Smallville 2.05 - Nocturne

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A misty graveyard at night. A lone figure riding a horse. Television viewers could be forgiven for thinking they've tuned in to an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". No, this is "Smallville", and it's Lana Lang visiting her parents' grave on horseback. It's strange for a young girl to be out so late at night, especially since she has school the next morning. I assume she was working late at the Talon, the cafe she co-owns with Lex Luthor. She finds a letter on her parents' grave addressed to her. It contains a poem:

Beneath this moon, beneath this star,
Shimmering sirens gather from afar,
But upon your sight, upon your graces,
They have closed their lips and silenced their voices.

And through the woods, through the trees,
Ravishing nymphs scurry to be seen,
Making mischievous as they go,
They stop in awe at this wondrous glow.

Taking in your beauty and your sight,
They realise the falsehood of their plight
And surrender their ways and their worshippers too.
Forgive them, for they are only envious of you.

Lana sees someone watching her, but he runs away.

The next day at school Lana tells her friends. Chloe finds the poem and the way it was given her romantic. Pete warns that it might be a stalker. Clark just finds the poem mushy. Lana still doesn't know what to think, so she takes the poem to the Talon with her after work. Lex finds the poem and is impressed. "The imagery's a little naive, but the meter's actually quite sophisticated". Lex quotes a poem to her from memory:

Take me to you, imprison me,
For I never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Lana recognises it immediately as a poem by John Donne, one of her favourite poets. She's cleverer than me. I'd never heard of him. I looked him up, and he was a contemporary of William Shakespeare. The styles of their sonnets are similar. The main difference is that Donne was a religious man, which is reflected in his poetry, whereas Shakespeare was profane.

Clark interrupts Lana and Lex in the Talon. Is he there for a coffee or to see Lana? That's a rhetorical question. The following conversation is amusingly ironic:

Clark: "Don't you think it's weird? The guy's sneaking around watching you".

Lana: "Come on, Clark, don't tell me you've never watched somebody from afar".

If I'd been in Clark's place I would have blushed furiously. He's been watching her with his telescope for years. We've only seen him watching her on the porch, but I'm sure he's also been looking at her bedroom window, hoping she'll leave the curtains open. What else do you expect from a teenage boy? When I was young there was nobody I could spy on. There were trees at the back of my parents' garden that blocked the view of the houses opposite. I had a friend, the same age as me, whose house overlooked a school playing field. I shan't embarrass him by naming him, but if he's reading this post he knows who he is. He used to sit at his window with his binoculars watching the girls doing sports. I used to grin and say he was being naughty, but secretly I was jealous of him. I can admit it now. As a teenager I was shy, but now that I'm older I'm open about my feelings.

The poet is a young man called Byron Moore. He took part in medical experiments at Metcon, a Luthorcorp subsidiary, aimed at curing the behaviour of anti-social children. Six of the children died, but Byron experienced a strange change. Whenever he's in the sunlight he transforms into a monster. His parents keep him locked in their cellar, and to avoid investigations they've faked his death. He's been in the cellar for eight years, but he's dug a hole to get in and out at night.

When Clark rescues Byron from his cellar. the sensitive boy who writes poetry turns into a vicious monster. It's a similarity with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Al Gough says that his primary inspiration was the Hulk. It's the first time that Clark has been confronted by someone whose strength matches his own. Byron tosses Clark through the air like a rag doll.

Byron wants revenge on Lionel Luthor for his condition. Lionel is currently residing in his son's mansion while he's blind. Is the blindness permanent or temporary? The doctors don't know, but they say he should prepare for the worst by learning how to deal with blindness. It's interesting to see that he can still play piano. Is it usual for piano players to be able to play without looking at the keys? Maybe top concert pianists, but Lionel is just an amateur.

Lionel needs a personal assistant to help him while he's blind. Lex has sent four young graduates to him, but Lionel has rejected them all. Then there's a happy coincidence. Lionel is sitting in the garden with an electronic reader for his newspaper, getting annoyed by the emotionless mechanical voice. Martha Kent arrives to discuss Lex's order for biological farm produce. She sits and reads the newspaper aloud for Lionel. Then she gives her comments on what she's just read in the business section, and Lionel is amazed by her understanding. He hires her as his new assistant.

Clark's mother is a woman of many talents. What did she do before she married Jonathan? What was her education? DC comics fans should be able to tell me the answer. Unless, of course, the television series has given her a different background. Maybe the television series has been modernised. She first appeared in the comics in 1939, so she may have been a lot more timid.

Martha was featured on the first page of Superman #1 in 1939. She's portrayed as an old woman. I'm glad she looks different in the television series.

Martha Kent, as played by Annette O'Toole, is a beautiful woman. She's also a strong woman who doesn't just do what her husband tells her to do. She's the sort of woman I like.

Lionel wants to fly to Metropolis in his helicopter, but Byron arrives and stops it taking off. Clark comes and challenges him. Clark always turns up at the right time. Clark pushes him into a well, and he turns back into his normal self in the darkness.

Now to the podcast itself. It's the first episode that Michael and Tom have recorded this year, even though it was only broadcast yesterday. That means there's about a four week delay after their recordings. That must make it difficult for people who want to ring in with questions.

Michael can't remember the episode at all. He confesses that he didn't watch the episodes after making them. Not being the main character, he wasn't in all the scenes anyway. Tom also remembers very little about the episode. His only clear memory is the scene where Pete Ross was thrown through the air by Byron. Sam Jones didn't do the stunt himself, of course. His stuntman jumped off a building and through the front window of a car. Tom remembers watching the stunt and worrying that the stuntman might be dead, but he just climbed out of the car and said it hurt a bit. Stuntmen are crazy. Does anyone doubt it?

The helicopter was the episode's most expensive scene. Tom assumes that they needed all day to film it, but once again, he can't remember. Helicopters were used a few times in the series, and they always took a huge chunk of the budget.

Michael spontaneously rang Al Gough to ask him about the episode. He says that he'll often do it again in future. He'll ring Al if there are any questions, and he'll either answer or he won't. Michael spoke to Al for about four minutes. Michael finds it strange that Martha Kent should work for Lionel Luthor, since her husband doesn't like him, but Al defended the decision to write this story. He said it was important for him to develop Martha as a character. He wanted to show that she's a strong, independent woman.

Unlike Michael and Tom, Al has a good memory of the episode. He admits, in retrospect, that it was "not one of our finest hours". The whole Byron character is corny. Why should he have the same name as the real life English poet Lord Byron? It's a strange coincidence. Why should Lana visit her parents' graves at 2 am? Why should Byron's parents keep him locked in the cellar instead of talking to him and explaining that he should stay indoors? There are so many little details about the episode which you'd miss on casual viewing, but when you sit down and talk about it you notice the mistakes.

There are two Easter eggs in the episode, plumply inserted by the writers, Al Gough and Miles Miller. Firstly, when Clark says that he doesn't like the poem written by Byron, Lana calls him a man of steel. Secondly, when Clark sees his mother getting into a helicopter with Lionel Luthor, he says "My family doesn't fly much", to which Lex replies, "Trust me, that's about to change". Michael Rosenbaum discussed the first Easter egg at length, calling it too direct, but he missed the second Easter egg.

The Talon is advertising a silent film festival. Didn't they already have one?

Wait a few seconds as the camera pans downwards. Have you seen that man and woman before? Yes, they were walking past the Talon in the episode "Stray", carrying the same basketball. It looks like the director is cutting costs by re-using old establishing shots.

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