thursday S-tv roundup

[xparrot]

Non-spoilers: Scrubs just felt good and comfortable and like a regular ep; the last couple have been inhaling from the crack-pipe a bit but this one had the right balance of LOLs and aww.

SPN "Roadkill" also made me aww, in a 'oh, show, you're so cute when you're being obvious' way. (They gotta watch those 'previouslys,' they keep giving stuff away...) Also I <3 Tricia Helfer, though I love her more when she's bleached and crazy-hot with Baltar.

And then there was Smallville "Promise." ARGH. Okay, here's the thing. I don't mind Lex being evil. I've got a lot (lot...lot...) more to say about his possible motivations, and how I really don't think the SV Lex is the villain at all. But honestly? I like evil. It's cool. It's hawt.

I don't mind Lex being evil. I mind him being pathetic. And stupid.

SV writers? This is Lex flippin' Luthor. Like, the smartest and most ruthless man in the world. He is totally gonna pwn your punk asses for character assassination.

gnine, meanwhile, is still frothing with anger at Chloe for being the Worst Best Friend in the Universe. Standing by your bride is one thing for the maid of honor, but you honestly think your best friend is "marrying a pathetic git monster"? And you're gonna wait for Clark to do something and not say a word to your friend yourself? Uh, no. That's not a job for a superhero. That's a job for a best friend.

Is that pregnancy totally faked or is it just us? Because that would be kind of awesome. Playing the babycard is traditionally the woman's way to shotgun a wedding, hysterical if Lex has flipped that on its ear.

All I can say is, I hope Lana is proved to have magic meteor love powers. Because that would explain everything about Lex that we've failed to explain. And then Clark can comfort him through pangs of Lana-withdrawal! With lots & lots of sex!

Oh well. At least Lionel is still scary sociopathic manipulative obsessively paternal eeeeevol love.

ETA: Is Lionel watching & then erasing all the video Lex's hidden cameras around the mansion should be catching? It would explain how he knew about Lana finding out about Clark. Also would explain why Lex wouldn't have that on film later...be an interesting wedding montage. "Oh, there's my one-time best man, ripping a door off its hinges..."

ETA2: I take back everything I said about Lex. This is what really is going on!

Comments

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

I think Lionel must be erasing the security videos of anything he doesn't want Lex to see. Though, when Clark first ripped that wine cellar door off its hinges, I was hoping so hard that it was Lex who'd set up the test. Alas. *deep sigh*

I can easily believe the Lana-is-a-mutant-who-forces-people-to-love-her theory, since it does seem the only way to explain all these people thinking she's so very special and perfect and precious. *gags*

But some of the horrors in "Promise" can also be explained by the theory you and gnine detailed: it could be that Lex considers it necessary to his world-saving plans to marry Lana (if only to keep her close as a potential weapon to use against Clark), but he can't afford to let anyone guess his true motivations, and thus plays the role of lovesick fool, both to Lana herself, and to anyone he discusses her with. Likewise, he might have allowed Lionel to hit him, and then acted as though he were cowed and easily defeated, in order to keep Lionel in the dark as to his true intentions. (Clearly, given Lionel's seeming closeness with Clark of late, Lex cannot afford to trust his father even to the small extent he might have in the past, so it's vital he keep Lionel off his guard until the time is right to deal with him, once and for all.)

Granted, Lex seemed overly emotional about the thing with the doctor, but if he had to keep the man from screwing up his plans for saving the world by nixing the wedding, and then found himself left with a totally unexpected corpse and hundreds of guests (aka potential witnesses) roaming around the grounds, I can forgive a little momentary lapse in his self-control. After all, this Lex is not used to killing: there was Roger Nixon, whom he shot in order to save Jonathan and Clark, and the static-mutant, whom he killed in self-defense after the guy tried to slash Lana's throat and then stab Lex through the heart, and finally there's this guy, whom Lex clearly hadn't planned to kill at all. Poor baby's still working himself up to the point where necessary killing will become routine.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Waaah *flails* I love trying to put this into the perspective of our theory. If only we could figure out a good reason why Lana is so crucial to his plans, then it works. We just can't get that far. Possibly because it involves extended contemplation of Teh Lana and faced with such our twisting plotty brains shut down...

It's either that, or Lana-as-mutant. Anything else is just...oooogh. No. I just. This is not my Lex. Darnit!

Aww, poor widdle supervillain-in-training Lex, he can't even handle a murder competently. (best line ever on the TWoP forums, someone said when Lex finally kills Lionel he should be standing over his father going, "Who's good at murder now?")

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

someone said when Lex finally kills Lionel he should be standing over his father going, "Who's good at murder now?"

Oh, that would ROCK! *squees wildly at the thought*

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

Waaah *flails* I love trying to put this into the perspective of our theory. If only we could figure out a good reason why Lana is so crucial to his plans, then it works. We just can't get that far. Possibly because it involves extended contemplation of Teh Lana and faced with such our twisting plotty brains shut down...

*pets your poor, tortured brains* No one can contemplate Teh Lana long and live. But maybe Lex needs her everyone-must-love-me-madly mutant powers to stun any alien invaders long enough to get the drop on them. After all, her powers do seem to work on Clark....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heeee...last night thanks to your inspiration, we think we just figured this ep out according to our interpretation. I'm gonna do something with it, I think. The key to the doctor's death is that Lex wasn't alone at the time - Lionel was watching him, and if Lex knew Lionel was watching...

(and it occurred to me that Lex knows Lana's powers work on the invaders - not only because of Clark, but because Zod himself oddly neglected to kill her, too. No wonder Lex wants to keep her close & in his control...)

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes -- of course Lionel was watching Lex's confrontation with the doctor, and of course Lex was aware of it, hence Lex pretending to be driven to violence by his Lana-infatuation. That makes perfect sense! (I had assumed Lex was pretending for the doctor's benefit, not having intended to kill him, but this works much better.) And with Zod inexplicably allowing Lana to live...yes, this works very well! I would love to see you do something with this! *crosses fingers and toes*

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

I think Lex should totally take Lionel's comments as a challenge for him to plan an efficient murder.

[sholio]

I am very amused that I don't even watch Smallville anymore and yet I am cheerfully living it vicariously through your recaps. *laughs* It's better than TWoP, even ... this is like the Cliff Notes of the Cliff Notes!

But, seriously -- did Lex marry LANA? *boggles* And you're watching this show WHY, again? ;)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

...umm...because Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling are very, very pretty? ^^;; But really...there's such massive potential in the show, even now. It's never going to live up to it, but all the same, one can't stop poking through the rotting corpse, hoping to find those diamonds stashed away...

...Also, yeah. Very pretty.

[sholio]

because Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling are very, very pretty?

LOL! Okay, good reason!

And you can always hope that Lana walks in front of a freight train or something. Hey, it could happen! My sister and I agree that the apocalyptic ending of the Matrix trilogy made up for wasting that many hours of our lives being annoyed by Neo and Trinity. Kinda. *grin*

[sholio]

And as far as the "pretty" goes, of course, I'm still watching Lost even though I'm resigned to the fact that they're going to spend their whole damn lives on the island and never learn a thing. ;) I am very easily led astray by the pretty.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm glad I broke away from Lost. Even if I do miss the pretty.

Lana gets smashed by a bus in one ep! And then Clark changes time and gets his father killed in exchange. (no srsly) I am so tempted to write an infinite number of futures where she always eventually gets creamed by bus...(yeah, it's rare for me to hate a char quite like this ^^;)

[sholio]

I am so tempted to write an infinite number of futures where she always eventually gets creamed by bus...

*laughs helplessly* Oh, you should, you SO should!

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

I am so tempted to write an infinite number of futures where she always eventually gets creamed by bus...

*dies laughing* Do it! Do it!

[naye]

Yes! Scrubs! Much love for this ep, because - I agree, the past couple of eps have been a bit mind-boggly. But this had so much good stuff! Crazy Janitor, Cox ranting, James from Spin City playing that druggie again, Kelso both being an evil hardass and showing his human side, and of course - Rowdy! Hee. ♥

Supernatural was cute. I tend to skip the previouslies (see naye, spoilers, fear of), so I was a bit surprised. And I totally didn't recognize the actress until you mentioned BSG, and then I was all OOOH, YEAH. Duh. I'll probably forget this episode existed, though, because there was nothing really memorable about it, except for the "twist" ending. (Scrubs did it better!)

Smallville... Oh, neechan. *hugs*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Scrubs seems to be suffering from a bit of 6th season hysteria itself - it's on and then it's off and then it's on again. Was worried it was just the 'me getting into a new show so of course it goes downhill' (I'm still convinced I'm to blame for X-files demise) but this ep wasa comforting...

SPN - you don't watch the previouslies, either? well, obviously we remember everything that happened before, but...guess you'll haveta watch them if they do another music vid sequence like the end of last season, can't skip that! It wasn't a great ep but it wasn't bad either, just a little too obvious (did you figure it out before the reveal, or...? we knew from the moment she climbed out of the car alone so were sort of snickering all the way through. at least there was a little mystery of exactly what the ghost was and what the real story was, though I thought the final 6th Sense flashbacks were a bit overkill...)

...but then who am I to judge? I am watching SV ^^;;; (and figuring out nefarious and torturous interpretations to make it palatable! the show does oddly lend itself to bizarrely complex explanations/justifications...)

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

I am in LOVE with Chloe an this ep just DESTROYED me. It's like they waited just for the wedding day to pull Chloe and Martha's strings and have them both tell Clark to go for it! Despite previous comments to him saying to get the fuck over it. Despite Chloe telling Lana to jump into the relationship earlier.

I cannot explain the stupidity in this episode. Lana is a immature child who plans to abandon Lex at the altar and just leave a little NOTE because she found out that Clark has superpowers (like she always suspected) and she's not smart enough to put that together with... yes! OMG ALIENS!!!

Suddenly, he who must not be named Satan Lex can't pull off a simple murder? Really? So you still expect us to believe that he's murdered so many other people effortlessly? Yes? Well you're batshit. Because those two don't jive.

Lex is NOT STUPID. He was on a break from graduate work at 21. They may not play him as the scientist as much as I'd like, but he's no dope, okay? Geez. *hopes Lana comes out of the meteor freak closet soon*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I am possibly the one SV fan on the planet who likes Lois more than Chloe (don't ask) but I am very fond of Chloe and this...was just wrong. I'm blaming it on Lana's popwers again. In fact I'm theorizing that it's not just love-magic but that she can actually manipulate peoples' wills so they tell her what she wants to here. It would explain why Chloe and Martha do such a drastic about-face at the worst possible time (either that, or the writers suck. But we can't have that now can we!)

Lana is an immature little child! (if she is a love-mutant and always automatically gets her way, she'd never have gone through the relationship pressures that force most people to grow up. It makes a lot of sense psychologically...)

And Lex. Ah, Lex. We think we figured him out last night. Hoping to write up a little something with that now ^_^

After having scene the episode myself...

[yma2.livejournal.com]

"Oh, there's my one-time best man, ripping a door off its hinges...- to get to the wine cellar, naturally. I simply dread to think what would have happened if he knew about the beer larder..."

Having seen this episode now, I think what got to ME the most in it was, strangely enough, it's portrayal of Lana. Granted, I've missed the first couple of episodes before it but... I thought that if this was even close to her character she is actually a real bitch.

I mean, let's get this streight... she can't be with Clark BEFORE he has super Powers, but once she knows about them... well, that's just FINE!

It's not even that... that I can get. It's not admirable, but I get it. It's her treatment of Lex that sucks. Because she goes from marrying him to just... not? It's like... 'Sorry Clark, you keep secrets and I can't trust you, so I'm marrying Lex,' to 'Wow, you have Superpowers? I'll go with you! Lex Sux0rz!'

She's just using poor Lex! Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't about Lex in and of himself. It could be any guy, I'd still find it sickening. You don't just go with some guy because they are an obvious replacement for another, or if you do you damn well face up to it when you've realized the mistake. I KNOW a girl like this, she's broken the hearts of five men that I know of, three of which are very close friends of mine. This sort of behaviour... it's just abomnible!

I hate to sound ultra-feminist, but it's the kind of thing that is particually disgusting in a woman. The idea that you MUST have some guy to be involved with. If Lana is so willing just to dump Lex, without any show of regret or uncertainty, when she knows about Clark... what kind of girl as he fallen for?

Sorry, didn't mean to be all... I dunno... wanky or anything. But that did get at me. Maybe I'm being too mean, there is the baby and all but... gah!

One thing that tends to annoy me in TV shows (and, to be fair, a bit of anime too,), especially stuff like Smallville is how the women always seem to need to have a major romantic plot line. I think it's one of the reasons why I don't tend to like female characters as much as male. Because most of their main plotline inevitably seems to be wrapped up in the Romance of the Moment. And as I'm not big fan of romance in generall...

Still, Lana's reaction to finding out about Clark in that ep... I found it pretty shocking. I'm going to go and try and watch the two eps I've missed, (not seen the ones between Chrimson and Promise yet,) I hope they provide some sort of damn good explenation.

For christ sake, even if There IS an explenation, even if she realized that Lex wasn't the man for her in those eps, why is she getting married to him in THIS one! Grrr!

Re: After having scene the episode myself...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, of all the characters that get assasinated in that ep, Lana might well be the worse. No, there isn't anything in the eps you missed that explains her about-face. She starts finding out that Clark has powers, but that doesn't explain why she becomes more interested in him, rather than hurt because he has been lying to her all these years (AND telling the truth to Chloe, which one would think would piss her off extra...)

She totally is using Lex, and Clark too. As far as I can understand her motives (that's thinking she has any; this is SV, and the writers don't worry about things like motives. Chars do what they do for the sake of the plot and the Lana, and little else matters) she must be power-obsessed. She thought Lex was strong, being rich and head of LuthorCorp and all; but then she learned Clark is stronger (and also that Lionel is stronger than Lex anyway. grrr.) so she switched her heart. Either that, or she has never loved Lex and was just faking it because she was trying to find out more about him, possibly for Clark's sake. Either way I feel terribly bad for Lex, whose feelings appear to be genuine even if twisted (what with the whole murdering guys for her thing, and whatever's up with the pregnancy...)

Total, total sympathy on the women = romance equation, which drives me to the point of screaming. It's absolutely the main reason I don't like female chars as much. I don't mind that they're involved in romance - I mind when their only point, their primary contribution to the story, is to be romantic objects, while the men-folk are busy fighting to save the world or fighting for their souls. (I don't have a problem with things like shoujo or Gilmore Girls, wherein everyone is wrapped up in relationship issues. If romance/relationships are the point of the story, it's fine. But when there's other stuff - more important stuff - going on, it's demeaning to the extreme that the female drama is limited to who they're going to pair with.)

Lana is a prize, the ultimate trophy; she's the abducted princess for whom the knight must fight the dragon, and this makes her boring to the extreme, for me. I'd much rather hear about the knight and the dragon's battle, and forget the princess.

Re: After having scene the episode myself...

[yma2.livejournal.com]

My personal theory on the baby issue is that it's eather being subjected to kryptonite residue to make it super-powerful or it's actually made of Clark's DNA and not Lex's. Because that would make an amout of sense, in a sick and twisted way. It would...
1: Provide a wonderful way of getting back at Clark
2: See if Clark really is a freak
3: Work as a shield and/or weapon IF clark is a Super!Freak.

Also, if it is a Super!Baby then I think it will mysteriously grow up very fast, because that way it can be written out of the plot with less scrupals. Because a baby dying in a show would be contovertial, a teenager... not so much. Besides, Lana-mommy with baby isn't as dramatic/glamerous as Lana with kid who is character in own right.
Also, child can go off and do it's own thing if it grows up fast. Basically I think they'er going to pull a Conner (as in Angel's son in... er... Angel.)
Finaly it might be a way to cameo SuperBoy, which you know the writers have been itching to do.

Also, your dragon and knight metaphore is very good, until one thinks of the Clex view. Which involves the Knight and the Dragon going off together and as I happen to know that reptiles can have forked genitalia...

Ouch dude, just ouch...