Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Fierce
DVD, Smallville S7 (Fierce)
Is this old-school 'Smallville'? First, there's a picture of small town life with the Harvest Festival, then there's Jonathan Kent in spirit, Clark telling his ward to keep her powers under control. There's Lana wanting, and naively expecting, everything to go back to how it was years ago; trouble with meteor freaks; beauty pageants like the Smallville High days - we even have Lex walking into the Kent kitchen, which isn't something natural since his turn into a maniac. Is this a sign of the writer's nostalgia or the natural 'circle of life' type thing that goes round and around in this series, sparked perhaps by Kara's similarity to the young Clark? I remember bemoaning the circles of love, anger, betrayal and joyful friendship that plagued Lana and Clark since, well, Season 3 maybe? And now we're into another cycle with Lana honestly expecting to pop back to Smallville and settle back into life there. What's she going to do, run the Talon again? It's an unnatural progression, but then that's nothing new on this TV series!
Meteor freaks-of-the-week used to have such good stories, but in these latter seasons they became organs of destruction only there as a foil for Clark. Maybe it was a desire to show Kara at work that prompted this gaze over the shoulder into the past of the series, but they really should have made sure the villainess' had personality and purpose, and a limp half-fight at the end was a definite no-no. Inevitably, powers would be eventually be rehashed, and this is an inferior remake of Season 1's 'Cool.' Except the story was nowhere near as good. Why did the girls even need Kara's assistance? It was also almost impossible to believe Kara would be elected the beauty queen - she has no relations, or legal documents and it was the height of stupidity for her to enter the competition anyway. It would be like Clark entering a strength test. It was also so cheap that they're only three episodes in and they've already got the new girl in a bikini. Ratings going down or something?
There were some bizarre twists in this story. Would Kara really single out Jimmy? Please don't let this season become more of a super-soap than it already is, with Chloe worried about his loyalty to her (especially with that line about cleaning up the town of freaks, which of course, Chloe feels she's one of now). Far from piquing my interest it signalled poor choices from the writers. If there wasn't already enough going on with the mysterious disappearance of Lionel; Lex intent on tracking down the 'angel' who saved him; Lana not dead; Clark having to teach his cousin the finer points of superpowers; the crystal from Kara's ship and what her real mission was… Now we have some other Kryptonian trinket to deal with, an SOS signal apparently, though what good it was going to do locked in a box, I don't know. Could it be a Kryptonian from the past, as it was in the town's time capsule? We've already had more than enough Kryptonians on Earth.
Even in an unimpressive story there were intriguing moments, and ones that worked very well. Lana's reappearance at the farm was a wonderful scene played really well, with the affecting piano music and such a sad, but joyful tone. If only it hadn't cut away to the girl's death and then returned to become a comedy moment. Lana's come back from the dead, and Kara appears and Lana jokes that Clark obviously has some issues to sort out, then skips merrily off. Um, he thought she was dead, but she's alive and he's happy for her to leave? Kara can wait! Maybe this was one of those times when a character had to go to the bathroom? The other scene that worked well was near the end when Kara questions Clark on his future, asserting that he can't truly expect to hide out on the farm and grow old with Lana. It's a sad, far-reaching thought about his eventual destiny to outlive those around him, but for us it's a glimmer of his true destiny of becoming Superman, and it works on both levels. I also liked the other part of the scene where Clark makes it clear Earth is his home and everything he cares about is there. The rest of the episode needed this kind of care and depth.
Some came through in the odd way Lex has been behaving. He went from super-criminal last season to just a regular guy with lots of money, another reset button the writer's are intent on pushing every other season or so. Just remember what happened with Lionel when he supposedly turned over a new leaf back in Season 4… Another mystery is how open he is with Agent Carter of Mars. Sorry, of the Department of Domestic Security. He even wants to work with the government. And does he know about Clark now? I forget. It's weird how Kara's story is mirroring Clark's own - it starts with her saving Lex, and him thinking it's some kind of destiny thing, then his complex about the Kents is reawakened and he wants to study her the way he investigated Clark, while she just wants to blend in with society, but also learn how to control her powers. Not that I really trust her - I reckon old Zor-el sent her to kill baby Kal-el. Then again I also wonder if Lana's a clone with implanted memories and the real Lana did die in the explosion. Now that we know how easy it is for Lex to duplicate someone, anyone could be a copy! In the middle of all this Lana sees it as a chance for her and Clark to start over (is she even divorced from Lex yet?). One thing's for sure: life on the farm is looking a lot more lively.
**
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