As for Smallville - Scion drive-by and a picspams that have nothing to do with it
I don't have much to say just random thoughts.
+ Tess' last scene with Lionel was my favorite of the episode and has now turned me into a full-on Tess Stan, thanks Paloma.
+ The mention of what it was like for Clark to grow up, the loneliness, was really beautiful - I loved most of that conversation. Mainly because it says it all about how far this man has come, and why these two work so well as a couple.
+ OH, my actual favorite scene is Tess and Lois working together. Oh, that's like fanfiction come to life or something. Of course the why of it didn't make sense to me and the conversation was balls but the two of them together in a single space makes me happy and ED and CF probably have some of my favorite chemistry on this show, I wish they had more scenes.
+ Objectively speaking, I have seen more disturbing scenes than Lois' moments with Connor - in fact, I've seen moments that have made me want to vomit ON THIS VERY SHOW. But I have never claimed to be objective about Lois Lane so I didn't like that. AT ALL. Even the moment that was somewhat humorous and endearing (although so male-gazey) in the beginning with Connor's heat vision activated by seeing Lois became tainted as the episode wore on.
Let's face facts: Smallville has never been good about women's narratives or women or race or anything. If a woman is given any arc at all, it is rarely ever a priority because this is a show about Clark Kent, and I get that. And when it IS, it's often so poorly-written you almost wish they'd never gotten one in the first place (see: AoS, ChAoS for some folks). Women (and men) are often the survivors of violent acts on this show with no sufficient follow-up or even acknowledgment of what that might mean as a human, and as a woman. It's the comic-book-cartoon-fantasy writing that the show employs - violence, crazy things happen, and due to the constraints of this particular reality - we're just supposed to move along because bruises magically disappear, and characters rarely have any emotional connection to that violence unless it's an 'important' plot point. I understand that completely. And I realize that I learned quickly to turn a blind-eye to it or to be silent about it but since this is a week for pre-hiatus shows to just hit me with race and gender fuckery, I might as well just let go.
I think part of my aggravation with the lack of follow-up in this episode is - well it's just gross. A scene with Lois and Connor, with her allowed to express some discomfort and being allowed to forgive him or something would be nice. Unless we're to believe she's just so hardened from her years of abuse by random criminals of the week that she now doesn't care - in the way that Lana and even Chloe obviously just weren't supposed to care. Or at the very least a mention of lingering unease or forgiveness on Lois' part during her conversation with Clark, or at the very - very - very least an acknowledgment on Connor's part of his wrong-doing because we have established, haven't we, show, unless I missed something in my interpretation - please point it out, that red-k doesn't change the person. It simply unearths feelings that are already there, latent desires, whatever and it unlocks inhibitions. The Connor who assaulted Lois, the love of your life, Clark Kent is still in there and I feel like some sort of debrief of that specifically is necessary. I'll stop now) or a certain discomfort knowing what he'd done, a sense of real remorse for the THINGS HE DID TO LOIS and taking responsibility for that not just for falling so easily for Lionel and his Lex genes.
Compare this to the conversation Martha has with Clark in "Crimson", she doesn't let him shirk his responsibility, and that's a great thing because I didn't like Red-K Clark in that episode and his treatment of Lana. But then the show appears to have re-written the rules of red kryptonite in this episode and please let me not get started on this implication that there is a Lex-side that is ZOMG!EVIL and Clark-side that is ALWAYS GOOD AND MUST TRIUMPH OVER EVIL. Honestly, are the writers twelve? Who even writes characters as such simplistic binaries with a splash of idiotic genetic determinism thrown in for kicks anymore? I just think how much more meaningful would Clark and Connor's last conversation had been if they'd actually unpacked some of what ACTUALLY happened and didn't bring it down to such simplistic and blatantly false terms and completely erase the giant elephant in the room that is the fact that Lois is the one who suffered the most from his actions. And now he's living with them, whoopdy-do-da. I understand that one of Clark's greatest attributes is his ability to forgive (btw I'm not sure any of this was his to forgive in the first place) and see the best in people but I'd like to think that he'd also hold people accountable for the things they do. Maybe he did and I'm just being nit-picky but the way that entire conversation was framed was so off-putting that I don't care.
Another part of my frustration stems from Lois' arc this season - or perhaps lack thereof outside of her relationship with Clark. I've spoken about this before and I still can't articulate what it is exactly that's frustrated me with this. But there have been alarm bells ringing at different points this season, many of you, f-list, have pointed these out. Moments where Lois is oddly OOC; or when she's not allowed to have a reaction, let alone a Lois Lane reaction to Clark or the things that are happening to her; when she doesn't seem to have any self-defined POV but appears to acquiesce to or fit too neatly into Clark's (and I realize that when you're in a serious relationship that changes but sometimes...); times when she seems weirdly watered-down. I don't even know. It wasn't so bad the first half... mostly ... but - yeah, I don't even know.
While I was happily tickled at the mention of children, I found Lois being the one to mention it first and being so comfortable jarring. I understand that she loves Clark and maybe the show assumes that they've had this conversation already and any expected jitters that Lois might have on that front are gone but it still felt weird. Whatever, I won't even say, "Be better, show," because this isn't new. If you think it is, then you must be new.
+ I literally have no fucks to give for Lionel Luthor. None. (when Tumblr-speak prevails). Get out. Die. Something already.
+ Oh look, Darkseid, better CGI this time but what even?
+ This season. I can only be happy if I watch for moments, as a whole, it's a mess for me. Maybe the last few episodes will bring it back but I kind of doubt it with the approach the writers are taking - that of doing everything remotely possible and not paying much attention to coherence, or plotting, or character from episode to episode. Masquerade remains my favorite full episode this half, and everything else is just moments for me. The writers for some reason made this all more complicated than it needed to be (it reminds of some of my early fanfiction when I still wrote those convoluted serials full of contrived plot devices and almost no character or meaning). This was the season to establish Clark as a reporter, to establish Lois and Clark as a dynamic reporting duo, to play around with the implications of Clark coming out as a hero (played out so well by VRA in the end, I thought that was a pretty good storyline even with its flaws and one that could've played out fantastically over an entire season, really giving a chance for everything to be better developed but whatever). They could've picked one, either the Luthor or the Darkseid, not both, and played that up as the shadow villain along with your regular FOTW/VOTW drama. I don't know, it's all very whelming for me.
+ That promo. Clark Luthor. Again. *spits* Words cannot express how much I'm not looking forward to a rehash of that AU.
Moving on...
1. Go write your frustrations or happiness with this episode out in the Ficathon. I have four fics I need to write this weekend, oy.
2. I've been making picspams on Tumblr because I have nothing else to do, and this time it's all Clark and Lois' phone booth scenes.
So here is: Love is a Phone Booth, more to come next week.
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Lois and Clark | Plastique
Lois and Clark | Stiletto
Lois and Clark | Doomsday