S marks the spot
Apr. 29th, 2007 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotSPN 2x19 was terrific fun as always. We caught John Shiban's writing credit at the beginning so didn't bother watching for plotholes, just enjoyed the ep. Loved Dean especially, fitting into the prison environment so uncomfortably easily, so determined to do the job. Sam questions the merit of helping convicted criminals at such risk to themselves, but Dean is blind to human evil, except when it's directly targeting his family. As far as he's concerned, it's Us vs Them, and while he's relentless and ruthless in his pursuit of Them, when it comes to Us he is solidarity all the way. If Agent Hendricks was in danger from a ghost, Dean might bitch about it, but he'd save him in an instant without hesitation. The only exception are people who are deliberately using ghosts/spells/etc.; they're siding with Them. (And folks who go after Sam, naturally!) Everyone else in the human race is part of Dean's extended family, and gets the protection that implies.
Of course the other reason the plotholes didn't bother me is because after a steady diet of Smallville, I'm becoming inured against the common garden variety of logical inconsistency. SV doesn't so much have 'plot holes' as it has 'a few tightrope strands of plot suspended swaying over the void'. Which doesn't mean that "Nemesis" wasn't awesome.
Not that I liked it unreservedly. In contradiction to most of the rest of the fandom, I still cannot stand Lana. I can't enjoy the badass villainess-in-training when I know she's going to flipflop back to helpless victim in a week or two anyway. And while I think she's justifiably outraged, what Lex did to her was totally, undeniably beyond the pale (even if she should have seen it coming) - it gets to me how much she revels in playing the Luthor game. She doesn't hesitate to sink to their level. Even if she's bad at it. Hello, opening the briefcase in Lex's office? Which she knows is wired with cameras?
She better be found out. It doesn't sit well with me that a hick farmgirl can run rings around Lex flippin' Luthor, who has been trained in this kind of psychological warfare and manipulation from birth. Unless you want to argue that Lana has natural talent for corruption, while Lex has been wrestling against his dark side all his life...(I gotta admit, it would be fun if Lana stayed married to Lex and they contentedly passed time manipulating and backstabbing one another. All the more entertaining if Lana did it supposedly to protect Clark, only to make herself such that Clark is forced to go against her...that would be kind of awesome. And I just made myself almost enjoy thinking about Lana, I'm going to be quietly sick now.)
Oh well.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gnine and I are still trying to figure out why Lex wanted to marry her at all. One would think he would be less than eager himself to be trapped in a loveless marriage, after what happened after his last two weddings. The whole faux-fetus plot is entirely nonsensical to us.
But who cares about Lana! We have Clex! And it was marvelous fun. After racing to finish "Contingencies" it was great to see that I didn't have to; pretty much everything that happened in the fic is totally supported in the episode, up to and including Chloe wanting to see Lex dead and Clark not being able to, for heroic reasons or something else. Loved Clark & Lex talking, loved that Lex came back for him (and at substantial risk to his own life; he could have just run off, with the clock ticking - for all the times Clark has saved Lex, how many times has he actually put himself in danger to do so?gnine pointed out that if Clark hadn't bothered to come save Lex, Lex would probably have gotten out safely anyway; Clark doesn't do a heck of a lot...)
Loved the Martha-Clark conversation. (even if I did shriek at "Maybe this is the one time Lex was actually telling the truth", because yeah, I know, hyperbole, and Lex is being an ass now, but what about, oh, most of 3rd season when Clark blamed everything from global warming to the Spanish Inquisition on Lex and it was never Lex's fault?) Loved that Clark actually is wondering if part of who Lex is is because of him. The answer,MacLeod Clark, is YES. OH YES. Not that I blame Clark for what Lex has become. While Clark made some major mistakes with Lex, he's not accountable for Lex's choices. And he shouldn't guilt over lost chances; all the what-ifs don't mean anything. Maybe if Clark had told Lex the truth from the start it would have gone beautifully; maybe it would have gone horribly wrong (I wish the show had just once given us some evidence for the latter, but...) There's no way to know.
But the truth is that every person is a product of their environment, a result of the influences around them; and Clark was an incredibly strong influence on Lex's life, and knew it. So yes, whatever Lex is, Clark played a role. And it's great to see Clark realizing this, to see him wondering if maybe there were things he could have done differently. Not just for the Clex; it's good for Clark, a necessary part of growing up and coming into his own as a hero, to realize how significant he really is in people's lives, to make an effort to do right by them.
And loved that Clark said, "I saw a glimpse of something I hadn't seen in years - my friend." Not that he saw good in Lex, not that he saw a chance for redemption; just that incredibly personal epiphany. That whatever else Lex was, or might be now, Lex was Clark's best friend, and he can't forget that. It ultimately doesn't matter if Clark had anything to do with Lex's fall; even if he's not responsible at all, he's still losing something in losing Lex, something worth fighting for.
--So don't listen to your mother, Clark. You're going to be freakin' Superman; you don't ever have to let go if you don't want to. And you sure as hell did give up on Lex - deserved or not - and you shouldn't, not if you're going to be worthy of the incredibly heavy mantle of the hero. By the way, hope isn't your greatest weakness. Kryptonite is. Just want to clarify that.
Also, regarding Lionel, I will never believe he's "made an effort"; I will never believe he's gone good. Sorry, drugging your son to drive him to a schizophrenic break, so you can commit him and submit him to illegal electroshock therapy, so he can't testify that you murdered your own parents? Yeah, that trumps faking a pregnancy, hands down. If Lionel is redeemable after that, then Lex is totally, utterly forgivable - but Lionel isn't trying to save Lex. (Unlike in 4th season, in which I honestly believe Lionel might have reformed, and in part because he was so eager to reform Lex as well. The genuinely saved tend to want to save others.) Instead Lionel's damning his own son to get an in with the good guys. It's manipulative as ever, and I love the Magnificent Bastard for it, but man, Martha is blind sometimes.
Finally, the very end was the awesome, and not just because when I first saw the director's cut last week, I predicted exactly what happened, that we were going to go to credits with Lex standing over the not-dead husband. (Also not just because, hey, Helo! Great to see you! Even if you were cheating with a blond chick. Poor choice, that. Sharon's so much hotter.) But because Lex finally confirms that whatever 33.1 and Project Ares are, he puts them above his own life. I don't know what Lex thinks he's doing, fighting against mutants, fighting against alien invaders (he did have the Zoner attack video on the Ares disk), whatever. But he's not in it for profit or power; he's got a cause bigger than himself. He's found his Great Things and they're consuming him, he's letting them consume him for the greater good, and I can't help but find a tragic nobility in that.
Of course the other reason the plotholes didn't bother me is because after a steady diet of Smallville, I'm becoming inured against the common garden variety of logical inconsistency. SV doesn't so much have 'plot holes' as it has 'a few tightrope strands of plot suspended swaying over the void'. Which doesn't mean that "Nemesis" wasn't awesome.
Not that I liked it unreservedly. In contradiction to most of the rest of the fandom, I still cannot stand Lana. I can't enjoy the badass villainess-in-training when I know she's going to flipflop back to helpless victim in a week or two anyway. And while I think she's justifiably outraged, what Lex did to her was totally, undeniably beyond the pale (even if she should have seen it coming) - it gets to me how much she revels in playing the Luthor game. She doesn't hesitate to sink to their level. Even if she's bad at it. Hello, opening the briefcase in Lex's office? Which she knows is wired with cameras?
She better be found out. It doesn't sit well with me that a hick farmgirl can run rings around Lex flippin' Luthor, who has been trained in this kind of psychological warfare and manipulation from birth. Unless you want to argue that Lana has natural talent for corruption, while Lex has been wrestling against his dark side all his life...(I gotta admit, it would be fun if Lana stayed married to Lex and they contentedly passed time manipulating and backstabbing one another. All the more entertaining if Lana did it supposedly to protect Clark, only to make herself such that Clark is forced to go against her...that would be kind of awesome. And I just made myself almost enjoy thinking about Lana, I'm going to be quietly sick now.)
Oh well.
gnine and I are still trying to figure out why Lex wanted to marry her at all. One would think he would be less than eager himself to be trapped in a loveless marriage, after what happened after his last two weddings. The whole faux-fetus plot is entirely nonsensical to us.But who cares about Lana! We have Clex! And it was marvelous fun. After racing to finish "Contingencies" it was great to see that I didn't have to; pretty much everything that happened in the fic is totally supported in the episode, up to and including Chloe wanting to see Lex dead and Clark not being able to, for heroic reasons or something else. Loved Clark & Lex talking, loved that Lex came back for him (and at substantial risk to his own life; he could have just run off, with the clock ticking - for all the times Clark has saved Lex, how many times has he actually put himself in danger to do so?
gnine pointed out that if Clark hadn't bothered to come save Lex, Lex would probably have gotten out safely anyway; Clark doesn't do a heck of a lot...) Loved the Martha-Clark conversation. (even if I did shriek at "Maybe this is the one time Lex was actually telling the truth", because yeah, I know, hyperbole, and Lex is being an ass now, but what about, oh, most of 3rd season when Clark blamed everything from global warming to the Spanish Inquisition on Lex and it was never Lex's fault?) Loved that Clark actually is wondering if part of who Lex is is because of him. The answer,
But the truth is that every person is a product of their environment, a result of the influences around them; and Clark was an incredibly strong influence on Lex's life, and knew it. So yes, whatever Lex is, Clark played a role. And it's great to see Clark realizing this, to see him wondering if maybe there were things he could have done differently. Not just for the Clex; it's good for Clark, a necessary part of growing up and coming into his own as a hero, to realize how significant he really is in people's lives, to make an effort to do right by them.
And loved that Clark said, "I saw a glimpse of something I hadn't seen in years - my friend." Not that he saw good in Lex, not that he saw a chance for redemption; just that incredibly personal epiphany. That whatever else Lex was, or might be now, Lex was Clark's best friend, and he can't forget that. It ultimately doesn't matter if Clark had anything to do with Lex's fall; even if he's not responsible at all, he's still losing something in losing Lex, something worth fighting for.
--So don't listen to your mother, Clark. You're going to be freakin' Superman; you don't ever have to let go if you don't want to. And you sure as hell did give up on Lex - deserved or not - and you shouldn't, not if you're going to be worthy of the incredibly heavy mantle of the hero. By the way, hope isn't your greatest weakness. Kryptonite is. Just want to clarify that.
Also, regarding Lionel, I will never believe he's "made an effort"; I will never believe he's gone good. Sorry, drugging your son to drive him to a schizophrenic break, so you can commit him and submit him to illegal electroshock therapy, so he can't testify that you murdered your own parents? Yeah, that trumps faking a pregnancy, hands down. If Lionel is redeemable after that, then Lex is totally, utterly forgivable - but Lionel isn't trying to save Lex. (Unlike in 4th season, in which I honestly believe Lionel might have reformed, and in part because he was so eager to reform Lex as well. The genuinely saved tend to want to save others.) Instead Lionel's damning his own son to get an in with the good guys. It's manipulative as ever, and I love the Magnificent Bastard for it, but man, Martha is blind sometimes.
Finally, the very end was the awesome, and not just because when I first saw the director's cut last week, I predicted exactly what happened, that we were going to go to credits with Lex standing over the not-dead husband. (Also not just because, hey, Helo! Great to see you! Even if you were cheating with a blond chick. Poor choice, that. Sharon's so much hotter.) But because Lex finally confirms that whatever 33.1 and Project Ares are, he puts them above his own life. I don't know what Lex thinks he's doing, fighting against mutants, fighting against alien invaders (he did have the Zoner attack video on the Ares disk), whatever. But he's not in it for profit or power; he's got a cause bigger than himself. He's found his Great Things and they're consuming him, he's letting them consume him for the greater good, and I can't help but find a tragic nobility in that.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 05:15 am (UTC)pretty much everything that happened in the fic is totally supported in the episode, up to and including Chloe wanting to see Lex dead and Clark not being able to, for heroic reasons or something else.
I was swearing at that when I watched, but I think this is an important reversal, since Clark pretty much copped out on being a hero in "Static" (despite Chloe arguing with him to save Lex) and been all I Wanna Kill Lex! for half the season. This step puts Chloe back in her place as Human, while Clark is Super.
Lionel is an asshole. Making an effort, in this case, means that ever since he came out of whatever Clarkthrall he was in since Clark was in his body, he has consistantly tried to cut Lex down in busness, in relationships, and emotionally. He has tried to control him on every level and then moves in on the family Lex was trying to get acceptance from. He's not really even magnificent anymore, manipulative, yes, but he's sucking Superman's ass so he can be on the side with the most power. Why the "good guys" listen to Milton Fine and Lionel Luthor about Lex is beyond me.
But he's not in it for profit or power; he's got a cause bigger than himself. He's found his Great Things and they're consuming him, he's letting them consume him for the greater good, and I can't help but find a tragic nobility in that.
How flippin cool is that? I'm so proud of Lex for doing that much. I'd be prouder if he had more of a moral compass, but he IS trying so hard to fight when everyone else is running around like a bunch of idiots consumed with their own little lives.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 05:31 am (UTC)I was swearing at that when I watched, but I think this is an important reversal,
Aww, yeah, I was watching Chloe thinking you were gonna be upset! But I do appreciate the reversal for the reasons you name, because it gives Clark the chance to be the better person - the Best, as Superman should be.
Heh, Lionel sucking ass to be on the winning side is so absolutely Lionel - the only problem I have with it is how he's got all the good guys snowed. Makes them look dumb. Actually I wouldn't even mind this except that it makes Lex look bad, that Lionel can convince them but Lex fails so utterly. Not right that after 6 seasons, Lex Luthor is still getting trumped by big daddy!
I'd be prouder if he had more of a moral compass, but he IS trying so hard to fight when everyone else is running around like a bunch of idiots consumed with their own little lives.
Yes!! I'm working on a longer post about this, but really more and more what it's coming down to to me is that while I don't agree with a lot of what Lex is doing, I'm ending up on his side because at least he is doing something. The "heroes" are so ineffectual and self-absorbed and petty that it's really hard to side with them, these days...while Lex is looking beyond his own pain and damnation for the world's sake.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 06:34 am (UTC)LOL. So true. At least she's NICE to him now that she hates him.
I was watching Chloe thinking you were gonna be upset!
Awww... people think about me :D I take comfort in the fact that in both your show and the story, Chloe figured out that death was not the answer (in like two seconds in the show), whereas Lana sat on her ass and was going to let Lex die. Then didn't apologize or care when Chloe brought it up. Whee!
I'm really sorry that I brought up the ass-sucking metaphor, because Clionel is really creepy. I have to say, the good guys have their moments, but they are pretty dumb. I guess it might be because Chloe's just a sophomore and the rest of them are college dropouts as far as I can tell. They aren't getting that Get Your Ass In Gear experience that comes with having teachers who don't love you. I think Lex failed because he insisted on being genuine most of the time. Lionel is nothing but twists and manipulations, even if he does want Martha. If Lex had pulled out some of the trauma earlier he could have manipulated the Kents a lot better.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 12:34 pm (UTC)Hee, this is a great point!
If Lex had pulled out some of the trauma earlier he could have manipulated the Kents a lot better.
Yeah, that's the thing about Lex, he's getting terribly bad examples. He's tried being honest in relationships and invariably gets screwed over for it (telling Clark the truth over and over and over and never getting it returned). While his father is a lying bastard and gets by much better. You can't blame Lex for eventually giving up and deciding he can either be honest or be loved, not both...