Smallville: Lexmas
Rated TV-14
Released: December 8, 2005
Christmas TV Rewind Review
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Starring: Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack, Annette O’Toole, John Schneider, Kenneth Welsh, Alisen Down, Jerry Wasserman, and John Glover
This feel good episode from the extremely depressing fifth season of Smallville starts off with Lex getting shot on Christmas Eve. He then enters a dreamlike state of his would-be (could-be) future, much like that of the classic Christmas tale, It’s a Wonderful Life. In this future, he was happily married (with kids) to Lana Lang after he got shot and turned his back on his father, the company, the secrets, and the lies that make Lex Luthor the villain we know him as today. He’s also close personal friends with the Kents, especially Senator Jonathan Kent, who has a touching scene where he tells him he “couldn’t be more proud of him if he were his own son,” just before he announces that Lex is “the finest man [he] know[s]” and presents him with the Kansas Humanitarian of the Year award.
Then there’s the whole Suicidal Santa (who might actually be the real Santa) and Clark running around giving toys to disenfranchised kids, blah blah blah. But more importantly, back to Lex being guided through the wonderful life he could have by his long-dead mother, or, more realistically, the one person who ever believed that he was destined for non-evil great things. We get a glimpse of great things that crumble and make him become Lex anyways. You see, no matter what happens, Clark Kent will always be good and Clark Kent will always be Superman. And unfortunately, even when faced with a potential paradise, things go to crap and Lex, well, Lex will always be Lex. Lana dies. His father hates him. And then he wakes up.
The moral of this episode is not about good will and peace and so on and so forth. It’s plain and simple, because it’s from the villain’s point-of-view: Happiness is only possible through acquiring two things: money and power. Great casting, acting, and characterization, coupled with the necessary popular music from today’s greatest stars and the constant drama that keeps you guessing and hoping and sometimes even yelling that comes with every CW show, kept this show on the air for an amazing ten seasons. That’s right, there was a superhero show on TV for a decade. And this episode was nothing different. Even though it was a little cheesy in parts, it’s still a good story that makes this one of the most popular takes on such a fantastic set of characters. If you give one gift for the holidays, make it Smallville on Blu-Ray or DVD.
My Rating: 4.5/5
