Episode Review: Icarus

Why hadn't he just used his x-ray vision to be sure? That dealer had totally hocked him a CZ! Oh, well. Nothing a quick switch and some revenge heat vision couldn't fix.

Your long-suffering reviewer must apologize for this much-belated review of “Icarus”, but I tend to approach mid-season finales in the same way as actual season finales.  There were a tremendous number of “big” moments crammed into this particular episode.  Enough of them – nearly – to keep me riding the crest of the Smallville goodness wave until the series makes its undoubtedly triumphant return on the 28^th.  But I find these types of episodes a bit problematic to discuss immediately afterward, as some of you may recall reading in my “Salvation” review at the end of Season 9.  So I’ve taken a break from “Icarus”, long enough to watch it again more or less “cold”, so that I can view it a little more objectively.  Hopefully this helps me provide everyone reading this with a better-rounded (and less emotional) analysis of how I felt about it as a stand-alone episode.  And yet, even for a mid-season finale, “Icarus” is pretty stuffed with emotion-stirring iconicness.  It’s hard not to allow some of that to paint my review.  But then, this is a review by a fan, so I suppose journalistic objectivity isn’t entirely necessary, either.  Just bear with me while I get my writing feet wet again.

Sadly, Lois had no way of knowing that Clark had been infected with Red K, nor that in a few moments, her rambling would land her somewhere in Northern Istanbul with no way to get home.

Did I mention that this episode featured a few really “big” moments?  Yeah, well it starts us out with one of the biggest moments in Smallville history.  One of the mainstays of my reviews of late has been my unapologetic adoration for Erica Durance and what she’s brought to the Lois and Clark relationship.  If Season 9 managed to be the most gripping season of the series for me for staying on-task for nearly its entire 22 episode run, Season 10 has excelled at being a terrific year for maintaining a through-line that’s every bit as unique and possibly even more welcome.  “Icarus” opens with Clark desperately trying to propose to Lois, only to be foiled by her incessant need to fill each and every moment with commentary, political soap-boxing and her own brand of deflection.  Anyone watching this series for the first time might find this annoying, but those of us who’ve been here from the start understand Lois a little better.  She knows Clark well, and my theory is that she knows instinctively that something big is coming here.  And yet historically, Lois hasn’t fared well with emotional intimacy, and her defense has always been a good ramble.

Clark had pulled off a truly fantastic proposal. For the street vendor left puzzling over her suddenly missing inventory, however, the romanticism of the moment was most certainly lost.

Fortunately, Clark knows Lois well, too.  And as much as she keeps things playful and light, there’s also a side to her that he is perhaps the only one to truly see for what it is.  Lois has always gravitated toward the one thing she hasn’t had in her life: a protector.  Sure, The General raised her to be self-sufficient and take care of her sister, but where was the person looking out for this unrealistically self-sufficient girl for all those years?  Much was expected of her from a very young age, and she’s got years worth of faux-invincibility to shed if she’s ever going to let anyone in.  And who better to take on someone with those kinds of walls than The Man of Steel?  Clark turns his proposal attempt into a language that he knows Lois will allow herself to hear and speak: her relationship with The Blur.  Under a shower of white rose petals, in the familiar surroundings of what I assume to be the last functioning phone booth in Metropolis (or anywhere else for that matter), he’s finally able to ask the question.  I think maybe Lois wasn’t entirely sure if she even wanted to be asked at all until that very moment.  And yet presented with it, there could be only one answer.  I loved everything about this, from the beautiful cinematography to the undeniably moving piece of score by our own Louis Febre.  What a phenomenal way to kick off “Icarus”.

"Cassidy, is she still doing it"? "Doing what, Erica"? "That thing. That thing with the smiling. She's been doing it all day, it's creepy, and I'm kind of afraid to turn around right now".

I got a definite feeling of “Homecoming” Lois in our first post-credits scene, as she tries through all sorts of means to get some sort of acknowledgment about her engagement ring.  We see that security at The Daily Planet as been upgraded (in what I assume is, if nothing else, a rather ironically timed subplot considering the TSA controversy over the holidays), and Lois finds a wedding card from Chloe for her in the mail.  There’s a flashback used here that was pretty obviously just an outtake from an earlier episode, but it works about as well in context with this scene as I think could have been expected.  I have to say that, although I still don’t approve of what’s been done with her character over the last few years for the most part, it was still nice to see Chloe back on the screen for a few moments.  I wish I could say the same for Cat Grant, whose very presence causes me to grit my teeth in annoyance.  I’m extremely grateful that she’s being used now as more of a joke than when she was introduced (due, no doubt, in no small part to Tom’s deadpan expressions simply not playing as well off of her caricature in “Shield” as more outspoken characters have in her subsequent appearances), but I still see very little that she’s adding to this series.  There’s a few comedic beats here, with Cat assuming that Lois is expecting and Tess essentially telling her to get lost, but all in all, this scene is really just a means to get us to the next.

In truth, a vase over four feet tall weighing nearly 150 lbs. fully loaded was probably overkill. Fortunately, after six glasses of champagne each, none of them were in much pain anymore.

But what a great scene it is.  Those of you who’ve kept up with my ramblings over the last year will know that one of my favorite things about Smallville is the faith that it has maintained in its characters.  More specifically, this allows us as an audience to see the moments of their lives that, while not entirely necessary to film, give us a far greater sense of who these people are.  A scene like Oliver and Tess’s conversation over beers a few episodes ago is a good example.  They’re not needed per se, but they draw us into this world like no amount of super-heroic exploits ever could.  It makes these people three-dimensionally human.  The surprise engagement party thrown for Lois and Clark at Watchtower reminds me just how much I’m going to miss each and every one of these people in a few months time.  I was very pleased to see a plot thread carried over from “Absolute Justice”, where Stargirl comments on the need to make Watchtower less of a fortress and more of a home.  I got a real feeling of home as I watched everyone in this sequence celebrating the love of two of their own, and I have a feeling that not all of it was just acting.  I was especially fond of the talk that Carter has with Ollie here, and more specifically, his assertion that fear should never decide love.  As trite as some have accused Smallville of being as drama over the years, the show does contain a great deal of life lessons like this one that, while incrementally small, are more profound than a simple throwaway line.  I’m not a Chlollie backer, but I very much appreciated the sentiment, and I can relate to it a lot right now in my personal life.

You know, Ollie could deal with the gangs, the mobsters, and the armed robbers. But looking through that entire magazine and then not buying it? Yeah, this punk was gonna pay!

After leaving the party, Oliver stops a mugging and gets mistaken for the assailant by the citizens of Metropolis.  Stargirl comes in to his rescue, but not before things turn ugly and the backlash against Ollie turns violent.  I do regretfully have to agree that the whole anti-vigilante sentiment does seem slightly forced into the arc this year.  It might have been nice had things been building in the background while the main story was progressing last year.  But honestly this is a pretty small quibble.  If reality shows us anything today in the real world, it’s just how frighteningly fast public opinion can be swayed and manifest itself in terrible ways.  And so, while seemingly implausible, it might actually be to the show’s strength that all of this came to the boiling point so quickly.  It’s as if our heroes are as caught off guard by it as we are as viewers.  I have to admit that I was rather amused an entire SWAT team was dispatched to retrieve Ollie from the LuthorCorp offices.  The government certainly isn’t underestimating his abilities as a fighter, I’ll give them that much.

"Lois, just tell me the truth. You don't like it". "I'm not saying that, Clark, I just said it looked like a greaser jacket, okay? Poor choice of words. You know I love you in muddy off-red".

Clark and Lois catch the news on television back on the farm, but not before having a good talk about where they stand now that they’re engaged.  I really enjoyed this being addressed.  After “Justice”, Lois seemed very against the idea of having to share the one she loved with the rest of the world.  It’s awesome to see that she’s had a change of heart in that area and grasps what she’s signed up for in being with Clark.  Certainly, her actions have indicated as much, but it was still nice to hear her say it.  I also liked how Clark is putting Lois first in his heart, while still conceding that he has certain obligations as a hero.  Gone are the days when he grappled with this dilemma with Lana and carried the weight of the world on his shoulders as both a savior and a partner.  It just goes to show once again how the writers get that the right person has the exact opposite effect on him.  One moment they’re talking about their pending nuptials, and the next, Lois is handing Clark his jacket and saying “go”.  The fact is, Lois isn’t just there to be Clark’s girlfriend or his fiancée. She supports his efforts and works with him.  And I completely love that angle of the two of them.  She not only helps him become a better hero by being involved in that aspect of his life, but she also manages to find a way to make him a better man and human being in the process.  If there’s a better example of something right and good and healthy between two people represented on television, I’m certainly not aware of it.

Tess didn't know it, but she was about to be ambushed by a man not only committing virtually every fashion faux pas known to man, but sporting a smarmy look that would make even Ron Jeremy blush.

If I have a failing as a Smallville reviewer, I think it’s my inability to mask my approval of how Clois is being handled or my complete and utter distaste for all things Cat Grant.  I sincerely apologize to all for my lack of restraint on either of these points.  But for the love of God, could Cat be written any more aggravatingly or portrayed more painfully than she is in this show?  I really don’t think it’s possible.  Confronting Tess about burying her article is one thing, but just for the sake of some shred of realism, who in the world talks to their boss this way and holds on to their job?  Still, though, I much prefer Tess dealing with her to how Clark came across.  At least Cassidy imbues Tess with a plausible level of irritation and gets a few zingers in there, like “your writing is amateurish”.  I can’t lie; these things make me happy in life.  This scene is (blissfully) interrupted when VRA officers take Lois, Tess and Emil in for questioning.  On a side note, I think I mentioned briefly that some of Zod’s aesthetic tastes (glimpsed in “Pandora” last year) seemed to mirror Nazi Germany.  I think it’s safe to say now that it was intentional (subsequent mention of the Third Reich in this same episode notwithstanding).  I guess when you achieve a certain level of notoriety for being evil incarnate, you ruin certain things for all time – such as diagonal shoulder straps.  I’m pretty sure they’re not an inherently evil accoutrement, but darned if those officers didn’t look instantly oppressive and mean-spirited wearing them.

"Look, Oliver, I'm sorry. I've tried to be fair. I made it through Twilight AND New Moon, but this one is utter trash. It's my turn on the plasma tonight anyway. Ooh, 90210"!

Clark and the team meet back up at Watchtower to discuss how to proceed, and discover that Slade managed to survive to rig explosion at the end of “Patriot”.  A decision is made here that I really couldn’t quite get my head around.  This whole season has been about heroes coming out of the darkness and into the light.  And yet, at the first sign of Slade being alive and well, everyone seems to suddenly figure that being in the limelight is too dangerous and decide to shut down Watchtower altogether.  I’m sorry, show, but I’m not buying that one.  First of all, Watchtower has quite obviously remained extremely well-hidden somehow, given the military personnel at the Daily Planet attempting to ascertain where any of these people are, so why close it down?  It’s been the one safe haven everyone’s had now for two and a half seasons running.  Also, what good does splintering off, breaking up the team, and eliminating secret identities really do anyone?  It’s not as if any of them would be any safer through this course.  In fact, given the stakes laid out in “Patriot” regarding the entire planet being at risk of being consumed by The Darkness, shouldn’t that imminent and global threat override any rash decision like this to just pack things up and retreat because Slade “knows too much”?  Of all things in “Icarus”, this element seemed the silliest and least in keeping with not only this season’s arc, but with the character traits established so far about all of these people.  Slade speaking out and stirring up public anger and insecurity threatens not only our heroes, but the entire world.  Deciding to close down headquarters and having everyone go off to different ends of the Earth when presented with this knowledge is about the last thing I expected from Clark, and it felt wrong.

"I'm going to interrogate you until I find out what I want to know, Emil, and I can promise you that I will". "Well maybe...you don't have to interrogate me. Maybe you just need to chill".

My concerns about closing Watchtower aside, the scene in which Oliver, Clark and Carter meet up again shortly thereafter only served to make things worse, even putting aside the strained contrivance of their all winding up in the same room at the same time (especially when one of them has super speed).  Carter tells Clark that Slade must be driving all of the hatred and anti-hero sentiment (in a nice explanatory moment to silence those who found this subplot a bit too out-of-nowhere), but that every time The Darkness has shown up throughout history, another force arose to stop it.  Again, I have to ask why this wasn’t said back at Watchtower when everyone stood in silence, ready to disband and retreat.  Wouldn’t this bit of information have been useful before making that move?  Wouldn’t Clark have thought of his future with Lois as well, and the implications for their relationship if he was forced into a life of hiding?  My main issue with “Icarus” is that scenes seemed planted in this episode merely to facilitate others, and that’s simply not an effectively gripping way to frame a show.  I felt similarly about all the interrogation scenes.  While they were perfectly well-written and played, they ultimately went on far too long (spanning over two full commercial breaks) and wound up feeling more like plot filler than the tension-filled grilling of our protagonists that I think was intended.  We know that none of these people are going to crack under pressure, so why invest so much time in trying to convince us that they’re in any real jeopardy in this situation?  In the end, it just comes off as a mid-episode slump to me.  Fortunately, things rebound nicely from here on in.

"Seriously? Three thousand years and this is the kind of thing you're into, Carter? Do you have any idea how inappropriate this is? We're supposed to be working here. I'll bet we have spyware now, too".

Lois finally puts on the proactive hat she’s been wearing all year long, and it really kicks “Icarus” up a notch.  She uses Tess’s slide (in a cool nod back to “Checkmate” continuity) to get downstairs and then encounters Cat, who we learn was the one who turned them all in for interrogation in the first place.  This is actually a rather good scene, and it makes me wish more would be done with Cat in the future than just having her play a squeaky, peppy foil for everyone else.  Lois actually manages to reach her and get her to cover for her as one of the VRA officers walks by.  It was really cool to see a less over-the-top and more human side to Cat, but one who’s not entirely at odds with who she’s been set up to be beforehand.  I felt like her back-story in “Shield” suffered this issue, as Cat just suddenly appeared perfectly normal and nice out of nowhere.  This time things are handled much, much better.  She’s still the Cat Grant we know, but her beliefs are being challenged in a way that she can no longer just brush aside.  Now that, Smallville, is how you build and evolve a character like Cat in a way that I can accept.  Bravo.  Meanwhile, Oliver pieces together that Slade has been using Metropolis’s city surveillance cameras to keep tabs on everyone, and Clark super-speeds to The Daily Planet and frees Tess and Emil from custody.  Carter and Ollie also have a few really terrific moments here where Carter treats Ollie’s laptop like a typewriter and Oliver calls him “eight track”.  Priceless stuff.

"Oh, God! Are you okay? I totally under-estimated how heavy this thing was on the follow-through. This is so all me. I am SO sorry! Where's a medic with a penlight when you need one"?

Working off of a tip from Cat about Slade’s next move, Lois makes her way to LuthorCorp Plaza.  Naturally, Slade is there waiting for her to show up.  Even more predictably, he knocks her out.  Believe me when I say that I’m as tired of harping on this point as I am of seeing it play out week after eye roll-inducing week, but why is this necessary to do each and every time?  In fact, nothing whatsoever is achieved by knocking Lois out here.  Had Slade simply pushed her to the ground and been ready to fire his gun, the same goal would have been accomplished dramatically.  I suppose I’m just going to have to live with the writers being so bereft of originality that they see no other recourse in the few weeks we have left than giving Lois one concussion after another until the finale.  It just makes me sad to see an otherwise phenomenal series go here every single time, especially when there’s no purpose in doing it.  In any case, Carter shows up to fight Slade off, and we get a terrific fight scene between the two of them.  I really like how this conflict was staged.  No slow-motion was utilized for a change, which was pretty great to watch play out.  Slade takes advantage of a burst gas pipe which momentarily distracts Carter and impales him through the back with a sword.  Just before the room explodes, Carter shields himself with his wings and Slade is consumed by the flames.  This shot and the one which follows it are just classic, iconic Smallville all the way.  The image of a mortally-wounded Hawkman following Lois out that window and flying to save her was just heart-breaking and amazing to watch.  What a fantastic way to incorporate the title of an episode into the action.

Clark had had his biological father's pendent for a few years now, but he never knew it would prove so versatile. A quick firmware update, and it was even a handy dandy LED flashlight. Sweet!

If I have a complaint about the climax of “Icarus”, it’s that I feel that having Slade survive the blast, while possibly necessary to explain how he got out of the rig alive, really undermined Carter’s sacrifice and heroism in saving Lois.  I feel like that was his moment and he was a bit robbed of it by tacking on this story point of Slade being “beyond” death.  I’m sure this will play out into something significant as Season 10’s second half unfolds, but for this particular episode, I really wasn’t a fan of this twist.  Unlike some, however, I did rather like Clark’s solution to the problem of using Jor-El’s symbol to banish Slade to the Phantom Zone.  Some, I know, felt like this kind of came out of nowhere, but I’m always a fan of the show giving nods to former plot elements and retaining their relevance to the overall story, so I didn’t have a problem with it.  Again, though, I don’t think Slade surviving the office explosion helped the ending of “Icarus”.  I watched this episode with three other people, and all of them said “oh come on” upon seeing him strolling out into the parking lot afterward.  Surely, this could have been handled some other way that gave the ending of this show more decisively to Hawkman.

"Clark, I...I really...I'm sorry...Clark? Clark, it's been over three hours, I feel terrible, but I'm really tired. Is there any way we could, you know, just go somewhere and bury him"?

But speaking of Carter, I have to tip my hat once again to Michael Shanks who, for me, stole every scene he appeared in with this episode.  While his death scene wasn’t played up as depressingly as some others have been in Smallville’s long history (as was appropriate, given the character’s very nature), Michael really nailed it.  I loved the constant looks over to Lois, as if he possessed an almost other-worldly understanding of just how truly significant she was going to be to Clark’s future as Earth’s greatest savior and wanted to reassure himself in his final moments that she was still there at his side.  But the moment I think really got me most was when he told Clark he was sorry that he wouldn’t be there with him to fight The Darkness.  When he delivered that line, he flashed that great, mischievous Hawkman smile that, looking back, he always had when he was going into action.  It almost made me want to go back and re-watch all of his episodes, because it made me realize that maybe it hadn’t ever been a scowl, even when it was played off as such.  I know that Carter’s mythology makes his passing both a sad and celebratory moment which, for some, deflated the impact of his death.  But I think that’s what’s so great about him as a character.  He makes us remember that that’s what death should truly represent for all of us.

The next morning, no one would remember how many bottles they'd gone through that night. But one thing would never be questioned - the JLA definitely knew how to throw one hell of a party!

As someone who both co-runs The Definitive Smallville Soundtrack and considers Louis Febre one of the greatest unsung heroes of dramatic television, I find myself compelled to comment on the final sequence in “Icarus” in musical terms.  Paul Taneja’s “City Lights” was used in this scene to tremendous effect, causing an almost immediate whirlwind of interest from Smallville fans.  I must admit to being thrilled at being able to help promote a song that so many were eagerly searching for.  Being lucky enough to enjoy a personal relationship with this show’s composer, though, I must admit that his original piece of score worked equally well.  I don’t speak of this show in technical terms very often, but it should be said that the work this season in the areas of lighting and cinematography have been just exemplary, lending the series of the most theatrical looks of any program currently on television.  Having such a wonderful and talented composer give us nearly 45 minutes of orchestral score to accompany those astonishing visuals each and every week for the past decade has been nothing short of a gift.  Our episode ends with a pretty big cliffhanger at Carter’s funeral, as all of our heroes are basked in a white light and are then seen lying unconscious for the final shot.  I’m finding myself once again tentative in moving forward as our first shows of 2011 begin, just a few short days from now.  It’s hard to believe that this is all nearly at an end, and that the journey is nearly over.  As things draw nearer to that day, these reviews may get a bit more introspective and reflective of my feelings on Smallville as a whole, and the impact that it’s had on my life.  I hope you’ll all stay with me and enjoy our final 11 episodes.  On the whole, I enjoyed “Icarus” very much, even though I did think there was room for improvement in a few key areas.  I’m thankful for the dramatic turn that things are sure to take this week, as I think one more wrench needs to be thrown into the mix before we get our final thrust of episodes to pull Clark fully into his destiny as Superman.  Stay tuned!