Episode 720 - Arctic Review




"Arctic" Review

Written by Scarlett

DISCLAIMER - Please remember that this review does not represent the opinions/viewpoints of everyone; it is the personal opinions of the reviewer only. Thank you.

Arctic was the worst season finale in seven years. It was rushed and jumbled, contained an anticlimactic confrontation between Clark and Lex, and no real cliffhanger! All Superman fans know that neither Clark Kent nor Lex Luthor will die. This episode should have showcased the Clark vs Lex (good vs evil) battle, which is the very basis of the Superman story. Instead, their five-minute scene in the FOS was basically a monologue by Lex in a pathetic last-ditch attempt to try to generate sympathy for this Sociopathic villain, who has tortured and killed many innocent people. Lex has committed too many crimes against humanity already, for us to believe he would sacrifice himself to try to save humanity all of a sudden (even from his warped viewpoint).

After seven years, the relationship between Clark and Lex deserved much more screen time and should have explored the fundamental differences in their morals and values. This was the scene that should have clearly showed the audience why they could never be friends and why they are enemies in the future. This scene could have been used to illustrate why Clark as Superman is the greatest fictional hero, and why Lex is considered to be one of the most evil fictional villains. What a waste! Perhaps it's time fans took up a collection and sent some Superman comics to the Smallville writers, as most of them don't seem to be very knowledgeable about the Superman story.

The Good:

Tom Welling's Performance: Tom gave a strong performance, in spite of the poorly written episode. He displayed a variety of emotions, from compassion towards his friends, anger towards Brainiac, sympathy towards Lex, and even sadness when viewing Lana's video. Even though the video scene was totally soap opera material, Tom did an excellent job in displaying his conflicting feelings in that scene.

Clark Kent: A lot of things were happening in this episode, and Clark was managing each situation very well. When it was obvious something was wrong with Kara, Clark immediately went to help her. When Chloe was hurt badly, Clark went to her bedside to stay with her. When he found out that Brainiac hurt Chloe, Clark immediately went after Brainiac, defeating him in their latest battle. Clark even checked on both Chloe and Lana, to make sure both of them were okay. Jimmy tells him Lex's plane is headed to the Arctic, and Clark goes to the FOS to confront him. Clark was very much a hero, and he was selfless in this episode, as he tried to take care of everyone and never once thought of himself.

Clark and Chloe: Chloe was once again a good friend to Clark and tried to help him in dealing with Kara. When Clark found out Brainiac had hurt Chloe, he went after him.

Marsters/Brainiac: Brainiac has been portrayed as the most intelligent and challenging villain for Clark on this show thus far. Both Tom and James did a good job in their confrontation. Their battle was the most exciting scene in the episode. Hopefully, Marsters will also return in season eight too. After all, can Brainiac really be destroyed for good, since he can regenerate himself?

FOS Destruction: Yay! for the destruction of the FOS and hopefully the warped, sadistic AI Jor-El computer program along with it. The writers have messed up the AI Jor-El program so much on this show, that the only way to correct it, is with a "reboot"(no pun intended), or for Clark to find the "real" AI Jor-El computer program instead. Surely, either Zod or Brainiac was in control of this last AI version. Besides, Clark doesn't need the FOS anyway. There are several versions where he travels the world instead to get his training.

Mixed Reactions:

Clark and Lois Scenes: The Clark/Lois/Lana video scene was touching, where Lois hugged Clark and tried to comfort him. And, in another scene, it was obvious that Lois was trying to help Clark when she gave him an application for the Daily Planet. However, there hasn't been a scene yet where Chloe has expressed her feelings about being fired. And, it's really getting old for other characters to constantly try to guide Clark, or to make decisions for him. Clark is the lead actor and the hero on this show. Is it too much to ask, for him to be shown making his own decisions about his life and his destiny?

The Bad:

Device to Control Clark: Apparently, the crystal ball was a way to interact with and to activate the FOS' self-destruct mechanism, and to incapacitate Clark, so he couldn't prevent it from happening. The crystal ball didn't give the owner any type of control over Clark's behavior after all. Why Jor-El would even send the crystal to Earth to control Clark and to destroy the FOS in the first place makes no sense. But, then hardly anything about Jor-El makes sense on this show. And wouldn't GreenK be more effective in controlling Clark anyway?

Clark and Lex in FOS - This scene should have been a pivotal one in the Clark and Lex relationship. Instead, it was a five-minute speech by Lex ranting about his warped justification for all the evil he has done, while Clark mostly watched him. Was this supposed to be the big confrontation between Clark and Lex (good vs. evil), which is the very basis of the Superman story? When Lex made the comment that he could have "helped Clark be a hero", my friends and I laughed out loud. Why didn't the writers let Clark confront Lex about his level 33.1 experiments and all the innocent people Lex has cloned, tortured and killed? Is that what Lex thinks is a hero?

Sure, Lex is a sociopath, and they always blame other people for their behavior, see themselves as victims, and don't take responsibility for their actions. But, Lex has never been a real challenge to Clark on this show either. Lex was easily manipulated by Brainiac, even after knowing Clark for seven years, and he still needed Brainiac's help to solve Clark's secret, even with him having all the clues. Are we really supposed to believe that Lex wouldn't kill Clark and leave him, because he once "loved him like a brother"? Funny, but Lex had no qualms about killing his clone-created brother, Grant, or in shooting his "adopted sister" Kara in Apocalypse. Or killing his birth father, Lionel, if it suited his purpose! Lex has committed too many crimes against humanity, to believe that he would ever sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity all of a sudden.

What a disappointment that SV!Lex never achieved iconic status on this show. Ultimately, Lex exited as a weak, ineffectual and incompetent villain. Lex deserved better than this, and MR should have gone out with a bang instead of a whimper! And, Clark deserved better too! Overall, it was just a very disappointing, anticlimactic way to resolve the seven-year storyline between Clark and Lex. It was too one-sided, written poorly, and felt too rushed. Plus, mythos Lex is obsessed with Superman, not Clark, so this ending doesn't even line up with the mythos version.

Lana Lang And Her Video: SV!Lana has got to be the most unlikeable of any Lana Lang version. In her typical self-obsessed manner, she leaves a video breaking up with Clark and runs away yet again. This is totally in character of course, since Lana had previously sent Whitney a break-up video, and had even planned on leaving Lex a "dear John" note on their wedding day. And, of course, she has run away from SV twice before: once to Paris and once, faking her death, to hide in China.

The writers have made it very clear that she is not the right girl for a hero like Clark, and that he deserves much better. The line about her "giving up Clark for the greater good" seemed to be thrown in to try to pacify some fans and didn't really make sense. In Persona, Lana was more than willing to run away with Bizarro!Clark and was not in the least concerned with Clark's destiny then. Clark needs a woman who will stand by his side, instead of running away when things get tough, and who is part of his greater destiny. Lana is right; she is not part of Clark's destiny - it is much bigger than her, and it really doesn't involve her at all.

And, it's a shame that the final break-up between Clark and Lana couldn't be a mature, mutual one, so that Lana fans could have closure and it would be somewhat believable they would be friends in the future. At this point, it's difficult to understand why Clark would even want to be friends with Lana. Perhaps this can be resolved in season eight. One way would be if Lana returns, wanting to give her romance with Clark one last try, but finds that Clark has moved on, and he wants only friendship with her from now on. As with Clark and Lex, this was also a disappointment.

Chloe and Jimmy: The marriage proposal by Jimmy to Chloe could have happened in "sleeper". This scene was not necessary for the season finale.

Kara in PZ: Are all of Clark's storylines now going to be repeated with Kara? Why is she on this show? There's no time to waste on this duplication with one season left, and this storyline is not needed.

My rating? I give Arctic 2 out of 5 stars.

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