Jitters Rewatch
Re-watched Jitters for the first time since the first time I watched it. I have so much bittersweet love for the first season of this show, and so much for this episode in particular. If they had run this -- or something similar -- rather than a Lana-stalker episode after the Pilot I might actually have stuck around to watch it unfold in real time as opposed to re-discovering it six years later. It's one of the few episodes I remember that features the full cast involved in the primary story-line, so it hits my ensemble-loving squee bone just right, plus it has a plethora of scrumptious little moments that all work together to delineate characters and thematic direction:
And probably the best bit of all is the lack of Clana. Watching the last season of Downton Abbey has made me realize how much I hate relationship angst in general and particularly on shows where I'm hoping to see some forward plot movement in other areas. Story-lines centered around thwarted lovers bore me to fucking tears. If two people can't be together then for God's sake at least they should be busying themselves making beds or saving the world from alien invasion or anything else that doesn't involve them talking about why they can't be together.
(Unless of course those people are Chloe and Davis, in which case they should be creating enormous UST while changing light-bulbs and cooking dinner together.)
we get a few hints about Martha's Metropolitan past
AND we learn she's not afraid to get in Lionel's face - (“My son is in there!” “So is mine.”)
we see some very suggestive Mionel framing outside the plant, followed by her very cute “I can't imagine how Clark could have done that” face
speaking of which, we see Magnificent Bastard Lionel running his hands through his magnificent hair
LEVEL 3
There's a freak-of-the-week I cared about - in my mind Lex found a way to cure Earl and he and his wife and that adorable little baby are living happily ever after as far from Smallville as possible
Cute use of super-powers to save Martha's floors and clean the house
We have some nice anvil-dropping by Chloe (“Just because you spend a lot of time with someone doesn't mean you know their darkest secrets”)
All-too-brief supportive Chlark scene in the hospital waiting room, with big Clark smiles
Whitney has two brief but interesting moments at failed heroism, which highlight the difference in his attitude and Clark's - a theme the show later tries to take up in season 6 when Ollie appears (sadly by the time season 6 rolls around a lot of Clark's shine has already rubbed off)
WE MEET GABE! And his fertilizer humor. And his holding Chloe's hand as they run from the plant
We have hostage-negotiator!Lex
Clark's super-smooth investigative technique: “I heard there was a third level to the planet. Is that true?”
AWESOME climactic set-piece with the broken cat-walk
Michael Rosenbaum's angsty foot-rocking as the press descends on Lex and Lionel
The contrast of the Kent and Luthor reunions and Lex's jealous look at the Kents
And probably the best bit of all is the lack of Clana. Watching the last season of Downton Abbey has made me realize how much I hate relationship angst in general and particularly on shows where I'm hoping to see some forward plot movement in other areas. Story-lines centered around thwarted lovers bore me to fucking tears. If two people can't be together then for God's sake at least they should be busying themselves making beds or saving the world from alien invasion or anything else that doesn't involve them talking about why they can't be together.
(Unless of course those people are Chloe and Davis, in which case they should be creating enormous UST while changing light-bulbs and cooking dinner together.)