a savior, as first he kills the guard who's dragging Lois away, then kills Senator Burke when he's got the gun pointed vaguely in her direction. This was a nice and believable setup, as he kills everyone threatening around her, while she remains untouched. Of course, he was intending to kill her, but that impression remains.
"Uh, well, one minute I was harassing a public official..." Again, a perfect delivery. This could easily have been delivered with the obnoxious, clueless, self-absorbed Lois shtick. Instead, Erica Durance gave a lovable interpretation of the line.
"Nothing can get in the way of completing this project. Nothing. Take care of it." I believe this is the first time we've actually seen Lex order murder. I appreciated that Michael Rosenbaum didn't play up the moment, turning it into a sinister, snarly command. Instead, he said it in a goal-oriented way that made us believe that Lex still sees himself as a pretty good person who's doing the right thing.
"Lois, quit being stubborn. You're going to stay here until things get cleared up." Clark sounds weary, like he's tired of arguing. Yet Lois's line, "Thanks, but I can take care of myself," sounds like this is the first time they've made the offer. One of their lines needed to be changed.
Lois, flippantly: "Oh, you're just hoping to catch me in the shower again." While Martha's reaction - first looking at Clark in shock, then giving a dismissive "never mind...that's Lois" headshake - was spot on, this line shouldn't have been there in the first place. For one thing, Clark never caught her in the shower while she was staying at the farm. (At least, not that we saw. And I'm pretty sure the writers would have shown a moment like that if it was part of the gameplan.) For another, what kind of reaction was that? At this point, Lois and Clark have a purely friendly relationship with no hint of romance. They haven't even had a moment of flirting - Lois has always kept it very down-to-earth. Given that relationship, why would Lois's first reaction be to make this highly flirtatious comment? It implies a relationship that was never there and that would make her very uncomfortable if it were.
"It'll be like old times, like when you first got to Smallville." "You're always welcome here, Lois. You're practically family." It would be one thing if Lois were the girl-next-door who stayed with them and developed a tentative, sweet friendship with Clark, then grew up to have a romance with him. In fact, "Crusade" started to introduce a friendship along those lines. But clearly that's not what ended up happening, so reminding the viewers of their down-to-earth brother-sister relationship in a verbal sandwiching of the single suggesting-future-romance moment was unwise. These moments felt almost sordid.
Lois describes a vanishing man. Clark tries to impress on her the grave danger that she's in. They hear a noise that alarms them, and Clark sees a rocking chair rocking by itself. His conclusion: "Looks like it was just the wind." This picture this episode painted of Clark didn't do him any favors.
"So he could teleport, like Alicia?" "...It was more like what Graham Garrett could do." This name-dropping seemed gimmicky, like the name-dropping fest in "Extinction".
"Don't you think that's a hero-to-hero phone call?" No. I love it when Chloe and Oliver talk. Those two have great chemistry. I liked it that they talked in this episode, even if we didn't see it.
Chloe, skeptically: "Clark, come on. We both know that Lex isn't going to tell you anything." This was a well-deserved rebuke. Clark really isn't the brightest candle on the cake today.
Lana emerges from the Perfect Bathroom in a bathrobe that matches the towels in the Perfect Bathroom, to find Lex lighting candles all around the bedroom. Eagerly, like a little kid. Earlier we saw him set his hand on her shoulder, and she brushed it off with an excuse. Now he says, "I thought maybe if I set the mood..." and tentatively leans in for a kiss. She flinches away, and he withdraws, murmuring, "Or maybe not." Lex is desperately trying to win Lana's love, and she's never going to give it to him. This moment was a beautiful insight into the state of their relationship.
Clark dashes into the bedroom through the window. This would have been a nice moment, showing his comfort level with Lana. Obviously, she has to know that he's coming in through the window and appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. But we know that every move is doubtless being tracked by a security camera - Lex's security cameras in the bedrooms always bothered Lana. And it doesn't occur to Lana to warn Clark. So Clark's freedom in his superpowered entrances and exits - and Lana's failure to warn him - come across as dense.
"Ares." "That's the god of war." It's like Lex to know that, and name the project accordingly. But it's not like Clark to know it, unless Milton Fine mentioned it in a history class. This moment seemed out-of-character.
"You'd be surprised what I know." Sad strings. "Then why are you still here?" Lana looks at him for a long moment. "We all have our secrets, Clark. Sometimes we have to keep them to protect the people that we care about." "Lana..." "I know." Beautiful music. The unspoken longing is just right. The forbidden. And then...Clark ruins it, by ignoring the fact that it's the forbidden.
Clark puts his hand on Lana's cheek. Then he leans in to kiss Lana. A married woman. In her bedroom. Where her husband was just trying to win her over with candles. This is so twisted that I don't know what to say. Her husband is standing right outside the door, and Lana keeps looking at it nervously, so it's not as if Clark forgot for a moment that Lana is not his. He's breaking up a marriage here. That's...sick.
Beautiful shot of Lana sillhouetted against the interior, parting the red curtains. We can't see her expression, and that's the beauty of it. We know enough. Beautiful piano music. It was a wonderful wordless connection between her and Clark, almost like something out of the first two seasons. Well done.
They gave Lois a perfect situation to paint a picture of her adolescent romance with Wes. She has to describe it to him, trying to trigger the memory. This wasn't a contrived play-by-play. It made sense for her to tell us all this.
Since the writers knew they were going to have a previous relationship between Lois and Wes, the whole Lois-Wes scene really needed to be backed by information from an episode or two earlier. We should have seen Lois investigating Jodi Keenan for an Inquisitor article, finding the information about Wes' death, and whispering, "Wes." Or, better, had a scene between her and Chloe. Chloe: "Our resident psycho's name was Jodi Keenan." Lois, startled: "Any relation to Wes Keenan?" Chloe: "Yeah, it looks like she's his widow. He died four months ago in Afghanistan." Lois is visibly affected. Chloe: "You okay?" Lois: "Yeah, sure, it's just - I've got a headache. I need some air." And she could head out. That would have been enough for us to believe their relationship this episode. As it was, the revelation that they knew each other came out of the blue...and the revelation that they were adolescent lovers was just too much of a coincidence to believe completely. As she painted an extravagant picture of their past, she might just as well have been pulling details out of thin air. That lack of support marred the scene for me.
"Think! Think, Wes. This is Fort Addleston. This is where I kissed you that night." Music escalates. "Remember me!" The music reaches a climax, and Wes blinks. If this had been a relationship we'd known about for longer than twenty minutes, this would have been a fantastic moment. As it was, it was great. As great as possible, under the circumstances.
At last, Martha's role as a state senator has an ounce of impact on the plot. It took a long time, but it was relief that she was finally permitted to make a difference somewhere, instead of having an obligatory heart-to-heart after the action was over.
"Sam Lane was stationed there when Lois was in junior high. Maybe - " Clark dashes off before she can finish. Chloe looks at Martha. "Do you ever get used to that?" "Not really." Again, DeKnight puts in his trademark "real life" moment. I liked this.
Clark carries Lois, looking around for Wes. He's straining his eyes, even though he knows the guy is invisible. It never occurs to him to use his superhearing to track Wes' heartbeat. Clark wasn't portrayed in a very flattering light this episode, to put it mildly.
Beautiful, innovative shot of Clark using his heat vision.
Lois kneels over Wes. Wes makes her promise not to let this happen to anyone else. In one of perhaps two times in Smallville's history, soaring human voices sing the background music. Strings rise. Wes dies, and Lois weeps over him. The music is touchingly, achingly good. Clark watches her, compassion in his eyes. This sequence was awesome. Very Lord-of-the-Rings-ish. The music made this moment. (Was this Mark Snow again? Brilliant.)
"Then perhaps it's time to extend that influence." Clark rolls his eyes. Watch him. This made me laugh.
"Clark? You agree?" Clark looks resentfully at Lionel. The last time they shared a room, Clark was threatening Lionel. Now we feel the tension. What is Clark going to say? Will he be very reserved, saying something tense and terse? No...with emotional music playing, Clark swallows his personal feelings, stands, and says, "You should do it, Mom. I think you should do it." What? Viewers sit there in confusion. Martha is delighted, sweet music is playing, and we're all feeling that something is terribly wrong. Martha worries about the farm, and Lionel says familiarly, "Oh, Clark can take care of that, can't you, Clark?" Clark gives him an awkward look...then nods. He tells Martha he can lease some land to Ben Hubbard. Then, with Lionel standing watching them, Clark gives an inspirational speech about helping those in need and how Martha can do that as U.S. senator. This scene felt emotionally chaotic.
"And it's where people like Wes need you to be." It was nice that they were able to tie the plot and the subplot together that way.
Lex, casually: "Hey, you're up." Lana, sounding wifely: "For a while now. You never came home last night." Lex, matter-of-factly: "There was an unforeseen complication with Project Ares." That was like a slap in the face. It was so unflinchingly direct.
Lana falters. "Ares?" "The secret military project I was discussing with Senator Burke yesterday. When you were listening outside the door."
"Every time I've opened my heart to someone I care about, I've ended up being very disappointed. If - if you ever betrayed me, I don't know what I'd do." Lana looks at him, hears his vulnerable plea, and deceives him with a perfectly straight face. "I'd never hurt the man I love." She's basically referring to her other lover, to his face. That's really ugly.

Details

Senator Burke is a wheezing, unhealthy old chap with circles under his eyes. I was unable to tell if there was any purpose behind this characterization or not. Were we supposed to enjoy the contrast between his physical weakness and his political stealth? (Since he was always a step behind, I gather not.) Were we supposed to wonder how on earth, given today's narcissistic society, he made it to U.S. Senator? (I do wonder.) Was this a shallow attempt to link physical appearance with inner worth? If you have some insight, please let me know.
Lionel watches the phantom and simultaneously gains insight into the meanings of kryptonian symbols. Does this indicate that the phantom sends subliminal messages that Lionel is trying to perceive through repetition? Or...what?
The three large symbols that Lionel wrote down were "Power," (first seen in the S6 premiere), "Co..otion," ("commotion"?), and "Mirror".
The smaller kryptonian symbols are meaninglessly jumbled together:
     O
? P O ? R
Z E K E E    M
H    D
V R    A S H ?
A S E T T    L
"Wes?" Wes stops and looks at her for a fraction of a second - then turns invisible and flees. He's invincible, invisible, and very fast: he could either turn invisible and take on the entire police force, turn invisible and await further developments, or turn invisible and kidnap Lois. Running away and leaving a witness alive was the least logical choice.
Chloe seriously gives everyone the update on Wes. But it was just a few weeks ago when Wes' "widow" made the news by trying to kill Lex. At that time, Clark pulled up everything he could about the tunnel situation and spent hours examining the evidence, impressing viewers with his skill and initiative. Shouldn't he have known about Jodi's husband?
During the whole conversation between Clark and Chloe in the Talon, Chloe is standing stiffly and looking up at Clark with her eyes only...never lifting her chin. There isn't much feeling in her voice, either. This wide-eyed delivery came across as monotonous. I'm not sure why Allison Mack seems to have lost her sparkle and originality recently, but hopefully the summer break will give her a chance to recuperate and return refreshed.
"Chloe, I need you to contact Oliver and his team. They've been taking out 33.1 facilities all around the world." Shouldn't Chloe know that? For one thing, haven't she and Clark been talking about their activities? (And even if Clark hasn't said anything, she's keeping in touch with Oliver too, since he's the one protecting her mother...right?) For another, with all her recent research on LuthorCorp, even without Clark or Oliver's help, shouldn't she see all the LuthorCorp-owned facilities being destroyed and put two and two together?
"What you're being asked to do is help protect the world, doctor. Unstable criminals with dangerous powers are becoming more and more common. Humanity's only chance of surviving the onslaught is this project." I've always wondered if Lex really was doing this to "save humanity," but this seems to confirm it. If this is truly the case...then why does Lex view krypto-freaks as monsters, when he's a krypto-freak just like the others? And why does he believe that huge numbers of people with powers are best controlled by huge numbers of people with more powers?
How does the biological scientist whose expertise is the design of a human weapon (using human DNA and alien peptides) know how to reposition LuthorCorp satellites and issue the command to generate a pulse? And even if he has theoretical knowledge, why would he already have access to the computers and the database controlling that information at his lab? He doesn't even need to ask Lex for a password - apparently he already knows his way around the program. That was unrealistic.
Why does Wes bother making himself visible when he dives for Clark? Yes, Clark defeated him, but Wes practically handed Clark the victory.
You'd think Wes might mention his extremely devoted wife when he died...something along the lines of "Tell Jodi I love her."
"...who can restore the faith that Burke has tarnished." I think this was supposed to be, "restore faith in the image that Burke has tarnished." I've never heard of faith being tarnished before.

The Future

The trailer for next week shows two key Lana-Lex scenes in the study - one of Lex slapping Lana, one of Lana viciously telling Lex that she cares more about Clark than she could ever care about Lex. Which sequence comes first will be key.

If Lex slaps Lana in a moment of fury - say, hypothetically, because she destroyed all his prototypes - and then Lana retaliates by saying the one thing that will hurt him most, that's...all right. As hard as it is to accept that Lex would invest more in his prototype obsession than in Lana, we can still see it happening.

However, if Lana gets fed up with her married life and says the one thing that will hurt Lex the most, after Lex told her that he didn't know what he'd do if she betrayed him, and Lex reacts by slapping her...that's bad. That means that, once again, the "good guys" will be forcibly shoving Lex into the dark side.




Prototype Overall "Prototype" is one of those memorable episodes that will doubtless be seen differently by different viewers. To new viewers, the many references to previous episodes, the highly emotional scenes between various characters, and the overall plot will suggest a thrilling arc with complicated relationships. To old viewers, Clark and Lana's damaged characters, the plot marred by several huge logical leaps, and half of the developments that can't be expected to develop further in the future, all suggest that maybe...just maybe...Smallville has run its course. Perhaps it's unfair to side with the jaded group. And I do think that Season Six has been better than seasons Four and Five put together. But as an older viewer I have to say that Smallville has a problem: they only put out enough effort to make two or three outstanding episodes per season. This episode was good in many ways, but neglected and shabby in many others. They can't keep this up. They're losing viewers every week. We need a reason to keep watching Smallville. In fact, that's probably one problem that will be evident to all viewers: "Prototype" gave us no clear reason to tune in next week. The cliffhangers for each character: Lex is building an army of superfreaks (we've known that since "Justice" - episode 11) Lois is devoted to taking Lex down (another Very Intense Lois Goal) Chloe is...doing nothing new Clark is...doing nothing new Lana is...doing nothing new Lionel is...doing nothing new Martha is considering leaving While the episode was beautifully directed, and at times wonderfully acted, as an old viewer I have to say that the plot was weak, and the script didn't do the characters justice. This is the second-to-last episode of the season. We needed a better reason than this to stick with Smallville. Verdict: 6 Good/Bad Moments The episode opens with an expensive special effects shot - a LuthorCorp satellite floating in the air. The concept was a wonderful one, and the tracking - swooping across the LuthorCorp name, gradually focusing on and zooming in on the little eyepiece - was excellent; however, to a jaded audience who's been watching the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer trailers, the CG satellite itself was distractingly primitive. This opening shot set the tone for an episode striving to be epic and failing. The soldiers striding through the tunnels, the pipes and lights and unearthly environment, the 3D model of the tunnels, white lines over black screen, the horn music...nice tribute to Star Wars. With the invisible warrior 10 meters from their door, the scientist says, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." This was such a huge understatement in light of the chaos outside that, on first viewing, this line seemed downright inane. On a second viewing, knowing that this was simply a test run they'd planned...well, it still seemed inane. If he was afraid that the killing machine might maul them all, he should have had more to say than that. But this moment could also be seen as another Star Wars tribute to the nicely understated "I have a bad feeling about this"...a line used in all three original Star Wars movies. "Get some fresh guards. I want to see him do it again." Ominous music plays. Lex is enjoying Wes' violence. I can definitely see this as a step in Lex's journey to the dark side. Lex has always been a war enthusiast - like his father, he admires and studies the war strategies of various Greeks and Romans, and at one time he taught Clark what he knew. It makes sense that this Lex would find it a pleasure to watch a carefully-designed soldier infiltrate a secure facility. "I stuck my neck out to get the armed services committee to allow you access to military resources and personnel to R and D a single prototype, but you've already started gearing up for mass production." This is possibly one of the most contrived lines of exposition Smallville has ever had. "Project Ares is over. I'm shutting it down." "That would be ill-advised." I love it when Lex gets subtly humorous moments like this. His expression as he delivered his understated line, already plotting the senator's fate, reminded me of his pseudo-serious examination of his artistic preferences for his psychologist in Season Three. Lana has a Clark Moment. In a beautiful reveal (kudos to Mat Beck), it is shown that as Lex and Senator Burke conspire, Lana is outside, listening to the conversation. Loved the reveal, hated the concept. Lana knows that the Luthor mansion is covered with security cameras - she's even had fights with Lex over it, and just last episode she used them to capture incriminating evidence. Now it doesn't seem to occur to her that her eavesdropping is being recorded. This was a bad moment for Lana. Beautiful, beautiful CG shot of the Daily Planet and the LuthorCorp building next to it. Granted, the LuthorCorp building didn't used to loom so high above the Daily Planet, and it seems like the CG shots of large buildings with glass windows become more fake-looking as the years go by, but it was still aesthetically pleasing, and a nice touch that they remembered that the buildings were next to each other. Clark barges into Lionel's office, confrontationally. "We have to talk." We are disagreeable struck by how many times Clark has barged into someone else's private space and demanded their attention in order to verbally beat them down. Lionel humorously plays on our reactions. "Clark, you should, uh, try picking up the phone occasionally. Might be quicker. O-oh, but maybe not." I appreciated the theory behind the gesture, and I like the real life reactions that DeKnight tends to insert into his scripts, but onscreen this came across as an apology for Clark's obnoxious habit. And if a character needs to apologize for something in the script...that something should just be taken out. "What do you know about Lana?" Well, lots of things. Namely, she's his daughter-in-law. This was an absurdly vague question. Lionel, jovially, chuckling: "Letting go. Never been one of your strong points, was it?" Perhaps Lionel's intimate, arm-slapping familiarity here, not to mention his grammatical slip-up, was supposed to convey his nervousness. He is afraid of where this conversation might lead, so he's acting out of character and trying to make light of the situation. But 1), I have a hard time believing that socially savvy Lionel would say something so blatantly out of place. And 2), this gentle mockery came across as another apology, this time for Clark's obsession. "And you're accusing me of, what, exactly, this time?" Lionel stresses that Clark is always accusing him of something. While this was clearly meant to convey his defensiveness, it seemed like yet another apology, this time for Clark's penchant for throwing accusations around. "Lana came to me the day of the wedding..." That wasn't exactly what happened. Clark came to her. Clark's delusional moment here made him look imbalanced. He's picturing himself as the knight in shining armor to whom Lana fled, when in reality he was emotionally trailing after her. This should have been worded differently, for Clark's sake. "...the day of the wedding, to tell me she wasn't going through with it, that she was leaving Lex." Watch Lionel's eyes. He looks to the side, uncertainly. He hadn't counted on that. This is a hilarious moment. "It's surprising, Clark, what people will do when they feel they have no other options." Lionel paints an image of Lana being cornered. Why would he give Clark that picture of Lana? He has to know that Clark will eventually trace it back to him. It seems like DeKnight only wrote this line to set up Clark's cocky reply. "If I find out that you had anything to do with Lana marrying Lex, the gloves will come off. How do you like that option?" This threat immediately recalled Clark's line to Lionel in the same office in "Mercy": "Secret or no secret, you stay away from my mother, or you'll wish I'd never saved your life." And we all know how that turned out. Clark drifted off and apparently forgot his threat. It was hard to take this moment seriously, because we know Clark's track record on following up on suspicious, angry Lionel-threats. "Distance is good for a relationship. That is what all the guys who've moved away from me have said." Lois's delivery here made this a sweet moment. She's saying self-demeaning things, not because she's clueless and awkward and inept, but because she's trying to cheer up her cousin. This actually showed a sensitivity and sweetness that I liked seeing in Lois. "She hasn't told me much about it." "Lot of that going around lately." "Was that jab directed at my chin?" Chloe is so despondent that Lois is comforting her. Now Clark marches in and starts complaining about her reticence, without even a mention of Chloe's troubles. He's undervalued Chloe for long enough. This was mean. "Chloe, you know what Lex is really like. Did you forget what he did to you, what he did to your mother?" Actually yes, she did forget when Lex kidnapped her the first time, but that's not the point...the point is that Clark is using traumatic experiences in Chloe's life to goad her into spilling the beans about Lana. And it doesn't seem like a logical appeal so much as emotional manipulation. "But if she's staying in that marriage, all I can say is she must have a d*** good reason." Clark has driven Chloe to cussing. Nice. Our initial impression of Wes in action is that of a savior, as first he kills the guard who's dragging Lois away, then kills Senator Burke when he's got the gun pointed vaguely in her direction. This was a nice and believable setup, as he kills everyone threatening around her, while she remains untouched. Of course, he was intending to kill her, but that impression remains. "Uh, well, one minute I was harassing a public official..." Again, a perfect delivery. This could easily have been delivered with the obnoxious, clueless, self-absorbed Lois shtick. Instead, Erica Durance gave a lovable interpretation of the line. "Nothing can get in the way of completing this project. Nothing. Take care of it." I believe this is the first time we've actually seen Lex order murder. I appreciated that Michael Rosenbaum didn't play up the moment, turning it into a sinister, snarly command. Instead, he said it in a goal-oriented way that made us believe that Lex still sees himself as a pretty good person who's doing the right thing. "Lois, quit being stubborn. You're going to stay here until things get cleared up." Clark sounds weary, like he's tired of arguing. Yet Lois's line, "Thanks, but I can take care of myself," sounds like this is the first time they've made the offer. One of their lines needed to be changed. Lois, flippantly: "Oh, you're just hoping to catch me in the shower again." While Martha's reaction - first looking at Clark in shock, then giving a dismissive "never mind...that's Lois" headshake - was spot on, this line shouldn't have been there in the first place. For one thing, Clark never caught her in the shower while she was staying at the farm. (At least, not that we saw. And I'm pretty sure the writers would have shown a moment like that if it was part of the gameplan.) For another, what kind of reaction was that? At this point, Lois and Clark have a purely friendly relationship with no hint of romance. They haven't even had a moment of flirting - Lois has always kept it very down-to-earth. Given that relationship, why would Lois's first reaction be to make this highly flirtatious comment? It implies a relationship that was never there and that would make her very uncomfortable if it were. "It'll be like old times, like when you first got to Smallville." "You're always welcome here, Lois. You're practically family." It would be one thing if Lois were the girl-next-door who stayed with them and developed a tentative, sweet friendship with Clark, then grew up to have a romance with him. In fact, "Crusade" started to introduce a friendship along those lines. But clearly that's not what ended up happening, so reminding the viewers of their down-to-earth brother-sister relationship in a verbal sandwiching of the single suggesting-future-romance moment was unwise. These moments felt almost sordid. Lois describes a vanishing man. Clark tries to impress on her the grave danger that she's in. They hear a noise that alarms them, and Clark sees a rocking chair rocking by itself. His conclusion: "Looks like it was just the wind." This picture this episode painted of Clark didn't do him any favors. "So he could teleport, like Alicia?" "...It was more like what Graham Garrett could do." This name-dropping seemed gimmicky, like the name-dropping fest in "Extinction". "Don't you think that's a hero-to-hero phone call?" No. I love it when Chloe and Oliver talk. Those two have great chemistry. I liked it that they talked in this episode, even if we didn't see it. Chloe, skeptically: "Clark, come on. We both know that Lex isn't going to tell you anything." This was a well-deserved rebuke. Clark really isn't the brightest candle on the cake today. Lana emerges from the Perfect Bathroom in a bathrobe that matches the towels in the Perfect Bathroom, to find Lex lighting candles all around the bedroom. Eagerly, like a little kid. Earlier we saw him set his hand on her shoulder, and she brushed it off with an excuse. Now he says, "I thought maybe if I set the mood..." and tentatively leans in for a kiss. She flinches away, and he withdraws, murmuring, "Or maybe not." Lex is desperately trying to win Lana's love, and she's never going to give it to him. This moment was a beautiful insight into the state of their relationship. Clark dashes into the bedroom through the window. This would have been a nice moment, showing his comfort level with Lana. Obviously, she has to know that he's coming in through the window and appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. But we know that every move is doubtless being tracked by a security camera - Lex's security cameras in the bedrooms always bothered Lana. And it doesn't occur to Lana to warn Clark. So Clark's freedom in his superpowered entrances and exits - and Lana's failure to warn him - come across as dense. "Ares." "That's the god of war." It's like Lex to know that, and name the project accordingly. But it's not like Clark to know it, unless Milton Fine mentioned it in a history class. This moment seemed out-of-character. "You'd be surprised what I know." Sad strings. "Then why are you still here?" Lana looks at him for a long moment. "We all have our secrets, Clark. Sometimes we have to keep them to protect the people that we care about." "Lana..." "I know." Beautiful music. The unspoken longing is just right. The forbidden. And then...Clark ruins it, by ignoring the fact that it's the forbidden. Clark puts his hand on Lana's cheek. Then he leans in to kiss Lana. A married woman. In her bedroom. Where her husband was just trying to win her over with candles. This is so twisted that I don't know what to say. Her husband is standing right outside the door, and Lana keeps looking at it nervously, so it's not as if Clark forgot for a moment that Lana is not his. He's breaking up a marriage here. That's...sick. Beautiful shot of Lana sillhouetted against the interior, parting the red curtains. We can't see her expression, and that's the beauty of it. We know enough. Beautiful piano music. It was a wonderful wordless connection between her and Clark, almost like something out of the first two seasons. Well done. They gave Lois a perfect situation to paint a picture of her adolescent romance with Wes. She has to describe it to him, trying to trigger the memory. This wasn't a contrived play-by-play. It made sense for her to tell us all this. Since the writers knew they were going to have a previous relationship between Lois and Wes, the whole Lois-Wes scene really needed to be backed by information from an episode or two earlier. We should have seen Lois investigating Jodi Keenan for an Inquisitor article, finding the information about Wes' death, and whispering, "Wes." Or, better, had a scene between her and Chloe. Chloe: "Our resident psycho's name was Jodi Keenan." Lois, startled: "Any relation to Wes Keenan?" Chloe: "Yeah, it looks like she's his widow. He died four months ago in Afghanistan." Lois is visibly affected. Chloe: "You okay?" Lois: "Yeah, sure, it's just - I've got a headache. I need some air." And she could head out. That would have been enough for us to believe their relationship this episode. As it was, the revelation that they knew each other came out of the blue...and the revelation that they were adolescent lovers was just too much of a coincidence to believe completely. As she painted an extravagant picture of their past, she might just as well have been pulling details out of thin air. That lack of support marred the scene for me. "Think! Think, Wes. This is Fort Addleston. This is where I kissed you that night." Music escalates. "Remember me!" The music reaches a climax, and Wes blinks. If this had been a relationship we'd known about for longer than twenty minutes, this would have been a fantastic moment. As it was, it was great. As great as possible, under the circumstances. At last, Martha's role as a state senator has an ounce of impact on the plot. It took a long time, but it was relief that she was finally permitted to make a difference somewhere, instead of having an obligatory heart-to-heart after the action was over. "Sam Lane was stationed there when Lois was in junior high. Maybe - " Clark dashes off before she can finish. Chloe looks at Martha. "Do you ever get used to that?" "Not really." Again, DeKnight puts in his trademark "real life" moment. I liked this. Clark carries Lois, looking around for Wes. He's straining his eyes, even though he knows the guy is invisible. It never occurs to him to use his superhearing to track Wes' heartbeat. Clark wasn't portrayed in a very flattering light this episode, to put it mildly. Beautiful, innovative shot of Clark using his heat vision. Lois kneels over Wes. Wes makes her promise not to let this happen to anyone else. In one of perhaps two times in Smallville's history, soaring human voices sing the background music. Strings rise. Wes dies, and Lois weeps over him. The music is touchingly, achingly good. Clark watches her, compassion in his eyes. This sequence was awesome. Very Lord-of-the-Rings-ish. The music made this moment. (Was this Mark Snow again? Brilliant.) "Then perhaps it's time to extend that influence." Clark rolls his eyes. Watch him. This made me laugh. "Clark? You agree?" Clark looks resentfully at Lionel. The last time they shared a room, Clark was threatening Lionel. Now we feel the tension. What is Clark going to say? Will he be very reserved, saying something tense and terse? No...with emotional music playing, Clark swallows his personal feelings, stands, and says, "You should do it, Mom. I think you should do it." What? Viewers sit there in confusion. Martha is delighted, sweet music is playing, and we're all feeling that something is terribly wrong. Martha worries about the farm, and Lionel says familiarly, "Oh, Clark can take care of that, can't you, Clark?" Clark gives him an awkward look...then nods. He tells Martha he can lease some land to Ben Hubbard. Then, with Lionel standing watching them, Clark gives an inspirational speech about helping those in need and how Martha can do that as U.S. senator. This scene felt emotionally chaotic. "And it's where people like Wes need you to be." It was nice that they were able to tie the plot and the subplot together that way. Lex, casually: "Hey, you're up." Lana, sounding wifely: "For a while now. You never came home last night." Lex, matter-of-factly: "There was an unforeseen complication with Project Ares." That was like a slap in the face. It was so unflinchingly direct. Lana falters. "Ares?" "The secret military project I was discussing with Senator Burke yesterday. When you were listening outside the door." "Every time I've opened my heart to someone I care about, I've ended up being very disappointed. If - if you ever betrayed me, I don't know what I'd do." Lana looks at him, hears his vulnerable plea, and deceives him with a perfectly straight face. "I'd never hurt the man I love." She's basically referring to her other lover, to his face. That's really ugly. Details Senator Burke is a wheezing, unhealthy old chap with circles under his eyes. I was unable to tell if there was any purpose behind this characterization or not. Were we supposed to enjoy the contrast between his physical weakness and his political stealth? (Since he was always a step behind, I gather not.) Were we supposed to wonder how on earth, given today's narcissistic society, he made it to U.S. Senator? (I do wonder.) Was this a shallow attempt to link physical appearance with inner worth? If you have some insight, please let me know. Lionel watches the phantom and simultaneously gains insight into the meanings of kryptonian symbols. Does this indicate that the phantom sends subliminal messages that Lionel is trying to perceive through repetition? Or...what? The three large symbols that Lionel wrote down were "Power," (first seen in the S6 premiere), "Co..otion," ("commotion"?), and "Mirror". The smaller kryptonian symbols are meaninglessly jumbled together: O ? P O ? R Z E K E E M H D V R A S H ? A S E T T L "Wes?" Wes stops and looks at her for a fraction of a second - then turns invisible and flees. He's invincible, invisible, and very fast: he could either turn invisible and take on the entire police force, turn invisible and await further developments, or turn invisible and kidnap Lois. Running away and leaving a witness alive was the least logical choice. Chloe seriously gives everyone the update on Wes. But it was just a few weeks ago when Wes' "widow" made the news by trying to kill Lex. At that time, Clark pulled up everything he could about the tunnel situation and spent hours examining the evidence, impressing viewers with his skill and initiative. Shouldn't he have known about Jodi's husband? During the whole conversation between Clark and Chloe in the Talon, Chloe is standing stiffly and looking up at Clark with her eyes only...never lifting her chin. There isn't much feeling in her voice, either. This wide-eyed delivery came across as monotonous. I'm not sure why Allison Mack seems to have lost her sparkle and originality recently, but hopefully the summer break will give her a chance to recuperate and return refreshed. "Chloe, I need you to contact Oliver and his team. They've been taking out 33.1 facilities all around the world." Shouldn't Chloe know that? For one thing, haven't she and Clark been talking about their activities? (And even if Clark hasn't said anything, she's keeping in touch with Oliver too, since he's the one protecting her mother...right?) For another, with all her recent research on LuthorCorp, even without Clark or Oliver's help, shouldn't she see all the LuthorCorp-owned facilities being destroyed and put two and two together? "What you're being asked to do is help protect the world, doctor. Unstable criminals with dangerous powers are becoming more and more common. Humanity's only chance of surviving the onslaught is this project." I've always wondered if Lex really was doing this to "save humanity," but this seems to confirm it. If this is truly the case...then why does Lex view krypto-freaks as monsters, when he's a krypto-freak just like the others? And why does he believe that huge numbers of people with powers are best controlled by huge numbers of people with more powers? How does the biological scientist whose expertise is the design of a human weapon (using human DNA and alien peptides) know how to reposition LuthorCorp satellites and issue the command to generate a pulse? And even if he has theoretical knowledge, why would he already have access to the computers and the database controlling that information at his lab? He doesn't even need to ask Lex for a password - apparently he already knows his way around the program. That was unrealistic. Why does Wes bother making himself visible when he dives for Clark? Yes, Clark defeated him, but Wes practically handed Clark the victory. You'd think Wes might mention his extremely devoted wife when he died...something along the lines of "Tell Jodi I love her." "...who can restore the faith that Burke has tarnished." I think this was supposed to be, "restore faith in the image that Burke has tarnished." I've never heard of faith being tarnished before. The Future The trailer for next week shows two key Lana-Lex scenes in the study - one of Lex slapping Lana, one of Lana viciously telling Lex that she cares more about Clark than she could ever care about Lex. Which sequence comes first will be key. If Lex slaps Lana in a moment of fury - say, hypothetically, because she destroyed all his prototypes - and then Lana retaliates by saying the one thing that will hurt him most, that's...all right. As hard as it is to accept that Lex would invest more in his prototype obsession than in Lana, we can still see it happening. However, if Lana gets fed up with her married life and says the one thing that will hurt Lex the most, after Lex told her that he didn't know what he'd do if she betrayed him, and Lex reacts by slapping her...that's bad. That means that, once again, the "good guys" will be forcibly shoving Lex into the dark side. © Voice of Reason, 2007