Smallville finale
Loved it!
I cried a lot during this episode, so I will start with that. For other people, the thing with Jonathan may have been somewhat cheesy and inexplicable, but I don't think this finale could even have made its point without him. And also, I found it especially touching because I've lost both my parents, but they are always with me. Oliver made this point to Clark, about graduating and not having his parents there, and it being what he remembers. When your parents are gone, you find yourself obsessing about that at odd times - every pivotal life moment they miss, and small ones as well.
So of course, having Clark's parents send him off, and having his memories of them be what grounds and anchors him, was incredibly important to this particular story. Clark had to come to understand (anviliciously and with much ceremonial banging of the hammer) that it is your past that makes your future.
And that is why wiping Lex's memory was a stroke of total genius. I mean, that wasn't actually Lex Luthor; Lex has been dead for years. So it's not like our Lex was done wrong in this episode. But even if it *was* our original Lex, I would still think this was brilliant.
The Lex Luthor who was Clark's friend, who loved and believed in Clark, surfaced for just a moment in the mansion - he actually sent Clark off to his destiny, albeit for a self-serving purpose. Lex needs a worthy adversary, and Kal-El would always be that, for him. But as long as that Lex exists - the one Smallville grew, and the one who once placed his faith in Clark - there's still a chance for his redemption, because he could be persuaded to embrace friendship and compassion, and turn away from darkness. That kind of Lex Luthor is not only canon-non-compliant because of the secrets he knows, he is antithesis to what Lex is supposed to be. Lex is supposed to be pure evil, and what's pure evil on this show? A man without a past. Literally, as the show was telling Clark to embrace his memories and those who love him, and surrounding him with supporters who believe in him - it ripped everything Lex had away in a gorgeous display of symmetry. What we're left with is the supervillain, Lex Luthor, a man of pure intellect with no family and no ties to anything in his past. That's what makes him dangerous; there's nothing he cares about losing. I think that was so clever on the writers' part. Lex becomes the total darkness to Clark's full light. SYMMETRY. MFEO. TWO CHALK SNAKES TWINED ON A WALL. *smokes a cigarette*
Also, this ep makes me look back on my seasons 1/2/3 dread of the inevitable Clark/Lex showdown with fondness, because the big betrayal I dreaded, and Lex going full-on evil on Clark, really never played out. Back when Lex actually died in Arctic, he died believing he was a hero saving the world from Clark's impending world domination, and though misguided and kinda crazy/conflicted and really egotistical - he was not really evil. If I had known then what I know now, I might not have been such a die-hard Lex redemptionista. Heh.
I would love to dissect the Clark and Lex scene, but all I have is flail. FLAAAAAIL. That was so great. Thank you, MR, for bringing the goods. :D
I loved so many things in this episode. The fact that Jor-El told Clark to remember his Smallville roots. The suit! The flight from the fortress! THE MUSIC! ON THE ROOF! Not just the Superman theme, but Can You Read My Mind, which is right and good. And Chloe and Oliver!!! Oh, dude, this episode needed five things to make me completely happy, and it had them all: Lex, Clark AND Lex in a scene together, the music, the suit, and Chloe and Oliver living happily ever after.
Also in the love category: Clark saving Oliver through the power of his belief in him (that recurring theme...is that a banging anvil I hear??), and the tiny homages to Lana and Pete. (PETE! IN THE COMIC!) And I loved that we never saw TW standing proudly in his tights. This worked better for me. It is about the journey, not the destination, and the music and the iconic symbol did the trick.
Tess...I stopped watching SV right around the time she was introduced, so I had no attachment to her character. But she provided a vehicle to a couple great moments. For instance, when she tells Lex that there was something she wanted and didn't get, and Lex is all, "Clark?" HA! Oh, Lex. You just projected your issues all over her. That was awesome. :D She gets to be the Luthor Clark actually *did* save, and in the process, she becomes the element of Lex's actual destruction. I mean, she killed Lex Luthor, for all intents and purposes. There was another lovely piece of symmetry.
I didn't care about Lionel's death, because that wasn't Lionel. It was alt!Lionel, which makes it hard for me to invest. (I was afraid they'd somehow drag over alt!Jonathan into this ep, which would not have pleased me.) This is the most explicit the show has been about Lionel's gropey, bad-touchy, inappropriate ways; he was all over Tess, and it was ICKY, so I was happy they burned him quickly.
I also thought the first hour dragged, because who really thought Clark and Lois were going to make it through the wedding? I do know Smallville's "canon" is supposed to be separate and apart from any of the zillions of comics canons, but - really, these were two nice resets on the classic canon I expected. I would have been unhappy if they had married. They are supposed to be perpetually pining. All that UST is what makes them awesome. And something will come up this time, too. Something always comes up. *g*
This was a really excellent way to bring the show to a close. It honored the roots of both the show itself, and of the decades of Superman canon before it. And it delivered the fan service. YAY!