Smallville 6.17 Combat
Mar. 23rd, 2007 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bop_radarLots of gratuitous pretty in this eppy! Balanced by violence, a very uninspiring set and an ugly opponent in Titan.
Ah, Lois! I do admire your persistence, but you've still got a thing or too to learn about undercover work. Though I find it amusing to know that she has access to that outfit at short notice. When I saw her in that, I assumed she was going to put herself forward as a fighter (yay!), so I was a little bemused by her 'broken-down stripper' story. However I love that she's willing to hit on the security guard to get in. (And why do I get the feeling that Lois would have been way more uncomfortable with that if the security guard had been male?) That scene was so hot, I'll even forgive the largely gratuitous way in which Lois was used in this eppy. Besides which, my Tekken-playing nerdiness appreciated the whole 'fight club' scenario.
I love that Oliver's still sketched into the Smallville universe--it was great to see that the JL-ers have been having success in breaking into Lex's overseas facilities. And of course good to know that Ollie and Clark are still in touch.
So we have Chloe herself suggesting that 'super-sleuthing' may be her krypto power and Clark doesn't even pick up on it?! Arrrghh! *frustrated*
I confess that I found it refreshing to see Clark working out some aggression rather than emo-ing around in his barn. And I thought it was fantastic to see him fight someone who could really beat him up. He really had to 'level up' as an opponent and employ some actual fight moves. Yay! I don't know where he learnt that jumping punch, but I heart it. And I think this is excellent development for him. Also he looks pretty all beat up. :-D
While I understand Martha's a concerned parent, I actually agree with Clark here--at last Clark is getting involved with bringing people to justice. Yes, he has some anger issues to work out, but he's self-aware about that now. And he's engaging with the questions that fighting other aliens raises--how is he different from them? Is it ok for him to kill them since he can't return them to the Phantom Zone? Clark's hidden in denial so often about such confronting issues, but he's willingly acknowledging them here, while still continuing to take action--the issues aren't paralysing him with guilt, and I think that's also good. Could this be a lead-in to him questioning his approach to krypto-freaks as well? (I wouldn't have thought so if it weren't for the recent reveal about Chloe.)
Where Clark is in danger, though, is in casting himself so much as an alien that he splits off human emotions as not part of himself. In this episode he discusses both love and anger, troublesome but very human emotions. Martha is a very useful confidant here, arguing passionately for the importance of embracing and acknowledging such emotions as part of oneself, rather than splitting them off and denying them.
It was particularly interesting to see Clark wrestling with anger issues in the episode following Lex's rage-fit which ended in the death of the doctor. Unlike Lex, Clark is able to acknowledge, discuss and confront the way he felt: 'I wanted to kill him with my bare hands'. Clark says he has 'never felt' rage like that. With Martha's help, he's also able to acknowledge that he was experiencing sublimated anger from Lex's marriage to Lana. Lex has never achieved such insight about any of his destructive and violent fits of rage. He's had rage issues since he was a child, and his rages are capable of consuming him entirely. Unlike Clark, he's 'alienated' his anger from himself. I'm sure in Lex's mind he thinks of that as 'not really me'. He has a number of different excuses to fall back on, some of which are more legitimate than others (childhood bullying, mental illness, fever, the effects of being drugged, an 'accident'). What he doesn't have is someone to help him confront and overcome his hidden issues.
The Luthor Labyrinth
The mystery deepens about Lana's pregnancy. The toast to a week's marriage had echoes, for me, of Helen and Lex on the Luthor jet, the second time around. The score accentuated the eeriness of the toast so that I wondered whether we were meant to suspect Lex of spiking Lana's drink. Shortly in its wake, Lana collapses and loses the baby, so we are told. Lex's reactions, throughout, appear genuine--he cries for help when he finds Lana collapsed with real fear in his voice, he comforts Lana and appears genuinely upset by her distress at losing the child. But he also appears distanced from the event himself. It isn't until we see him burning Lana's records and the baby's ultrasound photo on the fire that we see real grief from Lex himself.
Without a private doctor under his control, Lex's control over the pregnancy slipped. But is this what resulted in the loss of the child? Or did Lex 'abort' the pregnancy deliberately because he could no longer control the outcome? Or was it genuinely all out of his control all along?
Seeing Lana sitting in the baby's nursery was very creepy, especially since her initial reaction to the nursery was far from positive. She'd reacted to Lex's overcontrol there, but now this same space has become a comforting cocoon. She's in shock at recent events. Whether she suspects anything or not, the death of Doctor Langston on the day of her wedding must seem like a terrible omen. She asks Lex why this is happening; she's lost all sense of meaning in her life. Lex's answer is that she needs to put her faith in a higher power. A strangely religious current there. But is the higher power Lex would like her to submit to Lex himself? In Promise we heard him talk to his father about having wanted to be able to control everything, everyone. And here he finally has Lana under his power.
But there is tragedy in this for Lex as well, because he does feel for her His voice breaks on 'How can I...'? (Was he about to say 'how can I make this up to you?') Lex seems genuinely fearful that he may not be able to heal this wound of Lana's, which is so complex now, spanning Lionel's manipulation as well as the loss of her baby.
I know most fans predicted that Lana would lose the child, but strangely I wasn't expecting it now or in this way. And it seems that the reveal about its true nature will now be a retrospective one.
ETA: If you feel I'm meta-light this week (I do!), then you can get your hit from this must-read piece from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
norwich36.
Ah, Lois! I do admire your persistence, but you've still got a thing or too to learn about undercover work. Though I find it amusing to know that she has access to that outfit at short notice. When I saw her in that, I assumed she was going to put herself forward as a fighter (yay!), so I was a little bemused by her 'broken-down stripper' story. However I love that she's willing to hit on the security guard to get in. (And why do I get the feeling that Lois would have been way more uncomfortable with that if the security guard had been male?) That scene was so hot, I'll even forgive the largely gratuitous way in which Lois was used in this eppy. Besides which, my Tekken-playing nerdiness appreciated the whole 'fight club' scenario.
I love that Oliver's still sketched into the Smallville universe--it was great to see that the JL-ers have been having success in breaking into Lex's overseas facilities. And of course good to know that Ollie and Clark are still in touch.
So we have Chloe herself suggesting that 'super-sleuthing' may be her krypto power and Clark doesn't even pick up on it?! Arrrghh! *frustrated*
I confess that I found it refreshing to see Clark working out some aggression rather than emo-ing around in his barn. And I thought it was fantastic to see him fight someone who could really beat him up. He really had to 'level up' as an opponent and employ some actual fight moves. Yay! I don't know where he learnt that jumping punch, but I heart it. And I think this is excellent development for him. Also he looks pretty all beat up. :-D
While I understand Martha's a concerned parent, I actually agree with Clark here--at last Clark is getting involved with bringing people to justice. Yes, he has some anger issues to work out, but he's self-aware about that now. And he's engaging with the questions that fighting other aliens raises--how is he different from them? Is it ok for him to kill them since he can't return them to the Phantom Zone? Clark's hidden in denial so often about such confronting issues, but he's willingly acknowledging them here, while still continuing to take action--the issues aren't paralysing him with guilt, and I think that's also good. Could this be a lead-in to him questioning his approach to krypto-freaks as well? (I wouldn't have thought so if it weren't for the recent reveal about Chloe.)
Where Clark is in danger, though, is in casting himself so much as an alien that he splits off human emotions as not part of himself. In this episode he discusses both love and anger, troublesome but very human emotions. Martha is a very useful confidant here, arguing passionately for the importance of embracing and acknowledging such emotions as part of oneself, rather than splitting them off and denying them.
It was particularly interesting to see Clark wrestling with anger issues in the episode following Lex's rage-fit which ended in the death of the doctor. Unlike Lex, Clark is able to acknowledge, discuss and confront the way he felt: 'I wanted to kill him with my bare hands'. Clark says he has 'never felt' rage like that. With Martha's help, he's also able to acknowledge that he was experiencing sublimated anger from Lex's marriage to Lana. Lex has never achieved such insight about any of his destructive and violent fits of rage. He's had rage issues since he was a child, and his rages are capable of consuming him entirely. Unlike Clark, he's 'alienated' his anger from himself. I'm sure in Lex's mind he thinks of that as 'not really me'. He has a number of different excuses to fall back on, some of which are more legitimate than others (childhood bullying, mental illness, fever, the effects of being drugged, an 'accident'). What he doesn't have is someone to help him confront and overcome his hidden issues.
The Luthor Labyrinth
The mystery deepens about Lana's pregnancy. The toast to a week's marriage had echoes, for me, of Helen and Lex on the Luthor jet, the second time around. The score accentuated the eeriness of the toast so that I wondered whether we were meant to suspect Lex of spiking Lana's drink. Shortly in its wake, Lana collapses and loses the baby, so we are told. Lex's reactions, throughout, appear genuine--he cries for help when he finds Lana collapsed with real fear in his voice, he comforts Lana and appears genuinely upset by her distress at losing the child. But he also appears distanced from the event himself. It isn't until we see him burning Lana's records and the baby's ultrasound photo on the fire that we see real grief from Lex himself.
Without a private doctor under his control, Lex's control over the pregnancy slipped. But is this what resulted in the loss of the child? Or did Lex 'abort' the pregnancy deliberately because he could no longer control the outcome? Or was it genuinely all out of his control all along?
Seeing Lana sitting in the baby's nursery was very creepy, especially since her initial reaction to the nursery was far from positive. She'd reacted to Lex's overcontrol there, but now this same space has become a comforting cocoon. She's in shock at recent events. Whether she suspects anything or not, the death of Doctor Langston on the day of her wedding must seem like a terrible omen. She asks Lex why this is happening; she's lost all sense of meaning in her life. Lex's answer is that she needs to put her faith in a higher power. A strangely religious current there. But is the higher power Lex would like her to submit to Lex himself? In Promise we heard him talk to his father about having wanted to be able to control everything, everyone. And here he finally has Lana under his power.
But there is tragedy in this for Lex as well, because he does feel for her His voice breaks on 'How can I...'? (Was he about to say 'how can I make this up to you?') Lex seems genuinely fearful that he may not be able to heal this wound of Lana's, which is so complex now, spanning Lionel's manipulation as well as the loss of her baby.
I know most fans predicted that Lana would lose the child, but strangely I wasn't expecting it now or in this way. And it seems that the reveal about its true nature will now be a retrospective one.
ETA: If you feel I'm meta-light this week (I do!), then you can get your hit from this must-read piece from
norwich36.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 02:18 pm (UTC)Though I find it amusing to know that she has access to that outfit at short notice. When I saw her in that, I assumed she was going to put herself forward as a fighter (yay!), so I was a little bemused by her 'broken-down stripper' story.
The broken down stripper story was perfect and yay! for continuity and remembering the Phoenix club
debacleescapade.The whole episode surprised me, I was expecting a throw away "fight club" deal so the dark Lex/Lana stuff totally blew me away!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 03:07 pm (UTC)Thanks for pointing out the parallel (yet another in a series of them) between Lex and Clark re: the manner in which they act out their negative emotions. Clark's comment about wanting to kill someone with his bare hands felt really dark to me last night. But now you've provide some context. And, naturally, the divide between the two men yawns every wider with each choice they make.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 11:37 pm (UTC)BTW, can I pick your brain for SV icon info? I'm looking for an icon of Clark in glasses and coming up empty. Any idea where I could find one?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-24 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-24 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-24 03:29 am (UTC)And that is an AWESOME icon!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-24 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-24 10:37 pm (UTC)I'm a proud multishipper and I know I get glares from the purists. In defence of the Clex though, among slash ships it's high up there in terms of both the quality and volume of writing and art.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-25 12:30 am (UTC)Re: Clex art/writing - the sheer volume of fics and art as well as the obvious commitment of the shippers was what struck me. I don't think I've seen anything like it since Buffy/Angel and/or Spike.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-25 03:20 am (UTC)the sheer volume of fics and art as well as the obvious commitment of the shippers was what struck me.
*giggle* Yeah, it's HUGE, even now. Seasons 1-3 were its heyday, but it still generates a lot of interest. I found it incredibly daunting when I started in fandom. (Smallville was my first fandom.) And I've read only a fraction of what's out there (partly because I'm a fic snob, partly because I just literally don't have the time! *g*). Clexers have a bad rep for not tolerating other ships: as in all fandoms, these things can get out of hand. But I think that's changed a bit over the years. A lot of the purist BNFs left after season 3 for SGA fandom, and then we had another exodus to SPN fandom. There's lots of griping about that, which I don't really engage in, because I love my Smallville f'list and appreciate both the 'classics' in Clex fandom and some of the newer work. (e.g.
part 1 of 2
Date: 2007-03-23 03:51 pm (UTC)And I think your review of this episode is a lot more substantive than my own; as I said to LaT, I think I used all my brain cells on the "Promise" essay and only had the mental capacity for emotional reactions to "Combat."
I actually agree with Clark here--at last Clark is getting involved with bringing people to justice. Yes, he has some anger issues to work out, but he's self-aware about that now. And he's engaging with the questions that fighting other aliens raises--how is he different from them? Is it ok for him to kill them since he can't return them to the Phantom Zone? Clark's hidden in denial so often about such confronting issues, but he's willingly acknowledging them here, while still continuing to take action--the issues aren't paralysing him with guilt, and I think that's also good. Could this be a lead-in to him questioning his approach to krypto-freaks as well? (I wouldn't have thought so if it weren't for the recent reveal about Chloe.)
In the light of the episode as a whole, I agree with this reading about Clark's increased self-awareness, but I have to say as I watched the scene I sided with Martha's position. I didn't necessarily see Clark projecting his anger outward as a good thing--in fact, it was very reminiscent to me of that woman in "Vengeance," who was also motivated into vigilantism by revenge. So much of the first part of the season was establishing that Clark's methods are different than Oliver's; it therefore seemed like a little bit of a regression to me.
Where Clark is in danger, though, is in casting himself so much as an alien that he splits off human emotions as not part of himself. In this episode he discusses both love and anger, troublesome but very human emotions. Martha is a very useful confidant here, arguing passionately for the importance of embracing and acknowledging such emotions as part of oneself, rather than splitting them off and denying them.
Yes, I totally agree. As you say later in the essay, this is what separates Clark from Lex: that he does not split himself off from his emotions, unlike Lex, who can dangerously compartmentalize even from the person he supposedly loves the most. And it is fitting that Martha, who symbolically represents Superman's capacity for love, is the one reminding Clark of its importance.
It was particularly interesting to see Clark wrestling with anger issues in the episode following Lex's rage-fit which ended in the death of the doctor. Unlike Lex, Clark is able to acknowledge, discuss and confront the way he felt: 'I wanted to kill him with my bare hands'. Clark says he has 'never felt' rage like that. With Martha's help, he's also able to acknowledge that he was experiencing sublimated anger from Lex's marriage to Lana. Lex has never achieved such insight about any of his destructive and violent fits of rage. He's had rage issues since he was a child, and his rages are capable of consuming him entirely. Unlike Clark, he's 'alienated' his anger from himself. I'm sure in Lex's mind he thinks of that as 'not really me'.
These are very good points, and I appreciate them, because as you can no doubt tell from my review I was disenchanted with Clark this week. Not that I truly think his actions disqualify him to be Superman--I'm not as much of a purist as that--but I do see his actions as decidedly non-heroic. I agree, though, that his ability to learn and morally grow from his own mistakes does separate him from Lex.
Re: part 1 of 2
Date: 2007-03-23 10:58 pm (UTC)That happens, doesn't it! I know I feel that sometimes I expend all my thinks on one show or episode and the others suffer. *g*
And it is fitting that Martha, who symbolically represents Superman's capacity for love, is the one reminding Clark of its importance.
Yes, it is--which is part of why I was more forgiving of her scripting in this episode than 'Promise'.
, that his ability to learn and morally grow from his own mistakes does separate him from Lex.
I think the parallel with Lex last week is an important one--and I think the writers are doing that thing where they circle back and show there's not so much difference between them, only to prove that yes, there is, because Clark grows in a way that separates him from Lex.
I don't think I was as startled by Clark's behaviour in this episode as you. I do see it as a continuation of a very real problem that Clark has--that of expending more force than is necessary. I've had issues with him throwing people across rooms for a long, long time, and I saw this episode as productive because it matched Clark against an opponent who was as strong as him. I mentioned in
part 2 of 2 (I hate when it makes me split comments!!)
Date: 2007-03-23 03:52 pm (UTC)Oh, good call on the Helen parallel! I definitely think Lex spiked her drink, and my reading of him in this episode is generally more suspicious than yours--I think he was faking his concern, and doing so much more believably than Lana faked her love last week. In fact, I thought his tears for the baby were supposed to directly parallel her tears at the wedding, perhaps supporting your suggestion that he *had* to cause the miscarriage now that he no longer had a doctor under his thumb.
Oh, and I *completely* thought that the higher power controlling things that Lex referred to was himself--in fact, I laughed out loud at that line!
Re: part 2 of 2 (I hate when it makes me split comments!!)
Date: 2007-03-23 11:00 pm (UTC)I like that call! And yes, it was very funny hearing Lex appeal earnestly to himself as a higher power! Oh, LEX!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 05:44 pm (UTC)I thought Clark finally being proactive and not second guessing himself during the fight with Titan were wonderful, he's still finding his way towards a resolution that will one day allow him to be you know who, and I love that the road and often rocky and maybe even retred at times but the path is definite. I really enjoyed this episode and I love the parallel between Lex and Clark's rage even if it wasn't showcased in the same episode, i thought it was a fitting follow-up to the angst and pain of Promise.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 11:05 pm (UTC)I love that the road and often rocky and maybe even retred at times but the path is definite.
Yes, definitely! I felt that very strongly and I greatly enjoyed seeing Clark go up against an opponent of equal strength. I think that is so, so important in his development. And Titan's 'good fight' as he died was both chilling and moving. In considering the parallel with Lex, it's worth noting that Titan is a willing opponent who dies 'nobly', whereas the doctor was a victim--he engaged Lex at the level of blackmail, but not in open violence.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 11:07 pm (UTC)I think Lex is truly grieving, but I also think he hasn't let that get in the way of his scientific curiosity. It seems to me that external split we saw in Onyx is now internal and Lex has two completely different things going on inside his head now.
That's a wonderful call and I think you've just summed up something I was feeling instinctively about Lex in this episode. I believed his grief--I didn't think it was all playacting--and I didn't know how to explain that I also thought he was manipulating events. But that split explains it perfectly. How wonderful (ly chilling)!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-25 03:57 am (UTC)Have to admit this episode was a lot better than I thought it would be. Which isn't neccessarily saying a whole lot considering how low my expectations were, but hey. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-25 09:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-26 08:00 am (UTC)I loved Lois all the way 'round in this episode. She was teh awesome!
I don't think Chloe's krypto power is going to be her computer skills. I think that's why they had Chloe mention it and Clark dismiss it so quickly. It's common spec by many fans because it makes such sense, but I think it's something more or something underlying her comp skills.
*hearts your dissection of Clark and the self-awareness this episode gave him* I was frustrated with Clark again this episode and you've helped assuage my doubts/fears. Now he's just got to use that self-awareness to figure out another way to defeat corporeal Zoners (besides killing them.)
Seeing Lana sitting in the baby's nursery was very creepy, especially since her initial reaction to the nursery was far from positive.
I loved that scene. I felt it was Lana going back to her roots, so to speak, in communing with the dead. It's like she's burying herself with her baby and for me, it echoed her obsession with her parents.
Lex seems genuinely fearful that he may not be able to heal this wound of Lana's
I think that's where Lex's grief comes from, because I don't think he's feeling remorse for whatever he did wrt the baby, but in how it hurt Lana. It was as though he'd not realized or forgotten how genuinely hurt she would be.
Oh, and 'gratuitous pretty' = \o/
no subject
Date: 2007-03-26 11:25 pm (UTC)Now he's just got to use that self-awareness to figure out another way to defeat corporeal Zoners (besides killing them.)
*nods* I thought it was a very interesting precursor to (presumably) his upcoming conflicts with them. The nature of the problem has been stated now. And having him work through this could be a great way of showing Clark's growing maturity and smarts.
The Lana-nursery scene was brilliant. She's growing more like Lillian daily, and I like your idea that there's a regression there. In some ways she was a child-like figure herself in that nursery, helpless and needing reassurance. It's as if what's happened to her has made her retreat into her inner-most child-self.
It was as though he'd not realized or forgotten how genuinely hurt she would be.
*nods* I got that sense too. Which, if true, is a very interesting indication of where Lex is at these days: he's so lost in his own plans to 'order' his universe that he forgets the emotional impact on others.
Gratuitous pretty for the WIN!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-26 09:02 pm (UTC)I love all of your comments about Clark - especially about him being self-aware for a change. You make me love Clark even more than I already do.
The toast to a week's marriage had echoes, for me, of Helen and Lex on the Luthor jet, the second time around. The score accentuated the eeriness of the toast so that I wondered whether we were meant to suspect Lex of spiking Lana's drink. - Oh that comparison is so great. If Lex didn't spike her drink then all that creepy music and weird looks he was giving her as she drank are HILARIOUS.
I thought one thing while I was watching the episode and then I saw everybody else's theories and now I have no idea what to think about what in the world is going on with the baby, but as I was reading this it occurred to me that maybe it was nothing more than him drugging her into a miscarriage. Lana did die during labor in his dream and he has it in his head that he can prevent that from happening. Maybe the 'this isn't a normal pregnancy' comment from the doctor was because Lex did something dodgy to ensure that she would get pregnant in the first place, manipulating her into consenting to marry him. His grief would make sense in a new light because he was sacrificing their child to keep Lana? Maybe. *laughs* I have no idea. I thought Rosenbaum did an amazing job whatever is going on.
Lex seems genuinely fearful that he may not be able to heal this wound of Lana's, which is so complex now, spanning Lionel's manipulation as well as the loss of her baby. - YES.
But is the higher power Lex would like her to submit to Lex himself? In Promise we heard him talk to his father about having wanted to be able to control everything, everyone. And here he finally has Lana under his power. - My take was he was just spouting bs desperately trying to make her feel better but I like your take so much better. Oh Lex. TOO FUNNY.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-26 11:10 pm (UTC)Oh, that's a very cool reading! I like that a lot. I can definitely see Lex doing that, and I think it would fit very well with his emotional response to what happened. Yeah, I thought Michael did a great job as well! I like your theory a lot.
Pssst!
Date: 2007-03-27 01:02 am (UTC)Also, that fic you said you could beta for me is here (http://lastscorpion.livejournal.com/215017.html).
:-D
Re: Pssst!
Date: 2007-03-27 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-05 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-05 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-06 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-08 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-09 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-11 12:20 am (UTC)