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Why I'm somewhat less thrilled than many others on LJ about this episode: We learned what we knew already -- Lex doesn't need the Kryptojuice to be hopelessly in love with Clark, willing to abase himself and give up his really big picture of Clark to woo Clark back, which must make jerking off a lot less fun. So, a lot of sub and a lot of text; not so much of the subtext, really.
See, I already knew that Lex was a hopeless romantic looking for a hopeless romance, and I sort of want to slap him and say -- "Lex, the big dumb alien is not good enough for you; he will never love you the way you love him; get over it, because pining becomes pathetic after a while and you're a lot sexier when you're angry than when you're abasing yourself."
In other words, what about Clark's side? Accepting worship (and being saved from a major beat-down) does not make Clark a good, or even a tolerant, person. And "in the spirit of friendship, can I ask you for a(nother) favor?" as the followup left a bitter taste in my mouth. I can only hope that at the very least Lex had a bitter taste in his afterwards. If you know what I mean, and I think you do.
It's just that -- Lex is never going to be good enough to pass Clark's tests, and this is a tragic combination of Lex's flaws and Clark's. This is not to say that Clark is the bad guy, but he is the immature guy, and Lex's mistake is in part hanging his self-worth on somebody who's not certain of his own worth and is very willing to project those uncertainties on Lex -- who makes himself a really good target with his manipulations and sly secrets. Half of me wants Lex to get his evil mastermind on now, to end the ongoing humiliation and blunt the force of the blow when Clark's ultimate lack of belief in him really sinks in.
As story, however, the episode was well done. Chloe and Clark got great comic moments, even if I had to fast forward past the worst of the humiliations; yay Martha; Lex's devotion really did work well with the monsters of the week plot; Lois got another reason to think of Clark as a wimp and thus to be ready to ignore that he's really Superman later on; and I like that Chloe has matured enough to say what she thinks about her personal life with the same courage she brings to reporting. Jason is good, though there's still this weird dark blob that shows up on my screen and sucks the life out of scenes, and the fact that the blob is black instead of pink this year is only a moderate improvement.
Overall, strong story, marred by weird antifeminist stuff (that I hardly notice any more because it's the background hum of SV until voiced by one of the "spunky" female characters) and by the slow-motion breaking of my heart on Lex's behalf.
See, I already knew that Lex was a hopeless romantic looking for a hopeless romance, and I sort of want to slap him and say -- "Lex, the big dumb alien is not good enough for you; he will never love you the way you love him; get over it, because pining becomes pathetic after a while and you're a lot sexier when you're angry than when you're abasing yourself."
In other words, what about Clark's side? Accepting worship (and being saved from a major beat-down) does not make Clark a good, or even a tolerant, person. And "in the spirit of friendship, can I ask you for a(nother) favor?" as the followup left a bitter taste in my mouth. I can only hope that at the very least Lex had a bitter taste in his afterwards. If you know what I mean, and I think you do.
It's just that -- Lex is never going to be good enough to pass Clark's tests, and this is a tragic combination of Lex's flaws and Clark's. This is not to say that Clark is the bad guy, but he is the immature guy, and Lex's mistake is in part hanging his self-worth on somebody who's not certain of his own worth and is very willing to project those uncertainties on Lex -- who makes himself a really good target with his manipulations and sly secrets. Half of me wants Lex to get his evil mastermind on now, to end the ongoing humiliation and blunt the force of the blow when Clark's ultimate lack of belief in him really sinks in.
As story, however, the episode was well done. Chloe and Clark got great comic moments, even if I had to fast forward past the worst of the humiliations; yay Martha; Lex's devotion really did work well with the monsters of the week plot; Lois got another reason to think of Clark as a wimp and thus to be ready to ignore that he's really Superman later on; and I like that Chloe has matured enough to say what she thinks about her personal life with the same courage she brings to reporting. Jason is good, though there's still this weird dark blob that shows up on my screen and sucks the life out of scenes, and the fact that the blob is black instead of pink this year is only a moderate improvement.
Overall, strong story, marred by weird antifeminist stuff (that I hardly notice any more because it's the background hum of SV until voiced by one of the "spunky" female characters) and by the slow-motion breaking of my heart on Lex's behalf.
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Er, that should have read I mean, on one hand, it's not fair to expect such a thing from Clark ...