solitary_summer | (no subject) (Reply)

Stupid, clumsy horse... not making my day any less stressful. The usual small injuries resulting from bites or kicks I can treat by now, I don't throw a panic-fit every time there's a little blood any longer, but hoof-injuries? Not good at all. She must have stepped on her own toes, so to speak, there was quite a deep hole on the Kronrand [upper part of the hoof, whatever that's called in English] with a sliver of skin and horn hanging away. Still bled a little after I'd washed the crust of dirt and old blood off. Finally got hold of one of the guys working there and he had a look at it and told me it wasn't all that bad, but he'd tell the owner of the stable. Poured disinfectant over the whole of it, drove home and called Ch....

At least they let me go home from work after only two hours...

APC ticket bought? Check.

And I finally got to watch Saturday's Smallville episode, too...

Good episode all way round, for a change. Even Lana was tolerable and exhibited something that might actually pass for acting...

The slyly attractive (and addictive) thing about Smallville is how you're lulled into security and bored sarcasm by all those sugary colours, shallow teenage angst and repetitive stupid fight-the-mutant-of-the-week plots until they spring an episode on you that will quietly break your heart... The incongruence between pretty, shining surface and depths at least hinted at, if not always fully explored.

Lex. So very sad to watch him slowly change. Because first season Lex might have believed Rachel Dunlevy's claims until proven wrong, simply because he'd have wanted to believe that Clark was his brother... outwardly he'd have acted rational about it, but deep down he'd have believed it. Now Lex already knows too much about Clark - all those glimpses, hints, lies, bits and pieces of evidence and information - to really think that at all probable, knowing his father and now seeing Rachel, who might not be the most balanced person, but doesn't display anything resembling super-powers. (Or at least that's the impression I received from his reaction, which admittedly might be somewhat distorted by the German dubbing.) I think he allows himself the intellectual exercise or emotional indulgence to pretend for a moment it's possible, but he never truly believes it. When he visits Clark, he's playing out a pretty, but ultimately improbable fantasy in his mind; there's affection and regret, but there's also an edge of probing to his questions, randomly, and, I think, almost habitual already, wondering whether Clark will maybe tell him this time, will let something slip, and Clark indeed inadvertedly offers him another piece of the puzzle with his unshakable certainty that that Rachel Dunleavy cannot possibly be his mother, because how could he know? Unless you know Clark's actually not even from earth at all, her story does sound probable.

Later - Lex fighting frantically, futilely to free himself when Rachel tells him what she intends to do and ask of his father, because he knows without doubt that barring miracles or Clark's intervention he's going to die. He's not surprised at all when he hears Lionel on tv, still hurt despite himself, but mostly it's weary resignation, merely the confirmation of something he already knew. Painful to watch.

Martha: Rachel's been admitted to a private psychiatric clinic. Even if she tries to explain what you did, nobody will believe her.

Clark: I really feel sorry for her.

Now I've browsed through the recap for 3rd season 'Shattered' on 'Television Without Pity'... is that what they'll say (or at least think) about Lex, too?

There really were quite a few good moments in this episode... Clark's fight with Chloe. Again, acting. Will wonders ever cease.

Lionel Luthor and Rachel - v. creepy.

And Jonathan Kent actually has a moment of honest self-reproach. It explains a little better what drives him like that and puts his usual sanctimonious attitude in context. He doesn't act (and over-react) like he does because he lives on some never-challenged moral high ground, but out of intimate knowledge of the murkier ethical depths, the kind of compromises you are forced to make if you love someone. Explains, too, his downright paranoia bout accepting help from anyone in a postion to exercise any kind of power over him and his family as a result of it.

One might also randomly wonder what, if anything, Martha Kent did say to Lionel Luthor when Lex was kidnapped and they were informed about the conditions for his release. We've seen she can manipulate him to a certain extent; could she have, if she'd wanted, at least tried to make him act differently, if there weren't her own interests and Clark's life to consider? Judging from subsequent events she apparently told Clark and relied upon him being in time to save Lex...