#6.21 “Prototype” Review

NOTE: I know you know what I’m going to say about spoilers, so I won’t bother. Just go watch the episode before reading further if you don’t like to read about that kind of thing…

Well, this episode was a lot better than last week’s by far. Writer Steven S. DeKnight has written himself a better than average script, which rises above the vaguely Freak-of-the-Week plotline, and made for an excellent send off in his last effort for Smallville. Steven’s contract is up and this was his last script for the show. Next season, hopefully, he’ll be moving up to bigger and better things and I’ll probably be watching whatever it is that he works on next.

Anyway, the story moved well and Steven wrote a villain that was really villainous yet still sympathetic, not something Smallville’s writers have been particularly good with when it comes to recent bad guy guest roles. Wes was a mindless menace, willing to kill or maim without regard to whether it was right or wrong.

He “disabled” or killed dozens in that test run of his abilities in the tease and yet all he was concerned about was that his mission was complete. That was cold, yet I felt sorry for him and the fate Lex had consigned him to.

However, in a larger sense, what Wes was (in his super soldier mode) is what Lex has become: doing really bad things while only thinking of the result. Like Lex, Wes had the ultimate ends-justify-the-means mindset. It didn’t matter who got hurt, or even died, as long as the mission was accomplished. Unlike Lex, however, Wes allowed himself to be pulled back from his mindless dedication to his “mission” by his affection for Lois and became himself again.

Wes didn’t forget that you take care of the people you love. He remembered his affection for his childhood friend Lois and that brought him back. But I can’t see anything pulling Lex back at this point. As much as Lex loves Lana, the love he has for her hasn’t made him a better man. It’s made him an evil man. He had totally misinterpreted his mother’s lessons in last season’s “Lexmas” and, through ensuring she would survive life with him, become the very man Lana will never love. It’s a delicious irony.

The heroic and loyal Wes still cared for Lois and was unwilling to hurt her, despite the deep programming Lex’s minions had put him through. When Lois stepped in she reminded him of who he was and what really he wanted out of life. She was the moral compass he needed. Lex has proved over and over again that he has no moral compass. What morality he may have had once died when his friendship with Clark turned bitter and hateful. There will likely be no pulling back from his dark path for Lex. We all know where he will ultimately end up, of course, being Superman’s most determined nemesis, but to see it all come together the way it has is unsettling.

Caring for the well-being of others more than you do for yourself is something that Clark does every day. It was something Wes felt for Lois and it came back to him when Lois was there to remind him of who he really was. However, it would probably never occur to Lex to sacrifice himself to save another’s life. People are there to serve him and disappointment in others equals betrayal to him. Lana, going from his thinly veiled threats, will no doubt learn that the hard way.

This episode ratcheted up the Lex/Lana/Clark triangle, upping the stakes for all three. Lana has real reason to fear for her own life now, in addition to fearing for Clark’s thanks to Lionel’s threats.

And what the heck is the deal with Lionel anyway? Recently, he’s been made out more to be the bad guy yet he encourages Martha to take the US Senate seat left vacant by the unexpected demise of crooked Senator Burke purportedly to help others where Burke had not. This was after he had scribbled more cryptic Kryptonian symbols after researching what is likely the sole remaining Phantom. I hope what he had told Lana is true that he is trying to help Clark because right now I’m not so sure. I hope, if it’s true, that they make Lionel’s seeming duplicity believable. I’m not sure Lionel threatening to kill Clark in order to protect him is really flying right now. I hope we get some answers in the next episode.

This episode was so much more than it appeared to me at first and, like “Nemesis” had, I found myself enjoying it more every time I viewed it. And the ending was unsettling and a truly good tease leading up to the season finale in “Phantom.” It was a very good episode to end Steven’s stint on the show.

The actors all did splendidly. Tom was especially in top form. His best scene was when Clark was threatening Lionel. Tom can play angry so well. It was chilling when he told Lionel that if he found out he had anything to do with Lana marrying Lex that the gloves would come off. Of course, we all know that Lionel had everything to do with Lana changing her mind so I can’t wait to see that confrontation.

I loved the scene where Clark was talking to Lana. And before you all go accusing me in PM of being a Clana fan, the romance wasn’t the only thing I liked about it. (Although, the tragedy of Lana marrying another to protect the love of her life, Clark, tugs at my heart strings like almost nothing else has…)

No. I loved that scene because of how strong Clark was in it, despite his heartbreak, and Tom played his dilemma perfectly. Yes, Clark is hurting and distraught over Lana marrying another, but more so because of the fact that she has put herself into such extreme danger. He still cares a great deal about Lana, even if he recognizes now that maybe it was never meant to be. He is so worried for her safety above his own, like Wes cared for Lois more than he did for himself, that he tells her that she made the wrong choice in marrying Lex. That line would be a pretty tough one to convincingly sell, but Tom delivered the whole speech perfectly. He didn’t play it as too overwrought and emotional. Tom played it like that was a statement of fact, not an opinion. Marrying Lex was simply the wrong choice and Lana’s life is in danger because of it and Tom played that moment earnestly and with a resolved, and concerned, conviction.

Michael was totally in his element as Lex. He was playful at times, laughing at what a good test run Wes had right before Lex coldly ordered more men to die at Wes’s hands to do another test run, even while he was downright scary in others. In the scene with Lana, he basically told her that she was as good as dead if she ever left him but Michael played it so smooth and matter of fact. It could have been played so much more over the top… The callous and cold-blooded way Lex so casually displayed toward the “love of his life” was disturbing and Michael played the scene with the perfect mixture of menace and affection.

Kristin Kreuk seems to have recovered from whatever funk she was suffering from in “Noir” and was able to deliver another excellent episode. Lana was put into a difficult position with Clark showing up in her bedroom like that, but Kristin played it well. Lana wanted to help him save Lois and also wanted to give into the need to let the situation get more intimate yet she was also very aware Lex was just outside. Kristin played the dilemma well, and I could see how torn Lana was.

Erica Durance produced some of her best work for this episode. Her best stuff was probably Lois’ series of scenes with Wes in the warehouse. She went from resolved to help Wes to frightened for her life to grief stricken at his death. Lois’ reaction after Wes died was touching. Lois took his death, not as an invitation to wallow in her grief, but as a call to arms. Erica played it so well that her resolute performance completely sold me on Lois as a crusading reporter. Lois has come a long way this season and I’m enjoying Erica’s performances more and more each episode.

Tahmoh Penikett’s part of Wes Keenan wasn’t very big, and didn’t really have much dialogue, but what he did with it was terrific. It would have been easy for him to have exaggerated the role and play the Super Soldier like a flesh and blood version of Robert Weller’s Robocop, but Wes was more complicated than that. He was especially effective in Wes’ death scene with Lois. Wes’ realization that he was going to die was a heartbreaking moment. The fact he thought it better to die, and ask Lois to fight to keep Lex from doing to others what had been done to him, was noble and tragic. It was touching thanks to Tahmoh’s wonderful performance.

“Prototype” marked the directorial debut of Entity FX founder, and Smallville Visual Effects supervisor, Mat Beck. He’d previously done some second unit direction for Smallville and has had a lot of previous experience as a camera operator and VF/X supervisor in feature films and TV, “Titanic” and “X-files” among them. I’m not sure his directing was to the level of brilliant but he showed himself to be a very competent director. However, it was his creative use of visual special effects that made the episode stand out.

I loved the scene in the tease when Wes walked into the control room and Lex had tried to shoot him. Wes stepped into the scene as if he had moved out of a thick fog even as bullets were bouncing off of his shield like pebbles skipping across the surface of a pond. I loved the ripples that played across the surface of the force field, the only hint a bullet had even come close to Wes. The later scene where Clark’s heat vision was used in extreme close-up, and we got to see it work like we never have before, was awesome. When the point of view switched to Wes’ as Clark burned up his shield, it made the effect that much more dynamic.

Mat was also able to get better than average performances from the entire cast and in addition had cast at least one excellent supporting player. The actor, Alan C. Peterson, who was cast as the corrupt Senator Burke was the very picture of corpulent excess. So much so he reminded me Orson Welles from his later years. All the actor was missing was the cravat and a cigar held in his fingers…

I think that when an experienced Visual F/X Supervisor gets to sit in the director’s chair, exciting things happen. The terrific special effects in this episode made it rise far above the average freak-of-the-week story. Mat used the effects at his disposal in creative ways and got his actors to deliver above average performances across the board on top of that, so here’s hoping Mat directs for Smallville again.

I don’t know who put Allison Mack in that green satin shirt she was wearing at one point in the Daily Planet, but someone please hide it and never let her wear again… Not only does that color do nothing for Allison I didn’t think the shirt fit her very well. I usually love the costumes on Smallville, but that shirt wasn’t the best choice Costume Designer Caroline Cranstoun has ever made.

Oh and lest I forget, they had pet peeve number one hundred and thirty six: I hate it when continuity sucks on something simple. Never mind when Clark says he’d never done something before when he in fact had. (See my review for “Combat” regarding that particular problem.) However, you might remember in “Noir” that Lana got shot in her shoulder. Now they couldn’t decide which shoulder it was at first, but by the end of the episode it had seemed they’d settled on the right one since her that arm was in a sling in the hospital. Yet this week, I guess they got confused again because Lana was in pain when Lex touched her left shoulder… Oops.

Anyway, not a perfect episode, but probably one of the better ones this season and it stood up well to repeat viewings. The terrific script and better than average special effects made this one rise above it’s more or less routine plot-line. I give this episode 4.5 super-soldier bullet bouncing force fields out of a possible 5.

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