"Memoria" Technical Review
Written by Tigress35

The main technical themes that ran through this episode were the sudden "surprise" reveals of Clark or other characters, and the match cuts that bridged between the present and the flashbacks. There's also a smaller theme of mirroring... there are several shots that begin a scene and end a scene that are parallel, and many shots have each side of the frame mirroring each other as well.

Very brief film terms to know:

* rack focus: where one character is in focus, and then the camera changes focus so that another character becomes sharp and the original character is no longer in focus, usually used to change our attention from one character to another without having to make a cut

* match cut: a type of edit where an object in the frame, or an action, matches the next shot

* medium shot: about half of someone's body in the frame, usually from waist or chest up

We open with an establishing shot of Excelsior prep. It looks very much like the Luthor castle, and quite possibly modeled in CGI.

Lionel has short hair, so we know the scene is intended to take place in the past. The room is very blue, with lightning flashing. There's a beautiful medium shot where yellow/white light streams in from the open door, and highlights just the front side of Lionel's face. It looks very nearly like a spotlight is being shined on him, and already the lighting creates a mood that is very ominous, and that continues throughout most of the episode.

Little!Lex sits in a corner, rocking "Julian" Lionel tries to convince Lex that there's no baby, but Lex jumps up on the edge of the wall. It's interesting to note here that the camerawork on Lex is slightly shaky and generally agitated, while Lionel's shots are fairly steady, which matches their current state of mind.

There's a match cut to Lex screaming "Julian" too, and Lana pulls him down. He falls to the ground and is all damp, and doesn't know where he is.

We cut to Clark mucking stalls. Clark says he doubts Lana came all the way to admire his stall mucking abilities, but I would. Here, Clark is acting as mostly Clark Kent... concerned for Lex, and he's wearing just an ordinary white shirt. Later on in the episode, as he continues to confront Lex and attempt him from regaining his memories, he wears his red and blue Superman colours. The lighting in the scene is warm, and we don't see much more lighting like this from the rest of the episode.

We cut to Lex coming into the frame of his close-up. It's a nice transition in the way he walks into frame. The camera turns around to reveal Clark (surprise!) and a rack focus makes Clark unblurry and Lex blurry.

Clark's blank look when Lex assures him he hasn't had a mental relapse lets Lex know that Clark doesn't believe him. Our lovely Snarky!Lex gives Clark a huge smirk and says that he didn't suspect anything of Clark when he found him on the board at night that one time.

Lex is walking away when Clark brings up that whole insane asylum thing. Lex turns and seems irritated, but hides it with another smirk when he says a clean bill of health from the mental doctors isn't good enough for Clark. I'm seriously loving all this smirking. More fairly blank looks from Clark and another smirk from Lex and we cut to....

Metropolis, with an establishing shot of the building where the guy Lex had researching for him, complete with Lex's car pulling up. The music is bassy and low, with alternating ominous booms and tinkles. Something about this scene isn't gonna be good.

We see Lex get out of his car and walk all the way up to the door. The editor in me wonders why we're seeing so much of Lex walking, but then we hear the whoosh sound first, and finally Clark whooshes into frame and that's why they held it so long. Again, Clark has another "surprise!" appearance.

Cut to a close up of Lex saying "These nightmares are becoming more frequent." This is a gorgeous, gorgeous shot. The background is this very plain and solid dark grey/blue. Half of Lex is lit, splitting his face into light and dark. His jacket and head blends into the background on the side where there is no light. The picture in itself is gorgeous, but the way Lex is lit gives us a signal of his purpose. His intentions here can have a positive, enlightening side if he can regain his memory, yet ultimately, Clark will end up hurt and we're not sure what others Lex could hurt with this technology.

The camera pulls back smoothly revealing the doctor as he speaks to Lex. Really loving all the reveals in this episode. The camera continues around the doctor until we see Lex's brain scans on a screen.

Take from this what interpretation you will, but there's also a flower on the middle of a table, and the whole room is pretty damn dark, save for a very acute spotlight right on the flower into he middle of the table. It's completely artificial, because nobody lights flowers on a table like that. Except, I suppose, crazy scientists and eccentric billionaires.

The music ramps up and we get some choral voices, much in that "Aaaaahhhhhhh" whenever sci-fi does cool things. The camera moves up, and all the colours here are just brilliant, literally and figuratively. Deep greens, blues and golds, and nearly nothing else. The lines in this shot are spectacular-- there are posts and lines in the set design itself, and the gold rods of light highlight the lines in the frame, all directing our attention to the center where there is the green krypto-tank. In addition, everything in this shot is extremely symmetrical... save for the scientists in frame, every other object or part of the set has its mirror opposite. We also take note of the only thing that isn't colourful on the set, and that is the table where Clark will eventually be stripped. It's a dark grey, a very ominous colouring, signaling bad things will happen on that table.

Then the gold lights are shut off, and Lex is lowered into the green tank. The camera moves over Lex in the water in another brilliant shot, closing in on the doctor, who has a spotlight shining down on him. Everything else in the frame is so dark, but he stands out a lot because of his lit console, his white jacket, and the spotlight.

The camera does a 360 overhead shot and eventually zooms into Lex's pupil, then zooms out as Julian, with tears running down his face. He's wearing a dark suit that is barely distinguishable from the dark background, and the camera pulls back over the table (continuing the camera move from the scan over the table earlier). The table itself is lit and bright, as it is supposed to be a happy thing. There's a huge tin of cheesepuffs, which makes me giggle but it seems so unfit for a Luthor, but I guess every kid wants their cheesepuffs! Then there are presents and soooo much food over this huge table, and the camera keeps pulling back to reveal more and more and that's the brilliance of it, because the more the camera pulls back, the grander you realise it is, and the more you realise nobody came, and then it just makes the scene that much more pathetic.

Then a light shines in the back, a huge white light that overwhelms the whole shot, and nearly makes everything look overexposed. To complete the shot, Lionel walks in, and everything at that moment is extremely bright and arguably cheerful except for Lex. Interestingly enough, the balloons are green and blue, just like the colour scheme of the krypto-tank room was.

Lionel tries to hand him a present, and light glints off the package, almost blowing out that whole part of the frame. Also interesting to note is that the package looks nearly identical to the one Lionel gave Emily, save for the colour of the bow and the shine. Inside the package is the box Lex gave Clark in "Metamorphosis" and we get to hear Lionel tell the story that Lex told Clark was behind it. Lex opens the box and the camera zooms into it and then black, then we cut back to Lex's brain scans.

Tight close-up on Lex's face, as his eyes open. This, too, is a great shot, with the bright green surrounding his head and the blue shadowing his forehead and eyes. Cut back to a long shot of the room, and the lights flip back on. Poor Rosenbaum's feet are all wrinkly as he's lifted out of the water. I imagine that scene must have sucked a lot to film. It doesn't look comfortable at all.

Cut to an overhead shot in x-ray vision, which pulls back into a ceiling fan as Clark's vision goes back to normal. Clark gives his, "Oh Lex, what are you doing now?" face and the music swells as Lex exits the building.

This angle is canted, titled so that things are slightly off centre as Lex walks out. This kind of shot is commonly used for villains, or for things that just aren't quite right, and so this is. If you look at the floor, you notice more clearly that the building and floor are not even on the X-axis. The camera lets Lex approach it, then keeps following behind him, until it swings around to reveal (surprise!) Clark.

Much in the way Clark did previously, this time sans shirt-rippage, Clark confronts Lex against the car. Again, the music here is really bassy and ominous, much like it was when Lex was entering the building.

New overhead shot of Metropolis streets, then we cut to Lionel. Again the camera swings around with a slight rack focus to reveal Clark. Hello Clark! (Surprise!)

Lionel walks away and Clark follows him with his eyes, and he looks like he's one step away from rolling them. It's such an intense look and the ways Tom Welling has learned to act with his eyes astounds me.

The really interesting thing about the way this is shot is that they're making Lionel look fairly small in the frame. The could have shot him so that the top of his head was cut off, a framing technique used so that it gives the impression that he continues out of frame and would be taller. By framing Lionel with his entire head in the frame, it makes him look smaller, especially when Clark's shoulder takes up the whole left side of the frame and then we get the hint that Clark is appearing much bigger than Lionel. Indeed, Lionel is no pushover, but at the moment of these shots, Lionel is admitting that Clark is smarter and braver than he thought he was, and the cinematography reflects this.

Although maybe not the smartest ally, Clark and Lionel do have a common goal: to keep Lex from regaining his memory. We realise that both of them realise these are the common motives, when Lionel plays the video tape. And again, Welling does marvelous things with his eyes and we can practically see his stomach sinking to the floor as he realises what Lionel has. The music helps this along, with more booms and high-pitched piano tinkles.

Lionel steps into the frame in front of the playing video. Clark just swallows hard and Lionel smiles. He's framed now so that his head is cut off, and he looks like he's regained the power position.

Cut to the establishing shot of Luthor mansion. We see Lionel walk in, with swinging doors on opposite sides of the frame. It's a low shot, and Lionel is backlit in the stained glass, and he once again looks large and imposing in the frame. It's a really awesome and beautiful shot, both composition and framing wise, and colour wise.

Lionel and Lex trade comebacks and it's really entertaining. There is one point at the scene, where there's not an editing error per se, but a point at which the action overlaps too much. When Lex says "very illuminating," you can watch as Lex lifts his glass twice to drink.

At the mention of a psychotic break, Lex suddenly appears faint, closing his eyes, and the light fades around him to darkness so only a part of his face is illuminated. The glass drops from his hand, and it falls through the frame, and there's a match cut to a tea cup shattering on the floor, signaling we're in the past.

The camera pulls back, and the set is very dark, and nearly the only thing lit is Lillian trying to clean up the cup, which gets brighter as the camera continues to pull back quickly. Cut to an extreme close-up of Little!Lex's eye, and we see some of the scene from his POV.

The room is decorated with cozy, appealing furniture, but the lighting is again very high-key and the room appears rather desaturated because of this, which makes the room look very cold, reflecting the mood of the scene.

Little!Lex bursts into the room, and the camera turns around them, into the darkness of Lionel's back, and then the camera continues its move into the present, revealing adult Lex, but then swings back to flashing colours and Little!Lex over a crib.

The swirling strobe-like colours are rather distracting. They're too much to be coming from the crib, but they appear to be, and it makes things a little crazier in Lex's remembrance. It's also really interesting to note that it looks a lot like how police car lights look at a crime scene.

Lionel hits Lex, and there's a another match cut to the future where Adult!Lex hits the floor. The camera pulls back out, and again, Lex is confused again. He strides over to his Ty Nant and guzzles it. I'm going to avoid all commentary I could make on phallic symbolism and move on. Lionel strides out in a shot from below, just like how he came in.

Cut to the interior of the Kent farm house. The lighting and set colours are warm, with red and brown tones, and Clark stands out in his primary coloured clothes. Lionel comes by and much drama ensues. Although Clark chooses a strange path through Lionel to go about it, I do think Clark still wants to protect Lex from Lionel. Except Clark is trying to figure life out and how to deal with these kind of people, and he doesn't know the best way to do this. He has to protect his secret, so he makes even more ambiguously stupid moves. But ultimately, I think he is still trying to protect Lex and himself, and struggling to find the best way to be able to protect them both. It's interesting because both Clark and Lex want to protect Clark, and both want to look out for Lex. Except, Clark has to find a way to keep Lex's interest in him from colliding.

Clark goes to find Lex, and finds Garner in front of the krypto-tank. My favourite krypto-sound effect from Spyro the Dragon begins, and Clark begins to look ill. Garner looks like, "Ooh hmm, a very pretty boy just landed at my feet" and he orders his team to strip Clark.

The camera pans over Clark as he writhes, and someone begins to unbuckle his belt while another cuts his shirt with scissors. The camera pans in time, so that by the time they'd be getting Clark's pants off, the camera is up to his face. It's a great shot, but I feel cheated. I also wonder how many t-shirts they went through. The music behind it is very epic and Gregorian chant like. Mark Snow did amazing things with the score this week.

Then I feel slightly less cheated when we return from commercial and the camera pans over Clark's body in a close-up. The camera swings around to reveal Lionel there watching. So many twists and turns happen in this episode when the camera swings around to reveal a character appearing that you might not expect.

And, in the only convenient plot device of the episode, Lionel has to leave so he doesn't see Clark get his krypto-spasms and the doctor decides to ignore Lionel's order to wait. Considering how much we saw Clark's blood boil when it was exposed to kryptonite, I feel quite sorry for Clark.

We zoom into Clark's eye, and have another match cut to the pod where they're lowering in baby!Clark. The light is bright and the colours are light and it looks all happy... or is it?

Colours swirl in the flashback, and then we're back to the present. Something goes wrong, Clark is screaming, "Lara!!!!" and he seems to be breaking the equipment.

Lex finds the doctor comatose (He can't tell what happened to Clark, after all) and then finds Clark in the tank. Poor Clark. Lex breaks the tank with a crowbar, and green water gushes out.

Then we cut to the camera pushing in on Clark as he pouts in his barn loft. The lighting here illuminates his arms and nearly nothing else. He sits in shadow and darkness and it highly reflects his mood and state of mind.

Lex comes in and asks how Clark is doing, and Clark gets really pissy with Lex. The scene is lit so the barn walls in the background are fairly light, but Clark and Lex are still very dark. Lex makes his good point on the Lionel betrayal, and Clark makes his good point on Lex becoming more and more like his father. The intriguing part of this story is that neither of them are completely wrong or right. Clark asks why Lex's father hates Lex so much. Before Lex would have told him, but now they're so at odds that Lex effectively ignores him and tells him to take care of himself and starts to leave.

Lex is down the stairs when things go to dark, and only Lex' s face is lit again, and he has another flashback. Again the lights flash, and Lex discovers his mom killed Julian. We get the sense that Lex always looked up to his mother, took solace in her, only to discover she wasn't as perfect as he thought she was. Clark always thought his mother must have been a monster, yet it turns out to be the opposite. My thoughts and interest in Smallville have always revolved around the fact that Clark is not yet set in his morality. Like Comics!Lex is traditionally evil, Clark also makes mistakes-- a lot-- but gradually he moves toward the Superman in the comics. Lex, too, is not yet set in his morality-- he tries to do what he feels is right yet eventually he gives up and increasingly chooses to take the dark road. As how Clark and Lex gradually switch roles of good and bad, so did their views of their mothers.

The ending scene between Lex and Lionel is just too great for words. I can't even begin to touch on it save for the final shot when the camera pulls back, and Lionel is standing silhouetted in the frame, and again, the composition is very symmetrical and it's just gorgeous.

Cut to Clark watching his solar system go round. Martha comes up the steps and they talk about Lara. This scene is just so touching and beautiful I can hardly bear it. I love that Martha finally got a chance to talk to Clark instead of Jonathan, and completes the general theme of mothers that has been throughout this episode. This scene is also really too touching to analyse and it's just a blessing to be able to see it. Beautiful, beautiful episode.

The cinematography (as well as other aspects of production) truly rose to the occasion to meet the story, and contributed a great deal to understanding the story even better in more subtle ways. A really fantastic episode from Miles and co, and I hope that there are many more episodes like this to come as Clark and Lex grow further and further apart.

Read Hope's review of "Memoria"

Note: The views of Tigress35 don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.

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