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xparrotThe non-spoilerery reaction to SPN "All Hell Breaks Loose Pt.1":
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*cough*
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
(--and it doesn't count! not if he's--because--argh! AHHHH!!)
And now a few comments on Smallville 6x21 "Prototype" from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gnine and myself:
1. Lex is hot.
2. Lex is evil.
3. Lois is still in my good books, and has a genuine reason to be mad as hell and out to take Lex down. As opposed to Chloe, who blames Lex for, um, bringing her mother out of her coma. Still confused on that one.
4. Lex is hot.
5. Our Heroes are Dumb. And I want to smack them around. 'Oh, yeah, Lex used to be a bit shady but now he's gone black as the inside of a ninja's navel at midnight. Why? Oh, we have no idea. You know, he just is. The script says so. Why ask why?'
6. Clark is awful pretty. Dumb, but awful pretty.
7. Lex is trying to save the world. Yes, in a wrong and evil way. Still. Saving the world.
8. Lex is on the fast track to supervillain-hood for reasons I don't buy. If he's so convinced of the reality of the metahuman threat, why does he have to mind control soldiers to do his bidding? Couldn't he talk them into it? Especially when the guy had signed on willingly? Also, what about the aliens he knows are out there? Why doesn't he care? I'm totally fanwanking from this point on that Lex's number one priority is still alien invasion, he just doesn't have evidence enough to get people to believe him. Except that the doc at least knows aliens are real...
9. At least they're setting up the appropriate anti-Superman tension, with his whole metahumans = THREAT TO HUMANITY (totally justified) paranoia.
10. And Lex knew Lana was listening! And totally knew he wasn't the man she loved, either. Why he's still trying to win her affections, I have no idea. Just kill her, Lex. Please.
11. He needs to be better with his help, however. Threatening them is all very well, but no need to lose your cool. Though he is quite young, not as imposing as a fully mature supervillain, still feeling the chill of Daddy's shadow. And that momentary flash of guilt (?) when facing his successful test subject in the teaser...shows of temper to hide his own uncertainties, perhaps.
12. None of this changes the fact that Lex is hot.
13. Seriously. Hot. The no-tie and top-button-undone and black slacks and jacket and yow.
14. And he has good taste in brainwashed soldiers. Mmm, Tahmoh Penikett. One wonders what else those implants did.
15. And Lex has a minion, too! That dark-haired guy following him around is so going to die. Or betray him. Please, if you must go, do so saving your boss, Unnamed Minion! You know how much fanatic minion loyalty turns me on.
16. Um. So Clark totally just killed a guy. Even if he sort of wanted to die. Clark killed a victim of Lex's. I was expecting Lex to mention a preprogrammed self-destruct function, but no. Clark killed a guy.
17. I realize that I no longer care about anyone in this show except for Lex. And Clark, but only because Lex cares. This is not the best mindset to enjoy the show. Sigh. I might give it up over the summer. We'll see.
18. Did I mention that Lex is hot?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*cough*
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
(--and it doesn't count! not if he's--because--argh! AHHHH!!)
And now a few comments on Smallville 6x21 "Prototype" from
gnine and myself:1. Lex is hot.
2. Lex is evil.
3. Lois is still in my good books, and has a genuine reason to be mad as hell and out to take Lex down. As opposed to Chloe, who blames Lex for, um, bringing her mother out of her coma. Still confused on that one.
4. Lex is hot.
5. Our Heroes are Dumb. And I want to smack them around. 'Oh, yeah, Lex used to be a bit shady but now he's gone black as the inside of a ninja's navel at midnight. Why? Oh, we have no idea. You know, he just is. The script says so. Why ask why?'
6. Clark is awful pretty. Dumb, but awful pretty.
7. Lex is trying to save the world. Yes, in a wrong and evil way. Still. Saving the world.
8. Lex is on the fast track to supervillain-hood for reasons I don't buy. If he's so convinced of the reality of the metahuman threat, why does he have to mind control soldiers to do his bidding? Couldn't he talk them into it? Especially when the guy had signed on willingly? Also, what about the aliens he knows are out there? Why doesn't he care? I'm totally fanwanking from this point on that Lex's number one priority is still alien invasion, he just doesn't have evidence enough to get people to believe him. Except that the doc at least knows aliens are real...
9. At least they're setting up the appropriate anti-Superman tension, with his whole metahumans = THREAT TO HUMANITY (totally justified) paranoia.
10. And Lex knew Lana was listening! And totally knew he wasn't the man she loved, either. Why he's still trying to win her affections, I have no idea. Just kill her, Lex. Please.
11. He needs to be better with his help, however. Threatening them is all very well, but no need to lose your cool. Though he is quite young, not as imposing as a fully mature supervillain, still feeling the chill of Daddy's shadow. And that momentary flash of guilt (?) when facing his successful test subject in the teaser...shows of temper to hide his own uncertainties, perhaps.
12. None of this changes the fact that Lex is hot.
13. Seriously. Hot. The no-tie and top-button-undone and black slacks and jacket and yow.
14. And he has good taste in brainwashed soldiers. Mmm, Tahmoh Penikett. One wonders what else those implants did.
15. And Lex has a minion, too! That dark-haired guy following him around is so going to die. Or betray him. Please, if you must go, do so saving your boss, Unnamed Minion! You know how much fanatic minion loyalty turns me on.
16. Um. So Clark totally just killed a guy. Even if he sort of wanted to die. Clark killed a victim of Lex's. I was expecting Lex to mention a preprogrammed self-destruct function, but no. Clark killed a guy.
17. I realize that I no longer care about anyone in this show except for Lex. And Clark, but only because Lex cares. This is not the best mindset to enjoy the show. Sigh. I might give it up over the summer. We'll see.
18. Did I mention that Lex is hot?
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Motivations for Mind-Controlling Lex and Doofus Clark
Date: 2007-05-12 01:00 am (UTC)The theory that gK is a Monkey's Paw - that it grants wishes in the worst possible way - is long established in fanon, and maybe canon. And Smallville is so soaked in the stuff, I posit Clark has been affected in the way his mind works, even when the gK isn't making him physically ill.
Lex's touchstone - over and above even Saving The World From The Alien Menace - is knowledge. Knowledge for its own sake, knowledge for strategy's sake, knowledge as a means of keeping himself safe. Adding the Monkey's Paw factor, that means his quest for knowledge is carried out, and fulfilled, in ways he didn't intend or want, originally.
Mind-control thus becomes part obsession with knowledge, and part Monkey's Paw wish fulfillment. It would keep people loyal, or at least keep them from betraying him without his knowing about it ahead of time. Also, the more he knows about mind control, the more he knows how to prevent it being done to himself.
Clark's a little trickier, but here's my theory: Clark's overriding desire is to be accepted for himself. Thanks to the gK's Monkey Paw factor, he's put up with almost anything for that.
He put up with Pete's various betrayals, he accepted Alicia's manipulations of other people (turning against her only when she manipulated him), and now he accepts the brutish tactics of Ollie and Co. without the anger and self-righteousness he shows Lex. A case could be made that he only turned against Lex once and for all when it became clear that Lex would not "accept him for himself," but would keep questioning and investigating him. In the future, Clark will put up with becoming Superman - sentencing himself to a kind of multiple-personality disorder, and the double life that goes with it, not to mention being humankind's Mr. Fix-It, in order to find the acceptance he craves.
gK took their natural longings and turned those longings into a trap that neither will escape from.
Re: Motivations for Mind-Controlling Lex and Doofus Clark
Date: 2007-05-12 03:43 am (UTC)Re: Motivations for Mind-Controlling Lex and Doofus Clark
Date: 2007-05-12 05:35 am (UTC)I've been working on my own tiny contribution to this theory, which doesn't negate yours.
When Lex was hit by the meteor dust, he was feeling small and inferior, and wanted to be big and frightening, in the mostly innocent way that small children who are constantly pushed around do. That's why almost everyone has a negative reaction to him, even before he does anything to earn that reaction. It's why Clark was immune to the effects, until other people started telling him that Lex was bad news.
Aaargh!
Date: 2007-05-12 05:37 am (UTC)Re: Aaargh!
Date: 2007-05-13 05:08 am (UTC)Re: Motivations for Mind-Controlling Lex and Doofus Clark
Date: 2007-05-12 06:23 am (UTC)Re: Motivations for Mind-Controlling Lex and Doofus Clark
Date: 2007-05-12 08:30 pm (UTC)Re: Motivations for Mind-Controlling Lex and Doofus Clark
Date: 2007-05-12 10:51 am (UTC)Clark's desire to be accepted...that does make sense. (The tragedy is of course that Lex would accept him, in fact wanted to accept him for himself; Clark isn't himself when he's lying...)
Even more than wish fulfillment, this sounds like gK enhances obsession...or else grants wishes by making the wish one's overriding impulse, beyond all sense or reason. Hmm...that actually makes sense. An impulse, driving desire that goes beyond the limits of one's body, or physics...that's pretty much mutant powers in a nutshell.