Robin’s “Hostage” Review
This episode brought us at least four things I was waiting for: Chloe’s apology, more information about the Book of Rao, the return of Martha Kent and Perry White, and the break-up of Lois and Clark. Now, I don’t take delight in the unhappiness of our characters, nor am I one of those people who push their glasses up as they scream at their TV about the continuity of Smallville leading into the Superman comics. I subscribe to the same notion Big Honkin Steve talked about way back during last season, Smallville is an Elseworlds tale. Period. I’m pretty sure it was established in the first episode anyway when we met a stranger named Chloe and noticed that Pete Ross had zero chemistry with Lana Lang. When Lois showed up in Season Four, I can’t believe people got upset.
Sorry. Tangent. What I am trying to say is that I wasn’t waiting for Lois and Clark to break up because they don’t belong together this soon. I was waiting for them to break up because I truly believe that unless Clark is completely honest with Lois and Lois is completely accepting of Clark’s secret, they will never be a real couple. I’m married and I can tell you that my wife and I wouldn’t ever be happy with either of us having a “secret life”. Happy commitments usually don’t usually involve a bylaw that states “mystery adds spice to a relationship”. I may be crazy but I think it adds doubt and mistrust, unless your relationship isn’t serious. But when they are finally straight up with each other, they will be the power couple we all know and love. In Charade, Clark ended up distancing himself more from her by ending her relationship with the Blur. Now if he tells her he is the Blur, he risks making her hate him for putting her through so much emotional strife. The question now is: Will he decide to build up his secret identity, and keep his nightlife away from Lois? Or will Clark’s story continue to be Elseworlds which will lead to him revealing his secret to her?
Unfortunately, what doesn’t help and what eventually is the tipping point to Lois breaking up with Clark is that he is majorly distracted. Or should I now say generally? *wink* But Clark is desperately looking for the Book of Rao because there are now a group of superbeings that are ready to burn this mother down. But Lois is feeling kind of lost since she lost her way to that higher purpose she had. I am certain she saw the Blur as that savior that will need her just as she needs him, as Dr. Fate prophesized. That loss has not just simply upset her; it has made her question what she is supposed to do with her life. When Clark tells her to give him a break, I knew she had just about enough. Obviously you can’t blame Clark because of what he is now up against. But, again, to paraphrase Dr. Fate, love is a two-way street.
I don’t have much to say about the Lois and Perry subplot other than it was a lot of fun. We got Perry’s catchphrase: “Great Caesar’s Ghost!” She called him “chief” which is something we all know Perry is going to get tired of in the future. We got to see how easily these two work together and how Perry can inspire her to be better. I was glad Perry helped Lois since Clark couldn’t be there for her. Although it was great to see Clark smiling as he watched Lois rescue Perry in front of the crowd that had gathered. Nice Superman reference, too. “I’ve got you.” Also, it was nice to see his pull at the Planet got their desks back, too. I felt bad about his love for Martha. Perry will never get her to marry him. I’m sure she sees him as fun, but I think she will remain single in the end. I also have a sneaking suspicion that their relationship was something to keep him distracted from his search for the Book of Rao. I hate to think of her as that calculating, but he then got a tip that the Red Queen was in Nairobi. Who do you think planted that? I’m thinking that after a visit back home, Martha may need a break as well.
But, ah, to see Martha Kent again, back at Kent Farm. Boy, that big house has seemed empty these past three years. But seeing Ma Kent making a pie just felt like home. But Martha is different now. I’m not sure if you can call it hesitation, but certainly a thoughtful pause was taken as she looked at her old apron. She had a few moments like that. For instance, staring wistfully at Jonathan’s workbench, with his gloves and toolbox or seeing Perry’s silhouette as he brought in firewood wearing Jonathan’s old coat. Martha has been through a lot of change taking on the Senate seat, getting away from the farm, and putting the loss of the love of her life behind her. I can say from personal experience, after the loss of my father, my mother had to almost reinvent herself and find a life outside of what she did before she became a widow. Wounds like that never heal; you just find different ways to distract yourself so the pain doesn’t keep you from functioning.
I must take one moment to mention that I loved hearing her tell the story to Lois about how she and Jonathan sandbagged a river all night to protect 20 families from getting their homes flooded. I would love to have seen that as a flashback episode, or maybe even in comic book form. The thing is, up until now, Martha has always been portrayed as the big city socialite that gave up all the opportunities she had because she fell in love with a man who believed in the goodness of people. But what we have never heard was that it wasn’t just love that brought her to Smallville, it was purpose. Working in the rain and mud all night filled that space inside her that she might not have gotten if she stayed in Metropolis. Not to say her love of Jonathan wasn’t a huge part of what kept her in Smallville, but I am guessing what she found inside herself that night probably gave her the excitement that Lois got when she first talked to the Blur.
But her life as a Senator sure hasn’t kept her from protecting Clark. In fact, it has helped her discover forces inside the government out to get him. We find that she is the Red Queen, as many of you easily guessed. She also has a bit of a manipulative side to her, because while she keeps her son and the two reporters “hostage”, she sends a nasty virus to Watchtower, and has Maxwell Lord kidnap Tess to discover the location of the Book of Rao. I’m not sure either how Tess obtained the book or how Martha knew Tess had the book either. But Martha calls Tess out for only being into the saving the world game just to save herself. She also threatens her to stay away from Clark and if she’s not careful, she’ll end up on the wrong side of the apocalypse. I really think Tess isn’t long for this Earth.
On the Zod front, the stakes were certainly set up for the season finale. No doubt that it was Zod who contacted Lois at the end of this episode and not Clark. And how about the information Martha gave Clark about the Book of Rao? We now see that Clark will be able to use it to get rid of Zod and his army, but he runs the risk of getting transported to “another plain of existence” himself. What does everyone think that plain is? The Phantom Zone? Earth-2? The Legion’s Future Time? New Krypton? The Bottle of Kandor? Bizarro World? A CW spinoff called The Unexpected Diaries of Valla, One Supernatural Gossip Girl from Melrose Tree Hill, 90210?
Finally, the moment many have been waiting for happened tonight. Some were happy about it. Some thought it wasn’t enough. I’m talking about Chloe’s apology. After last week’s discussion here on SmallvillePodcast.com about whether or not we still love Chloe after Season 9, I was happy to hear her tell Clark she was sorry. If anything, let’s quickly recap that scene:
Clark shows up at the wrecked Watchtower. He wonders what the holdup is with the repairs. Chloe reveals that Watchtower is ready to go but she isn’t. She admits that she found footage of Jorel hiding the Book of Rao months ago. She apologizes for keeping it a secret because she became tangled in her own world wide web. She lost track of what was important. When Clark disappeared, she retracted into Watchtower, playing Big Sister. She tells him that it turned out having all the information doesn’t mean having all the answers. She wants to start plugging into the real world with Ollie and have a normal life because virtual reality bites. But Clark won’t let her just give up. He tells her that they are on the brink of war and he needs her. They open the shutter for the main window of Watchtower and everything starts powering up. Chloe tells him that even when she was hurting him, she was trying to protect him.
So I don’t know about you, but I think that any problems I had with Chloe were resolved with this scene. I spent a great deal of time talking Chloe last week, and the conversation between her and Tess in Sacrifice must have been on her mind as she repaired Watchtower. I just wanted to quickly mention that I’m sure this is what led her to tell Clark she wanted out. I almost expected Clark to sympathize and tell her he can handle it. But he told her he still needed her. And if I know my TV dramas, this means that something bad is going to happen to Chloe. No need to curse at me! I just have a feeling about this one.
OK, we’ll talk again soon about the season finale, Salvation!!
I enjoyed reading this and I actually agree with what you said re: Chloe’s apology and the Clois break-up. By now I know that YOU know that the breakup was actually worth it, so I’ll leave it at that, lol.
I was thinking since as Derek stated Jor-El maybe was taking the Book of Rao out so he may have had it on him when he was abducted by Tess and that’s how she got it or maybe she was observing him and saw where he had hidden it. Either way, I think that’s how Tess ended up with the Book.
My only issue was the whole Red Queen storyline which was not developed enough like the whole Checkmate storyline. if they had taken the time to develop the whole Checkmate storyline we could have bought the Red Queen storyline. I think Martha got the whole manipulative side from when she was seeing Lionel Luthor after Jonathan died. I really long for Kal-El to be in the suit and really take responsibility for what he has done. For him to become the Hero that does really bring both sides together, to quote Martian Manhunter
@ Charlie, what is it that you want Clark to take responsibility for? Clark takes responsibility for everything, even things that weren’t his fault, so I’m genuinely curious.
And as for the Red Queen thing, hell I bought it.
Wicked Awesome!
My thought on how Tess got the Book of Rao was when Chloe discovered, in Persuasion, that Tess had piggybacked her (Chloe’s) video footage. I really enjoyed Hostage, as well. Especially how all the episodes tied in together. Very satisfying 9th season!!
Natasha He didn’t take responsibility for the fact that he wasn’t honest with Zod, knowing full well the man he would become, which led Zod to imitate the Blur and fool Lois, and of Course he should have taken responsibility for the fact that there were people out there (Like Checkmate) who would want to exploit his powers for their own selfish or misguided ends. Instead he was so focused on what he was doing and not seeing that his actions had far reaching consequences (Checkmate being born). The Red Queen while not developed enough to lead us to believe it was Martha (And Steve Glossen through that out there as a joke that the Red Queen was Martha) and that Martha was trying to save her son from those who would exploit him….Just my thoughts
@ Charlie, I don’t think it’s fair to say that Checkmate was born because of Clark when even Amada Waller says that the reason she came out of the woodwork was to recruit the JSA was to avert the coming Apokalips, which had nothing to do with Clark or the Kandorians. And why is it Clark’s responsibility that there are “people out there” that don’t have his moral code and would want to exploit his powers? If it’s Clark’s responsibility, then it’s also J’onn’s and Carter’s and Dinah’s and Dr. Fate’s, etc.
Second, Zod imitated the Blur because of Zod. Zod was on his way to becoming a menace with or without Clark’s “help” and I’m getting a little tired of people always blaming other’s villainy on Clark when everyone is responsible for their own actions. The Zod that was put in the orb already had a screw loose and he’d already committed two known acts of murder and one known attempted murder before he started imitating the Blur, so I guess I just don’t agree with this argument. The first thing Zod wanted when he appeared on Earth was the powers he should’ve had under yellow sun. I guess I just see it as naive to think that whether he’d met Clark or not he wouldn’t have tried to take over the world once he got those powers. That’s not something you can put on Clark’s head.
Now, if you’d said Clark should’ve taken responsibility for Zod imitating the Blur because it put Lois in danger not knowing the secret, that I would agree with.
Loved the review the only thing I didn’t agree with was the Chloe apology. I didn’t believe it was sincere and Salvation proved that to me. As far as the break up I was glad because to me at this point Clark has not earned the right to be with Lois. I really have a problem with this take on Superman. Clark in Smallville lies and lies and lies and to be honest that really bothers me. He isn’t
yet the hero that I have admired for years. Season 10 is going to have to do a complete turn around for me to believe that he is the real deal and worthy to be with Lois Lane. Hostage was great and Salvation was amazing but if they write Lois being completely forgiving about him just flying away with the kandorians and not telling her that she will never see him again I will be disgusted. No matter what the reasons that might be given she has told him about her abandonment issues and what was he going to do,,,,yeah thats right ABANDON her. I love the Blur though which may not make any sense? But Clark not so much….IMO
@Faith, it’s interesting that you dislike Clark so much for lying “for years and years” when Superman/Clark lied to Lois in the comics for decades and decades but you admire him.
@Natasha, your right maybe I shouldn’t be so hung up on the lying after all as you say lying has always been a big part of Superman. I should focus my issues for Clark /Smallville on lack of back bone and obvious inability to “man up”. While Season 9 certainly improved his character there were still unfortunately alot of negative moments. I have the biggest issue with the way the relationship between Lois and Clark has been written. I understand the need over the years to cater to certain fan groups but to take a story 70 years old and counting and try and down play its importance to the story is one that alot of Superman fans have had a really hard time with. The majority of us do not participate in forums and haunt the “polls” but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have strong opinions about how the story is told. The one thing that I have always have liked about Smallville’s take on Clark Kent is that he was never shown to be a bumbling well intentioned fool. I loved Chris Reeves Superman but hated his Clark Kent. That said alot of the people that I know who watched the show took great offence to the second half of Season 8 and stopped watching because of it. I continued to watch because I had hope that they would “turn it around”. Echo, Warrior, Escape, Charade, Hostage and Salvation IMO wre not written with the respect I feel the relationship deserves. Maybe I should turn my wrath on the writers and leave poor Clark alone. The bottom line is this I am a huge Superman fan and I was long before Smallville and I will be long after Smallville and I am also a huge fan of the Iconic Couple so I want them treated with the respect and care I believe they deserve.
@Faith, that’s cool, but I think you’re not counting for the Superman AND Smallville fans that found that episodes like Charade, Hostage, and Salvation did more justice to the characters of Clark Kent and Lois Lane than the comics have done for 70+ years. Charade was the first time that Lois was put on equal footing wrt Clark’s secret by having her voice the very reasons why the Blur shouldn’t tell her who he is, thereby not only making it Clark’s decision, but hers as well. This is something the comics never managed to do and as an avid comic book collector, I thought it was bloody brilliant.
The break up in Hostage was the most mature break-up we’ve ever seen on Smallville. There was no name calling, no intentionally trying to hurt the other’s feelings, no declarations of “I don’t know how I could’ve ever loved you” or anything like that. It wasn’t a mutual break-up and it was clear that they still loved each other.
In Salvation they showed that they were willing to work it out, but Clark, albeit mistakenly, thought Lois would be better off leaving than staying just to have him disappear forever. In that scene they all but said ILY, and IMO the words that they DID say was more meaningful than an “I love you” that has been thrown around on this show too casually in the past (and even in the episode). And at the end of the day (almost literally), Clark finally “manned-up” and told Lois in the most unique way to the series. Because, you see, Lois has these mad kiss-identifying-skillz, and Clark who has an eidetic memory (proven in Season 1) and knew from Crimson that Lois could kiss him and remember that she’d done it before, isn’t dumb enough to think that after kissing him for 8 months (canon length of time they’d been dating) and not recognize it.
I also want to point out that Clark “manned-up” not only in his Blur activities but in his pursuit of Lois in a way that he’s NEVER done in past seasons. Clark as never gone after someone he had feelings for the way he did with Lois (at least not while he wasn’t on RedK).
This isn’t to convince you, just to give a different perspective. I think they’ve treated Clark and Lois with enormous respect. They’ve shown us the lighter side to their relationship, they’ve put them in situations (Echo, Warrior, Escape) and had them work it out by the end of the episode without anyone crying alone or “throwing balls” in a loft, and they’ve given us some really good non-manufactured angst that wasn’t solved in 42 minutes, and they still have issues to resolve in season 10, but that’s what relationships and television are about.
Ok, sorry I have to weigh in on this one. :)
Faith, I completely respect and admire that you are such a huge fan of the Iconic Couple of Clark and Lois and that you want to see the relationship treated properly. I also understand your passion for the Superman legacy both in and outside of Smallville. But I have to tell you—-you are not unique in that way. I’m not sure how many Smallville fansites you visit. But I can tell you right off the bat that the largest Clois site on the web, Divine Intervention, is LOADED with Superman comics fans. I am a huge fan of Smallville but like you, I’ve been a fan of Superman and his story since I was as little girl in various mediums whether it be the comics, the animated series, the movies and LnC.
Steve and Derek are probably the two biggest Superman fans you could ever imagine. Yes, they love Smallville. But these guys are Superman fans first and foremost. So please just be aware that you are not the only one out there who is concerned with the Superman legacy and with the overarching love story of Clark and Lois in the story. There are MANY of us even on this site that care deeply about these characters and the way they are portrayed.
I’m the first person to get pissed off whenever fans of this show refer to Clark and Lois as just another “ship” or refer to Lois as just one of the supporting characters. That’s just not true. Smallville is the pre-cursor to a Superman story. It ALWAYS has been and the closer we’ve gotten to the end of the journey the more important Lois and her relationship with Clark has become. Clark and Lois aren’t just a freaking “ship”–they are THE central relationship of the Superman story. Period. End of story. Lois Lane is not just a supporting character in the Superman story. She is the SECOND most important person in the mythos and second ONLY to Clark himself. (And I would argue that Lex is a very close 3rd.) When you are talking about the supporting cast of the Superman story (ANY Superman story) it goes Lois…and then everyone else. She is more important. Which is why I find it laughable when people try to compare Smallville’s enhanced focus on Clark and Lois to “becoming Lois and Clark 2.0.” EVERY live action version of the Superman story (with the rare exception of Superboy) has featured Lois Lane as the most important female in Clark’s life. The only reason that Lois wasn’t heavily featured in Superman III (and Lana Lang given focus instead) was because Margot Kidder had a falling out with the producers when Richard Donner was replaced. The focus on Clark and Lois wasn’t something that the 90’s TV show invented or something. They didn’t create these characters and neither did Smallville. Lois is the only other character who has been there since Action #1 in 1938. She was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to be Superman’s soulmate. She was based on a model who was named Joanne (Lois’ middle name) who later became Jerry Siegel’s wife.
Why am I saying all of this? Because I just want you to know that I totally understand that these are characters that mean a TON to people. Clark and Lois both as the INCREDIBLE individual characters that they are and as a couple mean an enormous amount to a ton of people. I know they mean quite a bit to me. And I DO care and take great interest and investment in how they are portrayed in every medium.
With all of that being said, I think that Smallville has done an incredible job and shown great respect to this iconic relationship over the past 6 years and particularly during the last season.
I’m not really sure how Clark could have “manned up” anymore than he did this past year. This was the first time in 9 years that Clark was EVER portrayed as the aggressive person in the relationship with a woman. This was the first time in 9 years where Clark was ever portrayed as the one pursuing as opposed to the one being pursued. This was the first time in 9 years of Smallville where Clark openly and honestly went after what he wanted whether it be grabbing Lois in the middle of the bullpen, or asking her out, or expressing that he wanted to move their relationship faster, or even expressing that he actually wants a sexual relationship and is willing to let go of his previous fear of for lack of better words…killing his partner during sex. He got over ALL Of that this year. Then in “Salvation” he was put in a position where he felt he had to let Lois go. So what did he do? He told her how he felt and he let her go with dignity. HE didn’t get down on his knees and cry nor did he mope or whine. He did what he thought he had to do to save the world and keep Lois save. Then, in the last few moments of the finale, he made two pivotal choices. First, he grabbed Lois on the street and kissed her passionately most likely knowing full well that she might learn his secret. Then, he made the ultimate sacrifice when he stabbed himself with the BlueK and gave up his own life in order to protect the world from the wrath of Zod.
On top of it, I think it’s worth mentioning that on several occasions this year Clark offered heartfelt and humble apologies to people that he felt he had wronged (whether they deserved those apologies or not is another debate all together) and asked for NOTHING in return for his humility and kindness. He stood by his friends even when they treated him like an enemy.
Clark needs to man up? Frankly, sometimes I’m not sure how Clark walks down the street because for lack of better words….he’s got balls of steel.
smallvil sucks
@wap Well, you obviously have no taste in TV. So, if you have a problem with Smallville, then why on earth would you come to a Smallville website?!?! You are dumb, this is dumb, I am through.