Veritas

DVD, Smallville S7 (Veritas)

They crammed too many stories into this: we have the dynamic duo of Olsen and Lane in a team-up to get a story (amazingly the picture of Patricia Swann pops onto the screen at that exact moment), though as usual, they don't really have a clue what's going on around them. But the other stories don't happen around them, most plot lines are separate, the different sets of characters not interacting very much at all. We have Lex and his bespectacled assistant (who looks primed to sacrifice herself for him if the need should ever arise!), hunting down the mystery of the key in Patricia's locket (I wonder if his assistant stood there wondering why he was staring into space for minutes at a time, not having the benefit of vision into his memories as we did). There's the return of Brainiac who has some unexplained plan to rewrite Kryptonian history by somehow using Kara, locking Lana into an inexpressible agony inside herself, much to Clark's horror. And there's Lionel bleating to Clark or Chloe, desperate for them to believe him about something terrible that is coming.

With mention of Zod, what's the betting that it's the return of the Kryptonian criminal - Clark ignores Kara's question about whether he defeated him before. I'd love it to be Doomsday, Superman's nemesis, but as Clark finds out in what was a misstep in tone, he isn't Superman yet as he can't fly. This was thrown in as a joke, I doubt if anyone really expected to see Clark (and not alter ego Kal-El), soar through the skies with the greatest of ease. It was setting us up for a battle with Brainiac that never came, and it didn't help Clark look on top of things, in fact he looks pretty weak and useless for the entirety of this episode. James Marsters exudes effortless swagger in his role of returning villain, and I thought this was going to all be some kind of time travel story where he takes Kara to Krypton in order to affect events. That could still happen (on a TV budget?), but it's more likely we'll hear about her exploits which will somehow release Zod, or something else, back on Earth.

The flying wasn't badly done this time, and there were some artistic compositions in the visuals, the one that sticks out most to me being that final shot of Clark and Lana silhouetted by the oval window with the angel's wings by their side. I'm not sure what it means, but it sure looked good! Then again, that's something you could say about the series as a whole. We're digging into Veritas, the secret society that supposedly knew about Clark's coming before the series even began. It's wonderful to see a flashback to a time just before Lex and Lionel took their helicopter trip to Smallville on the day of the meteor shower, though they couldn't do much about the young actor who played Lex not looking like the boy in the pilot episode, but then that was seven years ago and they've had several young Lex' over the years. At least this one had already been used this season as the 'good' part of Lex' mind. They'd shown flashbacks surrounding that momentous day before, and it always sparks a little admiration that they can come up with scenes set in that time.

It's very convenient that Lex' recent shooting in Detroit should have awakened memories of his childhood that he'd previously blocked out, as I don't remember him ever saying anything about repressed memories or having any mystery about his childhood, but you have to give them some leeway in the epic retconning saga that Veritas is. If Lionel knew about the approaching arrival of Clark, as well as the other members of the group it throws up so many questions about him from the first season onwards. He very clearly spells out why he's a different man in this story, pleading with Chloe, literally on the floor grasping her garments like Gollum, as he relates how he was changed by becoming Jor-El's vessel. Chloe doesn't buy his warnings of Clark's danger, any more than Clark does, but this time maybe they should have listened to him. Glover goes into a completely different persona from the suave, in control megalomaniac of the past, stuttering and running his words together in a picture of remorse and helplessness. I wouldn't say it's a joy to see, but it does demonstrate his range more than he's often been allowed to do on the series.

The flashback scene also gives us another glimpse of Dr. Swann, even if it is his chair running in front of camera, but we also see what looks to be a young Oliver Queen (the adult version I was expecting to be in this story), as well as his Dad, and Jason Teague's Father. I wonder why they didn't bring back Genevieve Teague for this scene? The idea of there being some kind of secret envelope hidden in a Swiss bank that can only be opened by two of the Veritas members' keys does intrigue, but I'm amazed Lionel didn't simply snatch the envelope and read the research findings of Swann - some kind of defence against the coming traveller? Sounds like a useful weapon against the next Kryptonian enemy to ravage the planet, another plot convenience, though that has yet to be proved. The terrible punishment inflicted on Lana, and the distress it causes Clark, is a symptom of a cold, calculating machine, as Brainiac is, though for a moment I thought she was going to become an enemy that would fight Clark (much like her awful turn as a witch in Season 4).

This very much ends on a cliffhanger, with Kara and Brainiac zapped off into outer space, and Clark left clutching the unresponsive hand of Lana, stuck in her catatonic state. If two or three of these stories had been concentrated on, I think it would have been a better whole, and I would have liked more insight into Lex' childhood discoveries, but this has been a good patch of the season, and the mysteries unfolding have urged the story on, no matter how inconsequential certain parts, (such as Jimmy and Lois' investigations, and the naive ambush of Lionel), have been. If this all ends in a ridiculous conclusion or the stories don't make any sense, perhaps I'll look back on an episode like this with disdain, but for the moment it's a good watch.

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