Original U.S. Air Date: February 14, 2008
I just watched “Fracture” and it wasn’t the Kara episode I was expecting. And I’m puzzled why we got the episode we did. Spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode.
Until seeing the trailer last week, I was expecting an episode similar in some way to “Anne” from Buffy or “Memento Mori” from SG-1, thanks to the episode stills that were released. But it turned out to be a Lex episode, a really good one, but when you’ve been waiting literally weeks for a character to return, a character who has gotten short shrift all season, it’s beyond frustrating to get an episode that’s all about the menz. We did get a bit of development for Chloe and her power, which I really enjoyed. (Dumb Clark, if he’d only let Chloe use her power at the start instead of being the manly man and taking on the danger himself, she wouldn’t have had to actually die again). But other than that, the entire episode was about the guys’ stories and anything involving Kara took place thru their (mainly Lex’s) eyes. The scenes with Kara at the diner aren’t about her, they’re about Lex or (nominally) the busboy with control issues – but even that’s really an exchange of power between him and Lex. You know that it’s really Lex’s story because Kara inexplicably confesses to him, some guy who’s a regular customer, that she’s lost her memory and has nowhere to go – which no girl in her right mind would do! Kara may be more trusting because she’s from Krypton (although I’ve seen nothing to indicate that Argo City was any less misogynist than the USA), but there’s these things called survival instincts, and she’s really not demonstrating them. It’s not believable, but that’s not important because the producers are only concerned with Lex’s story: Kara’s just there as a prop. There are no other women with a part at the diner: we don’t even get to see the black waitress from “Blue” (who I took to be a manager or *owner*) whom Kara refers to. Don’t get me started on the use of Lana/Lana’s body as currency between Clark and Lex.
I would have been perfectly happy with a Lex episode if it had come at the right time, but this should have been Kara’s story. No excuses.
So I’m just not in the mood to review yet another episode that should have been about a woman but turned out to be about a guy’s story. Kara still has amnesia at the end, so nothing’s happened with that plotline. Next episode I guess – except that “Hero” has Pete returning (yay!) so I don’t think we’ll be getting a Kara episode then either. There are only 7 more episodes after that.
Kind of bummed with this show right now. I don’t think I’m going to review any more episodes (except “Siren”) unless there’s something I really want to say. Last night I watched the latest episode of Sarah Connor Chronicles and it was so incredibly freaking awesome. I was flipping out at how awesome Sarah Connor and Cameron “the Glauninator” are. I am in love with that show, and I was never a Terminator fan before. It’s easily the best show on television right now. Action shows about women rock in so many ways: a good one like SCC illustrates just how incredibly lacking other shows are. I want more shows like that, not just one or two every five years. And I want them now.
I’m enjoying the Sarah Conner Chronicles, also…I just have a problem with the scenes where Cameron is facing other cyborgs…it seems like she’s always getting knocked about, as if she’s a weaker version of a Terminator. Maybe it’s just that she’s smaller in size than all the male cyborgs and it’s just the physics involved, but I want her to kick more a**…the bigger they are, the harder they fall and stuff like that!
I found it interesting in the episode where she took the ‘power chip’ out of the cyborg following them after they broke John’s uncle out of the paddy wagon…she looked sad and full of regret as if she had lost a member of the ‘family’…be interesting to see what she does with the chip she’s secreted away…
I love seeing Cameron’s reactions to things…the bluntness of her replies, cutting through all the crap…the unintentional, sometimes dark, humour that results…I’m very impressed by Summer Glau’s performance, her use of body language and inflection of her voice, her ability to keep her face neutral in all situations…I bet it’s tiring to maintain all day…
I just have a problem with the scenes where Cameron is facing other cyborgs…it seems like she’s always getting knocked about, as if she’s a weaker version of a Terminator.
You’re not the only one! A lot of people have wondered over that. It doesn’t make sense that the Terminators would create a model that was weaker than the standard, does it.
The power chip: did you see last night’s episode? Oooooh :-)
Cameron is my favourite character at this point. I love Summer Glau’s acting.
(A bunch of people on my LiveJournal friendslist do regular reviews of SCC. You might like them: coffeeandink, vonnie_k, oyceter)
I’VE WONDERED ABOUT THAT TOO!!!!
I love Cameron but she’s so creepy :O
But I never understand why the other terminators just kick her butt so much and she has to use weapons and stuff… :\
I was annoyed that this episode was not about Kara either and was just a Clark/Lex episode. :\ I was hoping for something neat, like that the little kid Lex was actually evil and betrays Clark to show that Lex is more complex than “evil adult lex is killing poor child lex!”
Poor Kara :( *sigh* :\
You have a LJ? :D
I’m lost_angelwings :D
I love Cameron’s creepiness! They should show her pwning the other terminators a lot more than they do; isn’t that what people liked about Arnie in the movies? – even when he was facing a superior model he didn’t get battered around like Cameron does, because he was Just That Badass. That’s what I want Cameron to be like. It bothers me that she gets beat up so much because it’s like any other show where girls get the snot kicked out of them, only here people might be writing it off as not violence against women because she’s “a machine”. I’m…conflicted about that.
I was hoping for something neat, like that the little kid Lex was actually evil and betrays Clark to show that Lex is more complex than “evil adult lex is killing poor child lex!â€
That would have been SO COOL.
One thing I did really, really like was whitesuit!Lex. I love those gorgeous, creepy Lex dream sequences so much; it was really cool seeing them referenced like that.
I think I’ve seen your username! I used to be ‘astraldreamgirl’ but now I use ‘michellebacon’. I don’t use LJ for posting anymore (used to); just for commenting and keeping track of my favorite LJers.
would i be included in that group? :o
i just want cameron to kick serious ass instead of getting tossed around :( it is a complaint i often have, about how when writing women, sometimes it is automatic where if they are smaller and slighter, we just feel they SHOULD be tossed around even if they are made of supersteel and have the strength of a thousand black dragons or something xD
the “machine” or “alien” thing can be used a lot as a not violence against women excuse :( in this case i think it isn’t if she like.. kicked ass back.. but why is she always being pounded and has to use a weapon, that’s… SUCH a cliche thing for women in fights in tv to do :\ like.. well a woman could never beat a man hand to hand unless she had an equalizer :( and often she’s just like tossed around. arnie got beaten up a lot by t-1000 too, but t-1000 had SPESHO POWERS and arnie just kept on truckin!
if she’s gonna be knocked around, at least give the “superior” models SOMETHING to show that they have spesho powers too, so her use of equalizers would make more sense :\ i just dun get why she’s so weak…
would i be included in that group?
I actually didn’t know you had an active LJ until I checked it out tonight ;-) I thought you were only on blogger and myspace and just had the LJ account for commenting (which so many people do with LJ). So no, I haven’t been stalking you if that’s what you’re asking *grin* I’m really shy about asking people with friends-only journals to add me…feels like intruding O_O
I agree with everything you say about Cameron in the last comment and don’t really have anything to add. It’s like we share part of a brain or something *scary*
:o
you’d be somebody that I would be HAPPY to have on my lj tho just cuz I rly like you as a person :D
maybe we do share a brain! :O >.> or at least the supergirl part of it! :D