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Smallville 6.03 Fierce
"So I'm no longer Ms. Crabby Pants...yay...no longer feel like giving the death stare at everbody around me...double yay...and I got to rewatch 'Fierce'...fun!
When the spoilers for Fierce first came out with references to the Smallville Harvest Festival I was so elated. The show hadn't done a town of Smallville episode in quite a while and understandably so with the kids graduating high school and the story focusing more on the events of Metropolis. I'd missed the town with its Norman Rockwell, bucolic sensibility. It's colorful, cheerful and a place I'd love to visit. But in watching the action throughout the episode unfold I was starting to feel that Smallville the town was no longer the pleasant setting I wished the show would revisit but was now an aspect of the show I wish they'd quietly put away.
I love what the town of Smallville represents in the Superman myth. Simplicity, hard work, family and love. It's one of the story's strongest components but in Smallville circa season 7 the Kent Farm, Clark's eternal place of refuge and an extension of the town itself, is a suitable place holder for the values the town is supposed to represent. We no longer need to see Main Street or Fordman's General Store to remind us of why the town is important to the Superman myth. The farm with it's sunflower filled lawn, bright red barn, yellow house, fields, and the ever mooing cows are more than sufficient. I guess the opening to 'Fierce' brought out a pet peeve of mine. The show stubornly tries to keep us and the characters in Smallville to the point of ludicriousness sometimes. Yes Lex has that great mansion but as the head of LuthorCorp he doesn't really need to reside there. He is no longer the outcast he was painted as since the beginning of the series. Lois and Chloe shouldn't be living in the Talon Apartment. Forget the fact that Lex owns the building. We've all heard of killer commutes but come on Smallville! I realize it's because the Luthor Mansion and the Talon are established sets and not exactly cheap and the show is called Smallville but it does distract from the story sometimes.
Anyhoo, 'Fierce' is supposed to be the topic of discussion.
OK so Kara and Clark have matching plaid. Chloe has already called them out on the matching primary colors in 'Kara' but hopefully the wardrobe people come up with some creative ways to have Kara in the requisite red and blue. Clark's wardrobe has been woefully stagnant since season 4 and Kara being a girl should have a little more variety.
I was skeptical about the Jimmy/Kara spoilers and so far I'm ok when them. Jimmy isn't exactly Mr. Universe but he's very cute and I like that Kara is going ga-ga over some Mr. Hardbody.
The grand entrance of the weather girls was delightfully over the top. Their outfitters were completely impractical but they did look great. It's almost like they took a wrong turn in St. Louis on their way to Vegas.
The Clana reunion was rather anticlimactic. It was more understated then I'd expected especially with the sun's muted rays piercing the barn. Visually it was a beautiful scene but emotionally it was lacking. It should have had the same kind of intensity and impact for the characters as the Lana/Clark reunion from 'Mortal' which totally rocked. Although in this sequence Mark Snow as usual delivered with a beautiful piece of music. Also it looks like Lana is back to sporting the colors of innocence and promise. I'm rather disappointed that TPTB decided to bring Lana back to town so soon. I would have liked it if they'd played out the Lex/Lana cat and mouse game a little longer.
Tom continues to show why he excells as nervous, flustered Clark during the scene with Kara and the bathing suit and Laura's deliver of "Fine" was hysterical.
And as for Clark's grinning melon I have no words. Clark's childlike side never fails to appeal to me. It reminds me of the impromptu drawing he did for Maddie in "Fragile".
Now it's clear that this episode had some editing problems. They completely butchered the beauty pagent scene later because publicity promos were released including scenes that didn't air. However it was really obvious to me during Clark's outburst over Kara's powers. Clark gets doused in watermelon, turns around and then there's an edit. It's followed by a more over the top reaction by Clark. I get that Clark is worried about exposure but I felt that the editors used a too extreme reaction take from Tom. It's almost like on the anger scale he went from 0 to 100 in 2 seconds.
The dressing room scene of the beauty pagent was interesting. All the girls there have someone helping them with their hair and/or makeup but Kara has only her lipstick and the pagent flyer as a guide for beauty pagent glamour. Clark's worries are very valid but it's hard not to sympathize with Kara. She has Clark laying down the law at home and some bitchy guest stars giving her lip.
OK so Lois, Judas Priest, and the possibility of Rwanda. I want to know more about that. It amuses me to no end that Lois is giving the editor a hard time although it's not exactly the best way to endear yourself to any boss in the real world. I'm also amused that the new editor has taken to giving people nicknames: 'L" for Lois, "PandaBoy" for Jimmy, and "Chloster" for Chloe. Michael Cassiday still needs to take it down a notch. You don't have to yell.
Chloe's line about launching her staple at the editor was great and Aaron Ashmore's little Grant Gabriel impersonation was adorable.
The Lex/Lana scene certainly had a different visual feel to it when compared to their last interaction but the mental games stayed the same. In 'Kara' their meeting was in a nicely furnished but dark apartment. In 'Fierce' it's within the domestic setting of the Kent home complete with a fresh apple pie on the table and the omnipresent rays of the sun streaming in.
And the beauty pagent or better yet the sad excuse for a pagent. Kara wins not a big surprise there but the obvious deletion of scenes made it look that Kara won just because she looked good in a bikini.
If they're gonna have a beauty pagent I wanted to see some zany beauty pagent action. They should have checked out Erica Durance's pre-Smallville appearance on Eliza Dushku's series Tru Calling. Erica played a ditzy pagent contestant who when asked the name of the individual she'd most like to meet she enthusiasically answered Kelly Clarkson. Funny stuff. The clip used to be on YouTube but its now gone. Bummer but here are some pictures of Durance with cork screw curly hair.
Screencaps from happyending.org
Anyways Kara entered the pagent because she wanted to fit in. Somehow I doubt getting arrested in public is gonna put a damper on the fitting in agenda. How did they get her legally out anyway.
I really liked the symmetry of Kara and Lana's comments to Clark about the possibility of them (Lana and Clark) growing old together. Kara says they can't and Lana tells Clark it's what she wants. Kara is voicing a very real possibility especially in light of recent events and the encroachment of his Kryptonian heritage but Lana is physically there and oh so tempting. This is Clark's last grasp at having the girl of his childhood dreams by his side and now that they're free of the secretiveness that had ruled their previous attempts at a relationship, perhaps he can strike a balance with his Kryptonian duties.
Kudos to the writers acknowledging Chloe's bias against the meteor freaks. I'm pretty ambivalent about the Chloe as meteor freak story line but it is a journey her character needs to take given her stance on them throughout the series.
And the final scene between Kara and Lex was so utterly fantastic. Lex is pretty much telling Kara that he knows she's different. Clark has spent the entire episode telling her that secrecy is extremely important yet here's a man that's telling her "It's OK. I know what you are. You can trust me." Lex's suspicions concerning Clark are legendary but now here's another piece of the puzzle to add to his suspicions. I'm glad the show isn't going the route of having Lex be conveniently unconcious whenever a superfeat is done which is the MO they've sadly adopted with Lois and maybe Jimmy. Does this mean that in this version of the Superman mythos Lex Luthor will always have suspicions about Superman/Clark's identity or will the series eventually strip Lex of that knowledge? Interesting stuff to ponder.
Also Lex's line about whether Kara being "a savior or are you a warning" was fantastic.
Next week...Dean Cain! I feel like I'm 11 years old again.
Photos from the loisandclarkarchive.com
I love what the town of Smallville represents in the Superman myth. Simplicity, hard work, family and love. It's one of the story's strongest components but in Smallville circa season 7 the Kent Farm, Clark's eternal place of refuge and an extension of the town itself, is a suitable place holder for the values the town is supposed to represent. We no longer need to see Main Street or Fordman's General Store to remind us of why the town is important to the Superman myth. The farm with it's sunflower filled lawn, bright red barn, yellow house, fields, and the ever mooing cows are more than sufficient. I guess the opening to 'Fierce' brought out a pet peeve of mine. The show stubornly tries to keep us and the characters in Smallville to the point of ludicriousness sometimes. Yes Lex has that great mansion but as the head of LuthorCorp he doesn't really need to reside there. He is no longer the outcast he was painted as since the beginning of the series. Lois and Chloe shouldn't be living in the Talon Apartment. Forget the fact that Lex owns the building. We've all heard of killer commutes but come on Smallville! I realize it's because the Luthor Mansion and the Talon are established sets and not exactly cheap and the show is called Smallville but it does distract from the story sometimes.
Anyhoo, 'Fierce' is supposed to be the topic of discussion.
OK so Kara and Clark have matching plaid. Chloe has already called them out on the matching primary colors in 'Kara' but hopefully the wardrobe people come up with some creative ways to have Kara in the requisite red and blue. Clark's wardrobe has been woefully stagnant since season 4 and Kara being a girl should have a little more variety.
I was skeptical about the Jimmy/Kara spoilers and so far I'm ok when them. Jimmy isn't exactly Mr. Universe but he's very cute and I like that Kara is going ga-ga over some Mr. Hardbody.
The grand entrance of the weather girls was delightfully over the top. Their outfitters were completely impractical but they did look great. It's almost like they took a wrong turn in St. Louis on their way to Vegas.
The Clana reunion was rather anticlimactic. It was more understated then I'd expected especially with the sun's muted rays piercing the barn. Visually it was a beautiful scene but emotionally it was lacking. It should have had the same kind of intensity and impact for the characters as the Lana/Clark reunion from 'Mortal' which totally rocked. Although in this sequence Mark Snow as usual delivered with a beautiful piece of music. Also it looks like Lana is back to sporting the colors of innocence and promise. I'm rather disappointed that TPTB decided to bring Lana back to town so soon. I would have liked it if they'd played out the Lex/Lana cat and mouse game a little longer.
Tom continues to show why he excells as nervous, flustered Clark during the scene with Kara and the bathing suit and Laura's deliver of "Fine" was hysterical.
And as for Clark's grinning melon I have no words. Clark's childlike side never fails to appeal to me. It reminds me of the impromptu drawing he did for Maddie in "Fragile".
Now it's clear that this episode had some editing problems. They completely butchered the beauty pagent scene later because publicity promos were released including scenes that didn't air. However it was really obvious to me during Clark's outburst over Kara's powers. Clark gets doused in watermelon, turns around and then there's an edit. It's followed by a more over the top reaction by Clark. I get that Clark is worried about exposure but I felt that the editors used a too extreme reaction take from Tom. It's almost like on the anger scale he went from 0 to 100 in 2 seconds.
The dressing room scene of the beauty pagent was interesting. All the girls there have someone helping them with their hair and/or makeup but Kara has only her lipstick and the pagent flyer as a guide for beauty pagent glamour. Clark's worries are very valid but it's hard not to sympathize with Kara. She has Clark laying down the law at home and some bitchy guest stars giving her lip.
OK so Lois, Judas Priest, and the possibility of Rwanda. I want to know more about that. It amuses me to no end that Lois is giving the editor a hard time although it's not exactly the best way to endear yourself to any boss in the real world. I'm also amused that the new editor has taken to giving people nicknames: 'L" for Lois, "PandaBoy" for Jimmy, and "Chloster" for Chloe. Michael Cassiday still needs to take it down a notch. You don't have to yell.
Chloe's line about launching her staple at the editor was great and Aaron Ashmore's little Grant Gabriel impersonation was adorable.
The Lex/Lana scene certainly had a different visual feel to it when compared to their last interaction but the mental games stayed the same. In 'Kara' their meeting was in a nicely furnished but dark apartment. In 'Fierce' it's within the domestic setting of the Kent home complete with a fresh apple pie on the table and the omnipresent rays of the sun streaming in.
And the beauty pagent or better yet the sad excuse for a pagent. Kara wins not a big surprise there but the obvious deletion of scenes made it look that Kara won just because she looked good in a bikini.
If they're gonna have a beauty pagent I wanted to see some zany beauty pagent action. They should have checked out Erica Durance's pre-Smallville appearance on Eliza Dushku's series Tru Calling. Erica played a ditzy pagent contestant who when asked the name of the individual she'd most like to meet she enthusiasically answered Kelly Clarkson. Funny stuff. The clip used to be on YouTube but its now gone. Bummer but here are some pictures of Durance with cork screw curly hair.
Screencaps from happyending.org
Anyways Kara entered the pagent because she wanted to fit in. Somehow I doubt getting arrested in public is gonna put a damper on the fitting in agenda. How did they get her legally out anyway.
I really liked the symmetry of Kara and Lana's comments to Clark about the possibility of them (Lana and Clark) growing old together. Kara says they can't and Lana tells Clark it's what she wants. Kara is voicing a very real possibility especially in light of recent events and the encroachment of his Kryptonian heritage but Lana is physically there and oh so tempting. This is Clark's last grasp at having the girl of his childhood dreams by his side and now that they're free of the secretiveness that had ruled their previous attempts at a relationship, perhaps he can strike a balance with his Kryptonian duties.
Kudos to the writers acknowledging Chloe's bias against the meteor freaks. I'm pretty ambivalent about the Chloe as meteor freak story line but it is a journey her character needs to take given her stance on them throughout the series.
And the final scene between Kara and Lex was so utterly fantastic. Lex is pretty much telling Kara that he knows she's different. Clark has spent the entire episode telling her that secrecy is extremely important yet here's a man that's telling her "It's OK. I know what you are. You can trust me." Lex's suspicions concerning Clark are legendary but now here's another piece of the puzzle to add to his suspicions. I'm glad the show isn't going the route of having Lex be conveniently unconcious whenever a superfeat is done which is the MO they've sadly adopted with Lois and maybe Jimmy. Does this mean that in this version of the Superman mythos Lex Luthor will always have suspicions about Superman/Clark's identity or will the series eventually strip Lex of that knowledge? Interesting stuff to ponder.
Also Lex's line about whether Kara being "a savior or are you a warning" was fantastic.
Next week...Dean Cain! I feel like I'm 11 years old again.
Photos from the loisandclarkarchive.com