Promise

DVD, Smallville S6 (Promise)

Both a high and low point of this season, something we've been waiting for since episode one, Season 1, directed fluidly, beautifully with an unending flow that never gives up, halting only to kick us in the face, and something that will keep the series going for a fair bit longer. Best to begin at the beginning, and as far as I can remember this is the only teaser that has no dialogue, just music all the way through as we look at the various things happening for people on the big day of the grand wedding between Miss Lana Lang and Mr. Alexander 'Evil' Luthor. A picture tells a thousand words, so one that's moving must tell ten to the dozen, and it does, in the faces of the people. The format of the episode isn't your run of the mill way of telling a story, it moves between different times of day for different characters and who did what, when.

This unique device, coupled with the troubled dreams of at least three characters, meant it was difficult to know exactly what was real and what was in the mind until well into the episode, and added to the insistent, though soothing music, pounding gently away in the background, gave a feeling of unreality that meant I couldn't be sure what to make of the momentous events unfolding. This atmosphere of being completely lost in the narrative, floating uncertainly, made it quite uneasy to watch, yet had so many links to the past and warm moments that it really could be described as a roller-coaster, albeit a slow and smooth one that you can't get off.

The fantastic craftsmanship, telling what was a fairly simple tale of the impending wedding, nevertheless failed towards the end - as soon as you guess Lana's going to turn up and go through with the wedding, even knowing Clark's secret, even wanting to get out of it, even knowing it's wrong, the tension flows out and the soapy elements flood right back in. They were always there, all the way through, but the fantastical bent of the story diverted attention like the dazzling jewels in a crown made of the same old same old, until the end where it's back to Clark looking sadly after Lana as she leaves with Lex, having married him to save Clark - after all the protection he's given her over the years she's returning the favour. Reluctantly, not because she doesn't want to save him, but because she must lose him to save him, give herself up to Lex and walk away.

The real Lionel Luthor returns. He's been away for a long time, as far back as Season 5, when he professed to be Clark and Martha's friend. But now he wreaks hard havoc in the small circle of people the series revolves around: he forces Lana to marry Lex against her will, threatening Clark's life if she but speaks of their conversation. Yet for some reason known only to him, he still doesn't tell his son the secret Clark's been hiding - there's that moment when he comes in talking about clearing up for Lex even on this special day because habits are 'hard to kill,' that I thought he was talking about Clark, but no, he's referring to the unfortunate doctor Lex murders by accident down in the crypt after the man blackmails him for money or he'll tell Lana what Lex has done to her. Then he says he'll claim the favour back from Lex when he's ready to, so what's he playing at? I noticed he didn't sit with Martha and it's been a while since the two have shared the screen, so maybe he's angry at her for not accepting him? Whatever the case, he's got his own plans.

The event that's been so long in coming, and to which I referred, has finally arrived. Just as Chloe saw Clark catch the car in Season 4, and Pete, well, I can't remember how he found out in Season 2, or how Lionel definitely found out last season, or if Lex knows (I don't think he does for sure), Lana finally, definitively discovers Clark's superhuman powers in that clever sequence in the wine cellar. Just as I knew the doctor wasn't getting out of that crypt alive when I saw him attempt to blackmail Lex, I guessed Lana was the one who closed the door on Chloe, locking her in and forcing to ring Clark for assistance (though getting a mobile phone signal through those thick walls is more fantasy than a freak-of-the-week!). She sees him pull the door off with his great strength, she sees him weld the hinges back on with heat vision and, in a change from the normal view of super-speed, she sees him turn and apparently vanish! Whoah, that's a lot to take in for anyone.

It would be, for someone that had no inkling, but Lana set this test up with good reason to suspect Clark. I don't know how many times she either almost witnessed what he could do, was unconscious while he did it, or saw what he could do while she was under the influence of something and later forgot it, but I'm sure someone on the internet has compiled a list. It must be a long list, but now she knows for sure and it's terribly ironic that the day she knows, Lionel also somehow knows that she knows and because of that knowledge can threaten her so successfully. What she should have done was talk to Clark, but she's not on the inside of the Kent's connection with Lionel, she doesn't know what this information would mean to them. It might have been just as dangerous for Lionel to threaten to tell Lex of Clark's secret, but we still don't know if he knows or not!

Lana dreams of that thrilling final scene of Season 1, where Clark came in and saved her from the howling tornado, which, by the way, looked really good - I wonder if they made a new CGI effect as it looked more detailed, and almost five years had passed since those original effects were done. But it was great to revisit that moment, even though they were just clips, and it made me wish we could have gone through several scenes where she'd had similar experiences, yet never known for sure it was Clark. Clark's own bad dream, opening the episode, seemed very real due to the way it was shot without any extra filter, blurriness or the usual tropes of alternate realities/dreams. I thought it was simply a dress rehearsal, but once Lex is stabbed from behind I knew I was in for a surprising and unsettling episode. The dream Lex has is equally unsettling, sitting there in the position of a megalomaniac, watching his unborn baby on a huge screen, the tiny face suddenly glaring right at him!

Something that was no dream (and also couldn't be CGI-ed to make her look better), was the return of Aunt Nell! Never one of my favourite recurring roles, she was still a regular face in the early seasons, bowing out by moving away in Season 2 as the writers got tired of the wonderful community they'd built up and got rid of many recurring characters. But she's back on Lana's wedding day and right away she makes Lana seem younger again, as if she's going to start telling her what to do and stuff. I'm glad they did that, as although Nell has been mentioned now and again in the series, so few people have ever returned, mostly because they were killed off, admittedly.

The episode didn't quite work completely - as I mentioned, the tension was lost as soon as we guess Lana's going to go through with the marriage (although I hoped for a third alternative, something along the lines of her running off and going into hiding), and the ending wasn't a patch on the beginning, usually it works the other way round, but there was so much to enjoy and such a powerful mood throughout and the device of slipping between different characters at different times of day was so effective, I would have to say this is a qualified best episode of the season, and coming twice in a row that amazes me. I only hope it doesn't become about Clark moping around and beating up Phantom Zoners again because they've proved they can once again do the compelling stories they used to do so well, featuring excellent direction, expertly chosen songs, and shocks aplenty.

****