Word Processor Of The Gods: Delete
Written by Hope

Stephen King once wrote a short story called "Word Processor of the Gods." In it, the protagonist, using a damaged and slowly dying word processor cobbled together by his nephew, deleted all of the miserable aspects in his life, and replaced them with the things he really wanted. I don't know if "Delete"'s Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders ever read the story, but I find it entertaining that writers- who are the gods of their own written universes- have such an innate love and fear of the tools they use in their trade.

That the written word has power is the theme of this episode; Chloe's written words set the story in motion, our FotW, Molly (springing from the same mysterious pool that gave us Ryan James,) uses the written word to control Clark, Lana and the Kents, Adam retreats behind the written word to explain abilities he doesn't remember gaining, and Lex uses the written word to bargain with Dr. Garner. Words have power; stories have power.

"Delete" has a lot of power, in spite of a rather linear, damaged plot. There really aren't any reversals here- the story progresses from A to B to C, much the same way that many of Peterson & Souders' scripts do, and it employs the same kind of story they usually tell (outsider to Smallville creates a ripple effect that resonates through the entire cast.) Their gifts have always been centered in the fine art of characterization. They write brilliant, natural dialogue, and they have an excellent focus on the emotional lives of these characters, which Smallville really needs.

And though this script is storywise not much different from their "Nocturne," "Skinwalker," and "Prodigal," Peterson & Souders' growth as screenwriters can really be seen in the structure they used here. Third season is generally when writers have more leeway to take risks with their scripts, and this writing team did exactly that by extending its reach outside of Smallville, to focus on two guest characters integral to the plot completely independent of the regular cast.

They used Molly and Dr. Garner extremely well with the established characters, but also extremely well as individual characters. Compare (really, contrast,) that with the clumsy handling of guest characters in last week's "Whisper," where we knew absolutely nothing about the FotW or his friend, their motivations, or that they were anything more than props. Though Molly and Dr. Garner serve as gears in this story, they're treated as fully fleshed human beings, without their backstory playing like Exposition Theatre.

Likewise with Adam- his backstory comes in bits and pieces, as asides and part of progressive conversation, and again, the character is written with subtlety, with an entire range of emotion, as well as flaws and merits. His annoyance at Lana's vacillation, his frustration, the delightful alpha dog back and forth between him and Clark, and his fear of the unknown, and his need and hurt, all stemmed organically from the situations around him. This is the way guest stars should be used, and while it's wonderful to see that this production office has learned from the early missteps of the Lex and Helen relationship, it's really a shame the producers didn't clue in sooner and give Peterson & Souders a chance to salvage that storyline, because they could have done it effortlessly.

They also did a good job of progressing time with several offhand mentions in the dialogue, so that the audience understands that this story doesn't take place the day after "Whisper," which is incredibly important. Though the reconciliation scene with Chloe and Clark suffers from the mishandling of their blow-out in "Whisper," it's not because it isn't a strong, organic scene. This entire season has been about growing up, getting perspective, and recognizing fallibility- this is exactly the scene Clark and Chloe needed to have. It just didn't play as strongly as it could have, because the argument that preceded it was poorly written.

Another nice aspect of their screenwriting is that they plainly do enough research to turn their story comfortable. IP addresses, binary code, hacking- though "Delete" certainly isn't a primer for any IT department, there was enough reality to the technical aspects of their story on which the audience could hang their suspension of disbelief. Another nice reality aspect for "Delete" was the use of natural humor to turn the flow of conversation; it adds depth and realism to the way these characters interact with each other, and allow scenes to turn to different topics without allowing them to seem bloated or overlong.

This script mostly used the continuity well- instead of straining to explain a new FotW, Peterson & Souders dug back into Smallville's past, resurrecting the Summerholt Neurological Institute and its less than savory interests in the human mind. It was a perfect way to introduce Molly- the audience already knows from "Stray" and "Ryan" that psychic abilities exist, and that there's an institution devoted to studying them. By merely using Summerholt and Dr. Garner, they had absolutely no need to get bogged down in the "why" of Molly's abilities; the universe had already established it was possible.

Unfortunately, that same continuity damaged their story from the outset, because Philip Levens' Ryan James was firmly established as being unable to read Clark's mind. Molly's e-mail to Clark should have been entirely ineffective, or there should have been a further, Smallville-scientific explanation as to why she could control him when Ryan couldn't even read him. (In comics continuity, no one can read Superman's mind; psychic abilities don't affect him. The only thing besides Kryptonite that can play havoc with him is magic, which Molly's abilities plainly weren't.)

This script also suffered from a fairly rampant problem in the production office, which is "People know things they shouldn't know." Chloe had far more information about Ryan James and Summerholt than was ever revealed to her in "Ryan." Likewise, there was no explanation for how Molly would know to sneak into LuthorCorp to get Chloe's hard drive: it's reasonable for her to know she'd need it, but not where it actually was. Despite these errors, the episode still had a lot of tension going for it, and a dark and creepy edge that we've only seen from these writers when working with a story by the resident monster guys, Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer, on "Accelerate."

That Peterson & Souders' strong point is characterization and not plotting is evident, but those flaws don't overwhelm what was a very good episode of Smallville. They turned the Clark and Chloe relationship beautifully, they continued to establish that Lex and Clark are on parallel paths, but not at this point divergent, they really fine-tuned that Lex is both self-aware and strong in spite of his time at Belle Reve, and has at least three different reasons for doing something. Best of all, they really sold the complicated beginnings of a story for Adam alone, and Adam with Lana, and the lingering hesitations of Lana's relationship with Clark.

Though the story was flawed, Peterson & Souders' gift with the written word, with dialogue and characterization made "Delete" a better episode of Smallville than it really had any right being. They have a way of taking a series of escalating incidences and making them come to life in a way no other writer on this production staff, except perhaps Ken Biller, can, and they continue to reign when it comes to creating vivid, realistic relationships. Not only that, they deserve a great deal of credit for being brave enough to spend screentime away from the central cast to develop a fuller, richer universe for the show, and the value of that can never be underestimated.

Screenwriting: B-
To Watch: B+

Next Week: Okay, this time we really mean it- this episode is all about Lana, and Adam really is a bad guy. No seriously, the WB promo department would never ever mislead us. Again. For the second week in a row.

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

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