Watching The CW

The storyline that the Smallville writers came up with this week really got me excited. It was different, new, interesting, and explored Clark’s paranoia, which is always exciting to watch. It was this cutting edge episode, which begins with Clark getting attacked by some “thing” in his loft, which we later find out was one of the phantoms that he’d released from the Phantom Zone. However, when he wakes up, he’s rendered powerless, and the only one who believes him is Chloe. Also, Lex has no legs, Lana is in love with him, and his mother, is married to Lionel. Clark almost gives up everyone he loves to be with Lana, but at the last moment, he realizes what truly matters. The truth. Also, in this alternate reality, there is a man who says he’s from mars, and that to escape this hell, that Clark must kill the doctor. He does it, and just seconds later, he finds himself once again on the floor of his barn, with the man from his dream, standing above him, and pulling the phantom out of him into some sort of vessel. Chloe rushes in, finding him, telling him he’d only been there for a few seconds. Clark almost lost himself in that place, seeing items around him such as a brand of soap called “Jor-el,” a book named The Phantom Zone, a nurse named Raya, and a man in the institution named Professor Milton Fine. At the end of the episode, Clark, now in reality, runs into Lana, telling him of this dream he had about her. Lex then comes in, and Clark tells him it’s good to see him “up and about,” which Lex takes as a compliment. Clark left behind in that alternate reality the only thing he ever wanted - Lana’s love, but he lost so many things that were dear to him. His powers, his mother - to Lionel (his fathers worst enemy), but most importantly, Chloe’s life. As he says once he’s back, she means much more to him than she could possibly know. Cue the Barry Manilow music.

So what is happiness? Is it finding comfort in yourself? Others? The strength to move on with your life? Who knows. Well, Peyton and Lucas do. They explored something that they never thought they could feel - happiness. Which is definitely a new feeling for them, especially Peyton. The corny yet adorable lines sum up just how perfect for each other they are, and Brooke could never have been as happy with him as Peyton is. Then there’s the reoccuring dream of Keith. Well, it wasn’t really a dream, and Lucas knows it. But Dan better pack his bags, before Lucas remembers who exactly it is that killed Keith. Because he already knows that it might not have been Jimmy Edwards. Also, who can forget the stripping of Nathan, Mouth, and even though it took him a while - Skills. I believe that was the funniest thing the guys have done since Mouth, Skills and Fergie took the karaoke stage in season three and sang Baby got back. And Nathan does it all for Hayley - who is frustrated not only with her weight, but her injury as well, as “in a perfect world, I would wear a beautiful dress, and dancing with my husband.” And Nathan comes through, as always, winning the male stripping contest, and buying Hayley a maternity dress. And Deb is really going over the edge. She overdosed, as she knows that Hayley is what’s important to Nathan now, and it’s killing her. She hasn’t got anything left to lose.

The league of Justice. What an introduction that was. Oliver Queen, Victor Stone, Andrew Curry, Bart and Clark Kent. Oliver’s relationship with Lois became pretty much over, as he left with his league of justice. But sadly, our hero had to stay behind as he knows he can’t leave until he knows every Phantom that he released is gone - for good. Looks like Clark will have to choose between his destiny - and joining up to a team for once. The reintroduction of Arthur Curry, Victor Stone and Bart was great. Pulling all the superheroed types together to create something that could very possibly save man kind. I believe this was the episode where Clark really saw that he could be a part of something, and what it means to be part of a team. Eventually.

One Tree Hill made a great compact on Wednesday, bringing us some really great stories. The love triangle between Lucas, Brooke and Peyton is now slowly fading, as Lucas and Peyton’s feelings for each other are now made obvious. However, Peyton’s reluctancy to kiss Lucas is a definite conflict for them, but not one that needs questioning. The writers have put Peyton through some large emotional turmoil these past few years, having her lose both of her mothers, being alone most of the time because of her dad’s job, almost losing Brooke over Lucas, and again being labeled as a betrayer because of her loving feelings for Lucas. Then, finding her brother, only to soon learn that he is secretly a physcotic stalker, and her real brother is, as Skills puts it, “a brotha” who ends up being shipped off to Iraq, once again, leaving her abandoned. Also, as she states, her reluctancy to kiss Lucas is because of the last time they kissed, at which time he had a heart attack. However, they get through it, and are able to get past it. On the darker side of things, Nathan reveals the truth to Haley, Deb tries to escape from rehab even though she could have left at any time as it was a voluntary program and Brooke and Rachel break into the tutor center, to steal the results to the calculus final exam so Brooke can pass Calculus and graduate with her friends, wearing obvious cat burgular outfits, only to be caught by the principal, and as an alibie, have to join Clean Teen, the club designed for teenagers who want to be “Virgins for life” or at least until marriage.

On thursday, there were some surprises. Smallville brought us a lot of surprises last week. Even though I found the Lana/Clark thing to be sort of obvious. For the past five years, we’ve seen Lana and Clark’s relationship evolve into quite a serious one, and eventually, end in quite an abrupt way. When Lana and Lex began dating, I would be one of those fans who really didn’t like the relationship all that much because where does that leave our hero of the story? Clark Kent, soon to be Superman? It leaves him in emotional turmoil, that’s where. And up until this episode, Lana was so sure that her love for Clark was gone. He had hurt her so much when he told her that he didn’t love her anymore, and when she fell in love with Lex, she was positive that her feelings for Clark were definitely gone. However, we, the viewers know better. Lana fell hard for Clark, and he was definitely one of her first and greatest loves. Even thought they had an off-on relationship, for a long time, their love was deep, intense and they hurt each other a lot. Which in my books, means that they have a love that goes beyond what they eye could see. Clark only told her that he didn’t love her because of his secret, and now that Chloe too knows the secret, and Lana knows that Chloe is keeping some thing from her, it seems that she and Lex will stop at nothing to find otut what that is.

Music is what gets a lot of people through the day, through a long night of home work, or just through a tough situation. The tone of a song, the lyrics, and just the existence of a tune can make all your troubles dissapear, even for just a moment. Since I’ve started writing for 451 press, I like to think about the characters, plot lines, where the series is going, and so on. However, I hardly ever think about the music that makes a scene what it is. Full of emotional turmoil. Music relaxes us, it helps us get into the mood of whatever that certain scene may be about. They’ll play sad music for a depressing scene, fast paced music for an action, and so on. I’ve been recently looking into some behind-the-scenes articles and such, and I don’t think any one really realizes the time and effort it takes for a music scorer to score the correct music into a scene. They have a wide range of selection of course, and it may not seem like it to us, the viewers, but to music scorers, picking the perfect song can be quite difficult. They have to choose just the right song that will make that scene jump out at you, because the scene alone is not enough, because as I said before, music relaxes us, and allows us to feel what those characters would be feelings, and so the music, must be in keeping with the mood. One show that is a great example would be One Tree Hill. They use very few well known artists, but their music is always just right in each scene, and that makes their scenes, all that more amazing.

Dean Winchester of Supernatural. He’s the older brother, he’s always been the one who was responsible for looking after the younger one. He’s the iron fist, the man with the strong exterior, who never shows what is really inside. May be corny, but it’s true. And after all this time, it seems that maybe, just maybe, he’s getting too old for the job that he’s sworn to do. Protect the young, inoccent and helpless, and keep the family business alive. Like we saw in the last episode, he said himself that he was sick of going from place to place, never staying in what spot. And that it wasn’t just about their father’s death. The reason he was really saying all this was because he thought that Sam was dying, and nothing really mattered anymore. Then when Sam survived this unknown virus, for unknown reasons, it seemed like the conversation between the two brothers had never happened. However, at the end of the episode, Sam doesn’t want to let what happened go, as he confronts him about it. Then of course, like, all shows, they leave us hanging on a thread, with Dean JUST about to tell Sam what is different about him, and why was Sam immune to the virus. Whatever it is, I think we can be sure that things are never going to be the same for Dean Winchester, and his brother, Sam.
Jensen Ackles and Jarad Padalecki as the Winchester Brothers of Supernatural

When Smallville began, Lex seemed to be kind of an okay guy. He had befriended Clark, and never wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps of the corporate, evil guy. And as the show progressed, it seemed that the Lex Luthor from the comics, and television shows, and movies, was being shown as a fairly good guy. That was, until some thing happened. Lionel had become a good person for a while, and Lex wasn’t too sure of it. He thought that maybe it was an act, but eventually, made his peace with it. He’d just been released from jail, and Lionel felt like a good man, and wanted to bond with his estranged son. It wasn’t until the episode where Lex is split into two, when Lionel turns bad again. Lex’s bad side forces that evil that is boiling in Lionel, to burst out. It had seemed that Lex had lost his father’s good side. However, the closer that Lionel got to Martha, the better of a person that Lionel seemed to become. As for Lex, well, Clark was what was keeping him a good person, and as Clark kept things from him, and lied to him, their relationship eventually unraveled. Then, when Jonathan died, Lionel began seeing Martha more and more, and her pure good side made him want to be a better man. Also, when Lex and Lana began seeing eachother, his obsession with the kyrptonite began to show even more, as she wanted to know more about the space ship, and Lex was more than willing to help. And we especially saw how evil Lex has become in the last episode, when he came walking out of the secret level 33.1, which he had told Lana, never existed. So it seems that the tables have turned with the Luthors quite a bit so far, and we’ll just have to wait and see how long that lasts.

Michael Rosenbaum portraying Lex Luthor

John Glover portraying Lionel Luthor

The CW has brought us many wonderful shows this past year, and even better promoting strategies. They’ve shown us scenes of the love triangles from these shows, and the men of the CW.

Smallville - Love Triangles - They showed us the love triangle between Lois, Clark and Oliver Queen - who is a new addition to the Smallville cast. Then there’s Lana, Clark and Lex, which now, shows how romance, can very well break down a relationship, especially when there are secrets involved. You could also say that the conflict between Clark, Chloe and Jimmy Olsen - also a new addition, is a triangle. Chloe and Clark have been friends for a long time, and Clark is also very protective over her, so he just worries about her involvement with Jimmy. Finally, even though one member has been swiped off the slate - it doesn’t mean the triangle doesn’t go away. Jonathan, Lionel and Martha. She could be just as happy with either, but the death of her husband does complicate things quite a bit.
The men - Clark, Lex, Jimmy, Oliver, Lionel, and Jonathan. There’s so many guys, and they have all brought some thing to the show that is an intrigual part, and the CW has definitely shown me the conflict between every one of them.
Justin Hartley portraying Oliver Queen aka The Green Arrow

One Tree Hill - Love Triangles - Wow. Can you say complicated? Let’s start off with one of the saddest ones. Dan, Karen and Keith. It seems that Karen hasn’t realized what kind of man Dan really is. Lucas, Peyton and Brooke. After a lot of conflict, Lucas and Peyton are finally together. They really deserve it. After all those years, they’re together, and Brooke is finally okay with that. Rachel, Nathan and Haley. Well, that one sort of died out quickly, but it was still there for a certain period of time. It seems there’s no breaking up that marriage.
The men - Lucas, Nathan, Mouth, Keith, Coach Whitey and Dan. You gotta take the good, with the bad, as these men have learned. Nathan certainly has, especially with every thing he’s had to deal with, when Dante entered the mix. Then Dan, wow, the murder of Keith has certainly been haunting him for quite some time.
OTH Cast

Supernatural - The men - Dean and Sam Winchester. They’ve rid the world of demons, saved people, all in the memory of their father, who started it all, and who they were searching for in the first place. Now, their father has been killed by the yellow-eyed demon, and these brothers have stumbled upon the biggest conflict of all, that one of them - Sam, is different. No one knows how yet, but Sam, himself will find out soon enough from Dean, who knew all along.
Jensen Ackles who portrays Dean Winchester
Jared Padelecki who portrays Sam Winchester

So I bought the Smallville Magazine the other day, and I saw a lot of interesting things in there. If you like anything to do with Smallville, it’s a really good thing to pick up. One of the most interesting things in there was an interview between John Glover and Annette O’toole. In the interview, they spoke about their characters’ relationship, and how it has built over the last year or so. I found it very interesting, as in my opinion, you could look at the situation two ways. Ever since John Schneider’s character, Jonathan, was killed off, Martha has had to deal with his death, and that has been very hard on her. She swore that she and Lionel would never be more than friends, because to her, that would be like his death was in vain, and she would be betraying him. However, as things have progressed, as her and Lionel spent so much time together, when she took the spot of senator, she began to realize, whether she wants to admit it or not, how well suited she and Lionel are for each other. So the question is, would being with Lionel, really be betraying the memory of Jonathan? Well, my opinion about it is sort of mixed. I understand how people could see any romantic involvement with him as betrayal, because of how much Jonathan hated Lionel, and the last conversation that they had together. However, Martha deserves to be happy, and Jonathan always wanted the best for her, and they are so very well suited together. It all really depends on how you look at it, I think. We’ll just have to wait and see how the writers unravel the situation in the coming weeks.