Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: B+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT (Almost) Everybody Loves a Hero
By Tippi Blevins | Season 10 | Episode 13 | Aired on 02.11.2011
Luthor Mansion. The place is burning like Atlanta. Lionel is just waking up and looking around in confusion, like, "This fire doesn't belong here!" Clark is slo-mo running through the blazing hallway toward the study. He grabs his mother and zips her outside. He sets her down on her feet in front of the mansion. He watches the place burn for a while, then sees Martha's pleading expression. She doesn't want Lionel to die in the fire. She probably wants to kill him herself, although she's going to have to get in line. Clark nods once, then whooshes back into the building. The next thing we see, he's throwing Lionel down the steps like a 16-pound Brunswick. Lionel rolls to a stop with a grunt. Clark stands over him. "This isn't over," he says. He zips away with Martha, leaving Lionel to watch as the mansion burns. A Luthor's home is his castle, and his castle is a smoking heap of rubble.
Daily Planet. Lois is again trying to cheer up Clark. He may have won against Lionel tonight, but he feels they're going to lose the vote tomorrow. He's surprised to see Chloe waiting at his desk. "You might want to take a look at this," she says. She shows him a website on her laptop: "A Beacon of Hope Shining Light on the Truth." It's what the guerrilla girls have been working on. What follows are short videos from fans of the Blur, all voicing their support for their favorite hero. The videos are from actual fans of the show, which is pretty sweet. I won't transcribe them, but the fans seem to come from many age groups and ethnic backgrounds. Especially touching is a video from a soldier. Clark is touched, too. "I can't believe they'd risk coming out to defend me," he says. "You have no idea how much you mean to people, Clark Kent," Chloe says. Clark kind of ruins the moment by moping that a couple hundred people won't be enough to change to vote. His self-esteem... it is like a hot air balloon that constantly needs refilling to stay afloat. He's up for a minute, then he starts to sink again, so someone has to fire up the burner to get him aloft once more. So Chloe tells him that hundreds of thousands of people have stepped forward to support him. "You're an American hero, Clark," Lois says. She and Chloe beam at him, but he just barely manages to smile back. Is there a color of kryptonite that could deactivate his bummer powers?
Kent Farm. Martha, Clark, Chloe, Oliver, Lois and Clark assemble around the TV, awaiting word of how the vote has gone. Even though it's still light out, the results are in: the VRA has been repealed. Martha bursts into tears of joy. Everybody hugs and hugs. Martha and Clark step away from the rest of the gathering. "I thought that people had given into the hate," Clark says. "I didn't realize how much hope there was out there." This will keep him cheered up for minutes and minutes! He says he wishes he'd had more faith. "I want to be the man you made that suit for." Martha tells him he doesn't need a suit to be a hero, but a bunch of longtime viewers are gonna be ticked if he doesn't give it a test run by the finale. Clark has started thinking that people need to see his face. It's a pretty nice face. He tells her about the future he saw where he was "disguised behind glasses and a bad hair cut." The idea of treating "Clark Kent" as the disguise doesn't sit well with him. Martha says the name and disguise don't matter. He'll always be her son, she says. "So you're saying I should become that hero and step into the light?" he asks. Her eyes fill with tears. "You are the light," she tells him. They hug. Clark smiles as Martha tells him his father would be proud.