Starkville’s House of El Podcast

Find out what Tim thought about ‘Lara’ by clicking below and be sure to check out all of Tim’s past reviews leading all the way back to ‘Crimson’ here on the site.

On a string of Kryptonian-centered episodes, this was quite an unforgettable episode, definitely worth a rewatch. I almost felt, in the watching of this episode, as if I was watching a movie. In interviews, Helen Slater described her appearances on Smallville as “epic mini-movies,” and I definitely felt it through the watching of this episode. It just had everything, packed into an awesome 45-minute time! It felt very much like season seven’s Memoria, and that is one of my favorite episodes in season three.

This episode was surprisingly well-written. I say surprisingly well-written because it was written by Holly Henderson and Don Whitehead, two writers whose work has not been seen on Smallville. I am also quite surprised that they were given the task of doing a very mythos-centered episode. Usually new writers on Smallville are usually given the freak-of-the-week storylines before they are even entrusted with these mythos episodes. These two writers were given these tumultous task and delivered on every level. Lara was truly a roller-coaster of an episode and a treasure to watch thanks to the awesome script that lent a major point to the success of this episode.

One cannot talk about this episode I think without first talking about Helen Slater’s performance as Lara Lor-Van in this week’s episode of Smallville. Now, inititally, I was a little skeptical when I heard Helen Slater to be cast as Lara. Now don’t get me wrong. I was excited that Lara was going to be coming to Smallville, but I was just unsure with how she would play the iconic role of Superman’s mom. I was not disappointed in the least bit. She brought a very ethereal presence to the role that I think is necessary for Lara that previous actresses (and there have not been many, mind you) have brought to the role. I cannot wait to see Helen Slater return to the role later in the season, and she will be back.

Another thing that this episode had going for it was it contained the first televised appearance of Zor-El, the father of Supergirl. The only other time that Zor-El has appeared onscreen in any form is the Supergirl movie with Helen Slater, and that was 20 years ago. Christopher Heyerdahl was definitely the right choice for this role. He got every aspect of the character down, especially since the character has only been portrayed once onscreen.

On another “House of El” note, I personally think that Laura Vandervoort is really growing into the role of Kara. I have praised her performance in other reviews, but I think this episode, she really stepped up her performance. Her eyes really say a lot when she is onscreen, whether it be fury, pain, or happiness. Early on I was a bit skeptical about her arrival in Smallville when announced she would filling in the boots for Kara, but Laura’s performance of Kara has really grown on me this week.

On a Kara-related note, Lara was a major stepping stone for the character of Kara. It was in this episode that Kara really accepted Clark as her cousin and family member. In episodes prior, Kara had rebelled against Clark and early on in this episode, you definitely saw it. But I think Kara finally gave up trying to stop fighting after learning the dangers her reckless behavior could bring her. One truly touching scene in this episode was when Kara finally confessed her weakness in character to Clark and her accepting him.

This episode, even though it was riddled with Kryptonian stuff (which I enjoy to no end), it was a very much family-centered episode, in my opinion. How so, do you say? Well, Kara, in an effort to reconnect with the family she knows, alienates the family that she has. Clark does with all his power to keep together the family he knows nothing about, and in the process of the episode learns more about that family than he ever thought possible. This was one of the many references to family that this episode contained, which I like, as Smallville is a very family-centered show. It has been from its conception, even when the show started to show Clark’s Kryptonian family. But I digress . . .

It seemed though that John Glover seemed to return to form as Lionel Luthor in this episode than in Action. It seemed in that episode it was so focused on Lionel getting rid of his captors that it really didn’t focus on the things that make us love Lionel so much. I truly loved John Glover’s interaction with the two principal characters.

The scene that I simply loved Lionel Luthor in was his scene with his son, Lex. Now, I love all scenes where Glover and Rosenbaum square off, but this scene simply gives me chills, even after watching it several times. Every scene with these two seems to be a battle of wits to see which Luthor will come out on top. If you watch these scenes with that quite mentally, these scenes definitely seem different from the other character interactions that you watch in Smallville. The scene in this episode really showed how similar both Luthors are, even though both of them will insist that they are uniquely different from the other. I simply love how Lex seems to want to think he has changed, but Lionel seems to think otherwise. It is interesting to note that Lionel and Lex were in this same situation in season four, but the roles were very much reversed.

I also seemed to love Lionel’s interaction with Clark, even if it was a bit awkward the first time I watched it. The scenes between Clark and Lionel have seemed to change throughout the series. In the first season Clark and Lionel met, it felt as if it was the relationship that Clark and Lex seem to have now. Now it seems as their relationship has grown into a father-spn relationship, which has been interesting to watch onscreen. Definitely wasn’t something I was expecting. It shall be interesting to see this awkward father/son relationship goes and how Lex feels about it, since he knows about it now.

One plotline that came to a head in this episode was the Domestic Security/Agent Carter storyline. But it wasn’t the head I was expecting. Now, in my recent appearance on SHoE, I have shared my theories on Carter and how he might be connected to Brainiac, but that theory seems to have been dashed. But the Carter storyline was concluded ina avery nice way. I wasn’t disappointed by any means. I thought Kim Coates did a very good job playing this very mysterious role, and I personally enjoyed his stint on Smallville. He really was a merciless villain when it came right down to it. I, for one, hope he isn’t gone, and we see more of his connections to the mysterious “Starhawk” project.

As I stated earlier, this episode seemed to have a very Memoria-like feel. The more I watched this episode, the more I felt that. What made it more so for me was the very nice Memoria reference to Summerholt, who haven’t been talked about in Smallville ever since season 4’s Blank. this reference was especially nice for me, as I have wondered when Summerholt would make a comeback to the series. So this reference sufficed for me.

Another aspect that contributred to the Memoria-like feel was the way the flashbacks were induced, which i wasn’t expecting. I had thoyught Kara would find her crystal, and would relive her memories through this crystal. I loved the recounting of flashbacks through the Memoria method. I, of course, would love to see more flashbacks to Krypton, maybe even more repressed ones, since this Kryptonite treatment is in Kara’s system now. This Kryptonite treatment could bring more Kryptonian memories to the surface to help Clark remember more about his family, which is always awesome.

The flashback scenes with Kara, Zor-El, and Lara were shot beautifully. I loved how they went back and recreated the season 1 set to give it that nostalgic look, which added to the flashback. These flashbacks seemed to have an ethereal aura of light about them, which seemed to contrast Lex’s flashbacks from Memoria. (Please excuse my random Memoria references)

The flashbacks with these select members of the House of El seemed to reveal a lot. It revealed that Zor-El did in fact try to kill Jor-El. Now I had originally thought that Zor-El might have in cahoots with Zod to do so. A twist in Zor-El’s character was that he did it for his love of Lara, and that there was some sort of sibling rivalry there. It will be interesting should Zor-El return to see the true extent of that. This stunnig reveal really showed how sadistic Zor-El was. Zor-El revealed that Jor-El was “too cold to be a father.” How much of this is true or just pure hatred towards Jor-El on Zor-El’s part.

These flashbacks really did a lot for Kara’s character. It really goes back to the family aspect of the episode, and of the series. The little piece of family Kara wanted a hold onto turned out to be more nothing than hero worship, which is bringing her more closer to Clark, who deserves to be the hero in Kara’s life. Not only did they do much for Kara’s character, but they did a lot for Clark’s character. Clark actually got to see his birth mother in the flesh, and now even has a real photo of her.

One flashback scene that seemed to be the WOW moment of the episode, was the flashback to Krypton. Even though the interior set of Kandor was a crimson redress of the blue Fortress set, it was still an amazing scene. The exteriors of this scene are truly what make it for me. If you look closely at this scene, you see that Kandor is the shining capital of Krypton. You can also see that the rest of Krypton’s geography looks remarkably similar to what it was in the original Superman movie, which is an obviously a callbackl to the season 5 premiere, where Jor-El remarks that Krypton’s geography was recreated in the Fortress.

One twist in this episode that I did not see coming was the fact that Clark had the crystal from Kara’s ship. It may have been more obvious to other people than on my first viewing, but I was truly shocked when Clark opened his Pandora’s Box to reveal the crystal inside. It was truly a twist ending that ended the rollercoaster of an episode on an unbelievable high.

I do want to talk about the crystal and its capabilities. Zor-El revealed that since he and Lara couldn’t be together physically, but that they could be brought together through his science. It is not too far of a stretch to think that Zor-El not only put Lara’s DNA in the crystal, but his own as well. On the same note, it is not too far of a stretch to think that Jor-El could have infused his mind into crystals the same way Zor-El was able to infuse his and Lara’s DNA in crystals.

One thing I did not like in this episode was the Chloe-Lana reunion. It was interesting to see what Lana is up to, aside from watching Lex’s every move. It should be interesting to see where Lana takes this Isis Foundation to help Meteor-Infected people. But, anyway, the reunion between Lana and Chloe seemed weird to me, because there really was no reunion. Perhaps there was a scene between these two characters from Action that had to be cut, due to all the Lana stuff that was going on in that episode. I just feel that these two characters deserved a better reunion after being separated for so long. That really was my only hangup for this episode.

The Clark-Lana relationship is really proving to be quite interesting and quite reversed, than it has been in previous seasons. It seems that Clark is doing all he can to preserve the relationship by telling Lana everything about him. on the other hand, though, Lana is keeping deep dark secrets that could potentially destroy the relationship. It shall be interesting to see where this relationship goes, when it split once and for all. Or will it be?

Another relationship that is interesting is the Kara-Jimmy relationship. It seems now that Kara has decided since she wants to be human, she wants a normal human relationship. I don’t really know what Jimmy’s stance on this relationship is, aside from thinking Kara is really gorgeous (not that I blame him of course). Intrigueing either way, though.

This episode was awesome! I fell that there really isn’t enough that I can say to give it the justice that it needs. This episode answered a lot of questions and is continuing to tie plotlines together while opening new ones at the same time. Truly a rollercoaster of a season, and much more exciting things seem to be on the horizon for the season. Not to be a downer, let’s hope that this strike doesn’t put that rollercoaster ride to an abrupt end.

RATING: 5/5

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.