Rambling thoughts on "Patriot".....

[sanalayla]

This is incredibly late, but – hey – we haven’t moved on to the next (sexy) episode of SV, yet, have we? Until “Luthor” airs, it’s fair game. But since it’s been awhile, this is going to a lot more random than usual.

So… the previously on was rather weird. It went all the way back to S5 and showed a shot of Lois getting rescued by A.C. I thought this was odd, because I know, as a well-versed viewer, that it was a shot from “Aqua” and that A.C. and Lois had a brief (emphasis on BRIEF) fling in that episode, along with A.C. being introduced. But a random viewer? I really don’t think that five second shot was going to do a damn thing to refresh their memory.

 

A.C./Mera

Holy Bad Acting, Batman. I cannot even begin to get into all the things wrong with this pair. First of all, why is Mera allergic to clothes? Secondly, why do they think that it’s OK to go around blowing up buildings? I thought A.C. learned that terrorism was Very Bad back in “Aqua”. One of the final scenes in that episode is where A.C. and Clark have a conversation where he agrees to stop blowing things up, because there are better ways to save the world. So, what? Am I supposed to now believe that A.C. not only had NO character development since then, but – in point of fact – his “soul mate” took all the lessons he learned and made him UNLEARN them? I was so confused by this.

Anyway… so, yeah. Apparently these two love each other. And also love to stick their tongues down each other’s throats while a fire rages behind them. I'm sure Welling enjoyed creating this shot (I'm sure much more than the actors who are barely clothed and it  was probably freezing that day) but I really didn't need to see this shot with them.  

But, just in case you didn’t get the memo: they love each other. They are the bestest example of superhero couples EVAH. Don’t believe me? Well, just ask them. They’ll tell you.

I don’t have much more to say about them except to again comment on the terrible acting of both the actress playing Mera and the guy playing A.C. Now… of course… I expected the bad acting from the guy playing A.C. This is, after all, not the first time he’s been on SV. But Mera? Wow… what is WITH the CW casting department? And why must the writers go out of the way to make all the DC female characters so frakkin’ ANNOYING??? (And slutty?) Someone on DI posed the theory that they kept Mera naked to distract from the actress’s bad acting and since Welling was the director, I have to say that imagining THAT conversation made me giggle:

Welling: Okay, let’s try that line again. This time with more… conviction.

*Actress tries line again.*

Welling: Ah… all right… this time with LESS conviction.

*Actress tries line again.*
Welling: You know what? I give up. Just unzip your shirt.
 

 

If that is what really happened, then I want to be cast as a bad actress on “SV” and have Welling be my director. I’m just saying.
 

 

One of the biggest problems with the Mera/A.C. storyline being played by weak actors was it actually impacted the quality of the episode. For the most part, I thought Welling did a brilliant job of directing an episode that was probably hard to direct. But… he was saddled with two actors who couldn’t emote to save their lives (and had a TON of screen time), so he wasn’t able to present a finished product that did justice to his directing skills.

Clark/Lois

Ah… sigh. I am so confused by this ship. I adore this ship so much. I want to hug this ship and sleep with it next to my pillow at night. But… SVClois… why do you frak with my mind so much???

 

I feel like I walk into every single episode not knowing where things stand with them. They tell me that these two won’t have any secrets and lies (at the end of “Harvest”), basically expect us to believe the two had a marathon session of sex for a week between “Harvest” and “Ambush” and then give us an episode like “Abandoned” where Lois is crashing his FoS and Clark’s whipping out an engagement ring right after she moves in with him.

 

And… then… I’m supposed to believe that he never bothered to tell her that Tess knows his secret? Um… say what?

WHAT did they talk about for the weeks leading up to “Patriot”? His favorite COLORS? Am I honestly supposed to believe that one of Lois’s questions (when they talked about his origins and his powers) wasn’t, “How many people know about you?” What, does Lois have to play a game of twenty questions to get answers from Clark? Specifically say things like, “The little boy that got lost back when slutty Zatanna felt you up – does that little boy know? Does Zatanna know?” And then Clark will answer with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’? Does Clark not choose to… you know… volunteer information that Lois may not even know to ask?


So… at this point… I’m so confused. I will say, though, that one of the reasons I’m not more annoyed by this is because the writers actually addressed the frakked up nature of this. They actually had Lois say something along the lines of, “so much for total honesty.” Of course, they had Lois say this in a context where it didn’t make much sense (her conversation with Oliver) but I appreciated that the writers didn’t just pretend that the conversation at the end of “Harvest” didn’t happen.


Speaking of that conversation with Ollie: what was the guy’s problem? I thought it was very odd that he presented Clark’s decision to register for the VRA to Lois in a way where it made it seem that Clark could care less about Lois’s feelings about the matter. That wasn’t the sense I got from Clark’s convo AT ALL. He was standing around the Watchtower, the subject of the VRA came up, and Clark posed a solution. The way the writers wrote “Patriot”, it makes me think that we were led to assume that Clark would have immediately super-sped to go register without even bothering to give Lois a peck on the cheek on the way to slaughter.

Really, writers? Really?

You just ended the last episode with him gazing at an engagement ring. Is Clark really that screwed up in his relationships that he doesn’t recognize his future wife would kind of need to know he’s about to reveal himself to the government? I refuse to believe that, so – in my world – Oliver was just being an ass.

Back to the subject of Clark and Lois: I really loved that they had a moment where Clark left a present for Lois on her desk at the DP. I didn’t love the idea that he hadn’t taken a moment to text her to tell her – at least – that he missed her. (Seriously, would it have been hard to have Lois check her Blackberry and get a text from him stating, simply, “Miss you. Love, C.”? This seems like a little nitpick, but it’s one I have, because I’ve actually been in a pretty decent and loving relationship for over a decade now and that’s how relationships WORK. Especially in the beginning.)

I feel like we needed to see something like this, because while the present was nice, I had some problems with the idea that Clark could so easily just dismiss Lois from his mind. Like he dropped of the present and then went about his Blur business feeling like he’d done his due diligence with his girlfriend. As opposed to us seeing that he, in fact, was thinking about her while he was actually away from her. It would have been nice to see him do that in the wake of all his conversations with A.C. about how slutty awesome Mera was.

However, even as I say this, I realize that I'm being somewhat of a hypocrite because I actually wrote a story very similar to this theme. (Black Tie Affair) In that drabble, Clark and Lois have been married for a few months and Clark has gone off to save the world without really bothering to check in with her as often as he could have. He just assumed that she would figure out what he was doing and  Lois felt that he was taking her for granted. They have a moment, though, where they both realize something. Clark can't take her for granted, but Lois also has to give him space and support on the terms he needs it. The interesting thing is that this episode had Lois mention her mom and how her mom was an army wife (meaning that she could relate to what her mom went through) and I had Lois actually wish she could talk to her mom for advice in my fic, as well. (She has this moment where she compares herself to an army wife.) 

All that to say that this "conflict" wasn't that far out of left field for Clark and Lois. I just felt that given that she JUST moved in a week ago, I thought it would have taken him longer to start taking her for granted.

Anyway… still. It was a nice gesture. But I still appreciated Lois’s frustration. Which led to the frustration she displayed when she finally tracked Clark down in Florida and Tess came up on the screen. Durance played that scene incredibly well and I also loved Freeman’s facial expression when Tess sees Lois. The line about how Lois can’t even get him to text her and, yet, Tess can get him on Skype was HILARIOUS. And then Tess’s retort about Real Housewives of Metropolis. Gold.

(Someone get Cassidy Freeman, Erica Durance, and Brian Austin Green together in a show airing in Fall 2011 STAT.)

I also thought that Welling directing of that scene was stellar. I liked how he set up the shot so you see the image of Tess between Clark and Lois. There is also a point where Clark is looking at the screen and Lois is looking at Clark, unable to believe what's happening.

Back to Clois. I thought Clark was being weird. There. I said it. He just didn’t look guilty enough to me.I think he should have felt bad that Lois had to hunt him down and then caught him talking to Tess.  And while I appreciated that he was proud of Lois when she pulled out the blueprints that she’d stolen, I thought that reaction was odd, given the circumstances. We were supposed to believe that the reason that Clark had been acting like a douche (basically globe-trotting with his JL buddies without even a text to say, “Honey, I’m missing dinner tonight.”) because he was somehow worried about her safety and her getting in the middle of these sorts of things. But when Lois pulls out info that makes it clear that she almost got her ass kicked somehow, his response is to smile and go, “Yeah… Lois is so awesome.” What? At least look a little worried and go, “Do I want to know how you got that?” Then have Lois respond, “No. And I’m mad at you, so be very careful about what you say next, Smallville.”

All of this leads to their final scene. First of all, can I just say that I really did not appreciate watching Mera/A.C. come in as some sort of “foil” or “foreshadowing” to the Clois ship. I mean… just… EW. That is not Clois. Clois kicks their little flippered asses. The idea that these two superhero wanna-bes (who think that blowing up buildings is a turn-on) are somehow in a position to MENTOR Clark Kent and Lois Lane? Excuse me while I vomit.

So I really didn’t like that they had Mera kind of give her “stamp of approval” on Clois and Lois Lane. To hear her intone (in her slutty voice) that Lois treats Clark like an equal made me want to throw things at my TV. Then to hear her take it one step further and go on and on about how Clark needs and shit? I was like, “WTF? You just MET the man. You have no clue what Clark wants or needs. You have no clue what the Clois relationship is like. You need to STFU.” I mean, seriously. If some random bimbo met my husband and me right before we got engaged and started going off on how much he needed me? I’d look at her like she was crazy-pants. So I really hated that Lois actually looked happy at Mera’s words. I really wanted Lois to go, “That’s nice. But Clark and I are none of your business.”

(As a random aside, I did like how Lois treated Mera for the most part. The way she reacted to Mera dropping all her clothes and the line about the how someone gets a ring on their finger and suddenly no one’s relationship can cut it. I liked that, because it showed that Lois immediately recognized that Mera was Arthur’s wife and that Lois was merely Clark’s girlfriend. I also liked that Mera mentioned all the guys that Lois dating on the JL, but I still didn’t understand why Mera felt the need to be such a raving bitch to Lois. I hate that they don’t let Lois meet a woman on this show and that the woman actually LIKES her. I mean, I think Lois is awesome. I’d like her if I met her.)

Sorry… so… yeah. Clois. The ending scene. They should have touched. Sorry. They should have. I know that a lot of folks are talking about their “emotional connection” and their “soul mate bond” and all that jazz. I say that's a load of bull.

Yeah, that stuff is important. Don't get me wrong. But so is the sex. So is the heat. So is the physical intimacy they should have between each other if we’re to believe that these two regularly engage in porch swing sex.

They should not have been making out like a bunch of hormonal teenagers, but they SHOULD have been touching for at least a portion of that conversation. The point where Clark reminds Lois that he told her about the darkness and that no one else knows should have been a moment where he put his hand on her shoulder. Or she stepped closer and put a hand on his chest. They should have hugged at some point. When Clark apologized and Lois told him it was okay. Hell, I’ll take an arm punch along with the comment about the “Clark Kent express” being better than flying in a plane.

The point where Lois backs up at a very intense moment of the conversation and increases the distance between them really made me want to kick something. I was incredibly perplexed. Typically, the act of creating a space and more distance between one and the person you're talking to is to show that there is a greater divide being created. And, yet, the dialogue in the conversation is at a point where these two are getting CLOSER. So their actions didn’t match the actual conversation.
 
Like, for example, say you're reading a scene in a fanfic: 

Option A: 

"I love you, Lois. I always have." Clark looked at Lois solemnly, trying to gauge her reaction. 

Lois took a couple of steps back, increasing the distance between them. 

"I know, Clark." 

Option B: 

"I love you, Lois. I always have." Clark looked at Lois solemnly, trying to gauge her reaction.

 Lois took a couple of steps forward, eliminating the distance between them. 

"I know, Clark."

If you just read this, at a glance, it appears that - in the first one - Lois is actually not OK with his declaration of love. In the second one, it appears that she's more than OK with it. So... yeah... I think that Welling kind of missed the ball on this one. 

To compare it  to "Aqua" -- a point where Clark was dating LANA -- the two ended with more close contact. That just seems... well... bizarre to me. That now that they've slept together, they're standing 10 feet apart. And back when they were just friends? So close. I think that if I were to show these two shots to a random person who knew NOTHING about the show and said, "In one these shots, these two are dating and madly in love. In the other shot, they are just awkward friends. Tell me which one is which?" then the random person would think that "Aqua" is the one where they are dating and "Patriot" is the one where they are awkward friends.  

This is the second episode in a row where they’ve had these sorts of problems, so I hope that they stop doing it. I don’t need to see Clark shove his tongue down Lois’s throat in every episode, but I do expect to see him brush against her gently or lightly place a kiss on neck or forehead. Or just give her a hug from behind. Or stand at least 1 foot away from her, instead of six feet.

The final Watchtower scene. Not much of a Clois scene. Again, I would have liked to see them walking in holding hands. It would have been a nice (and subtle) way of showing that they started out the episode at a disconnect and now they’ve re-connected. Since this episode was all about the FOILING, it would have also served as a nice foil to the final shot of Mera/A.C. leaving the Kent farm holding hands. (See, writers, this is how you SHOW parallels instead of TELLING us parallels.)

 

Lois and Investigative Journalism

Oh, Investigative Journalist Lois Lane, how I love thee. Let me count the ways.

1) I love that you have the ability to look so damn hot when you’re going undercover.

2) I love that you have military connections and know how to use them.
 

3) I love that you will look straight in the eyes of a crazy-military man and not even flinch.

4) I love that you will banter with pretty much anyone, even when it’s some creepy old guy who keeps mentioning your dad, but looks like he thinks you’re hot.

5) I love that you have no problem mentioning your dad to get an in and then don’t even care when the old creepy guy points out that you and your dad disagree on everything.

6) I love that you brought a bribe, showing you did your homework.

7) I love that you manage to have the best hand-eye coordination on the planet (excepting your super-powered boyfriend) and actually switched out your phone with a lighter in the blink of an eye.

8) I love that it’s already gotten to the point where people recognize that you’re Superman’s biggest fan. Even though he’s not Superman, yet. But you don’t let it hold you back.

9) Most importantly, I love that you have this innate sense of right and wrong; the ability to get to the bottom of things and you do it without killing someone.
 

 

Lois Lane with the scalpel in the hospital. (Oh, sounds like the answer to a game of Clue.) I never thought, in a million years, that I’d get to see Lois actually threaten the life of Dr. Hamilton in an effort to track down her missing boyfriend. ROFL. Oh, S10 SV, where the hell have you been for the past five years? I want to see so much more of these two and I was kind of bummed that Hamilton wasn’t in the final scene. And am I the only one who think Hamilton looked impressed when she left and a little turned on? Then again, I think that plants probably look turned on after Lois has just merely watered them.
 

I think it’s funny as all hell that Lois figured out (with her Blackberry) what Watchtower and 4 members of the JL couldn’t figure out. All those fancy gadgets and spyware at WT couldn’t help them, but Lois Lane’s badassery did. I like this idea, to be honest, because it shows that while fancy gadgets and high-tech satellites can provide SOME answers, sometimes it’s the leg work and actually GOING TO THE LOCATION that really busts open the case. I think this helps explain why Clark Kent chooses to be an investigative journalist and also helps show why being a DP reporter helps make him a better Superman. And also why, sometimes, Clark Kent can figure things out that Bruce Wayne can’t. Because Bruce has his eyes on monitors, while Clark is actually there at the location, interviewing people and hunting down answers the old fashioned way.

This is why I wish we would get to see more Clark Kent, DP reporter as well as the Blur stuff. How cool would it have been if Clark had gone with Lois to confront Slade? Asked him questions as a DP reporter and gotten a lot of the answers on his own? In other versions of Superman, we get this sort of thing a lot, but it really looks like “Smallville” is not going to go there.

 

Slade

Not much to say here. I thought he was an okay villain. I think he made sense within the context of the season & I thought Welling did a good job with his scenes. I am a huge “BSG” fan, so I was probably pre-disposed to thinking he was going to be awesome, anyway. (I did shout out, “He’s a CYLON!” at the end.)

I did have a WTF moment at the end where he puts Clark in the Kryptonite bars. Um… wow… did they just have those installed ALL OVER or was he just incredibly lucky that Clark chose to stand still there? I did not understand why Clark was not writhing in pain on the floor. If anything, he looked like he had a little bit of heartburn. I think that Welling must not like playing Clark weak (since Clark is always the strongest in the episodes he directs) and must have decided that Clark could take the pain stoically like a man. But, for me, it left me – again – scratching my head as to how much Kryptonite actually incapacitates him. Just a small rock can leave him on the floor, but a full set of Kryptonite bars surrounding him just gives him a rash? Did the bad guys melt down the Kryptonite to liquid form and then just painted the bars with it, so the reason he wasn’t impacted as much was because it was in diluted form? I’m genuinely curious about this.

Anyway… I think the other thing that was weird was that I didn’t fully catch how Clark got out. I did enjoy the line where he says, “I’m a man… made of steel.” But… um… yeah. Laser vision? Superbreath? Just massive ability to work through pain? I got nothing. I can’t figure out. Personally, my fanwank is that Welling just looked at the script and said, “Huh… that’s a lot of special effects. Not only do we not have the budget for this, I don’t have time for this shot. Let’s cut it. The audience will figure it out. They’re smart people, our fans.”

 

Oliver

I enjoy this kind of Oliver. I really miss this kind of Oliver. Snarky. Kind of funny. Trying to stand up and do what’s right while making jokes. Acting as though Chloe never existed. I do think this is the brief calm before storm. Apparently, Mack is kind of in “Icarus” (because of some cut scene from “Lazarus”) and then Mack comes back for another 4 episodes right after the break. And I fully expect to hear nothing but how awesome Chloe is from Oliver’s lips throughout that entire arc.

I really loved the scene where Oliver is giving the press conference and registering for the VRA. Again, I think Welling did a fantastic job on that scene, where he showed the growing panic of the two women, while Oliver looked on in confusion. And that shot where he looks back before the elevator doors close? Very well done.

 

Clark Kent

Other than the fact that he was acting a little weird when it came to his relationship with Lois (seriously, Clark, you told her about the darkness and never mentioned WATCHTOWER?? What the frak?), I thought that this was a strong Clark episode. There was too much AC/Mera for my taste, because I thought it took away some of the focus from Clark. BUT… I liked him in this episode. As I said above, I think Welling plays Clark as stronger and more commanding when he directs and I saw that here. Even Clark’s apology to Lois at the end was not delivered in a groveling and whiney kind of a way (that was typical of the Clana apologies), but – rather – in a normal way that a guy would kind of sigh and admit he was wrong to his significant other. He also directed Durance in a way where Lois immediately brushed off the apology and downplayed it quite a bit. It helped show that these two do get along and have mutual love and respect for each other. I appreciated that.

I thought that the idea that Clark believes in “truth, justice and the American way” fit well with Superman. Superman is the sort of guy who believes in the system. It’s Batman who doesn’t. Batman assumes the system is corrupt and that the good eggs are few and far between. Superman believes the system works and that the bad eggs are few and far between.

I thought the final convo between AC/Clark was supposed to somehow be this epic JL bonding moment, but it fell flat to me, because it was almost identical to the convo they had back in “Aqua”. I mean, seriously, it’s ridiculous. These two have had at least SOME character development since S5, haven’t they? They were even shot similarly and in the same setting. 

 

Also, it was the same problem I had with the Mera/Lois convo. AC should not be in a position to give Clark advice on his love life. Maybe last season it would have worked for me. But this season? Clark has already decided he’s going to propose. And since he and Lois don't think that blowing up random buildings is a turn-on, I like to think that Clark & Lois actually have a healthier relationship than Mera and AC.  

But I’ll grant that it wasn’t as bad as Mera doing it, because AC has known Lois and Clark for years & he was also aware that Clark dated Lana, so he probably figures that Clark has issues. But I really don’t need to see Clark Kent have a lightbulb moment where he goes, “I should totally let my future wife know where I am from time to time…” because one of his co-workers pointed out that this should happen. He should figure it out on his own.

 

Final Watchtower Scene

I really loved it. I had some quibbles, of course. Like I said, I would have liked Clark and Lois to walk in holding hands. I thought it was odd that Tess looked so damn happy to see Lois there. (The “finally” was a bit much.) But, I love me some Tess-Lo, so I’ll take it. Can I also just say that Tess seemed more excited that Lois was there than Clark did? Like Tess looked like she wanted to jump Lois. I swear… there are some people out there who ship Tess/Clark & I have never understood it. Not because I don’t want anyone to ship people with Clark, but rather because I feel like if the show has explored ANY sexual chemistry, it’s been Lois and Tess.

Anyway… that was a random aside. Yeah, the final scene. I really loved it because it was nice to see Clark stand up and kind of tell everyone what was going on. It had an epic feel to it. I loved that Chloe wasn’t mentioned (although I did think it was odd that they all pretended Tess had always been Watchtower. I guess that was a conversation for OSV? Who knows with SV? At this point, I could imagine Chloe coming back and Lois going, “WAIT, you were WATCHTOWER??!? No one told me!!” It really could go either way.).

Also, it was a very good contrast to "Pandora". That episode ended with Clark/Oliver/Chloe at the Watchtower while they brainstormed how to prevent Zod from taking over the world. What really galled me about that moment was that they only reason they even KNEW that Zod was taking over the world was because of Lois's memories of her trip to the future. And Lois totally kicked ass in the future. But - still - Lois was nowhere to be found in that scene, because she wasn't allowed to know the secret. It made sense for Lois to be there and help them take down Zod. 

So, I felt like this scene made everything "right" and put things where it should be. Even if Chloe had been there, I still would have felt this way. Lois has earned her right to be there, in the midst of things, while everyone on the "team" gathers around and tries to prevent the end of the world. And I'm glad that show finally Went There.

It's also interesting, because the convo in "Pandora" was pretty different in tone. Oliver and Chloe were skeptical of Clark's plan, but - in this case - Tess, Oliver, and Lois were completely onboard with Clark and understood that they needed to be on the same page.They were a true team in the way that Chloe/Oliver/Clark were not back in "Pandora". 

The pure of heart thing was a head-scratcher. Tess made some sort of comment about how no one is pure of heart & everyone kind of nodded silently. (I think it was Tess, I could be wrong.) But… um… did I miss something? Because I recall that in “Supergirl” we had that moment where the darkness tried to take over Lois and then got all disgusted because she was pure of heart and he couldn’t take her over. Now that episode kind of sucked, so I could be remembering wrong, but I actually thought that was a bit of a big deal. Because I figured that would factor in the back half of the season when I expect Clark to be possessed by the darkness and for Lois to be one of the huge factors that brings him back.

So… uh… are to assume that this is – in fact – not the case? That Lois can be possessed along with the rest of them? If so, that sucks. Why’d they stick that into “Supergirl” then?

Anyway… that’s it. I’m stopping now. I think that this whole review probably leads one to believe that I hated this episode. But I actually didn’t. I enjoyed it. Mainly because I think Welling is a great director and that he managed to keep the episode moving along at a fast clip and that he juggled three different locations (military base, Metropolis, and Florida) and the simultaneous events taking place at these different location VERY well. We’ve seen other episodes where this sort of juggling had to take place and the directors really screwed them up. (“Harvest”; “Echo”; “Escape”.) I really wish he would have amped up the sexual chemistry between Clark and Lois, but who knows? Maybe he went over schedule with the dolphin shoot and had only two hours to film the Clois scene. LOL

Massively looking forward to “Luthor”. As in: I can’t stop thinking about it. Welling playing a dark Clark??

**SHIVERING IN DELIGHT.**