Crush

DVD, Smallville S1 (Crush)

Another one of those few episodes from the first season that didn't stick in my head, I couldn't recall plot from title, and watching it explained why. And yet, though this is one of the weaker stories for a good chunk of its running time, it's definitely the best of the worst. All of the lesser episodes I've watched again on this run through have improved, probably because they're still so couched in, and tied to, what made the series work, and I've seen a lot worse 'Smallville' since then! 'Craving' remains the lowest point, 'Drone' I felt had improved, but this one is the biggest upward curve, and that's mainly down to the Lex storyline when his old nanny, or whatever term she was employed under, comes to see him. Right from the start there's something quite touching there, and in these troubled times it becomes a beautiful subplot to latch onto and enjoy. She left because Lionel forced her out, so Lex has always considered the only two women he ever loved to have died (his Mother), or betrayed him (Pamela), and that's because of his evil Father's influence. Inadvertently, Lionel does some good, informing his son that Pamela is actually dying of cancer which puts everything into perspective for the young entrepreneur, and she makes him see what kind of man he is by the fact that he came to see her in her hospital bed. I expected them to intercut Whitney's Dad's funeral with Pamela's, but they didn't do that. I doubt she'll reappear, but it was enough that he came to her and gave her what she needed: acceptance and forgiveness and to see he'd turned out pretty well.

It's funny, because although we've seen little spurts of badness in Lex over the course of this first season, his obsessiveness over the accident Clark saved his life from, lying to Clark, how he's treated some people, we've also seen just as much, if not more, of the good nature within him that exists despite his Father: the desire to help, to advise his friends, to contribute to the community. It's a shame they had to ruin the character (certainly from Season 3 onward), by making him go insane or doing various things to him to force him down this criminal path when really he could have been turned to the good, just like Darth Vader did at the end. It's a tragedy of the series that they gave in to the mythology and chose to make him evil because he's so much more interesting as this positive force, especially at this time when he has the capacity to go both ways and we're allowed to hope that he makes the right choices, because when he does it's rewarding. Right choices aren't something the rest of the episode has in spades as it sets the tone for Season 2 and beyond, all that 'love triangle' nonsense between Clark, Lana and Chloe which is exactly the kind of thing I was wary the series would be about when I heard of a teenaged pre-Superman series. This is what I imagined and it really does drag the episode down so that if it wasn't for Lex' story and the great end to Chloe's, I'd be slating the episode, for sure.

For much of the episode I was thinking negatively about it. From the nasty opening onwards when some conman doctor type who saved freak-of-the-week Justin's life, is murdered by him for not saving his hands and the drawing ability that defined him. It's dark and ugly, not just because of the lighting, and while sometimes there's a fascination with the horror they pull off on this series, in this case it was just unpleasant with nothing redeeming or likeable about this guy. He doesn't even have anything to be ungrateful for since though he lost the skilled use of his hands, somehow he gained telekinesis powers and is able to move anything from the tiniest touch of pencil lead on paper to a grown man, so what did he have to be angry about? He actually does far greater artwork with his powers than the Torch cartoons he'd been known for before, so I suppose he must be just another mentally unstable psycho. His power doesn't even appear to come from the meteors as there's no reference to any connection, which they usually do. And it's yet another bad guy for Chloe to fall for in her spiting of Clark's lack of finesse. It's interesting to see Clark actually talk back to her a bit instead of just taking whatever she throws at him, so he has become a little defensive of late, though that may be because he has some guilt at how much time he's been spending with Lana, who is Whitney's girl in practice, though in spirit things have flipped around.

All this high school lovey-doveyness isn't what I signed up for, and thankfully it becomes more about Clark having to protect Chloe from the latest maniac. Which is where it gets good on all fronts: Chloe realises Clark wasn't being overprotective, Justin realises she realises, and Clark realises Justin probably realises Chloe realises and guess what? She's in danger! Not sure why they chose to set the showdown in the Kent barn, surely it would make more sense for Chloe to go into the house - Mr. Kent would know what to do, but is sadly absent except for one scene at the funeral. In fact it's one shot, and that's all John Schneider gets to do in the episode because of all the teenage politics going on. The scene where Chloe gets whirled around the barn was very good and it really looks like she's in trouble. Even the CGI chainsaw was much better than the earlier use of Justin's levitating stationery which looked slightly fake. Clark gets to rush in and take the saw to the body (surprising it didn't cut his clothes to shreds even if his skin could withstand the impact so easily), and defeat Justin. Maybe the boy told people about how Clark stopped him but wasn't believed, but equally he wasn't held accountable for murder because the police didn't know what to charge him with. Did they not know he had these powers, and if they did, why not murder? A bit of a cop-out from the cops, I think!

One thing that did get my goat was the unceremonious offing of Principal Kwan. Not that he was some great character, but he was a familiar face that added continuity to school life and it simply wasn't necessary to kill him off. That's something they repeatedly did in the second season, and it played a large part in lessening the feeling of a town community of recognisable people and lowering the reality quotient that had served to make the more outlandish and weird happenings seem more grounded, or at least gave them contrast. He was killed in the same way the scarecrow freak died in the pilot, rammed by a car, so that was also a bit of repetition that made the episode look cheaper. So it was a surprise to me that I came to like the episode by the end. The Lex storyline helped, of course, but it was how they ended Lex and Chloe's differences, the fight, and the Whitney family funeral that was so well directed and shot. That Clark couldn't decide between Lana and Chloe wasn't one of the best ideas they had, but I suppose they were writing for a teen audience (yes, even I was still a teenager when it started!). One little touch I did like was how Pete's enjoyment of being Clark's campaign manager in 'Drone' has led to his interest continuing with a summer internship at the mayor's office helping with the reelection campaign. And there's also the mention of Sir Harry and Cadmus Labs that brings even more continuity into focus. It also sums up the season when Clark's friendships with Lana and Lex are mentioned as being the most important to him, since it's true that both Pete and Chloe have been too often sidelined - in fact the trio didn't do as much investigating together as I'd thought.

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