"Rage"
Review!
Written
by Triplet
Send
her feedback
NOTE:
If you haven't seen this episode, read no further if you wish
to remain unspoiled.....
This episode
was not as good as I'd hoped, despite the fact that it was exciting,
well-acted and beautifully shot. The good stuff in the episode
was almost negated by writers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer
having included some hard-to-stomach plot points in the story.
Well, almost
negated but I'll cover the hard to swallow stuff first...
The return
of super-online-researcher-Chloe was over the top, even for
Smallville. Just how did her contact find out so much about
super-secret pharmaceuticals so quickly?
It's too
easy to give tricky techno-babble dialogue to Chloe and just
stick a "my contact told me" line in there to explain
away how she came to learn details... Smallville's "Deus
Ex Chloe" usually isn't quite so glaringly obvious as this,
although it was the bio-chem expert that gave it to her this
time instead of some implausible googling on her part, but still...
Another
problem I had with the episode writing-wise was with Clark stating
that maybe his dad would still be alive if only he were normal.
Understandable as it is that he'd miss Jonathan at the first
major holiday following his death, it's odd for him to talk
about wanting to be normal now. This is an old worry for Clark
that they'd clearly established him getting past, especially
after the epiphany Clark had at the end of "Fallout."
And then
there was the icky moment with Martha and Lionel almost kissing.
Thank goodness that possible romance doesn't look like it will
go any further. However, why did they have Lionel actually go
to Thanksgiving dinner and sit next to Chloe? Chloe may have
forgiven Lionel for trying to kill her in season three because
of how he's helped Clark, but has Oliver forgotten that Lionel
threatened him only a few months ago? Given that Lionel's status
as a reformed Magnificent Bastard is in question (Lex implied
earlier this season that Lionel's rehabilitation was a sham),
it was creepy that he was part of such a warm family gathering...
He was like a snake in the grass.
However,
I loved the contrast between how the Kents celebrated Thanksgiving
with how Lex and Lana did. It was extremely character revealing
how stark and formal the mansion scene was compared to the far
more cozy Kent dinner. Is there really any romance left in Lex
and Lana's relationship? Have they perhaps become as distant
emotionally as that long table kept them physically?
The big
reveal of Lana's pregnancy had already been spoiled by several
different outlets (thank you very much, Mr. Welling), so I wasn't
surprised by it but what a fascinating twist to the Clark/Lex/Lana
triangle! I have to think that Lillian's appearance to Lex in
last year's "Lexmas" (where she showed him that he
could be happy with Lana only if he made the right choices),
will finally come into play.
He's close
to getting what he wanted, Lana and a happy family, but he still
hasn't made the right choices. After what his mom told him,
is there any chance this will end happily for Lex? How well
will it end for poor Lana? I am looking forward to seeing where
they're going with this.
The act
break cliff-hangers were strong and the story kept moving so
I really enjoyed the episode, the plot oddities aside. Ollie's
dilemma is a practical one: how can he do what he needs to do
if he's always worried about dying in the process. Given how
they've established his character, and the bullet-proof example
Clark has set, it makes sense he would try to do something to
help his odds. The storyline advanced his character arc in a
nice way and had Clark teaching Oliver some lessons for once.
In "Rage"
Tom Welling delivered another great performance and Kristin
showed that she keeps getting better. The finest moment for
both of them in the episode was the scene between Clark and
Lana in Lex's library. Clark went looking for Lex at the mansion
but found his ex-girlfriend visibly upset instead. Off-balance
yet genuinely concerned for Lana's well-being, Clark still tried
to help her and Tom played that combination of concern, confusion,
and painful regret with a remarkably subtle touch. Kristin ably
portrayed Lana's conflicted emotions when her ex-boyfriend caught
her in such a vulnerable moment. It was an extremely powerful
scene and both actors played it perfectly. It's some of the
best work they both have ever done.
Michael
did a great job in this episode. Lex is so manipulative of Lana,
despite her not recognizing it, and now kills people as a matter
of routine and Michael's still playing him as smooth as silk.
Michael's Lex is so casually evil, it's brilliant.
Justin did
a wonderful job getting across just how angry, frustrated and
unstable Ollie had become under the influence of the drugs here.
The confrontations with both Clark and Lex also showed what
a wide acting range Justin has. He's such a pleasure to watch
that I wish he had more episodes in his contract; or at least
a spin-off Green Arrow series in his future...
This episode
was a fantastic outing for the Director of Photography, David
Moxness. I especially loved how he shot the stand-off between
Lex and Oliver. He had matching, yet opposing, shots of Oliver
and Lex holding their weapons (with some particularly nice focus-pulling
between their faces and weapons, btw) and next showed close-ups
on the two weapons as the men squeezed the triggers followed
by close-ups of their eyes just before their weapons fired,
blowing them apart. Their steely resolves to win was clear as
they both held their weapons rock-steady and glared at each
other as the editor cut between the opposing set-ups.
The way
the entire sequence was shot and edited showed not only Lex's
and Oliver's physical opposition in their stand-off, but suggested
it in a more figurative sense as well. Those ideas were supported
very well by the way the actors portrayed their characters,
with Oliver's unstable fury compared with Lex's cold menace.
It was a wonderfully dynamic scene which looked great too.
One thing
that was just plain odd in this episode was Lois going to the
hospital at Smallville Medical Center, despite the fact that
she got hurt in Ollie's Metropolis penthouse apartment. Why
did they need to transport her to a hospital three hours away?
That made absolutely no sense.
Thanks to
the wonderful acting and photography, this episode managed to
overcome the plot oddities which would have otherwise made it
merely okay. I rate this episode 4 experimental-drug-filled
hypos out of a possible 5.
Note:
The views of Triplet don't necessarily represent the thoughts
and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send
her feedback
Return
home
