Rants, Raves, and Reviews--Fortune

[bluesuedeshoes]

Rants, Raves, and Reviews--Smallville "Fortune"

My take on Season 10 Episode 15.

Spoilers all around!


Farewell, Allison Mack.  Good Luck, Chloe Sullivan.  Best wishes to both the wonderful actress, and the inspirational icon.


I know I haven't been keeping up with reviews--the real world, curse it, got in the way--but I simply couldn't let Allison Mack's farewell episode pass me by without getting my say in, now could I?


Let's start, right off the bat, with something that's been irritating me, just so I can get it off my chest:

What's with the recycled plots?

It seems to me that ever since we came back from Hiatus, we have been getting an unnecessary amount of  movie plots.  One of these every now and then is one thing.  TV does it all the time, but this many in a in the same cluster of episodes?  In the FINAL SEASON?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all of our fans are longing for a little creativity right now.  These are the last few episodes we have to cling to, the end of a legacy.  Step it up a little writers!

In case you're not sure what I mean, I'll spell it out for you:

Collateral:  The Matrix
Masquerade: Date Night (of all things)
Fortune: The Hangover

And just from the get-go, I also have to add that I actually didn't like The Hangover at all, which makes me, what?  The only person on the planet?  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I'm picky about my movies, though, and I prefer intelligent humor to crude.  Just a personal taste thing.  So with that said, if anyone was going to hate this episode, it was going to be me.  And yet....

I kinda liked it.

Okay, okay, I really enjoyed it.  Almost in spite of myself.  But before I delve into the things I really enjoyed, I want to address some major issues that I've been picking up on from various forums, etc.

1. Drunk Superman.  yeeaaaaah....not such a bright idea.  Considering that Superman is the ultimate role model, that he actually tells Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve movie that he doesn't drink at all, well, it wasn't the ideal way to show our beloved hero, especially in the wind-down.  Now, granted, I will say that considering Zatanna charmed the champagne, it was a lot closer to being drugged than to getting smashed, so I'm not as upset as some people were about this.  Furthermore, it just shows that Clark is still a kid in some ways; he's not quite Supes yet.  So, Clark, my boy, I forgive you for the drunken frolicking of your youth.  There were much worse antics he could have gotten up to.  Seriously?  He stopped a robbery even when he was drunk.  Not entirely successfully, of course....but the thought was there, and that's what counts, right?  Still, just to be clear, I didn't like the idea of the whole cast being drunk.  Not a good message to send out in the grand scheme.

2. "Bridezilla" Lois.  As one person phrased it, anyway.  Now, I wouldn't go so far as to call her Bridezilla for freaking about losing her engagement ring.  I'm pretty sure that 99% of the female population would have a complete heart attack, myself included.  However, I do have to admit being a bit disappointed in her as well.  She kept claiming that Clark was going to be so angry when he found out and talking about how impossible it was being engaged to walking perfection.  Really?  That left me a bit disappointed in Lois.  Did she honestly think Clark would get angry at her over a ring?  It made it seem like she didn't know him at all.  Even Lana would have known better than to think that.  And for me to say Lana would have been smarter than Lois....ouch.  So concern about finding the ring?  Justified.  Conviction that Clark would blow a fuse?  Totally irrational and disappointing.

3. Canon vs. "Chlollie."  Yeah, you all knew I was going to have to get around to this.  Can I just say that I am a fan of Comic Book Canon, Smallville Canon, AND "Chlollie?"  That's right.  I manage all of that at once without ever getting angry at anyone on the internet, and my brain hasn't shortfused yet.  Gasp.  Marvels of the earth, I tell you.  Being a little more serious, I have to say, even if I wasn't a supporter of the Chloe/Oliver coupling, simply as a fan of Chloe, I enjoyed seeing her get a happy ending.  There are other universes within DC where Oliver/Dinah makes sense and works great.  (Although even within those universes there are alleged haters, and apparently, the comic where Oliver and Dinah get married was the least popular GA issue of all time...just sayin'.)  However, as Smallville has proven time and time again, this is simply not one of those universes.  Smallville decided a long time ago (most notably around the beginning of Season 5, a season it was never really intended to see) that it was its own entity, a new version of how the Man of Steel came to be.  So for those die-hard comic book fans out there who are up in arms over Chloe and Oliver's romance: Have you even realized that the comic book universes themselves have all kinds of contradictions in them?  There have been, like, eight different versions of Supergirl, for pity's sake!  Lighten up.  If you're that uptight about following a specific line of canon...you should have stopped watching this show a long time ago.

All that being said, I'll get on with the episode itself.

In spite of my hang-ups about Smallville meets the Hangover, this episode was fun and light-hearted and completely off-course in the overall arch of the season.  But who's really complaining?  So it was a throw-away episode.  It was probably one of the last ones we'll see, so we might as well enjoy it for what it was, right?

The plot-line itself, like the movie the Hangover, was sketchy at best, and exceedingly pointless, but its little moments of blatantly shocking or just plain hilarious behavior made up for that.  Tess and Emil, two of the most dry personalities on the show (I'm not saying I don't like them or that they don't have depth, just that they don't really crack a lot of jokes), doing an Elvis/Priscilla style karaoke act?  Yes, please.  Not to mention the fact that they weren't half bad.  It wasn't the absurd talent that you get in any Disney Channel TV show where out of absolutely nowhere, every character on the show turns out to have a phenomenal singing voice.  It was just the every-day, "wow you guys are on key and not too bad at this" kind of good.  It was really great to see.  Plus, after Emil's little mellow-out in Season 9's episode, Persuasion, it was fun to see a return of that side of his range, coupled with the brilliant comic relief he provided with such one-liners as "I wish I didn't understand the physics of this."  I know exactly what you mean, Emil.  Tess, too, was an absolute doll in this episode.  Admittedly, I thought the sudden romance between Tess and Emil was kind of...well, sudden, but it didn't really bother me.  Emil would be a nice breath of fresh air in Tess's love life after all she's been through, and Emil deserves to land a hottie, and who hotter than Tess?  And as for being sudden, well, we do crazy things when we're drunk.

Seeing Clark hungover, running into walls, and just a little bit out of sorts was entertaining as well, my moral stipulations aside.  There have been a lot of times in recent seasons where I really thought he was behaving like an uptight ass, so bringing him down to the level of mere mortals, if only for a moment, was a nice change.  Plus, while I know some people were sad that there weren't a lot of Chloe/Oliver moments in her final episode, I think that since the show is technically about Clark, it was good to see the old friends together again and treating each other like human beings...er...Kryptonian beings...well, you get the idea.  With what the two of them have been through together, I was glad to see them getting into and out of one last loony scrape.  As for Chloe, my gosh, Allison Mack, I will miss you SO MUCH!  I will forever love her for her "Aw, a MONKEEEEEY!" moment, which, thank goodness, we got to see/hear twice in the episode because it was just that dang funny.  I love what an adorable little girl Chloe was allowed to be when she was drunk.

Oliver and Lois...well, you know how I felt about Lois's little plotline in this episode, so I won't repeat myself.  And Oliver was pretty much along for the ride, so, yeah, I'll just get on with it:  Justin Hartley in drag.  WTF  I think I was frightened.  Or maybe I was just trying not to bust a gut.  I thought it was a little more than insane, and I had a lot of skepticism about the two of them taking the time to put on perfect makeup and all, but the effect was admittedly hilarious, so I won't whine too much.  Plus it just made it that much funnier when Chloe walked in only to see her boyfriend -cough-HUSBAND-cough- dressed as a showgirl.  Justin Hartley, I applaud your willingness to throw yourself into anything and everything that the Smallville writers ask you to do.  Bravo.

So, moving away from acting and into: Costume.

Can I just start with the fact that I thought everyone looked absolutely gorgeous at the beginning of the episode, with one glaring exception:  What on earth was that leopard-print, fashion-faux-pas that they put Erica Durance in?  I mean, of course, the woman looks gorgeous in anything, but I hated that dress.  It was incredibly tacky, which would have been one thing if all the girls had been purposefully gaudy for their bachelorette party, but Chloe and Tess looked totally classy compared to her.  I don't know what the costume crew was thinking on that one.  I must say, I especially loved Chloe's ensemble.  Very tasteful and stunning on her.

As for their post-Zatanna-zinger outfits, well, I of course adored the Elvis/Priscilla getups.  I mean, come on guys, my pseudonym is BlueSuedeShoes.  I love Elvis.  So I thought it was hilarious, and the two of them looked adorable.  Oliver's mint-green prom tux?  Complete with frills?  Oh, I cracked a rib laughing when I saw that.  Partly because my immense fears that Chloe and Clark had done something idiotic were relieved with one look at that tux, which told me our favorite blonde's definitely went to the Chapel of Love together.

I already got my bit in on Oliver's drag, so that covers that, and now there's only one thing left: Allison's send off.

I was on the edge of my seat for a few minutes because I seriously thought the writers were going to do something stupid.  Really, I was panicking.  And then, quite suddenly, it was all okay.  The idea of her going out into the world to recruit other heroes?  That she'd already had run-ins with Bats and Wonder Woman?  I thought it was great.  The fact that she was going back into journalism?  I practically shed tears.  But when she said she was going to work in Star City, nearly all of my fears that she was going to randomly run off without Oliver (which would have made absolutely no sense at this point) were allayed, and I breathed a deep sigh of relief, not having realized that I had been holding my breath for an entire season.

The question lingered, and I blame it on poor writing:  Was she planning to tell Oliver?  The episode never quite clarified, and it could have been interpreted either way.  I didn't see Chloe leaving Watchtower as her planning to take off right then and there, but rather her needing some air because she was sad that she was going to be leaving.  Still, there was a distinct lack of clarity on whether she was planning to tell Oliver, and more importantly, on whether she realized that she was married to him.  However, my preferred interpretation without extrapolating too much is that no, she didn't know she was married to him because she looked truly surprised and happy when she saw the other half of the marriage certificate and that yes, she was planning to tell him because for goodness' sake, if she were trying to get away from him, why would she go to Star City?

So with that out of the way, I was so happy with how they wrapped things for Chloe Sullivan, intrepid reporter, Sidekick extraordinaire, and epic best friend/cousin.  After literally ten years of being put through hell, her character has finally gotten the happy ending she's earned the right to, and she has been given a story-line that she deserves, securing her a place, we can only hope, in the Superman legacy.

So again, good luck, Chloe Sullivan.  May your fictional life be long, happy, and full.  And Allison Mack, best wishes for your career, we're all rooting for you.


Finally, my girl gets to walk off into her Happily Ever After.  That's not a tear, I swear.  It's just --sniffle-- allergies...

Comments

[vicks-svq.livejournal.com]

couldn't have said it better

[bunny-ace.livejournal.com]

HA HA .. I didn't think Lois's outfit was quite apt for her bachelorette party either , I did love JH as a Drag Queen , it was hilarious.. I thought he pulled it off extremely well. I'm not really sure I liked the episode too much , it was scattered all over the place.. however having CHLOLLIE walk away into the night as MR & MRS QUEEN was enough to make this an awesome episode for me. LOL

[stalve16.livejournal.com]

Yay you reviewed!! i was hoping you would for this episode...a lot of ppl hated this epi...i thought it was hilarious and a much needed break from the usual doom and gloom! so happy that chloe got her happy ending....i was going to break something if they had ended it with out a proper chlollie scene! LOL I've still got my fingers crossed for a chloe cameo in the season finale tho :)

I'm going to miss alison alot...i met her once sometime around the 1st season i think it was...she was just so genuinely nice! i wish her only good things in the future :)