In every version of the saga I've ever read or seen, through the comics, the movies, and now the series, it's always been about Lex trying to define himself. They made it as plain as Kansas flats in the series--Lex didn't set up the Shrine to Clark as a way to understand Clark--or, at least, not entirely. Lex set up the Shrine to understand *himself*--and these are some pretty big questions. Why didn't he die? Why does he have the high white blood cell count? Why does he heal so fast? Why haven't the endless head knocks damaged his ability to reason?
Hells, after Belle Reve, he has another big question to add to that list. Because most people who are hit with voltage that high are nothing more than vegetables who need keepers afterwards. There are documented cases where even mild electroshock 'therapy' damaged the brain beyond repair.
Yet here Lex is, walking, talking, reasoning, without impairment. Some little bit of memory missing, and even that might be faked on Lex's part--buried by subconscious will all the way up to known and acknowledged, just not verbally addressed. And he's curious. Of course he's curious. He wants to know what being in Smallville, and being around all those interesting red and green rocks--and you notice, Lex is researching both strains at this point--is doing to the populace? To Clark? To *himself*?
Take this Lex we have now, metaphorically resting on all other previous curious, self-absorbed Lexes in the past, and catapult him to full adulthood, post-Superman. Now we have someone who's so beyond tired of being in his father's shadow--*born* into his father's shadow--that he's willing to own the world just to have people snarl "That bastard Lex", not "That bastard Luthor's son".
And Superman gets in the way. It's that simple. Everything else is layering of complexities that keep me watching the show, keep me not walking away even when the plot has holes you could drive freight haulers through, even when the dialogue makes me cringe.
Essentially, what makes them enemies in future is what's keeping them friends now--that drive to understand, to want to trust, to want to be trusted--on both sides. Neither of them really understand the life the other's living. Neither one really understands the concrete ton-weight of pressure the other's under. From their perspective, the other guy has it so easy, it makes their teeth clench, yet they rarely say anything about it. They just endure, the best they can, and care, and worry, and get frustrated and annoyed and resentful along the way. Just like any relationship.
Right now, Lex is pulling away from his father in any way he can, but all he has to pull away is the tools his father gave him. No wonder things have gotten so ugly and out-of-hand between them. It's like putting out fires with gasoline.
Meanwhile, Clark is *completely* his adopted father's son, which, sadly, has made him a man who's willing to help a friend out at the drop of a hat, without thinking about it, with no reservations...but is such a rigid, dictatorial, *inflexible* kind of thinker that if he sees any shade of grey, he immediately darkens it to black or lightens it to white, because that's the tool set he's been given.
Technically, by everything AlMiles has said, the season finale of "Smallville" should have ended the show. They should start up next season in Metropolis. I don't know if they're still planning that, but sometime within the next year, I think the show's focus is going to have to shift--and thus end.
And then, I think, the next show is going to be *really* entertaining.
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And to jump off from Brighid's point...
Date: 2004-05-23 07:18 pm (UTC)Hells, after Belle Reve, he has another big question to add to that list. Because most people who are hit with voltage that high are nothing more than vegetables who need keepers afterwards. There are documented cases where even mild electroshock 'therapy' damaged the brain beyond repair.
Yet here Lex is, walking, talking, reasoning, without impairment. Some little bit of memory missing, and even that might be faked on Lex's part--buried by subconscious will all the way up to known and acknowledged, just not verbally addressed. And he's curious. Of course he's curious. He wants to know what being in Smallville, and being around all those interesting red and green rocks--and you notice, Lex is researching both strains at this point--is doing to the populace? To Clark? To *himself*?
Take this Lex we have now, metaphorically resting on all other previous curious, self-absorbed Lexes in the past, and catapult him to full adulthood, post-Superman. Now we have someone who's so beyond tired of being in his father's shadow--*born* into his father's shadow--that he's willing to own the world just to have people snarl "That bastard Lex", not "That bastard Luthor's son".
And Superman gets in the way. It's that simple. Everything else is layering of complexities that keep me watching the show, keep me not walking away even when the plot has holes you could drive freight haulers through, even when the dialogue makes me cringe.
Essentially, what makes them enemies in future is what's keeping them friends now--that drive to understand, to want to trust, to want to be trusted--on both sides. Neither of them really understand the life the other's living. Neither one really understands the concrete ton-weight of pressure the other's under. From their perspective, the other guy has it so easy, it makes their teeth clench, yet they rarely say anything about it. They just endure, the best they can, and care, and worry, and get frustrated and annoyed and resentful along the way. Just like any relationship.
Right now, Lex is pulling away from his father in any way he can, but all he has to pull away is the tools his father gave him. No wonder things have gotten so ugly and out-of-hand between them. It's like putting out fires with gasoline.
Meanwhile, Clark is *completely* his adopted father's son, which, sadly, has made him a man who's willing to help a friend out at the drop of a hat, without thinking about it, with no reservations...but is such a rigid, dictatorial, *inflexible* kind of thinker that if he sees any shade of grey, he immediately darkens it to black or lightens it to white, because that's the tool set he's been given.
Technically, by everything AlMiles has said, the season finale of "Smallville" should have ended the show. They should start up next season in Metropolis. I don't know if they're still planning that, but sometime within the next year, I think the show's focus is going to have to shift--and thus end.
And then, I think, the next show is going to be *really* entertaining.