"Persona"
Review!
Written
by C.M.
Houghton ("Triplet")
Send
her feedback
WARNING:
If you are a spoiler-phobe, stop reading this
now. You should wait until after you've seen
the episode. Oh, and I should probably warn
you this is pretty long too, longer than normal
anyway. If you have somewhere you need to be
in the next ten minutes, then you should probably
read this later.
Overall the script, written by Holly Henderson
& Don Whitehead, was terrific, although
there were some faults (which I'll talk about
later). It kept up the suspense and showed that
Bizarro isn't as good at pretending to be Clark
as he would have liked to be. Even if you look
like someone else, it's pretty hard to pretend
to be him because you aren't. Bizarro's skin
turning to stone in the sun is only the most
glaring difference between him and Clark, so
it was probably only a matter of time before
he was found out.
Even
without seeing his skin change in the sun, I
am surprised that Lana didn't suspect something
was up. Maybe she was too busy enjoying the
"new and improved version" of Clark
to really think about why he wasn't exactly
acting like himself. Given the state of their
relationship, Clark's inexplicable aloofness
since she came back, maybe I can't blame her.
If my significant other was like that, I'd look
at any improvement as a positive thing. People
only look for what they want to see, so that
actually made sense.
Going
further, Lana loving Bizarro more in that month
than she ever did Clark was indicative of why
their relationship will eventually fail in the
future. Her wanting more from Clark than he
can give her is something that will eventually
come up. So maybe she has finally realized that
there are some things about Clark that will
never change and that fact makes him not as
perfect for her as she would like. Also, as
Clark has apparently discovered, the reverse
is also true: the pedestal Clark's put Lana
on maybe isn't where you want to keep any potential
lifelong companion. No one is perfect, so she
was bound to not live up to his expectations.
Bizarro
rather pointedly bringing up the fact that maybe
they aren't perfect for each other was a terrific
choice. Clark or Lana probably wouldn't have
recognized that fact as definitively unless
someone from outside the relationship (in this
case Bizarro), had brought it to their attention.
There've been hints that maybe they were already
heading toward realizing that, so maybe Bizarro
just sped things along a little bit.
I
know a lot of folks think they the producers
and writers need to kill "Clana."
Some people hate that they're dragging it on,
but I can see the logic behind putting off the
inevitable end of the relationship for at least
a little while longer. A relationship with Lana
had been something that Clark has wanted for
the entire series. Now that he has it, it's
ironic that it turns out that it isn't what
he would have hoped it would be.
However,
if they broke up the relationship and moved
him into an emotionally happier place too soon,
it would seem very contrived. If that happened,
people would likely complain about the lack
of continuity.
Done
gradually, the progression toward their dual
realization that it just isn't going to work
will seem a more natural one. Also, letting
it happen over a longer period of time will
allow them to become the friends they are in
the future, hopefully side-stepping some of
the bitterness Lana had shown recently in the
comic books.
I
was a bit confused by then ending of the episode
upon my first viewing. I would have liked for
them to have had some serious cuddle time once
Clark was reunited with Lana, but I can understand
their tension at the end. Thanks to Bizarro,
they'd been shown what they thought they had
known about their own feelings was wrong. It
will take them some time to deal with such profound
truths and to examine the state of their relationship.
Also
I would imagine Clark also has to deal with
the fact he's not willing to give up his powers
the way Dax-Ur had done. The man said he had
made the decision to give up his powers in an
instant for the woman he loved, but Clark will
never make that decision. Even if he could find
more blue-kryptonite, Clark won't walk away
from the world the way Dax-Ur had done. He won't
ever give up his ability to help people for
anyone, not for Lana, not even later for Lois.
The irony is that we all knew before he realized
it himself that he won't, but it was still a
sad thing for Clark that he isn't capable of
doing that for her.
Just
to prove that I don't know everything, a friend
pointed out that the ending book-ended the beginning.
I hadn't realized it upon the initial viewing,
which might explain why I was confused by the
ending at first, but she was right. The episode
started out with Bizarro-Clark and Lana in a
happy, brightly lit bedroom scene and ended
with Clark and Lana being miserable in the same
bedroom, but then it was dark and filled with
deep shadow. I guess I'm not smart enough to
have noticed that the plot had come full circle,
or maybe I was just too annoyed with the contrived
Lex scene just before it to understand, but
I'm glad she pointed it out to me. Seeing the
ending again with that in mind really added
something to the episode for me.
I
loved Brainiac in this episode. He was damaged,
clearly barely keeping himself together, but
he still was on top of things enough to be able
to manipulate both Clark and Bizarro into getting
him what he needed: Dax-Ur. It was brilliant
pretending to be Lionel to get Clark to do the
work for him. I didn't see that coming, although
Lionel looking at himself so critically in the
mirror and then later holding Clark's hand seemed
out of character until the reveal.
Brainiac's
attack on Dax-Ur was startling and looked fatal.
His determination to reach his goals, no matter
what the cost, certainly spells bad things for
Clark should he come back before the end of
this strike-shortened season.
I
was glad that Grant showed some Luthor style
backbone as he tried to take what he thought
he needed out of the life that Lex had created
for him. It was a bit surprising that Lionel
was so welcoming to Grant, so it makes sense
that Lex was angry about that unexpected turn
of events. Because of Lex killing another clone
of Julian in "Gemini," Grant should
have realized that the real danger wouldn't
come from Lionel; instead the real peril would
come from the furious Lex.
It's
too bad that he got killed. I liked Grant. However
for Lex, Grant's inability to be the brother
Lex had dreamed about turned Grant into just
the end result of yet another grand scheme that
had failed, so Lex killed him for it. It was
logical from his viewpoint. He reanimated the
brother he couldn't save to only kill him because
he didn't match his idealistic view of what
a brother should be. He didn't want Grant to
ruin what little love Lionel might have had
left for Lex, but it certainly looked like that
was the way it was going after the awesome confrontation
Lionel and Lex had in the library. Grant not
being able to fulfill Lex's ideal runs hand-in-hand
with Clark no longer matching Lana's, or Lana
no longer matching Clark's. That's another nice
piece of symmetry.
Another
thing I really liked about this episode was
the terrific dialogue. It was sometimes humorous,
like when Bizarro-Clark complained about the
sun turning his skin to stone, Brainaic replied:
"Try a good sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat
perhaps...." Or when Fine told Bizarro
moments later that "Lying to you would
be like lying to a mollusk: there's no point."
Those lines were very funny. Other times the
dialogue was vicious, like when Lionel told
Lex that Grant was "Insightful, courageous,
direct: your exact opposite, Lex." Then
later Grant got particularly brutal when he
told Lex "You're so lonely and pathetic,
you had to build yourself a brother." Ouch.
No
wonder Lex killed him.
One
thing that was missing was any mention from
Clark about what, exactly, Jor-El had been trying
to accomplish by trapping him in the fortress.
Was Clark somehow getting "trained"
while he was frozen? Was it some kind of punishment?
Hopefully, it will come up later so we can hear
the explanation.
As
good as the script was, I actually hated Lex's
final scene. He had clearly arranged the staged
mugging which ended with Grant's murder. However,
if he was cold enough to have Grant gunned down
in front of his father, hurting Lionel even
while getting rid of his rival for his father's
affections (a win-win for Lex), why would he
have such strong regrets that he would scream
in agony out in the rain? Although the inherent
melodrama is very Lex-like, I don't think his
motivations for that were well established in
the script. However, I don't think the crane
up shot didn't help.
Speaking
of that crane shot, I think I'll talk about
the director next even though I usually save
that for the end. Maybe it's fitting that I
talk about him after the writers since the director
is a producer/writer for the show, Todd Slavkin.
It would also appear that Todd makes his professional
directorial debut with "Persona."
I
think Todd made a solid freshman effort behind
the camera, the actors were ably led for the
most part, but there were some missteps too.
Mostly the mistakes seemed to be on the visual
side of things. I think Tom Welling and Michael
Rosenbaum both had similar problems with visual
elements in their respective directorial debuts,
too happy to be playing with new toys perhaps.
So maybe it's an expected newbie director error,
but the most glaring problems I saw came from
Todd's use of the camera. Although technically
well done, there were two particular crane shots
that I thought were misplaced, or at least ill-used.
There
was a crane down shot in the library scene between
Lex and Lionel and then a crane up when Lex
was out on the balcony in the rain. I loved
the look of the first crane shot, it was beautiful,
but it was perplexing because in the context
of the scene the shot didn't really make much
sense. Why crane down to Lionel in a sort of
a point-of-view shot from Lex? Was Lex really
that focused on his father at that moment? Why
emphasize him like that? Is there some larger
metaphorical thing going on that I didn’t
get?
Then
that other one toward the end actually made
me annoyed. The camera craned up, making Lex
shrink suddenly inside the frame, just as Michael
was about to deliver a pretty important moment
for his character. I wanted to see Lex's face
as he dealt with emotional aftermath of Grant's
murder. We didn't get to get a good look that,
and the emotional impact of his reaction was
deflated as a result.
That
crane shot seemed to be reflexive of similar
moments before (namely from "Memoria"
and probably "Hereafter") and, visually,
was probably supposed to create a statement.
In fact the look of that shot seemed to be the
goal of that short, dialogue free scene: Lex
standing in the rain with his arms outstretched
as he screamed out in his agony. However, I
think Todd was too intent on getting the look
right, and it was a terrific crane shot (technically,
it was very nice and all in one take), but he
forgot to get the feeling of it right. He didn't
let the actor do his part. I couldn't see Michael
act the transition into the agony that caused
him to scream and losing a sense of why he did
that made the scene seem more contrived. I felt
cheated.
That
said, the very next scene was probably close
to perfect. Clark and Lana's bedroom scene was
painful and rightfully so. They were both dealing
with uncomfortable truths and that was justifiably
reflected in the awkward scene. Both actors
had their moments in that scene as well, even
without speaking a word.
Although
this probably wasn't a perfect outing for Todd,
he did very well for his first time out and
he put in a solid episode. Some of the more
subtle visual moments, the composition and blocking
of scenes, the low angles used at times, were
actually very good so I'm glad Todd had his
shot at directing. I hope we have another season
so he can give it another go to see if he can
deliver an even better episode next time.
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I
love it that Smallville's powers-that-be
seem to want to bring people up from within
their own organization, letting crew,
cast members and writers take their shots
at directing. I adore the idea that those
people are given the chance to be more
than they were originally hired to be,
Al and Miles want to foster their budding
talents. I hope I'm not being naïve,
but it makes me think that working up
there is more than just a job and that
the creative people probably feel nurtured.
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Now,
for the actors: Tom Welling again did an excellent
job. He had a huge amount of screen time, far
more than usual, so it must have been a harder
episode for him than normal. Given that, the
fact that he performed both Clark and Bizarro
so well I think says a lot.
Bizarro-Clark
was perfect precisely because he wasn't. He
wasn't a good copy of Clark, and couldn't believably
ever be so. So Tom again played Bizarro as if
he were a different person who just happened
to look like Clark. The way he stood, the facial
expressions he made, the tone of his voice,
even his inflections and delivery were so different
from how Tom plays Clark that he really did
almost seem like a different person. I'm not
really sure how anyone can do that, but it's
a testament to the skill Tom Welling shows as
an actor. He made it look easy while he also
avoided turning the performance campy or making
Bizarro too over-the-top "evil."
Tom
had some great moments as Bizarro-Clark. My
favorite was when Bizarro mocked Chloe, silently
mimicking her whining behind her back in their
first scene in the Planet's basement. Mocking
her like that made the contempt Bizarro felt
for Clark, and his friends, come through loud
and clear despite the fact he hid it from her
in his desire to continue the pretense that
he was Clark. It added depth to the character,
so the humor of it was just icing. I have a
feeling it originally might have been Tom just
fooling around behind Allison's back, but kudos
to Todd for keeping that take in if it was.
I'm
sorry to see Bizarro go, I don't know if Tom
enjoyed playing him but I know I loved to watch
him do it. Hopefully, they'll figure out a way
to bring Bizarro back. I miss him already.
Without
a single word spoken, the ending scene between
Clark and Lana was terrific. Tom and Kristin
both did a super job in that. I understand it's
hard for actors to deal with scenes without
dialogue. I think that makes sense since there
is no framework to base the performance on.
It's a moment stripped bare of the actor's most
obvious tool: words.
Without
dialogue, all the actor has left is his body
and face. That probably would be terrifying
to actors with less skill, and I know they only
rarely used to give such scenes to Tom or Kristin.
They've both grown so much, however, that I
would guess that the prospect of having a scene
without dialogue is a lot less scary for them
than it would have been in the beginning. I
do know they both do very well with scenes like
now, so it's a joy to see one so well done as
the final scene in this episode.
Aside
from the ending scene, Kristin Kreuk wasn't
at her best and I'm not sure if it was entirely
her fault. I'm thinking the newbie director
had something to do with it... Some moments
seemed flat.
For
example, I thought Lana should have shown more
emotion at finding out she'd been unknowingly
having sex with a homicidal phantom zone escapee.
Then when Bizarro had pointed out the fact it
was him (not Clark), that had made her feel
more in love than ever, the realization that
he was right should have completely shaken her
and it apparently didn't. Kristin's been able
to sell that kind of shock and horror before,
so I believe I'm going to have to lay at least
part of the blame for her failure in that at
Todd's feet.
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Allison
Mack was wonderful in this episode, her
not believing in Clark when it was actually
Bizarro, actually looked hard for Chloe
to deal with. In Chloe's scene with Lana
in the kitchen when she was trying to
convince Lana that Clark wasn't acting
normally, she played the shocked and confused
Chloe perfectly. I loved the suspicion
she showed when the real Clark showed
up as well. She was definitely torn until
he proved it to her.
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John
Glover was truly awesome as Lionel. It's always
a joy when Lionel is in an episode, but probably
my favorite part was when he was Brainiac-as-Lionel.
He was smooth and, like Tom's Bizarro, different
yet not different enough to really raise definite
suspicion until the reveal in the elevator.
James
Marsters' return as Brainiac was awesome. Not
only did he show a wry sense of humor, but he
was cold blooded and ruthless to boot. He was
as smooth as he could possibly be, yet he made
it clear that Brainiac was damaged and not in
top form physically. The menace he radiated
was chilling as he casually killed the rat and
apparently cold bloodedly killed Dax-Ur. It
almost looked like he got a rush when he killed.
I thought that was a nice touch, making that
aspect of Brainiac echo James' time as a vampire
playing Spike in "Angel" and "Buffy."
I'm very glad James is back, I hope we see him
again soon.
I'm
going to miss Michael Cassidy. I got to like
his Grant/Julian more and more the longer he
was on the show. I hope because Grant was a
clone that maybe Lex might try again to grow
a new baby brother, so we might get Michael
back someday.
Although
Marc McClure didn't have a lot of screen time,
I really liked Dax-Ur. Marc, finally, was a
stunt cast member that actually worked. He added
a quiet grace to the character that had obviously
been happy with the choices he'd made. I don't
think that Dax-Ur survived Brainiac's attack
on him, but if he did, then I hope he might
be able to come back.
Glen
Winter photographed yet another beautiful episode.
The use of sunlight was very well done in this
episode. The light, when it shone into a room,
was overexposed and had a yellow tint which
was perfect for this episode. I also loved how
he had made what was probably part of the lot
up in Burnaby look hot and dry when Clark visited
the garage where Dax-Ur worked.
I
wonder what little corner of the lot they'd
turned into the shanty town inside Suicide Slums,
but whichever one that was Production Designer
James Philpott made good use of it. It looked
particularly sleezy and run down, and of course
Glen made it look even gloomier because of the
way he shot it.
The
choice of the song
at the end, Interpol's "Pioneer to the
Falls," was perfect.
Not
a perfect episode but there was so much to love
that I will have to spot it about a half point.
I give it 5 Kryptonian shield beacons out of
a possible 5.
