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Wednesday, September 25th, 2002 04:53 pm
svreview: vortex, s2e1
Backdated entry from diaryland.
Added: 8/30/2004
Yeesh. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers
SPOILERS.
Vortex. Dear God, Vortex.
Great points, good points, bad points. For the best stuff, go to Gjstruthseeker, who basically has said everything I could and THEN some about Clark, Lex, et al.
Lexluvesclark, however, in comments, decided to scare me badly.
Someone on TWoP speculated that Nixon is not the first person Lex has killed. In fact, she speculated he might one in a line that goes all the way back to Julian up to the unreliable narration of the Club Zero/Jude Royce murder. Not sure I buy that but what a kick in the pants that would turn out being true at series end.
NO. NONONONONONO.
There. The series CANNOT retrofit history to blacken Lex backward. Otherwise this redemption thing they're playing is useless. I am refusing to believe with much in the way of energy.
Okay, starting at the beginning.
Lex proved that he needs a competent team of therapists. Because he is screwed. I have said before it's surprising with his history that he's even functioning normally. Now I'm just surprised he isn't in random bathrooms with razors every chance he gets.
I liked Lana. Molly and Jack have supported in this unusual sensation, so I'm not alone. Yes, she had annoying moments, but wow, she had some GOOD ones. And that confrontation at the end with Clark? Yep. Don't you just want to send her to Lex so they can compare notes?
Chloe broke my heart, per usual. If you didn't see this one coming.... *Hugs Chloe* Poor baby. For those who need ultra-fast comfort, Wendi wrote more Chloe/Wally. You'll feel better. Trust me on this one.
Pete was Pete. He needs more lines. Great comfort of Chloe going on there. Now who again is holding that Chloe/Pete4Ever banner up?
BoJo Duke needs to remember the difference between people who try to blow up your son and people who tend not to do that. Because confiding? Didn't do much good there. Yes, small space, stuck together. Modified Stockholm Syndrome going on, perhaps. Yes, this is the plotline for many an h/c and a lot of rom ance (okay, I didn't just say that, did I?). But see, BoJo? Nixon TRIED TO BLOW UP YOUR SON. HE WANTS TO GET THE STORY OF A LIFETIME. I'm going to guess that a few days trapped with you will not a fuzzy-bunny make here. This is worth millions, and unlike some people I could name, Nixon isn't in love with your son to the point of idiocy.
*pounds heels into floor*
What WAS he thinking? I get the rationale, sort of, but I just sat there in amazement as Jonathan ratttled off stories about Clark's Amazing Super Childhood and powers and vulnerabilities, thinking, wonderful, John-boy. You're not making this story ANY MORE TEMPTING than it already is to random ruthless reporters, no sir.
*breathing*
Um. Let's see. I'm going to quote from Gjstruthseeker, because, well, everything was said here pretty damn well.
This episode almost felt like a culmination of the trials of Lex. If anything, his task seems more Herculean than Clark's at this point. Except, like most of the great Greek plays, his fate is a tragic one. He reminds me of Louis from Interview with the Vampire. When Louis is lying out on the balcony after turning Madelaine, when he tells Claudia that what died in that room wasn't her, but "the last breath in me that was human." That's what Lex's shooting of Nixon made me think of. Louis had no choice - he was in love with Armand and he knew Claudia was in danger if she stayed in Paris but wouldn't be able to take care of herself alone. Turning Madelaine was the only feasible solution, however much it cost him personally. Lex's shooting of Nixon was just as unavoidable. His own issues with Nixon had been resolved, he'd been dismissed and told to leave the Kents alone, and Lex has told everyone concerned as much. Yes, Nixon was about to kill Jonathan, as contrived as that all was, but the facts remain. He was also about to reveal Clark's secrets, something Lex realizes the weight and magnitude of even without having to know them. It was the only way to save Clark, Jonathan, and the friendship he's worked and fought for. I'm not entirely sure he had to think about it once before he pulled the trigger.
He killed a man, yes. This is not trucks, not concert tickets, not excessive organic produce investments or carte blanche to start over as friends with honesty as the foundation. But in the same few seconds' time, a part of him was lost too.
And Clark won't even thank him for it.
He won't be ungrateful and he'll somehow acknowledge that what Lex did saved them all, but he'll never agree on the principle. And if Bo Kent has the audacity to say something to any effect, someone needs to remind him that he'd be dead and Clark would probably be on a laboratory table in some government basement with a Y-incision in his chest.
I promised I'd be very, very fair to Clark this season. I PROMISED.
Okay. *breathes*
She's right.
What's annoying me the most? I'm not even entirely sure why yet--I need more time to think and mull.
It was that adorable little pro-family speech by BoJo at the end there with Clark. Clark all, oh, Dad, did you want to kill him? And Dad goes, of course not Beaver, I mean, Clark, becaue that's Not a Good Example, and I want only Good Examples going on here.
This happens, what, ten minutes after that Good Example was being held down with a sharpened piece of metal at his chest and his son semi-conscious on the ground nearby? If Jonathan is going to say, nope, when that man had ME on my back with death in his eyes and you convulsing over tehre, I was not at all tempted....
Here's the thing...Jonathan Kent knew Nixon was willing to test a theory by blowing up his son. It's not like we don't have Phelan as a precedent here. He ran out into the tornado to....
What? Reason with him?
Okay, I'll give him that. He did. He ran out to get the film--leave off that Nixon has a memory and can get more film any damn time he wants, because Clark is the worst secret-keeper in the history of mankind. Leave off that had I been Nixon, I would have said, golly-gee, you're right, sir, and then come back a few weeks after the storm and got my proof while Clark did something else bizarre, like he always does for reasons that passeth my understanding.
*breathing*
This. Makes. No. Sense.
We all knew Nixon had to die. Everyone except, apparently, Jonathan Kent. Who perhaps won't bloody his own hands, but has no problem with watching twenty-one year old kids whose fathers are in the hospital do it for him. Yes, yes, yes, reapproachement and all that. I'm just as giddy as anyone else, though I don't see it lasting more than three episodes on the outside. Yes, it would have been nastier if Jonathan had climbed onto a moral high horse and spurned Lex again. And monumentally unfair.
But you know? Could have lived without that example speech there. Jonathan, you wanted him dead. It's better that he's dead. And you should have been the one to do it, or at very, very damn least, not started pontificating on goodness with your son's best friend standing nearby with gunpowder burns on his hands. For. Your. Son.
Yeah, I'm a LITTLE peeved by that. And I know the logic, but logic didn't work for me. I know this was a Statement of Values. It just didn't work here. There are actual reasons why people have to die, and sometimes, you actually DO have to kill them. Okay? They don't always fall to random bullets, into random ponds to freeze, or generally self-destruct. Direct action is not necessarily anything to be ashamed of here. Yes, it IS bad, yes, it's not morally perfect, but in balancw when it's your kid, that's the way it goes.
So. Nixon, exit, stage left.
I was watching Lex's face. I was wondering how Lex found them, why, and why he was carrying a gun. How he got such good aim. Because that was an excellent, excellent shot.
I don't buy he killed Nixon for his own reasons, because Nixon KNEW things and Lex knew he knew things, and for himself, Nixon was better off alive. He did it because Clark was in danger and Lex's first instinct is to fix anything that goes wrong in Clark's life, from girl troubles to crooked police to fights with his dad to homicidal crooked cops. If he has a theme in life that beats out even world conquest and beating HIS dad, it's Make Clark's Life Perfect. And that's not even my shipper instincts talking, which, btw, are in serious, serious overload right now. This is canon.
So he took the shot, probably without even thinking about it. No warning--though with the metal that close to Jonathan's chest, I'm not seeing a lot of need to warn here. Lex made a decision that's costing him dearly. He chose Clrk's life, and Jonathan's life, above knowing Clark's secrets. That's--pretty damn big.
Lex didn't look particularly upset. Very calm. Very controlled. Very cool. Very Lex. Very Lex anytime anything happens in public that he has to deal with, because again, instinct. He's perfectly capable of dealing with anyone and anything because that's what he's trained to do. When he got back to wherever he's staying these days, if he's NOT curled up under a shower shaking....
Woobie. I love that word. Just a heaping pile of Woobie Lex wandering around. So he has his bestest friend, and his bestest friend's parents are being nice, and a dad who is, wow, just the most manipulative bastard on the planet and pretty much cutting him into PIECES for fun, and...and...and....
*shivers*
We could redefine the hurt/comfort genre with this stuff. *shakes head*
Again, for clearer, cleaner, and beautifully articulated thoughts, go to gjstruthseeker to read and feel really damn depressed.
*sighs*
And thanks to everyone in the Vortex room, from which I gathered much in the way of righteous indignation. *snickers* Misty, honey? BREATHE. BREATHE.
Hmm. Writing. Hmm.
jenn, also breathing
Added: 8/30/2004
Yeesh. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers
SPOILERS.
Vortex. Dear God, Vortex.
Great points, good points, bad points. For the best stuff, go to Gjstruthseeker, who basically has said everything I could and THEN some about Clark, Lex, et al.
Lexluvesclark, however, in comments, decided to scare me badly.
Someone on TWoP speculated that Nixon is not the first person Lex has killed. In fact, she speculated he might one in a line that goes all the way back to Julian up to the unreliable narration of the Club Zero/Jude Royce murder. Not sure I buy that but what a kick in the pants that would turn out being true at series end.
NO. NONONONONONO.
There. The series CANNOT retrofit history to blacken Lex backward. Otherwise this redemption thing they're playing is useless. I am refusing to believe with much in the way of energy.
Okay, starting at the beginning.
Lex proved that he needs a competent team of therapists. Because he is screwed. I have said before it's surprising with his history that he's even functioning normally. Now I'm just surprised he isn't in random bathrooms with razors every chance he gets.
I liked Lana. Molly and Jack have supported in this unusual sensation, so I'm not alone. Yes, she had annoying moments, but wow, she had some GOOD ones. And that confrontation at the end with Clark? Yep. Don't you just want to send her to Lex so they can compare notes?
Chloe broke my heart, per usual. If you didn't see this one coming.... *Hugs Chloe* Poor baby. For those who need ultra-fast comfort, Wendi wrote more Chloe/Wally. You'll feel better. Trust me on this one.
Pete was Pete. He needs more lines. Great comfort of Chloe going on there. Now who again is holding that Chloe/Pete4Ever banner up?
BoJo Duke needs to remember the difference between people who try to blow up your son and people who tend not to do that. Because confiding? Didn't do much good there. Yes, small space, stuck together. Modified Stockholm Syndrome going on, perhaps. Yes, this is the plotline for many an h/c and a lot of rom ance (okay, I didn't just say that, did I?). But see, BoJo? Nixon TRIED TO BLOW UP YOUR SON. HE WANTS TO GET THE STORY OF A LIFETIME. I'm going to guess that a few days trapped with you will not a fuzzy-bunny make here. This is worth millions, and unlike some people I could name, Nixon isn't in love with your son to the point of idiocy.
*pounds heels into floor*
What WAS he thinking? I get the rationale, sort of, but I just sat there in amazement as Jonathan ratttled off stories about Clark's Amazing Super Childhood and powers and vulnerabilities, thinking, wonderful, John-boy. You're not making this story ANY MORE TEMPTING than it already is to random ruthless reporters, no sir.
*breathing*
Um. Let's see. I'm going to quote from Gjstruthseeker, because, well, everything was said here pretty damn well.
This episode almost felt like a culmination of the trials of Lex. If anything, his task seems more Herculean than Clark's at this point. Except, like most of the great Greek plays, his fate is a tragic one. He reminds me of Louis from Interview with the Vampire. When Louis is lying out on the balcony after turning Madelaine, when he tells Claudia that what died in that room wasn't her, but "the last breath in me that was human." That's what Lex's shooting of Nixon made me think of. Louis had no choice - he was in love with Armand and he knew Claudia was in danger if she stayed in Paris but wouldn't be able to take care of herself alone. Turning Madelaine was the only feasible solution, however much it cost him personally. Lex's shooting of Nixon was just as unavoidable. His own issues with Nixon had been resolved, he'd been dismissed and told to leave the Kents alone, and Lex has told everyone concerned as much. Yes, Nixon was about to kill Jonathan, as contrived as that all was, but the facts remain. He was also about to reveal Clark's secrets, something Lex realizes the weight and magnitude of even without having to know them. It was the only way to save Clark, Jonathan, and the friendship he's worked and fought for. I'm not entirely sure he had to think about it once before he pulled the trigger.
He killed a man, yes. This is not trucks, not concert tickets, not excessive organic produce investments or carte blanche to start over as friends with honesty as the foundation. But in the same few seconds' time, a part of him was lost too.
And Clark won't even thank him for it.
He won't be ungrateful and he'll somehow acknowledge that what Lex did saved them all, but he'll never agree on the principle. And if Bo Kent has the audacity to say something to any effect, someone needs to remind him that he'd be dead and Clark would probably be on a laboratory table in some government basement with a Y-incision in his chest.
I promised I'd be very, very fair to Clark this season. I PROMISED.
Okay. *breathes*
She's right.
What's annoying me the most? I'm not even entirely sure why yet--I need more time to think and mull.
It was that adorable little pro-family speech by BoJo at the end there with Clark. Clark all, oh, Dad, did you want to kill him? And Dad goes, of course not Beaver, I mean, Clark, becaue that's Not a Good Example, and I want only Good Examples going on here.
This happens, what, ten minutes after that Good Example was being held down with a sharpened piece of metal at his chest and his son semi-conscious on the ground nearby? If Jonathan is going to say, nope, when that man had ME on my back with death in his eyes and you convulsing over tehre, I was not at all tempted....
Here's the thing...Jonathan Kent knew Nixon was willing to test a theory by blowing up his son. It's not like we don't have Phelan as a precedent here. He ran out into the tornado to....
What? Reason with him?
Okay, I'll give him that. He did. He ran out to get the film--leave off that Nixon has a memory and can get more film any damn time he wants, because Clark is the worst secret-keeper in the history of mankind. Leave off that had I been Nixon, I would have said, golly-gee, you're right, sir, and then come back a few weeks after the storm and got my proof while Clark did something else bizarre, like he always does for reasons that passeth my understanding.
*breathing*
This. Makes. No. Sense.
We all knew Nixon had to die. Everyone except, apparently, Jonathan Kent. Who perhaps won't bloody his own hands, but has no problem with watching twenty-one year old kids whose fathers are in the hospital do it for him. Yes, yes, yes, reapproachement and all that. I'm just as giddy as anyone else, though I don't see it lasting more than three episodes on the outside. Yes, it would have been nastier if Jonathan had climbed onto a moral high horse and spurned Lex again. And monumentally unfair.
But you know? Could have lived without that example speech there. Jonathan, you wanted him dead. It's better that he's dead. And you should have been the one to do it, or at very, very damn least, not started pontificating on goodness with your son's best friend standing nearby with gunpowder burns on his hands. For. Your. Son.
Yeah, I'm a LITTLE peeved by that. And I know the logic, but logic didn't work for me. I know this was a Statement of Values. It just didn't work here. There are actual reasons why people have to die, and sometimes, you actually DO have to kill them. Okay? They don't always fall to random bullets, into random ponds to freeze, or generally self-destruct. Direct action is not necessarily anything to be ashamed of here. Yes, it IS bad, yes, it's not morally perfect, but in balancw when it's your kid, that's the way it goes.
So. Nixon, exit, stage left.
I was watching Lex's face. I was wondering how Lex found them, why, and why he was carrying a gun. How he got such good aim. Because that was an excellent, excellent shot.
I don't buy he killed Nixon for his own reasons, because Nixon KNEW things and Lex knew he knew things, and for himself, Nixon was better off alive. He did it because Clark was in danger and Lex's first instinct is to fix anything that goes wrong in Clark's life, from girl troubles to crooked police to fights with his dad to homicidal crooked cops. If he has a theme in life that beats out even world conquest and beating HIS dad, it's Make Clark's Life Perfect. And that's not even my shipper instincts talking, which, btw, are in serious, serious overload right now. This is canon.
So he took the shot, probably without even thinking about it. No warning--though with the metal that close to Jonathan's chest, I'm not seeing a lot of need to warn here. Lex made a decision that's costing him dearly. He chose Clrk's life, and Jonathan's life, above knowing Clark's secrets. That's--pretty damn big.
Lex didn't look particularly upset. Very calm. Very controlled. Very cool. Very Lex. Very Lex anytime anything happens in public that he has to deal with, because again, instinct. He's perfectly capable of dealing with anyone and anything because that's what he's trained to do. When he got back to wherever he's staying these days, if he's NOT curled up under a shower shaking....
Woobie. I love that word. Just a heaping pile of Woobie Lex wandering around. So he has his bestest friend, and his bestest friend's parents are being nice, and a dad who is, wow, just the most manipulative bastard on the planet and pretty much cutting him into PIECES for fun, and...and...and....
*shivers*
We could redefine the hurt/comfort genre with this stuff. *shakes head*
Again, for clearer, cleaner, and beautifully articulated thoughts, go to gjstruthseeker to read and feel really damn depressed.
*sighs*
And thanks to everyone in the Vortex room, from which I gathered much in the way of righteous indignation. *snickers* Misty, honey? BREATHE. BREATHE.
Hmm. Writing. Hmm.
jenn, also breathing