Smallville: Memoria

[fajrdrako]

There was a lot of reaction here while we watched this one. maboroshimaki couldn't make it because she was sick, so she phoned me whenever there was an ad, to make squeeing noises and to say "Lex needs a hug". blackbyrde and lmondegreen agreed.

Oh what a delicious Luthor episode.


Things I loved:

1. Lex saves Clark. I was trying to count how many times that has happened. Three? I guess it depends what you call 'saving'. The imagination can play with the interval between the rescue and the argument in the barn.



2. Lex all but articulates his love for Clark - "those I care about". Oh yes.



3. The inclusion of Lillian; much as I'd hoped. I'd expected that it was Lillian who killed Julian, and that Lex was covering for her. I wonder now if Lionel arranged Lillian's death as an alternative to divorce?



4. Lara! Lara, at last! Okay, so we only saw her hand. We heard her voice and she became a character in her own right, and if that isn't enough, and if having Clark remember her isn't enough, there was that wonderful bit about how "Lara" was his first word. In so many ways this episode seemed to be plucking "the things I most want to see" from my mind, and featuring them. (Item: Lex exonerated of Julian's death. Check. Item: Lex rescues Clark. Item: Lex visits the barn. Item: Heavy on Luthors, no Pete Ross. Item: Lana goes away forever.... Okay, no I didn't get all of my wish list.)



5. Martha and Lionel get a scene together. Yay!



6. Lionel and Clark get scenes together and I love the way they play it.



7. Dr. Garner is so delightfully bad. So what happened to him in the end?



8. I loved the lighting in this one. The luminous Luthor blues, the silhouettes, the spots of light in darkness. Amazing composition.



9. I really, really liked the receptionist at Summerholt. I'm not sure why but she really struck me. It made up for not seeing Chloe, I guess.



10. No Pete, no Jonathan. I didn't miss them. Was Jonathan's absence because John Schneider has been working on "10.5"? I imagine so.



11. It has been bothering me that Martha has been so bland of late. I have been reading "The Lost Continent" by Bill Bryson, in which he characterizes his mother as always being bland, never getting upset, never having an opinion, and offering sandwiches at every opportunity. ("The sky has fallen." "That's nice, dear. Would you like a sandwich?" ) That was the impression I was getting of Martha recently. In this episode I saw at least a glimmer of the strong, interesting Martha I had come to love in second season.



12. I thought we would never see the lead box of St. George again and I was delighted that we did. I was astounded by that whole scene, in which it looked (against all the odds) as if Lionel was for once being a kind and caring father. Wonders never cease!



13. Wasn't that a cute baby playing the infant Kal-El?



14. I wasn't too happy that it was Lana wandering through Lex's home when he was asleep and in his pajamas. Should have been Clark.



15. I was unhappy that Clark saw fit to tell Lana about Julian. Now, Lex didn't exactly swear him to secrecy about it, but it's clear that he only talks about Juian to those he trusts very much - by which I mean, only to Clark! - and if Lex hadn't told Lana about Julian I don't think Clark had the right to do it. Okay, it was exposition for the viewers, but it was also to my eyes a breach of trust. Not a big deal, but I don't like it.



16. I love it that Lionel had the loop of the tape of Clark and Lex talking in Belle Reve. And that he showed it to Clark.



17. I'd like to see more mushiness between Clark and Lex again but I love the interesting tension between them - acknowledged mutual caring, but tinged with edginess and quarrels even while they most care about each other.



18. Lex needs a hug. Did I say that already? I love it when Lex is heroic and here he was heroic on several counts: taking the rap for his mother as a child, rescuing Clark, arguing with Clark about his own right to his own memories. Is Lionel now going to be pursuing Lex's love, and failing to get it?



19. I love Lex in those long coats he wears. Okay, I love him in anything, but the long coats particularly.

Comments

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I LOVED this episode too. How did Lillian die? I don't remember hearing that information at all. I loved all the Lex flashbacks. I loved him saving Clark. I just loved it all. Lex was super sexy in this one. All the revelations were GUH. I wince whenever Lana comes on screen. I am not happy to see her playing distress damsel AGAIN in the new episode previews. I pray to god she is gone by the finale. Dammit.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

How did Lillian die?

This was covered in a first season episode, the one in which Lex re-encountered his childhood nursemaid, Pamela. The episode was... um... "Crush", I think. Lillian died of heart failure, after illness, if I recall correctly.

Lex was super sexy in this one.

That's for sure!

I wince whenever Lana comes on screen. I am not happy to see her playing distress damsel AGAIN in the new episode previews.

No. We all groaned at that, too. I'd much rather have Clark or Lex in distress!

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I'd much rather have Clark or Lex in distress!

Oh I agree honey! It's so much more alluring.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And more fun to watch. I hope for more.

[tobyfan.livejournal.com]

I just read something about Schneider directing an episode of SV. Was it this one? I guess I just assumed and didn't check the credit.

That was him in the ad for 10.5?! I was wondering! I kept thinking that looks a lot like SV footage from the pilot! LOL!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Schneider is the director for next week's episode, "Talisman". Not this one.

I haven't seen a trailer for "10.5" but I hear Schneider has grey hair and a few extra pounds on him in it. I'm not sure I want to see that!

[elynross.livejournal.com]

# Dr. Garner is so delightfully bad. So what happened to him in the end?

I think he was the one in the newspaper headline, who was comatose.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Right - I missed that. Must watch the episode again.

[imaginarytiff.livejournal.com]

Lex saves Clark. I was trying to count how many times that has happened. Three?

Only three prior to this that I can remember...

I, too, was wishing it was Clark and not Lana skulking around the mansion late at night!

[acampbell.livejournal.com]

What did you make of the Martha/Lionel scene, all in all?

I also thought Clark's comment (paraphrase) "the last time you got involved trying to help Lex, you got trampled by a horse," really stunk.

I was really glad Jonathan was absent for this ep. It felt very right.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What did you make of the Martha/Lionel scene, all in all?

I loved the ambiguities there. I thought Martha has thoughts she doesn't want to articulate, at least, not to Lionel. Is it because she misses working for him, and wants to come back? Is it because she's attracted to him, and can't say so? Is it because she blames him for what has happened, and is consequently angry? Is it that she wants to tell him to leave Clark alone?

I think Lionel sincerely misses her... sage advice.


I also thought Clark's comment (paraphrase) "the last time you got involved trying to help Lex, you got trampled by a horse," really stunk.

You thought it was callous? I'm trying to remember what I thought. I liked it, but I don't remember why - maybe I just liked it as a way of keeping Lana out of the action rather than involving her in Lex's life. (Or Clark's.) Interestingly, it looks as if she took the hint and stayed away, which I never expected - I don't think she's ever done that before.

It was callous of Clark, I think, but I can think of a few potential reasons for that. I'm not making excuses for him, just trying to think it through. One is that he is under stress through the whole episode and lashing out a lot in various directions. Another is that it could be played as a jealousy thing - he doesn't like Lana's friendship with Lex (or Lex's friendship with her). There could be a number of reasons for that, too - the most obvious one being not sexual jealousy (of either of them) but fear that Lex, being close to his secret, might tell Lana too much. Or might learn too much from her. As I see it, Clark these days is running scared, and it's interfering with his thinking.

I liked Jonathan's absence too. Not in the same way I like Pete's absense - when Jonathan's gone, a part of the whole is missing.