Luthor Screentime Minutes, and Deep Thoughts

Dec 05, 2010 00:22

 OK, strap yourselves in kiddies, because this is going to be a long one....

And that sounded kinda dirty.

I'm going to try to power through this review, because I'm exhausted, and an expresso martini certainly didn't help matters (OK, it DID help matters, but not matters of doing a SV review).

In regards to screentime minutes, I've tabulated the RW characters, and the AU characters.  But for the year to date numbers, I'm just adding them together to make my life easier.

Luthor, running time 41m, 37s

RW Clark:  26m, 25s
RW Lois:  5m, 50s
RW Tess:  13m, 10s
RW Oliver:  44s

AU Clark:  4m, 34s (and it wasn't enough!!)
AU Lois:  4m, 31s
AU Tess:  4m, 34s
AU Oliver:  8m, 42s

Lionel Luthor:  11m, 29s

Year To Date (# of eps)

Clark:  224m, 26s (10)
Lois:  171m, 24s (10)
Tess:  81m, 4s (8)
Oliver:  67m, 53s (8)

OK, lets jump on in


There are lots of things to talk about with this episode.  Overall, I enjoyed it.  Yet, there's no denying that the episode had some huge problems, and raised some disturbing questions that it didn't have time to address.  And to me, the biggest problem of all was that it was just too much story for 41m of television.  I am convinced that this should have been a 2-parter, and more time and care should have been put into the overall concept.  If I'm going to see a version of Kal-El that been perverted into an amoral monster, then I should also be given a better explanation of how he got that way.

But, it wasn't a 2-parter.  And yet, the episode was still entertaining for me.  More entertaining then the majority of S10 (I liked Ambush and Shield better).  And I thought the dialogue was really refreshing after the last few episodes which had such crappy hokey dialogue (Patriot being the biggest offender.  If I never hear fish puns, and sport analogies again, it will be too soon).  I also admit, that I find myself a bit fascinated by really twisted family dynamics stories.  Its just a kink of mine.  Some of my favorite fanfic is dark and twisted.  So, again, that was another level at which this episode really worked for me.  Where other people might've been thinking "Ewww, incest!", I was thinking "Wow, you think someone might write a fanfic, and throw Lex in there too".

Don't judge me!

But let me start off with the simple, and the obvious (and if it wasn't obvious to you, then I just don't get it.), the INCREDIBLE acting.  This episode belonged to the acting triumverate of Tom Welling, Cassidy Freeman and John Glover.  Glover was his usual brilliant self.  But I want to give special kudos to Tom and Cassidy, who did incredibly nuanced work in this episode.  Tom had to pull off 3 different characterizations, and he did so beautifully.  There can be little doubt by now that he absolutely relishes the opportunity to play "bad".  And the way he changes his performance is wonderful.  Even just Clark Luthor standing there, the first time we see him, and Tom is just playing this differently.  As for Cassidy, while she didn't have to play characters so different from each other, her ability to capture the more subtle differences was brilliant.  And so many of her reactions in this episode felt so spot-on.  Particularly her scene with AU Clark in her office.  I think about 20 different emotions ran across her face in the span of a 2+ minute scene.

At its heart, I think the entire reason this episode was conceived was to find a way to bring Lionel Luthor back to the canvas.  And while I find the character fascinating, and I'm always glad to see more John Glover, there's a part of me that wonders if that was entirely necessary.  Instead of conceiving this whole AU to justify the return of Lionel, I do wonder how much better this episode might've been if the AU, and the switching of Clark's was really the point of the story, and it gave them the perfect opportunity to bring back Glover for it.

This season already feels a like its got a lot of villians going on, and yet none of them have really been fleshed out.  Now we add Lionel to the mix.  Is this wise?  I guess we'll find out.

I believe the whole idea of these parallel universes is pretty interesting.  Again, as a non-comic book reader, I'm not coming to this with much prior knowledge, so I appreciated the episode gave us some sort of explanation of the other world.  My sense was that it was different, in all ways, much darker and twisted.   I think I would just have liked a whole lot more time to see the differences fleshed out.  To fully understand what went into creating Clark Luthor other then "he was found by Lionel".  We needed to be able to get into Clark Luthors head, even for a brief time, to understand what he felt.  Was there any remorse?  Pain?  Did he have genuine feelings for anything, or anyone?

Now, I do believe this ep did give us some hints as to what sort of upbringing Clark had to turn and twist him so completely.  Certainly regular abuse was suggested, evidenced by Lionel's beatdown of Clark at the end.  The use of blue kryptonite on the swords, and Clark having a gold kryptonite scar tells us that knowledge and use of the different kryptonites were part of Clark's upbringing.  Is it hard to imagine green kryptonite being used when young Clark didn't please his father?  Not for me.    And the very obvious mutual loathing that both AU Clark and AU Tess had for Lionel also hints to a rather twisted and horrific upbringing.

But was that enough?   Well, not really , but it helped allow me to let my imagination do the rest.  And SV is sure as hell counting on his viewers to do a lot of filling in the blanks this season.

While the revelation that AU Clark had killed AU Lex was horrible, and obviously a horrifying idea for RW Clark,  I found it interesting that the elaborate, and obviously deliberate, scar AU Clark sported on his arm was courtesy of Lex.  AU Clark ultimately got the upper hand, but it seems clear to me that the AU versions of Clark and Lex were rather viciously pitted against each other, and AU Clark didn't always come out the victor.

I realize that mileage is going to vary on the sexual relationship between AU Clark and AU Tess, but I thought it was fascinating.  Despite Tess' claiming that she loved Clark, I doubt it was love in any conventional understanding of the word.  Still, AU Tess seemed to know exactly who AU Clark was, and she wanted him anyway.  Even referring to him as "fun" when confronted with the RW Clark.  And the issues of trust that were touched on with them were also compelling.  AU Clark had obviously told AU Tess about the mirror box, and what it did, and how they could leave together, which does suggest some sort of trust.  However, AU Tess is quick to think she's been betrayed when confronted by RW Clark.  Again, fascinating.  The mind boggles at what kind of pillow talk these 2 shared.

And considering how sexy, confident and predatory TW was playing AU Clark, I can see how someone would fall under his spell, including his equally ruthless, adopted sister (and I loved how the script didn't shy away from the brother/sister thing).  I absolutely loved the scene where RW Tess is confronted with him.  She's clearly taken aback by his agressive approach, followed by one sexy hot-ass kiss.  She resists at first, but gradually goes with it, before she feels the scar, and realizes for certain that this isn't the Clark on her world.

Was Tess wrong to allow herself to indulge in that kiss, even for a moment?  I don't think its that simple.  Its been obvious to me for a long time that Tess harbors feelings for Clark.  Again, its probably not love in any sort of conventional meaning of the word.  But as a woman who has found herself gravitating to powerful men her whole life, Clark really is the mother lode.  And I think Tess sees a means of redemption and validation in gaining Clark's approval.  To have him kiss her like that must've been a huge WTF, but also part fantasy come true.  I doubt most women would've resisted.

And for the record, I see nothing wrong with people being in love with Clark.  He's freaking Superman.  People SHOULD fall in love with him.  .

But my absolute favorite Clark/Tess scene was their last one.

Wait, let me go back for a second to their first scene together.  Was Clark's dialogue in this scene OOC?  Yes, I think so.  A contrivance to set up the episode?  Yes, again, I think so.  I will admit that the show has flipped back and forth of this issue of "bad blood" running through the Luthors veins, but this just didn't sound like Clark to me at all.  Not the Clark of the present time.  I think they went a bit overboard on this in order to set up the episode, and have Clark come to a revelation I'm not sure he didn't already come to a few times.

But thats sort of how SV works.  This is their prime stalling technique.  Clark learns something, or gains knowledge, and then has to learn it a few more times along the way in order to stretch out the show.  Its irksome here, but its ALWAYS irksome!  I remember feeling the same way just weeks ago when I watched Abandoned, and I was supposed to be moved in some way that Clark found out that his parents really loved him when they put him in the ship, and they loved each other, and it was hard for them to say good-bye, and Jor-El was not a perfect man, and...all this shit that Clark already freaking knew!

BUT, if they are going to do that crap, at least I appreciate a truly moving scene at the end that comes about as a result of it.  As much as I love watching Clark doing all the big heroics, and speeding around, and tossing people, and shit, I also love this side of his Superman persona.  When he's just there for someone as a friend, and he provides comfort and forgiveness to them.  Because establishing this side of Clark is just as important as any other aspect, and its something the show woefully neglects.  It seems to prefer Clark being inspired by someone else, to him being an inspiration.   Clark had a really valid reason to be pissed off at Tess, and I didn't blame him for being mad at her in the beginning.  But through his own experiances, he came to understand why she did what she did, and he reassured her that she was not alone or without "family", even if they aren't related by blood.  I thought it was a gorgeous scene, and eloquently played by Tom and Cassidy.

I haven't mentioned Lois and Oliver yet in this episode, but thats probably because there isn't that much to say.  Both of them were just fine.  I expected some kind of Clois "moment" in the episode, and I got it.  But unlike how I've felt in some previous eps, I thought it worked very well here, even though some of the dialogue was a bit much ("you always know when I'm lying"? Really?).  The last Clois scene showed a couple very much at each and in sync with each other.  I appreciated the lack of drama.  Lois made it clear that no apologies were necessary from Clark, because it wasn't him.

And now, I'm going to say something controversial (ME?  Be controversial?  That never happens!!!).  Chemistry is a very subjective thing, and so there is no rights and wrongs here, only personal opinion.  Seeing Tom and Cassidy work together in this episode the way they did was off-the-charts on the chemistry scale for me.  I think I might've found a dynamic that rivals Tom and Sarah Carter, and certainly it felt on par to the best of Tom and Michael Rosenbaum, back in the day.  I'm been a sucker for Clark/Tess scenes since he carried her away from a bus accident in Plastique, and she comes to and looks at him like "What the...?  Thank you God!"  These actors just click for me.

As much as I wish I felt differently about this, and believe me, I WISH I did feel differently, Tom and Erica don't quite spark for me like that.  Some of their scenes are really nice, and they are a lovely looking couple, but I wish I could feel the same kind of oomph with them as I did in this episode with Tom and Cassidy.  My analogy would be this, watching Tom and Erica together feels like having the stereo volume on 5 or 6.  I can hear it, it sounds fine.  But in this episode, I felt like the volume got ramped up to 10, and the house was rocking.

However, I know what the story is, and so I will continue to hope for the best with the Clois scenes, and hope that Tom and Erica bring their A games.  And I really hope they get some good writing.

So, that should earn me some new haters, right?  LOL

Well, will it help if I say that I thought Erica and Justin did some lovely work together in this episode?

In the end, I'm not sure that this episode did a ton to further Clark's storyline.  However, it did give me a very Superman moment at the end with Tess, and I sort of like the idea that Tess might be the Luthor that Clark will help to save from herself, which he wasn't able to do for Lex.  I think this show has really dropped the ball in allowing Clark to reflect more on his relationship with Lex, and if he's able to do a bit of that through his new bond with Tess, then I think it serves a very meaningful purpose.

Now, some random scattered thoughts

Was I the only one that noticed that Oliver doesn't seem to know the difference between a masochist and a sadist?  LOL.  Oh Bryan Q Miller, how did you let that one slip by you?  (Re-watch the scene when RW Clark first encounters AU Lois and Oliver).

I think the ongoing debate of nuture vs nature is way too complex to just declare one the end-all-beat-all.  And here, this episode failed.  Which, in turn,  opens up a big can of worms in regards to Lex.  This is one topic they should've considered a bit more before going ahead with the episode.

Though it was a bad wig, I was completely digging how great Erica looked with the shoulder length hair.  Erica obviously has beautiful hair, but I think her current style is a little dated, and I would love to see her rocking out a shorter, more modern hair-do.  She was also completely rocking that red dress.

Kelly Souders, the director.  Well, I'm not so impressed.  I couldn't help but wonder what this episode would've been in the hands of a Beeman, or a Ransick (the guy that did Labyrinth), or a Jeannot.  Too much of Souders style felt a little inexperianced to me.  And I think the contrast between the 2 worlds was a bit overdone.

The guys at the coffee stand?  Terrific!!  One of the things I love about SV are these bit part players who come on for 1 tiny scene, and end up making a huge impression.

The shows slashed budget felt obvious here.  The show felt very devoid of life and people in the scenes.

And the biggest evidence of budget issues, and an absolutely egregious omission, was the Watchtower battle between AU Clark and Tess/Oliver and Lois.  Look, if they can't afford this sort of stuff, then DON'T WRITE SCRIPTS WITH THESE SCENES.  I can't even imagine how these 3 got the jump on AU Clark, but if they had, then he wouldn't have been able to wreck Watchtower, right?  I mean, how would that workd?  But since he did, then he also had plenty of time to just fry them with his eyeballs.  And they just all happened to be able to get their hands of kryptonite wearpons?  Oh wait, they all have kryptonite weapons in the first place?  WTF?  And Lois stopped in the middle of this battle to take off her jacket?  Really ridiculous.

It was amazing how easily John Glover slipped right back into the role of Lionel like he didn't even miss a beat.  And I felt like the show really did a nice job of recalling the Lex/Lionel relationship in the interactions of Lionel/Clark.

And lastly, would someone please, for the Love of God, put Tom Welling in a feature film where he gets to play a bad ass, sexy, cursing mother fucker who has sex on screen,  and does bad shit, and wears leather jackets.  PLEASE!!!  Because I want to watch that movie on a constant loop for a week.

screentime minutes, luthor, deep thoughts

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