Abandoned

DVD, Smallville S10 (Abandoned)

I could talk about the uneven tone, shameless sentimentality and confusion of events and characters, but that would be to miss the point: we're at the point where wedding bells might just be sounding in the distance for Lois and Clark, we have a story which lives up to the season's wish-list of bringing back familiar faces, and even some revelations for Clark and Tess, the latter a most unexpected and dramatic one indeed! First thoughts go to the post-opening credits where we see the guest stars of the week named, and it was with great anticipation I read the names Helen Slater and Teri Hatcher, two of the Superman televisual mythos' most famous women. Slater of course portrayed Supergirl in the 1980s film, and Hatcher was one of the best known Lois Lanes, appearing with Dean Cain in the Nineties series 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.' Maybe neither of those productions was that great, but the actors within them in the iconic roles we all know have gone down in pop culture history, so it's a fitting addition to the already bountiful roster of ex-Superman production participants (mixing in the esteemed company of 'The' Superman, Christopher Reeve, his Lois Lane, Margot Kidder, and Dean Cain, to name a few). I didn't recall whether Slater had been seen as Clark's Mother, Lara, before, but we certainly had seen Julian Sands as the younger Jor-El last season - I wonder if they couldn't get Terrance Stamp for the voice this time, as Lois' visit to the Fortress of Solitude is strangely silent with his absence.

It was a truly wonderful moment to see the scene we know from past incarnations of Kal-El's parents recording a last message for him before he's shot off to Earth. I'm not sure why he wouldn't have been shown that important communication before now, nor am I sure why he was shown it at this juncture, except for the needs of the story, but it doesn't stop it from being a special moment, and one that helps Clark to understand the burden his birth Father carried. It was almost as beautiful to see Lois watch VHS videos (though I'm amazed they still had a working player, and that the videos hadn't degraded, even in 2010-2011!), of her own Mother, recorded as she was in the stages of a terminal illness, finally giving her the chance to say goodbye and stop blaming herself for not visiting her sick Mum in hospital. I'm not sure I can agree with the statement about moving on from the loss of a parent before you can really live, or whatever the sentiment was, but then I haven't lost any parents yet so I can't identify. It just seemed to me as if Lois was equating her experiences with Clark's and assuming he was in the same situation as her, so she meddled by working out how to get to the Fortress to try and speak with Jor-El as if her words would change his mind in some way.

If the theme wasn't entirely carried through (though I did appreciate the continuation of the focus on Lois' family from the previous episode), I did find the episode to be a little up and down in the storytelling. It opens with a dramatic black-and-white dream sequence with Tess as a little girl, which eventually becomes obvious it's some kind of repressed memory when she finds the music box ballet dancer chiming out the same tune of her nightmare - my immediate thought was that young Lex Luthor was manipulating her in some way and it was certainly a puzzling way to begin. Then when Lois is talking about her past and her parents it appeared to be in parallel to Tess' story, but we go between deep emotion and the more visceral, raw impression of horror the series likes to deal in sometimes, and I wouldn't say they sat particularly well together. Sometimes tender, bright scenes of nostalgia or the positive, but sad emotions, can emphasise and be emphasised by creepy, nasty cruelty, but I didn't think so in this case. Not that they went too far in that regard, they just show a little girl having her memory wiped by the guardian of St. Louise's Orphanage, perpetuating the stereotype of such places being full of people that take advantage of children, with stark, frightening imagery of gothic interiors, or the dull paint of a mental ward, as well as Clark being clapped in chains while the girls that have grown into a fierce, fighting womanhood prepare to slice him up (with the aid of a fire blazing with green Kryptonite coals).

One thing I realised is why the series likes its girl fights so much, because they like to cram one in whenever they can (as with Tess and the female Wolverine-wannabe). I think the reason is self-evident in the moment Clark rescues Tess from one of Granny Goodness' all-Girl Gang - it's a simple matter for him to subdue her in milliseconds, and quite apart from the ungentlemanly act of fighting a female, it's no challenge to him at all, whereas the human characters like Tess (or Chloe, or Lana, or Lois, etc), can feel pain and have real prospects of being injured or killed. But this was where things became harder to follow: Granny had been developing this team… for what purpose? World domination, or more benevolently as a fighting force to defend against threats? Is she actually good, but goes about it the wrong way or are her motivations crooked? Darkseid is mentioned, but it was unclear if she was with Godfrey and the other guy, Desaad, or opposed to them, though she did seem more part of their group. They call Darkseid their 'Dark Lord,' and I have heard of the villain, but he's definitely on the distant end of my radar when it comes to the mythos, knowing absolutely nothing about him, though I'll warrant he's another Kryptonian threat of some kind, like Doomsday. There's a clue to the comics origins in the end credits when we see 'Fourth World Characters created by Jack Kirby,' though it didn't shed any light for me as a comics novice. It seems a war is coming, according to Granny, and Tess will want her on her side when it does, so there are certainly growing elements of various factions forming up, which keeps things interesting, especially as I wonder if they'll be able to do justice to the concept of a big war or battle on the reduced budget I imagine they worked with this season.

Not that it stopped them doing things, and if anything it's made them work harder on the character development side, keeping the big effects for only important moments, which is better, in my book, than creating vast and impersonal spectacles at the expense of the reality of the series (which has always been up and down). At least it hasn't stopped them from keeping up a tradition of bringing back characters, and this time we get around three - Jor-El, Shelby the dog, and Godfrey, last seen sucked up by the black mist thing earlier in the season. I don't include Helen Slater because, as I said, I wasn't sure if she'd appeared before, or not. One other character makes the impression of an appearance, but sadly, just as they only showed the back of Ma Kent earlier in the season, and didn't actually get the actress back (yet), they do the same with Lionel Luthor, as he's the Father who brings Tess to the Orphanage in flashback form. Maybe I'm dense, but I never even imagined that Tess was a Luthor (Lutessa Lena Luthor, to be precise), she was always portrayed as an acolyte of Lex' that was desperate to trace his disappearance, so that came out of the blue for me, but also does suit her character, the battle between good and evil natures, the secrecy, the desire for power, and the sticking her fingers into the manipulation pie so many times. But she's certainly come down much harder on the side of good for a while, so I hope this reveal doesn't turn her to the dark side (or the Darkseid!).

Amid all the big things happening, there was one little throwaway that I really thought was an inspiration and a huge move towards the Superman mantle that Clark will eventually take up, and that was his line to Lois about being up (during the night), so he might as well be on patrol. It's great to think that, like Batman, he's out there in the dark, fighting villains and saving people all over the place, and it would be such a small thing for him to do since he could rush around at super-speed and is basically Father Christmas - in fact, maybe he is Father Christmas as it seems like a very Superman thing to do to want to give all the boys and girls a present, and he could of course get round everyone's houses in one night, and locked doors would be no obstacle (plus providing a boost in business to purveyors of padlocks, door locks and assorted home security systems needing to be replaced!). He's always been good with kids, and once again he saves a little one, when he rescues her from the memory wipe of Granny Goodness, though we don't know if she was actually saved as Clark was trapped before he could get her out. Actually that brings up a valid point about what happened to the orphanage - did they just let Granny continue her dastardly scheme or did the authorities get involved? I don't remember any mention of it after the action had played out, Clark preoccupied with getting an engagement ring ready for Lois. I must say, though, his idea of a hiding place was incredibly poor: to put the key to the Fortress behind a bookshelf in the loft was far worse than Martha hiding it in a jar of flour as she used to do!

Whenever it's about Clark and Lois things tend to click into place more. In a way I could have done without the Tess side story, or main story, whichever it is, except for the major turning point in her being shown to be a Luthor. I wonder if that was something they planned when they first brought her into the series? More likely they kept her slate clean so they could come up with something at a later date, and though as soon as the limo pulled up to the orphanage in the flashback, the only person I could imagine that would give us a surprise to be ushered into the light as her forgotten Father, I was impatiently wanting it to be Lionel and it was still surprising, though they really should have spared no expense and had John Glover turn and look up at her in the final shot so there could be no ambiguity, though any ambiguity was shot when you see the Luthor licence plate, and Lionel's shaggy mane of hair, of course. How all these enemies and allies will line up is anyone's guess at this point as I can't imagine them going out with a massive cast list in the final episodes, but why else set up Suicide Squad, Darkseid, the Fourth World, the Luthors and any and all assorted pro- or anti- superhero groups that have been brought into the story. Such lack of focus could make it messy, but if they keep Lois and Clark at the centre, with everything else revolving around them, then the season at least has a chance of maintaining its level of delight.

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