Rage

DVD, Smallville S6 (Rage)

They had done Halloween and Christmas-themed episodes, and I'm guessing this one came out at Thanksgiving. I'm not averse to themed episodes, but sometimes it can be a little forced. Thankfully, (excuse the pun), this seemed natural, the festive atmosphere only seen towards the end. I was waiting and hoping for a scene with all these friends sitting round the Kent's table and I wasn't disappointed in the least, it was a truly magnificent moment that you don't often get on the series, where everything worked in the scene, it was sensitively directed and beautifully lit, and there was a hint of sadness amid the satisfied joy. If you think about it, it's absolutely bonkers to see Lionel sitting at a table with Chloe who got him arrested and put away for murder, Oliver Queen and he had a certain level of enmity too, but it's all forgotten in the happy moment - Oliver only has eyes for Lois, Lionel for Martha and Clark is content to look round at happy faces brightening up the room again. Jonathan would have been proud. It contrasts so much with the clinically white, pristine, but empty table Lana and Lex share for their 'celebration.' It's like the stereotype of the cold rich man and the extreme distance between him and his partner, visualised by the long table and silent servants.

It's another densely plotted episode with many arcs to keep track of. It can become a bit of a strain just keeping in mind who's keeping what secret from who and who doesn't know who's. We have Clark faithfully maintaining the Green Arrow's secret identity, not telling Chloe, while Oliver does the same for Clark; and Chloe shares the knowledge of Lana's pregnancy with no one, Lana not even telling Lex (though I thought the revelation was going to be brain cancer!); Martha and Lionel are having private talks and gazing into each other's eyes, but don't want to let on to Clark; Oliver is keeping quiet about everything to Lois and it's all a den of deceit! It makes things interesting, but hard to follow unless you switch your brain on, something it can be hard to do while watching 'Smallville' on occasion.

My maxim about the Green Arrow episodes being significantly more interesting than the Phantom Zone stories is proved right again, this time demonstrating that a superhero without a bulletproof vest is not much of a hero after all. The most interesting debate was between Clark and Oliver about what should be done with their abilities and why, Queen taking out some of his drug-induced anger on Clark by saying he should be out there in Metropolis doing some good instead of selfishly living his farm life. There's also the jealousy over Clark's strength, which he doesn't need to earn through exercise, and his imperviousness to bullets. But there's a great scene at the end where they make up and Clark congratulates Oliver on being able to live a double life with Lois, something he couldn't do. Not that it's that hard because Lois seems about as keen as a brick, not realising the Green Arrow could be Queen even when he's standing in the penthouse talking to her with the same height and face shape! She's so blinded by suspicion she can't see it, but it gives the moment when Queen apologises about hurting her, more resonance as he physically smashed her into a glass table.

One of the best lines was in Queen's tribute to Clark, saying he isn't even in his league - obviously there's double meaning there with the Justice League on the horizon, but it's also really nice to hear Clark get some recognition for who he is and the choices he's made as it often seems a thankless task being a hero, such as when he finds Lana upset at the mansion and she refuses to let him in on it - Clark keeps getting told to get lost by people! There was an episode where Clark was in the same boat as Queen, almost angry enough to kill, but he had his Dad to pull him back and that goodness of morals has moved on to the next generation to stop Queen from making the mistake. Once again Clark is responsible for saving Lex' life, and he doesn't know anything about it. Even though Lex and Lana have been so cold to Clark he still goes out of his way to protect them when he thinks the Green Arrow might try to kill Lex.

The story underneath was a drugs-based tale, and though it wasn't heavy on the problems of drugs they were at least shown to be bad, and I suppose this was more geared towards performance enhancing drugs than the recreational variety as they'd covered the conventional side of that before, in other episodes. More interesting to me was the rivalry between Lex and Queen, though Oliver didn't seem quite as aware about what was going on as Lex pulled the strings, only the responsible decision of Dr. Black to curtail the drug brought an end to that avenue, though Lex had tried to bribe her, as he and his Father have done with so many questionable practitioners and scientists in the past, generally ending in their deaths. This time it was made clear it was one of the homeless people the drug had been given to, that had killed her, but it could very easily have been implemented by Lex, and now I wouldn't put it past him.

There was a bit of déjà vu as I'd seen some of the second half when the Green Arrow comes after Lex, but it was long enough ago that I didn't remember anything. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but there were strong scenes and good action sequences, the most surprising being the crook that leaps off the building because he's been given the healing drug, able to recover after a few moments, and I could have done with more of that. It could make an interesting episode in future, with all these guinea-pigs doing whatever they want to because they won't have permanent injury. These things made up for some of the more uncomfortable moments, such as those between Lionel and Martha as it's hard to reconcile the man he is now with the one that got Jonathan Kent killed and all the other schemes he's employed - I'm still waiting for him to show his true colours. And if they have another scene where Clark or Martha or someone 'good' comes in and finds him reading up about the Kryptonian signs without them noticing, it's going to stretch credibility further than Mr. Fantastic can reach. Sorry, wrong comics universe.

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