would the real supervillain please stand up

[xparrot]

(Yes, I know attempting to apply Earth-logic to any television, and most especially SV, is a schizophrenia-inducing shell-game, but someone has to do it, daggnabbit, and I'm just the loony for the job!)

Okay, I admit it. I am a Lex Luthor apologist. I've been trying to stay neutral, because I like villains. I like analyzing their motives and figuring out why they do the wicked things they do. I love redemption stories, but I also just enjoy villains being villainous. JLU's Lex Luthor rocks my socks, for being an unabashedly, thrillingly, evilly badass badguy.

I'm not talking about the comicbook or cartoon Lex Luthor now. Smallville's Lex, I can't see as a villain (I'm wondering if some of the show's writers genuinely believe he's the protagonist). It's not just that I think he's psychologically damaged, a victim of circumstance and a tragic puppet of destiny/AlMiles; or that I'm convinced he's got nobler intentions than are ever explained. It's that when I really analyze what he does, more often than not I find that I agree with him. Not only his motives, but what he's actually doing. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I think that Lex's fundamental problem is that he is the only sane man in a world of lunatics.

How many people die through meteor-mutant related actions in the first season alone? Counting the mutants themselves, it's well over a dozen. (Does anyone have the bodycount for the whole series?) Lowell County's per capita mortality rate has to be one of the highest in the nation's, especially for juveniles. That's not mentioning the non-fatal casualties or the property damage. And yet the government inexplicably does nothing. Dr. Hamilton is called crazy for thinking the meteor rocks have anything to do with it; the LuthorCorp plant is suspected but never closed down, never even sued, as far as we see. In the real world, I'd expect a quarantine after the fourth or fifth meteor-related homicide, but despite the Kents' biggest fear being that someone - the government or a private interest - will come for their very special son, no one ever turns up to do anything about the meteor mutants. Oh, there's a few (private sector?) experiments on a possible telepath (and Ryan was not a krypto-freak) but even when it's general knowledge, certified by a medical doctor, that there's a girl who can teleport, the military doesn't sit up and take notice.

And citizens don't abandon Smallville, which is the biggest mystery of all. Around the time the tenth kid died of a mysterious accident/obvious murder at Smallville High, were I a student's parent, I would pull my child the hell out of there. And move to a different county. Or a different country. The meteor rocks must have a soporific effect in addition to the obvious mutagenic properties, that everyone stays so complacent in the face of this terrible crisis.

Everyone except Lex Luthor, who after years of helping his new community in other ways (arranging the plant buy-out to prevent loss of jobs, pulling strings to get fast FEMA aid after the second meteor shower) decides to look into the mutant problem he and everyone he knows have fallen victim to countless times. Maybe he even tried to bring in the government; no way to know. After they dropped the ball for so many years, I wouldn't blame him for having no faith in the system. (Not to mention he has evidence that the government is compromised by alien invaders; see Milton Fine.)

33.1

So what does Lex do? His biggest effort is starting a research project on the mutants themselves. Logical enough. Now, I know 33.1 not only has a cool name and is top secret, but also gets alt rock and weird camera effects, so it's by default evol. (Not to mention, it's science-based. SV's underlying theme of science = bad is deserving of a whole rant unto itself.) But the facts are ambiguous, to say the least.

We don't know a lot about 33.1. We know it does "experiments" on meteor mutants and apparently kryptonite as well. (LuthorCorp's previous research efforts, under Lex, have included an ill-fated attempt to help end world hunger, and an effort to make a vaccine against most of the world's worst viruses. Clearly, this is an evil that must be stopped.) The first times we hear about 33.1, it seems to be researching volunteers - Mikhail in "Jinx" didn't seem terrified when he was introduced to the place, and the mutants in "Mortal" sound right put-out that they were booted from the program. In 6th season we meet at least one man who was not so happy to be there, in "Static" - but he is a homicidal mental patient who was moved from Belle Reve asylum (which we, and Lex, know is not the healthiest or helpful of places) to 33.1. He says he was going to be released, but he is a mental patient, and he certainly isn't acting stable. Most of the mutants in Belle Reve are in there for a good reason - usually because they murdered or attempted to murder someone. Or several people.

Moreover, 33.1 does release at least some of its subjects; it sounds like the mutant in "Subterranean" may have been a subject there for a time before being re-introduced into society. Whereupon he promptly went homicidal and killed a couple dozen people. And Lex, upon finding this out, is pissed off with about the most genuine emotion we've seen from him all season, extremely angry that closer tabs weren't being kept and the man's nocturnal activities weren't uncovered sooner. But LuthorCorp doesn't seem to be suspected in the case; Clark comes to accuse Lex, but it doesn't seem like the police or the press take the connection seriously. And when we see Lex, he's studying footage of the murders, not the man's escape. Lex doesn't need to worry overly much about the bad publicity, or the lost mutant; what appears to disturb him is that the deaths that happened on his watch.

6x15: "Freak"

Which is probably why he decides to get a bit more proactive. Does he start rounding up mutants for 33.1 before they flip out and kill people? Does he start invasively investigating anyone who could possibly be a mutant, based on exposure to meteors and unexplained phenomena around them? Would either of these tactics really be out of line, considering we're dealing with what is, in essence, a widespread environmental contamination with a very high mortality rate?

Lex doesn't do any of this. He finds a foolproof way to be absolutely sure someone is a mutant, then nabs them and tags them and lets them go with no harm done other than a rough night. Okay. Abducting people without warning or consent isn't the nicest thing to do. But these are meteor mutants - "meteor infected," as Lex is calling them. A population that is, from the evidence, about 95% latently homicidal. Chloe herself says she's a walking time-bomb, upon finding she's a "freak" (as our heroes are calling them). Frankly, with those odds? Preemptive incarceration of all meteor mutants would not be out of line; it could be reasonably considered a quarantine. Monitoring them while letting them continue with their everyday lives is an invasion of privacy, but better than most of the alternatives (which are, generally, murder, insanity, and death.)

In "Freak," the doctor running the program had fairly autonomous control; he was likely the one who designed the abduction, study, sampling, and restoration procedure (presumably adapted for speed and lack of obvious signs afterward, though the doctor did have a reason to hate his subjects - his wife was apparently murdered by one - so he could have had a sadistic bent.) Lex may or may not have known the exact details of the procedure; he sees the video of Chloe's abduction at the end, but that's after he's taken possession of the doctor's research, so whether he had access before is anyone's guess.

Another detail in "Freak" - only one meteor mutant actually dies in the episode, despite the implied deaths of the others. I don't believe Chloe was in danger of anything but getting her GPS tracker deactivated. Lex wants no loose ends - a dozen or so sudden deaths in a single night would be awfully ends-y; moreover, the episode never says anything about any deaths reported the next day (a murder rap that, with the computer Clark stole, they probably could pin on Lex if they brought it to the police). More likely a team was dispatched to deactivate and possibly remove all the trackers, leaving nothing to trace to LuthorCorp via the compromised computer. The boy who died, having been warned of the abduction by Chloe, probably panicked at the men in black coming for him and ran into traffic. We're never given the details of his fatal car accident.

And a final point about this ep - Lex asks for Tobias to be brought to him, "unharmed". It's a very specific and odd request, if he just wants to experiment on him (one which the doctor promptly ignores anyway. Lex, hon, you have got to hire better minions. Not only do they betray you, they're all stupid and crazy. This has been your biggest problem since season 1, you really ought to have learned by now.) One wonders how he was planning to tie up Tobias's loose end. By giving him his operation, perhaps, and trusting in gratitude and ignorance to seal his mouth? Or was Lex planning on telling Tobias more about his real objectives, perhaps recruiting him fully into the program?

What's my motivation?

What exactly is 33.1's purpose? The Green Arrow and his Merry Men seem convinced Lex is creating a mutant army - it never seems to occur to them to wonder why Lex might want a mutant army. To sell to the military? A private force to take over the world? To, I don't know, save the planet from imminent alien invasion? If they know the exact nature of Lex's research, they haven't seen fit to mention what it is, though they seem convinced it's dangerous.

33.1's purpose is fairly crucial to Lex's story arc (thus, knowing SV, I don't know if we'll ever find it out...) as it seems like it might be the most important project in his life. The end of "Static" is telling. While Lex is MIA, Lionel finds out about 33.1 and swiftly hides it before Lana or Frequency McZappyPants can expose it to the world. Lex is...less than gracious about this save. Their confrontation about the matter is interesting, because Lex, who has faced off with his dad for over five years and come out on top more often than not, is not only furious; he gives every indication of being desperate, if not downright terrified. Lionel is in fine form, sharp and sarcastic and easily doling out their usual baiting, but Lex isn't playing any game. "You did this for selfish reasons" - it's a strange accusation, if 33.1 is only Lex's pet project for world domination. Lionel even offers him a little once much-desired praise, but Lex isn't interested. He practically has tears in his eyes when he's demanding to know where it is. For whatever reasons, he can't lose 33.1, and especially not to Lionel.

Lex's desperation in this scene compares with his interactions with Lionel in "Promise." Both times, Lex conceivably might have been overplaying his reactions to manipulate Lionel, letting him think he was in control - implying that whatever Lex is doing is important enough to him that he's willing to seemingly debase himself before his father. Or else he is that desperate, under so much pressure he can't play the game. Either way, could it be for the same reasons? If Lana's lost baby was (is?) a production of 33.1, did Lex's need to keep her close - and keep her from Clark - have less to do with romance and more to do with whatever was incubating in her womb? If 33.1 is related to Lana's pregnancy, it especially explains Lex's panic in "Static" - he's on a tight time limit, no time to dance to Lionel's beat.

(...For the record, I don't really think this is what was going on in "Promise," but damn if it wouldn't save the episode and most of this season for me! The other explanation is that it's all about Teh Lana - Lex doesn't want Lionel to reveal his evol sekkrits to her? - and I don't really want to consider that.)

One more thing about 33.1, which never occurs to Chloe or Clark or anyone else, is that Lex Luthor is "meteor infected" himself. Why everyone forgets this is a mystery - as freaks go, he's one of the most obvious examples on the show; the man is bald as a naked mole rat. There's also evidence that he has a mutant healing ability; Lex doesn't get sick, and he recovers from an incredible gamut of injuries in record time. He's been aware that there's something unusual about himself since first season, and was confronted with the possibility that he was a mutant by the beginning of 3rd (thanks to Chloe's research; for some reason she seems to have abandoned this line of investigation, even though one would think she would want to know as much as possible about their new foe.) Lex has personal reason to want to know everything he can about the meteor mutations.

Ultimately, whatever Lex's motives for 33.1, I can't help but see a good side to the project. Someone needs to try to control the meteor mutation problem, and honestly, Lex's ways seem preferable to Clark's method of haphazard crisis control, in which a lot of people get endangered, injured, and killed (especially the meteor infected victims themselves. The mutant being held in 33.1 at the end of "Subterranean - he is in a coma. And why is he in a coma? Because our neighborhood plainclothes Superboy put him there...) How many classmates does Clark lose to the meteors? The evil of 33.1 isn't in what Lex is doing - it's that it took this long for someone to do it.

Lex Luthor would totally have my vote. You know how they say of Mussolini, that he was a fascist dictator, but at least the trains ran on time? Lex Luthor - maybe he's an evil supervillain, but at least our kids aren't dying by the busload!

Comments

[stitcher2ficcer.livejournal.com]

Oh god! I haven't time to read this, but how many hours of writing and how many hundreds of words of meta have you written on Lex and SV since January? And I thought the obsession with SV fic was bad!! **shakes head** I've run out of time to keep up with you!!... but am still looking forward to more AU Lex/Clark. ^__~

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I was on the train going to and from the job training today, time to think this out :P And will send the AU tonight or tomorrow, sorry, haven't gotten a chance to look it over... ^^;

[attaccabottoni.livejournal.com]

Deciphering SV's storylines is a job for loonies! And I support all such endeavors! XD I turned a little ranty so this might be a bit incoherent.

See, this is what has bothered me since I started watching SV (and their Freak of the Week episodes) and reading fanfics: No one bothers to do some proactive action about the meteor mutants. Okay, so the focus is supposed to be on Clark Kent's evolution into Superman, but if you introduce that huge fucking plot point about the Wall of Weird radioactive alien rocks contaminating a considerable land area and changing an entire population, how the hell does Clark's teenage drama compared to a massively devastating ecological problem like that? It's worse than Chernobyl for Christ's sake! Were we supposed to just accept it as a quirk or an exaggeration of the weirdness of small town Heartland America? Is it one giant coverup by the goverment ala-X-files so as to not start a mass panic? Has Lionel been monopolizing all Kryptonite research since the first meteor shower and his appropriation of most of Smallville? I don't even understand how Belle Reve works! How do they get the resources to contain all those mutants?

Sure, the body count of the Fine+Zod+PZ escapees is bigger than the mutant problem, but I'd happily condone any containment method Lex is devising as part of Level 33.1, if they're not going to go for the mutant politics/training route ala-X-Men. :D

(This is also why I love Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, because Lex was trying to help the mutants manage and eventually find a cure for their mutations. In my mind, Lex's securing of the mutants would TOTALLY be his ticket to the presidence in the SV future, since it is a very humanitarian cause if done right.)

The evil of 33.1 isn't in what Lex is doing - it's that it took this long for someone to do it.
Lex's insistence of drinking mineral water and alcohol seems pretty telling to me. I think it all started way back in season 1 and Lex's investigations on Clark, and Lionel's Smallville experiments since LuthorCorp first set up shop there. To me it's like SV's longest running storyline, because we often forget that the important of the show is the ever-changing landscape of the town of Smallville.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the more I think about the reactions to the meteor mutants, the more bizarre it becomes. They really do live in an alternate world that has no correlation with this one. I don't know if I'm more disturbed by the government's lack of response, or the regular people, who you'd think would be leaving like rats fleeing a sinking and radiation-leaking ship... And yeah, what's up with Belle Reve, how do they manage to contain so mutants?

What is the post-Zod body count? We've heard some numbers on the Zoners, but I don't remember anyone mentioning once what the casualties are for Dark Thursday, either in Metropolis or worldwide (actually if you have any solid facts to support this, or have ever seen anyone putting together a good estimate, I need figures badly. In my current fic, I put the death toll at around 20K, which gnine was arguing was way too low, but considering that we never see sign of mass funerals or mourning in Metropolis, presumably the worst-damaged place, I was thinking that it was somehow miraculously lower than the blackout/riots/quakes would indicate. Or it could be they were just thinking that would be too dark for the show, but still, that no deaths are mentioned at all...is weird.)

Lex's insistence of drinking mineral water and alcohol seems pretty telling to me.

This is an interesting point! Though he doesn't seem to have a problem with locally grown organic food (like the apple in the second ep) so not sure if it holds...

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

"I think that Lex's fundamental problem is that he is the only sane man in a world of lunatics."
LOL - love that line.

Once again - you make good observations as to Lex and his motives. I have to agree - that if Lex was using his apparent desperation as a ploy to fool his father then that would be really a badass and cool way to go - however, I don't know if the SV writers have the high regard for Lex's intelligence that most of the fans seem to embrace.

I didn't overly enjoy Promise because of the mopping Clark and his 'practice proposal' to Shelby - not cool. It was too rushed etc - I hate the way that SV will build up characters to do great things and then make them an afterthought - like Green Arrow - he was a main character for a bit and I liked the show a lot more with Clark having more guy friends that weren't afraid to tell Clark how it is and how it will be.

Guess we'll just have to see how it rides out. I hope that Lex is manipulating Lionel and isn't really coming off as that weak.

Personally - I don't think Lex was as concerned about Lana as he was about what she was carrying - harsh or not....just my opinion as to why Lex didn't want to loose Lana to Clark - who would protect her and keep her from Lex.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I know, I have little faith in the writers myself. But I still hold onto the faint hope that it can be saved, somehow! And yeah...the writers don't have nearly the respect for Lex's IQ that they ought to. This drives me batty - Lex is his genius; he's the brain to Superman's brawn! It doesn't work otherwise! Grr!

Agreed that Clark needs more guy friends! He has none, now that the junior Justice League is off being terrorists...I think that's one of his biggest problems after Jonathan dies. It has to be rough; grief like that is the time that you really need a friend who can understand your emotional state, and it's so hard for men and women to totally empathize...

Personally - I don't think Lex was as concerned about Lana as he was about what she was carrying - harsh or not

Evil or not! Except that Lex is supposed to be evil - I really very much hope he was using her only for her womb. It would be appropriately, thrillingly devious (like I said, I like my villains!...)

Too much word.

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

I agree with it ALL. I hadn't thought that they might just be deactivating the chips during Freak. That makes a lot more sense and would go along with what Lex seemed to be intending to do. Even if one or two mutants have escaped the meteor madness, most have absolutely not. And yes, why the fuck has the government dropped the ball on this one? Anyone who doesn't become a freak is going to come down with Krypto-cancer in the next five to ten years. (I joked once to a friend that the fish in Crater Lake were probably causing cancer... so Lex wouldn't be too ruffled about offing them to test his missile. Do they test tech for space underwater still?)

And yeah, I can see why Lex wouldn't trust the government after his dealings with Milton Fine, who for all he knows did infiltrate the goverment (and for all we know. Brainiac is in essense a computer program and is probably still out there. Figuring out HIS motives are a tangle in themselves.). Also, as you pointed out before, he's already tried to get into the government to have some sway, and it cost him too much time and money and eventually just didn't pay off. He's probably too busy to deal with that bullshit right now.

What I find amazing is that he hasn't just had Lionel institutionalized or killed. He certainly could do it, if he wanted to. Lionel is just in the way for him, even if he sometimes makes himself useful. Maybe he has a plant embedded in the MB skin so he can listen in on his conversations... either way, I admire his restraint.

The first times we hear about 33.1, it seems to be researching volunteers - Mikhail in "Jinx" didn't seem terrified when he was introduced to the place, and the mutants in "Mortal" sound right put-out that they were booted from the program.
Ditto. Plus, I really don't think he'd be keeping a dungeon or an evol!sekrit!lab in the middle of LuthorCorp tower. It doesn't seem practical, and it would so easily be found out.

In fact, the more I look at it, the more I think that Lex's fundamental problem is that he is the only sane man in a world of lunatics.
Excellent. :D

One more thing about 33.1, which never occurs to Chloe or Clark or anyone else, is that Lex Luthor is "meteor infected" himself. Why everyone forgets this is a mystery - as freaks go, he's one of the most obvious examples on the show; the man is bald as a naked mole rat.
♥ The people of Smallville are like ostriches, and Clark has totally picked up on that. Lex pretty much said at the end of Extinction "Hay guise I'm a mutant lol" but Clark kinda blinks, scratches his ass, and completely forgets about it. It's like he willfully doesn't admit that Lex a) is a mutant and b) has a valid reason for collecting information on them (Not so much for having a giant masturbatory aid picture of Clark in his Batcave.). Lex even says this is about his own origins and Clark is LALA ALL ABOUT ME. I wonder what it would do to Clark to admit that Lex is a mutant. He seems sort of avoid-y about Chloe being one. Then again, he gave her glib "you don't have to be your mom" advice when she tells him about the HEREDITARY (as in, I don't get a choice) mental illness. I think he can't face things he can't fight and save people from. I know Chloe dropped it (prolly cause Clark got mad at her), but she seems to know things anyway. Why she (nor anyone else) addresses them is anyone's guess. She knows more about Lex's history than anyone else. Maybe she has them in password protected files on her lappy so Clark and Lana can't snoop.

And finally (I'll shut up, I promise), Clark has been comaing, accidentally being the indirect cause of death to, sending to Belle Reve, and recently, deliberately killing the freaks for years. I don't wonder that Lex would consider Clark a danger to his plans to control/help the mutant population regardless of whether he knows Clark's SECRET. If he ever got his memory back from Belle Reve, he might feel as though Clark was deliberately doing to him what he'd done to the other mutants there. He just keeps getting more valid reasons to see Clark as an immanent threat to him and others of freakkind.

Re: Too much word.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I joked once to a friend that the fish in Crater Lake were probably causing cancer... so Lex wouldn't be too ruffled about offing them to test his missile.

Hee! We had the same thought, when originally trying to figure out "Aqua". Or else they were about to go classic krypto-freak and develop into liver-eaters or something. The thing about Lex Luthor (well, not so much SV!Lex, but JLU!Lex anyway, is that he always has multiple motivations for anything he does. Which means that anything apparently altruistic probably has another agenda as well, but then anything seemingly evil can be ascribed a more positive motive as well...)

I don't know why Lex hasn't taken care of Lionel more permanently. I think it might be the line he's waiting to cross, going after his own blood; as Lionel murdered his own parents, so killing his father would be the final step towards Lex becoming his father...(man I want to see it, though...)
Also good point about 33.1 originally being located in LuthorCorp towers...so Lex can keep close eye on it, but yeah, the chances of accidental discovery would be high. Lionel calls it a "clinic" - dangit, what is going on there, exactly!?

Yeah, Clark tends to hide from things he can't handle. Though it annoys me that he doesn't include Lex in the meteor-freaks club, because he seems pretty comfortable with telling freaks his secrets, so if he'd really been made aware Lex was one, he'd have been more likely to spill the beans... Chloe, though, makes no sense to me these days. She's terrified of being a freak herself but it doesn't occur to her that Lex is living with that same fear...

He just keeps getting more valid reasons to see Clark as an immanent threat to him and others of freakkind.

Which Clark is, absolutely! (well, he's not deliberately killing the freaks, is he? He's always been way too complacent about letting them die by accident - that's disturbed me since the first season - but the Zoner was an exception, not being human...) Still, yeah, I rather agree with Lex that Clark is more a hindrance than a help, at least until he learns to work better with others...

Re: Too much word.

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

I like to believe Lex has multiple motivations. It means he can blow up fish for several good reasons while still having domination in the back of his brain. He can marry Lana because he loves her, but also because Clark was there first, it hurts Clark to see her with him, and because he has an alien hybrid in her cooter that he doesn't want to lose control over. She's not a bad beard, either.

The thing about Lex becoming his father, I know he fears it, but he is so much... MORE than Lionel ever was. You said it best in your story for Promise, Lionel is pretty much a petty little spider, pulling the strings of his little web. He's threatening, but only if you're an insect. Lex always seemed to think more in the long term and I'm sure he thinks more globally now than Lionel ever did. You don't see THAT many eco-disasters (besides the liver-eating fish... why do they let kids swim in Crater Lake, which is chock full of dangerous radiated rocks?) from Luthorcorp. Lionel really doesn't have it in him to be the monster Lex can be even if he does muxx things up. If he's worried about murder, Lex could always lock him in a cushy cell at Belle Reve and never think about him again.

But Lionel practically called Lex out at the end of Promise, so I think he's going down.

She's terrified of being a freak herself but it doesn't occur to her that Lex is living with that same fear...
It would really make sense for her to just go to Lex and ask him if they found anything dangerous in her. He'd probably lie, but freak to freak, they should have more interaction, and considering her position on meteor freaks, she might even sympathize with his actions once she knew his motivation. It would certainly introduce a complication into the foursome's sort of bland dynamics right now. (But then that would mean scenes that didn't have to do with Lana... I don't know if the show could handle the dip in ratings...)

I don't think Clark gets off because the Zoner wasn't human (and neither does Martian Manhunter. Bad, J'onn! Bad!). He still went in there to kill him and did it. I meant the Zoner, when I said killing the freaks. At least from Lex's perspective. Clark has been the vigilante for years, so I don't think it would be too much of a stretch for Lex to figure Clark is the one dropping beaten up freaks off at the police station and that he had something to do with the Fight Club. If he's killed one, he might have killed more that Lex doesn't know about or thought were accidental. It leaves him able to re-envision the way he's seen Clark over the years. *shrug* But absolutely, if Lex doesn't want to see Clark that way yet, he's definitely a hinderance, at the very least.

[sholio]

Still getting a kick out of reading your meta even though I haven't watched the show in ages...

*snorf* The question of why people aren't leaving Smallville in droves -- you get that problem on a lot of shows, really; Buffy comes to mind here, although they sort of half-assedly explained it in certain seasons by having the authorities be in on the Big Evil too, but what that didn't explain was why parents weren't pulling their kids out of Sunnydale High and moving to the East Coast by the hundreds.

I remember wondering in Season 1 how they were ever going to get from "nice but slightly ruthless" Lex to "evil" Lex, because he was just so damn likeable. Obviously the answer is, they haven't -- whether or not the writers actually *realize* that.

I've always had a problem with shows and movies that introduce some sort of massive threat and then make "bad guys" out of the people who have realistic plans for dealing with that threat. That was one of the things that made the 3rd Jurassic Park movie so awful, because everyone who wanted to do the sensible thing and kill the dinosaurs were framed as gun-nut hunters who had to be stopped at all costs, while the dinosaurs were the size of a house and effing killing people right and left -- I mean, hello? No-brainer here!

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

I thought when xparrot mentioned people leaving in droves from Smallville they were talking about the people actually living in Smallville on the show? Maybe not?

And you're right - they made Lex just too damn likable - I'm hoping that they did this for a reason so that makes the betrayal all the more ruthless....but it seems all I have is hope.....because I'm still waiting.......for that moment - when I jump and look at the screen and just cannot believe what happened and how evil Lex is/was. But I'm not seeing that happen any time soon. With the baby thing - I'm kinda borderline not feeling sorry at all for Lana - she made her bed and now she's sleeping in it.....mutant baby - probably.....Lex's kid....not 100%.....Lana going to end up on Springer or the like....most likely.

[sholio]

Springer! LOL! "Tonight on Springer ... 'I married a supervillain and bore his mutant child!'" With Clark waiting in the wings for the big "surprise guest and catfight" reveal ...

I thought when xparrot mentioned people leaving in droves from Smallville they were talking about the people actually living in Smallville on the show? Maybe not?

No, that's how I read it, and that's what I was trying to say, too. Maybe I was confusing in my post? I just meant that Smallville's not the only town where the population should be experiencing an exponential decline...

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

I get ya now. Clark would be waiting in the wings as the 'potential DNA doner of the child' lmao......they try to keep Clark backstage but he can hear what's going on and runs on stage - omg.....lol.....hhahahaha

It's kinda funny - more people moved to Smallville after the first shower hit - go figure. Guess they figured 'hey this town's been hit by meteor's it's got to be the safest place in the country now! so what if there are a few freaks....makes life interesting' =)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've never watched Buffy (that concern about preserving my soul and such) but I think I'd have the same problem with it, though at least it offers some kind of explanation from what I've heard. Most of the other 'hunting down bad secret things' shows I watch (like TXF or SPN) make sense because the bad things are spread across the whole nation and therefore it's not unreasonable that most people miss the connections. Or at least they're set in a big city like NYC where people are murdered anyway, people know it's dangerous to live in cities, so it's somewhat believable they'd stick it out through demonic attack...if it's a small town where supposedly everyone knows everyone, every single one of the deaths should have shaken the community, until it shook it apart...

The odd thing about SV is that I'm not exactly sure we're supposed to think Lex is the bad guy. Seriously, I think there's a contingent of writers deliberately making him the underground hero or anti-hero or something. So much happens on this show that I'm really not sure what we're supposed to think, the heroes are always doing things so gray that I don't know if we're really supposed to see as heroic...and they've been weirdly reluctant to have Lex make clear steps in the direction of evil. I don't know if it's because he's still one of the main chars, or their most popular char, or what, but...it's strange!

[sholio]

Most of the other 'hunting down bad secret things' shows I watch (like TXF or SPN) make sense because the bad things are spread across the whole nation and therefore it's not unreasonable that most people miss the connections.

In SPN in particular, there's *nowhere to go*. The whole world is apparently like that! I do wonder about the massive level of denial that the average American must be in not to notice this stuff going on around them, though. I mean, in a season and a half, what's the death toll from various monsters, ghosts and so forth? And it's weird, violent, messy deaths, too!

Though it's not just the horror/SF genre. As my husband has said, if a little old lady detective moves to your town, RUN!

I don't know if it's because he's still one of the main chars, or their most popular char, or what, but...it's strange!

Actually, that's ... surprisingly plausible, especially given the teen-soap-opera feeling that the show often seems to be going for. There's been a lot of discussion in SGA fandom about "main character syndrome", where the characters are periodically shown doing truly reprehensible things, though usually by accident (they have, among other things, wiped out half the population of a planet with a genetically engineered plague, blew up a solar system in the process of trying to create a superweapon, tortured prisoners including an American civilian, and unleashed an ancient evil on an entire galaxy through general stupidity) but the consequences are not really addressed, because they're the main characters and the action/SF genre is not really able to deal with shades of gray on that scale. In perfect realism they should all be dead or in jail for war crimes, but they have the hero "get out of consequences free" card. I wonder if the SV writers are having somewhat of the opposite problem -- they're afraid to make Lex truly villainous because they made the mistake of starting him out too "nice" and now he's got this gigantic fanbase that they don't want to alienate...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heee, great point about the little old lady detectives ^__^ (in a similar vein, according to the show Forever Knight, Toronto has a serial killer for every day of the year. I can't imagine why anyone still lives there!)

Lex has done rather less evil than the protagonists of quite a lot of other shows, really...(he didn't shoot his ex-wife Helen after she tried to kill him, while the boys of SPN had no trouble pulling the trigger on her :P) Though I'm not sure if it's a concern about alienating their fanbase or what...SV's TPTB are nonsensical. Sometimes I wonder if they secretly do have a master plan, and whether it has anything to do with driving us all mad...

[withafireinside.livejournal.com]

Most of the other 'hunting down bad secret things' shows I watch (like TXF or SPN) make sense because the bad things are spread across the whole nation and therefore it's not unreasonable that most people miss the connections. Or at least they're set in a big city like NYC where people are murdered anyway, people know it's dangerous to live in cities, so it's somewhat believable they'd stick it out through demonic attack...if it's a small town where supposedly everyone knows everyone, every single one of the deaths should have shaken the community, until it shook it apart...

Well, there are a lot of subtle psychological and mystical reasons why people in Sunnydale didn't leave. And there were demons and vampires all over the world, but they were concentrated in Sunnydale because of the Hellmouth. Also, a good many of the citizens were involved in magic or the supernatural in some way (witches, werewolves, demon groupies, etc). And the rest were just kinda willfully ignorant because they couldn't fathom the truth. But overall, what made it work was the fact that the show operated on a level of ironic meta-humor. The characters consistently pointed out the fact that their lives resembled a silly horror movie. Acknowledging the absurdity sometimes makes it easier to accept. That's one of the things I think is seriously lacking on SV. Occasionally, a character, usually Chloe, will make a comment on their wacky comic-book escapades, but it's rare. A little levity goes a long way in selling the drama, SV!

And the rabid Whedon fan will shut up now. *hides*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah - I've never seen Buffy (though I love Firefly so I can understand Whedon-worship ^^) but humor would go a long way for helping SV. I love the show best when it's making silly little cheesy Superman references and not taking itself totally seriously. Okay, it's an epic story that's been around for almost 70 years - but it's also a comic book! perspective, people!

[danceswithgary]

Once again, some terrific insights. I absolutely love reading these. :-D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm just happy people actually plow through these essays, given their ridiculous length! XD

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

It's easy to make quick time through the essay - you lay it out and the idea flows. LMAO - I sound like a teacher - sorry....trying to pay you a compliment that I found it an interesting read - as always. =)

[elandrialore.livejournal.com]

I fully support everything that you just said.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Lex needs to hire all of us as his minions. We believe in you, baby!

[withafireinside.livejournal.com]

I'm a total Lex Luthor apologist too, and I don't feel guilty about it. SV makes it almost impossible for me to even see where the supposed "good guys" are coming from when all they do is assume the worst about the bald kid and his motivations, while completely ignoring their own culpability in any wrong-doing. I couldn't enjoy "Justice" as much as everyone else seemed to because I was too busy being indignant on Lex's behalf. *lol* I'm pretty sure that's not at all what the writers intended. Although they do go out of their way to make Lex sympathetic on an emotional level, they seem to want to present his actions as reprehensible on a moral level, and to me... eh, not so much. It's rather annoying that Lex is considered a villain for locking up dangerous mutants, but it's a-okay for Clark to pummel them on a weekly basis.

Of course, the show will probably screw it all up in the finale by having Lex unveil his mutant army with plans for world domination, or some vague nonsense. They don't seem interested in making the storyline too complex by actually spelling out Lex's motivations. I think, at heart, SV is still kind of a kid's show and they want to keep things somewhat simple. Lex is eeeevil now, don't you hear the music?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The thing that gets me about SV is that half the time, I'm really not sure what side the show wants me to be on. I can't tell what the writers intend! They're writing Lex as so ambiguous - if they really wanted us to be hating him and rooting for Clark & his cabal, they could just tell us exactly what Lex is doing. Show him actually performing hideous and sadistic experiments. Instead they're weirdly shy about having him cross any real, visible lines...they didn't even have him kill the guy in "Promise," manslaughter in a psychotic episode is a way step down from Evil. Still making him sympathetic emotionally, even after 6 seasons...it's like they're playing a game of how evil they can make Lex appear without actually having him do anything. I'm not sure why. I'm really tempted to think that some of the writers like him rather better than Clark (comic book geeks who always thought Lex was the cool one and Superman was a tool?)

Hey, even if Lex says his mutant army is for world domination, I can still argue that he wants to dominate the world to make it safe from alien invasion. Actually I think he's well on that path already, it's an obvious conclusion, considering the kind of incompetency he deals with regularly...

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

I couldn't enjoy "Justice" as much as everyone else seemed to because I was too busy being indignant on Lex's behalf. *lol* I'm pretty sure that's not at all what the writers intended.

Exactly! The entire proto-Justice League are all conscienceless scumballs! Two of them (Cyborg and the Flash) are only alive thanks to Lex, yet neither bothers to feel any gratitude for that, or any guilt at stealing/destroying Lex's property. Aquaman is a damned ecoterrorist who had already destroyed millions of dollars of Lex's equipment before "Justice" ever aired, and the sadistic S.O.B. who calls himself the Green Arrow has spent nearly half his life tormenting Lex at every possible opportunity, not to mention having him kidnapped and tortured and nearly burned alive -- but somehow that's supposed to be okay, while Lex sampling and tagging potentially dangerous mutants apparently 'proves' he's evil! *snarls again at SV's Justice League and their hypocrisy* Personally, I'd love to see Lex kill every last one of them, and I'd consider him absolutely justified in his actions. *deep breath* I'm a bit protective of MR's Lex; can you tell? ;)

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

WOW ^^ LOL....deep breath!

It's always a treat to read different sides of the same story. Reading these posts - hell yeah, JL might not be the heroes that we all think but then again - maybe it's easier for us to understand the motives of Lex as opposed to the motives of the 'heroes' because they seem more logical? Or at least they seem more logical the way the writers are portraying Lex?

Guess we're gonna need to start wearing 'Lex Minion' badges or learn a new secret handshake lol.......

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

Guess we're gonna need to start wearing 'Lex Minion' badges or learn a new secret handshake lol.......

Ooooh -- minion badges! *stands in line to get one*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I totally want a minion badge! Someone should make these ^_^

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

LOL - Better make 'em quick. According to a lot of websites - Season 7 is Michael's (Lex) last season. =(

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/smallville/michael-rosenbaum-is-soon-leav-4603.aspx

I've already got a shirt I made that just says Evil Minion - guess it could be applied here....lol...

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

*Snicker* I just couldn't resist making the icon/avi...lol

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, awesome! (we should start a club or something, Lex Luthor's Loyal Lackeys! ^_^)

[ginxy.livejournal.com]

LOL - The Quad-L Club. I like it =) Lex Luthor's Loyal Lackey's - rolls off the tongue nicely....lol

However....with the amount of work you put into analyzing I'd hardly call you a lackey....lol....

[nerowill.livejournal.com]

*nods thoughtfully* It's interesting how much of Lex being evol hinges on the audience being on Clark's side so to speak. I agree that if I lived in that town, I'd want someone to clean it up, even if it was Lex Luthor!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, from the beginning SV seems to have relied on the audience going, "Well, he's Lex Luthor! Of course he's evil!" Why they cast someone as sympathic as MR in the role, and then proceeded to write him as the ultimate woobie (honestly, I don't know of another char who so inspires the desire to pick him up and cuddle him and make it better; he's treated so horribly by everyone throughout the show, how can one help but feel sorry for him...) I don't know what SV's writers are thinking sometimes!

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

*applauds* I agree with your analysis completely and absolutely. (But, then, I am a Lex apologist myself. *eg*)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

You are?? Really? I hadn't noticed! XDDD

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

*snickers*

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I have not watched Smallville, so I cannot comment on that, but - if you're a big villain fan, have you read The Etched City (http://www.amazon.com/Etched-City-K-J-Bishop/dp/0553382918/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-0380857-8984631?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175585229&sr=8-2), by KJ Bishop? Its protagonist is a villain. A really hot villain, to boot. *points at icon* :D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, no, never heard of it! Sounds intriguing... (once upon a time I started a fantasy novel that was being narrated by the archvillain after his defeat...) I'll have to check this out. (and hot never hurts one bit ^_^)

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

TEC is my favorite book.

Magical 69 scenes with morphing hieroglyph-decorated vagina-tunnels are awesome. And so are jarred two-headed fetuses. That's all I have to say on the subject. ♥

[ljs-lj.livejournal.com]

Wow, yet more marvelous meta from you! You're making me all thinky; your previous Lex meta essay really influenced my thoughts as I outlined one of my fics recently, and now I'll have to think long and hard about what you've said here about Lex's motivations with 33.1 to see how that might affect the fic outline as it stands now!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, I hope I'm not screwing up your fic too much! ^^; I had a few ideas that I had to tweak when we started coming up with the main theory, because all the standard ways of explaining Lex's descent had to be scrapped...I'm working on a story now that deals with all of our ideas, need to finish it before the new episodes start and possibly throw a monkey wrench into all our crazy insights. Good luck with your fic! ^_^

[ljs-lj.livejournal.com]

So far, it's definitely *not* screwing up the fic - in fact, I think it's probably making the fic *better* because I'm working harder to really pinpoint Lex's motivations and how everything came to pass in the first place - the fic is a long ways from being done (it's part three of a trilogy, and I'm currently posting the first of the three stories), so I'm mostly still in the preparation and outlining stage anyway. The more reasoning behind Lex's behavior, the stronger and more real the fic, so I say, meta it to death!

[earthseed.livejournal.com]

So, I was reading your last fic (about the billionaires) and looking around on your LJ and got to these--and ohmigod I think I might love you. Of course lex is the only sane man in Smallville. Why every one isn't applauding his efforts to control the meteor mutants is beyond me. And if only TPTB would commit to Lex using Lana as part of the 33.1 project instead of having him be all pathetic and in love with her, SV might actual get back to being a fun show instead the pale imitation of itself it is lately.

Long live Lex!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee! Much as I enjoy arguing that Lex is the unacknowledged hero of Smallville (both the town and the show!) I am still hoping that Lana is all for 33.1. They still could retcon it like that, it's not too late! (this message brought to you by the Let Lex Luthor Be Evil For Once Foundation)