#9.13 “Persuasion” Review

NOTE: I talk about a lot of stuff in this review, so if you read it before viewing this episode, you may be sorry. Alternately, you may thank me for warning you ahead of time.

Some episodes I don’t particularly like the first time I see them. Even then I sometimes find that they grow on me each subsequent time I watch them, although that wasn’t really the case with this episode. I think my gut instinct upon my initial viewing was proved right each time I watched this, and I do watch an episode multiple times if only to try and figure out why I hate or love and episode. It helps me better articulate my thoughts, so I ended up seeing ‘Persuasion’ about four times more than I wanted to. Granted there were certain aspects of this episode that I did like better with subsequent viewings, others I hated more. So I’m not sure how successful this episode was for scribe Ann Cofell Saunders.

I guess it started out fairly well, but the episode generally went downhill from there and things just got so silly with Lois. She really wasn’t herself at all. I mean the last thing Lois would want to do is stay home and cook for Clark. Maybe it was supposed to have proven just how powerful his new powers of suggestion were, but it annoyed me. Were Lois real, I’m not sure it’d be so easy to change her into some Donna Reed wannabe. Although, it seemed to have been a difficult thing for her to deal with since she did break down after her confrontation with Chloe. She clearly recognized being the happy homemaker wasn’t for her, so maybe that was the point. Although, I must point out that this is the first time Clark had ever expressed any desire for Lois to be more traditional, so that came out of nowhere. Yet, the contrivance helped the show explore Lois’ character in a new way. But I don’t buy the explanation. Gemstone kryptonite? That was just weird.

Gemstone Kryptonite is not from the comics, or rather, not really. There was previously a type of kryptonite called ‘Jewel Kryptonite’ (I had to look that up, by the way), but it had different properties. That type gave the Kryptonians exposed to it psychic abilities, so only the name is similar.

It was just strange that this new form of kryptonite affected others the way it did. Clark said it himself: kryptonite only usually affects him. It bothered me because it was strange the way it worked and how contrived it was, but it wasn’t the biggest problem this episode had.

As for the darker side of this episode, I’ll admit that Clark’s burning down the towers was a bit on the drastic side, and was upsetting to some people online especially in light of the similarities to what happened on 9/11. However, I think that any connection between what Clark did and what happened to New York’s World Trade Center was probably an inadvertent, and thus an unfortunate, plot point, which probably wasn’t helped by the way the Special Visual Effects were designed.

If they were going to have him burn down the towers, they should have avoided having them collapse the way they did. That reminded me of that day. We’ve all seen the video of New York’s towers collapsing; we’ve all shared in the horror of watching them fall into themselves, even if we weren’t watching the events unfold live. How that shot was designed was not the best choice, but that isn’t what bothered me most about this episode.

And I don’t think that there’s anyway Clark would have done a thing to that building before ensuring everyone nearby was safe from harm. Clark is no killer, no matter what he almost did to Tess. So, the Kandorian and Zod related parts of the episode got really, really dark, although none of that is what particularly bothered me either.

No, I think my biggest problem with the episode wasn’t with any specific incident or plot point, although the whole idea behind it was contrived as I’ve said, but the tone was wildly uneven. Given how dark the Kandorian-related storylines were, with Zod threatening death and/or subjugation to Tess and the entire world, Alia getting executed by Zod, Clark nearly killing Tess and then burning down a couple of buildings, throwing in a frothy music-video of love-sick Lois dancing around in Martha Kent’s wedding dress seemed a bit on the campy side. Actually, it was probably more than just a bit…

I think I might have even have gotten completely onboard with the episode, even with the contrivances, if the tone had been more evenly handled. I’m not sure whether it was Ann’s script or the direction from Christopher Petry that was to blame for that. It was just the juxtaposition of Lois dancing around in a wedding dress put into the same episode with much darker material had made for a muddled mess.

I mean, she was dancing around in the wedding dress right before Clark’s first confrontation with Zod. That’s a very drastic change in tone from one scene to the next: upbeat, saccharine sweet dance music combined with Lois dancing in a romantically ruffled wedding dress right before Clark’s confusion and grief turns into murderous rage? Yeah, I’d say that’s an odd juxtaposition.

Yet, it wasn’t like those parts were bad, in and of themselves. It was like the two parts of this story should have been from different seasons or maybe even from different episodes. I think if they’d been somehow had been in separate episodes that they would have worked better. Lois’ exaggerated reactions to the spell, and the over-the-top-happy dancing around in Martha’s wedding dress, might have worked well in a light-weight episode. A more sober Lois storyline probably would have worked better in what had turned out to be a pretty dark episode for Clark.

As for what happened in the episode, looking at the events in-and-of-themselves, I like the secrets that Clark’s hypnotic suggestions revealed. Lois having insecurity about being the right person for Clark because she doesn’t fit the stereotypical feminine role was an interesting twist. It showed a side of Lois I’m not sure we’d seen before. The story explored her character a bit and in turn revealed a bit more about Clark’s as he dealt with her.

I liked how Chloe reacted to the suggestion that she protect Clark. She was even more ferocious than normal in protecting him. She turned on Emil and Lois and even turned on Clark in order to protect him from himself.

I really liked seeing a more relaxed version of Emil. The guy’s so uptight, normally. Straight-laced and sea-kelp-salad eating Emil relaxing so much that he acted stoned was refreshing. It showed a new side of the character.

I loved that Zod wasn’t completely affected by Clark’s new temporary powers. Initially, he seemed to be telling the truth, yet he didn’t completely fess up to Clark. I’m not sure whether he really thought that Tess was behind Jor-El’s murder, but he seemed so sincere that Clark believed him. I have to believe that Zod knew it wasn’t true since the misrepresentation (or lie) benefitted him far better than the truth would have. I think Zod had somehow evaded the affect Clark’s new ability had on others, or the suggestion to tell the truth somehow allowed him enough latitude to lay the blame on Tess, someone he clearly wanted to be rid of.

I also liked seeing Clark being torn about doing what he needed to do about the murderer of his father and with Zod and the towers. He wanted to take more action than his instincts would otherwise let him, so he had some things to wrestle with in this episode. Although, I doubt that given a hypnotic-type of suggestion would be enough to get Clark to almost kill Tess. I don’t think even under those circumstances he would have done that, but that did make for a great scene so maybe I’ll cut her some slack for that. Tom plays Clark magnificently when he’s pissed off and Tess was so scared and powerless, something new for her, so it gave both actors great moments to act.

Another thing I had a problem with was that I think something must have been cut, and I hope we get to see it in the DVD set. At Alia’s funeral Faora had bruises on her face and a cut lip, but we didn’t see the fight that caused those injuries. Did Faora and Alia have a confrontation before Alia decided to confess to Zod? Or was it Faora and Zod? I don’t think I saw any bruises on Alia, so maybe it with Zod since he had somehow gotten Faora’s passport before the scene with Tess. But whomever Faora had that confrontation with they probably should have kept that scene. I think my problem with it was that Alia’s decision to come clean to Zod seemed to have come out of the blue. With how the episode played out, her motivation wasn’t clear. If she’d had some sort of confrontation with Faora, whether or not it had come to blows, her coming clean to Zod later probably would have made more sense.

So, in the end, this episode wasn’t the best one I’ve ever seen. Despite the fact that there were things I liked, there were so many more head-scratching moments that I probably wouldn’t say this is Ann’s best work. She had done a much better job with ‘Idol’.

Tom Welling did a terrific job with what he was handed to act. I liked how supportive he had Clark being in the scene with Lois in the barn, even as he was obviously a bit freaked out about the change in Lois’ behavior. Probably my favorite parts were when he was got so angry. I thought Tom played it perfectly when Clark was about to kill Tess, the menace was chilling. And when he burned down those towers, his fury was intense even as it seemed to somehow morph into sadness and grief he was forced to take such drastic action.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like Allison Mack, but in her post-gemstone-Kryptonite-fueled aggressive protection of Clark, Allison sometimes made Chloe came off as barely likeable. I’m not sure it’s something Allison would have chosen for Chloe or whether this was a directing choice, but it’s one of the things that bothered me about this episode. She was too strident and harsh at times, at other times she was less so. I generally like her being protective of Clark, but did she have to become such a harpy? There were times I loved what Allison did, I liked it when she was talking to Clark, for example. The time I think I had the most problems with her was in the scene with Lois, she was just too hurtful with Lois.

Although, I did like the way she had stated Chloe’s line about Lois not knowing the ‘real’ Clark. Nice dig, which of course Lois had no clue what she was really talking about. I also loved the scene between Chloe and Tess. I liked how Allison had Chloe handle that, skeptical of Tess’ intentions and willing to do anything to stop her. It was like she was standing up to a bully, so Allison played that well.

In the episode, Erica Durance had to trying to turn fiercely independent Lois into a weepy, overly emotional and largely inept homemaker. The way she played it was perfect. Although I thought that there was something slightly off in the scene with Chloe and even though I hated the music video montage of Lois in the wedding dress in concept, Erica did a good job with what she was asked to portray. However, her best scene was probably the weepy scene in the loft with Clark. She had some different intents to play, Lois was still basically in the thrall of Clark’s super power of suggestion, but still trying to deal with her realization that she’s not perfect, and thus probably not perfect for Clark. It was a terrific scene for her. And even though I hated the music video of her in Martha’s wedding dress, I loved how Erica played that. It was silly and over-the-top and Lois just seemed deliriously happy to be marrying Clark. Although it probably belonged in another episode, I adored how completely she threw herself into that section of the episode.

Cassidy Freeman was fantastic as Tess. The way she had Tess stand up to Zod, even when he seems to scare her, was perfect. The teasing invitation to join her in the bath, even as she was trying to deflect whatever scheming Zod was up to. She was also terrific in the scene with Clark when he was so close to killing Tess. She thought she was doing the right thing, and the way that Cassidy played that was perfect. Just the right mix of fear and regret even as Clark was about to burn her to a crisp.

Callum Blue was terrific as Zod, but for some reason I’m beginning to get annoyed with his always pointing at or poking people. It’s an add habit. As for most of the episode, I loved how expressive his face and eyes were. He was terrific to watch. He played Zod as so torn up by having to kill Alia. I also liked the scene with Clark after Alia’s funeral. He played Zod as wounded and angry because he was forced to kill a loyal supporter to avenge the murder of Clark’s father. He played the part perfectly.

I loved what Alessandro Juliani did with most of his part of the episode. The laid back version of Dr. Emil was fantastic, but I really hated he was obviously just mashing buttons on the computer keyboard without really typing anything. I hate it when actors do that. The real Emil would have been typing something, so Alessandro should have been in those parts of the scene were we could clearly see his hands. Aside from that, I don’t have any problems with his performance. In fact, I enjoyed the scene he was in. Alessandro seemed to take some glee in finally playing Emil’s more relaxed side.

Monique Ganderton was terrific in what is likely her final episode as Alia, unless she comes back in some flashbacks or something. I loved Alia’s pain of sacrificing herself, offering up her confession to Zod, probably to protect him from Clark’s ire, and how well Monique had played that scene. It was perfect.

Sharon Taylor did an excellent job as Faora. I really liked her scene with Clark where she was so grateful to Clark. It wasn’t a very long scene, but I think she was wonderful in it. I know some people who have served in the military and there was something in her manner as her gave her little speech that made it seem Faora had served a lifetime as she said. Sharon did an outstanding job with the little bit we saw of her.

Christopher Petry, normally a producer and second unit director for the show, directed this episode. It’s his first outing as director for the show. While he’s not new to “Smallville”, I’m not sure how well things had gone for him. As I’ve said, the tone was very uneven. Yet, there were some very nice moments. I liked the mobility of the camera and some of the setups were very nice. A few of the scenes lingered a bit too long, got a bit too talky, but I’m not sure what else could have been cut. However, the apparently missing confrontation scene Faora had with someone probably shouldn’t have been so maybe something else should have gone. Yet, he did get good performances from his cast and helped shape some strong visuals, so I think the episode was probably more of a success than a failure, but I really hated the uneven tone of it.

Glen Winter shot another beautiful episode, I loved how fluid the camera movement was and I liked the use of crane shots. Oddly, perhaps, I loved when Chloe’s point-of-view shot showed Tess beating her. That was a terrific choice. I also loved when the handheld camera moved into a close-up on Tess holding that gun just before Clark came and took her away. Also James Philpott did an excellent job with the sets in this episode. Design wise, I think my favorite part was the funeral scene. It was beautifully designed and photographed.

The music added to that scene. Also I loved the rock guitar playing over Clark’s destruction of the towers, so Louis Febre did another terrific job with the music in this episode. The sharp-sounding guitar worked well for me, although I’m not sure it would have been a first choice.

Melanie Williams did a terrific job with Lois’ traditional housewife dress. It was a terrific color for Erica and fit her perfectly; it was a Donna Reed-like confection perfect for that part of the episode.

Probably not the worst episode so far this season, yet it’s close to the bottom. The uneven tone didn’t do this episode any favors. I give this episode 3.25 silly Lois dance music videos 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.