Beacon

DVD, Smallville S10 (Beacon)

All due credit to this story for not going the expected route. Things look bleak, like the series is about to step into a second Dark Age of Seasons Three to Seven, when the character dynamics were pushed askew and the plans of Lionel Luthor and Lex were what guided the series to its low points. That's the way Lionel would have had it, if he'd had his way, and perhaps there is, even now, still time for him to regroup and use Alexander as his pawn. But for now, he goes from the returning magnate of LutherCorp, buying out Oliver without a by your leave, taking his place at the Luthor Mansion, just like the old days, and taking young, but rapidly ageing, Alexander under his hoary old wing. But before the episode is out his plans are gone astray, the Mansion burns, and Alexander returns to the (well-meaning, but questionable), protection of his 'Mother,' Tess, his memory failing along with his body, though not so much that Tess can get away with trying to murder him with a hypodermic of cyanide which mysteriously fails to penetrate his skin as if he's made of steel… like Clark… I really anticipated, with sinking feeling, the return to the old wells of misused story and character, so it was pleasing to witness Lionel's grand schemes, at least partially, crumble in the face of Clark's strong family ties. Because without the tireless campaigning of a certain Senator, the Vigilante Registration Act would not have been repealed.

And it is repealed, in an episode that at first looks grim, but turns out to be the greatest victory of the season so far for Clark and his supporters. I know things can't go on looking so rosy for long, and we're only just over the halfway hump of the season, so there's plenty of time for things to come crashing down before a triumphant finale (I assume), sets all right and finally puts Clark in the red boots and cape of Superman. That the episode surprises in how upbeat and optimistic it is, allows it to just climb over the cusp of mediocrity that threatened if they had chosen to do the expected thing of Lionel building his empire back up with the help of a misguided Alexander. It all happened in fast forward, so I hope that, if not the end of his lofty ambitions, it curtails them enough so that he isn't the only, and main, threat to deal with as I began to wonder it would. We mustn't forget the spirit of anger, hatred and negativity that is supposed to be holding sway over the world at the moment, which is easy to forget when so many came to the aid of the 'vigilantes' in general, and The Blur in particular (even if it was a little inspired by similar individual citizen points of view like the old 'Spider-Man' films), somehow breaking through the evil that had settled on men's minds. Even the look of the episode reflects Clark's glory as 'the light' Martha Kent says he is (for the Senator behind the motivational campaign was of course she), a beautiful sunset glow over so many scenes, whether it be the Kent family home, or other places, while Lionel is left to crawl back into the dark from whence he came, saved by Clark to freely go about his business.

As soon as I saw Annette O'Toole's name in the Special Guest Stars credits at the beginning I had hopes that this episode would be a vehicle to serve her well - we'd already been teased with Martha a couple of times, but it's only now that we finally get to see her, and it is lovely to have her back, even though she was one of the last of the originals to leave, and didn't have that much of a place on the series by the time she did (which was probably what caused her to do so). Here she is the ideal person to go up against Lionel, but especially to be the face of reason and support for heroes, bringing her message of a beacon of hope to rally the many that are still out there whom support The Blur and recognise what he and others like him do. Maybe Lois' little subplot of being inspired by looking up one of Perry White's old campaigns fell a little flat, and I didn't feel the idea of her having an impact on the repeal was very strong in execution, but the episode could survive a few missteps or underdone threads. I suppose the implication was that she asked Chloe to hack into all the online newspapers and create more support that way, but it wasn't very clear. I could also have done with a little more of Clark being the investigative reporter we all know he can be, or could be - instead he sees the sign Alexander had scratched from his position taking potshots at Martha (an 'S' symbol crossed out), and was instantly able to narrow it down to him because he'd made the sign before, but in reality anyone who hated superheroes could have done the same thing.

It didn't matter, it kept the story flowing quickly, and is hardly the most ridiculous thing the series has done, so I give it a pass, and there's enough nostalgic or inspiring interplay between characters that such tiny issues are unimportant. There were three key moments that it went beyond a mere average episode, the first being Mrs. Kent and Lois in the Kent kitchen, the second being Alexander talked down from his rampage by Tess, and the third was Martha's encouraging words for her son when he wonders if he's not being honest by hiding his identity and considering revealing it to the public. But then he wouldn't really be Clark Kent as we'd know him from legend, and as much as the series has strayed from comics history to create its own narrative right from the start, key aspects of the Superman myth are needed to make it feel right, so I was glad that she reassured Clark as long as he was standing up for right, it doesn't matter what name he uses or what clothes he wears. Before the VRA is repealed it obviously does matter what anyone wears, with Oliver eschewing his Green Arrow clobber for a more modest hoodie, ironically a better disguise now than his old outfit, but hopefully with the act history the heroes can get back to hero-ing again, without fear that the general public will curtail their moral deeds with suffocating politics and dark rhetoric. It was like a new dawn had arisen, bright and cheerful, and I only hope the inevitable collapse into gloomy mire isn't too depressing in counteraction of all this happiness.

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