Velocity

[attolia]

The most exasperating thing about Smallville is that, even in a lame episode, one can often see the underlying themes the writers were trying to deal with and be left wondering what the show would have been like in the hands of someone more capable.

In Velocity we saw Clark having to consider what one should and should not be willing to do to help someone. This was actually handled decently with the Jonathan subplot. Clark and his dad discussed Jonathan's decision to Jor-El to get Clark back home: what it meant to work with someone they don't trust and what it cost in terms of Jonathan's health. Jonathan, surprisingly, advised Clark that there are gray areas and that Clark will have to decide on his own what is reasonable to do.

The racing plot, however, was just silly. Supposedly, Pete had been racing for months and gaining a big reputation, without his friends, or anyone else finding out about it. And, of course, the car is powered by Kryptonite. Though weak, this plot was probably not the worst by Smallville standards, but the execution was poor as well. Finally given some real screen time, Sam Jones III could have made the speech to Clark about how he feels overshadowed very powerful and moving. He is the youngest of five, his best friend is a superhero-to-be, of course he would like to stand out on his own. But Pete didn't convey much emotion in that scene. Since Sam Jones is capable of doing that - his last scene with Clark in which he tried to reconcile was much stronger - I suspect that the dialog was the problem. Too long a speech, to little time to do more than just dump it.

Even a lame Smallville episode can be made enjoyable by the character interactions and B and C plots. There was, mercifully, little Lana. And I did like how in the hospital scene Lana and Clark, showed how uncomfortable they were with each other with body language rather than by talking about it at length. Again. I also liked how Adam told Lana to back off without offering any apologies.

Short as it was, the Lex/Chloe scene was the high point of the episode for me. I loved Lex's comment about privacy laws (although he is really not in a position to complain!) when Chloe mentioned her latest medical record grab. Lex is playing Chloe, getting her to do research for him without her realizing it. By suggesting she not tell Lana about Adam, he was setting it up for both of them to have to deal with him for information.

Sadly, the low point of this episode for me was the Clex interaction. While I was glad Lex didn't jump in to solve Clark's (friend's) problem for him, I'd have thought he'd show a little more concern, even if he was rushing out to a meeting. I was also annoyed that Clark didn't just admit taking the Porche. They both know he did it and, unlike his other secret, there is no real reason he couldn't tell Lex about it. That interaction echoed all their discussions about Clark's secret, but there was no reason for it to end the same way. Possibly I just found it depressing to realize that Lex will now expect Clark to cross some lines to help a friend, meaning himself, but that Clark has realized he never wants to do that again. I think that, despite Jonathan's mention of gray areas, Clark has realized he is much more comfortable with black and white.


Does anyone else find it annoying that, when you click on a cut tag, you lose the text="" text that was in the tag? A lot of people use that text for internal headers, but it just disappears when you get the whole entry. Or is there a workaround for that?