02:19 PRECIPICE
Prologue
- what the heck. Why are Smallville men so terrible?
- Uh oh. Clark is going to get revenge for the guys assaulting Lana.
- The new sheriff!
- Oh no. Clark in trouble with the law. AGAIN!!!
Act One
- writer Clint Carpenter – who writes primarily for the early Smallville comics / director Thomas J Wright
- the new Sheriff: “Hero complex / even heroes have to play by the rules.”
- Clark is charged with Misdemeanor battery
- “Those good ol boys days are over” – Dukes of Hazzard reference!
- Paul Hayden played by Anson Mounts. Black Bolt on ABC’s Inhumans. And Captain Pike on ST Discovery.
- Uh oh. Lex doesn’t like this guy knowing stuff about Bryce.
- “You’re always there to SAAAAAAVE MEEEEE” / is this Lana’s start to learning self defense?
Act Two
- Yup. Lex gives Lana the bug to learn how to fight
- Clark: “They’re a flawed race. Rule them with strength.” The show now under the lens of what was learned in Rosetta.
- Creepy Paul. He’s a psycho.
Act Three
- Clark learns the guy he beat up is faking his injuries
- Clark gets a lesson in girl power from Chloe. This comes off surprisingly well.
- Lana and Bryce’s story is connected here in theme. Except Helen is injured
- And now we’ll see the difference between Clark and Lex in response.
Act Four
- Lana: “Lex has a way of bringing out a side of me that’s both scary and liberating at the same time”. Ouch. Careful there Lana. We know where this leads.
- Smallville is in Lowell County
- And again Clark shows up where Lex is
- Clark turns away for a moment after seeing the dead body. Because of the nature of the death? I haven’t really been keeping count on this.
- Sheriff Adams
Act Five
- this looking for Paul sequence is going awfully long. It’s like they ran out of story
- Look at Lex growing up and not killing Paul. A semi-surprise shift from Clark’s actions earlier. I just about assumed Lex would go his way, just as Clark did. Nice touch here.
- How did the sheriff know where to go?
- Superhero Lana. Now she has a role with Clark like he’s had with her all this time.
- And this is how we get Lex to propose.
- Not a bad ep. Production is good. Acting is solid. Story is a little formulaic. But a few character stories get pushed in small ways: Lana’s resilience. Maybe the seed of how Lex and Lana develop. The proposal. A new sheriff. Kinda wish the stuff with Clark acting out of anger was played up more.
Next episode: Witness!