PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*
Dull episodes like "Insurgence" and "Suspect" have one virtue, for one appreciates how they provide support for the more ambitious stories. "Rush" is surely one of the few SMALLVILLE tales that makes the show's cultivation of "teen angst" relevant in general human terms, for teens are not the only people who can feel like "spectators in their own lives," as Lana puts it.
The episode opens on the juxtaposition of flaming youth and ancient Indian secrets, when a group of Smallville high-schoolers hold a "cave-rave" in the Kawatche tunnels. Chloe and Pete both attend, so they're on the scene when, for the first time, a centuries-old menace arises to avenge teenaged profanation. A small number of teens are infected by parasitic worms that have remained in suspended animation within the cave-walls, and Pete is one so infected. Chloe doesn't get infected until later, though one of the infectees boldly kisses her, which symbolically sets her up to be the next person to unleash "secret desires."
The next day, Pete begins acting the part of an adrenaline junkie, endangering himself with wild adventures. Yet his daredevil antics inspire Clark to screw up his courage and to ask Lana for a date, which she accepts. Later she expresses a little reluctance to Chloe, not entirely sure the young journalist will be okay with it. Naturally, this sets up the eventual infection of Chloe, who immediately begins obeying the lesser angels of her nature.
Clark uses his X-ray vision to discern the presence of the parasite inside Pete. But Pete has prepared himself for Clark's interference, though I don't recall where he would have got hold of chunks of both green and red kryptonite. After using the green variety to give Clark pause, he gets with Chloe and generously invites Clark to join them in more youthful antics by exposing the virtuous teen to the red variety. Clark's superego takes a nap and he enthusiastically makes out with Chloe so as to ruin Clark's chances with Lana. Chloe's make-out session with Clark backfires, for she dislodges the kryptonite, making it possible for the super-teen to get the danger junkies to a hospital to have their parasites removed. Conveniently, neither Chloe nor Pete remember any of their adrenal-ized experiences, not least the way Pete revealed Clark's Big Secret.
In subplot territory, Lex institutes security around the caves and invites a master linguist (Chloe calls him "cunning") to analyze the pictographs. The linguist will have two more appearances in the Second Season before disappearing. Despite Clark's base suspicions of Lex in "Suspect," Lex proves the bigger fellow, inviting Clark to visit the caves when he pleases, over the linguist's objections. But Lex tells his pet scientist that it's best to let Clark have his head, on the possibility that he may help them solve some mysteries-- showing that the apple of Lex hasn't fallen far from the Lionel-tree.
The Adrenaline Parasites, as an online wiki calls them, are the weakest part of "Rush." Given how often green kryptonite had caused Earthlings to act out their worst desires, I speculate that maybe the writers' original idea might have been to have the Smallville teens similarly affected by the red version, only to discard the idea for Reasons. At the time of the rave only a few worms have survived their long hibernation in the caves, and it's not clear what happens to the two or three that aren't removed from Chloe and Pete. Lex's scientist freezes some others in nitrogen, which evidently kills them, so they don't seem to have Kryptonian powers, though that's not an absolute necessity in the Small-verse. The best guess is that they're incredibly long-lived creatures that hitched a ride back when the Kawatche's savior Naman visited Earth and that they're non-Kryptonian in nature. They never appear again in the series.
The writing is quite clever in this episode, and Pete gets to speak what may be my favorite SMALLVILLE line, just as he exposes Clark to his crimson nemesis: "I figured it out. In your world, green means 'stop.' And red-- red means 'go.'" I don't think that before this story anyone had ever managed to associate green and red kryptonite with those jolly opposites Thanatos and Eros.
No comments:
Post a Comment