Smallville 10x06 Harvest
Where's the oomph and excitement befitting a final season? I don't know, but collectively its been a bit of a meh for me, I'm afraid. So far there have been some good moments in eps like 'Shield', 'Homecoming' and 'Isis', but I compare it to last season and by ep 6, despite my issues with Clark' ST, and Chloe and Oliver, I still had eps like 'Metallo', and 'Crossfire', which I enjoyed very much, not to mention the absolutely fantastic 'Rabid.' And if we're talking the most enjoyable stretch of first run eps since post-shakeup S7? Then, as unpopular an opinion as I think it may be, considering how massively shitty that season got in its second half - but the first half of S8? Is probably more enjoyable to me than both the first halves of S9 and 10, so far. And I know I'm being unfair to S10, because the first half hasn't even concluded yet, but I suppose I'm just finding it oddly lacking. S8's first stretch may not have been the most stellar eps, but I do know that barring 'Toxic' and 'Prey', I really enjoyed eps like 'Odyssey', 'Plastique', 'Instinct' and 'Committed', particularly the latter two - tremendously.
I'm hugely digressing though, and to get back to this ep - I guess it was OK. It kept losing my interest though, with my mind wandering off to other things, and that's never a good sign. Especially in an ep which had shirtless Clark (which, don't get me wrong, I appreciated very much!).
The first Clois scene was cute - and I liked that they were talking, and the questions and whatnot. It felt real and believable. I also liked their little charade at Clark being the savior and getting the hell outta dodge there - again, cute stuff. But I kind of hated that barn scene. Because yet again we have another character voice out to Clark what should really be his own stream of articulation by now. I mean, how many times have we heard this same speech from Chloe about 'stepping out from the shadows.' It just seemed a retread, and one that I'm never fond of, because IMO it deprives Clark of that sense of realization, that his own experiences themselves by now should have led him to, or about to lead him to, regardless, of what anyone else opines. And while it was nice to see that the two finally had sex, I felt it was a tad uninspired. I expected more, something more :them::, rather than the same 'ol same 'ol. And enough with the frikkin candles already! That is a film/TV cliche I cannot stand.
I liked that Clark shared his journal with Lois. I like that he's approaching this as 'all in.' I think that's true of his character, and where he's at right now, with having embraced his relationship fully. I don't really know what to say about the rest. He was very heroic, of course, saving Lois from the burning cauldron(?) but to be honest, and maybe I'm just extra dumb today, but I didn't get that whole BlueK plot at all. If Clark was affected by it, courtesy of it being in the blood streams of the crazies, then how was he able to discover the BlueK in the first place? Didn't he xray it in the presence of one of the crazies? And how was he able to recover underground? I suppose it was the fact that he was at a distance from them, but then why wasn't he able to activate his powers when him and Lois were alone? Badly plotted, IMO. Also, I don't quite like how the writers overplayed the 'over-protectiveness' factor to the extent of Clark preventing Lois from the bigger story back at Metropolis.
I liked Lois' speech about faith, that was nicely done I felt. And I also liked seeing her initiative in trying to escape - very Lois. But what was up with just traipsing off with the little girl in the beginning? And then sticking around to the point of actually having dinner with them? Did she not think Clark would be concerned? I thought was incredibly inconsiderate of her. I did get a chuckle out of her, "why aren't we ever any place romantic when he takes off his shirt?" That, and her gazing at his back. Who can blame her, even at a time like that, heh.
What also didn't help this storyline is the fact that the guest players were all such horrendously bad actors. Bad, bad, bad.
The Tess/Clone!Lex was similarly hit and miss. Firstly, where did Tess even get all those kids from, for the party? And now that that's out of the way, heh. I liked Tess' concern and the need to protect clone!Lex, and the call backs to Emily Dinsmore made sense, and I'll admit, I got a bit nostalgic at the Clex callbacks too, like the tie and the final scene dialogue from 'Hug.' And Connor Stanhope continues to impress. But on the whole I felt the storyline was unevenly paced and just, plain jumbled, really. I get where Tess is coming from - this clone is the vestige from the remnants of Lex, as he was. The good, the bad, everything - not just the innocence and purity of what would normally be a child without all that baggage. So, in a way I can understand Tess' realization and acceptance of what she believes to be, and is apparently, as per the show, the inevitable. Her concern is to protect the child and give him a second chance, but her motivations also include protecting Clark. And for that to supercede the former motivation, I think speaks true to Tess' character. The whole thing just felt incredibly rushed to me though, and that sort of affected Tess' characterization for me, because it felt like she was going back and forth without any clear direction. I wish we'd therefore seen more of this storyline in atleast one more ep thus far. Instead of the infuriating and ultimately pointless 'Supergirl', for instance, we could've had another ep of this storyline. I also don't get how if clone!Lex has the memories of Lex, then where was he getting info on things like Zod, and earlier in 'Lazarus', Lois now being in Clark' life, and not Lana. It's confusing. It's still a storyline I'm very interested in, because I think it has potential. Just the stuff about Clone!Lex envisioning Clark as the 'bad man' - it sets up seeds of that classic Supes vs. Lex conflict, and what often makes them so compelling - that Lex genuinely believes he is in the right and Supes is in the wrong. That self belief is, along with his numerous resources, what makes him a formidable opponent. But I wish they'd pace it a bit better and give us some insight, in eps to come, as to how much of this clone is aware, independent from his memories from the real Lex, but fuelled by them nevertheless.
Anyway, I've been enough of a negative nancy for one day. Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you have a great weekend. I'm off to a party tonight, and planning on getting very tipsy, yay! Heh. Making up for the fact that I'm busy through till Wednesday with a work conference, which, not so yay. It's not the work itself, which I enjoy very much, but the hours I'm dreading. Anyway, looking forward to reading everyones posts and comments once I'm done!
I'm hugely digressing though, and to get back to this ep - I guess it was OK. It kept losing my interest though, with my mind wandering off to other things, and that's never a good sign. Especially in an ep which had shirtless Clark (which, don't get me wrong, I appreciated very much!).
The first Clois scene was cute - and I liked that they were talking, and the questions and whatnot. It felt real and believable. I also liked their little charade at Clark being the savior and getting the hell outta dodge there - again, cute stuff. But I kind of hated that barn scene. Because yet again we have another character voice out to Clark what should really be his own stream of articulation by now. I mean, how many times have we heard this same speech from Chloe about 'stepping out from the shadows.' It just seemed a retread, and one that I'm never fond of, because IMO it deprives Clark of that sense of realization, that his own experiences themselves by now should have led him to, or about to lead him to, regardless, of what anyone else opines. And while it was nice to see that the two finally had sex, I felt it was a tad uninspired. I expected more, something more :them::, rather than the same 'ol same 'ol. And enough with the frikkin candles already! That is a film/TV cliche I cannot stand.
I liked that Clark shared his journal with Lois. I like that he's approaching this as 'all in.' I think that's true of his character, and where he's at right now, with having embraced his relationship fully. I don't really know what to say about the rest. He was very heroic, of course, saving Lois from the burning cauldron(?) but to be honest, and maybe I'm just extra dumb today, but I didn't get that whole BlueK plot at all. If Clark was affected by it, courtesy of it being in the blood streams of the crazies, then how was he able to discover the BlueK in the first place? Didn't he xray it in the presence of one of the crazies? And how was he able to recover underground? I suppose it was the fact that he was at a distance from them, but then why wasn't he able to activate his powers when him and Lois were alone? Badly plotted, IMO. Also, I don't quite like how the writers overplayed the 'over-protectiveness' factor to the extent of Clark preventing Lois from the bigger story back at Metropolis.
I liked Lois' speech about faith, that was nicely done I felt. And I also liked seeing her initiative in trying to escape - very Lois. But what was up with just traipsing off with the little girl in the beginning? And then sticking around to the point of actually having dinner with them? Did she not think Clark would be concerned? I thought was incredibly inconsiderate of her. I did get a chuckle out of her, "why aren't we ever any place romantic when he takes off his shirt?" That, and her gazing at his back. Who can blame her, even at a time like that, heh.
What also didn't help this storyline is the fact that the guest players were all such horrendously bad actors. Bad, bad, bad.
The Tess/Clone!Lex was similarly hit and miss. Firstly, where did Tess even get all those kids from, for the party? And now that that's out of the way, heh. I liked Tess' concern and the need to protect clone!Lex, and the call backs to Emily Dinsmore made sense, and I'll admit, I got a bit nostalgic at the Clex callbacks too, like the tie and the final scene dialogue from 'Hug.' And Connor Stanhope continues to impress. But on the whole I felt the storyline was unevenly paced and just, plain jumbled, really. I get where Tess is coming from - this clone is the vestige from the remnants of Lex, as he was. The good, the bad, everything - not just the innocence and purity of what would normally be a child without all that baggage. So, in a way I can understand Tess' realization and acceptance of what she believes to be, and is apparently, as per the show, the inevitable. Her concern is to protect the child and give him a second chance, but her motivations also include protecting Clark. And for that to supercede the former motivation, I think speaks true to Tess' character. The whole thing just felt incredibly rushed to me though, and that sort of affected Tess' characterization for me, because it felt like she was going back and forth without any clear direction. I wish we'd therefore seen more of this storyline in atleast one more ep thus far. Instead of the infuriating and ultimately pointless 'Supergirl', for instance, we could've had another ep of this storyline. I also don't get how if clone!Lex has the memories of Lex, then where was he getting info on things like Zod, and earlier in 'Lazarus', Lois now being in Clark' life, and not Lana. It's confusing. It's still a storyline I'm very interested in, because I think it has potential. Just the stuff about Clone!Lex envisioning Clark as the 'bad man' - it sets up seeds of that classic Supes vs. Lex conflict, and what often makes them so compelling - that Lex genuinely believes he is in the right and Supes is in the wrong. That self belief is, along with his numerous resources, what makes him a formidable opponent. But I wish they'd pace it a bit better and give us some insight, in eps to come, as to how much of this clone is aware, independent from his memories from the real Lex, but fuelled by them nevertheless.
Anyway, I've been enough of a negative nancy for one day. Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you have a great weekend. I'm off to a party tonight, and planning on getting very tipsy, yay! Heh. Making up for the fact that I'm busy through till Wednesday with a work conference, which, not so yay. It's not the work itself, which I enjoy very much, but the hours I'm dreading. Anyway, looking forward to reading everyones posts and comments once I'm done!