Smallville: 10x14 "Masquerade" - Discussion and Spoilers

[Agent Richard07]

- Dull boring episode and I have no idea what happened, but it was good to see Steve Byers back as Desaad.

- I was happy that they came back to the glasses, then disappointed that it was forgotten for most of the episode, then happy again that it was dealt with at the end. Hopefully it'll stick this time and not be forgotten about next week. Of course, I'm half expecting that to happen. I can see Clark back to his non-glasses self next week, but "gearing up" to use them eventually, like in the finale.

- Did Ollie dye his hair?

A polite little bump.

So, now these threads are onto Victorian sex talk?

WTF? DID HE JUST FUCKIN' FLY?!

Looked that way for a split second. Then I figured that he leaped halfway around the world. Then I figured he ran, but wondered, like all of you, how he got across the water. Probably skipped across like a stone. He'd have been in trouble if he got a charliehorse over the Atlantic.

Seriously, how the fuck can Clark possibly disguise himself when everyone at the Planet and in Smallville knows what he looks like.

Part of it is your basic Superman conceit and part of it is them exagerating the fact that sometimes people don't notice things and/or can be reconditioned into accepting new trends.

If he can move around that quickly, it makes flying look unimportant. Know what I mean?

That's what I thought too, but the ability to fly or defy gravity is still a useful skill.

That was different. Sort of like the old Steve Austin bionic eye effect.

Seeing Clark's eye do that was weird and freaky.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

Yep.

Sounded like Ollie said "fuck you" under his breath.

The rest of the League probably says that to Clark offscreen all the time.

Ollie: "Why do all of the bad guys lately have English accents?"

Don't know. And what's weird is that I don't think that's Steve Byers' real accent.

Give me a break with the idea that Clark Kent is a disguise for Superman. Maybe in the movies but not on Smallville. Clark has been running away from Superman for ever and it doesn't matter if he's the Blur or Clark Kent, he is still a fucking douche.

Looks like they're going the Batman/Dark Knight route with three identities... Fake Public Clark with the glasses, Private Clark at home with Lois without the glasses and Superman. Maintaining a "fake Clarke" identity could prove to be stressful. Bruce Wayne is a recluse and doesn't have to keep up "Public Bruce" all the time, so it can work for him, but that's not the case with Clark who will have to keep it up all day at work.

 

[O'Dib]

Ollie: "Why do all of the bad guys lately have English accents?"

The guy sounded German to me.

The "tricking the hostess into getting a table and being mistaken for the pair" routine was lifted straight out of Steve Carrell's Date Night. Also, I'm thinking FBI agents wouldn't pick a name as obviously fake as the Joneses. Glad the Douche decided to don the glasses full time. Effin finally.

 

[Brent]

I liked it, but also fear next week it'll be back to non-glasses Clark.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Did I just see a schizophrenic break?

"Clark sucks. I don't want to be Clark any more. So I'm not him."

Is that worse writing or worse psychology?

 

[Electric Coleslaw]

I thought the episode was Excellent. It was tight, had some humor and progressed the transition into the Superman mythos. I think it's funny that most of you here read your comic books and easily digest the leaps of logic that go on there but are so critical of the same happening in a TV show. Yeah, Smallville isn't Shakespeare, but its good fun. And when you're dealing with a Superman show you have to sometimes suspend disbelief and just go with it. In the real world, a pair of glasses doesn't fool anyone. But in comicland it does, deal with it or watch Law and Order instead.

Anyway...
I'm still laughing at the Microvision comment. "They're my powers. I can call them what I want."

 

[Dick Whitman]

Good fun? To you perhaps but not to many others. It takes itself so damn serious. Yet does not work as a drama. There are rarely decent action sequences. It tries to be dark and fails miserably. Where is the fun??? Its lame attempts at humor.

Also don't pull its "just a comic book" or the glasses disguise in the comics makes no sense crap. In the comics and other incarnations it worked as a devise because there Clark and Superman are treated as two separate persona. Within Superman's world it works. That's all that matters. They keep it consistent and stuck with it.

But this show is doing something else. They did not care about the double identity for nearly 10 years. But now its magically going to have him have one. With no transition or explanation how this fixes Clark's careless use of powers without glasses in the past. No instead it is just riding on the coattails of the Superman mythos that Smallville writers, and some of its fans, strangely belittle at the same time.

 

[Electric Coleslaw]

Stop watching the show then. It has been 10 years and nothing has changed. You'd think you'd have given up after the first 5 years. You people expect too much. It's not comic book crap logic, it is a comic book. Of course it's riding on the Superman mythos coattails, it's a Superman show. What the hell do you think you're watching?

 

[Trekker4747]

I think it's funny that most of you here read your comic books and easily digest the leaps of logic that go on there but are so critical of the same happening in a TV show.

In comic books the suspension of disbelief is a bit looser. Live-action TV series, being live-action, pretty much demand a slightly tighter grip on reality.

FWIW: I've no problem with the "glasses as a disguise" thing. It makes sense because as someone who wears glasses I know what it's like when you're mot wearing them and people say, "Wow! You look totally different without them on!" In the comics, other TV show incarnations and in the movies Clark Kent even has a completely different personality than Superman does. This is displayed nicely in "Superman Retuns" when Lois and her husband laugh at the idea of Clark being Superman because Clark is such an oddball.

Smallville, however.... errrr. Clark's always been fairly mainstream and "normal" as a function of trying to appeal to younger audience in the show's early seasons. So now either Clark's going to need to completely change the Clark persona into a dweeb and take the years or months to "reprogram" everyone he's ever encountered into thinking this is his personality or when he appears as The Blur to the populace he's going to need to ratchet up the "Hero" aspect of The Blur/Superman. The problem is people still are going to think back to all of those times when "oddly" Clark was in the middle of the action and saved the day/saved someone.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I really wasn't going to post until I saw Electric Coleslaw's post, really I wasn't. I don't think "Smallville" fans (I'm discluding the fanatical shipper faction) are asking for too much at all. I think most fans want consistency, character evolution and progression, and not to mention a likable main character. "Smallville" for ten years now has provided none of these things. If you enjoy the series and have no criticisms about it, wonderful for you. The majority of fans that are looking to be entertained though are seeking a little more than simple surface fluff which sadly "Smallville" is most of the time.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Ripping off Date Night now, are we?

I thought the same.

A very average episode, the only highlight was him actually putting on the glasses. Loved the gesture of pushing the glasses up and him calling Lois "Miss Lane".

Other than that it was terribly dull.

 

[Samurai8472]

I really wasn't going to post until I saw Electric Coleslaw's post, really I wasn't. I don't think "Smallville" fans (I'm discluding the fanatical shipper faction) are asking for too much at all. I think most fans want consistency, character evolution and progression, and not to mention a likable main character. "Smallville" for ten years now has provided none of these things. If you enjoy the series and have no criticisms about it, wonderful for you. The majority of fans that are looking to be entertained though are seeking a little more than simple surface fluff which sadly "Smallville" is most of the time.

It's like every season has been a buildup to that particular seasons lesson/ enemy.

When the next season starts, last years stuff has been discarded and Clark's back to step one.

I do remember Clark taking a more direct approach with Morgan Edge after Edge threatened a more laid back Clark/Not Red Clark.

But that was a small blip in progress for Clark.


No wonder Kruek and Rosenbaum left.


"How many concussions can I take before this crap gets stale?"

"How many loft scenes must I do?"

"How many times can I figure out Clark's secret, only to be rebooted and think it was a dream/not me"

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yep take the glasses thing for instance, it's now been at least two years since Clark first wore them and now all of a sudden he's realized that it's a good idea to keep them on? What kind of character evolution is that? The progress has been retarded to a degree where the writers of the show can simply milk stories out of the cast members they have. For someone like me who has seen pretty much every single episode since the pilot it's incredibly frustrating. Name another show that has "Smallville"'s lack of progression? I bet you can't.

 

[Aragorn]

Maybe sometime down there road there will be another young Clark Kent TV show, only instead of "no flight, no tights," their motto will be "no concussions, no reset buttons."

 

[Dick Whitman]

Stop watching the show then. It has been 10 years and nothing has changed. You'd think you'd have given up after the first 5 years. You people expect too much. It's not comic book crap logic, it is a comic book. Of course it's riding on the Superman mythos coattails, it's a Superman show. What the hell do you think you're watching?

Its not a Superman show... I will be very clear I am not talking about the lack of the suit or even flying. I mean that its not really a show about Clark. Also ts not really a Superhero show. Rarely do we see these characters do anything particularly heroic. They talk about it all the time sure. But has Clark/The Blur really been shown to help ordinary people much?

FYI I did stop watching the show regularly a long time ago. I am only watching it again to see how it ends. While there have been a few good episodes I am reminded how stretched out all this is. What should have been a HUGE moment, Clark finally wearing the glasses permanently, was not even the main focus of the episode.

Why am I watching? Here is a metaphor, The same reason you go to an execution. To make sure they are really dead!

 

[Admiral_Young]

Hopefully another Superman show will come along where no motto's or character embargo's are needed to tell good stories.

The last truly heroic thing that Clark has done was save that kid in the credits.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Hopefully another Superman show will come along where no motto's or character embargo's are needed to tell good stories.

The last truly heroic thing that Clark has done was save that kid in the credits.

Well that would certainly help. But the real problem has always been the writing.


Ok, I thought its been awhile. I try to tone down my criticisms of the show because I am far from on expert on every episode. So i could have missed something. But that was the impression.

For all the talk about what a "Douche" Clark is, I think most the other characters are no better. They act like he was done so much. They have enabled him to who he is.

I know this show has budget restraints. But previous live action Superman shows did not have the effects this show has. Yet were still able to show Clark/Superman being a good guy and helping people.

I think my biggest problem with this show is none of these characters feel part of the rest of the world. There are no normal people in the cast. Or people not in on the secrets.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I agree that the writing is by far the biggest inconsistency this show has had. Sometimes I truly wonder if they pay attention to the show they write. "Superman" in theory is supposed to inspire others, but I don't get the sense that Clark has really inspired anyone. He's shown glimpses of his potential over the years but because of the motto his progression has been stalled and regressed to the point where he's essentially been the same character we were first introduced to in the pilot, only difference is that he's older. I would agree the other characters do nothing to encourage him...there's a lot of speeches in the series but little action. It takes so long before something gets done (obviously structured over the course of a season) and Clark has to hem and ha about it first. Then you've got Oliver Queen who was introduced as this swashbuckling, confident vigilante who helps organize the other heroes into a super-group until out of no where he starts suffering self-doubt and starts to brood. Ollie is basically what Bruce Wayne would have been on Smallville which makes me shudder. So many problems and inconsistencies that keep this show from being really great. Then you've got the painfully boring (majority of them anyway) filler episodes that seem to take up two/thirds of the season.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I agree with all your points.

Continuing the thoughts of my previous post -

Even in other incarnations were Clark Kent is supposedly an all out act, part of the secret identity is living among normal people. Clark Kent was raised by two farmers and went on to write for a newspaper. He's a working class guy. He's not Bruce Wayne. Thats how he can relate to normal people and wants to help them. Thats not an act.

But this Clark is very different. He has spent a significant amount of his formative years around millionaires and billionaires. Lex and Oliver, etc. Where both have an attitude of "we will save the world from its self". Even Chloe has a similar one. With all this covert Watchtower stuff. Clark seems to be a product of this thinking. Not the traditional "I am going to help my fellow man" To save people like his parents, like Jimmy and Perry.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Then you've got the painfully boring (majority of them anyway) filler episodes that seem to take up two/thirds of the season.

It seems to me that there is about a good season arc worth of episodes from the 8-10 seasons. Cutting all the filler. Being forgiving and using some duds for transitions.

Starting with the first time the Blur appeared on the cover of the Planet. Episodes that focus on Blur and other heroes. The Legion's visit, The Justice Society and Checkmate. Which lead to all the VRA stuff of this season. The stronger episodes of this season and ending with the finale and (presumably) him becoming Superman. It could almost be called Superman year Zero. Meaning the year before he became Superman. There are not that many specific references to the passage of time in show anyways.

 

[Admiral_Young]

This show was just yearning for the Legion to show up before they did . At least then we'd have a proper bunch of established heroes (and part of the established mythos) and help to inspire Clark. This Clark is very much like Bruce Wayne but with powers...he broods far too much for his own good. Clark Kent does not brood in my opinion and if he does he gets over it quickly.