#7.15 “Veritas” Review

WARNING: The spoilers in this review are HUGE. If you are even mildly spoiler-phobic, you should probably watch the episode before reading this review.

RETCON DEFINITION: for the non-comic book geeks out there, its short for “retroactive continuity” which is when a writer retroactively changes established character history to fit the story they are trying to tell. If you’re wondering why I’m explaining this (like I did in my review for “Gemini”), it’s because I’m going to use that term in my review to follow.

REVIEW: I wasn’t sure what to think about this episode going into it, the trailers and episode description don’t really do a good job of covering what happened in it. This episode originally was going to be the season finale if the studios and networks hadn’t decided to give the writers a deal when they did.

I would be curious to find out how this episode might have been different had this been the season finale instead of just a spring hiatus cliff-hanger. I may never know the answer to that, but I’m thinking that perhaps changing things so late in the game might explain why some things happened the way they did in this one. The episode was written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson and had some weird happenings.

After first viewing this episode, I couldn’t really pin down exactly what I thought about it. It was good, I guess, but sorta depressing and delivered a lot of information to try and process. I had to watch it several times even before I could even start the review, which isn’t how I usually do it. That was because at first I didn’t know what to say.

I’m not sure why either, really. The episode was well written, the pace was good and the act break cliff-hangers were awesome. Also the acting was fantastic, Tom and John especially both hit it out of the park and Allison was wonderful as well, but even with all that it was hard to know what to say about it.

Maybe because this was a hard episode for everyone, except maybe for Brainiac and Lex. Also Clark was put into a very passive role in this. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do things, he did, but circumstances kept him from acting directly for a lot of the episode. Brainiac just held all the cards.

But what the hell is Brainiac up to? Lana’s central nervous system getting “adjusted” by Brainiac in such a way that she is in agony and aware, but helpless to even express how much pain she is in much less do anything about it?

Yikes…

What had Lana ever done to Brainiac to deserve that? Is the Brain Interactive Construct that spiteful? Or is Fine the one bringing the terrible danger that Lionel tried to warn him about? Or is it a ploy to get to Clark? Did Fine hurt Lana because he knows it’s really the only way he can hurt Clark?

Lois said in the comics once, and it’s a great line, “…just because his skin is invulnerable doesn’t mean his heart is. And that’s how you hurt Superman. You break his heart.” (That’s from Greg Rucka’s “Ruin Revealed.”)

But maybe the Smallville has gone a bit overboard in using Lana to hurt Clark. I mean having Brainiac painfully lobotomize Lana is a bit on the extreme side, but if breaking Clark’s heart was his goal, Brainiac’s certainly succeeded. Clark was a broken man by the end of this episode.

However, what had happened to Lana was an odd turn of events. If this leads up to Clark and Lana breaking up color me very dissatisfied. They have never really showed us any real romance since they got together following the events at the beginning of the season. So we never got to see them mend what had been broken by Lana’s duplicity, Bizarro’s taking over Clark’s life (and her actually liking it), and Clark’s intimacy issues. But how could they possibly get over all that? Lately, Clark and Lana have hardly even had any scenes together so any cuddling that may or may not be going on is happening off-screen. The closest they got to having an angst-free moment that we could see between the two of them was Clark offering to help Lana with those damn fence posts in “Hero.” I hope once Lana recovers that they have a little angst-free romance before they finally end it.

And the flying bit just turned into a lame tease. He didn’t even try to fly and the official description said that Kara decides to “teach Clark to fly,” but she didn’t really teach him anything. I guess that’s just as well, I’m not sure how I would have felt if Kara had taught Clark how to do anything. However, he might need to learn before Brainiac gets back from wherever it was he took Kara. I’m not sure Clark will be able to fight him effectively without being able to fly, but with how well Kara’s “lessons” went in this episode I’m not sure Clark is really ready to fly yet. Maybe he’ll become more motivated before the end of the season… I can only hope them even bringing it up and teasing that he’s even thinking about flying, means that the “no tights, no flights” rule will soon be no longer a rule.

What’s going on with Lionel gets more perplexing each episode. He’s says he’s changed, he will even do good things from time to time. However, he then he lies to Clark and even arranged to have him painfully captured and held in a kryptonite lined prison, all for reasons that still aren’t clear…

No matter what his reasons exactly were, kidnapping Clark had been a huge miscalculation on his part. What good was Lionel trying to protect Clark, if that’s really was what he was doing, if how he chose to do it made Clark stop trusting him? I would have thought Lionel was smarter than that, but maybe he’s starting to panic.

He’s clearly not in control at this point. He’s been drinking a lot in the last couple of episodes and his shirt collar has been unbuttoned a lot too. In this episode he had become almost at a loss for words at times and even got down on his knees to Chloe to beg for her help in talking to Clark. Those are things Lionel would have never done before because he had always been in control. Maybe some of these things he’s done lately mean he’s losing control. The man has changed and it appears he has something very important to say to Clark. However, with his inexplicable capture of Clark in “Traveler” none of Clark’s friends are going to listen to him and Clark certainly isn’t going to.

Although, I’m a bit curious why this desperate need for Lionel to explain things to Clark even happened to begin with… Was it just because of Patricia Swann’s murder? It seems that Lionel knows Lex had something to do with it. Is it because of that? Does her murder at the hands of one of Lex’s men make Lionel think Lex is close to figuring out Veritas and thus Clark’s secret? Is Lionel worried that Lex could now be a more direct threat to Clark? Or is it something else? I wish that had been spelled out a little bit more. Hopefully we’ll get a better idea of the nature of the danger to Clark in the next episode or two.

I really liked how they had Lex’s memories being stirred up by Clark’s visit to Lex’s mind back in “Fractured.” That’s a nice touch. Young Alexander had told Clark that it was safe for him to visit that one room, where Lex kept the memories from before the meteor shower, because Lex never “goes in there.” Now, apparently because of Clark, it seems like he “visits” those memories more often and remembers more from that time of his life.

If Clark hadn’t seen those memories from Lex’s childhood, he never would have seen what little good is left inside Lex. Back at the end of “Fracture” that insight into Lex’s psyche had given Clark hope that there might enough good left in Lex that he could be saved. However, now that Lex has had those memories coming back to him, it looks like he just might finally manage to kill off the good inside him that Clark had seen. I love the irony of it. It would appear that because of the memories that Clark had stirred up Lex his dark side might finally win that internal battle and he might finally become Clark’s true nemesis.

The continuity in this episode was awesome. I liked seeing the four kids of the Veritas cabal playing together, like the way that Patricia had described it in “Traveler.” However, thinking of Patricia Swann, Jason Teague (in tennis whites, no less), Lex, and Oliver Queen playing together as children is a strange idea… They became such different people later in life. However, it was cute seeing Ollie with his little bow and arrow set and Jason being such a whiner even when he was a kid.

I also loved how the episode built on the mysteries introduced in previous episodes. The Veritas symbol and the word Veritas was first fully introduced in “Fracture,” although the symbol had been teased earlier in the season. Then the mystery deepened in “Traveler” with a few more details introduced (including the fact that Lex is willing to kill to find out its secrets) and “Veritas” introduced yet more parts of the puzzle. We don’t know everything yet and still more questions were opened. What exactly did Swann know about Clark? What is in that envelope? How are the contents of that envelope the key to controlling “the Traveler?” What will Lex find if he keeps digging deeper into these mysteries? Who else would he be willing to kill? Why did Fine look so significantly at Kara’s bracelet? Is it the same reason that Lionel had hidden it from Clark back in “Hero?”

The retcons in this episode were amusing. I especially found it funny that Lionel told young Lex that Smallville is “a friendly little town just outside the city.” I guess Smallville doing retcons is becoming commonplace, like the sudden (and inexplicable) addition of the Veritas symbol to the Luthor crest as well as the Veritas cabal itself stretching back to when Lex was a kid and Clark hadn’t landed yet.

However, I guess retconning Smallville’s location in relation to Metropolis is probably a good thing. I’m glad that Smallville isn’t really a six hour round-trip drive to Metropolis, which was how Chloe described it back in Season 3’s “Truth”. I guess it’s back to being closer to the big city. again, like it was when Clark and Lana saw the skyline from atop that windmill in Season 1’s “Nicodemus.”

I’m actually relieved because I’d hate to think that Chloe is making a daily six hour round trip to Metropolis in her Yaris. Yeah, the Yaris might get 35mpg on the highway (Yeah, I looked it up), but I’m happy she doesn’t have to pay for all the gas to go on a hundreds of miles round trip to Metropolis every time she needs to chase down a lead. How on earth could she afford that on a cub reporter’s pittance of a salary anyway? So, I’m glad about that retcon.

I liked this script a lot, but it wasn’t exactly perfect. Clark was far too passive. It’s a cliff-hanger episode, so I’ll let them slide on that with the hope that Clark will have a more active role in “Descent.”

However, I wonder how much the storylines lately had been affected by the recent writers’ strike. “Veritas” was the last complete episode written before the strike hit back in November.

I may never know for sure, but I would bet that some of the WTF moments in this episode and others we’ve had recently (odd segues in dialogue, dropped or poorly executed storylines, this episode’s “flying lessons” turned into a single lame one) are probably due to the writers not being around to edit their work when changes needed to be made… From how I understand the strike rules, dialogue couldn’t be edited at all. That’s a writer’s task. Dialogue could only be trimmed for length, moved around, or deleted altogether.

I guess considering all that, I wouldn’t really have too many complaints for Brian and Kelly on this one. Especially since there is some indication in the few reports I’ve read online about (being a spoiler phobe) that parts of Descent were moved into later episodes. So, it’s really hard to say from the outside looking in whether a particular problem happened due to what the writers wrote or whether it was because of things that happened when they weren’t around or whether something happened to the story when things got moved around after they got back… It’s nearly imposible to know who’s ultimately responsible for “Hero,” for example, anymore than anyone not in the writer’s room (or at least without a copy of the original “Veritas” shooting script) would know why Clark’s flying lessons were mostly comprised of a conflicted stare out the hay loft doors as Kara lectured him on how easy it was.

The actors, on the other hand, I can say without a doubt all did an outstanding job. Tom Welling was fantastic. Once Brainiac took out Lana, Clark was stuck in a situation he couldn’t really do anything to change. Tom played Clark’s desperation and despair perfectly.

I also loved when Clark got so angry with Lionel in Lana’s office in the Isis Foundation. The disgust he showed when Lionel tried to talk to him was a good choice. “You’re less human than I am” is an awesome line and I loved how Tom delivered that.

However, probably the best part of the episode for him was the final three minutes. It was terrific, in an awful way. It was heart breaking to see Clark so down and emotional, but Tom Welling’s performance was awesome. He portrayed so much without saying much of anything at all. His face conveyed such a wide variety of emotions as he paced in the waiting room, then as he talked to Chloe, and then as he walked down that long hallway to go and see Lana.

Once he went to go see Lana, he said just four words the whole scene. However, in watching him I had no doubt what it was that Clark was thinking. His worry as he approached her, his turmoil as he tried to talk to her, his hope when it seemed like she had been trying to speak, his sad resignation when he realized it was really Brainiac talking, and his devastation at the realization that he could do nothing to help her. He was totally destroyed by the end and it broke my heart. Tom did a wonderful job portraying such a hard episode for Clark.

John Glover was completely awesome as Lionel. He did same major scenery chewing in the flashback scenes, the guys that played Robert Queen and Edward Teague (Jonathan Scarfe and Robert Ravenello, respectively) were completely upstaged in that scene in the Swann library, but he had some nice, subtle moments as well. When Lionel walked toward his office (as Jimmy and Lois lurked as plant dusters), he seemed distracted. That bit of the scene only lasted a few seconds, but it gave an indication of Lionel’s state of mind. He appeared to have an inner dialogue going on inside his head, something he was apparently struggling with.

Later when he talked to Clark and then to Chloe, his desperation started to show. Something really bad is coming for Clark and no one is listening to him. Lionel had handled things so badly with Clark, there may not be any hope he can be rehabilitated in Clark’s eyes and John played Lionel’s exasperation perfectly. He has this important message to tell Clark, he’s clearly panicked at the idea that Clark won’t understand the seriousness of the danger in time, but he has no way to convey it. The arc John had Lionel go through, the deterioration of Lionel throughout this episode, was an amazing one to watch.

Kristin Kreuk wasn’t helped out much by how little she had to do in this episode. The only real acting she did was in the scene where Fine attacked her and then in one last little bit with Clark at the end. (That little hint of Brainiac’s smile when she said that Clark was too late was awesome…) However, mostly all she did was stare blankly into space and look spooky.

If I’m not mistaken, this is pretty much the last time we will see her this season (unless she’s in some of the scenes from “Veritas” that had reportedly gotten moved to later in the season). She went off to film a movie in Thailand instead of coming back with everyone else the second week of March, so I hope she comes back next year and can have some good scenes with Tom to finish out Clark and Lana’s relationship with some grace. Because if this is the end of Clark and Lana’s relationship, it wasn’t at all satisfying and I want something more; something better. Never mind how you feel about Lana and Clark’s relationship, she’s his childhood sweetheart. Don’t they, doesn’t Clark, deserve something more solid to base their future friendship on than Brainiac putting her into an induced coma and making Clark feel even more guilty about things than he already does?

Anyway, Michael Rosenbaum really shone in this episode. Lex getting more full-on evil and Michael is playing Lex as more complicated and devious. Lex’s digging deep into the memories of his past to get clues to what his father has been hiding, and Michael’s playing his resolve and growing ire superbly. As he learns more about his father’s unending lies, he becomes more and more angry. When he realized that Lionel had been hiding this great big secret from him all his life, Michael played him as resolved and determined to get to the bottom of things. It was the perfect choice for a man who had, in one or the other even though he didn’t know it, had been intrigued by Clark’s secret the entire series. He made that line about things you need being closer than you realize positively chilling.

Erica was terrific, but she unfortunately had the thankless task of having the C plot to handle. Of course she was wonderful, but somehow I didn’t buy her hooking up with Jimmy as her partner in crime. I guess Clark can’t be that yet, so maybe he’ll have to do. I did like how fearless she was with Lionel. I believed her Lois was fearless enough to bust into Lionel’s office, but Erica still made her vulnerable enough to show a tinge of fear as the MB confronted Lois and Jimmy about it.

Allison Mack’s Chloe didn’t have much screen time, but what she did have she made excellent use of. She was loyal to Clark to a fault, unfaltering in her support of him, even in the face of Lionel’s declarations of doom but I loved that she gave a hint of doubt; a hint that maybe Lionel should be believed. I loved the way she delivered the line “Befriending Clark is the closest you’ll ever get to seeing God!” Allison was especially awesome in the final scene as she watched Clark disintegrate in front of her eyes. I believed that Chloe’s heart was broken so that was a powerful moment for her.

Oh, and I loved Aaron Ashmore’s performance here. He also didn’t have much screen time, but he still managed to deliver another highly capable performance. My favorite moments of his were early in the episode. One when Jimmy was caught checking Lois out and then later when he silently answered Lionel’s question about Lois’ incorrigible stupidity. Those were awesome.

Laura Vandervoort, on the other hand, was underwhelming as Kara. She’s reached the depth of her range, apparently, and she’s not showing anything at all new in each episode. Maybe Kara going off with Brainiac will be a good thing for her. At least I hope so, because right now she bores me to tears.

It was wonderful seeing James Marsters back as Brainiac. This time, apparently full restored, he has a mission. Although the script didn’t let us know what Fine’s plans for Kara (and Clark and maybe Earth) were, the way James played left no doubt of his contempt for the super cousins. Fine is a machine, however, so his reactions were very subtle but James gave a Mona Lisa smile whenever he would make someone else suffer, whether it was Kara, Lana or Clark. However he actually laughed to see how scared Lana was before he lobotomized her, it was a nice touch. Shows how must contempt he has for her. It’s always a joy to watch James Marsters do his stuff so I am looking forward to when he comes back.

James Marshall did an awesome job as the director. Aside from Laura perhaps, he got terrific performances from the entire cast, including the bit players. One of my favorite parts, however, was in the hallway outside Lionel’s office. After Lionel walked past the landscapers and the standing man looked up to reveal it was actually Jimmy. Then the woman, who had seen looking away from the camera as she knelt to dust the plant, stood up into the shot and revealed that she was actually Lois. That was a really nice reveal…

I loved Barry Donlevy’s photography. Lex in the library with the Veritas symbol on his face looked awesome. And the final scene with Clark and Lana in the hospital was beautiful and somber. It was slightly hazy and with the way it was framed combined with the long shot (long distance shot) reinforced how alone Clark is right now.

And the Production Designer James Philpott is brilliant. I had watched this episode many times trying to figure out what to say, so the highly intriguing library scene especially got multiple viewings. Sometimes I watched that part several times in a row. As I was watching trying to get a better handle on what to say about John Glover’s acting, he really chewed the scenery in that flashback, however I noticed something… the windows in the library they were in (likely in Virgil Swann’s house due to the Swann family crest out in the hallway) looked to be about the same size of the Luthor mansion set. They were also in the same location relative to the fireplace and the walls had the same wood paneling. That set was actually, unless I am seeing things, the Luthor mansion set redressed. I was stunned when I realized that, so I backed it up to watch the whole thing again. And I swear James could turn lead to gold…

How he can redress a set that is so familiar so that it looks like a completely different building, and with what is likely a tiny budget, I will never know. I also loved the family crest banners on the mantle put in front of Lex’s fireplace. What a wonderful touch to have the four family crests (all with the Veritas symbol in them) adorn the place where the group meets to plot controlling Clark.

Smallville always has wonderful music and this episode was no different. The somber, and depressing, song at the end by Vast was an absolutely depressing, yet moving song. However, seeing how beaten down Clark was in that scene, “One More Day” was a perfect choice.

This wasn’t a perfect episode, but I think a lot of the problems arose from the strike and were made worse by parts of the episode apparently getting moved to later in the season. Even with all that, it was an exciting episode with escalating stakes throughout for Clark, was superbly acted, produced and posed so many questions even while answering others. So, I’m going to spot them a point or so. I give this episode 5 Brain-interactive-constructs 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.