S5 Ep 22 - Vessel

[PokerKitten]

May 11, 2006: Vessel (Yay!)/Aqua (Boo!)
The Smallville season finale was better than a lot of the episodes this season, thankfully. It was kinda Superman II-ish with the whole "Zod is coming" business, all the chaos in the streets and the (future) superhero being unable to stop the pandemonium because he's indisposed. By the end of the episode, Lex/Zod (L-Zod) was kissin' Lana at the top of Luthor Towers, Martha and Lois were passed out on a plane piloted by one of the multiple Miltons, Chloe and Lionel were human loot for the rioters, and Clark was trapped in the Phantom Zone. To be continued on the CW network this fall.

Lex vs. Clark: Remember when it was Lex and Clark? Ahhh, good times. Now it's Lex versus Clark (I know, like it was meant to be) as the two former best buds are just about firmly planted on opposite sides of the morality fence. I liked the confrontation between them in the barn. It was all shadowy and moody, plus Lex had some super keen powers to match Clark's. Didn't you just love it when the two took care of all that tension between them by flinging each other to and fro with their manly man strength? Of course I'm not understanding how Clark's knife (the one Jor-El gave him) opened up the portal to free Zod once he stabbed Fiiiine with it. Why was it that Lex had to get the powers before Zod was able to enter his body? I don't think I was ever meant to connect the dots on this show. Sometimes I just skip logic and go straight to pretending to understand what is going on. The end result was not ambiguous: Zod took over Lex's body and used him as a vessel. Not a bad vessel to be had if one has to be had. Although I do so wish that instead of hearing Terence Stamp we got to see Terence Stamp. No, I won't let that go.

Lex and Lana: Now I think their bond is a little over-the-top, unhealthy and more than slightly soap opera, but the scene where SuperLex shot the gun right into his hand was cool. Lex did what Clark could never do and that was to tell Lana the truth about his gifts. (I still feel that Clark's not telling the woman he loves the truth was weak and more of a "for the sake of the plot" kind of thing.) Was that a look of disgust that Lana had on her face when she first realized the truth about the new and improved Lex? She got over it quick by telling him that Clark was out to get him. And when did Lana become "Max" on Dark Angel? While Chloe was busy getting picked apart by the rioters, Lana put the smackdown on one shortly before her twisted An Affair to Remember/Sleepless in Seattle moment with her current beau on the roof of the Luthor Towers.

L-Zod: Just consider Lex and Zod... bad and badder. I totally dug Michael Rosenbaum's version of Zod — He looked fierce in the leather jacket. But points off for L-Zod jumping on the Lana train way too quickly.

Chloe & Clark: They kissed!!! I guess it depends on which girl you want Clark with, but for me, seeing the fledgling "Daily Planet" reporter take matters into her own hands and kiss the Kent boy was, well, wonderful. But I don't get me. For four years I despised Chloe and didn't want her messin' with Clark in any way or fashion. This season I simply changed my mind. So the kiss for me was satisfying. However, did I see an all-consuming passion? I'm not sure, the jury's still out.

Clark & Lana: It was pretty much written in the stars that Clark and Lana were doomed, but she just seemed so over her ex. I know, Clark lied to her. I get it. Telling Clark she didn't know how she ever loved him was cold. Yet she knows what Lex is capable of and just because he doesn't lie to her, that makes everything OK? Whatever. I know Clark can be self-righteous, but the fact that Lex and Lana are acting like they're superior to Clark is driving me crazy. That must have hurt the superteen when she revealed that Lex told her his secret and it didn't change a thing. Bad Clark! (But good for those of us non-Clana fans. We don't have to put up with them ever again.)

Lionel & Clark: Lionel seems like he's more of a father to Clark than he is to his own son. And that's cool, because as far as I'm concerned, they should keep putting Tom Welling and John Glover in scenes together. That'll make me happy. I believe I've been saying this on a weekly basis.

Milton Fine: Wow, James Marsters looked extra fiiiine, especially in that scene where he unleashed that electronic virus on the masses. It seems to me that James' services are needed next season at the very least, for the season premiere. I'm just putting that out there in the universe.

Martha & Lionel: Jonathan didn't die all that long ago and Lois is already speculating about Martha and Lionel. That scene in the beginning, when he offered her his corporate jet, was, well, potent. But I can't help thinking her hubby just died. It needs to take a while for those two to get together, if they ever do.

After the season finale, WB aired the dreaded "Aqua" episode. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that that was my least favorite episode of the season. If you want to show a repeat that featured Clark bonding with another young superhero in the making, forget Aquaman; air that Cyborg one. Pretty please?


Guide

[PokerKitten]

Yay, Alane's computer is fixed so here be some caps

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[Cyrus]

Oooh lovely. ;D Wonder how she got rid of the WB logo in the corner.

[PokerKitten]

Smallville: Burning Questions Answered!
by Rich Sands

Tom Welling, Smallville

Is the Young Man of Steel poised to break Chloe's heart? Is Lex really dead? Even a week later, are you, like us, still processing what happened to, and with whom, and why, during Smallville's Season 5 finale? Guide went to cocreator Al Gough the day after the season-ender with our burning questions — and to seek clues about next season.

Guide: Smallville's season finales always leave all the characters in very bad situations.
Al Gough: It's become a tradition on the show and it harkens back to what was always fun about comic books. You can tell these stories that are spread out over a number of issues, but you always have a couple of points with great cliff-hangers where you didn't know what was going to happen next. We loved the idea of keeping people hanging, both the audience and the characters. It's sort of like the feeling we all had at the end of The Empire Strikes Back — "What, we have to wait three years?!" We also find that painting ourselves into these corners gives us a lot of energy going into the next season. It helps propel everything forward, rather than starting from a dead stop and trying to wind up again.

Guide: Do you know now how you are going to get yourself out of those corners? What is the challenge in writing a cliff-hanger?
Gough: We always know what we want next season to be. We even know what the end of next season is. But if you were to ask me today how do we get out of what you saw last night, I couldn't tell you. The writers finish in March, and we start back right after Memorial Day — that way you can sit on it and think about it. Generally, the ideas you have in March or April aren't necessarily as good as the ones you're going to have in June. When we do come back, we spend the first week figuring out how we're going to get ourselves out of the corners we've painted ourselves into, and also how those events are going to propel us into the next season. the crystals propelled us into the fortress, which propelled us into this season. That's always the challenge of the show. Once the season-openers are done, we always go, "Well, of course that's what it would be!" [Laughs] I'm already starting to have some ideas about how Clark gets out of the Phantom Zone and what Zod does. But we definitely went to an extreme place this time.

Guide: What was the thought process behind ending the finale this way? Did you always know that Clark would end up in the Phantom Zone?
Gough: A lot of times when you look at our seasons, what happens at the end of the opener has consequences for the finale. In Season 3, it was Jonathan's deal with Jor-El, which came at the end of the first episode; the ship with Brainiac played itself out through this season. We knew that we had a lot of big cards to play this season. As the characters are getting older, we're getting closer to the actual Superman mythology. We introduced the Fortress of Solitude and the Daily Planet and other DC Universe characters, including Brainiac. This was the first year we could play the Lex-Clark-Lana triangle because obviously everybody was legal. How many shows can say they can't play their major love triangle until Year 5? [Laughs] So we had a lot of ammunition going into Season 5, because with the move [to Thursdays at 8] we thought we were dead in the water. We knew we had a great season arc planned and we were hoping people would show up to watch it! Our storytelling was much better [this season]. We didn't drag the Brainiac stuff out — we told the first story, put it aside to tell the election story and the death of Jonathan Kent, and then came back to Brainiac. That way it didn't feel like last year's crystal story, where you just got sick of Jason and Lana. I think we acquitted ourselves well with Lana and Lex, which has given us a lot to play with in Season 6. And reader feedback always helps. We peruse the message boards, and a lot of times it echoes what we're already feeling.

Guide: What exactly happened when Clark threw the dagger at Fine?
Gough: This was something that got cut out of the episode for various reasons: Remember when Clark impaled Fine on the Fortress console [in the November-sweeps "Solitude" episode]? Basically, Fine infected the console. Fine is a computer and is all about probabilities, so he knew that if he went after Lex, that would lead Clark back to Jor-El, and Jor-El would tell Clark to get rid of the vessel, and Clark would never do that. Fine sort of calculated what Clark would do based on what Clark had done previously, which is always to protect humanity and not kill anybody. That was his endgame.

Guide: Zod said that Lex is dead. Is he?
Gough: No, of course not! [Joking] There's some alien technology that can repair the situation. But [the finale twist] won't be without consequences for Lex, either. We wanted it to be interesting and compelling, but we didn't want a guy in spandex to come jumping out of the Phantom Zone. We came up with the idea that his body had been destroyed and he was in the Phantom Zone in spirit only. That keeps the focus on our people and put them in the most extreme danger.

Guide: One thing that struck me was when Jor-El told Clark that Zod destroyed Krypton. That seems a departure from traditional Superman mythology.
Gough: The idea was that on Krypton — and we'd like to explore some of this in Season 6 — Zod was the ultimate terrorist. He and Jor-El were once friends and became enemies. As a result, there was a breakaway. It has more to do with political intrigue rather than that the planet started spinning too close to the sun, which has always sort of been the traditional story.

Guide: What about Clark and Chloe? That was some kiss. She's had a rough time of it already — you can't make him break her heart again! Might they be a couple next season?
Gough: I think there's always that possibility. That was to show the potential that that could happen. Or, it could just be a Hawkeye-Hot Lips "in the heat of battle" thing. [Laughs]

Guide: Well, if it doesn't work out with Clark, then give her a boyfriend next season!
Gough: That's in the cards. That is definitely in the cards.


" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tvguide.com/News/Insider/default.htm?cmsRedir=true&rmDate=05182006&cmsGuid={EEDCD71E-92B9-4A45-8995-440C16505577] Guide

A wee bit of possibly spoilery stuff for S6 at the end of this interview is squirreled away in the spoiler thread.

[PokerKitten]

Okay, I enjoyed that well enough, although not so much as last season's finale. It did seem a little pared down to me, but if I hadn't been spoiled and known they'd had to change things, I'm not sure I'd have noticed that there should have been more to it, really.

Brainiac was at his dastardly best, but he's only being loyal to his master . Is one of him still piloting that plane to nowhere or has he vamoosed, huh, and left it on auto-pilot?

Liking ZodLex; very calm and masterful Liked Lex when he was on the turn too, before he was inhabited. Doing the show and tell with Lana was great; one in the eye for silly Clark.

And I'm liking the boy wonder being in the Phantom Zone ;D

Lionel is baaaaad.

The Clark/Chloe kiss left me cold; it was an act of desperation and totally unresolved, what with the nicely timed phonecall and all (which was a neat trick, given all communications were giving up the ghost thanks to Brainiac's virus ;D Evil always finds a way.)

That is all.

[PokerKitten]

Smallville: Season 5, Finale Review
Posted By: Jerrica / Source
Related News : Comic Flicks , News ,

The makers of "Smallville" know how to weave reinvented canon throughout the year to a tightly-wound cliffhanger for a big finish to each season. "Smallville" had it's fifth season finale this Spring, and it remained true to the finales that came before it, bringing "Smallville" and Superman mythos to a boiling mix until the pot overflows in a stunningly heated arc that will carry the story to next Fall. This was the year of Zod, Brainiac, and Lex's long-awaited turn to the dark side. Lex is accelerating down the path to his wicked destiny so fast that even Clark Kent can't catch him to save him from it anymore.

Since the beginning, creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have stated that they had a five-year plan for the series that stars Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, and Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang. With The CW picking up the show for a sixth season when the new hybrid network debuts, that the original plan has clearly been extended to span six years instead of five. This obviously gave the show a lot of room to play, having witnessed what the writers did with Superman and his existing canon as they integrated elements from the "Superman" movies starring Christopher Reeve as well as the comic books.

This season was huge in the way of superdevelopments that are leading to the inevitable future that we know will be Superman. We were brought deeper into Metropolis and spent more time in the city as well as the workplace, The Daily Planet, where Clark will spend his adult life once he finally becomes The Man of Steel. Even though this transformation will never happen on the show as per the stipulations of its creators' "no tights, no flights" policy, there has been more than enough superlore to keep fans happy. General Zod came in to take over the world, and in the season finale, he took possession of Lex Luthor's body, taking advantage of the darkness that was consuming the jaded, bald billionaire, and effectively flashing forward to Lex inflicting Armageddon on the world as he has done in the comics.

That was one of the greatest turns the show took this season to leave its devoted viewers desperate to know what will happen next, but it wasn't even close to being the last punch "Smallville" had to pull. The Phantom Zone, which trapped Zod in the beginning of the season, has now claimed Clark and is spiraling off into outer space as Earth goes to hell in a hand basket courtesy of Lex's partnership with Milton Fine, otherwise known as Brainiac, Krypton's A.I. gone awry. The addition of Erica Durance to the cast as a regular this season is rivaled in genius only by the casting of James Marsters from "Buffy" and "Angel" fame as Fine, Clark's first college professor and Lex's first sinister ally. Known best for his part of the notorious Spike in Joss Whedon's universe, Marsters perfectly captured the ominous, cold, and calculating character that is one of the best previously untapped Superman villains.

As if this wasn't enough, still more Superman mythos was unleashed on "Smallville" this season. In the same tragic way as in the first "Superman" movie, Jonathan Kent died in the tear-jerking 100th episode. The landmark episode also featured Clark's marriage proposal to Lana after finally revealing his secret to her only to cause a domino effect that cost Clark's true love her life. Then, in another brilliant moment ripped directly from the original "Superman" movie, time is turned back so Clark can spare Lana from death, but it ends up costing him the only father he's ever known and loved. Jonathan Kent collapsed of a heart attack on the farm while surrounded by his wife and son. This 100th episode and the one that directly followed it were two of the most heart-wrenching hours that have occurred on television in recent memory.

But, the legend of Superman is only half of "Smallville," because the other half comes from their fresh ideas. When the series first aired, the characters of Chloe Sullivan and Lionel Luthor were wholly unique and new. After five long years of tug-of-war tensions escalating over a love triangle and issues of trust between Clark, Lana, and Chloe, it all came to a forked road this year. Clark and Lana put to rest superhero sexual physics debates by losing their virginity to each other while Clark was temporarily mortal and then breaking up after he regained his powers. In the Season Five premiere last Fall, Chloe discovered the whole truth of Clark's secret after telling him that she knew about his abilities. As a result, Clark confessed his alien origins, and the two have been partners all season long, right to the end when they kissed and parted ways wondering if they would ever see each other again.

Then, on the other side of the aftermath from Clark's break-up with Lana, there is the desperate and fractured relationship that formed between Lana and Lex, another footnote borrowed from Superman's multimedia history. At season's end, Lana found herself unknowingly rushing into the arms of Zod in Lex's body amid the chaos of an apocalypse both bad guys have brought down upon a planet of innocents with Brainiac's help. Lex spent the whole year trying to win Lana over with the misguided truth while she grew ever more frustrated with Clark's lies, and it seems to have worked, but from indications in the show's first ever Christmas episode this year, we know it won't last. While Lex has been making his play for his former best friend's girl, his father has not only transformed into one of the good guys, acting as a conduit for Jor-El and a protector and surrogate father to Clark, but he has quietly indulged his own affection for Martha Kent.

These are just some of the dozens of reasons that Season 5 of "Smallville" was another wonderful year in the life of a young, pre-Superman Clark Kent, not to mention a young, pre-supervillain Lex Luthor. The series has yet to show any significant decline in the overall quality of both its original and canonical material. It always promises to tell the story of the journey from confused and frightened teenaged boy to brave and worldly-wise Superman, as well as that of tormented young man to evil would-be ruler and destroyer of the world, and "Smallville" delivers on these tales of light and dark. There's something to love about this show for every fan of every age. And, as the series draws nearer to its inevitable transition toward the destiny it foreshadows at every turn, the story is likely to get even better and more powerful. So, there's cause to be excited about what Season 6 might have in store for our hero and those around him.


MoviesOnline

[Ditto]

For some reason that screencap of him piloting the plane makes me come over all unnecessary. When can we buy all the ones with James in on DVD?

[PokerKitten]

That info is in the general Smallville thread. I'll let you find it ;D

Yeah, CaptainBrainiac was a bit of all right