Rants, Raves, and Reviews--Harvest

[bluesuedeshoes]

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

My take on Season 10 Episode 6.

Which is very short and to the point because quite frankly, I didn't like it.

Just as a warning, I spend a good bit of this review talking about Christianity, so if you don't want to read that, don't.  No one is making you.  Also, intolerant or hateful comments will be deleted without so much as my batting an eyelash.  I'm not looking to get into some huge argument about religion on the internet.  I get enough of that in my theology and PoliSci classes.

BlueSuede


My homegirl, Lois Lane.  Represent.


I don't have much to say about this.  It was...well, dumb.

So I think it's safe to say this will mostly be a rant.

I knew something was off from the first screenshot.  Clark and Lois in a red convertible (where on earth did that car come from?) that looked like a model car when the camera zoomed out, and the background looked like a fake screen rolling past...because it was.  Meanwhile Lois's hair isn't even moving even though their cruising down the highway in a convertible with the top down.  That is so far from Smallville's normal cinematic style, I thought something was wrong with the TV for a second.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.

And it just kept getting better...and by better, I mean worse.  Every season there is one episode where I just sit there going "What on earth just happened?" while staring blankly at the screen as the credits roll.  This was apparently it.

Don't get me wrong, there were some fun quotes, and the little bicker session at the very beginning was totally in character and something that needed to be hashed out between Clark and Lois for sure.  That was good.  Plus, I loved their little disguises later in the episode.  So costume people were on top of things again.  Thank you.

I also get what the writers were trying to do.  They're really pulling out all the stops with the Darkseid plot and the desperate need to work in religion.  We saw a bit of that in the episode "Supergirl," in which case I thought it was very tastefully done, all things considered.  In spite of the themes of last season about Clark being allegorical to Christ, Smallville hasn't spent much time on religion or Christianity in the past.  Not directly anyway.  So I thought the church scenes in "Supergirl" were nicely done, that considered.

This episode, however, was weird, and felt very misplaced.  It wasn't typical Smallville fare at all, and not in the good way.  It was just...off.

One thing I did like?  Lois.  I absolutely LOVE the fact that Lois has been chosen to be representative of what Christianity is supposed to be.  I hope everyone will take the following the right way because I'm about to expand on my religious beliefs a bit, and while I don't want to offend anyone, well...I'm going to do it anyway.

Popular culture and current society have slowly but surely begun painting an extremely negative image of Christianity.  People see self-righteousness and hypocracy and decide that that is what Christianity really is.  It is not.  First of all, we are all imperfect beings and all sinners.  Second of all the Bible has been translated and re-translated countless times over the years by imperfect beings, and even if we could guarantee the translations are perfect (which we can't) we definitely can't guarantee that we, the imperfect beings are interpreting it correctly.  All we can do is hope for the best, pray that we are doing God's will, and let Him take it from there, using the Bible as a guide as best we can.  The only two things we know for certain--because no matter how you translate it, the Bible makes it pretty straightforward--is 1.) We, as sinners, have no right to judge others for their sins, and 2.) We are meant to LOVE everyone as God has loved us.

So with that in mind, I get frustrated when I see things like the Westboro Baptist Church (http://www.godhatesfags.com--yes, that's really the name of their webpage) on the news because I know that people out there see that and think that that's what Christianity is.  It's not.  Those people are incredibly misguided, not unlike the village of people in "Harvest."  I know, amazing segue, right?

So let me make it clear to anyone who doesn't know:  the congregation of "believers" in this episode are NOT Christians.  They have been corrupted.

Which I was why I was so glad to see Lois defending Christianity and being the example of what it's supposed to be about.  With today's media, Smallville didn't have to do that.  People everywhere seem so ready to look down on Christianity and see it as a negative thing, and they could have left it at that and barely ruffled general feathers (although I would have been quite upset, personally).  But they chose to make Lois the foil to corruption, and that, especially considering the events of "Supergirl," was a really wonderful decision.

On that note, however, I felt like some of the religious references were a bit thin, the daughter named Esther, for instance--I really didn't see any solid connection between her and the Esther in the Bible, but I'll be fair and say I may have missed it or maybe there wasn't supposed to be one and I'm just over-thinking it.

I should also talk about Tess, I guess.  That was creeptastic.  Nice throwback to the first scene of Lex's unattended birthday party back in the early seasons.  The ending with Tess throwing the possible cure in the fireplace was dramatic and cool and awesome.  I have no idea how I feel about it, except to say that I'm scared of mini-Lex now and I giggled nervously when he shaved his head...which really didn't make much sense considering Lex hated being bald.  That's all I have to say on that subject, other than the fact that the sub-plot felt more like Smallville than the overall plot.


Otherwise, this episode was weird, poor quality, and didn't fit with Smallville overall, and I just didn't like it.  I sincerely hope that "Patriot" will be better.

In the mean time God Bless!  (And happy Halloween!)

BlueSuede

P.S.  Did anyone catch Serinda Swan (the actress who plays Zatanna) in Supernatural?  She was amazing!

Comments

[alice-in-french.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I'm not the only who though the whole convertible thing was really, really weird. I don't even remember what happened at the beginning of the episode because I was so distracted by that stupid car and where it came from and what purpose the scene really served.

I'm a Christian, and I have to agree that hearing Lois defending true faith was a huge part of this episode for me. And despite the strangeness of the plot, that particular scene was beautifully done, I thought.

Two feelings pretty much sum up Harvest for me: Glee, because of the wonderful Clois-ness of it. And horror, because mini-Lex is creeping me out beyond belief. (but also making me very hopeful for the return of Michael Rosenbaum!)

[ari-g.livejournal.com]

I so know what you mean about Christianity being misrepresented as something only crazy fanatical people could be. it's stupid. I grew up in a very Roman Catholic town, in which, yes I never fit it that well because I personally don't believe in a sentient superior entity.
However, I have known people, good, honest nice people that are truly Christians. They have faith, and while they might not always go to mass and all that, they put themselves out there to help everyone that needs help. They live what they the word of God by loving their neighbor and refusing to judge people. They are what true Christians are supposed to be like.
On the other hand, I have also known people that call themselves Christians and they use God's name to discriminate against people just because of their sexual orientation or because they can't find it in themselves to think the same as them.
It always bothers me that TV usually represents Christians either as crazy fanatical types or as "they are religious thus they must be good people". It rarely portrays believers as just people, good, bad and everything in between. Believing in God doesn't necessarily make one good or evil for that matter. In the same way that don't believing doesn't mean that one is good or evil. In the end, it is not that what matters but what you do, what actions you take, the choices you make, the way you treat the people you love and the people you don't.
--- sorry for the rant--- *blushes*
BTW I totally agree with you in that the first scene with the red convertible was pretty much unrealistic what with all the unmoving hair and the background. There were some good lines b/w Clark and Lois, but the plot itself was just blah. I did loved Tess and creepy Lex (I want MR back so badly!).

[gabrielladusult.livejournal.com]

And it just kept getting better...and by better, I mean worse.

Yes.

I'm not sure why Alexander had hair to begin with if he was cloned from post-Meteor Shower Lex's DNA...I mean the creepy old Lex in "Lazarus" was bald -- it actually doesn't make sense. But the young actor totally nailed Michael Rosenberg's smirk at the end.

[the-bluesuede.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOSH HE SO DID!!! And it totally freaked me out. lol Man, I really hope all this is a prelude to getting Rosey back. Watch it not be until the season finale.

[chlavis333.livejournal.com]

I didn't watch this but I just had to see what you were going to say about it. The reason I didn't watch it cuz through the comercial I saw that they were going to bash Christianity. And I agree with you they seemed to adress the hypocrit church goers with taste in Supergirl. I really liked that after showing Godfrey in church they showed Oliver in the same church, showing, to me that all Christian church goers aren't hypocrits.

I'm glad they showed Lois as a foil. I'm not sure they would have anyone defending it. Even though I thought it was handled some what tastefully with Oliver going to church too that could be me reading into them just using the same set. I didn't see Harvest so I can't judge how they did it but I for one I am sick and tired of this view of Christianity and church goers as simply only hypocrits and bad people. That's why I didn't watch for the advertising it that way headlining "Faith" and I'm like "thanks but no thanks" I can take only so much bashing of my basic beleifs at a time. Thank you.