Smallville - Isis and Harvest
Jul. 14th, 2011 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcTwo enjoyable episodes.
"Isis" ... As you may have noticed, I divide Smallville episodes into the ones that introduce Smallville versions of characters from DC's rich history, and the ones that don't. This is the first time I've been unable to decide which category an episode fits into. I mean, yes, there's a DC character called The Mighty Isis, who gets her powers from a magic amulet, and Lois-as-Isis wears a similar outfit to this character. But Mighty Isis is a heroine with the power of Isis, not possessed by a villainous Isis.
There were two other nods to the comics character -- firstly the Egyptologist Ollie is talking to is named Adrianna, which is Mighty Isis's real name, and secondly the dagger is labelled as having belonged to Teth-Adam of Khandaq, who is Isis's husband Black Adam. (And that's probably the closest we're going to get to a member of the Marvel Family appearing in Smallville.) But it's not the same character, at all.
Anyway, setting all that aside, it was a pretty good episode, Erica Durance was clearly having fun as Isis, Cat got even more annoying, and Lois and Clark finally know that they know. And I loved Lois explaining things to Cat by telling her what actually happened, on the grounds that this is Metropolis, and things like that happen. Why don't heroes try this more often?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed "Harvest". It's the most cliched plot ever -- the hidden town of religious fanatics who plan to sacrifice the interloping hero to the crops. It was old when Chris Lee and Edward Woodward did it. In fact, I spent the first act convinced that this was a double bluff, and the villagers were perfectly normal Amish types. (They had, after all, just set up a The Lady Vanishes plot only to immediately reveal that Lois had just wandered off.)
But it turns out that by playing the villagers absolutely straight, and Lois's disbelieving reaction to them, it works. The patriarch is a brilliantly realised character, with his refusal to accept his daughter's death was a meaningless accident leading to his conviction that they need to keep killing people.
(One weird bit; before he turns out to be a member of the cult, the sherriff tells Clark that the residents' vitality comes from the Blue K imbued water. Presumably, he's just covering up, and it's a coincidence that this is the real explanation.)
And the Tess and Alexander subplot is, if anything, even creepier than the A-plot. It's ironic that Alexander has now aged to the point where he's played by Conner Stanhope, since one of Stanhope's previous portayals of Young Lex was as the part of Luthor's mind that wasn't evil, also named Alexander. So having him take over clone-Alexander when he's turning into Lex is highly disturbing. The bit where he pretty much gets overwhelmed by Lex's bitterness and practically forces Tess into giving up on him was shocking, especially since it worked. And then he's shaving his head...
"Isis" ... As you may have noticed, I divide Smallville episodes into the ones that introduce Smallville versions of characters from DC's rich history, and the ones that don't. This is the first time I've been unable to decide which category an episode fits into. I mean, yes, there's a DC character called The Mighty Isis, who gets her powers from a magic amulet, and Lois-as-Isis wears a similar outfit to this character. But Mighty Isis is a heroine with the power of Isis, not possessed by a villainous Isis.
There were two other nods to the comics character -- firstly the Egyptologist Ollie is talking to is named Adrianna, which is Mighty Isis's real name, and secondly the dagger is labelled as having belonged to Teth-Adam of Khandaq, who is Isis's husband Black Adam. (And that's probably the closest we're going to get to a member of the Marvel Family appearing in Smallville.) But it's not the same character, at all.
Anyway, setting all that aside, it was a pretty good episode, Erica Durance was clearly having fun as Isis, Cat got even more annoying, and Lois and Clark finally know that they know. And I loved Lois explaining things to Cat by telling her what actually happened, on the grounds that this is Metropolis, and things like that happen. Why don't heroes try this more often?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed "Harvest". It's the most cliched plot ever -- the hidden town of religious fanatics who plan to sacrifice the interloping hero to the crops. It was old when Chris Lee and Edward Woodward did it. In fact, I spent the first act convinced that this was a double bluff, and the villagers were perfectly normal Amish types. (They had, after all, just set up a The Lady Vanishes plot only to immediately reveal that Lois had just wandered off.)
But it turns out that by playing the villagers absolutely straight, and Lois's disbelieving reaction to them, it works. The patriarch is a brilliantly realised character, with his refusal to accept his daughter's death was a meaningless accident leading to his conviction that they need to keep killing people.
(One weird bit; before he turns out to be a member of the cult, the sherriff tells Clark that the residents' vitality comes from the Blue K imbued water. Presumably, he's just covering up, and it's a coincidence that this is the real explanation.)
And the Tess and Alexander subplot is, if anything, even creepier than the A-plot. It's ironic that Alexander has now aged to the point where he's played by Conner Stanhope, since one of Stanhope's previous portayals of Young Lex was as the part of Luthor's mind that wasn't evil, also named Alexander. So having him take over clone-Alexander when he's turning into Lex is highly disturbing. The bit where he pretty much gets overwhelmed by Lex's bitterness and practically forces Tess into giving up on him was shocking, especially since it worked. And then he's shaving his head...
