SV, 6.16-6.19
Apr. 29th, 2007 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slinklingI've just watched the last four episodes of SV (Promise, Combat, Progeny, Nemesis) all in a row. And, um, wow.
Watching Promise, Combat, and Progeny, a number of questions occurred to me. Like, have the SV writers actually seen any of seasons 1-5? And why is Lois wearing a shiny candy-apple-red PVC catsuit while she's ostensibly trying to be inconspicuous? She decides to do a little undercover investigating, she looks through her closet for something that won't attract attention, and this is what she comes up with? Why does she even have this in her closet anyway? And okay, seriously here, the writers -- DO THEY EVER WATCH THE SHOW? If they're not having characters say lines that flagrantly contradict the things they said a few episodes ago (Martha to Clark, re Lana getting married: "Honey, if you care about somebody, you should never give up on that, no matter what." Martha to Clark, re Lex: "Honey, sometimes you need to leave the past behind you and just let go."), they're flagrantly contradicting their own canon (anybody remember when Chloe said that her mom disappeared without saying goodbye when she was 6?). This is puzzling me so much that I've gone and looked up how to make a poll, and created my very first one, just so I can seek some answers. (Having said that, here's hoping I've made my poll correctly, because it looks all wonky in the preview screen.)
[Poll #975841]
Help me, please, because I want to understand this.
All this is not to say that there weren't occasional moments of win in these three eps. They get credit for casting Wonder Woman as Chloe's mom (though they lose a point for Wonder Woman really not being much of an actress), and when I wasn't busy being pissed off at the horrendous continuity flails, I do dig this explanation for why Chloe's mom left. It's a cool and creepy power for her to have, it's a tantalizing hint about Chloe's own meteor mutation, and it fits in nicely with a lot of the larger themes SV has been working with for years now, like the power dynamics between parents and children, and the notion of protecting somebody you love by sacrificing your relationship with them. The whole Lex/Lana/baby plotline is interesting; I feel like more should have been done with it (and maybe more will be, but I know better than to put my hopes on that), but the play of emotions we've seen Lex show here is enough to keep me in thrall. I mean, for all that he staged the whole thing, he really did get emotionally caught up in the fantasy of having a happy family with Lana, and letting that fantasy go was obviously painful for him. Lex has a rare talent for being a total woobie and a total villain in the same moment.
Nemesis, of course, was as awesome as everybody's been saying it is, and I'm glad I saved all these episodes to watch together. (Not that I planned it that way, I just didn't get around to watching them -- but the four at once made a satisfying evening's wallow, capped off with an hour that reminds me why I still adore this show.) As everybody else saw this before I did, I'm sure most of what I could say about it has already been said, with the squee and the fanfic-worthy clex and the surprisingly magnificent Luthoresque Lana. One thing I'm curious about -- having not read everybody's reviews because I didn't want to be too spoiled, and now there are so many of them I wouldn't know where to start -- has anybody written about the parallels between Nemesis and Tempest/Vortex? With Lex standing over someone he loves/hates, who's been pinned down by falling debris, and he has to decide whether to help them or not? And then that fascinating echo of Jonathan Kent/Roger Nixon -- when it looked like Lex was leaving Clark to die, but instead he came back with a ginormous pole to pry that column off Clark? I was struck by this as I watched, and someday soon I may need to re-watch those early episodes as well as this latest one, to tease that out a little more. Because it's very definitely there. (Clearly, whoever wrote Nemesis is exempt from the above poll.)
And now it is late, and I'm heading for bed, having thoroughly enjoyed my evening in the happy place.
Watching Promise, Combat, and Progeny, a number of questions occurred to me. Like, have the SV writers actually seen any of seasons 1-5? And why is Lois wearing a shiny candy-apple-red PVC catsuit while she's ostensibly trying to be inconspicuous? She decides to do a little undercover investigating, she looks through her closet for something that won't attract attention, and this is what she comes up with? Why does she even have this in her closet anyway? And okay, seriously here, the writers -- DO THEY EVER WATCH THE SHOW? If they're not having characters say lines that flagrantly contradict the things they said a few episodes ago (Martha to Clark, re Lana getting married: "Honey, if you care about somebody, you should never give up on that, no matter what." Martha to Clark, re Lex: "Honey, sometimes you need to leave the past behind you and just let go."), they're flagrantly contradicting their own canon (anybody remember when Chloe said that her mom disappeared without saying goodbye when she was 6?). This is puzzling me so much that I've gone and looked up how to make a poll, and created my very first one, just so I can seek some answers. (Having said that, here's hoping I've made my poll correctly, because it looks all wonky in the preview screen.)
[Poll #975841]
Help me, please, because I want to understand this.
All this is not to say that there weren't occasional moments of win in these three eps. They get credit for casting Wonder Woman as Chloe's mom (though they lose a point for Wonder Woman really not being much of an actress), and when I wasn't busy being pissed off at the horrendous continuity flails, I do dig this explanation for why Chloe's mom left. It's a cool and creepy power for her to have, it's a tantalizing hint about Chloe's own meteor mutation, and it fits in nicely with a lot of the larger themes SV has been working with for years now, like the power dynamics between parents and children, and the notion of protecting somebody you love by sacrificing your relationship with them. The whole Lex/Lana/baby plotline is interesting; I feel like more should have been done with it (and maybe more will be, but I know better than to put my hopes on that), but the play of emotions we've seen Lex show here is enough to keep me in thrall. I mean, for all that he staged the whole thing, he really did get emotionally caught up in the fantasy of having a happy family with Lana, and letting that fantasy go was obviously painful for him. Lex has a rare talent for being a total woobie and a total villain in the same moment.
Nemesis, of course, was as awesome as everybody's been saying it is, and I'm glad I saved all these episodes to watch together. (Not that I planned it that way, I just didn't get around to watching them -- but the four at once made a satisfying evening's wallow, capped off with an hour that reminds me why I still adore this show.) As everybody else saw this before I did, I'm sure most of what I could say about it has already been said, with the squee and the fanfic-worthy clex and the surprisingly magnificent Luthoresque Lana. One thing I'm curious about -- having not read everybody's reviews because I didn't want to be too spoiled, and now there are so many of them I wouldn't know where to start -- has anybody written about the parallels between Nemesis and Tempest/Vortex? With Lex standing over someone he loves/hates, who's been pinned down by falling debris, and he has to decide whether to help them or not? And then that fascinating echo of Jonathan Kent/Roger Nixon -- when it looked like Lex was leaving Clark to die, but instead he came back with a ginormous pole to pry that column off Clark? I was struck by this as I watched, and someday soon I may need to re-watch those early episodes as well as this latest one, to tease that out a little more. Because it's very definitely there. (Clearly, whoever wrote Nemesis is exempt from the above poll.)
And now it is late, and I'm heading for bed, having thoroughly enjoyed my evening in the happy place.
