Last Night's Smallville

[sisabet]

Following my grand tradition of kinda ignoring LJ right after a new ep airs - I find I am still down with Angel.

Also - I forgot that I have to file State Income Taxes. How is that gonna work since I've only been in this state since July? Is it only my income since July that is taxable? I hate this. Just wanted to get that out there.

I can't as yet talk about Angel. I watched Smallville, and I am perfectly cool with talking about it


ETA: Bonnie Hunt! Hunt not Tyler. Sheesh.





I don't know what to make of this show. I really don't. It pulls me in with the pretty and the Lex torture and has me all gaga and hooked and then it kind of just squanders opportunities like Adam and wastes Lex and bores me to tears and then it comes back like it did last night with a compelling 43 minutes of story.

What I have learned about Smallville to date

This is not a consistent show.

This is not a well-written show - although it has its moments. Last night was one of them.

This is a visually arresting show. Last night made me want to vid it again - Visually - the show is *extremely* well done. I love it on mute.

Michael Rosenbaum can act.

Any episode with Christopher Reeve on it will be good.

I hate Lionel Luthor. I'm supposed to hate him, so go team SV! I do.

Clark's hair is a shame - but very character appropriate. It also makes the dorkiness of Clark easier to buy - how he could ever possibly fade into the corners? Tom Welling is inhumanly good looking - I mean - I noticed the other day, I was walking by a display for that Bonnie Hunt movie he is in and he is just too pretty. I mean - you-can't-look-directly-at-him kinda pretty. Like an eclipse. He absolutely *looks* like he should. I just want the glasses to come back. I think, by nature of his acting abilities, I have to simplify Clark's emotional intelligence - much more than I want to - but this is teenage Clark - I can still do that and keep Adult Complex Clark alive in my version of the future. That being said, TW is getting better - and I love how the current father storyline is playing out. This is big - Sons and Daddies - this is good stuff and just having Bo Duke around comforts me.

The Lana stuff is boring and she will never ever ever grow as a character as long as they continue to force her to spout off lines about how she wants to see what she is missing by following Clark around, no wait she wants to be with Clark, no wait she doesn't trust him, no wait she forgets what her reasoning is this week so we'll just stare at each other a lot. This is boring. This is the same stuff over and over. Move on. Quit saying you will move on and MOVE.

I am 12 years old: Clark may have kissed Lana last night, but he ripped off Lex's shirt.

reaction of sisabet watching at home last night
[Clark grabs Lex, throws him back against car, rips open shirt]

me: *gasp* Oh. My. [looks at Sid-the-dog-faced-boy]. Did you see that? Oh. My. Lex should be driving a Jimmy, though.


The previews looked incredible for the rest of the season - which I can get behind - I can totally watch a show that is looks great, but storywise is kinda ho-hum... but it could be so much more. SV could be really brilliant and it has had 3 years and IMO has hit its stride maybe about five times. Coming from the Jossverse I want more. Which is probably not fair to the show - BUT - I have QaF for the poorly written pretty. Now, I know that SV gives me superpowers with the pretty - but QaF gives me nekkid pretty. It hurts me to say this - but I will: I need more than just the pretty. The pretty is great - don't get me wrong - but I need something I can sink into and lose myself completely -- and the pretty isn't enough. Maybe I am growing as a person, I don't know. I still feel really shallow -- but I also am gradually coming to terms with the fact that I have been able to distract myself with the shallow pretty only because I still had Angel to fulfill my "Tell me a story and make it a good one" needs. I'm still gonna need this next year. I feel kinda lost.

Comments

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Can you please give me context for why Clark ripped off Lex's shirt? No one is explaining it - they're just yakking about it.

[luminosity]

Clark used his X-ray vision and saw Lex talking to these FBI guys on a train. He also saw that Lex was wired for sound. He grabbed Lex and tore the shirt off (baby swoon) to get to the mike.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Lex was wearing a wire - he is a snitch for the Feds and Clark saw the mike when he xrayed the Phone Truck the Feds are using as a cover.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I can't stand to watch SV because it's like seeing this beautiful Brancusi sculpture of a Greek tragedy covered in Cheez-Wiz.

It hurts me.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you need to file a separate state return for every state in which you earned income in 2003.

[undercoverbro.livejournal.com]

truthseekersara was talking to drdawn, and I watched American Idol, so we'll catch Smallville on tape tonight.

Also - I forgot that I have to file State Income Taxes. How is that gonna work since I've only been in this state since July? Is it only my income since July that is taxable? I hate this. Just wanted to get that out there.

Yeah, drdawn expressed concern about this. She suggested I ask you about doing your taxes, but you never got around to doing that "ask me 3 questions" meme so I neglected to mention it.

I imagine the state form includes stuff for partial residents. State forms, actually. For Tennessee you'd have to indicate you were there from January to July, and for Kentucky you were there the rest of the year. If you need help during the day, call me.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Tennessee does not have a State Income Tax. So there is that - at least.

[saifai.livejournal.com]

State income tax, I believe you'll have to file in both states. The one you were in from January until July, and then Texas for the rest. At least that's the way my parents would do it. *shrugs*

So glad I'm not the only one that's not seen the latest Angel eppy. There's an awful lot of posts I haven't been able to read.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Oh, I saw Angel - I just can't talk about it coherantly at all.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I am 12 years old:

HAHA! And: yeah. Muh. Not to mention, Lex grabbed Clark's arm and didn't let go for 4EVAH.

I like the rest of your comments, especially the part about needing a good, consistent story, but I will just nod approvingly to save time.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Did you see that? Oh. My. Lex should be driving a Jimmy, though.

He should be driving Angel's Camaro, natch.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

well - see - there is this one scene in Highlander with Methos and Duncan and even before I ever saw an ep - I had seen "The Jimmy" scene. My mind went there last night.

[thefakeheadline.livejournal.com]

See, I think the best metaphor for Smallville is - well, think of it as a puppy. A big, dumb, adorable gay puppy. Sometimes it does things that make you do a double take and wonder if maybe it's a lot smarter than you thought - episodes like Shattered = pointing you right to a shoe you needed to find. But then it does something stupid and thoughtless - Lana's "arc" = peeing on the rug and then eating your favorite fern - and you realize, no, it was just a fluke. But you can't quite get mad at it, because it's so damn enthusiastic and cute!

It's possible I've put too much thought into this.

But, yes. Waiting for Smallville to get consistently interesting will only break your heart. I recommend Monk if you're in the market for a show that tells interesting stories and has emotional continuity, though.

[jainieg.livejournal.com]

The Lana stuff is boring and she will never ever ever grow as a character as long as they continue to force her to spout off lines about how she wants to see what she is missing by following Clark around, no wait she wants to be with Clark, no wait she doesn't trust him, no wait she forgets what her reasoning is this week so we'll just stare at each other a lot. This is boring. This is the same stuff over and over. Move on. Quit saying you will move on and MOVE.

And, something that a lot of people probably miss - which they really shouldn't because, y'know, kind of important - is that Lana and Clark haven't actually been together as bf/gf. I mean, you never saw them toddling around the highschool arm-in-arm and all couple-y like. So every time Lana mentions them 'being together' or 'getting back together', I'm like, "Buh?" Because - you can't get back together with somebody if you weren't with them in the first place. It just really annoys me that the writers were so desperately eager to get to the Clark/Lana of it all, they basically forgot to write it into the frigging show. And now, they've written so many close calls and near misses between Clark and Lana, I guess they just decided, "Oh, screw it, we'll just say they'd been together." But they kinda forgot there's... y'know... an audience who's been watching the show since s1 and saw nothing of the sort.

I am 12 years old: Clark may have kissed Lana last night, but he ripped off Lex's shirt.

They had to wax Michael for that, you realize. *thud*

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well, there was that one time where they went horseback riding and cuddled right before Lex's wedding - I think Lana considers that to be the time she was his girlfriend. It was all of, what, 2 days at most? But since they are high school kids, I'll give em that - but a spine would really be nice.

Clana

[truthseekersara.livejournal.com]

the reason that Clark and Lana are never really together is because of the mythology. Lana is the girl he could never have. In Lana's world (and in mine) deep meaningful gazes with Clark and halting random sentences is the next best thing to being a girlfriend... plus a few smooches never hurts. Of course the way Clark and Lana kiss is gross- too much random gulping...

[ozonebaby.livejournal.com]

I know some people have already helped answer this, but here's the deal:

A return has to be filed for each state you lived and worked in. Since it's the 15th already, run to your local tax office (or the post office, they sometimes have them), and get a "File for Extension" form. Remember that you'll only need one for the state, and not the federal. :) An extension is only an extension to file, not an extension to pay. If you have a balance due, the money is still due by today. You pay late, you get hit with penalties. :(

Now, I don't know how you'd fill these out if you were planning on doing them by yourself, but a tax office can still do them. If you wanted, check and see when they're going to be open. Many places stay open the day after for returns that spilled over to the 16th.

Hope it helps a bit! Wooo!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Thanks!! Turns out I could download the KY form and TN doesn't have a state income tax (which is why I forgot about Kentucky's). I'm finished and off to the Post Office!

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

See, here's the thing about Smallville... every now and then they Hurt Lex. A Whole Lot. That's what I'm here for, the pretty and the Lex!Pain.

cockblocking