I just finished re-watching this season. It's a lot better than I remembered. The cast have far more nuanced acting than I thought and the plot has moved on quite far. It's no longer a monster of the week scenario and the caves got introduced! Martha starts working for Lionel Luthor and gets pregnant (not by Lionel Luthor).
Jonathan Kent is still a patriarch but I have more sympathy for him this time. He's not deliberately disrespecting Martha, he's just doing what he knows, which is trying to support, feed and clothe his family. His only priority is his family, and he thinks it's his responsibility to look after them. So he gets a bit annoyed when he sees Martha putting other people first, except Martha isn't. She goes to work for Lionel because the family need the money. That's her main motivation Sure she wants to work too, and use her brain and academic training, but her first priority is her family, that's what drives her to accept Lionel's offer of a job. And she's good at it. She's shown to shine in her role. She's shown as vitally important to Lionel. She gets far more agency than I saw on the first watch through.
I had the impression that Lionel was a bastard investigating Clark at this time. Not true. You don't see that he's got any malice towards Clark at all here. He is malicious towards Lex, sure, they've got a really twisted fucked up relationship. Poor Lex is trying his best to outsmart his Dad and prove his worth, but Lionel is just better at it than he is. Lex is still young and impetuous. Then he meets Helen Bryce, the doctor, and tries to improve himself. And gets dumped. Then Helen comes back. My gods Helen is beautiful. Truly truly beautiful.
Lana isn't anywhere near as annoying as I remember either. She has more depth and range too. She's not all wet. And she dresses like a teenager. She's got a really stupid jacket that is very teenage. I think Clark et-al are meant to be 16, and when you remember that their actions and their relationship with the adults makes a lot more sense. When I watched it before I had severe difficulty reconciling Clark looking about 25, with him getting told off by his parents and acting like an emotional idiot. But if he really is meant to be 16, then it makes more sense.
I'm also loving the Christopher Reeves Superman theme they keep playing. Then I laugh quietly to myself as I remember it took them 10 seasons to put Clark in the suit...
I really enjoy this show. I'm just gutted that I don't have seasons 3 and 4 on DVD. :( I think I might go back to my X-Men comics to get my fill of superhero soap opera, then buy seasons 3 and 4 when i've got more cash.
Jonathan Kent is still a patriarch but I have more sympathy for him this time. He's not deliberately disrespecting Martha, he's just doing what he knows, which is trying to support, feed and clothe his family. His only priority is his family, and he thinks it's his responsibility to look after them. So he gets a bit annoyed when he sees Martha putting other people first, except Martha isn't. She goes to work for Lionel because the family need the money. That's her main motivation Sure she wants to work too, and use her brain and academic training, but her first priority is her family, that's what drives her to accept Lionel's offer of a job. And she's good at it. She's shown to shine in her role. She's shown as vitally important to Lionel. She gets far more agency than I saw on the first watch through.
I had the impression that Lionel was a bastard investigating Clark at this time. Not true. You don't see that he's got any malice towards Clark at all here. He is malicious towards Lex, sure, they've got a really twisted fucked up relationship. Poor Lex is trying his best to outsmart his Dad and prove his worth, but Lionel is just better at it than he is. Lex is still young and impetuous. Then he meets Helen Bryce, the doctor, and tries to improve himself. And gets dumped. Then Helen comes back. My gods Helen is beautiful. Truly truly beautiful.
Lana isn't anywhere near as annoying as I remember either. She has more depth and range too. She's not all wet. And she dresses like a teenager. She's got a really stupid jacket that is very teenage. I think Clark et-al are meant to be 16, and when you remember that their actions and their relationship with the adults makes a lot more sense. When I watched it before I had severe difficulty reconciling Clark looking about 25, with him getting told off by his parents and acting like an emotional idiot. But if he really is meant to be 16, then it makes more sense.
I'm also loving the Christopher Reeves Superman theme they keep playing. Then I laugh quietly to myself as I remember it took them 10 seasons to put Clark in the suit...
I really enjoy this show. I'm just gutted that I don't have seasons 3 and 4 on DVD. :( I think I might go back to my X-Men comics to get my fill of superhero soap opera, then buy seasons 3 and 4 when i've got more cash.
2 comments:
I actually hate to say this...but Lionel was my favorite character. He was bad, yes, but he did it with such...ZEST! Glover was amazing.
Ahh Lionel is so much fun to watch. And then he reformed in a later season. Glover is amazing.
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