(no subject)
The day before the airing of Infamous, and I'm finally getting to my review of Requiem. I think it's good that I've waited until the last minute. It means fandom will have very little influence on this. I feel comfortable to say exactly what I think and I'm able to address things brought up by fandom without being afraid of backlash...although that backlash is still possible.
Anyway, onto the review.
The first thing I will say is I went into watching it with not a lot of expectations. I didn't expect it to be good, because as far as I was concerned, the arch was already ruined. I also put out of my mind how other fans were going to react to it, and decided I was going to view it as just me and not as one little crumb of the massive mob of people who make up fandom. Having said that, I honestly enjoyed the episode. It was good, despite the obvious flaws, and now that Smallville has been renewed for another season, any complaints about Clark getting over Lana should be evaporating. Honestly, folks, people get over things. It may take a while, but they do. Clark will be healed enough by the end of the series to be able to start another relationship, and though you probably won't see much if any of that final relationship on screen, it will overshadow his relationship with Lana because it will last. We won't see it last, but it will, and while Clark won't ever forget Lana, she won't mean nearly as much to him. Doesn't matter how it ended, it ended, and something new will begin. And that is all I will say about that.
I liked how they opened, going straight into the real focus of the episode. I was honestly expecting the Clana to be first, but instead there is the long-haired freak from Delete playing a different character, who is talking to his toy monkey. Later we find out there's a camera in there, but still, creepy. And then there is Oliver, who I'm sure everyone has figured out I love. I love him more now, because he knew exactly what was going on.
Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the Clana scene. The sound effects were in bad taste, but that was about it. I'm sure a lot of people were gagging, and you have that right. I feel like the scene was Mortal meets Wrath. Obviously the Wrath part is her having powers now, but it was different here. I felt like the supersex in that episode was mostly about lust, and this wasn't. It was very Mortal-like to me, very relaxed and natural. And OMG LANA'S LAUGH! I don't think I've ever heard her laugh like that. Ever. It's the happiest laugh I've ever heard from her, and for someone who loves her as much as I do, you can imagine how much it made me smile.
Conversely, I thought the last scene was heartbreaking, and anyone who knows me knows I never wanted the Clana back. Perferences or no, nothing should end like that. It wouldn't matter who it was, if I believed they really felt intensely for each other, and I believe Clark and Lana do, it's devestating. I cried during that scene. As heartbreaking as it was, I liked it, and I thought Tom and Kristin did a really great job with it.
That's all the comentary I have on specific scenes. Now I get to the more general things.
Lex, Lana and the suit: Well played, Lex. He knew exactly what to do. Kiddnapping her was never the intention. If it had been, she would have never been able to get away. I don't believe the suit was something he ever planned to use for himself, either. He wanted her to take it. He purposely leaked the information he wanted her to have, and kept the Kryptonite absorbing properties to himself. He knew she would take it.
Now to begin with, I believe Lana's motivation was vengence. I think that changed sometime during her training. However, that didn't change her objective. Part of her is still a Luthor, and Luthors are strategists. If your enemy has a weapon, you take it and use it against them. She changed her strategy from using it against him directly to using it indirectly: instead of going after him, she would just follow Clark's example and save people from him whenever he chose to strike, using his own technology. I also believe there was something under that, because I believe Lana feels very inadequate. She believes the only way she can be of any use to the world is if she's like Clark, because he is so larger than life to her. I think this is the reason Clana can only work when they're on equal footing when it comes to physical power. Lana wants an equal, and she will never feel equal to Clark on normal terms.
I think it was also genius that they used Bizarro's ability to absorb Kryptonite in this. The last alien samples Lex got where from him. While Bizarro had yet to take Clark's DNA at the time of extraction, it's possible the wraith already had that ability. We just don't know.
Now on the issue of the dangerous of Kryptonite radiation. I don't think it's a serious as everyone is making it out to be. Lana going insane? I suppose it's possible, but not from Kryptonite. There is all this talk about it affecting the way people act, but I'm not buying that. It's a misconception. There are plenty of meteor-infected people out there who aren't insane. Chloe had a list of potentials in Extinction, people who never went insnae, and Chloe is usually right when it comes to Wall of Weird material. There are a lot more factors involved, like the nature of the infection and how equiped those people are to handle the powers. The adults seem to have a better time dealing than the teens, though it's not always true. And as far as Lana infecting anyone else, there's usually some kind of catalyst involved in the process, making it, in my opinion, unlikely to happen.
Oliver Queen, murderer of Lex Luthor: Oliver can be a tough nut to crack. As mentioned by Lionel in his first appearance in Sneeze, Oliver is a great actor, which makes him hard to read. The only reason I think Lana saw through it is because she can be quite the actress herself. (I hold to the belief that they're pretty much a perfect fit, platonically or romantically.)
I did a little comic research, and I found out some of the things people have been saying are true: in certain comics, Oliver did kill criminals. It should be said, though, that's it's clear the Smallville version wouldn't kills just any criminal. I think in his mind, Lex Luthor is in a league all his own. I took a look at a transcript from Bulletproof, and found that Oliver never actually said he wouldn't kill someone for the greater good. He said he knew that's not what Clark believed, and as I said, I think when it comes to most criminals, Oliver doesn't either. It should be noted, however, that in that same scene, he said, "You know what, Clark? Some people are beyond saving." In that context, he meant putting the bad cops behind bars. If you look at it in a wider scope, though, he believes that about Lex. He's seen a lot of the darkness in him (like beating the crap out of his only friend, seen in Reunion) and doesn't believe he should be left alive. Of course, he has other reasons, I won't deny that, and they aren't the right ones. In fact, they're probably the primary ones, which is why we saw Lana trying to talk him out of it in Bride (perfect, I say!).
Also, I think Lex lured him into it just as much as he lured Lana into taking the suit. Strategy. We know he's not dead. Most likely, he cloned himself. But since he's got that old body, why not use it? Why not have himself killed? After all, if your enemy believes you're dead, you have a great advantage.
As I've said before, I'm not worried about Oliver. I think what he did was wrong, but I think he's going to come back from it.
Chloe vs Brainiac: The idea has been put out there that maybe Chloe was the one who killed Sebastian Kane, not Brainiac. I don't think this is true, not completely, but Oliver sees comon ground and is pointing it out. Chloe clearly remembers it and therefore has her doubts. Chloe, though, didn't just talk about memory loss while she was infected by Brainiac. She also talked about faking feelings. It makes me wonder. If it was Chloe that killed Sebastian, I don't think she was all there at the time. I think the longer he was there, the less she felt, the more she became more like a machine.
Overall? Yes, they could have done better, but it was good enough by their standards that I could be satsified by the end. After being confused about Lana's motivations at the end of Power, it cleared that up for me, and that made me happy. The only thing that really disappoints me is that Lana will not be touched at all in any media other than comics for decades, which means most people will hate Lana Lang for most if not all of my life. It makes me sad, because I know what an awesome character she is and could have been to others if only they'd used her correctly.
Wow, that was very long. If you read all that, thanks for taking the time.
Anyway, onto the review.
The first thing I will say is I went into watching it with not a lot of expectations. I didn't expect it to be good, because as far as I was concerned, the arch was already ruined. I also put out of my mind how other fans were going to react to it, and decided I was going to view it as just me and not as one little crumb of the massive mob of people who make up fandom. Having said that, I honestly enjoyed the episode. It was good, despite the obvious flaws, and now that Smallville has been renewed for another season, any complaints about Clark getting over Lana should be evaporating. Honestly, folks, people get over things. It may take a while, but they do. Clark will be healed enough by the end of the series to be able to start another relationship, and though you probably won't see much if any of that final relationship on screen, it will overshadow his relationship with Lana because it will last. We won't see it last, but it will, and while Clark won't ever forget Lana, she won't mean nearly as much to him. Doesn't matter how it ended, it ended, and something new will begin. And that is all I will say about that.
I liked how they opened, going straight into the real focus of the episode. I was honestly expecting the Clana to be first, but instead there is the long-haired freak from Delete playing a different character, who is talking to his toy monkey. Later we find out there's a camera in there, but still, creepy. And then there is Oliver, who I'm sure everyone has figured out I love. I love him more now, because he knew exactly what was going on.
Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the Clana scene. The sound effects were in bad taste, but that was about it. I'm sure a lot of people were gagging, and you have that right. I feel like the scene was Mortal meets Wrath. Obviously the Wrath part is her having powers now, but it was different here. I felt like the supersex in that episode was mostly about lust, and this wasn't. It was very Mortal-like to me, very relaxed and natural. And OMG LANA'S LAUGH! I don't think I've ever heard her laugh like that. Ever. It's the happiest laugh I've ever heard from her, and for someone who loves her as much as I do, you can imagine how much it made me smile.
Conversely, I thought the last scene was heartbreaking, and anyone who knows me knows I never wanted the Clana back. Perferences or no, nothing should end like that. It wouldn't matter who it was, if I believed they really felt intensely for each other, and I believe Clark and Lana do, it's devestating. I cried during that scene. As heartbreaking as it was, I liked it, and I thought Tom and Kristin did a really great job with it.
That's all the comentary I have on specific scenes. Now I get to the more general things.
Lex, Lana and the suit: Well played, Lex. He knew exactly what to do. Kiddnapping her was never the intention. If it had been, she would have never been able to get away. I don't believe the suit was something he ever planned to use for himself, either. He wanted her to take it. He purposely leaked the information he wanted her to have, and kept the Kryptonite absorbing properties to himself. He knew she would take it.
Now to begin with, I believe Lana's motivation was vengence. I think that changed sometime during her training. However, that didn't change her objective. Part of her is still a Luthor, and Luthors are strategists. If your enemy has a weapon, you take it and use it against them. She changed her strategy from using it against him directly to using it indirectly: instead of going after him, she would just follow Clark's example and save people from him whenever he chose to strike, using his own technology. I also believe there was something under that, because I believe Lana feels very inadequate. She believes the only way she can be of any use to the world is if she's like Clark, because he is so larger than life to her. I think this is the reason Clana can only work when they're on equal footing when it comes to physical power. Lana wants an equal, and she will never feel equal to Clark on normal terms.
I think it was also genius that they used Bizarro's ability to absorb Kryptonite in this. The last alien samples Lex got where from him. While Bizarro had yet to take Clark's DNA at the time of extraction, it's possible the wraith already had that ability. We just don't know.
Now on the issue of the dangerous of Kryptonite radiation. I don't think it's a serious as everyone is making it out to be. Lana going insane? I suppose it's possible, but not from Kryptonite. There is all this talk about it affecting the way people act, but I'm not buying that. It's a misconception. There are plenty of meteor-infected people out there who aren't insane. Chloe had a list of potentials in Extinction, people who never went insnae, and Chloe is usually right when it comes to Wall of Weird material. There are a lot more factors involved, like the nature of the infection and how equiped those people are to handle the powers. The adults seem to have a better time dealing than the teens, though it's not always true. And as far as Lana infecting anyone else, there's usually some kind of catalyst involved in the process, making it, in my opinion, unlikely to happen.
Oliver Queen, murderer of Lex Luthor: Oliver can be a tough nut to crack. As mentioned by Lionel in his first appearance in Sneeze, Oliver is a great actor, which makes him hard to read. The only reason I think Lana saw through it is because she can be quite the actress herself. (I hold to the belief that they're pretty much a perfect fit, platonically or romantically.)
I did a little comic research, and I found out some of the things people have been saying are true: in certain comics, Oliver did kill criminals. It should be said, though, that's it's clear the Smallville version wouldn't kills just any criminal. I think in his mind, Lex Luthor is in a league all his own. I took a look at a transcript from Bulletproof, and found that Oliver never actually said he wouldn't kill someone for the greater good. He said he knew that's not what Clark believed, and as I said, I think when it comes to most criminals, Oliver doesn't either. It should be noted, however, that in that same scene, he said, "You know what, Clark? Some people are beyond saving." In that context, he meant putting the bad cops behind bars. If you look at it in a wider scope, though, he believes that about Lex. He's seen a lot of the darkness in him (like beating the crap out of his only friend, seen in Reunion) and doesn't believe he should be left alive. Of course, he has other reasons, I won't deny that, and they aren't the right ones. In fact, they're probably the primary ones, which is why we saw Lana trying to talk him out of it in Bride (perfect, I say!).
Also, I think Lex lured him into it just as much as he lured Lana into taking the suit. Strategy. We know he's not dead. Most likely, he cloned himself. But since he's got that old body, why not use it? Why not have himself killed? After all, if your enemy believes you're dead, you have a great advantage.
As I've said before, I'm not worried about Oliver. I think what he did was wrong, but I think he's going to come back from it.
Chloe vs Brainiac: The idea has been put out there that maybe Chloe was the one who killed Sebastian Kane, not Brainiac. I don't think this is true, not completely, but Oliver sees comon ground and is pointing it out. Chloe clearly remembers it and therefore has her doubts. Chloe, though, didn't just talk about memory loss while she was infected by Brainiac. She also talked about faking feelings. It makes me wonder. If it was Chloe that killed Sebastian, I don't think she was all there at the time. I think the longer he was there, the less she felt, the more she became more like a machine.
Overall? Yes, they could have done better, but it was good enough by their standards that I could be satsified by the end. After being confused about Lana's motivations at the end of Power, it cleared that up for me, and that made me happy. The only thing that really disappoints me is that Lana will not be touched at all in any media other than comics for decades, which means most people will hate Lana Lang for most if not all of my life. It makes me sad, because I know what an awesome character she is and could have been to others if only they'd used her correctly.
Wow, that was very long. If you read all that, thanks for taking the time.