Smallville 2.19 - Precipice

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What makes this episode special to me is that it has the first appearance of Sheriff Nancy Adams. She's the replacement for Sheriff Ethan, who was arrested for murder in the episode "Suspect". I remember her well as one of the most outstanding recurring characters in the series. In contrast, I'd forgotten about Sheriff Ethan until I began to rewatch the series last year.

These are Sheriff Ethan's 14 episodes.

These are Sheriff Nancy's 22 episodes. Only 22? I thought it was more.

The episode opens with a shot of the Talon. That's always a good start. What does the sign say? It looks like the word is "Friday". The sign changes several times in the course of the episode, so there are no further clues.

The opening scene in the Talon introduces the episode's two plots. There are three frat boys who've brought whiskey into the Talon to spice their coffee. Lana asks them to leave, but instead of that one of the boys, Andy Connors, makes sexual advances and says he wants to go with her into the back room. She presses a panic button to call the police, but Clark arrives first. Doesn't he always?

Clark makes them leave. Then he confronts them in the alley and tells them not to visit the Talon again. They attack him, but they don't stand a chance. Then Andy tells Clark that Lana is a real dirty slut, which makes him snap. Clark throws Andy 30 feet through the air, and he lands on top of the police car that's just arriving. Out steps Sheriff Nancy Adams. Assuming that Clark is the aggressor (which isn't completely untrue), she makes him kneel. The police must be more lenient in small American towns, because she doesn't arrest him. After talking to him in the Talon, she drives him home. She tells Clark's parents that the usual punishment for an assault like this would be $1500, but she won't press charges if he does 40 hours of community service.

So Clark has got off criminal charges, but not civil charges. Andy sues Clark for one million dollars for his injuries and his future disabilities. It's obvious to Clark that Andy is lying about the extent of his injuries, but he can't prove it.

Lex Luthor encourages Lana to learn self defence in case there are future incidents. He lets her practise with a punching bag in his office. Maybe he just likes the view. I'd like to take a pretty teenager home and watch her working out, but I'm not a millionaire. The exercise pays off. She invites Andy to the Talon to talk about what happened. She tells him that she knows he's faking. Horny Andy tries to touch her, but she fights him off, knocking him over with a roundhouse kick. She was a fast learner.

Lana looks practically ecstatic when Andy is lying helpless at her feet. Is it because she won't need Clark to protect her any more? Or does she just get a thrill from beating men up? Whatever the reason, Andy is embarrassed at being defeated by a girl. He drops the charges against Clark, on condition that she won't tell anyone what happened. Alpha males need to protect their image, however much it costs.

As for the other plot, while the frat boys were drinking whiskey in the Talon, Dr. Helen Bryce was sitting alone sipping a coffee. She's sad that Lex is spending so much time away from her. She shouldn't be so hard on him. Rich men are busy men.

She thinks she recognises one of the other customers, but he's hiding behind the latest issue of the Metropolis Inquisitor. "Alien danger! UFOs in our skies!" Those are thrilling headlines. She wants to speak to the man, but he slips away while she's talking to Lana.

She meets him the next day. It's Paul Hayden, a man she briefly dated when she was at med school. She broke up with him when she heard that he'd hit a previous girlfriend. Helen says that the relationship was nothing serious, but Paul thinks otherwise. Lex quickly realises that Paul is stalking Helen, so he warns him to stay away. Back in his motel room, Paul injures himself by smashing his head against a mirror. In hospital he says that Lex sent someone to beat him up. The police believe him, and Helen also believes him.

Paul should have quit while he was ahead, while Helen was almost on his side. He lures her into the hospital's pathology laboratory and tries to kiss her. Lex rings at this moment, and she tips him off that she's being threatened. This makes Paul angry, and he beats her up so badly that her life is in danger. Helen should have joined Lana for self defence classes.

Lex pursues Paul to the Smallville Train Station. The two men fight in an empty dining car. Paul overpowers Lex and wants to kill him with an axe, but Clark arrives and knocks Paul off balance by pushing the carriage. Lex wants to shoot Paul, but he hesitates. At the last moment he punches him instead, just before Sheriff Nancy arrives to arrest him.

In the final scene, Lex Luthor explains himself to Helen in the most moving monologue of the series so far. Michael Rosenbaum was always a good actor, but in this scene he excels himself.

"I wanted to kill him, Helen. I wanted to kill him for what he did to you. I probably could have got away with it in everyone's eyes, but one person would have known the truth. You. Clark didn't save me in that moment, Helen. You did".

Lex ends this monologue by asking Helen to marry him.

I'm surprised that this scene wasn't discussed in more detail in the podcast. It was the episode's best scene, whatever Ryan Tellez said. Just look at Michael Rosenbaum's face and listen to the slight tremor in his voice. In a film this would have been judged an Oscar winning performance.

The podcast's special guest is Anson Mount, the actor who played Paul Hayden. He and Michael Rosenbaum were already good friends after appearing together in a film called "Poolhall Junkies". I'd never heard of this film. According to Wikipedia, it received bad reviews and was a box office flop, but they both remember the film fondly, and Tom Welling says it's one of his favourite films. Now I'm curious. I've got to see it!

A lot of the talk was about "Poolhall Junkies" before they finally got onto the episode "Precipice". Anson can particularly remember the train scene, because they were filming at night until 5 o'clock in the morning. Michael Rosenbaum also remembers the scene vividly, but Tom Welling can't remember the railway station at all.

Anson says that he was offered the role of Lex Luthor in the series, but he turned it down. In retrospect he can't remember why. Michael Rosenbaum texted Al Gough to ask him about it, and he replied that it wasn't true. Anson and Michael auditioned on the same day, Anson in Vancouver with Miles Millar, Michael in Los Angeles with Al Gough. There was never any doubt that Michael Rosenbaum would receive the role.

In this episode Michael Rosenbaum pulls out his guitar.

It's customary for Michael and Tom to shout out the names of the top tier patrons, who contribute $100 a month to the podcast. In this episode Michael plays his guitar and sings their names.

Tom Welling can't play guitar, so he just sings. My guess is that Ryan Tellez is covering his ears.

As I mentioned above, we see the Talon with a lot of different signs in this episode. Here live music is advertised. I hope it's not Tom and Michael on stage.

There's a monster movie marathon. Hearing Tom and Michael sing would be enough to make people scream.

There's a curious sign in the daytime when Clark is doing his community service. Coffee so fresh you will want to slap it? Huh? What does that mean? I might be tempted to slap Lana's butt when she walks past, but I'd restrain myself when I remember her roundhouse kicks. But slapping the coffee? I don't get it.

They must have run out of ideas for new signs, because the last sign we see is the scene that's been re-used many times since "Stray". It's even the same man with his basketball.

This is the first time that we have a clear view of the shops opposite the Talon. Have they always been there? They might be storefronts that were added when money was left over in the budget.

These are the shops to the left of the Talon, when facing it.

Here's Chloe's red beetle pulling up outside the Talon. That car is so cool! The shop opposite is Fordman's Hardware Store, which we saw in the episode "Kinetic".

Here's Sheriff Nancy coming out of the Talon. That's a great cappuccino!

And we mustn't forget the Talon's co-owner and head waitress, Lana Lang. This is a beautifully framed image. Lana's beauty is accentuated by the purple tulips.

On a personal note: I almost didn't write this review today. I'm in the middle of a high school movie marathon which I want to finish by the end of May. I interrupted it with other films on Friday and Saturday. Yesterday I didn't have time to watch anything because I was busy with my family. I thought I'd proceed to the next high school film today, but then I remembered that "Smallville" is a film about high school kids, so it's on topic.

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