"la la la rain of blood and toads"
LaT ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
latxcvi has been discussing numerous Stray-related issues here, and the discussion is still going on at length in the comments. Having finally turned my attention to reading some of the great recent analysis and meta posts, I discovered some thoughts of my own about Stray had crystalised.
(BTW, I don't think most, if any, of this, was put into the ep deliberately; Smallville's execution is consistently uneven, full of plotholes, lousy characterisation, poor editing and shit that just doesn't make sense. The fact that I've constructed a view of the events that gives them logical coherence is entirely off TPTB's shoulders.)
First, and the basis from which all my other Stray thoughts flow: Lionel invited Lex to return to Metropolis as "Special Advisor to the Chairman Emeritus of the Board." Daddy Dearest even spells it out, in case Lex missed it, that when he says "Chairman Emeritus" he's referring to himself; in other words, he's saying he's going to retire to a figurehead position, and what he's offering Lex is a meaningless title attached to his own honourary but toothless one.
Yeah. Sure Lex is actually thinking about taking him up on that. It's a firm step on the path to being able to get promoted to CEO on his own merits maybe ten years after Lionel finally bites it. And it's not like Lex is ambitious or anything. Uh-huh.
So.
Lex shows up at the Talon, having at some point had an off-screen conversation with Clark about his new little buddy (Lex knows who Ryan is in much the same way Ryan knows who he is), probably over the phone because otherwise the kid would've been tagging along. As he comes up behind Ryan, Ryan rubs his head as if (this is how it looks to me) he's having a hard time concentrating, and/or maybe his head hurts a little. What's that about? Not blood or toads, methinks. But while many people think, more or less, about one thing at a time, others tend to have multiple trains of thought going pretty much all the time; I'm that way (it's fairly common with ADHD). Lex is supposed to be a genius. He's been taught -- maybe "forced" is more apt -- his whole life to approach everything with strategy and complex angles. If nothing else, Lex's thoughts are probably loud.
Just making it hard to think around him would be a good reason for Ryan to take an instant dislike to Lex. There's probably also something to the jealousy angle others have discussed at sufficient length that I needn't hash over it again. Then there's the thought Ryan picked up when Clark suggested the two of them visit Lex at the castle (if not earlier than that): Lex has no intention of accepting it, but he's planning to 'tell Clark his father offered him a job back in Metropolis.' Ryan doesn't seem to grasp that Lex has made up his mind not to go, but he may just be aware that Lex is planning to mention it to Clark because he's hoping to get Clark to try to talk him out of it, or at least say doesn't want Lex to leave.
This in turn informs the conversation in the barn that follows. After some off-topicness so the real reason for his visit isn't too blatant (Lionel's son, much?), Lex reveals the job offer, and fails to return Clarks smile of I'm-happy-you're-getting-what-you-want. Then Clark asks whether he'd told Ryan that, and while Lex probably filed that tidbit away for later reflection to concentrate on the stratagem at hand, I rather doubt he just forgot or disregarded it the way most Smallvillians seem to have done when confronted with evidence of Ryan's ability.
But Clark doesn't say anything to dissuade him from taking Lionel up on the offer. Lex pointedly doesn't go into detail, since even business-savvy-less Clark would see that the proposition was more insulting than anything else. Instead he talks about how he's "a different person" in Metropolis, "different" when he's in Lionel's orbit, a great gaping opening for Clark who knows he's a large part of what makes Lex who he's become in Smallville. Clark is distracted (or having a special moment, perhaps) and doesn't get it.
Undaunted, Lex stops by again to give Clark one last chance before he meets with Lionel -- and note how he smiles at Clark's "FWIW, I hope you stay" and leaves on that note without saying anything more. (Though by the look on his face just before he gets into the limo, there's something he wanted to say; any guesses as to what was in his head at that moment?)
When Ryan and his Evil StepDad join Lex in the back of the limo, Lex, as I mentioned, has already been given reason to suspect Ryan could put Miss Cleo out of business. He lies convincingly about knowing the password and Ryan immediately calls him on it, confirming what Lex surely wondered about already. (Ryan does not, however, get the password or anything like it from Lex's thoughts at that point, which reinforces my idea that the inside of Lex's head is busy / loud / difficult for Ryan to read.) Then he tries to actually read the password, helped by ESD's prompting Lex with the gun... and he surely must have gotten the name Julian from Lex's head, because no matter how close he and Clark got, Clark was not going to give up that kind of story about Lex to him.
Now, why was Lex thinking "Julian" at that point? Maybe, as has been suggested, Ryan's relationship to Clark and the parallel with the few brief days Lex had of being a big brother were foremost in his mind at that moment. Um, not. To my mind, Lex was clearly focussing on "Julian" to throw Ryan off, and really it was a fine choice, something he could actually concentrate on without his mind being prone to wander off to the real password. Everyone's heard the old saw 'You will be awarded 5 million dollars if in the next 5 seconds you do not think of a blue kangaroo' right?
Lex is ejected from the limo like highway litter, they reach their rendezvous point, and Evil StepDad tries the password... which doesn't work. Now there's a real question as to whether Ryan knows Julian isn't the real password and is colluding with Lex, or whether Lex fooled him and Ryan finds himself in the lurch at that moment. Wait, did I say that was a question? A rhetorical one, maybe; Ryan dislikes and distrusts Lex and would be exceedingly unlikely to side with him.
Then there's Ryan's handling of the situation when ESD demands "the real password" -- he says he'll never tell. Interestingly, if in fact Ryan never knew the real password, he was truthful in saying he wouldn't (couldn't) tell what he didn't know, though the Evil StepSkank's comment that Ryan never lies can't fit her own perception of the situation. What Ryan does, actually, and it's a rather cunning move under extreme pressure, is shift the target for ESD's temper and avarice back to Lex. If they went back for Lex, after all, he could plausibly be coerced into telling with sufficient violence; or he could be held for ransom or used in some other money-grubbing scheme. Lex would be expendable, unlike Ryan with his useful ability. And with Ryan unneeded momentarily, the Evil StepParents' attention on a recaptured Lex, Ryan might be able to escape again.
Do I like Ryan? I'd certainly rate my chances better in Lex's lifeboat. The boy is ruthless; he's had to be, and I wouldn't go so far as to call him evil, but when he says Lex has darkness in him? That pot's pretty dark there too, kiddo.
latxcvi has been discussing numerous Stray-related issues here, and the discussion is still going on at length in the comments. Having finally turned my attention to reading some of the great recent analysis and meta posts, I discovered some thoughts of my own about Stray had crystalised.(BTW, I don't think most, if any, of this, was put into the ep deliberately; Smallville's execution is consistently uneven, full of plotholes, lousy characterisation, poor editing and shit that just doesn't make sense. The fact that I've constructed a view of the events that gives them logical coherence is entirely off TPTB's shoulders.)
First, and the basis from which all my other Stray thoughts flow: Lionel invited Lex to return to Metropolis as "Special Advisor to the Chairman Emeritus of the Board." Daddy Dearest even spells it out, in case Lex missed it, that when he says "Chairman Emeritus" he's referring to himself; in other words, he's saying he's going to retire to a figurehead position, and what he's offering Lex is a meaningless title attached to his own honourary but toothless one.
Yeah. Sure Lex is actually thinking about taking him up on that. It's a firm step on the path to being able to get promoted to CEO on his own merits maybe ten years after Lionel finally bites it. And it's not like Lex is ambitious or anything. Uh-huh.
So.
Lex shows up at the Talon, having at some point had an off-screen conversation with Clark about his new little buddy (Lex knows who Ryan is in much the same way Ryan knows who he is), probably over the phone because otherwise the kid would've been tagging along. As he comes up behind Ryan, Ryan rubs his head as if (this is how it looks to me) he's having a hard time concentrating, and/or maybe his head hurts a little. What's that about? Not blood or toads, methinks. But while many people think, more or less, about one thing at a time, others tend to have multiple trains of thought going pretty much all the time; I'm that way (it's fairly common with ADHD). Lex is supposed to be a genius. He's been taught -- maybe "forced" is more apt -- his whole life to approach everything with strategy and complex angles. If nothing else, Lex's thoughts are probably loud.
Just making it hard to think around him would be a good reason for Ryan to take an instant dislike to Lex. There's probably also something to the jealousy angle others have discussed at sufficient length that I needn't hash over it again. Then there's the thought Ryan picked up when Clark suggested the two of them visit Lex at the castle (if not earlier than that): Lex has no intention of accepting it, but he's planning to 'tell Clark his father offered him a job back in Metropolis.' Ryan doesn't seem to grasp that Lex has made up his mind not to go, but he may just be aware that Lex is planning to mention it to Clark because he's hoping to get Clark to try to talk him out of it, or at least say doesn't want Lex to leave.
This in turn informs the conversation in the barn that follows. After some off-topicness so the real reason for his visit isn't too blatant (Lionel's son, much?), Lex reveals the job offer, and fails to return Clarks smile of I'm-happy-you're-getting-what-you-want. Then Clark asks whether he'd told Ryan that, and while Lex probably filed that tidbit away for later reflection to concentrate on the stratagem at hand, I rather doubt he just forgot or disregarded it the way most Smallvillians seem to have done when confronted with evidence of Ryan's ability.
But Clark doesn't say anything to dissuade him from taking Lionel up on the offer. Lex pointedly doesn't go into detail, since even business-savvy-less Clark would see that the proposition was more insulting than anything else. Instead he talks about how he's "a different person" in Metropolis, "different" when he's in Lionel's orbit, a great gaping opening for Clark who knows he's a large part of what makes Lex who he's become in Smallville. Clark is distracted (or having a special moment, perhaps) and doesn't get it.
Undaunted, Lex stops by again to give Clark one last chance before he meets with Lionel -- and note how he smiles at Clark's "FWIW, I hope you stay" and leaves on that note without saying anything more. (Though by the look on his face just before he gets into the limo, there's something he wanted to say; any guesses as to what was in his head at that moment?)
When Ryan and his Evil StepDad join Lex in the back of the limo, Lex, as I mentioned, has already been given reason to suspect Ryan could put Miss Cleo out of business. He lies convincingly about knowing the password and Ryan immediately calls him on it, confirming what Lex surely wondered about already. (Ryan does not, however, get the password or anything like it from Lex's thoughts at that point, which reinforces my idea that the inside of Lex's head is busy / loud / difficult for Ryan to read.) Then he tries to actually read the password, helped by ESD's prompting Lex with the gun... and he surely must have gotten the name Julian from Lex's head, because no matter how close he and Clark got, Clark was not going to give up that kind of story about Lex to him.
Now, why was Lex thinking "Julian" at that point? Maybe, as has been suggested, Ryan's relationship to Clark and the parallel with the few brief days Lex had of being a big brother were foremost in his mind at that moment. Um, not. To my mind, Lex was clearly focussing on "Julian" to throw Ryan off, and really it was a fine choice, something he could actually concentrate on without his mind being prone to wander off to the real password. Everyone's heard the old saw 'You will be awarded 5 million dollars if in the next 5 seconds you do not think of a blue kangaroo' right?
Lex is ejected from the limo like highway litter, they reach their rendezvous point, and Evil StepDad tries the password... which doesn't work. Now there's a real question as to whether Ryan knows Julian isn't the real password and is colluding with Lex, or whether Lex fooled him and Ryan finds himself in the lurch at that moment. Wait, did I say that was a question? A rhetorical one, maybe; Ryan dislikes and distrusts Lex and would be exceedingly unlikely to side with him.
Then there's Ryan's handling of the situation when ESD demands "the real password" -- he says he'll never tell. Interestingly, if in fact Ryan never knew the real password, he was truthful in saying he wouldn't (couldn't) tell what he didn't know, though the Evil StepSkank's comment that Ryan never lies can't fit her own perception of the situation. What Ryan does, actually, and it's a rather cunning move under extreme pressure, is shift the target for ESD's temper and avarice back to Lex. If they went back for Lex, after all, he could plausibly be coerced into telling with sufficient violence; or he could be held for ransom or used in some other money-grubbing scheme. Lex would be expendable, unlike Ryan with his useful ability. And with Ryan unneeded momentarily, the Evil StepParents' attention on a recaptured Lex, Ryan might be able to escape again.
Do I like Ryan? I'd certainly rate my chances better in Lex's lifeboat. The boy is ruthless; he's had to be, and I wouldn't go so far as to call him evil, but when he says Lex has darkness in him? That pot's pretty dark there too, kiddo.