#7.6 “Lara” Review

WARNING: This review is spoilery. So, if that is something that you try to avoid, you will need to forego reading this until you see the episode.

Well, I’m not sure exactly what I expected but I this wasn’t it. Don’t think that implies I don’t like this episode because I did, but it just wasn’t what I had anticipated. I think what I liked most was that it answered a lot of questions despite posing more.

Writers Don Whitehead & Holly Henderson make their Smallville debuts with this episode. Don had previously worked on Stargate – Atlantis and Holly had worked previously as script supervisor on 24 and as a writer on Dawson’s Creek, Stargate – Atlantis, and the animated Totally Spies. Anyway, those are not the greatest of CVs for either writer. Although I suppose the script was mostly competent, there were some problems with it.

The story didn’t flow well and I had some problems with the act break cliff-hangers. Lex said at the end of the 3rd act break “Clark, why would they arrest her?” I’m not sure if that was a writing choice or an editing one on the helmer’s part, but I’m not sure ending an act with such a lame question is a good idea. It seemed to kill the tension for me somehow…

Interesting that Lana’s lying to Chloe, in addition to Clark, but why still hasn’t been answered. I’m not sure Lana really is really helping the Meteor infected. The Luthor-colored décor in the offices of the Isis Foundation, so much purple and black, might be a hint that there could be more to this than Lana would have anyone else believe. The foundation being an apparent front meant to disguise her surveillance of Lex and the Luthor mansion seems to confirm that suspicion.

Why name her foundation meant to help the meteor infected after Isis, the Egyptian Goddess of Motherhood and Fertility? Part of the mythology also tied Isis to funerary rights since she could also bring people back from the dead.

Why would that goddess, still worshipped long after Egypt fell as a civilization, have meaning for Lana? Is she trying to be a mother to the meteor freaks? Or is Isis’s ability to bring back the dead the reason Lana named the foundation after her? Usually the writers don’t name things arbitrarily. Lex’s Super Soldier project was named after the God of War, for example. So Lana naming her foundation after Isis is strange…

Anyway, all this makes me really curious to find out exactly what she is actually up to and, from the looks of next week’s episode from the preview, we will probably learn more very soon. I really hope so.

This episode did have some great continuity and finally answered the question of how Kryptonians had previously come to Earth and then couldn’t do it anymore. The portals from Krypton (presumably including the one to Earth) being destroyed, as Zor-El mentioned in the tease explains so much! It explains how Jor-El got to earth back in the 3rd season episode, “Relic,” and why he couldn’t return when Krypton was destroyed. That was maybe a bit contrived, and probably doesn’t bear up to close examination, but I’m glad they finally dealt with that question.

The flashback to when Kara first visits Earth with Clark’s mother was sweet and romantic. It showed how truly Lara loved her son, even before he was born. There were some nice touches too. Kara choosing the name which ties her more to Clark on an emotional level, although I wish they would have explained exactly how the name ties him back to his home planet. Also, I LOVED the fact that Lara was wearing the silver cuff that Kara is always wearing. It’s sweet and shows that she mourns Lara’s loss, similar to the way that Clark now wears his adopted father’s watch out of remembrance of him. It was terrific that Lara placed the photo that Kara had taken behind an image of Martha, and what a beautiful portrait of Annette O’Toole that was. Connecting Clark’s two mothers together like that was an extremely nice touch.

Also, I’m glad that Clark got to see his mother and see how much she loved him and the fact that Martian Manhunter and Jor-El weren’t lying about Kara’s father after all. The fact that the two brothers had a falling out over the love of a woman is both romantic and tragic. Seeing Zor-El plan on living on Earth with Lara as Alien Overlords after the rest of Krypton perished (and against her will) was chilling.

Clark and Kara’s talk about Clark’s birth mother was sweet. Kara is really growing on me more with each episode. She’s tough when she needs to be, but still vulnerable too. She solved the mystery of where the crystal was, although it looks like Clark had gotten there first. That was a terrific end to this episode, by the way! I didn’t see that coming.

When did Clark get it? Did he already have the crystal when he told Kara to forget looking for it? Is he hiding it from her because of what J’onn, the Martian Manhunter, said about the crystal being dangerous? Why did he then show such a dangerous artifact to Lana? What does he plan to do with it? Does his hope that he’ll see his mother again mean he’s planning on using that crystal to do that somehow? It didn’t seem quite like an off-the-cuff comment to me, so I hopefully we’ll find out what he meant by that.

And the evil Agent Carter (Named as a possible nod to X-files creator, Chris Carter?) mentioning the memory experiments from Season 3’s “Memoria” (one of my favorites of the series) was beautiful. It makes sense, given what Dr. Garner had done, that his work might continue and bear some lovely fruit later on in the series, but actually putting a Kryptonite drip into Kara’s vein?

YOUCH!

That was mean, but it was a great device for Clark to get a glimpse of his birth mother and for us to see some serious grand canyon-sized plot holes get filled. What a great scene that was, us learning more about Krypton and Clark’s family was just icing.

Lionel still protecting Clark, even at Lex’s expense, is an interesting development. The scene between the two Luthors was fantastic, but I think Lionel’s giving Clark preferential treatment may have unintended consequences later. But why is it that the writers have all forgotten that Lex does have a real brother, Lucas? He never gets brought up even when it would make sense, like that scene.

One thing that bothered me, and probably surprised me the most about this, was that Clark had surprisingly little screen time given the episode was about his mother. Sometimes I think the writers forget the show is about Clark.

Some very important questions were answered while far more were left for us to ponder. While not a perfect script, it had an enjoyable story so this was a nice debut for two new writers.

Tom Welling again was awesome and he looked absolutely great! His skin looked paler than usual, further emphasizing the color of his almost otherworldly green eyes. Tom perfectly played Clark as being legitimately concerned for the welfare of his cousin even though she’s been a pain in the butt. His voice was deeper at points, making Clark seem more commanding and authoritative. He is always a joy to watch, I just wish there had been more of him in this episode.

Kristin Kreuk wasn’t in this much, but what little time she did have she made good use of. The fact that Lana is up to more than meets the eye, and more than she’s willing to admit to, is becoming more and more clear. Kristin is playing the more duplicitous Lana very ably and that is making Lana a far more interesting character, even if I’m a bit mystified at what she’s really up to.

Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex was terrific, even if he only had a few minutes worth of screen time. Lex’s scenes with Lionel and Clark were especially good.

Laura Vandervoort is getting better. This episode showcased what is probably her best performance to date for the series. She did especially well after Kara was captured by Agent Carter. I must think it would be very strange to play being in a lot of pain, so much so that I think it can be hard to do it believably. So, I think Laura must be taking lessons from Tom on how to react for kryptonite exposure. He does pain very well and what she did in this episode was far better than her previous brief exposure to kryptonite back in Kara. I’d be curious to find out what it is, exactly, that Tom or any actor imagines when they pretend to be in agony like that. If anyone knows, just drop me a line.

Helen Slater, as stunt casting goes, wasn’t as horrible as some but probably could have been better. She’s got the perfect look for the part. I thought she was a bit over the top with the saintly perfect mom bit and her whispery delivery, but she had managed to make Lara more down to earth later once Zor-El showed up. I enjoyed her performance much more when she had more conflict to deal with. Helen’s apparently coming back for a return visit later this season, so hopefully she’ll keep it more real next time.

The guy who played Zor-El, Christopher Heyerdahl, was terrific in his few minutes of screen time. He’s got an awesome speaking voice so it’s easy to believe that he’s Jor-El’s brother, although I guess it’s a bit strange that Jor-El that doesn’t have a Canadian or American accent… He played Zor-El excellently and I hope to see him again.

I’m not sure I can really figure out Lionel yet. He seems so nice in some scenes, actually hugging Clark which surprised me, yet he coldly shoots Agent Carter in the back. He also all but tells Lex that he loves Clark more than he does him. John Glover is playing the moral ambiguity perfectly. The moment when Lex told Lionel that he learned lessons on how to treat women from him was a painful truth and John played the pain beautifully. He turned that pain into anger, turning the tables on Lex. When he told Lex that he wasn’t fooled by Lex’s new found goodness, it was chilling…

Allison Mack’s Chloe had very little screen time, but she looked fabulous in every second! Costume designer Caroline Cranstoun is certainly taking advantage of Allison’s slimmer figure and is dressing her in clothes that are far more curve hugging than what she usually wears. She was terrific in the episode, and I feel for Chloe although I’m not sure I like her pining over Jimmy the way she used to pine for Clark. Can they think of no other running subplots for Chloe than to pine for some guy?

The show was beautifully shot by Director of Photography David Moxness. The way the flashback scenes were shot were fantastic, they had a soft-focus, dreamy quality to them. Also, the scenes in the distressed Fortress of Solitude set were extremely effective and dramatically lit.

The special effects were terrific. I loved the scene from Krypton with the bombs falling on the city. Also, I loved the shot of Kara as she flew past the camera and it shook, as if by wake-turbulence. That’s a stupendous, if very subtle, touch. It’s details like that that make me love this show. It’s like watching a mini-movie every week.

I loved the way James Philpott distressed the fortress set to make it look like a crumbling part of Krypton. It looked awesome.

Not a perfect episode, but I found myself greatly entertained despite its faults. It didn’t really bear up well to repeated viewings, unlike other recent ones, so I give this episode 4 mysterious Kryptonian crystals 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.