Smallville 5.16: "Hypnotic"
Written by Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer
Directed by Michael Rohl
In which Clark falls under the control of a woman hired by Lex to end his relationship with Lana, while Lex tracks down Professor Fine, who has been preparing his comeback…
This is a tale of two episodes. One episode picks up on one of the better aspects of the fifth season: the emergence of Brainiac (aka Spike) as a formidable villain, something that the series hasn’t cultivated in any meaningful way in past seasons. (The fourth season had an arc structure, but it was a disappointing story overall.) Brainiac has been out of the picture for the entire second act of the season, which only makes his return all the better.
This entire episode plays like a major turn in the plot, as though this is supposed to give a sign for what’s to come as the season comes to close. And for the Brainiac/Lex side of the episode, it works just fine. Clearly, Fine has a plan, and that plan involves samples of blood infected by some kind of killer virus. Fine mentioned the idea that men from another world visited the ancient peoples of Central America (it’s a fairly well-known legend), so it stands to reason that the two ideas are linked.
Given that ancient peoples knew about Krypton in some fashion, it’s equally possible that the struggle between Jor-El and Zod represents something that goes back as far. Could there be something in the genetic code of certain descendents of ancient peoples, modified by this virus, which will provide Fine with a weapon against Clark? If that’s the case, will Lex’s alliance with Fine represent the scheme that sets them at each other once and for all?
Of course, that ties into the “other” episode: the Clark/Lana show, which is frankly a mess. Once again, after breaking up about 1857 times in the past several episodes, Clark and Lana are getting along just fine like nothing ever happened. There’s a point at which this becomes a joke, and I think they passed that around “Reckoning”. It’s hard to feel anything when the moment comes, because it’s been robbed of any meaning.
What’s worse, the final breakup is strung out until the proper timing for the arc, despite the fact that it makes no rational sense. It’s one thing when form and structure are followed, yet the execution is such that it feels like a natural progression of the story. That happens in just about every other genre series with an arc structure. It’s a completely different thing when it’s just tossed together as though the writers aren’t even talking to one another, and then someone comes in and “fixes” it to make it look the way it should.
Lex does cross the line in a major way, but no one actually discovers that fact, so what’s the difference? It would only matter if Clark were to learn the truth behind this little plot right around the time that he discovered that Lex was helping Fine with his agenda. There’s a chance that will happen, but I wouldn’t put money on it. And that’s too bad, because it would at least give meaning to a plot element that was damned annoying.
Simone didn’t come across as seductive so much as super-slutty, which has its time and place, but not when the woman is portrayed by an Elizabeth Shue-wannabe. If Simone had been a bit more substantial, if her control over Clark had been portrayed in a somewhat less bland fashion, it might have worked. Basically, Simone’s control over Clark needed to be more dangerous. Having Clark reveal his powers, yet Simone protect those secrets for no apparent reason, was a bit hard to swallow.
And so for me, this was really two different episodes. One intriguing, one annoying. The sad thing is that I’m not particularly surprised. At least there’s still the intriguing half to keep me entertained!
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
Directed by Michael Rohl
In which Clark falls under the control of a woman hired by Lex to end his relationship with Lana, while Lex tracks down Professor Fine, who has been preparing his comeback…
This is a tale of two episodes. One episode picks up on one of the better aspects of the fifth season: the emergence of Brainiac (aka Spike) as a formidable villain, something that the series hasn’t cultivated in any meaningful way in past seasons. (The fourth season had an arc structure, but it was a disappointing story overall.) Brainiac has been out of the picture for the entire second act of the season, which only makes his return all the better.
This entire episode plays like a major turn in the plot, as though this is supposed to give a sign for what’s to come as the season comes to close. And for the Brainiac/Lex side of the episode, it works just fine. Clearly, Fine has a plan, and that plan involves samples of blood infected by some kind of killer virus. Fine mentioned the idea that men from another world visited the ancient peoples of Central America (it’s a fairly well-known legend), so it stands to reason that the two ideas are linked.
Given that ancient peoples knew about Krypton in some fashion, it’s equally possible that the struggle between Jor-El and Zod represents something that goes back as far. Could there be something in the genetic code of certain descendents of ancient peoples, modified by this virus, which will provide Fine with a weapon against Clark? If that’s the case, will Lex’s alliance with Fine represent the scheme that sets them at each other once and for all?
Of course, that ties into the “other” episode: the Clark/Lana show, which is frankly a mess. Once again, after breaking up about 1857 times in the past several episodes, Clark and Lana are getting along just fine like nothing ever happened. There’s a point at which this becomes a joke, and I think they passed that around “Reckoning”. It’s hard to feel anything when the moment comes, because it’s been robbed of any meaning.
What’s worse, the final breakup is strung out until the proper timing for the arc, despite the fact that it makes no rational sense. It’s one thing when form and structure are followed, yet the execution is such that it feels like a natural progression of the story. That happens in just about every other genre series with an arc structure. It’s a completely different thing when it’s just tossed together as though the writers aren’t even talking to one another, and then someone comes in and “fixes” it to make it look the way it should.
Lex does cross the line in a major way, but no one actually discovers that fact, so what’s the difference? It would only matter if Clark were to learn the truth behind this little plot right around the time that he discovered that Lex was helping Fine with his agenda. There’s a chance that will happen, but I wouldn’t put money on it. And that’s too bad, because it would at least give meaning to a plot element that was damned annoying.
Simone didn’t come across as seductive so much as super-slutty, which has its time and place, but not when the woman is portrayed by an Elizabeth Shue-wannabe. If Simone had been a bit more substantial, if her control over Clark had been portrayed in a somewhat less bland fashion, it might have worked. Basically, Simone’s control over Clark needed to be more dangerous. Having Clark reveal his powers, yet Simone protect those secrets for no apparent reason, was a bit hard to swallow.
And so for me, this was really two different episodes. One intriguing, one annoying. The sad thing is that I’m not particularly surprised. At least there’s still the intriguing half to keep me entertained!
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
posted by John Keegan | 19:24
1 Comments:
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