S1 Companion bits
From the SV S1 Companion:
MR says this about S1 Lex:
That a lot of what he does is driven by simple curiosity. "If you crash into someone at sixty-five miles an hour, and the last thing you remember is hitting him before you go off the bridge, and you're alive and he's unscathed--there's something majorly wrong! Then there are all these curious things that are happening around Smallville. Why is Clark Kent always involved with them? Who wouldn't want to delve into that, especially when there's nothing else really to do in Smallville? For Lex, it's either take a nice ride to Smallville and work with his dad, or find out what's going on with this strong, strange fellow, Clark Kent."
I find it amusing that he points out that there's really nothing to do in Smallville! But what puzzles me is this comment, toward the end of the section:
"Although Michael doesn't know all the details about the journey along the way, he does know what ultimately turns Lex away from his friendship with Clark. 'I'm sworn to secrecy,' he says firmly, "I can tell you, though, that throughout the show thus far, the whole thing about friendship that Lex says to Clark is pretty much etched in stone, that's how important that is to him.'"
Now, it appeared to me as time went on that the show had no clear plan, that it just zigzagged and meandered all over the place, paid off on very little, and copped out on a convincing reason for the Rift. Do you suppose they had something "clear" in mind and then copped out? or did things develop the way originally predicted, with Lex turning against Clark because Clark turned his back on him and baled on the friendship first and prematurely. That's sure the way it looked to me, and Lex said as much, more than once. I've said before that one thing SV succeeded in inarguably was making it clear why Lex Luthor hated Superman! and it's amazing how it made audience members who were led to sympathize strongly with Lex wound up hating him, (and his friends & family) too! It really did seem (cf. the closing scene in "Talisman") that they were headed toward a Lex-as-Antihero plot, but then, as usual, they baled.:(
The book also says this about Martha and Lex:
The actress (Annette O'Toole) thinks that Martha is definitely sympathetic toward Lex. 'He's the poor little rich boy,' she says. 'He's lost his mother, and he's lost his hair, which is traumatic for a kid at that age. And she knows what his father is like. She will always give him the benefit of the doubt. Even on the day when Lex goes completely to the Dark Side, Martha's still going to be saying: "Oh, but he just needs a hug!'"
I imagine AOT, despite the fact that I often wonder what kind of crack she's on when she's describing the show, may have felt this way toward the close of S1. Too bad we never got to see anything approaching this, whether scenes were left on the cutting room floor or otherwise neglected. All we really saw of her and Lex was her referring to him as "arrogant, and a little strange" (although she does tell Jonathan, in "Cool," that "he's been a good friend to Clark"), chewing him out in "Heat," and standing awkwardly by in "Shattered," (though she admitted that Lex's brother's death must've been "trow-matic" for him).
All we get subsequently is the lame "Have you [Lionel] tried TALKING to him?" ("Mercy"). As though Lionel would do that, and as though that could solve all the complications in that relationship!
MR says this about S1 Lex:
That a lot of what he does is driven by simple curiosity. "If you crash into someone at sixty-five miles an hour, and the last thing you remember is hitting him before you go off the bridge, and you're alive and he's unscathed--there's something majorly wrong! Then there are all these curious things that are happening around Smallville. Why is Clark Kent always involved with them? Who wouldn't want to delve into that, especially when there's nothing else really to do in Smallville? For Lex, it's either take a nice ride to Smallville and work with his dad, or find out what's going on with this strong, strange fellow, Clark Kent."
I find it amusing that he points out that there's really nothing to do in Smallville! But what puzzles me is this comment, toward the end of the section:
"Although Michael doesn't know all the details about the journey along the way, he does know what ultimately turns Lex away from his friendship with Clark. 'I'm sworn to secrecy,' he says firmly, "I can tell you, though, that throughout the show thus far, the whole thing about friendship that Lex says to Clark is pretty much etched in stone, that's how important that is to him.'"
Now, it appeared to me as time went on that the show had no clear plan, that it just zigzagged and meandered all over the place, paid off on very little, and copped out on a convincing reason for the Rift. Do you suppose they had something "clear" in mind and then copped out? or did things develop the way originally predicted, with Lex turning against Clark because Clark turned his back on him and baled on the friendship first and prematurely. That's sure the way it looked to me, and Lex said as much, more than once. I've said before that one thing SV succeeded in inarguably was making it clear why Lex Luthor hated Superman! and it's amazing how it made audience members who were led to sympathize strongly with Lex wound up hating him, (and his friends & family) too! It really did seem (cf. the closing scene in "Talisman") that they were headed toward a Lex-as-Antihero plot, but then, as usual, they baled.:(
The book also says this about Martha and Lex:
The actress (Annette O'Toole) thinks that Martha is definitely sympathetic toward Lex. 'He's the poor little rich boy,' she says. 'He's lost his mother, and he's lost his hair, which is traumatic for a kid at that age. And she knows what his father is like. She will always give him the benefit of the doubt. Even on the day when Lex goes completely to the Dark Side, Martha's still going to be saying: "Oh, but he just needs a hug!'"
I imagine AOT, despite the fact that I often wonder what kind of crack she's on when she's describing the show, may have felt this way toward the close of S1. Too bad we never got to see anything approaching this, whether scenes were left on the cutting room floor or otherwise neglected. All we really saw of her and Lex was her referring to him as "arrogant, and a little strange" (although she does tell Jonathan, in "Cool," that "he's been a good friend to Clark"), chewing him out in "Heat," and standing awkwardly by in "Shattered," (though she admitted that Lex's brother's death must've been "trow-matic" for him).
All we get subsequently is the lame "Have you [Lionel] tried TALKING to him?" ("Mercy"). As though Lionel would do that, and as though that could solve all the complications in that relationship!