Smallville: All for Love
Upfront Digression of a Kind: There is a very good old French movie called The Earring of Madame De.... by Max Ophuls. It takes place at the end of the nineteenth century when well-to-do and Middle Class women (Madame Bovary) had nothing to do but moon and yearn for LOVE. LOVE! What was their live but LOVE?
The movie is about Madame de who has gambling debts to redeem so she sells her earrings that her husband the General gave her for a wedding present because they are so large and glittery and DULL! The General visits the jewelry shop where he bought the earrings years ago and is surprised to find them on sale again. But our General thinks fast and buys them again for his mistress who is off for Cairo or Istanbul because she and the General are breaking up. Whadda ya know? High class women are not just LOVE Piners, they are Gamblers! The Mistress loses at Love Gambling in Istanbul or Constantinople (ask the Turks) and sells the earrings to pay her debts. Some Italian Count roughing it in Turkey or Egypt (ask Isis) buys them and presents them to his LOVER, Madame de... Well, ain't LOVE the Damnest Thing!
And then there are shenanigans and I Love Lucy type plots and contrivances to keep everyone in the dark about the earrings, and it ends....I'll let you see the movie. I am not for this ALL FOR LOVE crap, but the movie isn't either. Mr. Ophuls had a bit of Douglas Sirk in him. It's a good movie, view it un-ironically if you wish. I will snigger as I watch it.
Here is our Smallville Cupid, Ollie, Pining away for LOVE! LOVE! just like a nineteenth century noblewoman with nothing else better in his life to do.
Ever notice that Ollie has the profile of an Ancient Greek Statue? The bridge of his nose is even with his forehead. I didn't either. Usually, Ollie is shirtless and I have better things to be Oogling noticing.
I suppose that Ollie is pining for a Platonic Kind of Love because the object of his affections, Chloe, is nothing like what he describes her as. There is some Love is Blind eye disease going around.
And how does that explain Tess's comments about Chloe? And her unusual and out of character actions in this episode?
Well pardon me for pointing it out, but Tess is having a raging PMS period in her life at this time.
Tess is dressed in black for a very good reason. Tess is buying herself lots of flowers and boxes of chocolate, and she is eating all of them.
Tess is having Raging Mood swings.
One moment, she is acting like Mr. Rochester's wife in the Attic.
And the next moment, she is crying by the Attic window.
And all that chocolate has made her break out.
And the capper is not that she is tearing up a wedding veil, no Tess's hormones have ranged and raged further than just that. Tess has a little child up in the Attic of Ovary Monthly Madness with her.
And she is kissing and petting it as if it were one of her many Cats.
Tess has become a Cat Lady!
Like you, I am sneezing and wheezing in amazement at this development of affairs.
This ALL FOR LOVE Madness is leaving a Rank and Fishy taste in my mouth.
Another Cat Lady
I am not against Cat Ladies, but women must have more in their lives. After all, women and Cat Ladies are People too.
Now here is a Cat Lady of whom I am inordinately fond.
Here is our lurking and sneaky Cat Lady, Cat Grant!
Like her animal totem, Cat, makes herself at home on other people's desks.
Cat Attacks and Pounces Upon Her Prey with sharp implements and NO WARNING!
Clark must break up the Cat Fight!
Clark puts Cat out for the night.
With a cupful of cream and a nice warm newspaper for her to sleep on.
Another Digression: This episode was beautifully and cleverly shot by James Marshall, a director (I believe that he has been with Smallville for all 10 seasons) and producer of the show. Every frame had clever imagery that re-inforced and commented on the characters and the action at hand. Mr. Marshall is a superb talent; I hope that he directs the Finale. He would do it Justice.
And here are some images of our Intrepid and Inquisitive Reporter, Cat, in the warehouse, hunting the Rats and Rodents as a good House Cat should do.
These aren't just establishing and reaction shots for Cat. They are character shots and viewer reactions shots too. Kudos, Mr. Marshall!
And then there was this conversation between Cat and Tess.
Tess: "Are you here to pitch your followup to your last piece about the problematic squirrel population?"
Cat: "They are rodents! And probably Rabid. Whatever..."
And they hang out in motorcycle gangs! Cat is on the Nose on this!
Hell On Earth
And here is some more intelligent imagery and composition to illustrate Ollie's comment to Clark that Isis can bring Hell on Earth.
It is Dark Night in Metropolis.
Are the fires of Hell burning in Metropolis?
Yep, it is that time of the month for Tess.
Are these all the souls that Clark and his fellow warriors must save from the darkness?
The Sun God must bring the Light that Renews Life.
And the Sun God has Cupid, the God of Love (and in Ollie's case Mooning, so maybe that Moon was for him too), to shoot his arrows and correct ALL CONSUMING AND DEVOURING LOVE that screws up everyone's life, not just Ollie and hysterical nineteenth century French women.
Hidden Loves and Obsessive Loves end badly. Take note, Tess.
Mother Love can be deadly and destructive.
A True Heart might not be what you think it is.
It might be false and dead.
And dirt and ashes.
A True Love
A True Love must be a partnership, not a deception. (Ignore that dog sniffing another dog's butt on the vase.)
Notice our Smallville Cupid in the middle.
One reveal recalls another reveal.
They occur in the same room. And end the same but differently.
Clark's feet are straight up in the air.
No one is left standing.
Take a bow, Mr. Marshall.
I'll take Clark's lips.
Grow Up!
Tess reads Peter Pan to Little Lex. Peter Pan is a story about a boy who never grew up. (Clark is a little like Peter Pan now that I think of it. Ten Long Years!)
But that is not Little Lex's problem. Little Lex is growing up much too fast. And that is not just a fond parent speaking of their child. That is the Clone Awful Truth.
Isis
I can't think of Isis without thinking of our Lovely Lana, Corn Goddess and Isis.
Her love was so obsessive that she sacrificed that love when she donned the Super Suit.
Does she still have regrets?
Clark is back to reading his self-help books to figure things out.
He is thinking that this Eternal Love Crap didn't work out the first time due to obsession and the awful lengths that Lana was willing to go for it. He is not willing to try that again.
Isis was problematic in this episode. Perhaps if Lana had come back and played her it would have made more sense script-wise. In both cases, a woman or Goddess who was willing to do all for love, lost that very love because she went too far. She took too much because she couldn't find something else, a Life and Purpose for herself. She Madame Bovary'd and Madame de...'d herself into the Corner of LOVE IS ALL. And that is a very narrow and confining corner. Women have gone mad in that Room of Love.
And there was also this.
This made me think of Salvation and the last fight between Zod and Clark. At the end of that fight, a woman who had a life, Lois, did find her lover and put him back together again. Lois may be like a Pit Bull on a Leg, but she is a Pit Bull about a lot of different things in her life and not just love. In love, Lois is like a Shelby. Shelby loves Clark, but Shelby has cows to chase and coyotes to bark at and naps in the barn to take.
And yet another lovely image brought to us by Mr. Marshall.
Lois as Lois and Lois as Isis are reflected in mirrors and windows throughout the episode. Are the reflections false? or true? I think false for the reasons that I have given above. Lois is Not Isis and she is Not Lana.
When I saw this, again I thought of Salvation. I thought that I saw this.
Brilliant Job, Mr. Marshall! I am Not Worthy!
Isis Screen Caps by Me (::cough:: where are you homeofthenutty ? Late again?)
Other Screen Caps by homeofthenutty . I forgive you.
When Lois Attacks Gif by onebreath