DtS Review – Requiem
By: Kevin
“You think that Lex is still that same man you saved on the bridge 8 years ago? You’re not recognizing the monster he’s become!”
~ Chloe Sullivan
The corporate merger that Tess started to set up with Oliver at the end of Bulletproof is the setup for this episode. The bigwigs of LuthorCorp have been called to a meeting and while the Tess “The Barracuda” Mercer is late, they begin discussing their displeasure with the way she’s been running the show. There’s a nice little nod to Michael Rosenbaum & John Glover as large portraits of Lex & Lionel adorn the walls of the room. As the board is about to call for a vote of no confidence in Tess’ leadership, Oliver shows up to deflate their egos and tells them about the merger. But, before he can get too far with that, a clever little device detonates and blasts the room to bits. A little present from Winslow Schott, aka the Toyman. Before this episode, I was unfamiliar with this villain, and I’ve since seen his incarnation in the Superman/Doomsday animated DVD, and I prefer the Smallville version. I know, big shocker there, right? He’s a pretty nifty villain if you ask me. He’s slightly deranged, talks to his toy dolls & blows stuff up. There’s a little bit of the kid in all of us grown men that still like to play with toys – he’s just a little bit more deadly with them than most.
Meanwhile on the Kent farm, Clark & Lana are having fun trying out Lana’s newly acquired super-powers. And just as in Season 7′s Wrath, they are all about the horizontal tango. But this time, instead of sending ground tremors throughout the county, they’re into breaking solid oak bed-frames. It’s either funny or cringe-worthy, I can’t decide which just yet. Clark’s happy – he’s finally got his wish – someone to share his life with, just like ol’ Ma & Pa Kent had with each other. Lana wants to do him one better and really share his life by fighting crime & saving lives side by side. They go to the hospital to chat with Ollie about the explosion and he’s not entirely forthcoming. At the blast site, Lana finds a Kryptonite-laced Queen Industries computer chip that was part of the detonation device used in the bomb. However, the Kryptonite soon vanishes from the chip for reasons unknown. Lana then tells Clark about how Green Arrow was down in Cuba attempting to kill Lex before she showed up at Chloe’s wedding. Oliver still wants Lex dead, and he’s the only one in town that’s willing to get his hands dirty to do what needs to be done. I usually side with Clark in his & Oliver’s moral arguments, but with this one, I side with Oliver. If it weren’t for the mythos and the fact that Lex Luthor & Clark Kent are to be mortal enemies forever, I’d be cheering from the sidelines yelling, “Go, Ollie! Go!!” Because sometimes I really think enough is enough, just kill the guy already.
Back in Crazytown, the Toyman is busy hatching his next plan – destroy the Daily Planet. Turns out he’s not entirely off his rocker, in that the doll he’s been talking to is his way of communicating with Lex Luthor, who’s still stowed away somewhere hooked up to his Darth Vader machine.
In another cool little “shout out” to times gone by, Lana & Clark reminisce over Lana’s now Kryptonite-free necklace. Sure, it’s just a little thing, but since this is most likely Kristin Kreuk’s final appearance on the show, having our minds brought back to the simplicity of high school & Freaks of the Week is a cool bit of nostalgia. They are quickly brought back down to Earth however, when Lana tells Clark that Doctor Groll (from Projects Aries & Prometheus) figured out that the Kryptonite from the computer chip didn’t vanish, but was absorbed into Lana’s news skin/suit. In addition to saving his own life with it, Lex had fully intended to use Prometheus as a weapon specifically against Clark. After all, how can you defeat someone if every time you get near them, you get sick & weak? I’m pretty sure I’m wrong in this idea, but this keeps making me think of the whole Veritas storyline from last season. Someone having power to control Clark & destroy him. The resolution to that arc never really sat well with me or felt resolved. Is it a stretch to think that Lex obtaining the orb in Zurich and then being lead to the Arctic, to have the not-so-epic confrontation with Clark enabled him to be at this point where he has been trying to get the Prometheus technology? Because if Lex could get within arms reach of Clark, he weakens him, makes him ‘mortal’ and can then have the power over whether he lives or dies. Maybe that’s not exactly the same thing as being able to ‘control’ Clark, but it seems to connect for me. Maybe I’m way off or everyone else has already come to this realization, but I think it’s a cool possibility.
After a foiled attempt to finish off Oliver (who, I swear, the more he’s shirtless, the lower my self-esteem drops), Toyman spills the beans on where Lex is hiding out. Clark & Lana find Schott’s apartment with all his toys & through some fancy finger work, Chloe narrows down Lex’s location to a mobile router in Metropolis, but it’s only in range for another 10 minutes and then there’s no telling when he’ll pop up again. Clark meets Lana at the Daily Planet to stop the Toyman’s plan to blow it up and they find a massive Kryptonite filled bomb on the roof. Obviously, Clark can’t get near it, so Lana steps in. Then Lex chimes in on some random intercom – and while he spouts off dialogue citing historical tragic romances like any good Luthor would at a time like that, I can’t help but cry “Foul!”, cuz it’s just not Michael Rosenbaum. Even though we can only see one badly damaged eye and he’s got the Darth Vader voice from the breathing apparatus, it’s just sorta counter-effective with me. It’s sort of like at the end of The Mummy Returns when The Rock comes out as the CGI Scorpion King. It’s supposed to be suspenseful, but it’s just sorta lame. I think a better way to have done it would have been to never show Lex from the front and just keep making good use of the back of the stand-in’s shiny dome. That way we, as the audience, can accept that Lex (and Rosenbaum for that matter) is still out there and maybe, just maybe, someday we’ll see him again in his restored form.
Back to the story, if Lana defuses the bomb, she’ll absorb the massive amounts of Kryptonite into her skin. So, Clana is faced with the hardest choice they’ve ever been faced with – sacrifice their love, hopes and dreams and save the city or let the city burn & ensure that they can be together forever. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, Clark doesn’t take long to decide – Lana has to do it. After it’s all said and done, Clark can’t get within 10 feet of Lana without being weakened, so, he speeds off to find Lex and stop him once and for all. But Lana gets there before he can & prevents him from carrying it out with the token “if you kill him, you’ll become like him and lose yourself” speech that people always seem to give at times like this. Then, the semi that supposedly houses Lex erupts in a raging inferno. A quick glimpse of Lex is shown inside, and even though the remains are identified as Lex’s, you gotta believe in your heart of hearts that surely Lex wasn’t inside, or at least the “Lex” that was inside was a clone or a decoy or something. Because if Lex Luthor dies before Clark Kent becomes Superman, then there’s something seriously wrong here.
Chloe discovers hospital footage that shows that it was, in fact, Oliver was that blew up the semi, using the bomb Toyman tried to use on him. They have a pretty heated discussion about this fact and when Chloe pulls out the murder card, Oliver counters with the knowledge he has of Chloe killing Sebastian Kane earlier this season in Identity. Chloe says it was Brainiac, but neither she or Oliver seem to really believe that. Justin Hartley & Allison Mack don’t have a lot of screen time together on the show, but when they do, there’s good chemistry. I think if they were allowed to play with it more than they do, it could have potential to rival the chemistry between Lois & Clark. Later, there’s a really cool shot of Oliver, back in the demolished boardroom looking at the shattered glass & partly damaged portrait of Lex hanging slanted on the wall. Oliver looks at it with prideful arrogance, as he brings up his hand, showing that he’s holding Lex’s Kryptonite ring that we saw back in Season 4′s Onyx. The possibilities that this creates are pretty awesome.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Smallville’s pretty skilled at doing the end-of-episode-slow-mo-to-music thingie (if there’s an actual technical term for that, can someone let me know?), and the one used here is a good one. We know what’s coming, too – Clana is headed for Donesville and the off-ramp is approaching fast. Tom Welling & Kristin Kreuk have always played well off of each other and their final scene is no different. I know I’ve voiced my displeasure with aspects of this plot arc in the past, so I won’t go into that, but this is the way the writers went with it, so I can respect that. It’s definitely a sad thing that happens to Clark & Lana & it’s a fitting end for the show’s version of these characters, now that I really think about it. I was disgruntled that it didn’t stay as a choice that Lana made to leave Clark behind to fulfill his destiny (as I’m fairly sure that’s how it plays out in the comics), because, as someone out there in fandom has said – it makes Clark’s future with Lois seem sort of like second place. But then again, Smallville has always been about doing their own interpretation of things. Two major themes with the show since it began have been Clark & Lana’s feelings for each other & Lex’s desire to keep them apart. Well in that regard, this ties up those arcs nicely. Lex has done it – Clark & Lana can’t be together, and there’s nothing Clark can do about it, except watch her leave. And she really should leave because who wants to stay around, especially in a small town. Trust me, I’ve been there and it’s no bueno. Clark shows he has true super-strength here by walking over to Lana, despite the intense pain and kissing her, refusing to accept defeat. As they kiss, the veiny green effects that used to appear on Clark’s skin in early seasons when he encountered the radio-active shards of his home world begin to take over his face. At first I was like, “Oh, sweet!” then I was like “Wait, how come he hasn’t had that reaction in so many years?” I guess it’s partly because it’d have been a dead give away to people if it happened every time in the history of the show, and partly because we’re dealing with massive amounts of the green stuff in this instance. Either way it was a cool way to enhance their final moment in the loft. Lana tells Clark she loves him and walks out of the barn for the last time. Clark whispers “I love you” and then, fade to black. Thus ends Clana, and looking back on all their adventures of the past 8 years, I can say, with the exception of a few plot points, that I’ve enjoyed every minute of the ride.
