xparrot: Chopper reading (lex purple)
[personal profile] xparrot
Because we watched the SV premiere. Several days ago. Yeah, it took us a while to process. Time to fan the flames of indignation, etc.

Okay, so it was better than most of last season. Unfortunately that's not saying much. If you liked the ep, don't read this. Unless you want to point & laugh at the crazy fangirls, of course! In that case, go right ahead.

We liked some bits. (The Clexy ones, specifically. And Bizarro, who was hot and shirtless. Mmm. Was that really Tom Welling's voice, or was it electronically manipulated in some way? Good show, TW.)

Most of the other bits? Not so much.

Biggest sticking point for me: Lex Luthor doesn't want revenge.

Let me repeat for posterity's sake. Lex Luthor doesn't want revenge. For his "beloved" wife who was, apparently, brutally murdered - and he doesn't care who did it. Yes, I know, saved by an angel (exhibiting powers he's observed in known aliens for several years now, but he doesn't make this logical leap - oxygen deprivation, bad writing, or a bone thrown to all of us who have believed that he saw Clark as an angel from the first moment he opened his eyes on the riverbank?), seeing world in whole new light, etc. But to not care?

The only way I can make sense of this is that Lex actually knows what Lana did, and turning himself in is in fact restitution for what he did to her before, i.e. the fake pregnancy. He's not confessing this to spare her reputation and give Lana her freedom. Or something.

(There's also the Lex-nalysis spin, that Lex is talking the fall to be punished for 33.1 et al, that after his Supergirl salvation he no longer can live with what he's done, but cannot confess those crimes because he still believes they're necessary for the sake of the planet.)

(The third thought is that he's got some mastermind plan in motion, in which his imprisonment is a key factor, perhaps to provide an alibi when the major shit goes down--oops, sorry. I was channeling JLU!Lex for a second there.)

Speaking of jail-time: Smallville Police: most incompetent ever, or just Kryptonian-blinded? So they arrest Lex Luthor on the extremely circumstantial evidence of a single recording of a private conversation in which he was arguing with his wife and strong words were spoken (although he never threatened her life outright.) It'd be hard to argue a car bomb is a crime of passion, so how exactly are the prosecutors planning on spinning this? Lex Luthor, billionaire, decides he wants the nice public murder of his wife on his record?

Meanwhile, it never occurs to the cops to talk to the infamous jealous ex-boyfriend who not only was in the papers as the third point of their love triangle, but several months before abducted the murder victim. In front of oodles of witnesses.

Presumably Lana set up Lex in some other way (assuming she's how the police get hold of that office recording) - made sure to call a couple dynamite companies from his office? Planted Vehicular Explosions for Dummies in his briefcase? - but to explain this I would have to think about how Lana smoothly and competently arranged all of this, pulling the wool over two pairs of Luthor eyes, and then I would start frothing at the mouth. I'm going to just assume that Lionel switched sides for the billionth time and helped her out, because otherwise, the frothing.

...Lex's office. That reminds me. How the hell did Lois get in there? I know Lex's security sucks, but seriously, people. Is the Luthor mansion on permanent open house? Is Lex so strapped for cash that he sells tickets?

And about Lois. Or about Clark. [livejournal.com profile] gnine will be going off about this in her own post, but it bears mention - Clark lets Lois wander off to confront Lex about what happened to Chloe, even though his later conversation with Chloe herself makes it clear that Clark had a good guess what really happened, that it was Chloe's mutant genes kicking in. Therefore, letting Lois go to Lex was nothing short of criminally stupid. Not only is Lex dangerous, as Clark says - but if Lois marches in and starts demanding to know how her cousin got brought back to life...that's pretty much telling Lex exactly what Chloe's mutant power is. Which really, really wouldn't be a good idea. He'd have her trussed up and in a cell in 33.1 in five seconds flat. That power is just the finishing touch his supersoldiers need.

Clark Is Dumb, part 2 - Lana "dies" and he has the amazing revelation that humans are fragile. What about when his dad died? I felt for Jonathan there. Sorry, man, you're nothing compared to the all-consuming love-power of Lana Lang.

I also feel sorry for Chloe. She's crying her eyes out for Lana, who faked her own death to get back at Lex. Meanwhile when Chloe's death got faked to save her from Lionel, Lana was living it up in Paris and dating Dean Winchester.

Martian Manhunter talking about the Bizarro, how he was rejected all his life and that's why he's the way he is...shout-out to Lex apologists? I thought it pretty obviously could be referring to Lex as easily as to the Bizarro. Interesting that it seemed perhaps to inspire some sympathy in Clark...I'd hope that this is a sign for things to come, but I know better than to hope. Smallville has beaten that out of me!

And last thought - what happened to the little kid (boy? girl? I couldn't tell) Lois was running around with in the collapsed tunnels? He/she is presumably the experiment number whatever Lex was so concerned about, but where are they now? Not that I actually care about anything that happens in the show these days, but...I don't want to go back and check, did it say if the kid was taken to the hospital, or did they run away, or what?

Oh, Smallville. Why can't I quit you?

Date: 2007-09-30 08:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladydreamer.livejournal.com
The Lex-nalysis is the only thing that helps me make sense of Lex doing that. I buy it because MR is just that good, and I don't want Lex to be weak or stupid. The lack of wanting revenge is the only part I can't explain, and what I'm thinking is, he's too overwhelmed with grief (not just for Lana, for his drowned supersoldiers, his dad, Clark, his grand plans and all the effort and the piece of his soul he put into it, only to fail again and be wipe down to nothingness) and guilt to have room for the anger he's going to feel later. He SHOULD want to find Lana's real killer, if he hasn't figured it out.

Someone needs to write us Clex in prison, where the police arrest Clark later. I mean, it's only fair.

And as I have said elsewhere, there need to be double jeopardy kill Lana fics. Moral? Maybe not. Legal? Hell yeah :D

She's crying her eyes out for Lana, who faked her own death to get back at Lex. Meanwhile when Chloe's death got faked to save her from Lionel, Lana was living it up in Paris and dating Dean Winchester.
Lana is fucking unbelievable. She's the worst friend ever. I want to know why Chloe would ever want to be around her, if she weren't emitting her wonky love-me powers. Lana's not supportive, she doesn't care what's going on in Chloe's life, and she only talks about herself and asks for favors! Go away needy bitch!

Martian Manhunter talking about the Bizarro, how he was rejected all his life and that's why he's the way he is...shout-out to Lex apologists? I thought it pretty obviously could be referring to Lex as easily as to the Bizarro.
I literally commented on this in IM when I was watching. AND I want Bizex loving. They both WANT love... god, it's such a testiment to HOW MUCH Lex loves Clark (at this point, I ask why) that he wouldn't at least try to convince Bizzy to ignore Clark and start his own life. I mean, what's Clark gonna do if Biz takes a name and starts to assimilate? Whine? He can't attack him if he's not threatening anyone.

Date: 2007-10-01 04:26 am (UTC)
ext_3572: (lex - screw the rules)
From: [identity profile] xparrot.livejournal.com
It's a testament to SV's...badness that Lex's lack of vengeful feelings hardly occurred to me while watching the ep; it wasn't 'til afterwards that I went, waaaaait a minute. So in this 'verse, Superman is the vengeance-driven one, and Lex Luthor just wants true love. Riiiiight. I think I want to slap Clark for the "Love is hard and hate is clean" line. Clark's the one who can't let go of hate, who takes out his anger on meteor freaks and whatnot (with the watch-stealers after Jonathan died, after the wedding), who can't love enough to be happy with his beloved's happiness but needs to possess her, cannot bear her being with anyone else even though he can't make her happy.

...Okay, calm, calm, breeeeathing...this show's still got it! Nothing can get me on a fan-tear faster than SV...

Chloe is in love with Lana. That's the only way I can make sense of her; as best friends, they're nonsensical, but Chloe helplessly in love - to the point that she does put Lana's happiness first, far above her own - at least works psychologically. I just choose to believe it's Lana's love-powers that inspire this overwhelming emotion.

I thought it pretty obviously could be referring to Lex as easily as to the Bizarro.
I literally commented on this in IM when I was watching.


Ah, so you got that impression to! I read a review that seemed to think this was a leap of interpretation, but to me it seemed painfully obvious. If way too simplistic - the Bizarro is taking on the identities of others, presumably because he either lost or lacks his own identity; he's not just killing for the sake of killing (he is sometimes, but not always). Argh, I hate SV's moral sense...I know it's comic books, but it still drives me nuts. Or maybe it's the psychological sense...SV chars do good things, or bad things, for no particular reason whatsoever...seemingly just because they want to self-identify as "good" or "evil." It's D&D morality, chaotic good or lawful neutral...so irritatingly inhuman. Even Lex doesn't genuinely seem to believe he's doing the Right Thing; he thinks he's evil but doing it anyway, and just...why?! People don't work like that, darn it!

Date: 2007-10-01 06:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladydreamer.livejournal.com
Clark's the one who can't let go of hate, who takes out his anger on meteor freaks and whatnot (with the watch-stealers after Jonathan died, after the wedding), who can't love enough to be happy with his beloved's happiness but needs to possess her, cannot bear her being with anyone else even though he can't make her happy.
That's so true. He and Lana are very ugly, selfish people.

I'll buy Chloe as helplessly in love with Lana. Poor gal. Find a new girlfriend. Lana ain't worth it. *ships Chloe/Mercy like woah*

I think what gets me about Bizarro is that... Clark does seem to sympathize, but then he goes to kill him anyway. wut? That's... HORRIBLE!!! I don't understand why he didn't take a moment to at least ask him to be his brother, so neither of them would have to be lonely. He does it for cute ten year old girls (Maddie) and another one of the Good Guys, but with Lex or Bizzy, it's INTO THE SUN WITH YOU.

Clark, are you jealous that Biz got with your Lex? Hm? Or was that rage that he hurt your ex-bf? *sigh*

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