Episode 1.17
“Reaper”
Back to the FotW! But honestly after seeing a few in a row without, it didn’t seem as cliched and wrong this time around. It seemed alright. Unfortunately, poor writing ruins that storyline. The subplots involving Clark,Whitney, and Lex and their fathers were much more poignant and well done.
Tyler Randall develops the ability to turn those he touches to ash and he becomes the self appointed ender of pain and suffering for those in pain and suffering. He begins killing those who wish to end their life, leaving only a trail of ash.
Unfortunately he doesn’t have the control he should and it leads to Martha discovering his secret in a convoluted manner.
More importantly Clark and Jonathan have what seems like their first fight over non-power and only slightly Luthor-related issues.
Lex and Jonathan also share a moment as Lex is desperate to feel a part of a family. Jonathan seems still very reluctant to let Lex into their lives even as Lex tries to help.
Whitney’s father has another heart attack and Whitney cannot cope. He can’t bear that the last memory of his father will be of him being sick and dying rather than the strong man he had been. I wish that there had been more development for Whitney before this episode as it could have been even stronger.
Of course in the end Whitney and Clark make up with their fathers with the help of Lex who once again can only stand from the outside and look in on the families, even if he is allowed a moment with Jonathan that is at least cordial.
Overall it was more an anthology of pieces of story than a cohesive narrative. So while the pieces were strong, the overall story was not.
C-
References:
Lex Luthor quoted Nietzsche’s famous line, “Behold the superman”.