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.
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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