"Commencement"
Review!
Written
by Triplet
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NOTE:
This review contains SPOILERS for the fourth season finale of
Smallville. If you read this, know that major plot twists
and details ARE within.
A lot-less-brief-than-normal
recap:
Lana gets
attacked by Genevieve Teague and Isobel makes possibly her last
appearance in order to kill her. Lex witnesses the aftermath.
Clark has a horrible nightmare about meteors and wakes the entire
house. Lex hides Lana in the mansion, and probably not only
because he's concerned for her safety.
Lionel cleans
up the "mess" back in Lana's apartment. He then goes
toe to toe with Lex over the stone that Lana has as monstrously
huge meteors hurtle toward Smallville. Lois helps Clark get
ready for his commencement, which Lana fails to show for but
dozens of soldiers do. As everyone starts to evacuate the impending
meteor shower, Clark feels compelled to confront Jor-El about
these events.
Jor-El reveals
that it was Clark's actions that have brought the impending
disaster but Clark can do nothing to stop it. His only hope
to avoid global annihilation, and his own death, is to unite
the three elements.
Clark returns
to Jonathan and Martha to tell them that he must stay behind
to unite the stones. Lana, perhaps inexplicably, gives Clark
the stone from China. They pledge their love for each other
in a tender scene then each go their separate ways.
Jason shows
up and takes the Kents hostage, trying to force them to reveal
where Clark hid the stones.
Lex tries
to manipulate Lionel into giving him the stone he has. When
Clark puts the element from China next to the one he stole from
Lex, all three stones start to put out energy. Lionel has the
third one hidden in his pocket and he goes into convulsions
as the energy surges from that stone. That stone calls out to
Clark with a high pitched whine. Lex has Lionel taken up and
put into bed and then puts Lana on a helicopter bound for Metropolis.
Clark superspeeds
into Lex's library and tries to steal the stone, but he gets
disabled by kryptonite laced artifacts in the vault where it's
hidden. Chloe finds him and pulls him free of the kryptonite
just before Lex walks in. Clark speeds away. Lex finds Chloe's
story hard to believe, so he forces her to go with him down
to the caves to try and find Clark.
The meteors
start to fall and all intersecting storylines escalate to some
great cliff hangers. Lionel lies in a catatonic state in the
mansion. Lana barely escapes with her life from the helicopter
crash and then finds a huge crashed space craft. The Kents and
Jason are all in the Kent Farm House as a huge meteor strikes
the roof. When Clark touches the merged stone (now a brilliant
crystal in the familiar Superman S-shield shape), he is painfully
transported to away in a flash of light. That same flash of
light appears to hurt Chloe and Lex. Then, in a scene very reminiscent
of Chris Reeve's first Superman film, where Clark throws a Kryptonian
crystal that forms the Fortress of Solitude; Tom Welling's Clark
Kent finds himself alone in a vast, white wasteland. He throws
the shield-shaped crystal but we don't see it land much less
see if it will create the Fortress of Solitude
com·mence·ment 1. A beginning; a start.
2a. A ceremony at which academic degrees or diplomas are conferred.
b. The day on which such a ceremony occurs
Review:
A commencement
is a ceremony that marks an ending, but it can also mean a beginning.
Many times
Smallville episode titles have multiple levels of meaning, if
you think about it. (And I do. Yeah: I know. I'm a Smallville
geek.) It's wonderfully elegant to me that they can often fit
so much into a single word title
Anyway,
this title is no different and it is perfect for this episode.
In this, we saw Clark graduating from his all too human past
of being a teen in high school to finally accepting his all
too alien future. (More about that at the end of the review.)
The episode
got out of the gate with a fast start, with a great cat fight
between Genevieve Teague (guest Jane Seymour) and Lana. Isobel
makes what seems to be her last appearance as she inhabits Lana
one last time to protect Lana. Isobel kills Genevieve with the
element and then leaves Lana to deal with the consequences
I must say, that Kristin Kruek really outdid herself in this
scene.
I've never
really been all that impressed with Kristin overall as an actress,
she has her moments but she tends to be wildly uneven. However,
she really did some impressive things in this first scene. When
Genevieve was strangling Lana and Isobel showed up (again, with
that amazingly striking lavender sparkle in her eyes), the change
in Lana was immediate and obvious.
And after
Isobel finally enacted the revenge she'd been waiting 400 years
to get on Gertrude's family and kills Genevieve. Isobel then
leaves Lana's body, Kristin totally sold the petrifying fear
and confusion Lana was feeling. It was very well done and she
actually kept up the good work for the rest of the episode.
So, this was an excellent episode for her.
Michael
Rosenbaum's Lex is clearly stepping into his element here, becoming
manipulative, tempestuous and conniving unlike anything we've
really seen up until this point. Sure, he was helping Lana deal
with killing Genevieve, but he was also trying to take advantage
of her vulnerability at the same time in order to get the stone
from her. I'm not sure that Lana was totally oblivious to his
duplicity, but she was still forced by circumstance to lean
on Lex.
Michael
Rosenbaum and John Glover were both pure joy to watch dueling
it out to get the upper hand in getting the stone from Lana.
I especially loved Lionel's great scene in Lana's apartment
after he had cleaned up Lana's "mess" that she'd left
behind. There he said perhaps one of the best Lionel lines ever:
"You
know, for a woman without a heart, Genevieve Teague certainly
did have a lot of blood." What a great line.
Jonathan
and Martha had some great scenes as well and both John Schneider
and Annette O'Toole shone. I was glad to see that they were
again given some great parenting scenes with Clark, something
we had seen too little of this season.
Jenson Ackles,
in probably his last appearance as Jason before he moves onto
his new show "Supernatural," really proved he can
act in this episode. Jason was at times confused, enraged and
so scary in his anger
He was wonderful.
Erica Durance
did an excellent job with her more comedic scenes with Tom.
As usual she has a great onscreen chemistry with him and she
just sparkles as Lois busts Clark's chops. Her final scene watching
the destructive aftermath of the meteor shower was also quite
touching, her emotions were clearly raw.
Although,
I must admit that I'm getting kind of tired or her constant
not-so-subtle allusions to Superman and her future. While some
were amusing, it's getting old
Hopefully, they'll back
off on that next season.
Tom Welling
was truly amazing. Not only was he handsome as ever, he's looking
really good with the longer hair (thanks to his movie role in
the remake of The Fog), but he sold the confusion and reluctance
Clark feels about finally accepting his destiny. Although, I
must say it's about time the 28 year old finally graduated from
High School. As gorgeous as he is, it's getting harder to believe
the very manly Tom Welling is a teenager so this is a good thing.
On to my
recent fascination with costuming: I must say that I'm impressed
that the costume designer had Lex, Lana and Genevieve start
out the episode in the same clothes they were wearing at the
end of the previous episode, Forever. Good job. Especially given
some of the inexplicable costuming decisions made this season
The episode
was beautifully shot, and I was especially impressed with lighting
in the apartment scene with Lionel and Lex.
Mark Snow's
music was remarkably effective in this episode. So much so that
even my trumpet playing 12 year old said how nice he thought
some of the trumpet solos were
I also really liked the
drum beating moments he did over the countdown clock, as corny
as that could have been the clock counting down with the drum
bit helped to build the tension.
As for the
story in this episode, I'm a bit confused on how getting human
blood on one of the stones started a meteor shower. Also, what
the hell is the deal with that ship? And who, or what might,
be coming out of it at the end?
There are
possibly more questions posed in this episode than were answered
but I'm glad some of the ongoing storylines were finally tied
up. I actually loved the witch storyline this season, but I'm
sure when Lana's tattoo disappeared there was dancing in the
streets from some who have loathed the witch story arc.
No matter:
what a ride!
I was almost
literally on the edge of my seat as each scene unfolded. Darren
Swimmer's and Todd Slavkin's script was tight and, despite some
groaner references to Superman and that remarkably convenient
gift of the stone from Lana, it was remarkably close to perfect.
It's going
to be a very long summer.
5 stars
out of 5.
Comparing Superman: The Movie and Smallville: Commencement
Fortress of Solitude moments
Many people
online were excited by the similarities between the forming
of the Fortress of Solitude scenes in the first Superman movie
and here, in this episode. I saw the same similarities and,
out of curiosity, went back and took another look at the film
before writing this review. (Possibly one reason why it took
me so long
)
Anyway,
I say that despite some of the main landmarks being the same,
these scenes are very different.
In Superman:
The Movie, Clark Kent (played by Jeff East in the relatively
early scene) is driven by grief for his dead father and a desire
to figure out where he fits in the grand scheme of things to
take him to the North Pole. The sequence has a slow build up
and an epic feel. Clark walks to the North Pole on a trek possibly
only Superman could make, very slowly and deliberately. He is
not motivated by fear but by an aching sadness. He's looking
for the purpose his adoptive father, Jonathan Kent (so brilliantly
played by Glenn Ford), said he should have. After all, dear
old dad was right: he wasn't sent to Earth to just score touchdowns.
He threw
that green crystal almost as a challenge to that destiny he
didn't ask for and doesn't want. He was angry.
Having a
destiny that is bigger than winning football games was a lesson
Smallville's Clark Kent learned on his own. John Schneider's
Jonathan had very nearly the same conversation with Clark about
it being important that he do more with his talents than throwing
game winning spirals.
In Smallville, Tom Welling's Clark is a much more bull headed,
more like his modern comic book self, than was Jeff East's or
even Chris Reeve's. This Clark doesn't always dutifully follow
his father's advice. This Clark is forced by circumstance to
finally find his way to his destiny. He doesn't want the destiny
determined by his physiology and planned by his biological father,
Jor-el.
In fact
his alien nature scares him but he is ultimately forced into
a quest to find the stones driven by much, much higher stakes:
the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
The build
up is much more dynamic than what Richard Donner gave us in
the first Superman film. No laconic build up; no sweeping wide
shots of Kansas prairie and expansive helicopter shots of cracked
glaciers. Definitely no introspective marathon walks to the
North Pole here.
No, instead
we have Clark, in pain, whisked off in a flash to a field of
ice and snow somewhere in the arctic. Although initially confused,
this Clark becomes very Superman-like and takes charge.
Tom Welling's
Clark grabs that crystal and throws it. Snatching that stone
from the air is him grabbing hold of his destiny. That decision,
and that amazing throw, is his first step (his commencement
if you will) of the final leg of the journey that will see him
becoming the man who will one day pull on blue tights.
It was a
beautiful scene and I can't wait to see what happens when that
crystal finally hits the snow in four months
Note:
The views of Triplet don't necessarily represent the thoughts
and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. The webmaster here
loved it, and wished the entire season had been as good as that
finale was. Send
her feedback - Talk
about this review on the KryptonSite Forum!
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