Subterranean

DVD, Smallville S6 (Subterranean)

An amalgamation of the traditional 'freak-of-the-week' story, the young stray that Clark helps, some misunderstanding (Jimmy thinking Clark doesn't like him!), and the descent of Lex even further, this time his sins clear by his influence dragging Lana down with him. She's becoming more and more an apprentice to the Dark Side, this time eyes glinting with the thought that's apparently only just occurred to her: money brings power. It's the same theme that Lex played through when he realised that only complete power over everything would safeguard the things he held dear (or so he thought). Lana's not so far gone that she isn't still hoping to use wealth for good causes. Just like the Ring in 'The Lord of The Rings,' it can entice with promises of power to do good, but is Lana really strong enough to only use power only for good?

At the moment I'd say yes, because she's always been a moral person that cares about others, but she seems to have resolved any confusion over the hints of darkness in Lex and that he doesn't always answer her questions in a satisfying way she can believe. She's blinded herself with this new idea of being a do-gooder, but in real terms I think they realised her character was going nowhere. She needs something to do beyond being conned by Lex. If you think about it, she's always been a character without a strong purpose on the series, existing only for Clark to pine after where other characters such as Martha (the backbone of the family and farm), or Chloe (the investigator) had well-defined roles.

I enjoyed the farm-locked nature of this story, taking place in the environs of Smallville for the most part with the requisite golden cornfields and dusty roads disappearing off into a blue sky. It had the unfortunate result of once again showing how poorly the local community has been developed (it hasn't). We still don't get to meet the Sheriff, a casualty of the show's move to Metropolis or global locations making the role unnecessary, although we do get Deputy Morales. It's difficult to accept that a farm 'just down the road' became this prison of slave labour for illegal immigrants, and because Jed McNally had never been seen or spoken about before he could have been anyone, yet if the community had been full of recurring characters and he was one who turned out bad then he'd have been a stronger foe. As it was, I was surprised it was actually him, expecting another Zoner for Clark to deal with. In line with most of the modern 'freak' stories he doesn't figure prominently, gets beaten easily by Clark and there's little terror or tension around his evil powers - the two lads running through the corn at night went on for too long and lost the momentum of the scene and it would have been an ideal episode for special effects to dive underground, lashing through the dark soil, but there's none of that.

The episode is another one where Clark takes a youngster under his wing and fights for him when no one else will, even Martha (though she comes round in the end), and the episode has some of the heart that is often missing these days when the boy and his Mother are reunited. Jimmy's used quite well as a guy who's got the wrong end of the stick when it comes to Clark, but as predicted he's taken over the role of Lois, who doesn't appear - they're interchangeable for the most part, both being journalistic types who have no real idea of what's going on most of the time. Seems like Lana and Lois only exist to be in scenes with their boyfriend's these days, which is a shame. There was a nice feeling of the Scooby Gang again, with Jimmy, Chloe and Clark all meeting up and doing their thing which was another positive. We even had Clark bursting in on Lex to accuse him of something for which there was no evidence to link him to, just like the 'old days'!

The end sequence went back to what the series used to do brilliantly, but has often eschewed: a bold, stark scene with well-chosen music over the top and a great style as Lex walks away from the comatose McNally, proved to be his own experiment in the meteor powers. He walks down a corridor with hands grasping out of barred doors either side and shuts the door at the end which reads 33.1. At last we see the fabled institution Lex cooked up to study and experiment on those with powers and it was a great way to finish, that sealed the episode into a last minute thumbs up, when it was wavering through most of the episode. When you think about it, you wouldn't paint '33.1' around the place as that was just a secret level in another building, this being a new place, but megalomaniacs have funny ideas and the writers wanted to make it obvious what it was without dialogue, I expect.

I can't say the same for the early scene between Lex and Lana when he sends her off to Amsterdam for the duration of the episode just so she'll miss him. I didn't know what I was supposed to be reading into that scene because the music is kind of warning something, there are looks that could be interpreted in different ways and it was just an odd thing to do. Okay, so by the end we know Lex wanted her out of the way because he was busy watching what happened with McNally and his experiments, but it was odd that Lana was so happy to go along with it and shows that she has no roots to her situation - if they want to send her off somewhere there's no reason not to. That means she's expendable, not something you want a main character to be. It was nice to see her in the Kent barn again, even if Clark wasn't able to scratch the surface of a doubt about Lex' true intentions, but she'll learn in the end, I'm sure.

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