#5.17 “Void” Recap & Review

NOTE: Read no further if you don’t want to be spoiled! Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Recap:

A nervous Lana meets two medical school students, Lance and Ally. She gives them two thousand bucks, the rest of her savings, to get another “treatment” and she wants to stay “down” longer this time. When she gets the shot, she flatlines and sees her parents in the afterlife. She is ripped back to the world of the living before getting any answers from them. She wants to go back.

Chloe calls Clark, saying she found something critical. He shows up moments later and she tells Clark that Milton Fine is in Honduras. Lana shows up, looking like hell. Chloe expresses her concern, but Lana denies she’s having problems. Clark speeds to Honduras to search for Fine. Martha has a press conference about her proposed tax increase to help public schools. Lionel shows up and offers to help Martha maneuvering through a political dinner she’s been invited to. Martha shoots down any romantic intentions Lionel may have, but agrees to let him escort her to the dinner. Clark shows Fine’s photo to several people in Honduras and finds a boy playing with a carving of the Kryptonian ship. Lana meets with the med students again, telling them she wants to do it again. She has to see her parents. Lance says it will cost five grand this time.

Lex discovers Lana trying to steal from the Mansion. She tells him about what she’s been doing and she wants to do it again. He seems to convince her to not do it again, but she just tells him what he wants to hear and then takes his car keys when he leaves the room. The little boy takes Clark to where Fine and the ship was, but only a triangular area of scorched vegetation remains. Lex calls Chloe to ask where Lana had gone. She told him she’ll find out. Chloe goes to talk to Ally and she looks worse than Lana. The girl gets sick but is able to tell Chloe what Lana has been up to before she dies.

Lana meets Lance and he tells her about Ally dying. She tries to convince him to give her the shot anyway. She offers up Lex’s Porsche as payment and he seems almost convinced until Lex shows up. Lance freaks out and tries to leave but Lex holds him back. Lance decks him and vials of serum fall to the floor. Lana grabs one and leaves but Lance jabs the hypo into Lex’s back. He dies and “wakes” to find himself back in his mansion with his mother playing the piano. She’s upset that he didn’t take the path she recommended, even after what she showed him in Lexmas. She tells him that the path he chose will still hurt, more than he can ever imagine and that others will suffer. She asks him to stay with her before he can commit murder and lose his soul. Chloe revives Lex and tells him that Lana is gone.

Chloe tells Clark about what Lana has been doing and that she might die permanently unless he can stop her. Lance finds Lana just before she’s about to give herself the shot. He decides to get rid of her by giving her more than the usual but Clark shows up and Lance gives him the shot instead. Clark collapses. Lance tries to take Lana out using a bone saw. She hits Lance in the face with a beaker and he falls onto the still running saw and dies a particularly gruesome death. Clark “wakes” back in the barn and sees Jonathan. Clark tells him that he was sorry to be the cause of his death. Jonathan tells Clark that he was glad to die protecting him. He says that Lionel knows everything about Clark. Pa Kent says Clark needs to go back to protect his mom and the world. He pushes Clark back. Upon being revived, Clark goes to tell Martha about Lionel but before he has a chance Lionel shows up to escort her to dinner.

Clark tells Chloe about seeing his dad and about there being a bigger problem than Fine: Lionel knowing his secret. Chloe tells him that Lionel is the one that led her to finding Fine. When Lana talks to Lex about what happened, Lex doesn’t admit the painful truth on what his mother told him about his future. Clark and Lana have a “loft scene” in her dorm room, and they make amends a bit even though they’re still broken up. Lana says she will be happy again. Eventually…

Review:

Well, this was a huge improvement on last week’s disappointing episode.

This outing had an interesting triangular structure to it and moved things along quite a bit on several storylines. That said, scribe Holly Harold’s work here was a bit uneven. Is the Homeland Security Department really tracking student ID usage? And could Chloe really hack into a tracking system like that anyway? It was a serious stretch. Also the explanation of how Clark was able to pull out of the grip of the kryptonite serum was silly. How could his death nullify the green-k’s affects? It was contrived…

As tortuously bad as some of the “techno-babble” was, overall the story had some really terrific stuff in it. For example, I loved the different ways the three leads met their deceased parents.

For Lana the meeting with her parents was sad, short and anti-climatic. Warm and welcoming, her parents were physically removed from her in the vague, dream-like flower shop setting. They didn’t even touch because before Lana could hug her mother, she was ripped back to the world of the living. Lana’s experience just didn’t give her the answers she was looking for. I also thought it was interesting that in spite of not getting the answers she needed, Lana by the end of the episode seemed to find her own.

She’s moving toward a more independent life, which is a good direction for her character. A major problem with Lana, as a character, is her dependence on others to help define who she is. Her main role in the show is often just being an object of desire for some krypto-freak of the week or for Clark or even Lex. That’s a lame position for the second lead to be put into, so I hope her determination to never be dependent again means good things for her character.

Unlike the romantically lit, yet frustrating, experience Lana had, Lex’s meeting with his mother was harsh. Instead of being affectionate and welcoming, Lillian was stern, aloof and cold. Her warning about what Lex’s destiny holds for him was shocking and Lex was left to deal with that along with his mother’s disappointment in him.

For Clark, seeing Jonathan was both cathartic and informative. Jonathan smiled broadly and hugged Clark with joy. Clark apologized for being responsible for his father’s death but Jonathan reassured Clark he was happy to die to protect his son. Clark’s shock at finding out that Lionel knew all about his secret didn’t negate his desire to stay with his dad so Jonathan was forced to push Clark back into the world. Unlike Lex, Clark awoke with a renewed purpose.

The after-life experiences of the three main characters, and the interactions they had with their deceased loved ones, were highly revelatory. It showed a remarkable insight, I believe, into the psyches of Clark, Lana and Lex. Their different reactions to basically the same experience was not only character revealing, it also advanced their character arcs quite a bit. Despite the clunkier than normal krypto-babble, this was a remarkably effective episode for Harold.

Tom Welling was back in top form, acting-wise. Although he wasn’t in this episode much, thanks to required prep work keeping him busy for his directorial debut on next week’s Fragile, what little screen time he had he made good use of. I especially loved the scene with Jonathan in the after-life version of the barn. It was poignant. In the next scene, Tom was able to communicate what Clark was thinking without speaking a word of dialogue once Lionel arrived.

I read somewhere once that most actors hate performing scenes with no dialogue. I’m not sure why that is, exactly. Maybe it’s because they need words to help them frame what they present to the audience. I suppose it would be intimidating, similar to a writer facing a blank page.

I know it can be scary to face a blank page as a writer. Actually, it’s something I struggle with weekly writing the reviews of Smallville’s episodes. However, my instruments are words and it’s pretty easy for me to choose what I reveal. Writing is rewriting, after all, and judicious editing can get rid of any mistakes I make.

I can’t imagine facing a “blank page” as an actor when your instruments are your body, face and voice and the opportunities to edit are extremely limited. ‘Scary’ is probably a huge understatement.

Tom getting these dialogue free scenes almost every week is a testament to the confidence Smallville’s writers and directors have in his acting ability. This is especially impressive given where he started from and also makes for some terrific TV. I hope it’s something he enjoys doing, and that he keeps it up, because I love seeing him perform those moments.

Kristin Kreuk did a wonderful job in this episode. She took Lana from a nervous energy to frantic desperation to a calm resolve that I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lana have before. Better yet, it all was so well motivated. She totally sold the arc Lana went on here, and I’m not sure just anybody could have.

Michael Rosenbaum is always a joy to watch and this episode was no exception. I loved the roller coaster ride of emotions Lex was on in the scene with his mother, Lillian. Michael played that scene perfectly. Little wonder since he played it with one of the better recurring characters, Lillian Luthor, played so beautifully by the lovely Allisen Down. She’s a terrific actress and I loved every second she was on the screen.

Actually, Lillian’s appearance in this episode made a nice counterpoint to Jonathan’s. Warm, loving Pa Kent makes a very interesting contrast to cold, conflicted Mrs. Luthor. It speaks volumes about why Lex and Clark turn out to be such different men.

Glenn Winter produced yet another magnificently shot episode. I especially loved the near death scenes! They were expressionistic. Lana’s scene with her parents was romantic and faded, like the vague memories of a child who hasn’t seen her parents since she was three. Lex’s scene was harshly lit, like his mother’s disapproval of him. Clark’s was bright and warm, like his father’s love. This episode was beautifully done.

Aside from some extremely lame plot points that stretched my suspension of disbelief past its breaking point, there was a lot to love about this one. It’s nowhere near my favorite episode ever, but its better than most. I give it 3.5 neon green bottles of serum 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.