The Company Of Good Counsel: Asylum
Written by Hope

I have to admit that when I discovered Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer would be writing the back end of Ken Biller's superb "Shattered," I had my doubts. These guys write excellent monster/horror stories ("Visage," "Rush," the story (but not teleplay) for "Accelerate") but their one jaunt into semi-mytharc ("Duplicity") made me hesitate.

It really shouldn't have.

Much like Peterson & Souders' surprise (to me, anyway) turn filling out the back end of M&G's "Exile" with "Phoenix," Slavkin & Swimmer's horror story touch was exactly what this episode needed. It's full of monsters, most of them human and more frightening than any boogeyman, and full of wraiths that will haunt these characters for the rest of their lives. This is the episode that creates Superman. This is the episode that creates Lex Luthor. And this is the episode that creates the beginning of the end.

Clark, until now, has had a fairly comfortable existence. It's been complicated, he's had failures, and victories, low moments and high, but he's always had the company of good counsel- in his parents, and in his friends. In the past, when Clark's gotten advice from the people around him, it's usually been good. As much as the audience, who knows much more of the bigger picture than the individual characters do, have disliked Jonathan Kent in the past for his unswerving steel spine toward Lex, he was generally right. Clark didn't know Lex, Lex was much older, there was danger in revealing himself. Likewise, Martha's gentle prodding of Clark toward Lana was done with good intention, and a good understanding of the situation- she was right to try to push him out of his shell. This is what parents do.

Tonight, they were wrong. But more importantly, *Clark* knew they were wrong; he knew what was best for him, and he knew what was best for Lana and Lex, but instead of putting his courage to his sticking place, he let doubt cloud his own judgment, to terrible results. After the events in "Shattered," it's understandable how he got to this point- he refused the company of good counsel, and people got hurt. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

This is what creates Superman. Like it or not, he is the most physically powerful man on earth, and to crib from Marvel, with great power, comes great responsibilities. Overwhelmed by doubt, he let other people decide for him his course of action, and by the time he realized that ultimately he is the only one who can best do that it was too late. That was masterful storytelling on Slavkin & Swimmer's part- the repeated conversations with his parents about Lex and Lana, mirrored in his conversations with Pete and Chloe about the same, balanced the cause and effect of bad counsel on a good man, perfectly illustrated by the forboding happenstance that Clark's triumph against electrocution directly led to Lex's downfall by the same.

Slavkin & Swimmer captured the full range of Lex in this episode: clever, loyal, angry, deceptive, and though Lex has been victimized, these writers made it more than abundantly clear that he's finished being a victim. From disposing of his medication, to a nearly perfect escape from the Asylum, his willingness to say whatever it takes to get what he needs, to the still dynamic show of power in evidence against Ian- every minute of Lex's screentime hammered home the fact that even bound, even institutionalized, he will be an equal to the most physically powerful man on Earth.

Even after the angry outburst in the visiting sequence, Lex was still loyal when Clark was in danger, exhibiting shades of "Vortex" - he shot Roger Nixon, and he fought until he literally could not fight anymore, to help Clark again. Their final scene together reflected Lex's embrace of his father at the end of "Phoenix," and we all know how long that truce really stood; but just as clever and continuous, it reflected Clark and Lex's last scene together in "Tempest." Lex gave Clark yet another chance to put their friendship first, he gave him another chance to tell him a truth he already knows, and Clark missed it. What's true for Clark is true for Lex, too- fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Their friendship isn't over, but it will never be the same again, for either of them.

What was especially good about this script was its balance. All the acts were balanced, all the interactions were balanced, and with such a dark A line, Slavkin & Swimmer did an especially fine job of tempering the pace with a still serious, but not quite so life-and-death, B line with the introduction of Adam to Lana. This is one place where the company of good counsel served the characters well- Martha still wants to fix things *for* Lana, *for* Clark, even though it really isn't an ideal situation for either of them, whereas Adam offers exactly what someone like Lana needs- a metaphorical slap in the face. She's been in deep mourning for her parents for over a decade, she's pruned herself back from blossoming in a desperate attempt to be what other people want. She's willing to put up with impossible visions of her, if that means she's not alone, and that's hardly fair to her. Until now, Lana has never belonged to herself, but we see the first, honest shades of the Girl Who Chooses to Stay Behind with this episode.

It would be easy for her to continue coasting- as Adam pointed out, people are more than willing to let her do that. And it would be easy for her to jump at the chance to replace Clark, who replaced Whitney, with a boy who isn't afraid to say right up front that he likes her. For the first time, she's realistic about who she is, and where she is, in her life. She offers Adam what she *can* give, which is her friendship, and showed no sign of wavering on that if that wasn't enough.

I found this episode to be an especially good treatise on why Freaks of the Week aren't a bad thing; the way they're used is what brings them down. I think it's fair to say that "Dichotic" was universally reviled as the worst episode Smallville has ever aired, but in the masterful hands of two writers who *like* to write monsters, that episode's villain Ian was
menacing and extraordinarily effective, even while essentially playing the part of the Greek chorus. He explained the backstory within the framework of the plan to escape, he informed Lex of his scheduled date with Electroshock Therapy, and he guided the action to keep Clark separated from Lex until it was too late. That's a lot of heavy lifting to do seamlessly, but the script was tight and timed enough to do just that. The return of Van, whom I consider to be a FotW, even if he isn't enhanced himself, worked well, and Slavkin & Swimmer did an especially fine job of resurrecting "Leech"'s Eric Summers. These three unlikely allies created a dark and thoroughly menacing triad monster.

There were only two areas I found flawed in this particular script, and one of them may have been due to network interference. In a more perfect world, the closing sequence would be the most emotionally powerful sequence in the denoument- the one that will have a continued, dynamic effect on the show as time progresses. Logically, that would have been the sequence with Lionel examining the video from Belle Reve: Lionel is an active, continuing source of conflict for both Lex and Clark, and that particular scene is significant for all three of them. Conversely, Clark's momentary appearance at Lana's welcome home party was significant- again, it reaffirmed the theme that he has to keep his own good counsel first- but it's not a dynamic element. Personally, I would have switched them, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's how the script was originally written, but... the WB does like their romance. The sequence of these scenes as aired didn't detract from the story in any way, but I think it would have been a stronger finish if they'd been shuffled. Plus, it would have very nicely mirrored the last scene of "Rogue," where Lex sends Victoria off to bed so he can continue to examine the surveillance footage from the museum. I'm a sucker for continuity and internal reflection.

The other flaw is one that Slavkin & Swimmer, with their detailed attention to continuity throughout this script, should have included but didn't, and that's the matter of the drugged scotch. If Clark didn't have time to liberate it from the mansion, fine. If he did, but the samples were somehow destroyed, fine. But the failure to cover this single plot hole left from "Shattered" seemed a glaring omission, and one that could have been easily integrated into the wonderful investigative scenes Chloe and Clark shared together. (Another glance at the future that was especially well done except for that particular error. Chloe and Clark make an ideal team, they work together well, they're not hesitant to disagree with one another, and unlike the sloppy, half-thought "investigations" that Clark and Lana do together, it gives us a real feel for what Clark will some day see in Lois Lane.)

Those are two very minor points, however, in a script that was beautifully written, wonderfully balanced, and deeply disturbing. And fool me once, fool me twice- I'll have a little more faith in the production office the next time I see an "unlikely" screenwriter assigned to a particular episode.

Screenwriting: A
To Watch: A+

Next Week: The entire hour will be filled with a still image of Michigan J. Frog. At least, that's what happened at my house, instead of getting scenes from the next episode.

Note: The views of Hope don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.

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