#9.19 “Sacrifice” Review

NOTE: You probably don’t want to read this review before watching the episode if you don’t like to be spoiled, because if you do you I will spoil you rotten.

I didn’t know anything about this episode going in and as I start to write this review, I’m not really sure what I think about it. While I did enjoy it, there were several moments that confused me or just plain didn’t make sense.

It was written by a several writers (the aired credits had the ‘Story by Justin Hartley & Walter Wong’ with the ‘Teleplay by Justin Hartley & Walter Wong and Brian Q. Miller’, please note where ampersands and the ‘ands’ were used), so maybe it’s not surprising it had some problems. That’s a lot of names and I think that was partly the problem.

I will tell you why, but before I do let me explain that I don’t have any special connections to the show. Nor do I have any inside sources who will explain things to me like I’m a child (hopefully using small words and uncomplicated sentences).

I base a lot of what I say in my reviews on what I’d learned in film school, even though that was a very long time ago. I also use what I’ve been able to work out since then from what I’ve read online or heard. So, yeah: there’s a lot of educated guessing going on in my reviews, even though I think I probably fake it well.

Even with all that I know, or all that I think I know, I can’t even begin to guess how much of this story Justin Hartley was responsible for. I wish I had inside knowledge on that, but I don’t. However, I can at least explain the credits.

I probably should to do that anyway, especially since ‘Story by’ and ‘Teleplay by’ credits aren’t commonly used for “Smallville” episodes. The use of those credits might be confusing to any who noticed them and I’m not sure I’ve explained this before in a review.

When someone is given the ‘story by’ credit it means they came up with the basic story (or narrative structure). So, the original idea for the script was created by two guys, Justin and Walter, but the actual script had the three guys named in the credits, but they’d worked on different drafts of the script. And you remember where the ampersands and the one lone ‘and’ were. This is where the ‘and’ or ‘&’ usage becomes important.

A writing team, or writers that work together, use the ampersand (the ‘&’) and writers who work separately on different drafts are joined in the credits by an ‘and.’ So, I suppose that means that Justin and Walter worked together on the original concept for the story. After that, Justin and Walter worked together to produce a draft of the script and Bryan later did a separate draft.

Congrats to Justin Hartley and his writing partner, Walter Wong (another actor) for their first professional writing credit. It’s a good start, but I did have problems with some of the story’s details. So I’m not sure this was a completely successful outing, even as part of a team effort, but given this is their first time writing professionally I think they more than held their own. The story was meaty and offered a lot of good opportunities for the actors to shine.

However, I this episode showed some of the same sorts or problems when there are different writers on a script. I see this problem a lot in feature films, when there are more than just two or three names in the credits. “Gladiator” is a really good example of this, although I think some of third “Spider-man” film’s problems were due to all the names in the credits for the script.

Three people are credited as writing the script for “Gladiator”, the story by one guy who also wrote one of the drafts of the screenplay. Then he and two other guys are credited with writing separate drafts of the screenplay. Yet, I know that there were more writers than that. Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott both also contributed to the script, with reported problems with the original script being fixed almost daily all during production by Ridley. As much as I loved that film, as a script it had some serious problems. Parts of the story seemed like they belonged in different movies. Some of the dialogue was brilliant, other speeches were ridiculous. It was really uneven.

The same sort of thing happened in this episode. While I loved the separate storylines, in earlier parts, it seemed like they were from different episodes. Yet, in the end, they all tied in very well together. Chloe’s and Tess’ interactions were fantastic as they tried to evade Checkmate, but that storyline only got tied into the main story much later in the episode. I admit that it actually worked out pretty well, despite how disparate the two major storylines seemed to be initially.

It’s probably a minor thing, especially since it didn’t really detract from the story much, but what I liked least was that I found it ridiculous that Watchtower would run out of air so quickly even it were possible to hermetically seal such a large room. Yeah, the doors and windows were blocked, but what about any ventilation shafts or air ducts?

Still, if it were believable the room could be completely sealed, would it really take only a few hours to run out of oxygen? That room looks huge, I think the TV studio I used to run cameras in was smaller. So I found that implausible, yet the contrivance let the writers create some very good drama between Tess and Chloe so I guess that worked out okay.

While I did like the Zod and Clark bits mostly, I again had a problem with at least one of the details. Why did Zod burn his crest into Oliver’s chest? It seemed a bit extreme and also a bit convenient.

To be completely honest, I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that Justin helped formulate the story for this episode and this is the one where Oliver Queen gets a huge burn on his chest. A burn that would result in a scar once it’s healed. A scar that would be large enough to require a huge latex make-up ‘appliance’ that would take a long time to apply and thusly be expensive to have Oliver ever again bare his chest. Is Justin tired of taking off his shirt in the show?

I don’t know, maybe that didn’t even cross Justin’s mind, maybe he just wants to have a really cool looking scar on his chest and I’m reading more into things than is really there. Yet, that particular plot point did make me wonder…

However, there were also some very good things in this episode. And the fact that it started so fast was terrific. I mean, the stakes were high right from the get-go. Tess getting caught in the Watchtower with Chloe was a brilliant complication. It was awesome how Tess and Chloe were at each other’s throats for most of their scenes together, yet they found a way to work together because it was in their best interests. Their continued mutual animosity gave those scenes a great tension that was wonderful.

I also liked the understanding that the two women finally had seemed to come to as Chloe saved Tess’ life when she didn’t have to. The revelations that came out because of their unexpected confinement in Watchtower were terrific. Chloe was again reminded that holding people at arm’s length isn’t a good idea and Tess realized just how draconian Waller’s tactics really were.

I loved that Faora had become tied symbolically to the future of the Kandorian people through her baby with Zod. Her pregnancy, like Clark had said, proved that it was possible for their people to have the normalcy he had been advocating for them, even without powers.

I also liked the symbolism of the flower used in the story. Was that a lotus blossom? If so, the writers showed a good use of a flower that has come to mean spiritual awakening or purity, but can also symbolize fertility. Faora embodied that in her storyline, she was a mother and seemed pure of spirit, so I thought that was a nice touch.

It was ironic Faora and the others were trying to work toward getting their new life peaceably just as the militaristic Checkmate seizes the peaceful Kandorians in a violent raid. It was a terrific contract.

Then, of course, after that Faora’s betrayal of Zod forced him to make an example of her. Yet her death was a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to keep her baby from being raised by a tyrant and a destroyer of worlds. He proved her fears right by threatening to blow up the planet. (Zod promising to grind the last dying ember of the planet under his boot was a nice line, by the way.) I loved the heroic and honorable way she faced her death and I liked how devastated Zod was when he realized what he’d done. What a fantastically well-written scene.

I liked that Stuart was brought back to hunt Tess down. She had been willing to kill him when he wasn’t completely committed to the course she had set him, now he’s willing to kill her when she had failed to commit fully to Waller’s plans. Turnabout really is fair play, although I guess he got it in the end. The best part about that is the fact that his reappearance demonstrated that the show can use its own continuity effectively without doing a retcon.

I hope Waller somehow survived the conflagration at the Checkmate headquarters, however. Pam Grier is a good addition to the show, so I hope she can come back.
The story had some contrivances, but I can’t complain about the action or the pacing. There was some great drama and fantastic opportunities for wonderful acting and design work, with some nice symbolism thrown in there too, so if Justin (& Walter) wants to write for the show again, they certainly should let him (or them). All the writers involved in this episode, Justin, Walter and Bryan, did an excellent job. It was a very exciting hour.

Tom Welling was fantastic as Clark. He wasn’t in the story much, but I really liked what he did with what little screen time he had. Probably his best scenes were ones Clark had with Faora. He had Clark be so earnest when he was dealing with the Kandorians and Zod. It was perfect and he always makes Clark so Supermanly, it’s always a joy when he can do that, although it was a shame he wasn’t in this episode more so we could have seen that more.

Allison Mack really shone in this episode. I thought she did a splendid job in every scene she had with Tess. I liked the edge she gave Chloe in dealing with Tess, it really added something nice to the dynamic of their scenes together.

Cassidy Freeman was awesome as Tess. Perhaps oddly, my favorite scene of hers was when Chloe was going to kill her. She played Tess as afraid, understandably so, to take such a drastic step as letting Chloe kill her, but she didn’t really have much choice. Probably the best part of that scene was when Chloe revived her. I don’t know how she did it, but she played Tess’ pain and fear so convincingly it made me think that Cassidy had previously had an eight inch long needle jabbed into her chest. That was an amazing scene.

Callum Blue was fantastic as Zod. He had a lot of different intents to play and he did them all so well. Probably my favorite scene for that was the final one between Faora and Zod. I loved how he delivered that great line about the world’s dying embers going cold under his boot. After he’d killed her but then Zod realized that Faora had been pregnant, Callum made his shock and grief so profound. It was heart-wrenching, yet I could tell when Zod’s mind turned to revenge and a cold fury seemed to have come up to replace his grief.

Justin Hartley was wonderful as Oliver Queen. Even with the rather convenient attack possibly keeping Justin from showing off his stellar beefcake, I really can’t complain too much. The shallow side of me did appreciate the scenery, but maybe it’s for the best. It will let Justin’s other talents come to the surface more often, hopefully.

Sharon Taylor was a revelation as Faora. She gave her such vulnerability, yet such firm resolve, at the same time. Her final scene with Zod was amazing to watch.
Ryan McDonell was terrific as Stuart Campbell. Before Tess had shot him earlier in the season, he’d played Stuart as cute and smart, but largely harmless. This version of Stuart is very different and yet it was still believable.

Probably my favorite scene for the Director of Photography Barry Donlevy and Production Designer James Philpott was the scene in the warehouse with Faora in the center of the other Kandorians. I liked the spare simplicity of the set decorations and the very atmospheric lighting. It was a beautiful scene.

The music in that scene was also very nicely done by Music Composer Louis Febre. It helped build the mood. It was perfect for the moment.

Nowhere close to being my favorite episode of the season, ‘Metallo’ still has that honor, but overall it had a solid story by Freshman Scribes Justin Hartley & Walter Wong. Also, everyone else involved helped make the hour very enjoyable, despite a few contrivances. The wonderful acting and terrific writing more than made up for the episode’s other deficiencies. I actually ended up liking the episode a lot despite the fact that I was unsure how I felt about it after the initial viewing. I give this 4.75 magically opening lotus blossoms out of a possible 5.

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