Smallville 5.18 Fragile
Well, what can I say? This may be my shortest ep review ever.
Meh
I didn't like this episode. I'll say it now and get it over with. I found it poorly written and the plot didn't really draw out any of the overall themes of the show in a new or interesting way. It felt like they were covering old territory. There was a brief attempt to draw in the theme of heredity, but it was simplistically explored at best. I was bored. I thought the kid was a good actor, and I didn't nitpick any glaring holes in the plot--I just found it all a bit 'meh'.
And I couldn't help flashing back to Ageless... whenever Smallville pulls the 'parenting' card, I get a bit queasy. So I had mixed feelings with the Clois parenting scenes--I was glad that Lois was involved and I really enjoyed seeing her be so clumsy and hopeless with the kid, and yet really feel deeply responsible and guilty about her. However, playing surrogate *parent* roles is NOT what I want from Clark/Lois interaction. *sigh*
And I also found myself infuriated by two characters in particular: Clark for not talking to Martha about Lionel (for all their frequent heart-to-hearts, the Kents have the stupidest way of not talking about the really important things!) and Chloe for handling both Lana and Lex in the worst possible way. Admittedly Chloe seemed to recognise that she'd fucked up when Lana confronted her. Chloe is more and more like Clark--and not Clark's good attributes. She has shown zero interest in Lex as a real person for months, but she's more than happy to make blanket statements about him and his life to his face. It was incredibly presumptuous, and her behaviour towards Lana was even more so. Her line about defending Lana against 'anyone that hurts her' felt really two-faced to me, because Chloe took Clark's side in the Clana break-up. And if she was really that close to Lana she would have talked to her and asked her about what was going on instead of jumping to conclusions. Chloe CAN be a good confidant; we've seen that with Clark--so I guess I'm disappointed that she doesn't employ those skills with her closest female friend.
I can't tell whether Tom's directing was ok or not. It certainly wasn't staggeringly brilliant, but that's ok. Tom has other strengths. When he drew that stickfigure and flashed that smile at the little girl? Awww! (toadstoolsmiles: I thought of you! the stickfigure!)
Squee
But WOW the Lexana was hot! My mood was pancake-flat until that last scene. Woah! They were so steamy. I have no words. Bring It On!
And Lois! Lois has been given a role. Thank God. Because I've really been getting very uncomfortable with the way Lois was (not) being used in the recent episodes. As we all know, I like Lois. However, I don't like to see her flailing around for no reason--I want her scripted into the show with a purpose of her own. Not as an alternate Chloe or as a convenient plot device. For most of this episode she still felt wasted, but I like the idea of Martha and Lois teaming up SO MUCH. (I still want a Martha/Lois 'bestest buddies' icon one day!).
OK, I'm going to go and rewind the last couple of mins over and over for a while... If anyone else gleaned anything interesting out of this ep, I'd love to hear it. For me, not so much.
Meh
I didn't like this episode. I'll say it now and get it over with. I found it poorly written and the plot didn't really draw out any of the overall themes of the show in a new or interesting way. It felt like they were covering old territory. There was a brief attempt to draw in the theme of heredity, but it was simplistically explored at best. I was bored. I thought the kid was a good actor, and I didn't nitpick any glaring holes in the plot--I just found it all a bit 'meh'.
And I couldn't help flashing back to Ageless... whenever Smallville pulls the 'parenting' card, I get a bit queasy. So I had mixed feelings with the Clois parenting scenes--I was glad that Lois was involved and I really enjoyed seeing her be so clumsy and hopeless with the kid, and yet really feel deeply responsible and guilty about her. However, playing surrogate *parent* roles is NOT what I want from Clark/Lois interaction. *sigh*
And I also found myself infuriated by two characters in particular: Clark for not talking to Martha about Lionel (for all their frequent heart-to-hearts, the Kents have the stupidest way of not talking about the really important things!) and Chloe for handling both Lana and Lex in the worst possible way. Admittedly Chloe seemed to recognise that she'd fucked up when Lana confronted her. Chloe is more and more like Clark--and not Clark's good attributes. She has shown zero interest in Lex as a real person for months, but she's more than happy to make blanket statements about him and his life to his face. It was incredibly presumptuous, and her behaviour towards Lana was even more so. Her line about defending Lana against 'anyone that hurts her' felt really two-faced to me, because Chloe took Clark's side in the Clana break-up. And if she was really that close to Lana she would have talked to her and asked her about what was going on instead of jumping to conclusions. Chloe CAN be a good confidant; we've seen that with Clark--so I guess I'm disappointed that she doesn't employ those skills with her closest female friend.
I can't tell whether Tom's directing was ok or not. It certainly wasn't staggeringly brilliant, but that's ok. Tom has other strengths. When he drew that stickfigure and flashed that smile at the little girl? Awww! (toadstoolsmiles: I thought of you! the stickfigure!)
Squee
But WOW the Lexana was hot! My mood was pancake-flat until that last scene. Woah! They were so steamy. I have no words. Bring It On!
And Lois! Lois has been given a role. Thank God. Because I've really been getting very uncomfortable with the way Lois was (not) being used in the recent episodes. As we all know, I like Lois. However, I don't like to see her flailing around for no reason--I want her scripted into the show with a purpose of her own. Not as an alternate Chloe or as a convenient plot device. For most of this episode she still felt wasted, but I like the idea of Martha and Lois teaming up SO MUCH. (I still want a Martha/Lois 'bestest buddies' icon one day!).
OK, I'm going to go and rewind the last couple of mins over and over for a while... If anyone else gleaned anything interesting out of this ep, I'd love to hear it. For me, not so much.