"Bound"
Technical Review & Recap!
Written
by Tigress35
First off,
I loved this episode. I like really like when Smallville
chooses to deal with mature themes. I also firmly believe that
Clark is a true hero, and Lex is not. Disagree? I'll
explain exactly why through this review.
We open
on the ceiling of a ballroom/hotel lobby where a party is taking
place. The camera moves from the ceiling, along the party, and
then through the crowds until we get to Lex. It's all one shot
and really nice. Difficult to coordinate, too, with all the
people passing in front, which only makes me more appreciative
of it.
There are
also two really lovely close-ups I'd like to point out. In the
first shot of Lex noticing the woman, everything in the frame
is pretty much in focus. The background is a bit blurry, but
not so much that we can't see what everything is.
Without
going into a discussion about depth of field (because that gets
pretty mathematical and it's hard to explain clearly), it makes
it look a bit more whimsical and fantastical, and at the same
time really makes us focus on Lex and the woman, respectively.
If everything in the frame was sharp and in focus, the frame
would be very busy. Blurring the background allows us to really
get caught up in the moment we're supposed to-- the immediate
attraction and chemistry that Lex and this woman feel.
A few shots
later, focus is played with again-- this time, a rack
focus is cleverly hidden when a beam of light flashes over
Lex and the woman. You'd have to rewatch the episode to see
it, because screencaps can't really show it. But it's very nice
and subtle.
The woman
has a pink iPod and Lex listens to a song on it-- presumably,
this hypnotizes him or something. The camera work and editing
reflects this in the next scene where Lex makes out with the
woman in the elevator-- the camera is always circling or moving,
and there are very slow dissolves.
Essentially, it looks how someone might perceive the world if
they were hypnotized/drugged/sexually aroused.
As a clever
bit of trivia, the song playing over this song is by Faithless...
that music group also had a song in Zero, playing in the club.
As you all remember, things didn't end well at Club Zero and
neither will things here. Intentional or not on the part of
TPTB, it's a nice parallel to a previous episode.
The next
morning, the housekeeper wakes up Lex by screaming. Turns out,
the woman has been murdered. Later, Lex watches the news brief
on his spiffy widescreen TV with his lawyer. The lawyer tells
Lex that he's "paying her to get him off." Oh reallyyyy? They
think it's possible that Lex could have been drugged. Lex says
it "wouldn't be the first time." Or the second. Or the third
even. Let's see, there was Helen, Lionel, Clark's faux-mother,
who else am I forgetting? Yep, Lex has sadly had his fair share
of people drugging him.
Lex and
Lawyer continue snarking at each other, and Clark (of course!)
comes in unannounced. Lex says that he presumes Clark saw his
"walk of shame." I didn't know Clark had seen Sorority Boys!
Lex then
steps forward and grips Clark's arms, talking about how he met
this girl. The way he's holding onto Clark as if he's consoling
him makes it look like he's giving an "I'm breaking up with
you as gently as I can" speech. Clark can't believe that Lex
would sleep with someone without knowing their name, and looks
very hurt, betrayed. Ah, Clark.... poor thing, getting cheated
on.
Lex talks
about how, you know, you get caught up in the moment. Actually,
Clark wouldn't know, because every week we've been subjugated
to scenes that declare Clark's virginity is, yes, still very
there. Lex thinks his father is framing him, but Clark shoots
that down because Lionel's in prison. Clark, did you every watch
OZ? People called people and all sorts of crazy setups happened
on the outside because of the inmates.
Lex warns
him not to get involved and leaves the room, leaving Clark standing
there and looking misty-eyed.
I suppose
now is as good a time as any to start defending Clark. TPTB
have said, most recently even on the Season 3 DVD, that the
show is from Clark's point of view. I don't necessarily
think that the show itself is trying to lecture about the 'evils
of casual sex'. The thing is, Clark doesn't think it's
right. He's (yes we all have heard) still a virgin, and he
doesn't know about all that stuff. He hasn't had one night
stands or anything of the sort. He's been raised in a small
town in a conservative state, so I don't think it can be expected
that Clark would have been totally okay with Lex's behavior.
His parents have always raised him to think that sex is a Very.
Big. Deal. Plus, Clark himself has intimacy issues, because
he always has to be careful around people and he always has
had to protect his secret. So opening himself in a way that
he's been taught/told is intimate and special for only one night
or to a stranger is relatively inconceivable to Clark. Of course
he's going to judge it in his own mind. To conclude, since the
show is from Clark's point of view, that's where we get this
episode's negative attitude toward Lex's sexual history.
Cut to
an establishing shot of the Talon. Lana dreams of flashes to
the Countess' past. It really is a shame that they can't tie
in Lana to the central story of the episode, instead always
giving her subplots. It really stops the flow of the episode.
I don't mind Lana, but keep her with the other characters and
have her work within the main plot of the episode, not separate
subplots that will only eventually tie into the mythology later.
The best Smallville episodes have always been those that had
very few subplots... Shattered immediately springs to mind.
Prison.
Lionel's hair is still pretty damn cool for his age. I also
love this prison set and the lighting, so I'll point you to
my previous
analyzation of it. The shots aren't exactly the same, but
close enough. Lionel recounts his sudden change to the lightside
and his liver being healed. My opinion on this is that Lionel
rocks as a bad guy, so it'll be a shame to see him be holier
than thou-- if that's where he's gonna go-- but if it
means that Lex can take over as the supreme evil badass of the
show, then that would be awesome and I'll take that!
Lionel
has a fairly scary knowledge of Lex's one night stands, and
gives Clark some tips. I'm not entirely certain why Clark even
would go the jail in the first place. Clark says he doesn't
trust Lionel, but he must trust him enough to even consider
hearing him out. On a slightly gayer note, Clark gets an amusingly
odd look when Lionel tells him about the brunette obsession.
I bet Clark was thinking, "Hey, my hair is brown, too!" It's
very amusing, go look!
Meanwhile
at the Talon, Mama Kent struggles with a coffee machine. Lana
comes in and Martha remarks that she looks a little pale. Actually,
she looks golden with perfect glowing skin, but if you say so.
Jane Seymour (Mama Jason) then proceeds to freak out Lana, because
it appears that she was stalking her! Lana offers her tea (because
she's British she MUST only drink tea, after all!) but Mama
Jason refuses to drink it out of a mug. She asks if that's so
terrible, and Lana says, "No of course not" but in this tone
of voice where you know she's inwardly thinking, "Freak! It's
just a cup!" Apparently there's some sort of family drama. By
the way? She's creepy, telling Lana she's beautiful like everyone
else in Smallville does. (And yeah, she is, but... it's creepy!)
I liked Kristen Kreuk very much in this scene... I think she
did a better job here than in all of "Spell."
Next scene.
Clark investigates with Chloe and it's darn cute. Chloe is inclined
to think Lionel is setting them up, but Clark believes Lionel.
Hrm, Clark. Let's hope you're right on this. Chloe informs Clark
that Lex has slept with 13 women lately. Now, some of you may
be thinking, "Hey, Lex, that's not a whole lot." But, remember
we're seeing the show through Clark's POV, so to Clark? That's
a helluva lot. That's more than 1 a month!!! Clark looks very
upset and cheated on, with tears in his eyes (I kid you
not!! How in love is Clark?? Poor thing) when he says that Lex
said that sort of thing never happens. Clark thought it was
bad, but he didn't know it was that bad!
They learn
an address, and Clark runs to check it out. Tons of past Michael
Rosenbaum promotional photos lay strewn about. It looks
remarkably like my own desk. Lex is burning them in
a sink. Yeah, that's not conspicuous at all. Why don't you take
the photos and burn them somewhere else? Lex begs for help,
and Clark looks conflicted, because he was cheated on, after
all.
Lex and
Clark argue in the mansion. Apparently Luthorcorp has a database
of all the Lex stalkers. I'm guessing it might resemble something
like my LJ friend's list. Lex learns that Clark got info from
Lionel, and says that Clark is playing into Lionel's game. He
lays down the law and tells Clark he has to trust one or the
other. Actually... I really think he should trust neither of
you. That'd be the smartest way to go.
Clark meets
up with Chloe again for another information swap. Conveniently,
Chloe has even more connections, again, and can get the elevator
video feed. Chloe says she's going to skip through all the "gross
Zalman King stuff." Should I be concerned that Chloe even knows
who he is? Then again, I remember when I would watch the Red
Shoe Diaries for David Duchovny way back when. Also, Chloe?
You're totally wrong, that elevator scene is quite nice! Clark
gives her an odd, pained glance. I think he looks torn between
liking the scene and feeling sad that he's not in it. The video
reveals that an earring fell off during the elevator romp. Clark
concludes that this means Lex was with two different women.
The look on Clark's face says, "Lex is a slut! Two in one night?"
Cut to
Luthor mansion. Lex learns he'd slept with his stalker before,
and he'd given her diamond earrings as a "consolation prize."
Wow, sex with Lex Luthor and expensive jewelry later?
Awesome! Err, I mean, wow, Lex, how terrible
of you. Lawyer has also got an enormous chip on her shoulder--
apparently, she too, is an ex-lover. I'm still not really feeling
her on the pity and bitterness thing here. Lawyer removes herself
as his attorney. See ya later, we don't care! I'm sure Lex can
find someone just as good, there's gotta be more than one "Barracuda"
lawyer in Metropolis.
Then, Clark
and Chloe go to the hotel elevator. Clark wants to pretend he's
an earring. Chloe, on the other hand, thinks a better idea is
to reenact all the making out with Clark. Let's see... gotta
go with Chloe on this one. For more than one reason. Clark is
hesitant, but Chloe tells him it's for "truth and justice."
Cheese has suddenly appeared next to my keyboard. I take a bite,
because this is delicious Chlarky cheese. Clark gets his "I'm
scared of girls face!" (He is a virgin, DON'T FORGET! It keeps
getting rammed home. Almost-pun not intended).
They ponder
how the earring would have fallen off, all the while Clark looks
like he's trying to stop himself from staining his pants while
smushed against Chloe. Pausing this scene at various moments
leads to some very interesting screencaps. Just sayin'. They
almost kiss, but the elevator door opens and Clark jumps back
in a way that hides his crotch and yelps, "It's okay, you can
come in!" Clark is lucky his shirt is so long. It's hilarious
and adorable. Lady with matching innocent twin girls declines.
Clark x-rays the elevator shaft and finds the earring. Somehow,
he gets it out and takes it to Lionel. Okayyyyy.
Just as
a sidenote, whenever I watch that elevator scene, I think of
the Kryptonite Sweeper game music. It's kinda catchy, isn't
it?
Lex goes
to visit Lawyer, and we can all tell she's totally dead when
she doesn't spin around in her chair right away. That's only
been done 50 billion times in TV and film. Killer comes back
and holds Lex at gunpoint. She lets her hair down and takes
her glasses off, and asks if he remembers. Lex squints. I think
that'd be a no, Killer Lady. She gets pissed about that, so
she pistol whips him. I love the look of this shot.
After commercials,
we return to an all too familiar scenario (unfortunately for
Lex). He's tied to a chair. Dialogue, dialogue... Killer Lady's
voice changes almost midsentence. Needs a bit of dialogue editing,
that. She talks about earning her earrings. Again, really not
feeling the sympathy for you, especially because you're clearly
delusional into thinking that Lex Luthor would know how to love
anybody. But carry on with your expository diatribe, Killer
Lady. Lex has a "This is bullshit!" expression on his face the
whole time.
And we
cut out of that oh-so-exciting spouting of dialogue to Lana
and Jason. Totally unrelated storyline. We could tie it in by
having Jason reveal that he, too, has slept with 13 women (or
the football team?) because Lana won't give him any. That'd
be some amusing parallel storytelling. Anyhow, apparently Lana
dreamed about Jason's mom before she met her. So now Jason and
Mama Jason are tied into this whole Countess mythology thing?
Oh good lord.
More Clark
and Chloe at the Torch. They learn about Killer Lady and Clark
runs off to save his cheatin' boyfriend.... and Killer Lady
is STILL going on and on about sex and not being recognized....
she tries to set Lex on fire with some likely expensive liquor.
And Clark.....
Clark bursts in and gets some sort of new cowboy superpower,
because he like... lassos the fire with his jacket and makes
it disperse..... it's just... it's astounding, really. And then
he leaves! Lex is left in a burned circle.
Next morning
at the Kent farm, we learn via newspaper headline that Lex was
declared innocent. Clark is baffled at how Lex could hurt those
women. And again, I point you to my previous argument above--
this is how Clark sees the world. And he's been a relatively
sheltered kid, even through all he's seen. I really don't think
anyone can blame him for having that opinion, even if realistically,
Lex had completely consensual sex with women who, in their right
minds, would have realized that it would have been just a one
night stand. I don't think that was ever up for debate, what
Smallville is trying to show us is how Clark thinks right now.
He's young, kinda naive, and his parents totally agree with
him. His parents taught him to think that way. I mean, every
single time we've seen Jonathan make a sexual advance toward
Martha, she shrugs him off and claims she has work to do. What
kind of message does that send to Clark? So I don't get how
people think Clark can be blamed for the way he thinks.
Clark then
admits he visited Lionel and that, hey, Lionel actually helped
out. Clark thinks their bodyswitch somehow healed him.
Lex goes
and visits Lionel. Lionel admits he deserves to be in prison
and wants to reconcile with Lex, but Lex ain't having any of
that. There's a fantastic shot to end the scene where Lionel
sits in a beam of light. He's seen the light y'all! He's good
now!
Back at
the farm, Clark broods and looks at the stars. Lex confesses
that he can't change, that he thinks he treated the women horribly,
and that he's essentially suicidal. Clark is very stern and
doesn't show a hint of reassurance or sympathy. And I know y'all
had issues with that too, but for once, Clark isn't just flip-flopping
his opinion on Lex because Lex goes and pleads with him or tells
him a sob story. Bottom line, Lex is still doing things that
could post a threat to Clark (floor 33.1 anyone?), and Clark
is absolutely right not to trust Lex. We know where Lex is gonna
end up. This is inevitable. And I think Clark is really stepping
in the right direction now.
While that
scene would have been a freakin' fantastic way to end the episode,
instead we get Jason and Mom's drama. The actors are both great
and I don't have much issue with the scene in itself other than
I personally don't feel that this subplot is best introduced
after such an emotional scene between Clark and Lex. Clark and
Lex had been discussing being enemies and such, and what better
way to leave the episode than us pondering that?
And with
that, I will leave you pondering.
Note:
The views of Tigress35 don't necessarily represent the thoughts
and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.
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