smallville, 6.19: nemesis
1. Despite the title, this episode isn't about how Lex is Clark's nemesis at all, but it *is* a pivotal episode that lays a lot of the groundwork for how Lex eventually will become Clark's enemy. There's a lot of tallying going on in this ep -- all the things we know to be truths and all the things we know to be lies, and all that space in between where there's still a lot of uncertainty. Right now, that space in between is a lot larger than its surrounding components. Eventually, the balance will tip, and the lies will be revealed and become truths. We're not quite there yet, though.
2. I'm currently in the middle of the third season (I've just finished watching 3.12: Hereafter -- another pivotal ep for portraying a meteor freak who isn't a danger, and who becomes "healed" of his powers), and I'm enjoying watching the earlier seasons concurrently with the sixth season for compare and contrast and to see the flow of the characters as they move from their teen selves to their adult selves. In the earlier seasons, Clark is constantly saving Lex from one terrible disaster after another. I really like how this works metaphorically: Clark has to save Lex because Lex can't save himself (from his destiny, from his father, from his own demons). Asylum is the episode in which this starts to turn, quarter steps, one step at a time -- Clark unable to save Lex and then unintentionally perpetuating Lex's shock therapy by switching the lights back on. It's interesting to see how we're beyond that now, and moving more towards what will be true at the end of the story: that not even Superman could save Lex Luthor. Again, in Nemesis, we're not quite there. This is a story about how Clark and Lex save each other. They're on equal footing here, both of them confused about the other, each of them with his list of suspicions, but no real proof. What a great tragedy, to see them standing there, and wish that things didn't end the way they will.
3. Watching the earlier seasons also helps me appreciate Lana in season six a lot more than I might. First of all, her clothes are FABULOUS. Second of all, although I am annoyed at her fake low-voice, I'm less annoyed by it than her actual girly-voice. In general, this is true for most things about Lana: I like fake!Lana much more than the real one. Terrible, I know. But true.
4. "This little project you're doing down here...is worth more to you than your life." Aside from all the horrid dialogue this poor actress got to work with, *this* piece of dialogue is so dead on. This is, at the crux, the reason why Lex is so dangerous. The thing about a guy who would be willing to die for his obsession is that if the project is worth more to him than his *own* life, you better believe it's worth more to him than *yours*.
5. God, the moment that Clark and Lex meet up...Rosenbaum and Welling play so well off each other, and I love that they both deliver their lines as if they can't believe the words that are coming out of their mouths.
Lex: Clark? What are you doing here?
Clark: Your dad sent me.
Look at Welling's face in particular during this exchange. He just. can't. believe. it. HYSTERICAL. AND AWESOME.
6. Um. The scene where they're grunting while Lex PULLS SOMETHING OUT OF CLARK'S BODY? Yeah, that's not gay AT ALL.
7. Okay, the thing that is brilliant about the first Clark/Lex scene is how everything they're both saying is so *honest*. They're only telling truths here (or things they believe to be true -- and what, exactly, is the difference?). Let's break it down:
Clark: Nothing's ever good enough for you, Lex. (true)
Lex: The truth would have been. (i do actually believe that Lex believes that. it's true to him.) You may be flesh and blood (true to lex), but you've never trusted me (true). You've been keeping secrets from me since we met (true).
Clark: Would it have mattered? (i.e., it *wouldn't* have mattered. true.) What are you really doing down here, Lex? Trying to exploit the people who have different abilities than you? (yes.)
Lex: There's no grey area, is there? It's either all good or all evil. (he's talking about *for clark* here, which is true. note in particular that the dialogue gave lex an opportunity to lie, and he didn't take it. lex doesn't bother denying clark's accusation at all.) Did you even try to see my humanity before you decided I had none? (translation: you never even tried to see my humanity...etc., which lex does believe. again, this is true for him.)
Clark: I did, Lex. (true) And look where we are. (so, so, so true)
I LOVE THIS. Here they are, laying it all on the line, and there isn't a single lie between them. They're both being as honest as they may ever have been -- and it's still not enough. LOOK WHERE WE ARE. Despite everything, despite how hard Clark tried and how much Lex wanted things to be different. Look where we are. GOD.
8. I also love what this episode says about what Clark and Lex are willing to sacrifice and *not* willing to sacrifice, even when the alternative is death. With his life on the line, Lex isn't willing to tell the truth about Project Aries to Keenan's wife. And with his life on the line, Clark isn't willing to tell Lex the truth about the kryptonite. There are secrets worth more than life. Conversely, they *will* risk their own lives to save the other. There are friendships worth dying for.
9. Lex: We have to go back.
Clark: You know we don't have time for that.
Oh, man. No, you can't go back, can you? Not to the other side of the tunnel and not to the beginning. I might have gotten a little teary-eyed here. Really great use of dialogue. Lex has always wanted things to be different than they were; if he could force Clark to tell him the truth, he would. And it's fitting that it's Clark who says no (again and again and again), who asks Lex to accept the truths as they are. The sense of inevitability is so heavy here.
10. In direct contrast to their first conversation, the second conversation between Clark and Lex is about all the uncertainties in their relationship. First up, Lana. Does Lex really love her? I can't say for sure whether he does or doesn't. Unlike the things that Lex *believes* to be true, even if they're wrong, I have no idea whether Lex even believes himself to be in love with Lana or not. We know he doesn't trust her -- "Lana's the first person in my life I really do trust," is an obvious lie. Clark thinks Lex forced Lana to marry him (he doesn't know this for sure; he suspects), but his suspicions in this case are wrong -- it was Lionel. All of this leads up to the biggest uncertainty of all: Were we ever really friends? And Lex's answer? I don't know. This scene seems to end in a certainty -- at least I believed that Lex would leave Clark. I thought that's what this episode as about -- the point in which their friendship is severed forever. But before we get to that:
11. Clark's Don't leave me here broke my heart. That gravely, naked voice. Welling was AMAZING in this episode. He's really grown as an actor. He's willing to lay all his emotions out there, strip himself of all pride, to beg Lex in a blatantly desperate way to make a different choice. Oh, Clark. And he calls out to Lex THREE TIMES. More than the somewhat clunky delivery of the rather clunky dialogue at the end by Martha, *this* scene really illustrates just how much Clark never does give up hope in Lex.
12. Really great reveal on Lex coming back. I love Welling's confusion here, that small gesture he does with his hand when the beam moves away, like, What the fuck? PERFECTION. And then this: Guess you never knew me at all. In a episode filled with revelatory dialogue, this is probably the most important. That last scene with them really was about uncertainties; just when you think you've finally figured Lex out, he does something unexpected. You have no idea why. You'd like to believe it's because he really does care about Clark, but you can't really be sure.
13. Can you?
14. More grunting while they climb the ladder. This time with bonus grabbing at each other. I love, love, love Welling one-arming his way through this scene, actually jumping up to grab at the bars with his good arm in an effort to beat the clock. Then Lex falling, Clark having to hold on to the ladder with his bad arm while he holds Lex with his good one, screaming in pain the whole way. GOD BLESS YOU SMALLVILLE.
15. BELLLLLLLLLLLLLEH.
16. You know, I have to admit that I found that Clark/Lana scene compelling. They both did a really good job infusing that exchange with longing, and I've always said that pairing is at its best when it can't be actualized. They're both incredibly beautiful people, shot in an incredibly beautiful way, and they're captivatingly expressive with their eyes. Plus, there were no words. I will dutifully watch all Clark/Lana scenes if they're done in complete silence.
17. Still, the thing I most felt when she pulled away from Clark to walk towards Lex was relief. Mostly because I really enjoy her facade with Lex. Man, she is SO ANGRY. She isn't leaving this marriage without some kind of a body count. I know the series can't possibly end this way, but I indulge in angst-ridden fantasies in which Lex and Lana (both of them dressed impeccably), shoot each other down and its just a blood bath with lots of low-voiced insults and recriminations and maybe some strangulation at the end. I'm sure Lana indulges in these fantasies, too.
18. Reeves Dam? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
19. Man, Lana is SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH! My world is askew! Unlike Lex, with whom you can't tell where the lies end and the truth begins, with Lana the fun part is knowing exactly when she's lying and exactly when she's telling the truth in a way that sounds like a lie. I don't know what I did to deserve you -- which, okay, so it's hard to break the habit of self-pity after all these years, but I'll give her a pass on this one because although my gut instinct is still, MAYBE IT WAS THE CHOICES YOU MADE, I still understand that making mistakes in life doesn't mean that it's okay for your husband to make you believe that you were pregnant and then lost the baby. I think we all agree that's beyond the pale. Also, I like all the doubles entendres in her monologue. I wish I was strong like you. I don't know what I would do if somebody lied to me like that. She isn't lying here, but she doesn't mean what it sounds like. GOOD JOB LANA.
20. Hey, that Kennan guy is Helo! Is Lex building a cylon army? Because that is a BAD IDEA.
eta: 21. Ah, I thought it was Project Aries, but it's Project Ares. That makes a lot more sense. *g*
Man, that was long. But kudos to Smallville for giving me so much to talk about.