#10.11 “Icarus” Review

NOTE: This review will reveal more than one HUGE spoiler.  If you’re don’t like to learn important plot-details before reading reviews, just watch the episode and come back when you’re done, because I’m going to spoil the BIG MOMENT of the episode in very first paragraph.

I had been looking forward to this episode in part because of things I had heard which said that SOMETHING BIG was going to happen in it. Written by Genevieve Sparling, I was a bit disappointed that (being spoiler-free) that the BIG MOMENT everyone was obliquely referring to online wasn’t what I thought it was (Clark flying since the title was ‘Icarus’ – a man who could fly), but was Clark asking Lois to marry him.

However, that was okay. I guess Clark can fly later, the fans that have waited this long can probably wait a little longer, and the proposal was a huge moment for Clark. The teaser was terrific and had been very nicely handled by everyone.
Probably the only problem I’d had with that scene had been that part of Clark’s dialogue needed to have been looped (dialogue recorded later because of problems with the live audio recorded during filming). I can understand things can happen and the audio isn’t always perfectly recorded. Looping happens a lot in this show, but the fact that the looping had been so obvious to me was the biggest problem.

I’m not sure what might have caused that to be so badly handled, the show usually does looping almost without me noticing until I’ve seen a scene a few times. Was it the way Tom read the lines? The tone didn’t seem quite right, so maybe that was it. Or it was something more to do with it how the looped dialogue was recorded and then blended into the scene? It just sounded like the dialogue had been recorded after the scene. I’m not sure what had caused it, but whatever the problem was it had made Clark’s speech come off stiff and negated the emotional power of that moment. What a shame since that moment would have been so much better had that had been done better.

It was a beautiful tease otherwise. It covered a lot of ground pretty painlessly since amidst the cute romantic misfires Clark had been having with arranging his proposal, the couple had talked about the escalation of the Vigilante Registration Act that had allowed the government to impose strict rules on the citizens of Metropolis. That part of it had been beautifully done.

I liked that Clark wanted to enjoy his night out with Lois despite that, even though he was in denial about the risks. Clark had tried so hard to get Lois to that romantic dinner, but when that didn’t work I liked his ‘save’ of the situation. The white rose petals were lovely and it turned into a very romantic scene, despite the audio difficulties.

From there, in the early part of the episode, I had some problems with the tone. The proposal and the engagement party scenes were almost too happy, if there is such a thing. To me that fact made it clear that something bad was going to happen, as they often do after over-the-top happy scenes at the beginning of a story. Yet, that party didn’t seem like much of one.

The situation felt contrived and I’m not sure why that was so, but I wasn’t in love with the engagement party because it again had seemed stiff. I don’t know, Clark and Lois had seemed too reserved and I know that Clark isn’t much of a party animal, so maybe that fits his personality. He’s introverted and self-reflective, so partying hearty wouldn’t have made sense, but I would have thought he might have loosened up a little after trying so hard to be romantic with Lois just the night before. Clark and Lois have a very dynamic relationship, or did, before this engagement, so the reserve doesn’t seem quite in character.

Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t completely buy into the romantic nature of the scene because of this stiffness and that’s a shame too. I’m not sure if it was the writing, acting or direction that was at fault, maybe it was a combination of all three, but something was definitely off. Hopefully this isn’t the start of a trend, romantic moments killing the dynamism of Clark’s and Lois’ relationship.
Yet, even as the happy couple celebrated their engagement, the stakes must rise and happiness must be imperiled in stories like this. So I wasn’t surprised almost as soon as the engagement party was over that Oliver was put into danger by simply doing what he sees as his job: saving someone from harm. And that scene was a bit of a shock after the romantic engagement party.

And going back to the title: given what happened to him in this episode it makes sense that Michael Shanks’ Hawkman was the flying man the ‘Icarus’ title referred to, not Clark. Despite the disappointment that the title didn’t mean what I had assumed it would, it is a good one because it wasn’t just about a flying man who fell from the sky, but it was also about heroes who, like Icarus, who aren’t cautious and think themselves immune to bad consequences. (Icarus, in the ancient Greek myth, like Oliver said was a fallen hero who had reached too far. He flew too close to the sun and his wax wings were destroyed by the heat.) So, the title is more about all of the heroes, including Clark, than it was just some throwaway line about a man who fell to his death when his wings were destroyed.

It was fitting because of the hubris that some of the heroes have shown probably needs to be dialed back a bit. Maybe there is a bit of Icarus in all of the heroes the government calls vigilantes, but claiming they’re terrorists is probably going too far. However, that along with the beating that Oliver had gotten, pretty much proves that the darkness that Carter, Oliver and Clark had talked about in Wilson’s office has spread.

I think here it is worth noting that the official description for the episode had said that Clark discovered ‘that the civilians who attacked Oliver were all marked with a darkness tattoo.’ I suppose the scene where he had found that out must have been in an earlier version of the script, or maybe it was in a scene that had been filmed and had later been cut, because in the episode as aired Clark was spending time with Lois at the time of the attack. And Clark never even talked about those Omega brands at all. Oliver’s mention was the only time it was brought up in the entire episode.

I’m sorry that scene had gotten cut. I think Clark discovering that the mob also had the Omega sign like Slade Wilson has would have helped tie the attack more closely to the darkness that’s affecting so many people on the show. I suppose Oliver bringing up the Omega symbol (‘mega mark of darkness’, as he had called it) still basically works, even with that discovery of Clark’s cut, but it would have been nice if they’d had included that scene. It would have made Oliver’s comment more obviously relevant to events in the episode.
As it was, we are left to assume and suppose and postulate. I don’t need things spelled out for me all the time, I’m pretty smart, but maybe keeping that scene would have helped tie things together in the episode a little better.

However, about the darkness, I liked that Carter (nicely played by Michael Shanks in what sadly appears looks like his last appearance on the show – I’ll miss him) has memories from his past lives of the previous times the darkness had come. It implied that Darkseid had tried before to manipulate human fears and weaknesses in order to let him get control of the planet. It also helps explain by implication why Granny Goodness had been there for at least 20 years, going from what we had learned about her role in Tess’ childhood in ‘Abandoned.’ She’s part of Darkseid’s long range plans for the planet and Tess seems to tie into that.

But that tidbit about Carter’s previous fights to fend off the evil darkness makes the fight against Darkseid and his followers more personal for him. That makes his death before the darkness is vanquished more tragic. He was more than a friend to Clark and Lois; he had the experience of fighting the darkness no one else alive has, so his loss for the show is a big one.

As hard as seeing Carter die was for Clark and Lois, as well as for fans of his character like me, I think it was a necessary thing to do. Not only did his death underline the fact that the heroes aren’t free of consequences for their actions, but it also lets Carter get back to Shyera all the sooner. He made it clear that he was happy that he see his soul mate again in the next life. So, it was a bittersweet scene and it was a very nicely written one that was also very beautifully played by all the actors in it. Michael Shanks kept the scene from getting too maudlin almost all by himself, but Tom and Erica also played the scene perfectly.

I’m curious to see how Hawkman’s sudden death will affect the heroes in the long-run. In the short-term, of course, his death brought the heroes together like nothing else probably would have and set them up to be trapped.

And dayum if that wasn’t a fantastic cliff-hanger ending to leave us on before the winter hiatus of the show. The show will not return again until late in January and all the heroes were there (with glimpses of other members of the nascent Justice League at Carter’s funeral, even though they were not actually in the episode: Zatanna, Impulse, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Martian Manhunter). Slade Wilson having successfully taken out the heroes he had been persecuting was a fantastic way to end this first half of the season.

While there was a whole lot of good in the episode, there were some things that made me scratch my head. First, and probably foremost, why on earth would Oliver have exposed pipes full of combustible gas running through his office?

I always thought they’d been steam pipes. However, I had thought it more likely that there were there for just looks instead of having any practical purpose; empty pipes going nowhere, put there to give Oliver’s office a sort of industrial, post-modernist feel.

I don’t think any sane architect would have designed an office for the CEO of a billion dollar company with exposed combustible gas pipes. While the explosion and the resulting stunt work made for a fantastic moment, it was quite an image of Carter flying to save Lois with his wings on fire, it was definitely a contrivance.

One of the other things that bothered me was what was Lois doing in Oliver’s office at the beginning of that scene? What did she think she was going to find? Cat had told her that Slade was going to use Oliver to trap the others, but what would Oliver have in his office that would allow Lois to find him? I assume that is what she was there for, but since the exact reason wasn’t really covered in the show that’s the best I can do and I’m not sure that explanation really makes sense.

I’m not sure how I feel about Clark apparently sending Slade to the Phantom Zone. I thought that stone he’d used had only worked on Phantoms, but I guess that’s a small annoyance in the grand scheme of things. It was a non-lethal solution, even though banishment to the Phantom Zone isn’t exactly kind.

In case you don’t know: Slade Wilson, or Deathstroke, with how he’s portrayed in the in the show, isn’t much like he is in the comics. There he’s a mercenary and assassin with scientifically achieved super-healing powers. However, bringing in a sword to show his skill (Deathstroke is a master in combat of all forms) was nice, especially since we also saw proof of his healing ability. The good thing about Clark sending him off to a tough alien penal colony is that it may help him complete his evolution to becoming a deadlier soldier, if not an actual assassin.

I liked that scene in that it showed that Slade can be a physical threat and he isn’t above killing to get rid of people that get in his way. That’s certainly a bad thing to learn right before he manages to disable Clark and everyone else. It ups the menace that Slade poses for Clark and the rest of the heroes, making the stakes even higher.

I must say that I liked how seamlessly Genevieve had inserted the previously cut scene from the season premiere, ‘Lazarus,’ with Lois and Allison Mack’s Chloe. It was a beautifully acted and shot scene, so I’m glad that wasn’t just relegated to the cut scene special features of the series DVD/Blu-Ray set. Chloe’s prescient card congratulating Lois on her engagement makes me think that Lois’ comment about her cousin communicating from the future isn’t too far off the mark.

I also liked how Cat Grant, nicely played by the returning Keri Lynn Pratt, was redeemed a bit. I don’t think Cat is a malicious or thoughtless person, yet by the end her unwavering jingoism was shaken and (better yet) that was done believably. That scene with Lois and Cat was very nicely done by the writer, director and both actresses.

All-in-all, I think this outing was a far more successful script for Genevieve than her previous script had been, last season’s ‘Escape,’ despite its problems. It had good comedic relief and had rising stakes throughout the episode with strong act ending cliff-hangers. The major plot points, including Clark’s proposal and Hawkman’s death, were all well-handled by the writer and that was one hell of a cliff-hanger for an ending. It will make me really miss the show until the end of January.

Director Mairzee Almas turned in another solid outing as director, but it wasn’t a perfect episode for her. There were some beautifully directed moments. For example, the fight scene between Carter and Slade was well done for the most part, but the ending had seemed to have suddenly come to an abrupt and a bit of an obvious end. I’m not sure that’s entirely her fault, but the ending seemed stiff the way that Carter had stopped, disoriented by the steam. He’s a man who had been fighting fights for three thousand years so I’m not sure he’d be a guy easily distracted like that. It just seemed a bit off.

Even though I had no complaints about the acting, I didn’t like the blocking (how the characters move in relation to each other, various set pieces and the camera) at Carter’s death scene. When Lois stood and moved behind Clark it was too obviously staged to achieve the final tableau. There was no motivation for Lois to move at the time, or maybe there wasn’t much of one. Yet, I did like the composition of the ending long-shot. Carter dead on the pavement and Clark and Lois both facing his body, formed a bold picture almost like something from a comic.

The episode was nicely shot by Director of Photography Michael Wale. I liked the night exterior set shots, the scenes were dark, yet everything was still visible, so he gave even dark scenes some depth. Yet, I would have liked him to have upped the contrast ratio a bit. Yet, the opening proposal scene in the tease was wonderfully shot, it was soft and romantic and the slow-motion shot at the end was perfectly handled.

Production Designer James Philpott did a tremendous job with the final set in that Egyptian temple. It seemed small, but the way it was photographed it didn’t really look it.

I really liked the make-up by Key Make-Up Artist Tina Teoli and Key Hairstylist Sarah Koppes. I am so glad that Sarah has relaxed Clark’s slicked back look when he’s wearing his red jacket so it’s not so severe. Also, Erica Durance’s and Cassidy Freeman’s hair and make-up were terrific and the women have never looked better. They were both beautiful in this episode.

As gorgeous as the show was, everyone looked terrific and the sets were all awesome, the Visual Effects folks weren’t quite on the ball. What the heck were they thinking when they put those three camels in that beauty shot of sand dunes right before Carter’s funeral? The camels were walking in a line with some sort of packs on their backs, yet there were no obvious signs of humans with them. Would camels really walk in a line like that without men around? I doubt it. It was a stunning shot, but didn’t make much sense.

Composer Louis Febre wrote a excellent score. I especially loved the proposal scene, the music was tender and romantic, with gentle strings and delicate notes that built to a nicely rounded ending to the scene as Clark and Lois kissed. It was very nicely done. He also nicely blended in music in with the song in Carter’s funeral scene.

Paul Taneja’s “City Lights” was a perfect choice for that, by the way. It started slow, melodic, with almost mournful guitar accompaniment that helped build it up to the powerful cliff-hanger ending of the episode.

Not a perfect episode, but it still had a lot going for it. I give this episode 4.5 touching, romantic and falling rose petal filled moments out of a possible 5.

Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback.