Added: 8/31/2004
Lalala spoilers, spoilers, spoilers....
I'm seriously in love with my friends' list.
emrinalexander nitpicks Duplicity.
3. Drive-by Lexus again. Look, I am grateful for any scenes MR and TW have together, but how about doing something really radical like making said scenes advance the story? At least in Heat there was a point to them talking to each other (except the Drive By Lexus in the Barn of Kryptopyromania at the end of the show). However, nine out of 10 times, though, we get a Drive By Lexus, where the following happens:
Clark: (surprised) (still) (clueless) Lex! What are you doing here? (in the kitchen, barn, living room, pasture)
Lex: (wishing the wardrobe people would get him a different pair of trousers) How are you Clark?
Clark: Surprised.
Lex: I see nothing much has changed then. Well, I must be going. I think I'm buying Brazil this morning.
Clark: Did you want something?
Lex: No, although I now run my own fledgling corporation - which by the way there has been little to no exposition about whatsoever - and undoubtedly have an office somewhere whichi contains actual work I must do, yet, although it is the middle of the day, I just drove 15 minutes out here to your house to spend 30 seconds telling you stuff that doesn't mean a rat's ass when it comes to whatever this episode is about. I guess we're just killing time until Kristin does the next Neutrogena spot and someone *else* moves the plot of this ep along.
Clark: There's a plot?
*dying* Read the entry. This is just classic.
Okay, so I was lukewarm on the episode. It was a good episode. My nitpicks are other people's nitpicks--aka, three months no ship, amazing lack of continuity with the emotional upheaval of Vortex for Lex continues, LexCorp still worth only three lines of dialogue or so over two episodes.
(Hey, writers? Lex is part of the Smallville Continuity. LexCorp is IMPORTANT. Give the boy a minute of dialogue to explain WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED WITH DADDY AND LUTHORCORP TO GET TO THIS POINT!).
Ah-hem.
It was nice to meet Pete. He was totally a brand new character to me. I noticed he had lines. Clark's way of telling him the truth kicked ass (stopping the car? Wasn't that GREAT?). Pete confirming Clark's 'people will think I'm a freak and hate me for lying' paranoia, not so great. Lex unwittingly backing that up, with Clark shifting uncomfortably in the kitchen? Fun. Lana free and clear and dropping anvils on Clark to throw himself at her? Yep. Lana doing Suspicious of Clark? *nod* Lana and Chloe cuteness? All kinds of good. Calling Pete the Best Friend? Clark, you little friend slut. I bet you say that to ALL the boys. *g*
Now. Hamilton.
*g*
To point out--I watched X-Files and I watch Buffy and I watched Star Trek. There are several things that have to happen for someone to be dead-dead, especially in the case of recurring characters whose only real job is to cause problems or forward obscure plotlines.
1.) More than two people have to see the body. The more the better. Public executions/deaths are best, with several minutes of angsting and staring at the body after by multiple people.
2.) It must happen in a public place, where a licensed doctor announces it to the room of interested onlookers for no really good reason.
3.) The body must be seen later at some point, still dead.
4.) Official action must happen. EMS, police, etc. Always a sign that the dead are really dead.
5.) They must be buried with some of the episode devoted to the funeral and the aftershocks of it. Being cremated isn't acceptable, because the ashes could be taken from somewhere else while the actual body is shipped away for Later Plotlines.
6.) Somewhere on the net, it is discovered the actor has taken a role on a different show on a competeing network full time. In Brazil or say, Ukraine.
If these conditions are not met, then they aren't really dead and have the option of returning in the future with only minimal continuity twisting. Even SHOULD these conditions be met, they still might not be dead but may wait a season or so before coming back. Usually this involves Clones, time travel, or bizarre and irregular continuity.
So.
Pete says Hamilton is dead. Pete is not a doctor in a public place. Clark saw the body before the boys stumbled out. Lex and Lionel come by. There was no body. Hmm. Two people saw the body. Strangely, an EMS van never arrived (did Clark and Pete forget to dial 911 to explain about the body in the shed?). And no doctor was around to say, he's dead, Jim. Er, Clark. Um, whoever.
Huh. I wonder where Dr. Hamilton is?
So. Jenn's First Theory of Season 2? Hamilton is off becoming UberMutant To Haunt Lex Later And Cause Problems. I suppose his special power is going to be earthquaking or being SuperTwitchy. It amuses me. I could be wrong and have totally missed something that really proves Hamilton is dead-dead and not merely assumed-dead. But until I see a body in the ground, WITH a headstone, I'm keeping this one around.
Hmm.
Clark looked all adorably bashful to see Lex in his kitchen. In his head, I could practically see him marking the Inner Scoreboard of Lex Attention. My boyfriend's back! Here for comfort from Mean Old Dad! Yippee! And of course, the implication that Lex has been there awhile, leading to cute thoughts of Lex and his mommy in law having coffee. Awww. The domesticity is just sweetness and light.
Great Sexy Moment--Daddy Lionel reading with that pen, and Lex leaning into the doorway, watching with a very unusual expression. The one we'll doubtless see often when he's moved to the Dark Side. Ubersexy. Calculating, cool, interested, thoughtful, plotting. Oh yeah. Was that good for you?
Great Stupid Moment--pop quiz, you're in the hospital. Strangely insane twitching guy is hanging over your bed with those Manson-eyes-of-higher-level-craziness. He's acting violent and getting paranoid. You think he's the one that crashed you. You're weak as a kitten and not exactly the fastest speedracer on the track right now, and you are ALONE IN A ROOM WITH NO ONE NEARBY. What do you do?
Not. This.
When, I ask you, WHEN will these people NOT just burst out with "I KNOW YOU! YOU KILLED/HURT/DID BAD THINGS and I'M GONNA TELL!" The correct response is to play dumb, wait til he's in the hall, THEN hit your panic button. Okay? Play along with the insane people. This is a good rule. Other possibility? Play dumb, sneak a finger to your panic button. Other possibility--anything but ACCUSING insane, unbalanced guy looming over your bed of being The Bad Person.
So. More observations later, though nothing original, since everyone and their puppy is posting on this one. For current commentary, check out friends' list, because putting all the links will just give me a serious headache and take up space.
jenn, happy