Smallville 2.23 - Exodus

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It was difficult for me to pick a suitable photo to headline this post. So much happens in this episode. There are quiet scenes and chaotic scenes, there are romantic scenes and intrigues. It's the season two finale, and it lives up to its expectations. In the end I picked this romantic photo of Clark and Lana. It's the calm before the storm.

It's good to see them so happy after two years of teetering on the brink of a relationship.

The only witnesses of the romantic moment are their horses.

But even the horses look away when their lips lock in a passionate kiss.

Just how passionate is the kiss? In the podcast Michael Rosenbaum says that they were sticking their tongues down each other's throats. Ugh! When he describes it like that, all the romance is gone. I think it's wishful thinking on his part. I don't see any tongues, not even in the close ups.

Tom Welling can't remember using his tongue to kiss Kristin Kreuk. Not that it means anything. He never remembers any of his kisses. I think his mind has blocked them out.

This week's special guest is Kristin Kreuk herself, in her second guest appearance after "Cool" last August. She watched the episode before appearing today. Her exact words were:

"I don't remember the scenes, I don't remember the storylines, I barely remember being on set, I don't remember the outfits, I don't remember anything. It's crazy. How did that happen?"

But does she remember the kiss? No, but she's certain that she didn't use her tongue. She says that it would have been unprofessional.

But all this talk about kissing is getting ahead of myself. Last week's episode ended on a cliff-hanger. A voice called to Clark from the storm cellar, telling him "Kal-El, it is time".  At the beginning of this episode we see that the voice is emanating from the space ship. It's the voice of Jor-El, Clark's father. His thoughts and his memories have been stored in the ship. He tells Clark that by sunset the next day he has to leave Smallville to follow his destiny. Clark refuses, but he's told he doesn't have a choice.

The next morning Clark goes riding with Lana, which leads to the romantic scene at the beginning of this post. Maybe Clark is afraid that this is his last chance to be with Lana.

The official church service for the wedding of Lex Luthor and Helen Bryce is due to take place the next day. Or is it? Lex confesses to Helen that he broke into her office to steal Clark's blood sample. He wants to break the cycle of deceit and be completely truthful. This revelation is too big for Helen to simply forgive him. She says the wedding is off and walks out. Fortunately she returns at the last moment, so the wedding doesn't have to be cancelled.

Shortly before sunset, Clark returns to the storm cellar. He tells the spaceship that he refuses to leave Smallville. The ship burns the symbol of Clark's ancestors onto his chest and tells him he only has until noon the next day to change his mind. If Clark stays, everyone he cares for will suffer.

The next day Clark shows his best friend Pete Ross the symbol and tells him that the only chance he has to escape his destiny is to destroy the spaceship. The spaceship's key is the same shape and size as the key for the wall in the Kawatche caves. Lionel Luthor has made a new key from refined Kryptonite. When his parents leave for Lex's wedding, Clark tells them that he has to do something first. He doesn't have much time, and he's the best man! Clark steals the Kryptonite key and inserts it in the spaceship.

There's a huge explosion. It destroys the spaceship, the storm cellar and the surrounding buildings. Luckily the farmhouse itself is outside the blast radius. Jonathan and Martha are returning home to look for Clark. Their truck is thrown into a ditch by the blast. They only have minor injuries, but Martha loses her baby. 

When Clark visits his parents in hospital, Jonathan blames him for the accident and the loss of the baby. Clark sees this as a fulfilment of Jor-El's threat that the ones he love will suffer. He steals a red school ring from Chloe's office at the Torch. It's the red meteor ring that takes away Clark's inhibitions. We saw it previously in "Red" and "Rush". Why does Clark want the ring? The logical answer is that it acts as an intoxicating drug. When he's under the ring's influence nothing matters to him, it's like he's in a trance.

Lana finds Clark standing in the ruins of the storm cellar before he leaves.

Clark pushes Lana away. She appeals to him for the sake of their love, but he insists that he's too dangerous for her.

This scene contains the best acting I've seen by Tom Welling and Kristin Kreuk in the series so far. They're both totally convincing in their roles.

Look at Kristin's face. We can read the heartbreak in her eyes. It's amazing that she can no longer remember this scene. In the podcast she said that she recognised herself, but it was like she was looking at a different person in a different world.

Clark slips on his ring and he rides away on his bike.

Tom Welling says that he didn't like the dark glasses because they made him look stupid. He's wrong, completely wrong. They're a symbol of his different personality. Apart from that, they make him look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films. This is the effect that Greg Beeman wanted as director, and it succeeds.

This shot as Clark drives off is such a beautiful scene that I'd like to frame it and hang it on my wall. It says so much without words.

And look at Lana's face. once more it's brilliant acting by Kristin Kreuk.

As Clark rides his motorbike towards Metropolis, he hears Jor-El's voice calling him. Destroying the spaceship wasn't enough to escape from him.

There's a dramatic turn at the end of the episode. Lex and Helen are flying away to their honeymoon in a private plane. Lex falls asleep. When he wakes up the plane is descending fast. Helen has gone, and the pilot has also disappeared. I watched these episodes 15 years ago, but I've forgotten what happened next. I felt tempted to watch the first episode of the third season straight away, but no... I'll wait till next week. Actually, not next week. On Monday I'm going on holiday for three weeks, and I shan't continue to watch "Smallville" until I return. The suspense is killing me.

There's a small but important subplot. In last week's episode Chloe Sullivan refused to investigate Clark for Lionel Luthor. After this she saw Clark and Lana kissing, but in this episode both Clark and Lana insist that they're only good friends. Chloe is so disappointed with them that she returns to Lionel and offers to do the investigation he wants. Is her love turning to hate? I'll find out the answer three weeks from now. Holidays suck!

In the podcast Kristin said that she never liked the love triangle, and when appearing in new television series she always insisted that there wouldn't be another love triangle. She says that it makes women look weak to see them fighting over the same man. Michael Rosenbaum has said similar things, and they both don't get it. Lana and Chloe aren't women, they're schoolgirls. At the start of the first season they were 14, and now they're 16. Young love isn't rational. I believe the roles were played perfectly.

Kristin points out a personal problem with the love triangle. It made her unpopular with many female fans. They took the side of either Lana or Chloe, and they hated the other one. When Kristin says fans, I assume she means young fans. Teenage girls. They weren't being rational when they blamed Kristin for breaking Chloe's heart, or when they blamed Allison Mack for breaking Lana's heart. They were getting the characters and the actresses mixed up.

In the podcast Michael Rosenbaum pointed out a mistake that I missed while watching the episode. Clark roars off on his motorbike in his Terminator gear, made reckless by the red meteor rock ring, but if you watch the road markings you can see that he's only driving slowly. Michael estimates that he's driving about 15 mph. He should have been driving at least 100 mph, an easy feat for Clark's stunt double Chris Sayour.

When Kristin appeared as a guest star last year I criticised the quality of her webcam. She must have read my blog, because she's upgraded now. Her new webcam is every bit as good as Tom's new webcam, and it's better quality than the webcams Michael uses in his studio. A beautiful woman like Kristin should be shown off. She was beautiful 20 years ago, and she's still beautiful now.

Tom Welling seemed to be showing some relief that he's got to the end of the second season. Didn't he think he'd make it? Up until now Tom and Michael have recorded 47 podcasts. There were only 44 episodes, but the first season finale was split into two podcasts, and there were two "Best Of" podcasts before the second season began. Unless there's a nuclear war, they should be able to finish the series within the next four years. I'll be watching all the episodes with them and following their podcasts.

Always hold on to Smallville.

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