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Smallville 5.13 Vengeance
I am certainly Late to the Party this week but thanks to the lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katetheother I was able to view this week's ep with only a day's delay, despite my DL capacity being maxed. Hopefully I'll be all back to normal very soon.
Vengeance or Justice?
I really enjoyed the echoes of Clark’s future in this week’s episode. The Angel of Vengeance (have completely forgotten her actual name!) was an interesting if obvious way to explore Clark’s future identity and how his handling of emotional issues will play a key role in shaping his future behaviour. Both the Angel girl and Clark experience grief which turns to anger. Angel chooses to express it in vengeance. She calls it ‘justice’ but when they find the man who killed her mother, she takes his life. She appears to be emotionally shaken by this later, and so we get a sense that Clark is not so different from her. He could have been like this if he’d had different emotional development. Clark saves Lionel from her, but Lionel suggests that Clark did it ‘for her’. He’s right, and taking this a step further, Clark does it for himself, for the part of his self that will become the Justice League character of the future. Clark defines himself as the person who doesn’t take that last vindictive step.
I was really happy to hear Clark confess to Chloe that he felt like crushing the thief’s windpipe would make everything better but realised it wouldn’t. The danger in Clark’s denial mechanism is that his repressed grief comes out in moments of extreme rage and he needs to acknowledge his emotions in order to gain control of them. Chloe has become an important voice of reason in Clark’s life.
X chromosomes win
I liked the gender reversal with the Angel character and there were a few other interesting developments with the female characters this week. I found Martha’s scene with Chloe interesting. With Jonathan gone, we see Martha turn to Chloe, saying that she’s happy someone else shares Clark’s secret. Martha visits her at the Daily Planet, Chloe’s workplace, something that we haven’t seen before. It’s a subtle exploration of the way relationships are redefined after a death. The dynamics shift and realign. Clark’s secret is now shared by two women rather than his parents. Martha has also assumed control over Jonathan’s senate seat and what’s to happen with it. In subtle ways the women on the show (especially Martha, Lois and Chloe) are slowly growing in power within Clark’s life.
Fathers
After Clark saves him, Lionel places his hand on Clark’s shoulder, in an echo of Jonathan’s trademark parental/dominant body language, and says ‘thank you, son’. I found that scene quite chilling although I really enjoyed Lionel’s return to open gamesmanship with Lex in this episode. Lionel’s motives have been ambiguous all season and remain so, but it was interesting to have at least some of his agenda(s) revealed. I remain unsure of the exact nature of the connection between Jor-El and Lionel. Lionel’s ‘I’m back’ line could be read as indicating that Jor-El’s time of using Lionel has completely passed. On the other hand, Jor-El has stated that he can access Lionel as his ‘vessel’ at any time. It’s also unclear just how much Lionel has deliberately orchestrated this season. In that way Jor-El and Lionel are easy to conflate since both of them are powerful figures whose power is amorphous and undefined. We know some instances where they’ve clearly exercised it but it’s possible to attribute many more actions to them.
Just as the Angel of Vengeance served as a stand-in for Superman, Lionel serves in this episode as a stand-in for Lex in the future. We can imagine the same scene played out between Clark and Lex in the Luthorcorp tower in the future. In fact, Lionel was only there temporarily. Since Lex is blackmailing Lionel with the knowledge that he met with Jonathan before his heartattack, we can presume this information is not going to be revealed to the Kents in the near future. Angel asks Clark what he would do if he was face-to-face with his father’s killer and in an extreme reading, that’s what Lionel is. Since Clark doesn’t have the knowledge to actually confront Lionel, this was a nice way of handling the audience’s privileged knowledge.
Grief
Jonathan the real person is gone. What remains is his memory and the collection of associations that people have with him. The classic Smallville markers of identity--physical space (the barn) and clothing (old flannel and farm clothes) were used to show how Martha and Clark are coping with their grief. Martha admits to her emotional response to these reminders of Jonathan, but Clark initially only admits to frustration. He’s locked in denial.
Martha offers him a personal memento (watch), which is another classic Smallville trope. Lana and Lex have both carried objects that remind them of their lost parents. Clark initially refuses the watch but admits its significance at the end of the episode and puts it on.
But for me the most telling aspect of the grief-processing that Martha and Clark did in this episode was in the final scene where they watch the home video. Smallville plays with image and truth and this scene really brought home to me how much Jonathan exists merely as image now. He’s the smiling father playing with his son on the tractor and it’s important for Clark and Martha to hang on to that. Clark admits in this episode to hearing his dad’s voice in his head holding him back from vengeance. There is irony in that, since Jonathan was a man who lost his temper more than most and from whom Clark learnt stubborn denial as a coping mechanism. But that real Jonathan, with all his flaws, is gone. The grief process has turned him into an iconic figure for his son and wife.
Boundary transgressions
I’ve had a lot of time for Lana this season: she’s demonstrated that she has a backbone, she’s asserted herself appropriately and she’s behaved with dignity under difficult circumstances. But I really didn’t like her behaviour in this episode. For me, this was a real return to Season 1 Lana, who desperately loves being ‘needed’ by her boyfriend, and who uses grief as a way to connect with people. I was sorry to see this sort of character regression.
Lana and Clark have broken up, yet Lana still has ‘full access’ to Clark, entering the Kent premises without knocking and immediately bringing up Clark’s loss. Although she says that Clark doesn’t have to open up to her, her behaviour suggests that that is exactly what she would like, that despite her rejection of their relationship, she’s desperate to reconnect with him now he needs her. Yes, I do think this stems partly from genuine sympathy and compassion on Lana’s part. But I also think she’s self-serving. She doesn’t respect Clark’s boundaries. Having her around can only be emotionally distressing for him, and she doesn’t give him space.
She’s not the only character to tread a thin line between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in this episode. Lex visits Lana at the Talon and attempts to repair the rift between them. Despite her deflections he remains insistent on pressing home that he is there if she needs him (obviously not picking up on the signals that she’s far more interested in being needed herself—by Clark). Lionel visits Martha and attempts to form the basis of a new type of relationship with her. In Lionel’s case, he visits Martha in the barn, a space occupied in the past by Jonathan, so although Lionel makes no overt move towards her, the undercurrent that he is seeking to replace Jonathan is there.
katetheother I was able to view this week's ep with only a day's delay, despite my DL capacity being maxed. Hopefully I'll be all back to normal very soon.Vengeance or Justice?
I really enjoyed the echoes of Clark’s future in this week’s episode. The Angel of Vengeance (have completely forgotten her actual name!) was an interesting if obvious way to explore Clark’s future identity and how his handling of emotional issues will play a key role in shaping his future behaviour. Both the Angel girl and Clark experience grief which turns to anger. Angel chooses to express it in vengeance. She calls it ‘justice’ but when they find the man who killed her mother, she takes his life. She appears to be emotionally shaken by this later, and so we get a sense that Clark is not so different from her. He could have been like this if he’d had different emotional development. Clark saves Lionel from her, but Lionel suggests that Clark did it ‘for her’. He’s right, and taking this a step further, Clark does it for himself, for the part of his self that will become the Justice League character of the future. Clark defines himself as the person who doesn’t take that last vindictive step.
I was really happy to hear Clark confess to Chloe that he felt like crushing the thief’s windpipe would make everything better but realised it wouldn’t. The danger in Clark’s denial mechanism is that his repressed grief comes out in moments of extreme rage and he needs to acknowledge his emotions in order to gain control of them. Chloe has become an important voice of reason in Clark’s life.
X chromosomes win
I liked the gender reversal with the Angel character and there were a few other interesting developments with the female characters this week. I found Martha’s scene with Chloe interesting. With Jonathan gone, we see Martha turn to Chloe, saying that she’s happy someone else shares Clark’s secret. Martha visits her at the Daily Planet, Chloe’s workplace, something that we haven’t seen before. It’s a subtle exploration of the way relationships are redefined after a death. The dynamics shift and realign. Clark’s secret is now shared by two women rather than his parents. Martha has also assumed control over Jonathan’s senate seat and what’s to happen with it. In subtle ways the women on the show (especially Martha, Lois and Chloe) are slowly growing in power within Clark’s life.
Fathers
After Clark saves him, Lionel places his hand on Clark’s shoulder, in an echo of Jonathan’s trademark parental/dominant body language, and says ‘thank you, son’. I found that scene quite chilling although I really enjoyed Lionel’s return to open gamesmanship with Lex in this episode. Lionel’s motives have been ambiguous all season and remain so, but it was interesting to have at least some of his agenda(s) revealed. I remain unsure of the exact nature of the connection between Jor-El and Lionel. Lionel’s ‘I’m back’ line could be read as indicating that Jor-El’s time of using Lionel has completely passed. On the other hand, Jor-El has stated that he can access Lionel as his ‘vessel’ at any time. It’s also unclear just how much Lionel has deliberately orchestrated this season. In that way Jor-El and Lionel are easy to conflate since both of them are powerful figures whose power is amorphous and undefined. We know some instances where they’ve clearly exercised it but it’s possible to attribute many more actions to them.
Just as the Angel of Vengeance served as a stand-in for Superman, Lionel serves in this episode as a stand-in for Lex in the future. We can imagine the same scene played out between Clark and Lex in the Luthorcorp tower in the future. In fact, Lionel was only there temporarily. Since Lex is blackmailing Lionel with the knowledge that he met with Jonathan before his heartattack, we can presume this information is not going to be revealed to the Kents in the near future. Angel asks Clark what he would do if he was face-to-face with his father’s killer and in an extreme reading, that’s what Lionel is. Since Clark doesn’t have the knowledge to actually confront Lionel, this was a nice way of handling the audience’s privileged knowledge.
Grief
Jonathan the real person is gone. What remains is his memory and the collection of associations that people have with him. The classic Smallville markers of identity--physical space (the barn) and clothing (old flannel and farm clothes) were used to show how Martha and Clark are coping with their grief. Martha admits to her emotional response to these reminders of Jonathan, but Clark initially only admits to frustration. He’s locked in denial.
Martha offers him a personal memento (watch), which is another classic Smallville trope. Lana and Lex have both carried objects that remind them of their lost parents. Clark initially refuses the watch but admits its significance at the end of the episode and puts it on.
But for me the most telling aspect of the grief-processing that Martha and Clark did in this episode was in the final scene where they watch the home video. Smallville plays with image and truth and this scene really brought home to me how much Jonathan exists merely as image now. He’s the smiling father playing with his son on the tractor and it’s important for Clark and Martha to hang on to that. Clark admits in this episode to hearing his dad’s voice in his head holding him back from vengeance. There is irony in that, since Jonathan was a man who lost his temper more than most and from whom Clark learnt stubborn denial as a coping mechanism. But that real Jonathan, with all his flaws, is gone. The grief process has turned him into an iconic figure for his son and wife.
Boundary transgressions
I’ve had a lot of time for Lana this season: she’s demonstrated that she has a backbone, she’s asserted herself appropriately and she’s behaved with dignity under difficult circumstances. But I really didn’t like her behaviour in this episode. For me, this was a real return to Season 1 Lana, who desperately loves being ‘needed’ by her boyfriend, and who uses grief as a way to connect with people. I was sorry to see this sort of character regression.
Lana and Clark have broken up, yet Lana still has ‘full access’ to Clark, entering the Kent premises without knocking and immediately bringing up Clark’s loss. Although she says that Clark doesn’t have to open up to her, her behaviour suggests that that is exactly what she would like, that despite her rejection of their relationship, she’s desperate to reconnect with him now he needs her. Yes, I do think this stems partly from genuine sympathy and compassion on Lana’s part. But I also think she’s self-serving. She doesn’t respect Clark’s boundaries. Having her around can only be emotionally distressing for him, and she doesn’t give him space.
She’s not the only character to tread a thin line between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in this episode. Lex visits Lana at the Talon and attempts to repair the rift between them. Despite her deflections he remains insistent on pressing home that he is there if she needs him (obviously not picking up on the signals that she’s far more interested in being needed herself—by Clark). Lionel visits Martha and attempts to form the basis of a new type of relationship with her. In Lionel’s case, he visits Martha in the barn, a space occupied in the past by Jonathan, so although Lionel makes no overt move towards her, the undercurrent that he is seeking to replace Jonathan is there.
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Well, so far you are joined in this by
I mean, yes, she was definitely crossing boundaries--when she just came into the house without knocking I was a little stunned, and I do think she's acting a little too much like they haven't broken up--but on the other hand I thought, actually, that this was finally a scene where her own experience of grief was being used appropriately, for once. Losing a parent at 4 isn't the same as losing one at 19, but it is a starting point for connection. And Lana clearly feels guilty for breaking up with Clark when she did, and is trying to reconnect.Plus, the fact that she went to every pawn shop in Metropolis to find that watch does a lot toward rehabilitating her beahvior in the episode, for me.
I do agree with you that her boundary crossing is paralleled with Lex and Lionel's , though I guess I didn't see her use of her own experience of grief with Clark as *quite* as manipulative as Lex and Lionel's. Actually, I loved the way this episode managed to remind us of the griefs that all the major characters in the series bear, and the different ways they let those griefs shape their lives. And in *that* sense I agree with your criticism of Lana, in that she needs to figure out where she is going and not dwell in the past, but unlike Lex or Clark she doesn't have any kind of moral legacy left from her parents. A kryptonite necklace is *only* a symbol of loss, whereas Lillian and Jonathan's symbolize the values they passed down to their children.
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p.s.
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After Clark saves him, Lionel places his hand on Clark’s shoulder, in an echo of Jonathan’s trademark parental/dominant body language, and says ‘thank you, son’. I found that scene quite chilling although I really enjoyed Lionel’s return to open gamesmanship with Lex in this episode. Lionel’s motives have been ambiguous all season and remain so, but it was interesting to have at least some of his agenda(s) revealed. I remain unsure of the exact nature of the connection between Jor-El and Lionel. Lionel’s ‘I’m back’ line could be read as indicating that Jor-El’s time of using Lionel has completely passed. On the other hand, Jor-El has stated that he can access Lionel as his ‘vessel’ at any time. It’s also unclear just how much Lionel has deliberately orchestrated this season. In that way Jor-El and Lionel are easy to conflate since both of them are powerful figures whose power is amorphous and undefined. We know some instances where they’ve clearly exercised it but it’s possible to attribute many more actions to them.
It was chilling and creepy, especially when he called Clark "son." And *damn* I wish we knew whether "I have returned" meant Lionel's back in control, or Jor-El is, but I guess speculating is half the fun, as long as they eventually make it clear by the end of the season. If they don't, I'll be *so* mad!
Smallville plays with image and truth and this scene really brought home to me how much Jonathan exists merely as image now. He’s the smiling father playing with his son on the tractor and it’s important for Clark and Martha to hang on to that. Clark admits in this episode to hearing his dad’s voice in his head holding him back from vengeance. There is irony in that, since Jonathan was a man who lost his temper more than most and from whom Clark learnt stubborn denial as a coping mechanism. But that real Jonathan, with all his flaws, is gone. The grief process has turned him into an iconic figure for his son and wife.
That's just all so *true*! I had the same thought you had about how ironic it was that *Jonathan* would be the one telling Clark to control his temper, but you're right that he's now just an iconic figure. And that makes an interesting contrast to Jor-El, who is also dead but remains an active presence in his son's life. (Though I am frankly relieved that we don't have an AI spouting Jonathan's platitudes to Clark!)
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After Clark saves him, Lionel places his hand on Clark’s shoulder, in an echo of Jonathan’s trademark parental/dominant body language, and says ‘thank you, son’.
Lionel really is trying to step into Jonathan's shoes in this episode, isn't he? I was really surprised that Clark didn't react to that in any way. He just stood there and accepted it. They looked disturbingly similar as the camera pulled back - similar stances, looking out over the city, hair blowing in the wind. It would be interesting, especially if Lionel and Martha get closer, to see if Clark would be desperate enough to look for a father figure in Lionel.
But that real Jonathan, with all his flaws, is gone. The grief process has turned him into an iconic figure for his son and wife.
Although Martha was capable of seeing Jonathan's flaws, and loved him despite them, I don't know that Clark was ever aware of them. Perhaps if he had lived longer, there would have been a chance for Clark's hero-worship to diminish a bit, but now it's just increased. Of course, he could be a much more positive influence now that the flawed reality isn't going around giving sanctimonious advice to everyone, so this could be good. We'll have to see.
Lana and Clark have broken up, yet Lana still has ‘full access’ to Clark
Ah, the oldest question in the book: If you break up with your boyfriend four hours before his father dies, does it take? Seriously, though, this seemed very in character for her and reminded my of why I dislike Lana so much when she's with Clark. I don't think she is capable of growing when she's with him, it's as though she is trapped into the image he had of her at 14. Her continuing friendship with Lex should make her more watchable - I was surprised by how well she pulled off the awkwardness of their meeting in the Talon.
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part I
Now, on to Vengeance:
I was really happy to hear Clark confess to Chloe that he felt like crushing the thief’s windpipe would make everything better but realised it wouldn’t.
It's interesting: For all that both Martha and Lana seemed to be concerned that Clark wasn't "opening up" enough, he actually *did* open up with Chloe. He told her towards the beginning of the episode how guilty he felt looking at his mom and his dad's things, and then, after the final confrontation with Andrea, he confessed to Chloe that he wanted to kill Snake even though he pulled himself back from it and realized it wouldn't make things any better. And I think that underpins part of my irritation with Lana this week; she wasn't willing to deal with or acknowledge the idea that maybe Clark just didn't want to talk about what he was going through *with her*.
After Clark saves him, Lionel places his hand on Clark’s shoulder, in an echo of Jonathan’s trademark parental/dominant body language, and says ‘thank you, son’. I found that scene quite chilling
You know what I loved about it? Lionel might as well have been a *gnat* for all that he was *completely insignificant* to Clark in that moment. Clark's got so much other stuff on his mind and in his heart that he's not even bothering to indulge Lionel's attempts at "small talk". Now, I expect, in the future, to see both Clark and Martha deal with Lionel with a certain amount of diligence and distrust/wariness -- because they have good reasons to distrust his intentions and I expect them (and the creative team) to remember that -- but just that moment, I loved it that Clark couldn't be assed to care what Lionel thought or was saying.
Since Lex is blackmailing Lionel with the knowledge that he met with Jonathan before his heartattack, we can presume this information is not going to be revealed to the Kents in the near future.
I absolutely *lllllove* what this implies about just *how* closely Lex has been paying attention to Lionel's comings and goings. And even Lionel didn't expect him to know that Lionel was behind the Apex Corp. and its hostile takeover bid, yet Lex did. I'm telling you, Lionel's downfall is going to be that while he does understand that Lex is a threat, he underestimates just how *serious* of one Lex is.
But for me the most telling aspect of the grief-processing that Martha and Clark did in this episode was in the final scene where they watch the home video. Smallville plays with image and truth and this scene really brought home to me how much Jonathan exists merely as image now. He’s the smiling father playing with his son on the tractor and it’s important for Clark and Martha to hang on to that.
*nods* Grief and death often 'soften' the reality of a person (witness, for example, the whitewashed hagiography of the lives of Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and John Paul II after they all died), and I thought the show's visual presentation of that idea was simply *masterful* (even as it made me cry like a little girl). Jonathan Kent was a decent man, but his death will cause Clark (and Martha) to remember him as being an even *better* person than he really was. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, because it's going to inspire Clark to be a better person than *he* already is and that way ... lies the hero of the future.
Re: part I
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Two points I want to mention. 1) In reference to Lana, other than her trying to connect with Clark in the beginning of the episode when she obviously was failing miserably, I thought her role in Vengeance was quite beautiful. (Please see my above comment to mskatej above). I loved that she was the one who had searched to pawn shops to locate the watch. Clark has loved her for his whole life practically and whether or not they made it as a romantic couple doesn't negate the fact that both of these characters have deep feelings of affection for one another. The gift of finding his father's watch at the end spoke volumes of her ability to connect with Clark in a way others have not been able. 2) I found that the writers dropped the ball with Chloe this week. To me, she was shown with a lack of empathy to his plight at the beginning of the episode. She showed more interest in her front page news story, than Clark's grief and upset over his mother's mugging. I suppose though, that is Smallville canon since she and Clark have had this argument in the past. What comes to mind first is her refusal to back off her investigation into Clark's adoption a few seasons ago. Then, she acknowledged it herself in the episode 'Truth' from season 3. I just don't like this part of her personality. At all. Never have. But that's Chloe, I suppose. I also am not comfortable with the importance they are putting on such a secondary character. I understand that Martha was concerned for Clark when she went to see Chloe at the Daily Planet, but I somehow wish that scene had been written in a different location, with Chloe and Martha meeting, but not making it a 'Martha going to Chloe for advice' scene. Martha is worlds smarter than Chloe and doesn't need a kid's advice for anything in my opinion.
I guess if anyone bugged me in this episode, it was how they wrote Chloe. I did adore her mugging scenes with Clark. That was funny. But I'm not buying her as being the 'James Bond' expertise, computer afficianado. She's a kid in her first year of college. Nothing more.
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part II
I read this very differently. Or rather, I didn't read Lex's conduct throughout the scene as being manipulative until right at the very end when he said the line about being there when *she* needed someone to lean on.
I got the impression that the events of this episode take place very close in time to the events of Reckoning, and it was clear that this was the first time Lex and Lana had seen each other since the scene on Rt. 40. Whatever else Lex and Lana might be becoming, they did just resolve in Lockdown to repair their *friendship*. Lex wanting to apologize once he was sober struck me as the kind of thing one friend would do with another, especially since his drunken behavior *did* contribute to her almost getting into what we know would have been a very tragic and serious accident. Him enquiring after Clark initially also struck me as something a friend would reasonably do. After all, Lana *did* come over to the mansion and spend a good minute bitching about the mess that was her relationship with Clark, and she did allude to the fact that they'd broken up ("Clark and I had our last fight").
Again, if this is the first time Lex and Lana have seen each other since the last time we saw them in Reckoning, then the things he said in the first part of the scene *are* the natural and organic things I'd expect anyone in his position to bring up. I don't really think he got -- or was being -- manipulative until *after* he sensed Lana hadn't had much success in getting Clark to open up to her/let her be there for him. It was only at *that* point did he play the "I can connect with you in ways Clark can't or won't" card.
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I really appreciated the way the grief of Martha and Clark was handled. First with the watch and second with the video. There was so much symbolism in both of those things for me. I saw the way Clark reacted to watch as denial, and to the video as acceptance. Not total acceptance, but a step in that direction. And while I found the funeral last week to be beautiful, it didn't touch me near as much as the video.
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Then I read all the discussion in the comments. Wow. Amazing how everyone can have similar but still different views of the episode.
I'm late to the party, even later than you ;) , so yeah, everything I feel has already been said, so I'm just commenting to let you know how much I love your recaps. :)
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