Mechanical Oatmeal: Hereafter
Written by Hope

I mentioned in my review of "Slumber" that frosh screenwriter Drew
Greenberg would get an episode later in the season, probably co-authored by one of the more senior members of the production office, and now comes that episode, "Hereafter," penned with Smallville salutatorian Mark Verheiden.

"Hereafter" is what I like to call an oatmeal episode - it's not necessarily interesting to watch, but you have to eat it anyway because it sets the show on its overall story path. Most oatmeal episodes, including this one, work overtime to provide the audience with as much exposition in as short a time as possible. Exposition doesn't have to be dull (Biller's "Calling" and Peterson & Souders' "Phoenix" are both exposition episodes that were engaging *as* episodes, for example,) but "Hereafter" had a little more to do than most exposition episodes.

Greenberg, recent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, brought that dreamy style to Smallville, not particularly successfully, in Slumber. The problem was not that the story was dull; it was just too magical and too unsuited to the Smallville universe to really mesh. In "Hereafter," we see the effect of Verheiden's deep understanding of the pseudo-scientific basis for Smallville on Greenberg's penchant for the fantastic. The universe-errors Greenberg made in "Slumber" were corrected. The center of friendly FotW-Jordan's abilities was pure Smallville science - he was born as his mother died in the meteor shower.

Unfortunately, Greenberg's still-shaky skill in writing these characters' voices was not improved by being paired with Verheiden, who can be a fantastic storyteller, a really wonderful plotter, and Smallville's go-to guy when it comes to transitioning the overall story from one point to another, but who has never been especially good at writing natural, organic dialogue. One of the main reasons that "Hereafter" is an oatmeal episode is that the characters spent ninety percent of their speaking time vomiting up huge chunks of expositionary monologues. Greenberg and Verheiden used their dialogue as a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel. This explains why a pretty good story (though derivative of Egan's "Hourglass," Levens' "Stray" and "Ryan," and Litvack's "Reaper,") faltered so much in its pacing.

On that same note, my guess is though Verheiden has been around since the beginning, Greenberg still only has a real working knowledge of S1. "Hereafter" felt very much out of time, with its emphasis on classes, so much activity taking place at the school, and the re-inclusion of teachers as a source of conflict. Now, a reversion or revisitation of the fact that most of these characters are still in high school (and certainly know and interact with people who aren't in the ensemble cast,) could be a really wonderful addition to the show, and the universe, as a whole. Levens always did a wonderful job of using high school metaphors to enhance and emphasize literal conflict. However, "Hereafter"'s lack of subtlety just made this sudden return to Smallville High feel, to quote Buffy's Willow, strange and off-putting.

The things that worked for me in "Hereafter" worked because of Verheiden's intimate understanding of Smallville's past and future. The original vision of Lana's death made me choke up because not only was she peaceful- she wasn't *alone*. A glimpse of the cape without end in Clark's future also choked me up- that's his destiny, and it effectively reflected Cassandra's vision for Clark- he will be a hero, but he will be surrounded by an endless field of graves as he outlives everyone he knows.

The turns on Clark's character were effective, and bold. He's learned from the mistakes he made in "Shattered" and "Asylum." He takes the company of good counsel in his father (and his mother, yay for *that*!) but he ultimately makes his own decisions. This was also a good way to allow him to consider the implications of his benevolent interference (and it was an interesting choice that Clark is still inwardly-oriented enough that he chose to save Lana from the fire first, before the stranger, Megan.) The theme of actions and consequence for this season continues in that, and in Jonathan's collapse. That resonated with harrowing clarity, recalling Jonathan's deal with Jor-El, and highlighting that slowly, but surely, Jonathan must cede so that Clark can become a man on his own.

The turns on Lex's character were chilling- his initial concerns about Adam, comfortably couched in financial concern to segue into personal concern for Lana's well-being, reverses when Lex discovers there might be something useful in keeping him around- if only to satisfy his curiosity. Lex deftly maneuvered Lana (and good on her for noticing it,) into making a decision he wanted made, so that *she* is responsible for whatever happens if Adam loses it completely; likewise, his interactions with Chloe when he caught her sneaking around in Adam's apartment. In both cases, he was quite willing to sacrifice both of them and to let them sacrifice themselves, because in both cases, they could provide information that he wanted. Lex has also learned from "Asylum" and "Shattered," but his lessons are much more frightening.

In spite of those developments, because of the glaring exposition and the clumsy handling of the characters, this just wasn't an interesting episode to watch. Jordan had a back story, but he was still very much a prop and plot point. The execution of the story is an excellent lesson in the way the different parts of a script work, but only because all of the moving parts were visible.

A teaser summarizes the theme of an episode in a dramatic and exciting way to draw viewers in- this one introduced Jordan's ability, and the effect it will have through the episode, and Lana's connection to Coach Altman's recent, painful, past.

The first act introduces the characters and explains where the story is going- Clark meets Jordan, and intervenes in a destiny Jordan's foreseen. Lana and Megan give the history of their interaction with Coach Altman and his daughter Julia, the coach registers a new understanding of the situation that caused Julia's death. Adam exhibits a wild violence we haven't seen before. Clark expresses disinterest in Adam or his behavior. Lex expresses his great interest in the same, as concern for Lana.

The second act sets the story in motion- Clark, having repudiated his interest in Adam's life turns Chloe to investigate on her own, and to speak to Lana about her concerns. Jordan foresees a terrible end for Megan, its significance emphasized by the fact that his vision of Lana's future has changed. Clark gets to work on solving the problem of the week. Lex digs a little deeper in Adam's past, and finds something that interests him.

The third act is rising action- the gun in the first act (AKA, the coach,) goes off- abducting Lana for the climb to the story's climax. Chloe's investigation into Adam intersects with Lex's interest in him, revealing his first reversal (to encourage her to do something he wants her to do, without having to actually ask her to do it.) Clark has to consider a conflict between what Jonathan wants and what he wants; ultimately deciding to take his own course. Clark and Jordan dash off in the Kent family truck toward the climax.

The fourth act is climax and resolution- we find out why the coach turned into a psychopath, Clark saves the day, Jordan's powers are negated (solving his problem of wanting to be normal,) Lex sacrifices Lana in his goal to get more information (his second, and more significant reversal, because he's always been much more careful with Lana than he has with Chloe,) Jordan reveals that his visions indicate Adam has already died-
information to lead into future episodes, Clark resolves his issues with destiny with his mom, then walks into the setup for a continuing arc when he finds his father collapsed in the barn.

Because of some extended visual sequences, it may appear that this script ran short, but it didn't. There was exactly as much story as was necessary to fill an hour. However, longtime Smallville directors Greg Beeman and James Marshall collaborated on this episode, giving "Hereafter" its unique atmosphere and visual symmetry; it was very much an experimental episode for them. Another extended sequence, Adam playing Rachmaninoff's " Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini," was a nice opening shot, and a very clever meta nod to the Superman mythos- that's the signature theme to the 1980 Christopher Reeve-Jane Seymour vehicle "Somwhere in Time." Now, as a screenwriter, I can't tell you much about why the directors made the decisions they did, but as a viewer, I found the use of light and color, the shot framing, and the visual symmetry throughout the episode both interesting and beautiful.

Scriptwise, each sequence in "Hereafter" was written to further the episode's story, and the overall story of Smallville; each sequence happened in the order it should have. This is mechanical, textbook screenwriting- the perfect illustration of how a screenplay works. However, except for a few really effective metamoments, it was not a good script. Too much unwieldy dialogue dragged the pace down, too many internally illogical moments exposed the plotting flaws (people are trapped in a burning building… so Clark drives to the scene just so Jordan can be there, for example.) "Hereafter" was useful in terms of what it accomplished, but utterly workmanlike as entertainment… or, like I said, oatmeal. You have to eat it, but you don't have to like it.

Screenwriting: C
To Watch: C
To Look At: A

Next Week: Pete is 2 fast! Adam is 2 furious! And the WB promo department finally figures out that we won't believe them if they claim an episode is all about Adam going evil and Lana being upset. Took 'em long enough.

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

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