Smallville: Sacrifice
This wasn't a bad ep by any means, IMO, and yet, I can't seem to muster up too much enthusiasm. I think I'm experiencing a serious case of SV fatigue. It's still my show, but I'm very ready for the season to be over and done with now.
Still, this ep didn't actively aggravate me and in terms of Clark' characterization and even getting some POV, I was actually far more pleased than what we got last ep. And why does this show so often feel like two different shows within one? I've been feeling this since S8 now. Also, the lack of resolution to the Clois scene from last ep, was very jarring, for me.
But enough random musings. On to the main stuff.
I have much love for that first Clark / Ollie scene, because for a change, we didn't have to witness Clark grovelling and apologising his way through while the other participant continues to jackass their way through. Instead, we had a Clark who was concerned at the problem at hand, and was there to talk the situation over with Oliver, but clearly wasn't going to be needlessly bashed. The show so often makes it out as if the whole world' suffered, but Clark, and that it's Clark who's wronged everyone else while nobody's ever done anything to him - that color me surprised and pleased, when we got to hear Clark tell Oliver "I know what you're capable of" and warn him against "threatening everything" he's "worked for" and standing tall and asserting for a change for things to be handled "my way."
And I appreciated Oliver' response to that. Maybe it was JH, but that brief glimpse of surprise on Ollie' face as he listens to Clark - it's like his past jackassery flashing before his eyes, and there's a sense of self acknowledgment I got from him in that moment. It wasn't an apology, but I stopped expecting that of him a long time ago, but it was something. And far more than we've gotten out of Chloe, so I suppose yeah, there you go. And so with him following this up immediately with "I got your back" (which, btw, can they not have Oliver use this expression? It just gives me unpleasant Doomsday flashbacks) and "they're not the only family you have here" - it actually felt sincere. Or, perhaps I'm totally losing it, heh. That's an option too.
Back to Clark - I liked his scenes with Faora, once again. It might have only been for a brief time period and it may only have been a small band of people, but it was heartening to see that Clark was able to impact at least someone with his way of thinking. Too bad it was so short lived. That said, I liked seeing him being able to witness some more of the Kryptonian ways, with the ceremony that was being performed, etc. And it was fitting, therefore, when he told Faora that Keypton would live through her. Clark is more human than anything else so of course Faora is a far better representative for continuing to teach the Kryptonian heritage, culture, etc. Of course, the whole flying thing has just gotten rather ridiculous by now. I mean, enough already. Completely unrelated to the whole Kryptonian storyline, etc, but I think my favorite Clark moment is actually just that - a moment. But it encapsulates so well one of the qualities in him that I've always admired the most - his compassion. For me, this moment was the hospital scene where he's watching Chloe and Oliver and the look on his face and then upon seeing Chloe coming out, instantly offering her the coffee cup. ::smishes Clark:: TW is so good with the subtle.
The Tess / Chloe uneasy, reluctant alliance worked a lot better for me in this ep than in the previous one because the need for survival, as a precipitating cause of said alliance - feels a plausible one, to me. Though, I have to wonder - just how far up her own ass is Chloe nowadays that she never even stopped for one second to foresee a scenario where she might still be inside WT when it shut down? And I got a real laugh out of her "I guess I lost my faith in people a long time ago." Oh, show. Funny, funny show. ::shakes head:: I do think AM did a good job in this ep. I got a lot more out of her scenes in this one than I have in a while. There were actual emotions flashing across her face at certain points, and that always helps making a character more than just a 2-D sketch. I especially liked her "son-of-a-bitch" as she turned around to save Tess. Speaking of Tess, while it was another terrific performance from CF, I have to say, I think I spotted a kink in her otherwise consistently flawless performance armor - the scene where she comes back to life was just wierdly played. But otherwise, like I said, this is CF, and she can make her character resonate with me even when it's at its most confounding. For me, Tess' "just damned. All I wanted to do was save the world", spoke volumes about her and her mindset. Also, the "get it out of me" moment? Anyone else have 'Freak' flashbacks?
Zod was a bit all over the place in this one. And stupid, come to think of it. But talk about that perfect Zod-ian mix of comeuppance and manipulation, all in the same breath as he lays to rest his child that he himself killed, while squarely pinning the blame of the murder on to someone else. And apparently he's General now.
Faora was such a regal presence. I'll miss her. The baby's heartbeat drowning out got to me.
Waller can't be dead, yes? And it was nice that we had Stuart, or 'Agent Campbell' back, but sort of random, no?
A lot of things going on this one and it never got boring, for me. So that's a plus I suppose. Unfortunately I still have some major apprehensions for the remaining two eps and I've just added another one to that after this ep, that's actually bothering me the most. But oh well, I'll take what I can get right now.
Still, this ep didn't actively aggravate me and in terms of Clark' characterization and even getting some POV, I was actually far more pleased than what we got last ep. And why does this show so often feel like two different shows within one? I've been feeling this since S8 now. Also, the lack of resolution to the Clois scene from last ep, was very jarring, for me.
But enough random musings. On to the main stuff.
I have much love for that first Clark / Ollie scene, because for a change, we didn't have to witness Clark grovelling and apologising his way through while the other participant continues to jackass their way through. Instead, we had a Clark who was concerned at the problem at hand, and was there to talk the situation over with Oliver, but clearly wasn't going to be needlessly bashed. The show so often makes it out as if the whole world' suffered, but Clark, and that it's Clark who's wronged everyone else while nobody's ever done anything to him - that color me surprised and pleased, when we got to hear Clark tell Oliver "I know what you're capable of" and warn him against "threatening everything" he's "worked for" and standing tall and asserting for a change for things to be handled "my way."
And I appreciated Oliver' response to that. Maybe it was JH, but that brief glimpse of surprise on Ollie' face as he listens to Clark - it's like his past jackassery flashing before his eyes, and there's a sense of self acknowledgment I got from him in that moment. It wasn't an apology, but I stopped expecting that of him a long time ago, but it was something. And far more than we've gotten out of Chloe, so I suppose yeah, there you go. And so with him following this up immediately with "I got your back" (which, btw, can they not have Oliver use this expression? It just gives me unpleasant Doomsday flashbacks) and "they're not the only family you have here" - it actually felt sincere. Or, perhaps I'm totally losing it, heh. That's an option too.
Back to Clark - I liked his scenes with Faora, once again. It might have only been for a brief time period and it may only have been a small band of people, but it was heartening to see that Clark was able to impact at least someone with his way of thinking. Too bad it was so short lived. That said, I liked seeing him being able to witness some more of the Kryptonian ways, with the ceremony that was being performed, etc. And it was fitting, therefore, when he told Faora that Keypton would live through her. Clark is more human than anything else so of course Faora is a far better representative for continuing to teach the Kryptonian heritage, culture, etc. Of course, the whole flying thing has just gotten rather ridiculous by now. I mean, enough already. Completely unrelated to the whole Kryptonian storyline, etc, but I think my favorite Clark moment is actually just that - a moment. But it encapsulates so well one of the qualities in him that I've always admired the most - his compassion. For me, this moment was the hospital scene where he's watching Chloe and Oliver and the look on his face and then upon seeing Chloe coming out, instantly offering her the coffee cup. ::smishes Clark:: TW is so good with the subtle.
The Tess / Chloe uneasy, reluctant alliance worked a lot better for me in this ep than in the previous one because the need for survival, as a precipitating cause of said alliance - feels a plausible one, to me. Though, I have to wonder - just how far up her own ass is Chloe nowadays that she never even stopped for one second to foresee a scenario where she might still be inside WT when it shut down? And I got a real laugh out of her "I guess I lost my faith in people a long time ago." Oh, show. Funny, funny show. ::shakes head:: I do think AM did a good job in this ep. I got a lot more out of her scenes in this one than I have in a while. There were actual emotions flashing across her face at certain points, and that always helps making a character more than just a 2-D sketch. I especially liked her "son-of-a-bitch" as she turned around to save Tess. Speaking of Tess, while it was another terrific performance from CF, I have to say, I think I spotted a kink in her otherwise consistently flawless performance armor - the scene where she comes back to life was just wierdly played. But otherwise, like I said, this is CF, and she can make her character resonate with me even when it's at its most confounding. For me, Tess' "just damned. All I wanted to do was save the world", spoke volumes about her and her mindset. Also, the "get it out of me" moment? Anyone else have 'Freak' flashbacks?
Zod was a bit all over the place in this one. And stupid, come to think of it. But talk about that perfect Zod-ian mix of comeuppance and manipulation, all in the same breath as he lays to rest his child that he himself killed, while squarely pinning the blame of the murder on to someone else. And apparently he's General now.
Faora was such a regal presence. I'll miss her. The baby's heartbeat drowning out got to me.
Waller can't be dead, yes? And it was nice that we had Stuart, or 'Agent Campbell' back, but sort of random, no?
A lot of things going on this one and it never got boring, for me. So that's a plus I suppose. Unfortunately I still have some major apprehensions for the remaining two eps and I've just added another one to that after this ep, that's actually bothering me the most. But oh well, I'll take what I can get right now.