"Blue" Review With Screencaps
I really like Helen Slater as Lara, so the idea that she (as well as other members of the House of El) would be prominent in this episode was very fun for me.
However, like most SV episodes, it still managed to fit in something for me to hate. In fact, there were a couple of them, most notably, Lana Lang having a tea party with Clark's biological mother, a week after she tried to kill a man and a possible retcon of the Julian Luthor storyline.
EDLois sleeping with the editor who hired her at The Daily Planet? That's the good stuff :)
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Clark
Is Clark still buying Lana's lie of "I'm going to visit Aunt Nell in Metropolis" which as we know now is code for "I'm going to spy on Lex or do something depraved"? I know she no longer has the mansion feed, but the fact that it's the same phrasing makes me think Lana is STILL up to something.
I liked that the blue cystal called to Clark. As I saw it, it was an homage to Superman: The Movie when Clark finds the green crystal in his barn and goes off on his journey to build the Fortress and become Superman.
Of course, the difference here is that the blue crystal? Not so much good. In fact, it's a deceptive plan devised by Zor-El to get Clark to bring Lara and himself back, using DNA.
Doesn't Clark know by now that different colored crystals are NOT good? I swear he learned that back in "Solitude" with the black crystal and Brainiac.
But, what I DID like about that was that Clark just can NOT help himself from helping others. If someone is crying out for help, he wants to do everything in his power to save them. Yea for Superman.
The effects in bringing Lara into physical form were SWEET.
I liked the use of lights/flashes and sound design.
Lara's in all white again. Pure and angelic.
I love that Clark gets to physically touch his mother (no, not like THAT) because I know I would if I had the chance to meet my Grandpa Ben, who died right after I was born and I never got to interact with. Just recently, after my grandmother passed away this summer, we found a tape she kept of a voice recording of him, reading a Christmas poem. I got to hear my grandfather's voice for the first time and it was just... magical.
I'd like to think that's what was going through Clark's mind as he hugged his mother.
Oh, and she's wearing her Kryptonian bracelet :)
I really like this shot.
I know it sounds weird (because it's really a mother and her son), but it's almost like Clark is Jor-El, standing with Lara, together again on Krypton.
Poor Clark. Everyone else seems to be able to fly, but him and it sucks because he can't chase after them.
He really needs to start trying because it makes him look stupid.
Oh, Clark. You need to start learning lessons, man.
Right after encountering a FLYING Zor-El, Clark takes his mother to Ollie's place and opens the doors to the balcony.
Granted, with the powers that Kryptonians have on Earth, Zor-El could have busted up into that place, no problem. Still...I thought it was a stupid move on Clark's part.
Zor-El beats up Clark, who is powerless because of the Blue K ring that his mother gives him.
I really loved the moment when Clark realizes what has happened and he sadly says, "My abilities..." He's so upset that they are gone. For all the times that Clark wished he didn't have them and wanted to be normal, it was nice to see him understand that he needed them.
It was unfortunate that Lara's gift to Clark would remove his powers (how would SHE know?), but I DID like that she wore Jor-El's ring around her necklace and close to her heart.
Reminded me of when boyfriends give their girlfriends their class rings in high school or college and the girls wear them around their necks. It's cheesy, but sort of endearing.
I love how Supermanly Clark looks when he's in the Fortress.
His red jacket really does look like a cape when it's blowing in the wind.
Tom's got that hero stance down REALLY well.
Hois Has Finally Earned That Name
EDLois goes after some senator having an affair, but takes awful, blurry pictures that The Daily Planet can't run.
Hois: Forget the pictures then. The story speaks for itself.
Lord have mercy.
She STILL doesn't get it.
You have to have PROOF about something before you publish it in The Daily Planet.
You can't just accuse a senator of wrong-doing without having something to back it up.
The story can only "speak for itself", if she has evidence.
What's hilarious to me is that on LnC, THLois took pictures for herself and got decent shots that allowed The Daily Planet to uncover some shady stuff :)
"Honeymoon in Metropolis", LnC S1
They brought out that flippin' Inquisitor/Fight Club article.
Really?
Would a Daily Planet editor REALLY be reading The Inquisitor and describe anything in it as "edge-of-your-seat"?
EDLois kisses her boss and it sounds like musical cues from the Superman films.
Is that supposed to be cute? Because it fails. Miserably.
Since when does EDLois' vocabulary involve big words like "Hedonism"?
I'm not one to say much about Durance's appeance, but can't the make-up department do something about the bags under her eyes.
It was REALLY distracting.
Chloe
I love that Chloe is surrounded by DP logos: on the folder she is caring and on the office's glass door.
And, she's in purple.
What's in that folder she's carrying anyway?
It certainly seems like she's going to see Grant for work purposes. I love how AM plays it, too. She looks a little nervous, waiting a sec before knocking :)
I know EDLois sucks, but wow.
They had her making out with her boss and the guy who HIRED her to THE DAILY PLANET on his DESK in his OFFICE during WORK HOURS.
I really only have one word to describe her: skank.
They even knock crap off the desk! I swear, in movies or TV shows, that kind of action is usually followed by people having sex.
Chloe walks in on them, much like she does on Lexana in "Fragile" and she just doesn't know what to do.
DP logos all around.
This scene showed us a contrast between The Girl Sleeping With Her Boss Vs. The Girl Who Is Trying to Prove Herself.
Zor-El
Zor-El can fly and doesn't hesitate in the slightest to use that power.
Like General Zod, Zor-El likes to wear long black leather jackets and stand above everyone else to make himself feel superior.
He totally doesn't care about who he hurts (even his own daughter; his "Angel") as long as he gets what he wants and that makes him a GREAT villain.
Chloe is Ms. Journalistic Integrity
Once again, Chloe gets to throw down and I LOVE it.
Her cousin comes in all cocky and it makes me want to slap her.
EDLois: Hey Cuz, what's the latest headline?
Seriously? Is she asking for Chloe to tell her the NEWS?
From there, we get to see the Chloe Sullivan snark come out.
EDLois: Looks like someone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning?
Chloe: At least, I woke up in my OWN bed.
EDLois: What's that supposed to mean? I told you...I was working on a story.
Chloe: A story about a reporter and her editor getting an exclusive between the sheets?
AW, man. LOVE.IT.
Chloe speaks in journalistic terms and shows how obviously displeased with EDLois sleeping her way to the top and being lied to.
Don't people normally say that when you're irritable, you get up on the WRONG side of the bed?
Did EDLois mess up another common phrase?
Nois knows she's busted and said, "it wasn't an impulse" and that her relationship with Grant had "nothing to do" with her "getting the job or getting ahead".
This is the second mention (Jimmy mentions in "Fierce" that EDLois is "getting all the glory") of how Nois is getting advantages and being favored over hard-working people (like Chloe).
I love Chloe's whisper in anger. Well-played Allison Mack.
Chloe is so conflicted.
She WANTS to believe Nois, but she knows what she saw and she knows that her cousin has ALREADY lied to her.
It's great that like Clark, Chloe wants to believe in people.
Chloe: If you WANT to be taken seriously as a reporter, you HAVE to break this off before it breaks your career.
Cracks me up because Hois?
Doesn't break it off for good.
In fact, she goes back to the lying and hiding it again, which spells out to us, as the audience, that she's not interested in being taken seriously as a reporter.
For a girl who was once worried that she might develop a mental illness, Chloe sure is the only SANE female character on this show.
Oh, and Chloe uses the adjective "super" again.
Zor-El vs. Clark
I just really loved the way they shot the showdown between Clark and Zor-El in the alley.
High Tea With Lana Lang
Did we REALLY have to see Lana Lang having tea with Clark's biological mother?
I just cannot express the hatred that fills me when I see or think about this.
She JUST tried to kill a man and Lana is having tea with Superman's Kryptonian mother? Ugh.
I don't know how Lara sensed Lana's darkness, but I'm kind of mixed about it.
On the one hand, I love that Lana HAS that darkness and that it's part of who she is.
But, on the other hand, was Lara's encouragement to "fight it" her way out? Was that hinting at Lana's redemption? Because I DO NOT WANT THAT.
Lana's wearing that silver bracelet again and I'm not happy about it.
But, she's also wearing purple and black and that sort of makes me feel better.
"Vessel"/"Zod" Flashback
Why do they keep doing this? :)
It kind of cracks me up because Chloe running to an injured Clark and touching him is one of THE most romantic things you could do with two characters.
The really funny thing is that Chlark have done this 3 times now.
In "Vessel", Chloe runs up to Clark, puts her hand on his face and in his hair, surrounded by the DP logo.
In "Zod", Chloe does the same look up to and run up to Clark, but this time, she is the one who has a boo-boo on her face (as opposed to Clark being the one with the bloodied face in "Blue") after he comes in looking for her.
Even "Zod" and "Blue" have Chloe saying, "oh my god".
I love that it shows that a) Clark goes looking for CHLOE (he never shows up to The Daily Planet to find EDLois and has only come to talk to Jimmy a few times) and b) Chloe cares about him.
I love that Chloe puts her hand on Clark's back, guiding and comforting him because she knows that blood and sweat on Clark Kent are NOT normal.
Of course, the scene in The Daily Planet isn't the only time Chloe doesn't want Clark to get hurt.
Eclipse?
I know Heroes doesn't have the rights to eclipses, but it cracks me up because that show is kind of KNOWN for that and it is their big logo.
The eclipse could be seen on all the computer screens and it just made me laugh :)
Random DP Employee: If this is the Apocalypse, I better get my dogs.
BWAH.
EDLois: I'm sure there's some really boring scientific explanation.
So much for that "insatiable curiousity", huh, Lex?
In fact, it's SO boring to EDLois, that instead of trying to figure out what's going on, she goes and makes out with her boss in his office...
AGAIN.
EDLois: For a girl who's not usually swept off her feet, I am basically, blowin' in the wind here.
Grant: For a guy who usually pulls the rip cord after the first date, I'm soarin' through the clouds.
If that is supposed to be cute and an anvilly nod towards Superman, gag me. GAG ME.
Meanwhile, at the Kent farm, Chlark see the very same eclipse and I love them talking through the problem, trying to figure out what's causing this weird phenomenon that they are looking at...
Clark: What's happening?
Chloe: [Checks the weather forecast on her cell phone, which calls for sunny skies] There's no storm on the horizon.
Clark: It's too dark for a storm. It's an eclipse.
Chloe: It's astronomically impossible. The next one isn't for years.
Dare I say that this shot is ICONIC-looking? SO beautiful.
I also loved this crane shot that starts off wide and eventually moves in for close-ups, enhancing the dramatic tension.
I kinda felt like Chlark should have been holding hands here. Not sure why. Maybe it was because their hands were REALLY close together? Hmm.
Another interesting little LnC tidbit, is that in "All Shook Up" (S1), Clark and Lois are together during an eclipse in Metropolis :)
Chloe = Lara and Lana is NOT
Maybe it's because I already have it in my head that Chloe is the Lara fit for Clark's Jor-El, but I really liked that in the Fortress, Lara knew about where to find Jor-El's dagger and in the barn, Chloe knew where Clark keeps his key to the cave portal.
It's interesting to me that both Chloe and Lana say something about how they understand wanting to reconnect with their long-lost mothers.
Lana: Clark, I will never be as strong as your mother. And, after everything I've done, I'm not sure, I'm as good a person as you deserve.
Yep, Chloe is the Lara.
Kara
Kara's still wearing that bracelet.
Coast City? Come on, Smallville. If you drop those names, you need to do something about it :)
I really, REALLY don't like Kara having amnesia. I'm just sick of the heroes on my shows losing their memory.
It's probably a plot device to stall, but it just SUCKS.
Dysfunctional House of El
I loved Kara in the Fortress.
I love that she took the responsibility for her part in trusting Zor-El.
I love that she stood up for Earth and the Human Race.
I love that she tried to protect Lara.
This reminded me of Clark and Lexod in "Vessel" and how like, Clark, Kara was unable to kill.
Supergirls!
Triangles are really way overdone on Smallville, but I have to admit, this was a cool shot.
Nois is a Lying Skank Ho
Chloe loves her cousin. If she didn't, she wouldn't have tried to tell her the hard truth to protect her honor and reputation.
Sad thing for Chloe, is that her cousin doesn't love her back (cue: the lying to her face).
I love that Chloe has a good heart, trusts people, and encourages others.
At the same time, though, Chloe tells it like it is, especially, when it comes to THE FACTS.
Chloe: I hate to break it to you, Lo, but I think that the fact-checkers are gonna have a field day with that one. Astronomers are saying that it wasn't an actual eclipse. There was just some HUGE circular shadow that was caused by water molecules.
Hois: Not the astronomer I talked to. Trust me, Chlo, I'm thinkin' two-inch tall headline.
Does Nois REALLY think she has better sources than Chloe? Oh, geez. What an ego.
EDLois thinks keyboards suck and have been designed poorly.
I thought it was a stark contrast to Chloe who was EXCITED to have the same model typewriter Nellie Bly used.
EDLois lies to Chloe's face (and apparently, feels no guilt or regret about it and even smiles) and covers up her text message from Grant even after Chloe tries to "cheer her up" after Grant "yells" at her.
Grant Gabriel = Julian Luthor
I really don't want to say much about this except for the fact that if Grant is the REAL Julian, that is utter mess.
I've always loved the teaser to "Memoria" with Lex on the mansion balcony in the rain, screaming "Julian!".
Julian Luthor is SUCH a part of Lex and helps explain why Lex is the way he is, why his relationship with his father is the way it is, why Lillian is SO creepy, and was even part of Lex's mental breakdown in S3.
If they retcon that, it will be a VERY sad day for this story.
Having sad that, I'll be more lenient if he is a clone and part of one of Lex's projects because I DO like the Luthors playing around with cloning.
I did find comedy in the fact that bad guys always come over to Lex's house to either play pool or the piano :)
Grant: I'm his son.
Me: That was gay.
What I liked about "Blue" was that EDLois is now showing her true self and it's not pretty. Why would I care about her success? Why do I want to cheer for her? Because I DON'T.
Characters who do the things she is doing don't have happy endings and they SHOULDN'T.
Lana has gone to the "point of no return", which makes me happy.
Chloe is still seen as Clark's partner, the Lara to Clark's Jor-El, and the reporter who cares about integrity.
I don't know what the deal is with Jor-El at the end, but it sure did seem S5-esque.
Overall, I think "Blue" could have been better and the only REAL twist this show could pull off and blow people away with is Chlois, not this silly Grant Gabriel = Julian Luthor mess.