Thursday November 8, 2007
3T6307
Lana absorbs Clark's powers during a lightning storm, which she uses to break into Lex's safe and steal some incriminating evidence. After being turned away by Grant at the Daily Planet, who won't accept her stolen evidence, Lana goes after Lex herself. Clark tries to rescue Lex, but must first battle the super-powered Lana.
Read Full Recap » (warning: possible spoilers!)My rating and what I'm about to say may seem contrivercial, but for the record it's my opinion that's just how I feel. Personally I feel this episode is a bit underrated, yes it's not entirely perfect but it still works for what it is none the less.
It was just a great concept seeing what would happen if Lana ever got Superman's powers. And at first it starts out light and funny, just seeing the reactions Lana has in the basic training of her superpowers. My favorate moment in this half and it's no supprise is the superpowered sex scene, I though it was both erotic and funny both Lana and Clark destroy the barn, cause an earthquake, and the aftermath on what Chloe discovers Lana wearing Clark's shirt was comic gold. I always wondered what would happen if superpowers were utilized during sexual activity, I wasn't disapointed the results were dynomite.
But then it gets dark as we see Lana abuse her powers even though her intentions were good. And that's basically the theme in the episode how wrath is like a disease you never know it sickens your soul until it's too late. The superpowers Lana inherited weren't just an opportunity to take revenge on Lex but they were a key to unlocking a repressed internal beast within her that is obviously hungry.
What is interesting and a little sad at the same time is Lana believes despite unethical liberties she has taken they lead to a right. But what Lana fails to conceive is sometimes villians and supervillians aren't always villianess because their evil but because they can't see clearly the corruptive nature of their actions despite good intentions. Lana as we see like Anikin Skywalker in "Star Wars Episode 3" is starting to fall into the darkside fo the force.
Another of the examples are she's starting to alienate people that care about her. Like Lois when she would help Lana, this of course results in an interesting moment when Lana attacks Lois, always wondered what would happen if the two got into a fight. Or when Chloe presents the discovery of the monitors, we see look on his face which is one of sadness knowing the love of his life has lied to him and more. Clark is beging to fear that Lana is becoming a stranger, and he might not know her as much as he thought.
Soon Lana gives Lex the asskicking he's been asking for the day he hit her, the interplay between the two is psychologically suspenseful, as we see there is a suspense where we fear she might take it too far which will lead her to becoming a villian and that we know that's not who she is and she knows that's not who she wants to be. Clark knows this as well and proves it to her by protecting Lex and then of course it comes down to one of my favorate moments ever when both Lana and Clark physically fight. It was awdsome,suspenseful and intense never have the two in the Superman mythology fought. Only disapointment was didn't really last long enough but then again I wouldn't want it to get brutal, the two love each other I don't want to see my favorate couple severely hurt one another. The only bad thing about the episode (for me anyway)is one moment when Lana kisses Lex, that moment felt completely out of place (let alone cringe inducing)it just sort of happened for no particualar reason. But this is a minor flaw that I can get past and after that action she felt disgusted with herself.
Thankfully Lana does come to her senses in the end but the events that took place have made the relationship between the two more complicated and has given both characters Clark and Lana something to think about. Clark wonders from if Lana truely is the one if she is still the same person he knows and loves, while Lana evaluates herself wondering if she is becoming her own worst enimy and losing her own identity.
"Someone needs to switch to decaf" hide show
This was friggin' funny! This episode made me laugh, cry, get angry. It really toyed with my emotions. Kara wasn't in it. Hoorah for that. Lana & Clark's relationship develops immensely, once she gets Clark's powers. They have sex which causes an earthquake, I wouldn't of expected that from Smallville. Another thing that I liked about this episode, is all of Lex's lines to Clark about Lana. He really is clever. My favorite part is when she attacks Lois. "Someone needs to switch to decaf" I'm really starting to like this Grant character. The end was typical, Clark saves her & it leaves off all awkward. Great cliffhanger. Amazing plot!
Lana accidently gains super-powers through a meteor-affected lightning strike, and she's off to beat up on Lex and anyone else who gets in her way. Clark realizes he is seeing a side of Lana that is not what he wanted to see. hide show
In the opening horse-riding scene, Tom Welling gets a stunt double, as the camera does the standard low-angle shot to avoid showing that it's not him riding the horse. But Ms. Kreuk is obviously a skilled rider, and she gets moving as well as still shots while mounted. Shouldn't Mr. Welling learn, too? But all is sweetness and light between the two as they return to the farm as storm clouds gather. Clark is suddenly weakened by a nearby meteor rock (how long has that been there undiscovered?) and Lana picks it up to throw it just as lightning strikes the windmill, and the electric charge travels down and strikes Lana. The mill falls to the ground toward Clark, but it's stopped by...Lana! How did she know she could do that?
She's excited by the sudden presence of super-powers, as she and Clark zip across the landscape. He advises caution; she's sure she can handle it, and becomes the aggressor in love. They get intimate at the Kent home, the trees and the earth shake...c'mon! Really? And Lana apparently has x-ray vision, too. Chloe drops in about then, and recognizes the awkward situation when no one says anything, but everyone knows. Clark explains to Chloe the partial transfer of his powers to Lana; Chloe goes through a list of others to whom this has happened - none ended well. Will Lana succumb to the dark side of great power? With super-hearing, she listens to Chloe assure Clark that she won't let Lana out of her sight.
She's been "given a gift," but how will she use it? First off, she sees the possibility of "breaking into any locked doors, slipping into any room unnoticed, eavesdropping on any conversation," and not thinking of using the powers to help others as Clark does. We can see where this is going - the powers are seductive, it's a rush, it's a drug - Lana will go off the deep end, misuse everything, and end up with bitter regret. The writers could have had Chloe giving much stronger advice to Lana about staying on a higher moral plane, but then we wouldn't have this story.
At the mansion, a staffer shows Lex a container of meteor-rock tubes from which a metallic dust has liquified - Lex says it's the last alien technology he has - from Milton Fine's spacecraft. The material is evolving...it's sentient - the organism exhibits conscious behavior. It's part of Project Scion, and Lex puts data in the safe, to remain confidential. Sound like the material from which Fine morphed. Do we have another alien about to show up? Good special effects here as the liquid appears to want out. But Lana is listening in via her ISIS-based tap into the mansion security system, and she travels there in seconds, using heat-vision to break into the safe and steal the disc drive. Bad Lana already has new costuming - all black leather, looking like the definitive biker-gal. While Lionel talks to Martha, who's supposedly in the U.S. Senate and no longer in the series, Clark arrives. He tells Lionel about Lana's new powers (Lionel is now so trustworthy?) and seeking his help to reverse the effects. Lionel tries to open Clark's eyes to Lana's involvement in his imprisonment in "Action" earlier this season, but Clark is reluctant to see this in her. Clark returns home; Lana is absent, but Lex is there, uninvited, and revealing that Lana was seen in the mansion after the break-in. Clark willingly admits she's infected - that seems unusually candid for Clark - the usual mode with Lex is extreme protectionism for Lana. But Lex jolts Clark with information about Lana's ISIS - suggesting that Lana is hiding the truth. Lex has the upper hand in human insight again, leaving Clark to wonder if he can really trust her.
At the DP, Lois and Grant banter about his rejection of her latest story, as Lana arrives. Lois gets a great line about Lana in her glossy-leather Catwoman outfit: "Oh, was there a Joan Jett audition nobody told me about?" Lana hands over to Grant the computer disc she stole from Lex's safe, insisting that he run a DP story about it. When he refuses a story based on stolen information, she roughs him up and tosses Lois (or her stunt double) through a glass door, putting her back into the hospital. When Clark arrives there, he's surprised Lana caused this injury - and enlists Chloe to help find her.
Lois is sneaking out of the hospital early, when she backs into an elevator with Grant inside - although he brought flowers, she quashes any further relationship with him. Clark tells Chloe he can't find Lana, and has doubts that Lex has anything to hide. Chloe replies, "Yeah, maybe when I hit five-ten and Prince Harry sweeps me off my feet!" Clark is beginning to see something darker about Lana, and asks Chloe if she knows about ISIS - she takes him there. As Lex motors along in his black Mercedes coupe - license "LEX LXX" - he's demanding to know from his lab staff if the alloy is responding to it's environment or is being controlled by something. A moment's inattention, and suddenly Lana is blocking the road, causing Lex to swerve to miss her. Up on the hood goes Leather Lana, punching in the windshield with her bare hand.
At ISIS, Clark uses a bit of x-ray vision and they find Lana's secret surveillance center - did Chloe know? "Trust me Clark, I had no idea that there was La Femme Nikita (Lana) lurking behind our little Florence Nightingale." They overhear audio of Lex, with Lana demanding to know the location of Scion. He coughs out, "Plant Four."
Lex and Lana tear at each other - he claims to be trying to save people, she is determined to keep him from hurting anyone else. Project Scion might be their only hope against an alien invasion, Lex says. "So you've appointed yourself Prophet of the Alien Invasion," Lana counters. As she's about to electrocute him, he desperately tells he that Clark would never look at her the same way if she killed him. Convincing her for a moment that they are alike, Lex lays a big one on Lana, then Clark arrives as Lana throws Lex to the floor. Clark tells her she must stop - but she insists on taking care of his unfinished business. They fight; the vial of sentient metal dust rolls out, and Lana is weakened by it's effects - Clark grabs the tubes of meteor liquid, a power cable, and brings it to bear on Lana in a shower of sparks and light. Did it work? The sentient liquid flows away under it's own volition.
At the DP, Grant assures someone via phone that "it will be taken care of," and begins deleting all the files from the stolen disc, including "Scion Data" and "Scion Lab," so we discover his knowledge of the experiments being done by Lex. Lois enters, lacking a good story, but she and Grant wind up having their first romantic encounter. Clark is back to see Lex, recovering from the Lana-bashing. She's back to normal, Clark says...is Lex pressing charges? No, but he claims Lana still has feelings for him - passion does not come out of the blue. He challenges Clark as being one who taught Lana about betrayal, and that obsession outlives love. The doubt is written in Clark's eyes.
At ISIS, Lana is much subdued; Chloe digs at her, "I didn't realize Big Sister was watching," (an allusion to Big Brother). Lana: "I'd do anything for Clark." Chloe: "Even kill. What a lucky guy." Brilliant dialog, and an icy stare as Chloe vows to never let Lana destroy Clark, even if unintentionally. Ms. Kreuk is superb in this exchange, looking more mature, defiant, and regretful all at the same instant. The director has gotten terrific angles, lighting, and facial expressions in this scene.
Back at the lab, Lex is concerned about the loss of the black liquid - it's on a table, and enters the hand of a female technician...as her eyes turn black.
Lots of good drama here at the end, with Clark seeing Lana in a new light, but his misgivings are countered by some the best dialogue about morality in the series between him and Lana, as she reveals that her true motivation is much like his - protect the ones you love. Beware Clark - you blew it by hesitating when Lana says, "All I want to know is that you love me." Does he? Unconditionally? Great job by the screenwriters. Re-run rating B+.
A story we've already seen with pretty much the same results. hide show
"Wrath" is another episode dealing with Clark switching his powers. I'd like to say something different happens this time around, but it pretty much follows the previous formulas we are used to.
That's not to say it isn't a good episode though. Lana's actions with the powers are not unbelievable. She starts off well enough but when she realizes she can put them to better use, she gets in over her head without really knowing it. Anyone can see why she does the things she does, even though it's not the best way to go about it.
Unfortunately that's what all the other episodes dealing with these situations have been like. Good people that just get overwhelmed by the great power at their hands. It's a good story, and worth watching but I think the idea has ran it's course.
The best and funniest part had to be Clark and Lana having sex in the tree, then Chloe coming in and seeing Lana in Clark's shirt. Also when Lana used her x-ray vision to check Clark out. Lana seeks her revenge on Lex by taking him hostage and torturing him. Making him pay for everything he put her through. Clark finds out what Lana has been hiding from him and shuts down her spying on Luthercoop. I like how Chloe warned Lana to not break Clark's heart. Clark is now having second thoughts on whether or not Lana is the Lana he wants to be with.
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