Scion
So I appreciate callbacks and I always welcome moments like that myself. But unfortunately in this episode, I do think that was actually one of the biggest problems here. They seemed more concerned with drawing parallels between Johnathan and Clark then focusing on the real issues in the episodes. We had Clark being there for Connor and taking him home with a smile. But that also meant we had Clark completely forgetting about his fiance. And Clark welcoming Connor into their home after what he did to Lois without a scene with them talking about it first. I guess the Johnathan-like moments worked more if it was played out this way. And unfortunately the show let that be their priority. Rather then portraying the characters well, imo.
But I'll rant more about that at later on.
Tess/Lionel:
Tess' daddy issues are starting to wear thin. Their scenes (especially that first one) where they seem to go around in circles covering the same stuff that as been repeated like a millon times already, before getting to the point, was doing my head in. Yes, Tess was abandoned, Tess wants to save Alexander from becoming like the Luthors, and yes, Lionel is an awful father in any universe. We get it. I wish they would move on already. There's no need to go through each of these things in every scene they have together. What's worse is that their scenes tend to feel like it's going on forever, even when it's pretty short.
Tess/Lois:
A definite step up from their scene in Beacon. I like Tess going to Lois for help and Lois giving her an idea about to go about taking Lionel down. Though the dialogue was confusing here. I'm probably forgetting a certain plotline here or something, but what was it that Tess wanted Clark to do exactly? Was Tess implying that Clark should kill Lionel? Send him to the Phantom Zone, maybe? This idea that Clark might reconsider "taking care of Lionel once and for all" if Lois asks him to made little sense to me. Tess knows that Clark is against this. He wouldn't even do it with Zod last year, and Zod was a much bigger threat. And why not just kill Lionel herself? If she feels it has to be done. Hell, she could have taken a gun with her in that first scene with him and killed him right there. I guess we got our answer in that last scene with them. But why ask Clark to do it? He should kill Lionel because that's not who she is anymore. Huh. And wasn't she just trying to kill Conner in Beacon? This whole thing didn't make much sense to me. She seemed to be asking way too much of Clark. Given that it was something even she wasn't willing to do.
Either way though Lois' answer didn't make much sense to me as well. First it's because he wants to believe Lionel can change and then it's because it might be too dangerous for him. Which one is it? He's letting Lionel wander around because it might be too risky to go after him. Doesn't sound very Clark-like to me. A better reason would have been that Clark is working on it but is trying to find a way to send him back without resorting to killing him or sending him to the PZ, imo.
This episode kinda put Tess in the position she would find herself in earlier seasons. Giving her a POV that makes no sense to keep her involved. Not only because of what I mentioned above but because of her motivation behind getting rid of Lionel. She's afraid he's going to do the same here that he did in his world. Except both worlds are very different. In that world Lionel had Clark as weapon but with noone to stop him. In this world we have Clark to fight against Conner if he was turned by Lionel. As well as a whole group superheroes, who also knows Clark's weakness. Wouldn't that also be Conner's weakness? Maybe I'm missing something about how these clones work, but is Conner not affected by Kryptonite? And even then there still Clark. Also Kara and MM if needed.
Anyways this scene seems to imply that if Lionel were to turn Conner, all hope is lost for this world. And I just don't view Conner as that big of a threat. That's a problem with this Clone storyline, they never set it up as this huge threat. And certainly not something Clark is desperately trying to stop. So this scene falls flat for me because of that.
Tess and Clark:
What was up with Tess being flustered around Clark? At first I thought was because she was nervous about telling Clark about Conner. But it happened in their next scene as well. It was weird. And kinda distracing after a while. Hope that's not going to be a regular thing. And honestly Cassidy is way better then that. That acting was completely over the top.
As for Tess, they need to find some middle ground with her. Not have her be either ridiculously over the top or doing that soft, slowly dragging out her words thing she does everytime when she's going up against someone that makes her scenes feel like they are going on forever. Her scenes with Lois comes closest to finding that balance. She's very Tess-like but she also acts like she as some life in her as well.
"We can never let him know that half of him is Luthor."
When does doing things this way ever work out well for Clark or anyone? Seriously you think they'd learn by now.
Clark and Lionel:
Okay is it just me or was episode filled with people just repeating the same thing over and over again?
"You poisoned him with Red Kryponite. The longer he is exposed to it the more unstable he becomes. He's a danger to himself and everone around him."
The majority of this scene was solely to remind you as many times as possible how Red-K effects people, imo. I get it, Conner was about to attack Lois. But I'm not sure why they thought they felt they had to explain Red-K to the audience? Or why they thought they had to do it more then once.
But honestly I don't think there was much to this scene. Clark and Lionel teach us about Red-K and Clark finds out that Conner's exposed to it and with Lois. That scene could have gotten across all that in half the time. I could say the same thing about many of the scenes in this episode.
I do wonder if this wasn't just to set up Conner storyline but also to set up something that might happen in the AU episode coming. After thinking it over, I also couldn't help but wonder if having Conner become so extreme under the influence of Red-K was something done on purpose for the benefit of this upcoming episode also. An explanation or rather quick fix for Clark Luthor and an (horrible) explanation for why he is the way he is. I can them doing something like this. They did seem to spend more time stressing what Red-K (now) does to a person and when they are exposed to it and what happens when they are exposed to it for a long period of time as well. Doesn't make it any better but I did wonder about it.
Clark/Conner/Lionel:
Seriously Clark can't hit a piece of kryptonite away. He can be exposed to a room full of it and still find the strenght to jump in front a bullet to save a life. He dealt with it well in Patriot in that scene with Slade just this season. Not he can't move one rock away. I thought he desperately wanted to save Conner. That wasn't motivation enough to try?
Lois:
I hated the way they handled what happened with Connor. But there was stuff I loved in it. I loved Lois not backing down when Lionel had a gun to her face even though it's clear she was scared.Those moments like that are always great to watch from her. I love how fierce she can be. I loved that she was not giving up and trying to get away from Connor. I actually had no problem with her running away. I don't think she heard Clark, since they made it a point to show Connor using his super hearing. So I don't see why she'd stick around instead of getting the hell away from there the first chance she got. After what he did and the fact that didn't seem like he could be reasoned with either.
It's good to see her break into places to investigate. And I did like her coming up with the solution to the Lionel problem, for now.
There was a lot of callbacks in this episode. During that scene between Lois and Lionel when she mentioned that Lionel wasn't going to do because the Lionel she knows wouldn't get his hands dirty, I couldn't help but think about about Crusade. When she figured he wasn't responsible for blow up Chloe safe house because it didn't seem like his style.
Conner and Lois:
Conner's crush on Lois may have been cute in the beginning but it tainted any future scenes between them, for now, by not having them adress what happened, imo.
Clark/Lois:
I like this conversation in the first scene. For many reasons but also because it felt like an actual conversation. Lois made some great points. And I liked that Clark actually tried to explain where he was coming from in wanting to help Conner. You have to feel for him in this scene. It lovely to see how far he's come. They also discussed what they're going to do together. And in the end they both decided on it.
This is what was needed at the end instead of Clark taking it upon himself to bring Conner into their home with talking to Lois first. A scene where they sit down and talk about what Conner did, whether they feel they can make this situation work, and most importantly if it's something Lois is comfortable with. Conner didn't just throw her against a wall, that was a terrifying thing to go through. The fact the show didn't think it warranted an apology from Conner onscreen and a serious talk between Clark and Lois about what happened and how they were going to handle this situation was terrible. And definitely one of the worse things they've done this season and in general.
There's no discussion, no working together with Conner, no nothing. If anyone should a say in whether Conner gets to stay with them, it should have been Lois. After everything she went through, for the show to ignore that in favor of some bonding moment for Conner and Clark and more Johnathan/Clark paralells was ridiculous and as distaseful as you can get.
I also hated they portrayed Clark as showing little regard for not only her feelings on the matter but her safety as well. He knew that Conner was with her yet doesn't bother asking about her once they are safe. He had no way whatsoever of knowing that she made it out of there safely rather then lying somewhere unconcious or was even just hurt. That's not like Clark at all. I remember when Idol aired and there was this big discussion over whether it was Clark or the WT that saved Lois from falling. And the biggest argument about why it had to be Clark was that there was no way he would just take it for granted that they would be able to save her. He would never take a chance like that with Lois' safety. And that's how I felt about it as well. So to rely on the fact Conner didn't say anything as proof she must be okay was ridiculous. Well, it was either that or he forgot about her. Either way it was completely OOC and badly handled, imo.
This whole thing just pissed me off. I honestly don't know what goes on in those producers heads when they come up with these kinds of storylines. According to Al, Clois fans were going to enjoy this one. Was he referring to the last scene with the kids talk? That scene was tainted for me by what happened before. And Lois mentioning them having kids. I don't know how I feel about that. And furthermore wasn't she getting cold feet just one episode ago? Yet now she's talk about kids in such a nonchalant way. Wow, I guess Clark's answer really did do the trick.
The dialogue in this episode was also pretty bad at times. I mentioned a couple times but too many scenes seemed to revolve around the characters just repeating the same thing over and over again. Basically just talking in circles. A lot of the scenes just seemed way to drawn out. The three one's that was really notcible was the first Lionel and Tess scene, the first Lionel and Conner scene, and the first Clark and Conner scene. I was finding it hard not to tune out during those scenes.
So yeah, not the strongest episode. And It definitely didn't leave me feeling excited for or feeling better about where the show is heading. The rate they are going you'd think they didn't have much stories left to tell with Clark. They are not making the most out of these last few episodes at all. I don't like going into every episode expecting the worse and hoping I'm pleasantly surprised. It was one thing in earlier season but it's another after they've shown us how great this show can be with episodes like Ambush, Homecoming, Idol, and Salvation, just to name a few.