Triplet's "Mercy" Review

[KryptonSite]

http://www.kryptonsite.com/mercyreview.htm

"Fade" will be posted in a little bit too....

Talk about her review here!

[warriorrenegade]

I enjoyed reading you're review. It said everything I thought about the episode and then some.

[triplet]

thanks....

:blush:

No one else has any thoughts about the review or the episode?



Anyone?



No?








Oh, well....

[Miss L]

It's fascinating that Lionel has seemingly abandoned Lex in favor of Clark. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Maybe the rift between the former "best friends" will come in part thanks to Lex's father loving Clark more than Lex.

I do hope they build on this because it played so convincingly in this episode and works so well into Lex's shift to the dark side. I thought Michael played the emotions Lex was feeling listening to Lionel's conversation with Martha very deftly. Aside from the intensity of Clark and Lionel's last scene together, this was my favorite scene.

I agree about the Clark-shaped hole. I also thought the elevator catch was a little less than stellar, but Clark and Lionel locking eyes made up for that.

As usual, thanks for your insight.

[enamored]

Triplet, as always I enjoy your take on things, especially the technical aspects of filming, etc. I find myself noticing lighting, mood, vantage point much more because of your knowledge.

I'm sorry you don't have more commentary but I'm afraid the late arrival of the review has impacted negatively on feedback--I know it wasn't all your fault either.

[cayayofm]

I just read your review and I almost agree with all the positive comments about the episode, I just want to point out something. You talked about the suspension of disbelief and I think this happens quite often unlike you said. Most of the things that happen are impossible, not for Clark, but for the people around him, for example the fast running, it will have an effect of pushing away the people around him and it should create a strong noise, like a BOOM, yet nothing happens when when he runs fast. One big problen in this epsiode is the way Clark saved Lionel and Martha they should had died, the stop of the fall was as sudden as if they has crashed on the land. The episode was fantastic and I just had this small niptick with the show in general.

[Krypto500]

Hi triplet,

We've just seen "Mercy" in the UK and I wanted to say how much I agreed with the points you make in your review. (Long time reader of your reviews and a big fan ).

Chloe's IT skills are DEFINITELY getting beyond ridiculous. How many episodes this season has she used her computer or her computer skills to either help or save Clark? It must be something like 20 episodes out of 22?!

Surely even Allison must find this absurd?

The Lex & Lionel scenes, as you say, were masterfully played. Not yet sure about your point on the Clark/Lex rift widening because of Lionel's 'fatherly' approach towards Clark. I've a general idea of what happens in the remaining three episodes, but would like to see them myself before I judge.

That said, I thought the final scene that Lex and Lionel have outside the elevator shaft might support your argument: when Lionel tells Lex that Clark is "a son that any father would be proud of", it was such a mixture of sadness and disappointment in Lex's eyes. Wonderfully acted by Rosenbaum and Glover ...

Re: "the less than successful Clark-breaking-through-the-wall effect". I've just mentioned in the UK thread that I think it must have been deliberately campy as a throw to the comics. I hear what you're saying about the suspension of disbelief, but I thought it was a nice touch.

You mention that Clark got to be "very Supermanly", as well as the references to the original films. One instance not covered might be Clark catching the lift? That for me was very reminiscent of Superman catching the lift in the Eiffel Tower in SII.

The lift, I thought, needed a LOT more suspension of disbelief than the hole in the wall. At the speed Martha and Lionel were falling, to suddenly come to a complete stop would have probably killed them.

All in all, I'd agree with you that this has been one of the highlights of the season. In a way it's like a "Lexmas" for Lionel - a twist on the Scrooge tale in which Lionel learns 'the error of his ways' and realises that he needs to change his life.

[triplet]

Well, I knew that elevator catch wasn't realistic, but it didn't bother me the same way the perfectly punched out section of wall did...

I dunno why.

*shrug*

As for the rift between Clark and Lex getting bigger, I meant just you talked about: Lionel trying to become a father figure and even getting openly affectionate toward Clark and Lex resenting it.

Tom and Michael even talking about the sibling rivalry between Lex and Clark in the ABC Family special from Season 4. I think it's something that they've sorta played with a bit but now it's being kicked up a few notches.

It's clear to me from what happened in Mercy that the sibling rivalry is becoming a bigger issue for Lex and you'll have to see if you agree once you see the rest of the season.

[Krypto500]

Perhaps because the lift-catching thing was cool, whereas the hole-in-the-wall thing was a bit fake-plaster-on-the-set-ish.

Did you think that Lionel came out of this episode redeemed? I mean, he's been the MB for so long, and of course we love Lionel - and John Glover - for it, but did this show just try to take a convicted murderer, son-poisoner and Chloe-attempted-murderer and turn him into a likeable guy?

Did it work?!?

I've been opposed to the whole Lionartha thing from the start because of Lionel's portrayal over the years. But this actually made me root for him and WANT to see him as part of Clark and Martha's family.

Kudos to DeKnight for pulling that off.

[triplet]

I'm not sure he was redeemed in Clark's eyes, or at least not totally....

He still has some more ground to make up I think. Especially going from how Clark confronted him at the end of the episode.

It was a brilliant episode, one of the best of the series I think...

[Krypto500]

Originally posted by triplet
I'm not sure he was redeemed in Clark's eyes, or at least not totally....

But what about in the audience's eyes? I mean, we wound up WANTING Lionel to balance the scales. We were breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out that the gun in the elevator wasn't loaded.

That's a big achievement given everything Lionel's done on the show. Logically, we should have been rooting for the guest star and shouting "He's a murderer! Give him what he deserves!"

You mention in your review that Lionel's "contradictory and inexplicable actions ... now make sense, for the most part". Does the confrontation with Jonathan in the barn in "Reckoning" ever get explained? (And don't worry about spoiling me! ) This seems to be one of the main loose ends yet to make sense.

Thanks for letting me know about the ABC Family special. You guys are SO lucky that you get to see stuff like that!

It was a brilliant episode, one of the best of the series I think...

I agree! Shockingly, it had less to do with the young Superman and more to do with a character who wasn't in previous Superman incarnations and who was largely peripheral in the first few years of the show. I think it's sort of a testament to the contribution which SV has made to the Superman universe.

[triplet]

Originally posted by Krypto500
But what about in the audience's eyes? I mean, we wound up WANTING Lionel to balance the scales. We were breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out that the gun in the elevator wasn't loaded.

That's a big achievement given everything Lionel's done on the show. Logically, we should have been rooting for the guest star and shouting "He's a murderer! Give him what he deserves!"

You mention in your review that Lionel's "contradictory and inexplicable actions ... now make sense, for the most part". Does the confrontation with Jonathan in the barn in "Reckoning" ever get explained? (And don't worry about spoiling me! ) This seems to be one of the main loose ends yet to make sense.

Yeah, I think it does get explained. I don't want to spoil it here since this isn't a spoiler thread for Oracle, but Lionel's actions get explained further there and in Vessel.

Originally posted by Krypto500


Thanks for letting me know about the ABC Family special. You guys are SO lucky that you get to see stuff like that!

You can probably find it on Youtube... Everything's on Youtube nowadays...

I used to have a copy of that but that was a couple of hard drives ago...

Originally posted by Krypto500

I agree! Shockingly, it had less to do with the young Superman and more to do with a character who wasn't in previous Superman incarnations and who was largely peripheral in the first few years of the show. I think it's sort of a testament to the contribution which SV has made to the Superman universe.

I think when Smallville delivers up episodes like this, they kick everything up a notch. It's great story telling, which is always wonderful to see.

It doesn't matter that Lionel isn't a character in the comics, he's become real important to Clark and Martha so revealing more about him and the way his mind works is fascinating.

[Krypto500]

Originally posted by triplet
Yeah, I think it does get explained. I don't want to spoil it here since this isn't a spoiler thread for Oracle, but Lionel's actions get explained further there and in Vessel.

Cool, looking forward to it ...

You can probably find it on Youtube... Everything's on Youtube nowadays...

Thanks for that. I'd been over there for the "SR" TV spots this week, but I didn't realise the archive there was so extensive.

Anyway, watched all 6 parts to the ABC interview. Thought the Rosenbaum and Glover sections were the most intriguing: Glover asserts that "Lionel is not evil" - this even after they'd filmed "Covenant" and finished S3!?

And how ironic to watch that scene from "Nocturne" where Lionel asks Lex whether he thinks that if he's "a very good boy", the Kents will "adopt" him into the family. Isn't that more or less what Lionel himself is now trying to do?

At the time, Glover and Rosenbaum both said that it was principally Lionel who is "responsible for Lex's villainy" (Glover's words). I wonder if their views on this have changed with S4 and S5 - Lionel's 'redemption', Lex's development of military weapons and bio-mechanical implants, and of course 'Zex'.

I'd forgotten how hilarious Lex's golf club scene from "Dichotic" was.

It doesn't matter that Lionel isn't a character in the comics, he's become real important to Clark and Martha so revealing more about him and the way his mind works is fascinating.

Absolutely. What I meant to say is that I think it's amazing what a creative writing team can come up with when they don't feel like they're 'fettered' by continuity. Lionel and Chloe were the two 'additional' characters to the established lore, and so far they've been two of the most popular characters on the show. They've also been core parts of the story.

This is why I think it's great to sometimes say to hell with continuity. If Gough & Millar had shied away from new characters and only stuck with the ones from previous incarnations, how much weaker the show would have been.

Similarly, I share the concern of other viewers that excessive respect for the Superman story's components - particularly the inevitable Clois, which I agree with many would be unnecessary and contrived in this incarnation - hurts the show. If something works and enhances the story, so what if it breaks from continuity? Lionel and Chloe both improved the show enormously.

[Lex Dance]

Great posts you two - sorry to butt in.
Hi Krypto! I just took a look at the YouTube site to watch the ABC Family show. This was actually aired on E4 the Monday night before S4 started in the UK. It was very interesting and MB was hilarious (as always)!
Now you can carry on your very interesting conversation!

[Wallis]

You all remember the Lois and Clark episode(s) with H.G. Wells, how Wells ridiculed Lois for "not figuring it out" equating Clark with Superman?

Well, we now have a dumbified Lex. For a very intelligent person, with clue after clue, he cannot put two and two together either.

Clark telling Lionel off at the end was just another example of the insensitivity Clark is developing, and he is developing a dark side himself. What happened to that age-old phrase: "Keep your friends close; your enemies closer?"

In this entire season, the writers seem intent on having Clark sticking his head further and further into his backside, and it is a true shame to watch a great kid with enviable relationships with family and friends just self-destruct in this season.

[Wallis]

Triplet,

I no longer have a copy of the message I sent to you. If you still have it, I would appreciate it if you could post it appropriately to this forum, now that I have of late become a member.

Thanks.