Fracture

DVD, Smallville S7 (Fracture)

I felt we were due a stinker, after some recent passable episodes, and though I wasn't exactly right, the faults of the series weigh it down again. Kara had to be brought back some time so I knew that was coming, but the strange semi-team-up of Lois and Lex to find her didn't grab me, nor did the threat coming from just another crazy. Not even Kryptonite-induced craziness, just common or garden, true to the world, gun-toting nasty. We've seen it before, of course, it's nothing new, but neither is there any reason to care, he's just a tool to set the episode in motion. Dramatically, I grant, with Lex shot in the head! No way he's coming back from that one, eh? Oh, except he's sure to turn out to be a clone… but no, instead, despite a bullet to the forehead, he somehow survives and only falls into a coma. Okay, he may never wake up, but a bullet to the forehead and he's not instantly dead? Is that feasible?

Instead, Lex' salvation comes in the ever-useful power of Chloe to heal. The power which she's now whining on about being such a gift and asking why was she chosen, as if all meteor powers were handed out by a benevolent force, instead of most of them being a curse to the bearer. That aside, she could become the ultimate reset button who can get them out of any trouble: anyone dies? Let Chloe heal them. Cunningly they've set it up that each time she seriously uses her power she herself dies for longer, so eventually she'll not be able to use the ability, and Clark's already getting her to think carefully about it. It will be reserved for rare occasions, but it will always be available should they require a resurrection. And now Lionel is in on her secret! It's a long way from the time Chloe was a witness in his murder trial, her life threatened by him, but I still can't believe Lionel will forever be trustworthy. How long can the reverberations of his being Jor-El's former vessel endure?

This time he's even able to say what he never has: that he loves Lex. Or has he said it before? I know in the early seasons when things were a mite more believable that he would never say such a thing, thinking it weak, but I also didn't buy that seeing Lex almost die would bring it out now - both Lionel and Lex, as well as other characters, have been on the brink of death so many times now that it's meaningless. That's what made the episode unfeeling for me. It's got some good sci-fi ideas, none more than entering a person's mind and running around in there, but there isn't the connection you can believe in between characters that there once was. Lionel and Lex have gone on their own circles of hate and anger, then friendship and love, just like Clark and Lana. Though not as frequently as that pair, it's happened enough times to be noticeable. Lionel has done so many things to Lex; experimenting on him, laying obstacles in front of him, and nowadays he takes the higher moral ground that Lex must be stopped, but really a lot of the blame must lie with him.

In this very episode we see a memory of how his Father roughly handled both Lex and his Mother, Lillian, though whether we can rely on Lex' memory is another thing entirely. I believe we saw Lillian before, though I don't know if they got the same actress for the role. One thing we'd definitely seen before was the white-suited version of Lex, usually as President in an apocalyptic future in a couple of episodes, even as far back as Season 1. This version of him represents the evil of the man, while the boy Lex is the good still in him: weak and cowering, but for the moment very much alive. It is this that Clark sees and gives him new appreciation for his old friend. No longer does he see Lex with the same eyes of distrust and anger, but with a small amount of pity and the hope that he will see the good in him rise again. It's good that Clark's perspective changes because it had become a purely antagonistic relationship which was never as enthralling as the unknown between them. Then again, this season Lex hasn't been always full of animosity toward Clark, and sometimes they got on better than they'd expect, but it's another case of the cycles these writers go through.

Less interested by the story of locating the amnesiac Kara, the idea of Clark having to enter the nightmarish inner world of Lex' mind piqued my interest considerably. Shame it turned out to be pretty much solely connected to the current story. I was looking forward to Clark seeing the dark secrets, the terrible experiments, the sinister plans and the hidden paths that Lex kept to himself. But very little was unlocked that we didn't know. The argument would probably be that Clark didn't go 'deep' enough, but in that case it was a waste of an excellent premise and should have been taken advantage of to explore Lex as a person in great detail. The 'DS9' episode 'Extreme Measures' is a much better example of this, and an even better one is 'Distant Voices.' For all this series' not shying away from occasional scariness, they didn't pull off Lex' brain as being a terrifying place to visit. Even the threat of Clark being trapped forever and dying in there was barely played on.

Will Lex discover the secret of Kara, and by extension, Clark? By this point I couldn't care less. If Lex hasn't worked out Clark's secret by now he's as stupid as he is evil. And why would Clark not warn Kara to keep away from Lex anyway? He saw the memory of Lex offering to treat her memory loss! And again, does Lois not wonder how her attacker came to have a stack of cars fall in front of him and get thrown into another piece of equipment? I also didn't like that the conflict in Lex' mind turns into the usual slugging match and has none of the resolution you'd hope for. As usual, the series is bright and attractive, well directed, especially the transitioning moments as Clark walks the rooms of Lex' mind, with a hint of 'The Matrix' evident in the 'red door' that leads to escape, but it certainly isn't 'The Matrix,' and I'm not just talking about the acton sequences. It doesn't have half the depth, and for that reason the ideas section is not overburdened.

**