Smallville and Veronica Mars

[oiran]

Smallville: *squee* Naked, naked, more naked. Shirtless!! Doublemen!

Lana: KK certainly has better chemistry with this new boyfriend than with TW, and I liked him. I wonder if he's going back to Smallville with her... (don't tell me, though). I was inadvertently spoiled for the whole Super!Lana thing, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And I actually loved naked, fucked-up, sweaty Lana babbling across the door chain about passing out and waking up at home and not knowing how she got there. The tattoo was one of the things that had me worried, but in context it was fine. In fact, it does make more sense for Lana to wake up with a mysterious mark than to deliberately go to a tattoo parlor and ask for a specific design. Even if it turns out she actually did go get a tattoo with a needle and ink, she did it under the influence of...mystical WB-S, which seems much more in character than making a conscious decision like a normal person.

Clark: I personally prefer Kal-El, the humorless, clothing-optional, contraction-free, alien sex god, to the simple, fully-clothed farm lad. I mean, come one: which one is more likely to rule you and make you like it? Plus, flying! And the lavish use of that blue-white light that makes him all eyesockets and cheekbones and tousled hair and just guh. I hope we haven't seen the absolute last of Kal-El.

Lois: my quibbles with Lois have more to do with the writing than the actress, i.e., there was certainly a lot of emphasis placed on making her annoying quirky, and there was a bit much mugging going on. However, she has chemistry with TW, and she's pretty and the mugging demonstrates that her upper lip does, in fact, move, so she's already a definite improvement on KK in terms of being able to hold up her corner of the triangle. I also am annoyed with her hair: it is pretty hair, but I bet it was prettier before someone went at it with the 70s-style Frost-and-Tip. I had seen pics and read a few things that made me wonder if she was going to be another Victoria, but I am confident now that she will neither embarrass herself nor bore the audience.

Lex: The shirtless thing was nice. And there was no hair, at least this time, which always makes me extra-happy. I can't remember my Egyptian gods, so can anyone tell me what Horus' special trick is? I'm curious if he has any Supes-legend-associated relevance, or if it was just someone in props picking a random shiny god.

The thing that bothered me: Margot Kidder, whose character name escapes me, showing up with the box of black Kryptonite. First, that box looks just like (and probably is) these cheesy little "CD lockers" that I saw (and disdained) at Best Buy. Second, wtf does black Kryptonite do? Because I don't know one way or the other how it behaves in comics canon (or if it even exists), but there's this presumption that I know it does something because why else would this mysterious person show up with a big chunk of it? How would Dr. Swann know what it does? Did he get another message that he hasn't told Clark about? Does he have another Kryptonian locked up in a box in the basement of the planetarium and he and Dr. Margot poke at it with different-colored stones for fun? And then, as lexcorp_hope points out in her script analysis, it really sucks that Mama Kent's timely use of black-K basically absolves Clark of having made choices, whether for right or wrong, and contradicts past information we've received about Clark's responsibility for his behavior.

Overall, though, I was happy.

Veronica Mars: Well, I'll certainly watch it next week, but I'm kind of disturbed. The various evils arrayed against young Ronnie are pretty fucking dark, though the show doesn't seem to be quite aware enough of this... The degree and variety of violence in this little community seems excessive and thus somewhat trivialized, if that makes any sense.

I do really like the actress - Kristen Bell - who plays Veronica. And I like that her new friend is a total dweeb and a sweet boy. She's going to help him grow some balls, obviously. And who doesn't like Enrico Colantoni (i.e., her dad)? Even if he's not being really funny here. I have to admit, I can't see him without thinking of his character in Galaxy Quest. Which I love, but I digress...

The virginal white dress/roofie thing was creepy and overkill. I somehow missed who, exactly, the new sheriff is - in the pockets of Mr. Kane, I suppose? Or just an asshole? And, okay, I can't get away from the roofie rape thing: it always bothers me when shows depict "date rape" type scenarios playing out like this. Yeah, it's what worked for this plot, and yeah it's what usually happens (i.e., girl doesn't bother to report it for various social/self-worth reasons), but just once I'd like to see even a meek girl decide to take herself to the ER and have them do an exam and rape kit. Because, you know, maybe some girl will see a fake!girl do that on TV and do it for herself should the awful circumstance arise, or convince a friend or something useful like that...

I could have told her whose car that was without running the plate. I bet you could have, too.

I did like how everything wrapped up, as I was wondering if it was going to just be a big pile of loose ends at the close of the hour. Because, yeah, I kind of didn't expect anything resembling Earth logic, since I was really seeing this as Chloe Dark. I can easily anticipate that it might take me a few episodes to stop thinking Veronica = Chloe.

Comments

[juno.livejournal.com]

I saw the 2nd half of Veronica Mars.

The roofie thing was really uncomfortable. I was glad that she went to the cops, but it sucked that it worked out that way. The cop thing is both a girl's worst nightmare after the fact. I dunno - her powerlessness was uncomfortable in general.

That said, I will probably watch next week.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Obviously, we're supposed to see that the murder of boyfriend's sister completely changed everything about her life, but that it made her tons smarter doesn't make sense. The actress did a good job of selling it, but I had a hard time believing that her particular circumstances would cause her to go from being naive and stubbornly trusting (to the point of stupidity) to being super-smart and discerning and guarded--yet not particularly bitter, oddly enough.

That the cop would be so cavalier in the face of a teenage girl telling him she'd been raped was...evil. It's so far beyond him just being in the pockets of a rich citizen - it's as if he's inhuman. It's overkill and, yeah, uncomfortable. I dislike it when a show makes a monster where a fatally flawed human would be much more effective.

[fairy-tale-echo.livejournal.com]

YAY, someone else watched Veronica Mars! Rob Thomas, writer/creator, is definitely one of my favorite YA authors and I love his voice, which was very present in this to me, so I was all over that. There were some really touching moments with Veronica and her Dad and I just...like her as a character. HOWever, I agree with your "Hey, people, this is actually pretty god-damn omnious!" point. The new sheriff was DEFINITELY too, too, too over-the-top "nasty" for my tastes, he was less of an actual character and too much of a stereotype. All he needed was a mustache to twirl, for Pete's sake. I couldn't believe Veronica DIDN'T go to the hospital, she went to the police (who she knew were biased against her family) and it just didn't make sense, to me, that she didn't then head right to the hospital to get a kit done and get some (potential) DNA. How about THERE for a start, Sheriff Obviously-A-Dickwad? I'll definitely be tuning in though. And that Kristen Bell, some delivery there!

And, I echo almost all your Smallville thoughts all though the Lana-As-A-Warrior-Princess...I swear, if that's also connected to Krypton -- what did they get some kind of frequent flyer to earth program?

Mostly though: there was certainly a lot of emphasis placed on making her annoying quirky, and there was a bit much mugging going on.

Bwahahaha! She's sassy, you know!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I like Veronica and her dad enough that I wish this had been a 2-hour pilot. I wish shows did 2-hour pilots any more... In order to get the new, nerdy buddy, the bad guys and ex-boyfriend, and the motorcycle gang into the picture, it seems like the depth of the backstory was lost. I'm sketchy on what happened with her family and their dynamic and the whole sheriff/recall thing, and that seems like it's actually really important! I don't think they could have left out any of the elements introduced here, or saved them for another ep, but obviously there just wasn't enough time. I hope the next episode or two have some scenes to convince me that these characters have all arrived at this point legitimately, i.e., with some supporting history.

I know nothing about Rob Thomas, but I like YA and toy with YA book ideas of my own: recommend a title, would you?

[fairy-tale-echo.livejournal.com]

I hope your doggie is OK! I know how scary that can be, my family dog is a minature greyhound, so he's so delicate! He's broken BOTH his front legs (at different times) but survived, (he had to wear the satellite dish collar once with cast!) so if he can make it throught that, I am sure your pup will be fine! ((loves))

As for Rob Thomas, he hasn't written that much YA fiction (damn-it) because he does other stuff...like create shows like Veronica Mars and Cupid. (ever see that? Truly, truly a great show. Jeremy Piven thinks he's Cupid, sent to earth as punishment, and on a mission to get 100 couples together so he can get into Olympus. Awesome. And, naturally, cancelled after less than a season. Thomas was also hired to work on the doomed David E. Kelley spy-chicks show Snoops, but when Kelley tried to push him around take a larger role, Thomas quit.)

So, everything he's written is really good. However, I would suggest both Slave Day and Doing Time: Notes From the Undergrad, which take place at the same high school and have some character overlap. Doing Time is probably better all together, it's short stories, but Slave Day is the first thing I ever read by him and it gets me in my gut. GREAT stuff.

/end rambling/

ps...

[fairy-tale-echo.livejournal.com]

You should check out Rob Thomas' official web-page, hilarious!

From his Career Timeline:

November 1980 -- "Caradoc," Thomas' eleventh level paladin, defeats the fire giants. Others help.

April 1999 -- David Kelley hires Thomas as executive producer of his new show "Snoops." Kelley tells Thomas the leather-clad, bra-cam wearing, private detective vixens should be taken seriously ... like Rockford. Fearing another career misstep, Thomas quits before television season begins.

((giggles)) See why I <3 him?!

[pepperjackcandy.livejournal.com]

Horus is the son of Isis and Osiris. Mostly.

In all the Horus deities the traits of kingship, sky and solar symbology, and victory reoccur.

I'm more of a Thoth and Seshat girl, myself.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Talk about "fun with disheveled symbology." Go, SV writers, go! Red Cloak!?!?!?!? Hee!

[pun.livejournal.com]

Yes! There were two naked and complicated Clarks. TWO of them!! If that's not a shout out to me, I don't know what is!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I checked, and Clark/Kal-El wears a brown belt, which at first I found confusing since, duh - obviously this was about you. But it was precisely this deception that, after another glass of wine, convinced me that they were simply trying to restrict awareness of the shout-out to the absolutely elite fandom people. Yeah. That's it.

[pun.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think it's because back when I launched the challenge I was not yet a black belt. And the belt before black is commonly brown. At my school it isn't, but I understand there confusion. I still apreciate the effort.

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

VM: Uh, I kept yelling Chloe the entire episode so I don't think I'll ever get over that. I liked it way more than I thought I would.

SV: I can't remember any black kryponite. White, Red, Green, Gold, sure, but no black. I only saw bits of the show last night but I was staring at MK in horror going is she even sane? Get her away from AOT. That creeped me.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Margot was...intense. Like, maybe an alcohol-induced intensity. It was nice to see her, but she seemed weird and kind of menacing. I'm slow, so it took me awhile after watching (and reading others' comments) to realize that the cheesy, melodramatic mooning over her pas relationship with Dr. Swann was actually a reference to the Supes movies. Oh, okay. I get it after all.

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

Uh, sounds horrid. She just creeps me out, I didn't like her as Lois in the movies either and you know, inside jokes like that aren't always funny.

[iamza.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, black kryptonite is unique to Smallville. At least, I haven't run across any references to it in the comics I've read. Red, green, white, gold, blue, pink, and rainbow kryptonite, yes. Black, no. :-)

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm at least glad that it made no sense to anyone else, either ;)

One can only hope that Dr. Margot explained exactly what kind of effect black K might have to Ma Kent off camera, but I certainly would have appreciated being let in on the secret, too. Like, a sentence or two. Nothing elaborate.

Still, it resulted in two shirtless Clark's hugging/wrestling, so I hope they find another opportunity to use it. Maybe with Lex in the mix, too.

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

How would Dr. Swann know what it does? Did he get another message that he hasn't told Clark about? Does he have another Kryptonian locked up in a box in the basement of the planetarium and he and Dr. Margot poke at it with different-colored stones for fun?

Dude. Smallville. No make-y sense-y, yo.

How's puppy?

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, it was the only thing I didn't like, and since it was mitigated by the Doublemen thing, I'm willing to let it slide with just a mention for the record. Also, I like the mental image of Dr. Margot and Dr. Swann, maybe a little tipsy, laughing and poking at some p-o'ed, caged Clark-alike with crystal-tipped wands.

And, as you know, doggie's case is still a mystery.

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

Also, I like the mental image of Dr. Margot and Dr. Swann, maybe a little tipsy, laughing and poking at some p-o'ed, caged Clark-alike with crystal-tipped wands.

I like this image, too! It makes me laugh.