8.09, Abyss
So I meant to get this done before Beast aired, but the grass pollen is high which means my body is revolting at being conscious. WOO.
Clark Kent
I don't have an issue with Clark in this ep (or arc). He's distant and that's annoying, if he had issues with what was going on he should have spoken up more, but, I do get that he was trying to respect that Chloe was happy, that he can't just dictate her life (which on some level IMO says how much he respects her here, trusts her.) I liked Clark for once trying to talk Chloe into sense from her crazy plan.
I actually felt bad for Clark in the ep when he starts listing off all the people he's lost: Jonathan, Pete, Lana, Lionel, Lex (uhm, Alicia.). It sets up why Clark is trying to let her go at the end of the episode which I don't hate him for. He's trying to let her go so he doesn't lose her completely which is something he's not willing to accept here. The scene where she starts forgetting him, in front of him, is just... painful. I mean the inverted erasure says it all; he's doing the wrong thing but IMO for the right reasons.
Clark's senior year book (photo from Ageless, and I'm betting a personal one on set) and the fact that they both made their senior lists multiple times is so midwestern HS. I love it. Also interesting is how Clark filtered his first meeting with Chloe; he never tells Lana in Obscura how he got her the book, just that it was his first kiss and he wasn't expecting that kind of reaction out of her. And yet we know exactly why Chloe would assume he'd be thinking about it all day. (The boy who plays Clark though, kept tripping on his on tongue. It kind of annoys me.) It's kind of funny that clark tells her and plays with his telescope given the introduction of that scene in reality.
The whole mind-erasure I don't mind (it's pretty clearly set up just long enough to get Chloe into the wedding, IMO) especially when we have clark do a version of the Fever Letter to her, and he's giving her up to try to protect her:
"You've been the best friend and ally I could have had, Chloe. The truth is, you've saved me more than I ever could have saved you. I'm sorry to go back to hiding the truth from you. But the best way that I know to protect you is to let you go."
I'm not quite sure what's going on with Jor-El (do the writers? Who knows) though. Obviously Brainiac infects the FOS at the end, but interesting that Clark does get a clear cut warning there with reguards to Doomsday and realizing that chloe not knowing isn't just a loss for him, but might put her in trouble. But it's nice to see Clark actually regreeting his actions too.
Chloe Sullivan
This episode I think really underscore that the Brainiac thing has been a problem since the premiere. People other than I have pointed out that every time she's around technology, the Brainiac influence seems to come out. Isis got the bowl full of Brainiac's symbol. Chloe started loosing time in Toxic. This ep aslo pointed out that she's being pushed towards Davis - which can be seen as influencing all the way back in Plastique. When Chloe confesses she's been faking her emotions more and more - in a season where prior Clark told her he'd never seen her "so happy", and she accepts Jimmy's proposal cause he's "perfect" for her - then it does a lot to undercut what's going o. The sad thing is she can't come clean to anyone but Clark about how she's been nudged and at times out right pushed into where she is.
It also says to me that Brainiac's been biding his time as Chloe at least fights to retain some memories, which leads me to believe that usage of her Brainiac powers is what allowed the take over. She used them in Odyssey as fast as she could, and it prompted an engagment and a career change (post-Davis meeting). She used them in Toxic, where she lost time. She used them in Identity just enough for Clark to freak out. We see her short out her computers at Isis in Identity, then her purposeful access of them in Bloodline which right after Brainiac starts taking over. (I definately think it was Brainiac who stole and hacked into the crystal, it disappeared after Chloe and therefore Brainiac knew about it.) Brainiac encoding Doom into all of her memories... it's really creepy.
As for Chloe, her favorite memories are of Clark. Her room of forgetfulness and her repeated forget of Jimmy, it was sad and yet nice to see that when in doubt, real Chloe resorts to massive room re-articling. and I thought it was interesting that they re-itterate that for all Chloe is a truth teller/seeker she's also a pretty good liar. Abyss breaks down that the whole probalem with Chlark right now si their lack of communication + their want to self-sacrifice for each other. It's nice to see that Chloe sees the real Clark (the one who won't give up on people) in her memories.
"I mean, one minute, I'm standing in The Talon, not recognizing you or Clark, and then suddenly, I feel a sharp sting of a needle, and the next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital, happy to see you both right by my side."
That plus the whole order of erasure implies to me that it's Clark, Jimmy, then others in her mind. I also like that while meeting Clark is apparently her happiest moment, being saved by Clark in the middle of Dark Thursday is her safest. Also interesting that in terms of Clark memories we had their first meeting (pre-Pilot), and erased Unsafe (the halfway-ish mark of the series) up to this ep, and of course Vessel (their most romantic moment). We got Magnetic and Bound, as well as Tempest - so most of their romantic stuff (I would have liked to have seen the crowning from Spirit but that's personal preference.)
Also interesting is Chloe's list of things for her attractions - kind, saving people's lives, looks good in uniform. Similarly, the entire "ship" of Chloe/Davis is summed up in the FOS: "So Brainiac was trying to contact this thing, using Chloe as a vessel."
Jimmy Olsen
Poor Jimmy. Well, you lasted longer than Lana in Chloe's memories? On the whole, I felt for Jimmy here too. They set up that Chimmy was doomed again (he thought he could steer her ship through any storm but... he can't.) He's trying to take care of her, but it's really a big thing to overcome - which I guess explains why he expects Chloe to remember Clark and yet... isn't happy about that.
And yeah I find sad that on some level we only get the whole "I love Jimmy" after we know Brainac's messing with her brains. It explains her wtf acceptance of the proposal and her non-take back in Committed.
I think it was massena1 who pointed out Jimmy/Kara went through amnesia last year too, and there Jimmy backed off whn Kara wasn't "feeling the love." I like how this time Jimmy Olsen, photographer, goes back to photos to prove his point. Once again, Jimmy is acting a bit like Clark's voice in this whole thing - he never should have let her out of his sight, worried about her wandering the streets alone, on and on.
I do like how it's Chloe now, rather than divide Clark and Jimmy, is the united front wanting to work together to save her.
Also, faceless Jimmy is TERRIFYING.
Davis Bloome
Davis is more "Night of the Living Dead" post Bloodline. Writers, you're so funny.
Though it's interesting in our book of Davis to Clark parallels tha tin the episode before he kisses her (because he doesn't want to be just friends) that he tells her in the hospital that there is "something I've been thinking about since the day we met." Also like Clark, he tells her to drop looking into his past, which she agrees to do (difference being that she forgot to start it.) I would also add that Davis becoming her "entire world" after being swapped in Vessel instead of Clark talks about Clark's status in her world. Similarly, Davis won't let her marry Jimmy while Clark's basically enabling it.
I feel bad for Davis, all he's sure off is his "feelings" and he's banking that Chloe likes him back because she went only to him -- not even Clark (of course neither Clark nor Chloe nor Davis knows what we know, that she did remember Clark, that Clark was the last person she remembered, and for her to turn to Davis meant a full switch out.)
"I will wait for as long as it takes." Yeaah, probably not.
"The symbol for doom signifies the ultimate destroyer. The ultimate destroyer is a Kryptonian creature bred for a single purpose -- to kill. It adapts and evolves to any attack. It is virtually unstoppable. And it appears it has made its way to Earth."
Other Meta
- Jimmy makes Chloe breakfast and a specialty coffee; Chloe forgets him before she can drink any
- Chloe forgets Lana; comes off as a meaningful poke at how the show forgets characters no longer on it
- Chloe keeps forgetting the florists name; since it seems that flowers go to people dying (Clark and EDlo have them in Plastique, EDlo gets them in Identity) then I think that has some kind of meta. At the end Chloe goes off to meet the florist, saying she's "prefectly fine stopping and smelling the roses" afte both jimmy and Clark offer to go in her place, and Davis stops her.
- There engagment party was faster than a camera flash, oh writers. >.<
- Chloe gets wished "good luck" right before running into Davis
- Chloe warns Davis not to let zombies eat his brain for breakfast; it's too late for her.
- Davis writes Chloe a love letter that she nevers gets (Chloe had written one that Clark hadn't gotten until years later)
- Brainiac, Kal-El, Krypton: Clark's list of testing Chloe's memory (kept for contrast to Hex later)
- Chloe forgot her own parents; only remembers her name and Davis
- Second ep in a row where Clark sent someone to go get J'onn in OffScreenville
- Davis says it's "luck" that Chloe remembers him
- Jimmy says that Davis brought Chloe "home."
- Once Chloe is safe/forgotten him, Clark delcares that "Everything's back to the way it used to be."
- Jimmy talks about Davis' "knock out punch"
Meta Caps
Clark Kent
I don't have an issue with Clark in this ep (or arc). He's distant and that's annoying, if he had issues with what was going on he should have spoken up more, but, I do get that he was trying to respect that Chloe was happy, that he can't just dictate her life (which on some level IMO says how much he respects her here, trusts her.) I liked Clark for once trying to talk Chloe into sense from her crazy plan.
I actually felt bad for Clark in the ep when he starts listing off all the people he's lost: Jonathan, Pete, Lana, Lionel, Lex (uhm, Alicia.). It sets up why Clark is trying to let her go at the end of the episode which I don't hate him for. He's trying to let her go so he doesn't lose her completely which is something he's not willing to accept here. The scene where she starts forgetting him, in front of him, is just... painful. I mean the inverted erasure says it all; he's doing the wrong thing but IMO for the right reasons.
Clark's senior year book (photo from Ageless, and I'm betting a personal one on set) and the fact that they both made their senior lists multiple times is so midwestern HS. I love it. Also interesting is how Clark filtered his first meeting with Chloe; he never tells Lana in Obscura how he got her the book, just that it was his first kiss and he wasn't expecting that kind of reaction out of her. And yet we know exactly why Chloe would assume he'd be thinking about it all day. (The boy who plays Clark though, kept tripping on his on tongue. It kind of annoys me.) It's kind of funny that clark tells her and plays with his telescope given the introduction of that scene in reality.
The whole mind-erasure I don't mind (it's pretty clearly set up just long enough to get Chloe into the wedding, IMO) especially when we have clark do a version of the Fever Letter to her, and he's giving her up to try to protect her:
"You've been the best friend and ally I could have had, Chloe. The truth is, you've saved me more than I ever could have saved you. I'm sorry to go back to hiding the truth from you. But the best way that I know to protect you is to let you go."
I'm not quite sure what's going on with Jor-El (do the writers? Who knows) though. Obviously Brainiac infects the FOS at the end, but interesting that Clark does get a clear cut warning there with reguards to Doomsday and realizing that chloe not knowing isn't just a loss for him, but might put her in trouble. But it's nice to see Clark actually regreeting his actions too.
Chloe Sullivan
This episode I think really underscore that the Brainiac thing has been a problem since the premiere. People other than I have pointed out that every time she's around technology, the Brainiac influence seems to come out. Isis got the bowl full of Brainiac's symbol. Chloe started loosing time in Toxic. This ep aslo pointed out that she's being pushed towards Davis - which can be seen as influencing all the way back in Plastique. When Chloe confesses she's been faking her emotions more and more - in a season where prior Clark told her he'd never seen her "so happy", and she accepts Jimmy's proposal cause he's "perfect" for her - then it does a lot to undercut what's going o. The sad thing is she can't come clean to anyone but Clark about how she's been nudged and at times out right pushed into where she is.
It also says to me that Brainiac's been biding his time as Chloe at least fights to retain some memories, which leads me to believe that usage of her Brainiac powers is what allowed the take over. She used them in Odyssey as fast as she could, and it prompted an engagment and a career change (post-Davis meeting). She used them in Toxic, where she lost time. She used them in Identity just enough for Clark to freak out. We see her short out her computers at Isis in Identity, then her purposeful access of them in Bloodline which right after Brainiac starts taking over. (I definately think it was Brainiac who stole and hacked into the crystal, it disappeared after Chloe and therefore Brainiac knew about it.) Brainiac encoding Doom into all of her memories... it's really creepy.
As for Chloe, her favorite memories are of Clark. Her room of forgetfulness and her repeated forget of Jimmy, it was sad and yet nice to see that when in doubt, real Chloe resorts to massive room re-articling. and I thought it was interesting that they re-itterate that for all Chloe is a truth teller/seeker she's also a pretty good liar. Abyss breaks down that the whole probalem with Chlark right now si their lack of communication + their want to self-sacrifice for each other. It's nice to see that Chloe sees the real Clark (the one who won't give up on people) in her memories.
"I mean, one minute, I'm standing in The Talon, not recognizing you or Clark, and then suddenly, I feel a sharp sting of a needle, and the next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital, happy to see you both right by my side."
That plus the whole order of erasure implies to me that it's Clark, Jimmy, then others in her mind. I also like that while meeting Clark is apparently her happiest moment, being saved by Clark in the middle of Dark Thursday is her safest. Also interesting that in terms of Clark memories we had their first meeting (pre-Pilot), and erased Unsafe (the halfway-ish mark of the series) up to this ep, and of course Vessel (their most romantic moment). We got Magnetic and Bound, as well as Tempest - so most of their romantic stuff (I would have liked to have seen the crowning from Spirit but that's personal preference.)
Also interesting is Chloe's list of things for her attractions - kind, saving people's lives, looks good in uniform. Similarly, the entire "ship" of Chloe/Davis is summed up in the FOS: "So Brainiac was trying to contact this thing, using Chloe as a vessel."
Jimmy Olsen
Poor Jimmy. Well, you lasted longer than Lana in Chloe's memories? On the whole, I felt for Jimmy here too. They set up that Chimmy was doomed again (he thought he could steer her ship through any storm but... he can't.) He's trying to take care of her, but it's really a big thing to overcome - which I guess explains why he expects Chloe to remember Clark and yet... isn't happy about that.
And yeah I find sad that on some level we only get the whole "I love Jimmy" after we know Brainac's messing with her brains. It explains her wtf acceptance of the proposal and her non-take back in Committed.
I think it was massena1 who pointed out Jimmy/Kara went through amnesia last year too, and there Jimmy backed off whn Kara wasn't "feeling the love." I like how this time Jimmy Olsen, photographer, goes back to photos to prove his point. Once again, Jimmy is acting a bit like Clark's voice in this whole thing - he never should have let her out of his sight, worried about her wandering the streets alone, on and on.
I do like how it's Chloe now, rather than divide Clark and Jimmy, is the united front wanting to work together to save her.
Also, faceless Jimmy is TERRIFYING.
Davis Bloome
Davis is more "Night of the Living Dead" post Bloodline. Writers, you're so funny.
Though it's interesting in our book of Davis to Clark parallels tha tin the episode before he kisses her (because he doesn't want to be just friends) that he tells her in the hospital that there is "something I've been thinking about since the day we met." Also like Clark, he tells her to drop looking into his past, which she agrees to do (difference being that she forgot to start it.) I would also add that Davis becoming her "entire world" after being swapped in Vessel instead of Clark talks about Clark's status in her world. Similarly, Davis won't let her marry Jimmy while Clark's basically enabling it.
I feel bad for Davis, all he's sure off is his "feelings" and he's banking that Chloe likes him back because she went only to him -- not even Clark (of course neither Clark nor Chloe nor Davis knows what we know, that she did remember Clark, that Clark was the last person she remembered, and for her to turn to Davis meant a full switch out.)
"I will wait for as long as it takes." Yeaah, probably not.
"The symbol for doom signifies the ultimate destroyer. The ultimate destroyer is a Kryptonian creature bred for a single purpose -- to kill. It adapts and evolves to any attack. It is virtually unstoppable. And it appears it has made its way to Earth."
Other Meta
- Jimmy makes Chloe breakfast and a specialty coffee; Chloe forgets him before she can drink any
- Chloe forgets Lana; comes off as a meaningful poke at how the show forgets characters no longer on it
- Chloe keeps forgetting the florists name; since it seems that flowers go to people dying (Clark and EDlo have them in Plastique, EDlo gets them in Identity) then I think that has some kind of meta. At the end Chloe goes off to meet the florist, saying she's "prefectly fine stopping and smelling the roses" afte both jimmy and Clark offer to go in her place, and Davis stops her.
- There engagment party was faster than a camera flash, oh writers. >.<
- Chloe gets wished "good luck" right before running into Davis
- Chloe warns Davis not to let zombies eat his brain for breakfast; it's too late for her.
- Davis writes Chloe a love letter that she nevers gets (Chloe had written one that Clark hadn't gotten until years later)
- Brainiac, Kal-El, Krypton: Clark's list of testing Chloe's memory (kept for contrast to Hex later)
- Chloe forgot her own parents; only remembers her name and Davis
- Second ep in a row where Clark sent someone to go get J'onn in OffScreenville
- Davis says it's "luck" that Chloe remembers him
- Jimmy says that Davis brought Chloe "home."
- Once Chloe is safe/forgotten him, Clark delcares that "Everything's back to the way it used to be."
- Jimmy talks about Davis' "knock out punch"
Meta Caps