fajrdrako | Smallville: Commencement..

I taped Commencement on Wednesday when it was aired and I didn't watch it till yesterday. Partly this was because I was busy, and feeling unwell, and partly because I always prefer to watch Smallville with someone else, and partly because... well... sheer bloody terror.

See, I love this show with a passionate love, with Lex Luthor at the centre of it. I have feared the decay of his relationship with Clark. I have feared the Lex-abuse, which crops up often - sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Mostly I have feared moments where Lex seems ordinary and dull. It has happened. Poor

acampbell has listened to me rant about Visage in this respect.

I think the personalities of the characters have changed. In two characters, this is a good thing: Chloe is more serious but still herself, still driven to chase after truth whatever the cost - but not necessarily, now, to always reveal it. She has become the Pete Ross character - in the old comic, Pete knew Clark's secret but never revealed, even to Clark, that he knew it. Chloe fits this role even more beautifully, since with every other piece of information she has been driven to make the truth known to all.

The other character who has changed for the better is Lana. I think she has definitely changed for the better. Too bad I don't care.

Commencement reassured me that Lex can be bad, and still be interesting. I even like the way in which he is becoming evil: not a huge crisis, not mind control, not a misunderstanding, not uncontrollable circumstances. Just little decisions to do the practical, unethical thing, and to hide his real thoughts under a benign facade.

Moreover, this makes sense to me (at last) of the decay of his relationship with Clark. He can't afford to let his affections for Clark affect his actions, especially when Clark is holding him at arm's length, lying to him, and failing to confide in him. In turn, Lex's increasing bitterness and alienation is making Clark step back from the relationship still more, making Lex's moral and emotional isolation greater.

What I want is for the spark to come back, for the love we've seen to turn more openly into love/hate or hate/love. Right now we're in an uneasy truce between them, an undeclared cold war. If they can't have peace, I want outright battle, all flames and passion - or hot, repressed angst.

I want Clark to be flying. Shouldn't he be flying by now?

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I was going to talk specifically about Commencement but I just got a call from

maaseru to go to Bridgehead for coffee. Can't pass that up!