Smallville Series Rewatch: Episode 1.15-1.16 (Day Eight)
Confession time: This was never one of my favorite episodes (I'm typing this even before I've started the dvd). Let's see if my opinion of it has changed.
Episode 15 Nicodemus, original air date 3/19/2002 (MY BIRTHDAY!!!), directed by James Marshall, written by Michael Green
Dr. Hamilton is back to inform Lex that one of his experiments was stolen by a LuthorCorp employee. This is more of Lex's pre-33.1 activities; he states that he hired Hamilton to find out the effects that meteor rocks have on human beings. I wonder what season 1 Lex would've done with the information, or should I side with my fellow f-lister that (probably correctly) guessed that he's been working on 33.1 this whole time.
Jonathan, Now under the influence of the Nicodemus flower, lets Lex know just how he feels about him. The way he says "I don't like your friendship with my son" lends more credence to the Clex theory, btw.
Apparently the Nicodemus flower unleashes the RedK!effect in mere humans. This is confirmed when Chloe polls about "deepest desires" for the school paper (under Kwan's "suggestion" that she get in touch with the pulse of her peers,which is something she still hasn't managed to learn to do 8 years later). She learns that most of her peers desires are either violence based or sexually based. Is that really the basis of human nature? Chloe passive-aggressively tells Clark that there are other fish in the sea besides Lana. I'm wondering if she ever thought that Clark had never thought of her as a "more than friend" because of the way she talks to him and rolls her eyes, in a completely non-flirtatious way.
For the first time, Clark learns that Pete doesn't like Lex, and he's genuinely surprised by it.
After Jonathan collapses, Chloe and Lana go to the one place that both victims were at the same time. Lana, of course, gets infected by the flower. It's interesting that Lana lied about her deepest desire, especially since her goal for the whole first season is to break out of the mold she felt everyone had put her into, but her "desire" to climb that windmill doesn't help do that. When she gets to school, she's dressed very un-Lana-like. This actually makes more sense in her desire to break out of the mold she's been put in. To tell the truth, her outfit is pretty tame. She's wearing black, yes, because her trademark color up to this point has been pink, but it's the too much makeup and change in hair (and red lacy underwear, apparently) that makes her look trampy. She even expresses her true thoughts that she feels trapped in a relationship with Whitney because she feels guilty. There is continuity abounding in this admission because she was ready to watch the sun set with Clark in his loft in Shimmer (Shimmer?), but Clark was the one that told her to talk to Whitney because there was more going on than just him being distant. That's when she found out about his father. And now that Whitney lost his scholarship in Kinetic, she probably thinks he'll go back to tattooing (drug use) if she broke up with him. (I also can't help but feel that this was a gratuitous way to get Lana in her underwear.) It took a lot less time for Clana to fake-kiss (re: Hydro and Crimson) than it did for Clark and Lois.
Lex goes to Dr. Hamilton's "lab" after hearing about Jonathan being sick the same as Dr. Grohl James. He tells him that if anything happens to Jonathan Kent, the same guy that told him at the top of the show that he wouldn't shed a tear if all of the Luthors dropped dead, he would do something really really bad to Hamilton. Wow, either Lex really cares about Clark or he really doesn't want Jonathan's death to get back to him. I think it's both; he wouldn't want Clark to go through the pain of his father's death, and he REALLY doens't want Clark to know that Lex had anything to do with it.
Alright, here we get the first official indications of Lexana. Funny how Lex doesn't blink an eye when Lana first turns around (she's changed her clothes since stripping for Clark), because he's not amused by her behavior thus far, equating it with his teenage rebellion. Nicodemus!Lana tells Lex he only invested in the Talon because she asked him to, which makes me think that the writer didn't really watch Kinetic, because a) Lex didn't invest when Lana first "asked him to", she had to prove herself before he even looked over her proposal, and b) he REALLy became interested when she mentioned Clark. Anyway, back to THIS instance, Lex does seem affected by Lana's flirting, but he's not dumb enough to act on it. Funny considering all the times he's tried to buy Clark's affections (truck, concert tickets, trying to get him a date with the girl of his dreams, trying to buy the Kents favor, investing in the Talon, etc.).
So, we get more insight into Lana's desires, and based on this episode, she is attracted to both Clark and Lex, judging by her behavior. Also, Lana has a made it a bad habit to steal cars. Oh, and that desire to climb the windmill wasn't a lie afterall, it just wasn't the whole truth. Not unusual considering the cast of this show.
When Clark gets to the hospital with Lana, Martha informs him that Jonathan is now in a coma. Lex is standing by offering to fly those infamous doctors from Metropolis and also looking/feeling really guilty. Especially after he apologizes and Clark tells him it's not his fault.
Chloe exposits about the Nicodemus flower and diary. The original Nicodemus incident happened in 1871, so the meteors aren't the first sign of weirdness in Smallville. She also informs that Hamilton brought the flower back to life (after extinction) using Meteor rocks, and that Lex was the one that checked out the diary. Clark goes to Lex about the diary, and Lex lies flat out about why he checked out the diary and about knowing Hamilton. On the one hand, he didn't exactly lie about being responsible for the flower infecting people...or at least he wasn't directly responsible, but he is the one funding Hamilton's research unchecked.
Alright, Pete is infected and for some reason his symptoms show up WAAAAY faster than everyone elses. And where the hell did that gun come from?
I have a lot of love for this story Martha tells about when she first met Jonathan. The way she tells it, you completely believe this really happened. And now I'm crying.
Pete goes after Lex and finds both him and Hamilton (who have found the cure) at the mansion. Random canon fact: There are...a LOT of people jealous over Clark's attention. Anyway, Clark gets there in time to miss Hamilton being here, but he does stop Pete from shooting Lex. Lex tells Clark that Pete was delusional about seeing Hamilton there, but Clark plays along with Pete to save both him and Lex (add two more Head Injuries to the count). This is the first time Clark delivers a blow with his hand. I imagine it's like hitting a wall head on. And since I personally know what that's like, it doesn't feel good. When Lex comes to, Clark apologizes for hurting him. Clark asks if Hamilton was really there and Lex says "What do you think, Clark?" Just one episode before, Lex says the same thing to Clark in regards to the story about Amanda killing Jude. My lovely flister pointed this out to me, so whatever benefit of the doubt I gave Lex about the truth of that story has gone out of the window. It seems that's his way of sticking to his lie by not confirming nor denying it, but trusting in Clark's need to see the best in people. So even back in my wonderfully Clexy season 1, Lex was manipulating Clark. This makes me sad.
Clark kind of tackles Jonathan when he wakes up...and so does Martha, lol. Pete and Lana are confirmed as being ok. Lex is standing by, and he looks like he's up to something. I think this was the first instance of the patented Smallville Convenient Amnesia after being exposed to something foreign.
Chloe goes back to Hamilton's barn and it's been cleaned out. Lex tells Hamilton he destroyed the lab, and that he plans to more closely supervise Hamilton's research. He places Hamilton at Cadmus (once again, the proto-33.1, I can't help but believe now more than ever).
So far they've never said how far away Metropolis is from Smallville, but I'm assuming they shouldn't be able to see the skyline from a windmill.
Clark tells Lana that all she did was speak her mind and did what she wanted. After confirming that he liked her outfit, she is suddenly suspicious of what exactly she did while under the influence. I take you back to my assessment that she lied by omission about her deepest desires. She knows what her true desires are, so she's rightfully afraid that she may have acted on them. Clark, being the gentleman that he is, assures her she didn't do anything embarassing.
Conclusions: So, really, the only part of this episode I didn't care much for was the Lana aspect. Not because it's Lana, but because I have an embarassment squick and what she did while infected was pretty embarassing (the makeup alone was cring-worthy). I did love the Kent-aspect and Lex's part of the story because his curiosity almost killed a litter of kittens, and it illustrates even more the difference between the dangers of Clark's secret and the dangers of Lex's secrets. At this point, Clark's secret is a danger only to himself and his family, but Lex's secrets endanger a whole town. This is a thread that follows us into full Superman canon. Even as a fully grown Superhero with a wife and a few loved ones that know about him (not counting the JLA), Superman keeps his secret to keep them out of danger, but Lex's secrets tend to be dangerous on a more global scale. Nicodemus is a scaled down version of that. Even Zero was a case of bad luck compared to this. I stand by my assessment that Lex couldn't have known what Hamilton was experimenting on, and yet it was his responsibility to know because he hired the man to do this research. He shouldn't have let Hamilton have the free reign that he had. Fortunately, Lex learned his lesson by issuing some good old fashioned government regulation (you hear that, Wall Street?!).
One of the great things about Smallville in Season 1 is that even when the story is not directly about Clark, Clark is still all over the story. It goes to show that every episode doesn't have to be Clark-centric in order to remember who the hero is. This was the downfall of several episodes in later seasons, most notably in 6 & 7, and some in season 8. I think they managed to mostly get the balance right in Season 9 since I can only think of 2 episodes that didn't get and suffered for it (Roulette & Checkmate. If you ask some fans it was way more than that, but I don't agree). But episodes like Kinetic, Zero, and Nicodemus, that didn't really have a Clark subplot so to speak, still had Clark be a part of the entire thing. He interacted with the majority of the cast/guest cast, and it was his heroics that were validated in the end.
I'm also learning that Season 1 was a lot more coherent than just random FotW episodes. There is significant and consistent character development that I think a lot of people overlook in favor of an overall seasonal arc. Clark is just learning his origins, Lex is just beginning his downward spiral in seemingly innocent ways (which goes to show that whether he'd met/became friends with Clark or not, he would've wound up the same way. Or as Apocalypse affirmed, he woudl've gotten there quicker without Clark to slow the progress down), Lana is trying to find ways to leave her mark on the world, Chloe's journey is more meta in that her ambition and desire to have all the knowledge is isolating her from her peers. This is something that continues as it threatens her friendship with Clark in Seasons 2, 3, 8, and 9. Also, after Pariah in Season 4, Chloe who has all the information then has to struggle with having that knowledge isolate her from her lifelong dream of being a journalist because she can no longer be objective about the stories she's supposed to be writing. Huh...I never thought of it that way until just now. So that "lightswitch" bullshit really is just bullshit. Hmm, I feel vindicated somehow.
Random Things:
First of all, the flower already looks creepy, so we know something is up even without Dr. Grohl the red-truck driving guy overacting?
I wonder if they ever told Jonathan that he shot Clark with his shotgun.
Unintentionally Snort-Worthy: Am I supposed to find it hilarious that Jonathan is listening to a song about a "good ol' boy"?
Intentionally Snort-Worthy: "I did not need to see that."--Clark
Like Father, Like Son: We see where Clark gets his sense of heroism from as Jonathan saves the guy that ran him off the road from perishing in a truck explosion. Car Fatality #...I lost count.
Like Father, Like Son (2): Clark gets a lesson in countertop makeout sessions (see 9.15 Escape, lol)
Episode 16 Stray, original air date 4/16/2002, directed by Paul Shapiro, written by Philip Levens
I still love this episode.
Smallville has dealt with child abuse either overly or covertly in its entire nine year history. It's pretty much confirmed that Lex was emotionally abused and neglected by Lionel, Eric Summers as well. The football team was abused by the Coach, and Ryan was the first time we actually had confirmation of physical abuse and have it verbalized. Ryan was also exploited by his step-father and the new wife as they used his mind-reading ability to lead a life of crime. Do you know how many different charges could be brought up on them?
Martha is the one that "finds" Ryan after she hits him on a highway. She takes him to the hospital where the doctor says he is experiencing post traumatic shock. You can tell by the look on Ryan's face that the amnesia is faked. It's Clark that asks for Ryan to stay with them. He immediately takes to the Kents (who wouldn't?) and you can't help but feel that he thinks he has to earn his keep by making breakfast for the family. But we also learn that while he can "guess" what Jonathan and Martha want for breakfast, he can't read Clark. It's...amazingly sweet how Ryan takes to Clark so quickly, but learn over the seasons that Clark has that affect on children, thus making many-a fangirl's ovaries explode.
Ryan is the one that introduces us to Warrior Angel. I never minded the whole Warrior Angel thing as I've seen some people do.
And it was pointed out to me that Ryan's stepdad is also Sylvester Pemberton from Absolute Justice (Society/Legends). At least when SV recasts actors for different roles, they do it just far apart that we don't realize it.
Lionel is back, and he's offering to bring Lex back to Metropolis. He even gives Lex a...compliment, sort of. Lex wants to think about it. On the one hand, this is what Lex has always wanted, his father's approval, but at the same time Lex likes the independance he has from Lionel while in Smallville. He sees it as his second chance at life, to be free of Lionel's influence.
Something I Really Need to Know: Why would Chloe bring up the Kasper Houser story if the kid was killed in the end? That's pretty morbid to bring up to a "lost" boy. It's not her fault that Ryan can read minds though.
More evidence that Chloe's attempts to get Clark to see her as more than a friend is backfiring because Clark doesn't believe Ryan when he says Chloe likes him.
Lex meets Ryan. Clark has apparently talked a lot about Lex. Ryan is very rude to Lex, but seeing as how this kid can read minds, I'm wondering what Lex was thinking to make Ryan react like that. Was he picturing Clark naked again? No wonder the kid was hostile.
LOL-worthy Anvil: That look on Clark's face when Lex says "strange visitor from another planet that protects the weak."
Ryan can "hear" his stepfather is near and takes off. He's hiding in a dumpster and is nearly crushed by the truck when Clark saves him...surrounded by a halo of light.
Lex visits Clark and inquires about Ryan, saying Ryan thinks of Clark as his big brother. This leads to us learning about Julian for the first time. It's a terribly sad story, not just for the baby that died, but for Lex because that's the point that his life was never the same. But this isn't why Lex is there, he tells Clark that Lionel wants him back in Metropolis and Clark is the first one he's told. Not his business partners Nell and Lana, who could be directly affected by him leaving Smallville, but Clark. At the end of the episode, Lex tells Lionel that he's not going to Metropolis. For the first time Lex is being unpredictable to Lionel by not getting into trouble, but rather successfully running the "crap factory".
Ryan, at the Talon with Jonathan, asks Lana if it's okay if friends have secrets. This is probably one of the most ironic conversations because it is implied that Lana thinks it's ok to keep secrets. She tells Ryan that "everyone has secrets" after Ryan mentions he thinks Clark is keeping a secret. Can I have Stray!Lana slap season 2-6 Lana for me?
The wicked stepparents have tracked down Ryan to the Kents. And they're planning something involving Lex. Oh Sylvester Pemberton, I'm ashamed.
Clark and Chloe are on the highway looking for clues to help Ryan. Clark says he doesn't think Ryan has amnesia because he's running from something. Chloe finds Ryan's backpack, and Clark (implying the use of x-ray vision) find the picture of Ryan and his mom.
Ryan learns from Martha's mind about the spaceship. He asks her about Clark (that he makes up for not being able to have her own kids, and he asks how Clark got to be so strong) and then asks what her greatest fear is. Seeing as he found the spaceship in the storm cellar, it's implied (rightfully so) that Martha's greatest fear is someone finding out about Clark. For the record, the redesigned spaceship looks a thousand times better than the one from the pilot.
Clark finds the cellar doors open and finds Ryan down there with the ship uncovered. Ryan tells Clark about his mind-reading and says he'll keep Clark's secret. He also informs Clark that he's the only person who's mind he can't hear (he earlier said that being around Clark is peaceful, which has a double meaning now). He wants very badly to stay with the Kents and offers to give them a heads up if anyone gets close to discovering the secret, and I know they would've kept him if his aunt hadn't shown up at the end of the episode just because they cared about him (and it was super sweet to see Clark with a little brother). But this scene between them is so sweet and Ryan just breaks your heart as he tells Clark about what his stepparents did to him. Ryan tells Clark that he's the only one that can keep him safe. *squishes them both* Okay, so what really breaks my heart about this episode is what happens in Season 2, but this is one of those times I wish they could've broken from canon because it was so great to see Clark as a big brother to someone, to have this kid look up to him the way he did. I do love that we had confirmation in "Ryan" that they kept in touch, I just wish it could've lasted longer.
Later that night (as indicated by the clothes Ryan is wearing), wicked stepmother poses as CPS to pick up Ryan. The Kents had enough sense to alert the police about Ryan's stepparents. Clark doesn't get the chance to say goodbye, but Lex pulls up to give Clark a going away present. A foil. I wonder if Clark still has it. Anyway, Clark tells Lex that he wants him to stay and I can't help but think it helped in Lex's final decision, lol. Anyway, fortunately Clark gets a good look at the limo driver.
Lex soon realizes he's been kidnapped (along with Ryan), but he was smart enough to think of the wrong password to his accounts. The kicker is that the audience thinks it's the real password because Lex just told us the story about Julian and its a story he doesn't tell everyone (unless their name is Clark).
Chloe and Clark are in the loft, Clark is playing with his sword...shut up. He tells her it's a going away gift from Lex, and Chloe being perceptive by noting Clark's sadness tells him that she's not going anywhere. Ah, you're probably getting sick of the Clexy evidence, but seriously, Chloe is the embodiment of the combination of Lana and Lex because she's the best friend (with a desire to know the mystery) and potential love interest due to her crush.
Since she has to compete with both Lex and Lana for an aspect of Clark's love, by her saying that to Clark, she has somehow, probably unwittingly, lumped Lex and Lana in the same category as competitors for Clark's affection.
Especially after that awkward silence and by attempting to make Clark jealous by complimenting an officer at the Sheriff's office.
Anyway, Clark sees the picture of Pemberton Ryan's stepfather and realizes what's going on. He races to find Lex on the side of the road and finds out what direction Ryan was taken. Meanwhile, Ryan successfully turns the stepparents against each other, unfortunately and unintentionally it leads to the female's death (and the poor janitor). Ryan hides in the bowling alley until Clark shows up and hurls a bowling ball (OWW) at the stepfather, knocking him completly out (those hits to the solar plexi are no joke, believe me).
It's unclear how much time has passed between that save and the daytime scene, but Ryan is going to Edge City to live with his aunt. He gets a very sweet kiss from Lana after she learns he was right about one of her servers. At the farm, the Kents are saying goodbye as Ryan's aunt picks him up. Ryan warns Clark about Lex, but Clark says he likes to believe the best in people (we've talked about this already, so I won't reiterate). Ryan then gives Clark his Warrior Angel collection, saying that he no longer needs them because he has his own hero (my mom said "Awww).
I know we like to make fun of the pop songs or whatever, but I think this Five for Fighting song is very fitting, especially for SV's Clark.
Worthy of Note: They never say how Ryan got his abilities. He's not from Smallville and it wasn't until "Ryan" that he was in any danger because of it.
Conclusions: I continue to adore this episode to pieces. Superman has a special affect on children, and this was the first indication of that affect that we've gotten on Smallville. It's all thanks to the wonderful chemistry that TW has with kids; it's like he brings the best out of their performance, or they bring that wonderful father/big brother vibe out of him. Stray and Rogue are tied so far for first place in Season 1 episodes (Pilot, Hourglass, and Jitters are a close second).