Tempest

DVD, Smallville S1 (Tempest)

It says something about a series when the best episode of the season is the finale. Either it says the season wasn't very good so they didn't have far to peak, or as I prefer to say, they were inspired by such a strong year of stories that they excelled themselves in an extravaganza to go out all guns blazing! There's a strong sense of place, both in terms of Smallville the town, and the characters, but also in the sense of finality and things moving to a head for the production. When characters talk about it being a tough year, or when Lionel congratulates all the staff members of the Luthor plant, it's like the writers are referring to themselves and everyone else that worked to create in 'Smallville' such a successful first season, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the extras in that huge gathering were people involved in making the series. I love so much of what they do in this finale, it consolidates what's gone before, sets up characters and situations for Season 2, and does it all effortlessly with the panache of confidence as much as Lex showed in his dedicated single-mindedness to prove himself and save his employees from the ruthless games of his evil Father. And if there was ever any doubt of Lionel Luthor's evilness then this is the episode to prove it beyond question. He comes in with such energy and relish to shut down the plant and destroy his son's reputation in this 'backwater' town, and is willing to hold the people of the town financially hostage when his son shows sparks of fight.

That's one of the brilliances of the ending, because Lex, having seen what his Father is capable of, is put in the position where he can make the decision to save him or let him be skewered on the hanging buttress that is aimed fatefully at Lionel's pleading head. It's exactly the situation that has been set up all season with the goodness of Lex fighting against the worse nature his Father has instilled in him, and now you can see that he could justify not saving such a monster for others as well as his own gain, Lionel put in the ironic position of potentially suffering from what he himself created (the Frankenstein's monster situation). And we know Lex still wants gain, he wants to win, to succeed to prove himself in life, and he's resourceful and has been trained up to get to the level that Lionel wants him to be. And yet throughout this episode, although Clark pleads his case, saying Lex had big plans for the town, Lex is also concerned about those under him, his friends and their families. He has a sense of responsibility to the community, even if it may come out of a rebelliousness towards the business practices of his Father, it's still genuine. He has secrets, even from his closest friends, but he truly believes he's always doing what needs to be done, and that's why Lex Luthor could become such a dangerous villain, because like the best (or worst), villains of films and TV, he's not acting out of pettiness or desire to cause chaos, he's doing it because he thinks he knows best and wants to prove it.

This complexity of character is something that would be stripped away from both Lex and all the others as the series 'progressed,' but I come down heavily on all subsequent seasons because they showed so strongly what they were capable of with Season 1. In some ways (just as in my wish that 'Star Trek' had never been brought back after the end of 'Enterprise'), I think it might have been better if the series had lasted this one, single season and we'd been left to wonder what might have been. But from the other point of view, at least we did get to see that it became nothing special and failed to develop, rather than being left hanging. The superb cliffhangers of Lionel's life in Lex' hands, the anger-prone Jonathan heading out into the storm to chase down Roger Nixon and the proof he holds on Clark's unique nature, the activated ship, and Lana and Clark sucked up into the tornado could have been a terribly hard end to accept if you thought you'd never see the conclusion, I can understand that, but it was the culmination of so much of what this season was about and what we came up with in our imagination would probably be just as powerful as the actual resolutions to those stories and beyond. Saying all that, I do look forward to Season 2 almost as much as I anticipated watching Season 1 again after so many years, because I still felt fondly towards their second year, even if I realised it wasn't as consistent, and marked a downward trends that would continue on and off throughout the series' lifespan.

What works about this finale is its sense of finality. With Whitney literally heading off to join the Marines it's the end of a way of life that we'd shared with these people for twenty-one episodes and the better part of a year in their life. It has even more meaning now when you think that it's almost twenty years since this was first shown and how much has changed in that time, and that it's not too far off a third of the average person's lifetime ago. I love that we don't see mobile phones all over the place (Chloe even keeps it separately at the dance and says she has to go off and ring Lana), or that Whitney has the forethought to actually bring a CD to the gym where the dance is to later take place so he can give Lana the dance she'll miss because he's leaving. In reality it does seem a little harsh that he had to go on the very night when this big event is happening, couldn't he have put it off till at least after the dance? But he spends the whole episode doing everything he can to make it up to her with a picnic in which he breaks the news, the dance, and the last parting. He became a much more likeable character after his initial friction with Clark, and it really feels like a member of the gang is leaving. Somehow, with all the bad things that happened to the big football team, and even Whitney saying that he thought the trophy cabinet was his whole life and now sees it as trivial, the bad lads and the sense of factions within the school has lessened a lot, and they're all mates together by the end, so much so that Whitney even asks Clark to look after Lana for him while he's away!

The balance wasn't always there, in fact it too often was off, in that Pete and Whitney got short shrift, probably why they both left, but I like it when a series allows time now and again for a character to shine, and both of them had their episodes or story-lines that were focused more on them, and I think the cast had a really strong mix, something that was lost in all the other seasons as so much got messed about. There'd be plenty of problems in Season 2, and I'll save them for when I write about those episodes, but Season 1 was so strong for me, especially being a debut season. And this episode lives up to everything they'd set up, whether that be the Kryptonian spaceship and the key (come on Roger, you must be a pretty daft reporter not to realise that the worst time to investigate someone's storm cellar is just as a storm's about to hit - but then journalists act as if there's no time like the present, he's conditioned to deadlines and seizing the moment, so you can't change an instinct like that!), Lex' enmity with his old Dad, Jonathan's protectiveness of Clark and his secret, or the romantic angle of Chloe and Lana homing in on Clark. That's another fascinating part of the story, because in one sense Clark is stronger than he's ever been, he barely felt the explosion of the truck that Nixon set up to test him, and yet he's more vulnerable than ever now that there's video evidence!

I don't blame Martha and Jonathan for not suspecting bugs in their farm or camcorders recording from a distance. Nowadays there are drones, much more freely available miniature technology, even every mobile phone is essentially a tracker and a bug, that's what's so creepy about so many people having them and never thinking about such things, but they could never have expected a reporter to have been keeping such close tabs on Clark. I don't know what it was that Clark did to tip Nixon off about his abilities, unless he just believed from the evidence of Lex' crash, and maybe they never even showed what it was, but it doesn't matter, he had a nose for a story and he gets one. True to character, rather than undercut all the drama by telling Lex everything he just hints and relishes being the one in the know so that he seals his fate: he can only die from that knowledge! He's a villain, himself, but he's a wild card, someone out for himself with no other motive than to make his name or his fortune. We get a namecheck for another of these types with Clark claiming he'd been so careful to keep his powers under wraps since Phalen, so they were still successfully dealing with the continuity from earlier.

The style and production of the episode itself is also up to the task. The sense of foreboding, yet energy and force that is coming with the storm is prefigured by Lionel's whirlwind stop at the plant, coming in by helicopter, all smiles and greetings, as the blades whip his hair into a frenzy, shouting above the noise of the engine, and then he's gone, crushing Lex' plans and thinking he's got his son cornered so he'll have no choice but to return to Metropolis and his rightful place at his side. But the eternal chess game continues as Lex uses every resource he can muster to fight this decision, much to Lionel's surprise. That's another joy of the episode, seeing Lex go toe to toe in the business world with his heavyweight Father, and doing it with the best of intentions, not just as a way to get back at him. Clark stands with him, and I also love how he continues to defend his friend, either by paying him a visit (even if he did have the ulterior motive to see if he could borrow the limo, but was tactful enough not to ask when he sees Lex in such difficulty), and supporting him in front of his parents. Clark is a true friend, and Lex reciprocates, and it's all such a good, inspiring set of scenes, Lex especially so dedicated and so set in his purpose. The Smallville Ledger even rushes out an edition so fast to cover the plant closure they misspelled 'cited' as 'sited' (I'm pretty sure that isn't an American variation!).

It's never been a draw for me to see the teen romance stuff going on, but I will say it was all sensitively handled, far more than in Season 2, and Chloe's face is once again radiant when Clark says she's not his fallback choice, he's going to the dance with her because he wants to. Sure, Chloe doesn't really have that much to do beyond thinking she's not as important as Lana, but as usual if Chloe really wanted to be like Lana she'd have to have all her problems, too, and she's clearly not having a great time, conflicted within herself at the thought of Whitney leaving for the immediate future, and not knowing where she fits in. It all seemed so simple at the start of the season with Lana's future sure and secure, her cheerleading and her boyfriend and everything fine except for living with the tragedy of her lost parents, but like Whitney realising the things he thought were so important had become small and meaningless, so did she and the season has been as much about these young people navigating the small world they inhabit as about defeating the freak-of-the-week. The season came together mightily (they even throw in a clever appearance by Remy Zero, the band that created the series' theme), and showed mastery, intelligence and thoughtfulness. I'm not sure how much further into the series I could award such compliments, but they succeeded wonderfully to this point and left you wanting more.

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