Tabloid Mythology: Perry
Written by Hope

Those of you who read my reviews last year might remember that I broke up with my tv screenwriting boyfriend, Mark Verheiden, after the nausea-fest that was "Dichotic," but having seen "Perry," I think I'm really ready to take him back now, at least on a probationary basis.

Mark Verheiden has been with Smallville since the very beginning, and his long-term grasp of the show and these characters has always made him one of the heavy-hitters on staff. I suspect after Millar & Gough, Verheiden is the one guy who knows exactly where everything is going, and that shows by the fact that he's so often in charge of writing mythology episodes ("X-Ray," "Rogue," "Zero," "Witness," etc..)

Whether it's a story about Clark getting a power, or Lex's dark past colliding with his (and everyone else's) present, Verheiden writes these characters with a comfortably familiarity with the canon that once was, and the canon that will soon be. He's also the guy who understands the tone of the show, and can tweak it toward light humor without violating the atmosphere. His "Heat" brought campy humor to Smallville, and "Perry" brings a great mix of comic-book absurdity and television sincerity, an ideal foundation to introduce a little more of the Superman uber-canon into the show.

For the fans unfamiliar with Superman, the solar flare conflict created an organic way for the show to discuss what gives Clark gets his powers; and for fans who already knew that, it made a very nice repetition of themes we saw in "Leech," but more importantly, it continued to lay the groundwork for Clark's future.

He has to wear that costume some day, and right now, Clark's pretty comfortable in flannels and jeans. Unfortunately, flannel and jeans, and timely rescues, do not make for good secret-keeping. In the past several episodes, we've seen Clark start to expand his borders, rescuing not only friends and family, but also total strangers. It's easier to lie to people you know because they *want* to believe you; strangers, however, ask annoyingly pertinent questions and aren't particularly interested in being generous with their credulity.

It was an especially keen nod to uber-canon to convince Perry White, future editor of the Daily Planet, that Clark Kent is nothing more than a nice boy from Kansas. Not only does it give Clark a source in Metropolis of his very own, it centers him on his path toward the big city. Add the other disparate threads: Clark's protectiveness of the people in his life, the mounting evidence that he'll have to hide who he is to perform acts of heroism, and his growing understanding of his own abilities and their source, and this was a perfect story to propel Clark that much closer to becoming Superman.

This could have been a painfully heavy, anvil-ridden episode, but Verheiden kept it light with insanely long runs, tractors falling from the sky, and the return of Clark's sense of humor, which has been sadly absent without RedK in the last season and a half. And deftly, Verheiden also balanced that light with dark in the form of Lex's B line. One of the wonderful things that Verheiden understands that many of the other writers on the show haven't quite grasped is that secondary storylines do not have to be directly, or even slightly, parallel on the main text. While Clark and Lex's stories both dealt with struggling with their innate abilities and weaknesses, and reflected each other in the concept that they were both slightly out of control and trying to manage that, the similarities in the text were subtle. There was no overlapping dialogue, and no blatant wedging between the two to reinforce the parallels- and when their storylines intersected, they both took different information from the encounters. Perry's subtle reference to a murder in Lionel's past, first alluded to in "Phoenix," was especially well done.

While we watched Clark approaching Superman, however, Lex continued to fight his inevitable descent, and mature at the same time. His spoiled brat demeanor with the psychiatrist was colored with shades of "Zero," but as the episode progressed, and he had to examine his own reactions to the people around him, he made a conscious decision to try to help- to save himself. It's a slowly widening gulf between Clark and Lex, and not one made out of malice, but a genuine attempt on Lex's part to better himself. Once again, we see his curiosity battle his loyalty, and once again, his loyalty wins. Clark's vision of him in "Slumber" was dead on: Lex would protect him, Lex *does* protect him. It's one of the greatest tragedies this show has to play, all of the could have beens and would have beens between these two characters.

Verheiden does well by the other characters, too. He's always had a weakness when it comes to writing the women, but this episode is much, much stronger than his previous outings. While the final conversation between Clark and Lana may seem bizarre (and further cements my impression, at least, that Lana's more than a little unhinged herself,) it's strong characterization that hearkens all the way back to the pilot episode. Now that Lana has officially resolved her filial issues, she can move forward too- she has to let mom and dad go now; sooner or later, she has to let Clark go, too. The presentation here was another nice nod to the uber-canon; Lana Lang has always been the Girl Who Gets Left Behind; this time, she actually gets to be The Girl Who Decided To Stay Behind.

Chloe, who has sadly gotten the very, very short end of Verheiden's stick in previous episodes really shone here. She still functions somewhat as a Greek Chorus, but she always will. She's Smallville's Lois Lane- the outside eye; the audience if you will. However, instead of using her solely as a pivot, her own storyline with Lionel Luthor gets some play here, in a subtle way that allows the audience to think about what's been shown.

Likewise, it was good to see Pete more actively involved in the story. Poor Pete, he knows all the secrets, and usually gets relegated to three lines of product placement, but Verheiden used him well here. Chloe certainly can't investigate the effect of solar flares on Clark's physiology; Lana can't hide Clark away from the news vans without asking too many uncomfortable questions. Pete's role has always been as the guy who's got Clark's back, and it was really good to see that in action for once. Now if only Martha had a little more to do besides shout "Clark!" in that gut-wrenchingly raw voice of hers...

My only complaint for this episode was that the pacing felt a little slow. Not obscenely slow, but Perry's first encounters with pretty much everybody had a sameness to them that could have been punched up by varying the situations. There are only so many interesting ways to meet someone for the first time, and the drunken-bewildered-smarmy repetition between the introductions dragged a bit. Considering the amount of territory covered in this episode though, it's a forgivable sin.

Overall, I found this to be good, solid mythology, well-blended with continuity, characterization, and sharp dialogue that continue to push Season Three in the right direction. I may be a little fickle, but yeah, I think Mark Verheiden is my tv screenwriting boyfriend again.

Screenwriting: A-
To Watch: A-

Next Week: Poor Michael Rosenbaum. First they make him shave his head, then they force him wear his wig from "Sorority Boys." The guy just can't get a break.

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

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