Tuesday, September 22, 2015

SV Rewatch: 01.05 Cool

Underwater establishing shot, lots of glowing meteor rocks, and bubbles. But the lake itself is frozen, with a nice thick layer of ice, like I've never seen in Kansas in 48 years of living 10 miles from the border of it.

The ice cracks.

On the shore, the kids are partying. Trucks and music, and a nice teepee fire, and kids snogging. Yep, Smallville party.

Chloe and Clark, with Chloe snarking about booze and hooking up, before complaining about the cold. Lana and Whitney are cuddling, by a fire. Sean, typical football player type, asks Clark if Chloe is with him or flying solo.

This is one more of those "Check with potential owner before making a move on the girl" scenes. I'm 5 eps in and this is at least the second.

I love Chloe. Sean offers to rub her hands, saying "Nothing heats up the body like friction." She laughs at him saying she can't believe he delivered that with a straight face. He compliments her writing, she reminds him she's heard all about him from Jenna in Bio. He hits on her while telling her he wouldn't hit on her.

If this is what passes for seduction among teenagers, no wonder she topples into Lionel's bed at the end of season 2.

Sean gets called away to throw passes by the lake. He gets Chloe's number. She is clearly tickled to be asked. Clark asks her about it and reminds her Sean's a dog. She tells him to find Pete, they're leaving.

Whitney, Sean and the boys throw passes. Whitney asks what's with Sean and Chloe. Sean lists her as "another notch." Whitney says "That's cold." He throws a pass that Sean misses and leaves to get the pizza. Sean goes out on the ice to get the ball.

The cracked ice.
Anyone not see where this is going yet?

Next two and a half minutes: Sean is now an undead popsicle of a meteor mutant, who craves heat and sucks it out of anything. (the drowning scene is hard to watch for me) (the frozen fire is pretty)

Credits.

Parents are doing the books. Clark adds it faster than the calculator. He's horrified. He makes a joke about joining a pro team. Martha tells him his face on a cereal box can wait, he needs to get to school. Superspeed out, back to catch the poptart correct the math and head out again.

Some rapid-fire chatter about dating and crushes. And Chloe protests being used as a dating crash-test dummy. She loses her temper with them.

School. Sean is in the nurses office, shivering. He can't get warm and his body temperature is about 35. He drains some heat from the nurse and feels better.

Martha is chainsawing logs, and spins, nearly gutting Lex. Can I stop for a moment and say I love that Martha uses the chainsaw as competently as Jonathan would? It's nothing for a big guy or a big girl like me (6' 200+ lbs) to sling a chainsaw around, but Martha is not large. That is a mid-sized chainsaw, and gas powered. Also: safety gear! The Kents are careful on their farm, unlike the Luthors who take needless risks. (Lex's fast driving, Lionel refusing ear protection)

"I come in peace!" Lex with his hands up and Martha still with the saw. "I'm just glad you weren't welding."  Note: he thinks she would be totally capable of doing so! He's wanting about 30 artichokes for a dinner party for the local famring community, to discuss the option of investing.

The Talon is having a 10th Annual monster Festival. Lana is reading about art ehibits. Lex, of course, has seen it, in St. Petersburg. She's going with Whitney. Lex impugns Whitney's motives and says she's with the wrong guy. And Whitney has forgotten about it, and kicked in on a PPV fight. He promises to make it up to her. Lex smirks from across the cafe.

Then he informs Clark she's free tomorrow. "A high school boyfriend isn't a husband. he's an obstacle." Lex offers him Radiohead tickets for tomorrow, if he asks Lana to go. He's giving Clark the benefit of his experience. Lex sweetens the pot with a roundtrip limo ride and a flirt.

Awkward asking out, "just as friends." And Clark gets the date.

Chloe and Pete congratulate him. Chloe says she's happy but looks broken at the statement. Sean approaches, asks i she's free. She says maybe in a little while and he goes chasing his ex, Jenna.

Cut to Jenna in a hot shower, with a shower radio. Lots of steam. And Sean coming in to a room of steam and candles and she propositions him. Shadow on the shower curtain and he's breathing too hard, leaving frost on the shower curtain. This whole scene is very Psycho. He grabs the faucet and the nice hot shower turns to sleet. Jenna falls out of the shower, pulling down the curtain, the rings popping and rattling just like Psycho.

He kisses her and she's an ice statue that shatters when he lets it fall. As he walks past, all the candle flames freeze. (eww, does she thaw out in little broken pieces?)


Jonathan is working on something at the table and Martha chides him for not only riding the motorcycle, but repairing it in the house. She wants him to come to the meeting at Lex's.
"We talked about that."
"I talked. You grunted."
Martha makes a case, but Jonathan can't get past the history. Clark arrives, smiling.
"I'm not familiar with this child. Where's the moody one? Lives upstairs? Runs Real fast?"
I love Martha. Her dialogue is spot on and O'Toole delivers it perfectly.
Both parents look amused, pleased and impressed by the date with Lana. Although Jonathan gets in a dig about Lex working out all their evenings.

Sean is calling girls he knows and lighting matches trying to get warm. He finds Chloe's number still on his hand.  She's giving Clark clothes advice when Sean calls. She thinks he's dumb, but hot and dubs a fact-finding mission to see if he deserves a date.

The Kents are the only guests. Lex has a proprosal that's only slightly more subtle than "Sell me your son as my lover and I'll save the farm."

Lana and Clark on the date, in the limo. Clark calls it "defensive reading." when the world gets too disappointing, Lana retreats to a book. Clark uses x-ray vision for a card trick.  She didn't tell Whitney. Awkward date solved by turning on TV.

The kid's name is Sean Kelvin. Terrible pun.

Clark has the driver stop.

Chloe, working alone on a grape iMac. So early 2000s. We also hear her modem.
She hears something, goes to investigate. A trail of rose petals leads her away from the Torch office.

Clark has Lana wait at a coffee shop to be safe, and vanishes.

Chloe arrives in the pool. Sean locks them in the pool. He can't stay warm. Body heat lasts longer. he pushes her into the heated pool and then freezes it. Chloe is a strong swimmer, but still gets frozen in by one foot. Clark to the rescue. Chloe runs and Sean vanishes.

Research time.

Pete is out with a girl. And Lana is reading defensively. Some talk of Clark. "Clark Kent International Man of Mystery." Lana hands off the limo to Pete and has Whitney take her home. Clark shows a little too late.

Sean is draining the town generator, and when it flickers, Clark goes on the alert.

Lex and Jonathan arguing. Jonathan makes a case for standing on his own two feet. Lex points out Hiram Kent used government subsidies to get through the lean years.

Lana and Whitney, not talking, and then talking. Whitney being jealous. Whitney sees Sean too late and ditches his truck. Sean is cold again and vanishes. Whitney gets the sprained Lana out and they're heading to the Luthor place.

"Which begs the question, what does Lex Luthor get out of all this?"
Every slasher said "your son!" in unison right here.
Lex: Blah blah profit, blah blah, not a charity.

They're sealing the deal as Whitney helps Lana in. Martha goes into concerned mother.

Clark finds the truck, only to have Sean drain him. Sean is getting less and less careful, less and less caring about the damage.

The five are holed up at the mansion, and Sean eats the generator. Even a Kryptonian warm-up doesn't last. Clark thaws and makes an expression I know I've seen on Christopher Reeves' face.

Jonathan checks the gate, Martha goes to the generator. It's iced over. Sean shows up. He menaces Martha, but Clark arrives. Martha hurries inside.

Fight scene. Sean ends up in the lake, and freezes it over, trapping him beneath the ice. he's already dead, he can't drown. So what happens when he thaws? or is Lex going to chisel out the block with Sean in it and send it to the deep-freeze at Belle Reve?

Jonathan working on motorcycle, Lex turns up. He expresses surprise about the bank loan. He reiterates the offer.

Memorial wall for Jenna, and Chloe lights a candle. She says "It could have been me because some guy expressed a modicum of interest in me." They leave Clark to talk to Lana.

He gives her that smile that only is for Lana and Lex. Whitney is being more attentive because of the non-date.

"Why do you go out with him, Whitney, I mean?"
"Because whenever I need him, he's there. He makes me feel safe."
And Clark looks like he's been stabbed and Lana walks off, deeply unhappy. The other students go to class. Clark stays standing, alone in the hall, despondent.


Death toll: 2. Sean and Jenna

Attempted murder: Clark, Chloe, Martha

Injury: Lana sprained an ankle.

Damages: Whitney's truck (again), the town power plant, the highschool pool (can't be good to freeze it) the pipes in Jenna's house, the Luthor generator, and a thermometer.

References: Love Connection, Radiohead, Psycho.


Commentary:

I see this as a commentary more on high school sex roles than just a Freak of the Week ep. Everyone is having dating problems, and Sean wants warmth. (this is asked of him about 4 times "what do you want?"/"To get warm.") The girls who turn Sean down, do it because he's a cad, a dog, a player. Whitney is treated as a jealous owner, one Clark decides to ignore.

Pete gets lucky, and gets a second date. Chloe almost gets killed and Clark and Lana are driven further apart.

Lana has a reason for being with Whitney, and it's one Clark can't promise her. Whitney is THERE. Clark will always be abandoning dates to save people.

It's about being left out in the cold. This is one that works on a metaphorical level, as well as on a horror level.

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