#8.14 “Requiem” Review

NOTE: If you’ve ever ignored my warnings about spoilers and regretted reading ahead anyway, you just might think twice about going any further. This review contains HUGE spoilers.

Well, this episode was unexpected in some ways and just what I had expected in others.

I believe I made my thoughts clear on the whole idea behind the Super Lana storyline in my review for Power, so I won’t go over that again. Let me just again say that I still hate the idea, but it is what it is. I will review this episode on its merits, or lack thereof, even though some of the problems it has it inherited from Power.

Not that this episode had that many problems, that plot point aside. Written by Holly Henderson and Don Whitehead, this was actually quite an enjoyable installment. There was some questionable medical stuff and questionable computer stuff, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary.

For example, how on earth did that nurse know how fast Oliver’s heart rate was when he didn’t have those white patches to the monitor leads on his chest? It looked like the only thing attached to Oliver was an IV line and the little oxygen monitor thingy on his finger… And how, exactly, did Chloe hook up her iPhone-wannabe ‘PDA’ to Oliver’s satellite and lo-jack Lex’s mobile IP address? There are so many things in what she did that I don’t think are even close to being possible.

Oh, well. They’re probably never going to get stuff like that completely right, they never have so they probably see no reason to start now.

Although, one more thing I must complain about was in Oliver’s hospital scenes. As nice as Justin’s chest is, did we really need to see it again when he was injured? It looked silly to have him shirtless in a hospital bed.

As for the episode as a whole: the situation for Clark and Lana was heartbreaking. Although, I think I know now why the suit was called a Prometheus suit: it’ll make Lana invulnerable, but also put her into a lifetime of torment, parted from Clark forever because of it. She’s going to do something good with the suit, analogous to Prometheus’ desire to help mankind by stealing fire from the gods.

Kristin had pretty much said she was never coming back to the show so short of killing Lana off, having her irradiated with kryptonite will certainly make it hard for her to be together with Clark. It’s a contrivance to explain why she won’t be back, yes, but it’s probably a better one than whatever it was that had happened to Lex.

I’m a bit confused why the episode is called Requiem, though. A requiem is a Roman Catholic mass for the dead or music played at such a mass or similar service, like for a funeral. Unless the ‘requiem’ is for Lana’s last ever episode, but I’m not sure that quite fits. Maybe it was called ‘Requiem’ because Lex gets ‘killed’ in this episode…

Probably my favorite part of this episode was Clark, Lana and Chloe working together to find the Toyman, the bomb, and Lex; even though they were also working against Oliver. I’m glad that Clark saw that trusting Oliver maybe wasn’t a good idea, but I’m confused why Oliver all of a sudden is getting so dark…

I can sort of see why he didn’t want to tell Clark the truth, but why was he arguing with Chloe about using murder to get ‘justice’ for Lex’s crimes? He’d just argued the opposite side of the argument with Clark about some two-bit thugs back in Bulletproof. And did he really use one of Toyman’s bombs to kill Lex?

Personally, I find that Lex is really dead very hard to believe, so I’m not sure that’s the best cliff-hanger ever.

The features division apparently has given Smallville all kinds of limitations on what they can and cannot do with certain portions of comic canon. For example, they can’t call Bart ‘The Flash’ (they had to use Impulse instead), they can’t show us the Superman shield on Clark’s chest, they can’t have Lois full time, they can’t even have her and Clark in a relationship or even kiss as themselves… With all that, who knows what else they’ve limited we don’t even know about?

Even despite that, why would they think we’d buy that Oliver killed Lex? Lex is in Superman’s future. He’s the primary villain in the Superman comics. He was also in all the Superman movies, even that one I didn’t like very much a few years ago… He’s not a superhuman, but he’s smart and makes it his business to stop Superman. The extreme lengths he goes to get Superman, to beat him, drives a lot of what happens in the comics.

If the features division throws a hissy over Lois kissing Clark when they’re not altered, why would they let Smallville kill Lex? I don’t think they would.

So, I would be very, very surprised if Lex doesn’t somehow manage to survive that explosion. That ‘shocking’ death is probably on par with Lana’s ‘death’ in Phantom at the end of Season 6.

Although, with that brief shot of Lex just before the explosion and Oliver having the kryptonite ring that Lex had been wearing in earlier scenes, there is room for doubt. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how they explain all of that.

Aside from the continuing canonization of the newly Super Lana Lang, I had no major complaints about that storyline as far as this episode was concerned. I found the situation that Clark and Lana had ended up in was tragic. It’s like Sophie’s choice in the eponymous novel by William Styron, and the film made from it. Clark and Lana were not really given any other option since both had its drawbacks, but unlike poor Sophie (forced to choose which of her two children would be executed in a Nazi concentration camp, only one could live) at least for Clark and Lana had one choice that was the right one, no matter how much it hurt to make it.

Clark and Lana made the right decision: to protect the innocents who needed them, no matter what the cost to themselves. I like that Clark was the one who told Lana she had to do it and he didn’t really hesitate. Lana looked more conflicted, so maybe she’s not quite ready for sainthood just yet, but she didn’t really need much convincing. She knew it was the right choice.

So if Lex’s goal was to hurt Clark and Lana for what whatever perceived wrongs they’d done to him, then he more than succeeded. Clark’s and Lana’s hearts truly were ripped out at the end. It was a heartbreaking episode.

I also liked the humor of the episode. As silly as it was, I did like the broken bed bit with Clark and Lana. They were so cute together and it was funny. It was good to see Clark happy. He really doesn’t smile all that much, so a light humorous scene before things got too serious was nice.

I’m not completely wild about this over-the-top version of Winslow Schott, the Toyman. He was essentially similar to how Toyman is portrayed currently in the comics, from what I understand, but he seemed a bit too crazy and he didn’t really have a character arc at all. That said I LOVED the knock-out gas in the balloons. The symbol-banging monkey toy and the creepy-looking clown-doll with the spy camera were good too. Those things seemed like they could have come from the comics, even though I don’t know if they had been directly inspired by something.

As much as I hated the major plot line continued from Power, I did really like how they tied in The Daily Planet rooftop from that episode to this one. It made Clark and Lana come full circle, they had started the new phase of their relationship on the roof of The Daily Planet and it was where it ended in the next episode.

They had done that in a lot of ways in this episode. They had tied things back to events earlier in the series. The kryptonite necklace took them back to remember things that had happened in the past, and in a way Lana’s body is now a bigger version of the kryptonite necklace. Clark still can’t get near her without falling over. I like the symmetry of that.

And, just so you know, the ending of Lana’s time on the show is a bitter-sweet one for me. I’m torn, I really am.

I used to love Lana, back before her motivations would change every episode. I got tired of the will-they-or-won’t-they merry-go-round of Clark and Lana’s relationship. Maybe it might be hard to believe going from how ardent a fan I am now, but the back and forth on that got so bad in Season 3 that I had almost stopped watching the show.

Lana was redeemed quite a bit in Season 4, I liked her again. I was relieved since I had a stronger sense of who Lana was back then than I had the last few seasons. It was after Season 5 and Reckoning they again didn’t really seem to know what to do with Lana.

A lot of the problems with her character have been because I don’t think they had a clear idea of who Lana was supposed to be in the long-term. She’s mostly a supporting character, or even a bit player, in the Superman comics. She’s the girl-next-door that Clark would always love even as he later fell in love with Lois, but she never played a big part in his adult life.

In the comics she sometimes knew his secret, sometimes not, but he always loved her, just as he does in this show. However, given she had never been as strongly characterized as an adult in the comics as some of the other people in the Superman comics, I think it was harder for the creators of Smallville to really define her once she got past high school and beyond being Clark’s former sweetheart.

So, throughout the last few seasons Lana had vacillated between being good (helping the homeless, starting Isis) and being cruel (torturing Lionel) and being downright vindictive and power-hungry (Wrath). She ended up in a couple bad relationships and even married Lex. That marriage had followed some of the most dizzying motivation roller-coaster-rides of the Lana’s tenure on the show. Now, she’s been doomed to being forever apart from the love of her life after finally being redeemed as a character.

Clark had stood on the sidelines for a lot of that, so it was hard on him. I guess the poor guy can’t catch a break.

Added to all that, the writers don’t seem to know how to write an extended adult relationship, unless it was one for Clark’s parents, and they blew it big-time with Clark and Lana for whatever reason. She comes back this season and all of a sudden Clark’s back to the love-sick angsty motivations that he should have been done with after Reckoning, or maybe after Promise. We had a pretty good idea of what they could have been like together (happy, loving, playful, but not always completely in synch) since she came back in Bride. I wish we could have seen more than just the few brief glimpses that we got, but now it’s too late and this was Lana’s last episode.

I like Lana, and I think I’d personally like Kristin, she seems like a nice person. So I’m confused why the writers wrote some of the things they did with Lana’s story arcs that makes her hard to love for a lot of people. The vehement hatred of Lana some people profess really surprises me sometimes.

Honestly, as much as I’ve liked Lana and I have never hated her, I’m not sure I’ll miss her. I think this season was derailed a bit the last couple of episodes in trying to give Lana a good ‘send-off,’ but I am worried where her exiting the show under these circumstances will leave Clark. How will this affect him in the long run?

I don’t have an answer to that, but I’m worried. I hope that worry is unfounded.

While I still don’t like the Super Lana story arc, I have to say that all in all, this episode wasn’t that bad. Maybe not the best work Holly and Don had ever turned in for Smallville, they’d previously turned in spectacular efforts in Persona, Traveler, Descent and Abyss, but I did still enjoy it.

Tom Welling was completely awesome as Clark. I enjoyed every second of his screen time. I loved how playful he made Clark in that first scene in his bedroom. As the episode went along, I loved how in control of the situation he portrayed Clark, even as he confronted Chloe and tried to follow up leads to try and find Winslow and Lex and the bomb. He had Clark act confident and resolved, as Superman should be.

Probably my favorite scene of his, however, was the final scene between Clark and Lana. Tom ably portrayed all the varied emotions Clark went through. It was also an extremely painful scene for Clark, both physically and emotionally. I know kryptonite isn’t real and there is nothing that works on people quite the way that kryptonite acts on Clark, but the way that Tom plays that I’m completely pulled in. He made that walk over to Lana for one last kiss like Clark was on his last legs, like he was about to die, but was still determined to kiss her one last time.

Then, the last moment when he couldn’t kiss her anymore, it just hurt Clark too much and he was getting too weak, was so painful to watch. He had to pull back and it was still too much and Clark fell to his knees, unable to stand up any longer. Then, when Lana walked away, Clark could only stay on the floor, too weak to follow. All he could is look on as she left. It was so hard to watch that… I cried. And the final moment, when the camera lingered on him after she left, and Clark said ‘I love you’ was a devastating moment. What a terrific episode for Tom.

I’m sorry to say that I didn’t mention Kristin Kreuk’s performance in Power, she had done a wonderful job for the most part, but honestly I just forgot. Maybe that’s hard to believe, but when you’re writing something like 3,500 (or more) words a week, sometimes I just get too wrapped up in other things. So, I’ll try to make up for it with this review. I’m sure people will let me know if I don’t manage to do that.

Anyway, for her likely final appearance for Smallville Kristin probably needed to go out strong and she didn’t disappoint. While I thought Lana was nuts to cut short her cuddle time with Clark, I did like her having fun with Clark in that first scene.

She did well the entire episode, but again with Kristin I thought the best scene was the final one with Clark. It’s probably the best acting she’s ever done for this show. Lana was upset by the very thought that she might see Clark and wouldn’t be able to touch him. The way that Kristin had portrayed that painful thought was perfect. By the end with Clark on his knees because she’d become poisonous to him, it destroyed Lana and Kristin’s portrayal of that was so awesome. It broke my heart, so Kristin had done a remarkable job.

Allison Mack did a wonderfully as Chloe. I liked her almost throughout the whole episode, although I think she might need work on making fainting seem a little more realistic. She seems to be doing it more this year, but her collapse in Ollie’s hospital room seemed a bit lame.

However, I really liked her last scene with Oliver. Chloe had a lot of things going on, she was horrified what Oliver had done, but he rightly pointed out that Chloe had done the same before. The way Allison played that scene was perfect, even when she wasn’t speaking I could almost tell what Chloe was thinking.

Justin Hartley was at his sarcastic and snarky best as Oliver. I’m not sure I completely buy him being so evil, however. Other than that, I loved what he did in this episode. I especially loved when Oliver was playing the vapid rich-boy when Winslow saw him in the hospital. Justin did terrific in that scene, from when he had almost teased Winslow about him being a clown to when he picked the lock on the cuff and pinned Winslow onto the floor.

Guest star Christopher Gauthier as Winslow Schott/Toyman did a good job, but parts of the performance were over the top. I think that was partly due to how the part was written, but I hope if he does come back that he has more to do than just giggle madly and blow things up.

Kevin Miller and Matt Adler (as Lex Luthor and Lex’s voice, respectively) did a remarkable job considering the largely thankless job they had, but hopefully they won’t need to come back. As good as they were, they’re not Michael. I hope they don’t need to go there again.

I loved the way Barry Donlevy shot the show. It was beautifully done. The Metropolis scenes looked dark and gritty and the Smallville scenes were almost soft-focused and romantic. The use of slow-motion during the music montage and at the end of the loft scene with Clark and Lana was perfect.

James Philpott did a terrific job, again. I adored the little miniature Metropolis with The Daily Planet and Luthorcorp buildings. I especially loved the tiny Daily Planet with the spinning Globe on top.

“Goodnight, Travel Well” by The Killers was a spot on choice for the music montage. Even though I think using music montages to replace exposition is bit of a tired device, House does it in nearly every episode, I liked how the one in this episode was done.

Not my favorite episode ever, yet still enjoyable, so I give this episode 4 miniature Daily Planets 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.