Episode Review: Salvation

Check out Dan’s belated review of “Salvation” just in time to get psyched up for the big Season 10 premiere!

Despite himself, Superman began to feel a bit exploited after several hours of hauling around the World's Fair banner.

What a difference a year makes.  After a season-ender like “Doomsday”, to say that most fans were going into “Salvation” with a bit of trepidation would be a gross understatement.  Sure, Season 9 had been almost impossibly strong overall, and sure things seemed like they were headed for a stellar finale that capped everything that had been set up all year long perfectly, but the truth is, we’d been burned before, hadn’t we?  A larger-than-life conflict with Doomsday was teased ad nauseam, and to what end?  Many of us wondered if the powers that be had learned from that mistake and given us something that not only ended a well-executed series of episodes, but did so satisfactorily as well.  Well, here we are.  It’s September of 2010 and the smoke from Season 9 has finally cleared.  I wanted to hold off on this particular review until I really had a chance to take in the entire season again on Blu-Ray and observe the whole run of episodes under the “how do these play as a whole” microscope.  Perhaps even more importantly, I didn’t want the immediate, knee-jerk reaction of seeing a series finale to taint my objectivity.  Finales tend to be loaded with things to illicit emotional responses from us long-time fans, and I wanted to back away from that a bit and deliver what would be less of a rabid fanboy review of such an important episode.  This one sets up our final season, after all.  So my apologies for the much-belated review of “Salvation”, but if it proves anything to me, it’s that this episode, plainly and simply, rocked.  It was simply a perfect cap to my personal favorite season in Smallville’s history.  It also proved incredibly effective at getting rid of that bitter taste some of us had in our mouths after last year’s finale.

"Huh", Lois thought, "you really can see Russia from the top floor of The Daily Planet".

“Salvation” starts off with a huge bang, introducing us to Metropolis in the year 2013.  My personal misgivings about the less-than-convincing CGI work aside, I did enjoy this intro sequence, although perhaps not quite as much as some others did.  What I loved about the flash-forward was the specific feel of it.  It was very un-Smallville-like in its comic book sensibilities.  That’s not to say that Smallville doesn’t pay homage to its comic origins, but the show has never quite felt like a comic book (at least not to me).  This series has always felt a bit more rooted in reality than something that could be easily categorized as a comic book show, due in large part to its status as a prequel.  It’s simply a daunting prospect to take a hero that’s as instantly identifiable and iconic as The Man of Steel and make that into a gritty, true-to-life drama.  And we see that here, where the tone has shifted to one of almost jovial whimsy.  When a man says that a plane is “headed straight for the Daily Planet”, his voice projects more of an over-the-top movie serial tone than genuine concern for the lives of everyone in the building.  But in the context of Superman, that tone is wholly appropriate.  And yet it serves to demonstrate just how far Smallville truly is from that world, even with only 22 episodes left with which to align with it.

"Wow. Another year, another one of Brandon's hand-me-downs. Thanks a lot, mom".

So in a sense, I did feel a bit of a disconnect between the world we’re heading toward and the one in which we now find ourselves immersed.  It also seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity to me not to actually show Perry White as the editor of the paper when Michael McKean had just guest starred one episode earlier.  It seems like they could have just grabbed Michael for that one shot to give the sequence a bit more weight.  And that’s the main thing that confused me about this whole sequence in general.  It seems cut around Lois in an almost self-conscious way, as if no one else was available that day.  We have a reference to Perry, a reference to Clark, and a reference to Lex, but it feels like they’ve all been cut around.  On the other hand, I do find it interesting that this is, at the end of the day, Clark’s vision, and he’s seeing it almost exclusively through the eyes of Lois.  It shows us, in that sense, just how much of his human world he’s embracing through her eyes instead of his own, and I love that the show sees their relationship that way.  I was a bit confused at just how things had progressed in the future.  Lois, for example, definitely had a rather large rock on display on her left hand, and yet she seemed a bit perplexed to see Clark’s chair spinning in circles.  Perhaps we’ve either got a mind-wipe in our future or Lois just becomes better at keeping secrets in the next three years.  Either way, I definitely like the nod to Lex’s ascent to the presidency (though I’m beginning to wonder at this point if any stills of Rosenbaum still exist beyond the one of him standing in front of the family bookcase).  I loved the reference to Dr. Fate’s speech to Clark in “Absolute Justice”.  It fit the scene just perfectly and really sold us on a sequence that went by far too quickly.  Watching this episode immediately after “Hostage” is a great experience, with Martha leaving Clark the suit on her way out.  Apparently, she’s honed her Red Queen skills enough that she can sneak up on Clark while he sleeps – super-hearing and all.  The music here, heralding in the supersuit, is just epic and unforgettable, as is the shot of the shield reflected in Clark’s eyes.  Great stuff.

Zod's learning the hard way that there are levels of creepy that even Axe body spray can't cover up.

After the credits, we catch up with Lois being greeted by Zod posing as The Blur.  In re-watching these shows back to back, I was struck by just how subtle and manipulative Zod had been with Lois from the beginning.  Whereas Davis was quite obviously creepy and obsessive with Chloe last Season, Zod’s moves are more calculated and subversive, playing off of Lois’s loyalties to The Blur and her increasing discomfort / distrust of Clark’s reaction to that relationship.  You really come away with a feeling that Zod has been watching the two of them far more closely than we’ve seen explicitly, and a nemesis like him observing everything from the monumental to the mundane is just incredibly eerie.  That kind of mastery over his own charisma makes Zod one of the best and most threatening foes we’ve ever had on the series.  It even calls into question Jor-El’s faith in him as far as I’m concerned.  A man like Zod can win over anyone with words and subtlety, even one of Krypton’s most renowned scientists.

"Wait a minute. I'll just convince him to banish himself. Then I won't even NEED Kryptonite weapons and Ollie and I can still rule this puny planet".

Next up is a scene that really encapsulates one of the few things I haven’t enjoyed about this ninth year: Chloe’s character.  Way back in the day, I was actually on board the Chloe train.  I defended her against all of the Clois shippers, the Chlark-haters, and even occasionally wondered if there might have been something to the Chlois rumblings (though, in my defense, I was never a hardcore member of the conspiracy theorist threads).  But over the last few years on this show, Chloe’s decisions and the paths she’s gone down have made me re-evaluate things a bit.  I’ve begun to wonder if the writers have done this to Chloe specifically to cause her character so much harm that even the most devout of her followers would have no choice but to see the light.  As Clark enters Watchtower and explains about the Book of Rao’s powers, Chloe seems awfully quick to suggest that Clark join the Kandorians off-world.  I know what the stakes are here, and I know Chloe’s arc in Season 9 has been all about putting the good of the world over her own interests, but this conversation just didn’t ring true for me.  Clark started the conversation not only determined to find another way to exile the Kandorians, but also assured – possibly for the first time – that his destiny was here on Earth.  The certainty in his voice as he said he knew that his future lay here was refreshing to say the least, and to hear Chloe immediately begin to sow the seeds of doubt in him again was really perplexing.

In a few seconds, she'd shoot her patented smirk toward the camera, breaking the fourth wall. Then she'd turn the tables. She had Zod right where she wanted him.

Our next scene takes us to The Fortress of Solitude, where Zod is preparing to destroy the crystal panel that allows Clark to communicate with Jor-El.  His plans are interrupted by Tess, who’s had a change of heart and allegiances since the events of “Pandora”.  Based on a recent fan poll, Tess is one of the least-liked characters on Smallville, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why.  While I was as skeptical as the next person about someone stepping into Michael Rosenbaum’s shoes after Season 7, I realize now that that was never really the role Tess was intended to fill.  Cassidy has always played Tess as conflicted, scared, and not entirely sure of who she was.  At different times, she could be evil, caring, self-assured, or confused.  I believe she’s truly had the best interest of the world at heart, even through some of her most terrible actions, and she’s regularly traveled the dark path that our heroes have chosen to rise above.  But choosing the wrong path doesn’t in and of itself make Tess an evil character.  Her motives for doing so haven’t always been misguided; she’s just lost her way.  She’s realistically human.  And, in that sense, she’s a bit hard to put your finger on.  Perhaps that’s why fans find her frustrating, but to me, it just makes her interesting.  Her confrontation with Zod here is done very well, and Tess’s anger and frustration at once again aligning with the wrong person is palpable.  Zod burns Tess’s face from a distance just before Clark enters The Fortress.  Not a whole lot comes from this next scene.  It’s just a bit more of “I’ll stop you” / “you can’t stop me” dialog like at the end of “Sacrifice”.  In any case, Zod flies off and Clark super-speeds Tess to Metropolis General.  The only thing really noteworthy about this whole scene to me was the line Clark has about killing Jonathan through playing God, and it does have me wondering if that thread of guilt will be part of the reason we see John Schneider back in the premiere.

The truth was, there was really only one person to blame for what had happened to her - BATMAN.

Lois’s investigative instincts are meanwhile kicking into high gear on the heels of Zod’s suggestion that she look deeper into Clark’s motivations, and she finds that Clark knows more than he’s telling her.  I like how conflicted they make Lois during this process.  She’s actually tried to respect the walls that she and Clark have put up between one another to this point, and you can see that part of her doesn’t want to be doing this.  Again, it was a pretty diabolical (and ironic) plan Zod had to use Lois’s loyalty to The Blur against her relationship with Clark.  Back at MetGen, Tess tells Clark that there’s a separate crystal console that she moved from the rubble of the solar towers to his crow’s nest above the city which should power the Book of Rao.  Again, I like what the writers have done with Tess this last year.  You really feel that she’s attempting with her last efforts to atone for what she’s done, and it’s a bit heartbreaking to see the hesitation in Clark’s face even as she’s pouring her heart out to him.  Tess has made such a shady almost-adversary of herself for so long now that, even when her intentions are honorable, no one knows if they can trust her – even someone with as stable a faith in humanity as Clark Kent.

For the life of him, Criss couldn't understand why anyone would do this to his beloved Luxor.

Correcting one of the wrongs in last season’s finale, “Salvation” also attempts to give us something in the way of grand, global scale to its action.  If one thing was lacking last year, it was that sense of awe that should have come inherently with the beast that kills Superman.  Now sure, the more cynical, eagle-eyed viewers out there might look at the shots of Zod’s disciples burning his crest into notable landmarks around the world and see them as stock aerial photos with fire elements added in, but I for one am thrilled to see something bigger at least being attempted as we close in on the final year of this series.  It really gave this episode a global scope that I felt was required to give the proper weight to what was unfolding.  Kudos to all involved for trying to make things feel as epic as possible.

"What's with the screen size, Hawkman?", quipped Oliver, "compensating for something"?

We see the reactions to these events and suggestions of the members of the Justice League back at Watchtower (with a nice reference back to the rivalry between Green Arrow and Hawkman), but it’s Clark’s voice that carries the most weight.  One word from him and the ensuing debate on how to deal with the Kandorians is silenced, and the entire team is unified behind a single voice.  This was one of the best moments in “Salvation”, and it’s thrilling to finally see Clark not only embracing his destiny, but also rising into the leadership role we all know he’s meant to fill.  The writers had hinted earlier in the year that Clark would really step things up in the finale and lead from a place of strength, and I think we saw that here for the first time in a way that felt both natural and earned.  I also really enjoyed Clark’s talk with Oliver after the meeting.  I love how Tom has played the arc of Clark Kent over nine years.  It’s apparent that, as much as his relationship with Lois means to him, that it means more to him not to hurt her than to ease his mind in leaving by telling her everything.  The character he is here is a far cry from the farm boy who lamented for years over his inability to open up to Lana.  He’s putting someone else first in his life this time, and it’s not just out of some need to protect her from an unknown threat.  He’s protecting her heart.  I really loved how this was handled, and you can really see that Oliver doesn’t want to see Lois hurt any more than Clark does.  He was standing more or less in Clark’s shoes just three seasons ago, and we’ve seen some of the regret he still has over how that turned out manifest earlier this year in episodes like “Crossfire”.

"Ollie, would you still love me if I were a mask-wearing prophet"? "Um, I don't know. Why do you ask"?

Following an obligatory “the world will soon be ours” meeting between Zod and one of his soldiers, we get a nice scene between Oliver and Chloe that’s a pretty clever follow-up to the “Escape” subplot about her view on gift-giving.  Oliver has taken it upon himself to launch a satellite dedicated to Watchtower, but it needs a few manual tweaks before coming online.  I must say that, although I’m not a card-carrying member of the Chlollie fan club right now (if only because I know that these two are not destined to end up together in the end according to canon), I do like how their relationship is bringing out the lighter side of both of them.  It really makes me remember just how much I used to enjoy both characters before they started their respective downward spirals.  Oliver’s crack about being unable to be inconspicuous while wearing green leather, for example, was a pretty cute moment that his character used to be full of back in the day.

There was no doubt about it anymore. Clark was studying hieroglyphics. How would she ever be able to get past this kind of treachery?

At the Kent Farm, Lois is finally in full-on reporter mode.  Her dogged persistence in getting to the bottom of things reminded me a bit of the scene in “Metallo” when Chloe warned Clark about arousing Lois’s suspicions.  You really get a sense here of just how determined Lois is when given just a slight bit of doubt about something, and again, it shows just how evil and calculating that move was by Zod earlier in the episode.  When Lois happens on Virgil Swann’s diary and is interrupted by Clark, things lead into one of my favorite scenes in “Salvation”.  I have absolutely fallen in love with how they’re writing the Lois and Clark dynamic this year.  The contrast in how Lois handles Clark’s stonewalling and how Lana did so for years is so glaring that it made me appreciate Erica’s take on the character even more.  She minces no words with Clark when he asks her why she would stay instead of pursuing Perry’s offer to go to Nairobi.  Lana would likely have stood there and looked hurt that he didn’t figure it out on his own, but Lois says simply, “for you…I would stay for you”.  This forces Clark to deal with the situation instead of internalizing everything as he’s so prone to do.  I was also a fan of Lois calling him out when she says there can’t be any more secrets between them and he claims not to know what she’s talking about.  The way Erica delivered the line “yeah, you do, Clark” was just pitch-perfect.  It wasn’t accusatory, but it also wasn’t a question.  It just let him know unequivocally that she wasn’t going to be fooled as easily as some others may have been, and it’s wonderful to see Clark finally interacting to someone who neither judges him nor just slinks away when he doesn’t open up as he should.  She needs him to be truthful not because she needs to know the truth or is suspicious of whatever it is that he’s holding back as Lana always was, but because she truly loves him and wants to be there for him in every aspect of his life, even those parts that he can’t share with anyone else.  It’s a fine line maybe, but I think it’s absolutely great how the writers have found that critical way to distinguish Lois’s selfless love for Clark from what we’ve seen before.

Now Oliver knew what John McClane felt like and, by extension, a TV dinner.

But I could harp on the perfection that was the blossoming Lois and Clark relationship throughout Season 9 all day.  Back to the task at hand.  Tess succumbs to her injuries at MetGen, and is subsequently visited by a mysterious old woman.  I’m going to go ahead and assume that most all of you reading this right now are aware that this character is Granny Goodness and that Cassidy Freeman will indeed be back for Season 10, so while I’m not sure what this character has to do with Tess’s resurrection or what role she’ll play in her character going forward, it should certainly prove interesting.  In one of our bigger cliffhangers of the season, Oliver is attacked and taken away during his mission to manually activate the satellite by attackers that are “not Kandorian” as Chloe listens helplessly from Watchtower.  He does manage to get things back online before he’s abducted, but just who came after him and why are questions we’ll have to wait for Season 10 to answer.

"Tell Michael this is what happens to people who don't come back for Season 10"!

Clark, meanwhile, is about to activate the Book of Rao and finds that Lois has taken it from him during their talk in the barn.  This leads us directly to Lois’s meeting with Zod, which is probably my single favorite scene in the episode.  I loved the call back to “Charade”, and I like the subtlety with which it was handled.  A show that pandered to its audience might have thrown in a few-second flashback to let us know why Lois figured out who Zod really was, but I’m glad it was simply left to us fans to understand.  Also great is the implication of how different a simple hand touch can be from person to person.  Everyone has a “feel” to them, and I love how in tune with that sensibility they’ve made Lois.  It’s just enough to let her know she’s dealing with the wrong person, and being questioned when his goal is so close at hand sets off both Zod’s temper and his arrogance.  Just as he pushes Lois, Clark shows up in my personal pick for most satisfying moment this whole year.  The look on Clark’s face as he punches Zod is just incredible.  He warned Zod earlier in Season 9 about the repercussions of endangering Lois, and you can see immediately here that this has become more than a fight with a mindless beast like Doomsday for Clark.  This is far more personal.

And in the biggest twist of Season 9, moments after this still, Lois was STILL CONSCIOUS!!!

After Clark super-speeds Lois out of immediate danger of death-by-phone-booth (a phrase which could only possibly make sense in this show), we’re treated to a tremendous scene that sets up next year perfectly.  Lois comes around to find Clark standing in the shadows.  When she apologizes for thinking that Zod was The Blur, and he pulls her to him and kisses her.  At this point, the girls I watched this episode with were all yelling at the screen, saying that if Lois didn’t figure out that Clark was The Blur based on a passionate kiss with the man she was currently dating, that they’d lose all respect for her character.  Fortunately, the writers were smarter than that and, as we now know, Lois did indeed learn that Clark was The Blur based on this exchange.  I thought this was fairly self-evident in watching the scene, but apparently there was some question out there about what exactly Lois had or had not figured out.  In any case, I find myself more excited about this development going into Smallville’s final year than just about anything else.  I can’t wait to see how this plays out over next season, and it’ll be really great to see more of the Lois we got a glimpse of in “Idol”.  In watching that episode again recently for my Blu-Ray review, it struck me how much of a preview it might be for Lois’s character turn in Season 10.  If that’s the Lois we can expect to see in the next 22 episodes (one who’s selfless and willing to do anything to protect both Clark’s identity and everything he stands for), then I could not be more ecstatic.

Fortunately for Clark, The Kandorians were just itching for a reason to suddenly switch sides yet again.

Finally, we get to the showdown we’ve all been waiting for.  Zod’s assembled his followers on the crow’s nest above Metropolis and Clark is hopelessly outnumbered.  It’s at this point that Clark once again attempts to convince the Kandorians of Zod’s treachery in killing Faora.  Zod, in his anger and frustration, slams Clark against a wall and asks if he thinks he wanted to kill his own child.  Hearing this, the Kandorians turn on Zod and agree to leave Earth and start again on a new world.  Now, I’ll be honest here.  I wasn’t entirely sold on this resolution.  To me, it wreaked a bit of a “Lion King” ending.  And when I watch the scene now, that’s honestly still the first thing it reminds me of.  I’m not faulting the scene’s execution or effectiveness, however.  Clark shooting that “took ya so” look over to the Kandorians coupled with a particularly rousing moment in Louis Febre’s incredible score still manages to raise my geek pulse quite a bit.  It’s a great moment, and I loved how nicely the tables were irreparably turned on Zod.  I suppose the device just felt a bit stale to me.  Then again, Zod’s unchecked conceit certainly makes this kind of a moment perfectly plausible, and again, very satisfying overall.  If anything, my chief complaint in Season 9 has had to do with the other Kandorians.  First they’re on Zod’s side.  Then they decide to follow Clark for a while.  Later, tired of waiting for their powers to manifest, they turn back to Zod with little to no explanation.  And here, learning that Zod was responsible for Faora, they’re back on Clark’s side once again.  I’m not sure if all Kandorians are supposed to be this fickle and indecisive, but this particular group of them has come across that way in spades.  I was never even fully sold on their insistence that they acquire powers in order to defend themselves and fit in on Earth.  If anything, not having powers effectively makes them more like humans, so wouldn’t they fit in more without them?  Clark’s sure been under that impression for the last nine years.  And how exactly does not being able to crush metal with their bare hands or fly rings around the planet render them totally defenseless?  This all just seemed very whiny and out of character for a group of people who come from a planet supposedly so much more advanced than our own.

Activate interlock. Dynotherms connected. Infracells up. Mega thrusters are go!

Zod manages to use a concealed blue Kryptonite dagger to prevent himself from ascending with the others when the Book of Rao is activated, and he and Clark have a fight that manages to do in a few short minutes what last season’s Doomsday climax promised but never delivered.  We get several satisfying money shots, great cinematography, a memorable setting, and a terrific resolution.  A friend of mine felt that the slow motion was a bit over-cooked, but I didn’t really find anything here to be distracting on the level of, say, the beginning of “Checkmate”.  The groaning during the slow-motion does kind of seem odd upon repeated viewings, but still, this is a really great fight that does what it intends to do extremely well.  Clark manages to get the better of Zod by unexpectedly impaling himself with the dagger and falling to the city street below.  With enough distance between himself and the blue Kryptonite to allow his powers to return, Zod is exiled from Earth.  Now, if I could have changed anything about this, I probably would have made Clark’s intention in stabbing himself a bit more obvious.  I wasn’t sure the first time I watched the episode if Zod had simply overpowered Clark or if Clark meant to do what he did.  The look on Clark’s face at that moment didn’t help matters, and I just don’t think that it came across as unquestionably intentional as it should have.  In viewing the scene again (and in context with what happens to Zod), that point is made far clearer.  But I would have personally preferred it if Clark had managed to pry the dagger away from Zod and then stabbed himself, making it a bit easier to figure out what was going on.

"Look, can you just back off for two seconds so I can at least blow this storm cloud out of our way"?

Nitpicking aside, though, “Salvation” was hands down the best season finale we’ve seen in years, and an absolutely fantastic closing hour to the best season this series has arguably ever had in its nine year run.  Every character was given ample screen time, and everything this entire year had been building up and promising for the last nine months actually got a decent payoff.  This was a truly crowd-pleasing finale that had something for absolutely everyone, from the shippers to the drama fans to the comic book action junkies.  In truth, it might be one of the most fully-realized and successful hours in the show’s history.  Season 9 was an absolute delight for me personally.  I loved the maturation of long-gestating themes, the slow and satisfying growth of the Lois and Clark relationship, and the seemingly effortless way that everything truly tied together to form a cohesive and linear story.  To say that Smallville is enjoying an artistic and critical resurgence this late in the game gives me nothing but joy to report.  It’s absolutely incredible that we’re looking down the barrel at the impending Season 10 premiere as this review hits the web.  Never have I been so ready for a new season of any television show, and if Season 9 was any indication, we’re all in for one hell of a ride.  Bring on the end of the beginning!