Smallville 5.13: "Vengeance"
Written by Al Septien and Turi Meyer
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
In which Clark must deal with his anger over Jonathan’s death, but when Martha is attacked in Metropolis, he encounters a vigilante who pushes him towards an uncharacteristic response…
I’m going to try to ignore some of the things that I found annoying about this episode. I could complain about the horrible acting of the guest actress, or the number of silly little plot contrivances along the way (Martha going to that part of town alone, Clark falling on the necklace, all the beat-over-the-head references to Clark’s future, etc.). I could also mention that I realized something that didn’t quite make sense in recent episodes: what ever happened to the idea that Jor-El was working through Lionel Luthor? Or was that supposed to be some part of the subtext of his involvement in Jonathan’s demise?
I’m not going to dwell on the negative because there were moments that I thought met the potential of the moment, something that several episodes have missed by a mile. In this case, I was looking for Clark to show a genuine anger, to be tempted by his resentment over his father’s mortality, to act out and to not be the perfect moral hero. I was looking for Clark to start, and hopefully not finish, a journey of self-discovery for the rest of the season.
I’m not convinced that the darker side of Clark will exist past this episode, since that’s not the way the writers think (long-term character arcs have not been the strength of the series), but I was happy with the portrayal of an angry and bitter Clark. Tom Welling clearly enjoyed the chance to show that anger behind his eyes, and for once, I actually found his acting to be nuanced. (OK, nuanced compared to most previous episodes!)
More than that, but I loved the final scenes. The previous episode, for all its hype, twists, and turns, didn’t really give the audience a chance to absorb the impact of Jonathan’s death. As manipulative as the video in the final scene might have been, it still worked beautifully. I really didn’t realize how massive the loss was until I saw him on the video. Sometimes a character will get under your skin without your knowledge, and it’s only obvious once the character is gone.
So I really liked the fact that Clark was tempted by negative emotions, from something other than the artificial influence of red kryptonite, and while I would have preferred to see that play out over time, I’ll take what I can get. And though we’ve seen it about 2000 times before, I couldn’t help but enjoy the interplay between Lex and Lionel. (That’s part of what reminded me of the whole Jor-El thing, though, so it certainly wasn’t perfect.) Sooner or later, the battle between Lex and Lionel must come to an end, and just as Jonathan’s death is leading to Clark’s ownership of his morality, Lionel’s exit should lead directly to Lex’s final turn towards amorality.
I must also note that I really liked Chloe in this episode. Her role on the series looks to be shifting. While Chloe had been there to give Clark some sense of direction from time to time, she’s now there to help Clark find his own way. And she’s also rather hot in this episode, which is never a bad thing! I even found the interplay between Lex and Lana to be a nice advancement of that story arc. I know some fans don’t buy it, but I’ve seen it coming for quite some time (even if only in my head), and it added a nice accent to an episode that gave me a lot of what I was hoping for.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 7/10
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
In which Clark must deal with his anger over Jonathan’s death, but when Martha is attacked in Metropolis, he encounters a vigilante who pushes him towards an uncharacteristic response…
I’m going to try to ignore some of the things that I found annoying about this episode. I could complain about the horrible acting of the guest actress, or the number of silly little plot contrivances along the way (Martha going to that part of town alone, Clark falling on the necklace, all the beat-over-the-head references to Clark’s future, etc.). I could also mention that I realized something that didn’t quite make sense in recent episodes: what ever happened to the idea that Jor-El was working through Lionel Luthor? Or was that supposed to be some part of the subtext of his involvement in Jonathan’s demise?
I’m not going to dwell on the negative because there were moments that I thought met the potential of the moment, something that several episodes have missed by a mile. In this case, I was looking for Clark to show a genuine anger, to be tempted by his resentment over his father’s mortality, to act out and to not be the perfect moral hero. I was looking for Clark to start, and hopefully not finish, a journey of self-discovery for the rest of the season.
I’m not convinced that the darker side of Clark will exist past this episode, since that’s not the way the writers think (long-term character arcs have not been the strength of the series), but I was happy with the portrayal of an angry and bitter Clark. Tom Welling clearly enjoyed the chance to show that anger behind his eyes, and for once, I actually found his acting to be nuanced. (OK, nuanced compared to most previous episodes!)
More than that, but I loved the final scenes. The previous episode, for all its hype, twists, and turns, didn’t really give the audience a chance to absorb the impact of Jonathan’s death. As manipulative as the video in the final scene might have been, it still worked beautifully. I really didn’t realize how massive the loss was until I saw him on the video. Sometimes a character will get under your skin without your knowledge, and it’s only obvious once the character is gone.
So I really liked the fact that Clark was tempted by negative emotions, from something other than the artificial influence of red kryptonite, and while I would have preferred to see that play out over time, I’ll take what I can get. And though we’ve seen it about 2000 times before, I couldn’t help but enjoy the interplay between Lex and Lionel. (That’s part of what reminded me of the whole Jor-El thing, though, so it certainly wasn’t perfect.) Sooner or later, the battle between Lex and Lionel must come to an end, and just as Jonathan’s death is leading to Clark’s ownership of his morality, Lionel’s exit should lead directly to Lex’s final turn towards amorality.
I must also note that I really liked Chloe in this episode. Her role on the series looks to be shifting. While Chloe had been there to give Clark some sense of direction from time to time, she’s now there to help Clark find his own way. And she’s also rather hot in this episode, which is never a bad thing! I even found the interplay between Lex and Lana to be a nice advancement of that story arc. I know some fans don’t buy it, but I’ve seen it coming for quite some time (even if only in my head), and it added a nice accent to an episode that gave me a lot of what I was hoping for.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 7/10
posted by John Keegan | 11:05
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