Last Gasps: Covenant
Written by Hope

Though it literally went out with a bang, "Covenant" ended third season with more of a whimper. Story by Slavkin & Swimmer (which I found pretty interesting in the grand scope of things, and you can definitely see their influence in the Kara character,) teleplay by Al Gough & Miles Millar, they certainly got a lot accomplished with this script, but just like last year's "Exodus," they didn't really get it done until the last ten minutes.

Everything that came before the climax had to happen, but again, exactly like "Exodus" it happened in the most pedestrian and mundane fashion possible. I don't know what happened to Gough & Millar- their "Tempest" finale followed exactly the same formula that "Exodus" and "Covenant" did, but they created great, lasting tension that rose all the way until the storm hit. It's like they've forgotten, or more likely, got so wound up over getting to the destination that they ignored the fact that the trip's the thing.

Though this isn't necessarily screenplay related, I do like that Smallville is brave enough with their audience to use a long montage orchestrated not by pop music, but by opera; that Gough & Millar have enough faith in their story to treat it like the tragedy it is, and not just another teen drama. The last five minutes were stunning; beautifully balanced, filmed, and crafted, with great performances to emphasize the silent progression of events.

Unfortunately, the first forty minutes were grind exposition, to hurry up and get everybody into place for the stunning climax. There was a nice red herring- when Clark promises to be somewhere, he rarely is, so when he promises both Lex and Lana to be there for them, I expected him to miss both. Instead, he misses only one, leaving Lana to find her own ride to the airport. He shows up in enough time to get another flare of anger and jealousy, but not nearly soon enough to give Lana reason to decide to continue to chain herself to Smallville. It'll be interesting to see Lana come back as her own girl next season; this is a break she needed to make.

I so rarely say this about Clark and Lex scenes written by Gough & Millar, but they really blew it this time. Since Clark was coming clean about what Lionel did to Lex *in* Belle Reve, the only reason for him to hold back on what Lionel did to get Lex *into* Belle Reve was so that the finale scene with Lex would work. After all, if the younger Luthor had finally been tipped off to stay out of his own scotch, he'd be sipping bottled water on the porch and pondering his fate, instead of swimming in a sea of glass. There was a lack of internal logic and consistency to Clark and Lex's initial conversation, a gaping hole left just to allow a dramatic moment later.

Gough & Millar fell down again when Clark finally sees the Chamber of Clark Kent, when Lex tries in his own inimitable way, to make right something that is so obviously wrong. Of course, the audience knows that they become arch-enemies- together. Superman doesn't like Lex Luthor much more than Lex Luthor likes Superman. The dislike is mutual, and Clark is thoroughly justified in calling bullshit on Lex's compartmentalization of his truths. Whether Lex is looking for himself in all of that, everything in that room- from the photos, to the family tree, are about *Clark*.

And yet, instead of giving Clark any kind of brain, instead of letting him build from the natural tension that scene should have had (Lex: It's not about you, it's about me. Clark: Yeah, well I don't see your picture up on the wall there, Lex,) Gough & Millar scripted him to fall back on an empty mantra of "You're just like your father." Which is short-sighted and pretty stupid, considering that Lex isn't *just* like his father, and Clark has demonstrable proof of that.

The conclusion Clark made when speaking to Martha, that Lex deliberately spent three years pretending to be his friend just to find out his secret, I suppose has a hint of reasonable to it as an initial, angry reaction, and Clark is completely justifiable in severing the friendship over such an egregious intrusion into his privacy, and I imagine that Clark's hypocrisy will come back to bite him in the ass at some point in the future, but I certainly hope it's written to occur to Clark at some point that he was wrong about a lot of things.

Lex isn't a *good* friend by any means, but he is a friend- one who actually killed a man to protect Clark and his father; a man that Clark knew full well could tell Lex everything he wanted to know. Maybe when Clark gets back from his trip to oblivion, that might occur to him. It's perfectly acceptable for Lex Luthor to walk blackly into his future without many more second thoughts; Superman, however, must live up to a much higher standard.

Clark must have a conscience- of which we saw glimmers, when he appeared to testify against Lionel Luthor anyway; he must also have regrets for his own failures, of which we've seen very little. It's the latter especially that will create Superman- a hero who uses his best judgment to master his own overwhelming powers, and that can't happen if Clark never believes he's made mistakes to learn from. Overall, I believe that's where Gough & Millar are heading with the uberstory, and fourth season will most likely focus on that journey; I just think it's a damned shame they couldn't rise to the challenge of making it internally logical and consistent in this pivotal episode.

Just like last year's "Exodus," "Covenant" is an exposition episode, and exposition episodes do not for great finales make. The last ten minutes were fantastic, the preceding forty just mundane. The only silver lining I can pull out of this is that the premiere will probably be absolutely fantastic. It's just a shame that the finale had to limp so much to let an episode seven months away fly.

Screenwriting: C
To Watch: C+

Note: The views of Hope don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.

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