Visitor (2)

DVD, Smallville S2 (Visitor) (2)

Traditional 'Smallville' on the face of it, at least at first, and I had the impression this was going to be a weaker episode of the season. But that was probably the result of not really liking the story in the past, and perhaps that lessened my expectations, because this time I found it to be quite a lovely instalment that threw up various ideas, was beautifully shot, well acted, and kept me guessing all the way through whether Cyrus was an alien or not. It starts with a spot of bullying in class, that's the main reason it seems classic 'Smallville,' but instead of Cyrus turning out to be a vengeful psychopath with murderous tendencies, and whom Clark has to deal with, it's quickly apparent that he's not on the list of meteor freaks that have required intervention. In fact it soon becomes apparent that Cyrus could actually be a fellow Kryptonian. Now I didn't think that was likely, but I did wonder if he might be from another planet - hey, if Clark can drop on Earth and grow up a farm boy, why couldn't a similar thing have happened to Cyrus? Obviously Clark finds it hard to believe, but you soon realise he wants to, he wants a connection to the newly discovered world he was from, which Dr. Swann (who gets a mention), had informed him about in only the previous episode. I like that he has various people to talk to him about the situation from various degrees of understanding: his parents are one angle, Pete is another - he knows the secret, too, and he's someone Clark can discuss things with who isn't in authority over him and can talk man to man.

If only there had been more scenes for Pete like the one he gets in this one. It's not that it's anything special, but it does illustrate the point of having him be there as a confidant. Chloe is next in line, she's part of the gang, but not on the inside, so doesn't know Clark's point of view, and then there's Lana and perhaps Lex, who are on the periphery and have the good or the bad side when it comes to Clark. The good, in that Lana was slyly hoping Clark would offer to stable her horse at the Kent Farm, the bad, in Lex showing girlfriend Dr. Bryce his secret room that contains the car that smashed into Clark and various pieces of evidence about him and his family. That's another fascinating situation being developed: Helen clearly seems to want to be around Lex, unlike a lot of people, but at the same time she's garnered Martha's trust for not giving her boy away after the strange blood sample he'd given. Jonathan doesn't trust her, yet Martha, whether through the difficulties and changes in herself from pregnancy, goes against his wishes and confides in Helen, and it's putting the doctor in a very delicate position: two opposites both trusting her and being willing to invest that trust. I have the feeling she turns out to be a spy for Lionel (who doesn't appear again this time), so it may not be genuine affection for Lex, but even if she were working for the other Luthor, she's still at a kind of opposite ends of the spectrum at the same time.

It was these little character developments that were popping up in the episode that enamoured me with the episode, but it was also the story of Cyrus, this outsider who believes he is from another planet where his real parents are waiting for him, the traditional wish of the orphan, and just the idea that he and Clark could in some way be connected is a huge thing at this point in the series when it was so much more realistic and you didn't have all kinds of Kryptonians popping up, which got ridiculous. It was a small, personal story, and yes, there is another of those weird non-meteor rock powers, like Ryan had: Cyrus can heal, but it's not, seemingly from the meteor rocks, unless he was outside when they fell, which is how Clark explains him being able to draw the ship that brought him. It doesn't really need explanation I suppose, it's more important that he uses the healing and is put in a position where he could have refused to save the nasty bully that had caused so much grief. He chooses to set aside his own compelling desire to be at the top of his tower where he believes he will have that one chance to rejoin his kind, in order to sacrifice it all to save the life of someone that doesn't deserve it. It's an inspiring moment, worthy of the kind of quality inspiration that 'Star Trek' used to do so well before it became mere shoot-'em-up fantasy in recent years, and I respected it and enjoyed the episode so much more because it was able to successfully conclude the episode.

I even loved the moment Clark pulls the tower back upright and the vehicle trying to topple it is pulled along, too. It was a simple, but great use of his powers. When the lads surrounded him and Cyrus at school you really want him to go all 'Karate Kid' and beat up the four or five of them, however many were there, but you also know that's not the right thing to do, not because violence breeds violence, or that he couldn't explain his being able to do that, but because Clark is a man of peace and it wouldn't fit with his character - even in the hallway when the bully jibes at him or mocks Cyrus, the ordinary reaction, especially if you were big and tough as we know he is, would be to give the bully a piece of his mind, a tongue-lashing, if not an actual physical assault to make him think twice, and I feel like if the series had been made today that's what the audience would demand, but that's not the right course and I really admired his restraint in all things. I feel like TV and film has turned a corner in the years since (maybe even during), the series, with anti-heroes more and more popular, and evil getting an upper hand over other evil more desired than true heroism: not being baited, not giving in to revenge, doing good even to those that do evil to you, it's practically Biblical in its message here.

For all those reasons I really took to this episode, it seemed especially well presented, I don't know whether it was the direction or just that sense of beauty in so many shots, gorgeous lighting and an impression of goodness even in the landscape. I noticed that whenever Cyrus was there and things seemed so uncertain, the camera would be a lot more jittery, bobbing around to emphasise the mood in stark opposition to other serene images in the episode. And the way Lex just turns up at places and has that slightly sarcastic smile or tone, it really went back to Season 1 in him seeming like an unknown quantity: is he after the Kents, is he a good guy, is he serious in what he says to Helen…? It could be that with lowered expectations it stood out more, or that I hadn't watched something as uplifting for a few weeks, but whatever the reason it did work for me this time and I was completely wrong to dismiss it before. Sometimes you need a gentle, positive story, and this had no violent death or major issues, it was about identity and the give and take of secrets and trust. Even though it almost ends with Helen put in that difficult position, having said there should be no locked doors between her and Lex, at the same time she's keeping deep, dark secrets from him, it still took the time to end more positively with Lana and Clark in the barn looking at the stars. It may still be uncertain, since she confesses if Cyrus had really been an alien she'd have been unsettled, but it's not an all-out horror at the concept, so maybe Clark should have opened up at that point, the perfect opportunity?

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