Reaper

DVD, Smallville S1 (Reaper)

Another of those that was slightly better than I remembered. I think I just had a moderately negative impression of some of it because it is a grim opening and it does deal with uncomfortable subject matter of pain, living beyond what you can cope with, and euthanasia, but it also has very strong examinations into Fathers and sons, the constant parallel between Clark and Lex' situations and upbringing, but this time also bringing in Whitney's own issues. And it's all dealt with in a sensitive, grounded way. Well, most of it. Once Clark is going up against Tyler, the human Grim Reaper, who both purposefully and accidentally reduces people to ashes, it might be a touch jarring compared with all the personal stories going on. But yes, that opening is truly grim and distasteful when this young man is emotionally blackmailed into doing what he doesn't want to, and put his ill Mother out of her misery with a pillow to the face - she says if he loved her he'd do it, but if she loved him she wouldn't ask such a thing of him! So there's that, and then the poor coroner, or whatever they're called, those that chop up dead bodies to find out cause of death, is the first to suffer at the dead hands of death. Tyler didn't do it on purpose so you can forgive him that one, but he should have at least taken responsibility. But he had a mistaken belief that he'd been 'sent back' to save people from pain, a mission that gave him the ability to cope with this weird and way out happening instead of it being a mere freak (of-the-week), accident.

Like Chloe in that other recent episode, he goes out of a window and hits the ground, but unlike Chloe he dies and his Kryptonite bracelet (of which we never did hear an explanation for its origin), becomes embedded in his wrist, and activated when it's pulled out by the mortician, or whatever he's called, sending a wave of green energy through his body. The episode appears to deal with the issue of euthanasia and seems to be pro-life pretty clearly since Tyler's actions are proved to be rash and coming from the wrong mindset, that of believing himself to be there for this purpose when in fact he was removing life unnecessarily - I always go back to Dr. McCoy in 'Star Trek V' where he's carried this pain around for much of his life of turning off his Father's life support to ease his pain, then a cure being found for his ailment shortly after. The point is no one can know how long a person must suffer, and no one can know what good could come out of it, or despite it. As Clark says, while there's life, there's hope, and Tyler was taking that away and becomes the villain through doing that. We don't know if the first old lady he murders would have agreed if he'd told her what he could do and asked her permission to 'help,' but although she was in pain she was conscious enough to enjoy having a little dog as her constant companion, she was watching TV and appreciated the flowers brought to her, so it wasn't like she'd given up all semblance of living, or all interest in life.

Tyler is more complex than the average meteor freak because he has a purpose he's defined and thinks he's acting selflessly, but as he realises at the end, it was his own pain he was trying to silence. It was a bit too tidy for him to commit suicide, pressing his own hands together (so he'd never accidentally touched his own skin up to that point - or did he have to consciously do it like that for it to happen?), rather than either facing what he'd done, or stay to be with his Mother in her last days or hours, we don't know how long. All we know is she'd improved enough to be sent home and it's very likely she'd have been overjoyed to see her son again. The emphasis on the episode is definitely about parents and children spending time with each other, and that's where the real drama comes from, not a creepy guy murdering people with a sense of duty. The biggest part of that has to be Clark and Jonathan falling out when Clark doesn't want to go on their annual fishing trip, feeling too old for that now, and in his mind it becoming his Dad's thing that he's making him do. Once he understands it has nothing to do with fishing, it's about being together for the day he's happy to do it again, but it takes a turn down some avenues to get there!

It's never a good time to invoke Lex Luthor's help in his Dad's eyes, but this turned out to be the absolute worst time for Clark to ask a favour, as Dominic, Lionel's lackey is investigating Lex and finds out about his 'secret' project to explain the accident. Whether it was to create more trouble for Lex, or that was just a side benefit in his main mission to find out about this mysterious episode for his employer, he's open with Mr. Kent about Lex' endeavours in this regard, which is what blows up what was a simple dislike of Dad being too protective and treating him like a child, from Clark's point of view, to the ever-present bias against the Luthor name that Jonathan has every reason to uphold, considering the history. I like how Lex goes to Jonathan and when he suddenly brings up this investigation into his family, Lex sees there's no point hiding anything and comes right out with it. I still get the impression that the investigation is open, but he's very good at seeming genuine. But that's the trouble, you're never entirely sure now. Lex is treated without compassion, both by Jonathan in his failure to be moved by Lex' reality with his Father, and Dominic, who always has a cold rejoinder to any 'opening up' Lex does to him on the subject of Lionel. It's great how you wonder the lengths Lex will go to right to the point when Lionel opens the boot at their secluded Metropolis meeting place - has he killed Dominic and is returning the body? No, Lex hasn't gone that far, and Lionel even congratulates him on how he's handled the situation as if it was just another test.

Sometimes Clark can come across as a little holier-than-thou in his attitudes, mainly because he is still a teenager and hasn't the life experience to know what to say to people. He can be forgiven for what he says to Whitney, though, clumsy in some ways, but also striking his fellow student in just the right place. It's sad that Whitney admits how Clark will always have his Dad there for him, but Whitney won't, that's the basic dividing line between them, but in reality Jonathan wouldn't be around for many more years. But Clark does seem to care, and again, it's a great way of showing how he was responsible for Whitney getting to play with the Metropolis Sharks as he'd wanted to in front of his Dad - at first it seems Lex is just being a good guy, and maybe it was set up for us to see Jonathan and Lex find common understanding, but then Lana guesses it was Clark who asked him to arrange it. At first I was thinking, why is Whitney doing this, I thought he lost the chance to get into football, until you learn it's a favour. Then I was thinking why would Lionel, the owner of the team, have gone along with this favour to Lex, who must have asked him to get them to let Whitney play for this one-off experience, but of course, Lionel would reward his son when he's done something he approves of.

It all seems to make sense, for an episode of 'Smallville,' aside, perhaps, from the fact that no staff members come running in the Smallville Medical Centre during the physical altercation between Tyler and Whitney (he came to help him and his Dad - knocking him out against a basin doesn't seem much like help to me!), and then Tyler and Clark! Then I didn't get how Lana and Tyler knew each other as when they meet at the graveyard they do seem tom but haven't met in the episode. And why was Tyler just standing there in the SMC ward, when Whitney comes in? Had he just got there and heard the lad outside? But that's about it, and its just another feel-good story in the 'Smallville' world that is a pleasure to watch by the end. Maybe they don't go into the ethics of euthanasia very deeply, but I like that Clark stands for life, especially because wherever he goes he's there to keep it safe, such as when he defends Martha from Tyler and the Kryptonite power doesn't turn him to ashes (fortunately for the series' longevity), but merely drains some feeling of life from his face where he was touched. Good stuff.

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