Episode 2.19: Precipice

When Clark steps in to help Lana against three men who are being abusive to her, he gives them a beat down, which ends up with him having to do community service and the Kents being slapped with a one million dollar law suit. Lana chooses to get tough, training with Lex, learning how to defend herself. Meanwhile, an old boyfriend of Helen’s arrives in town with an unhealthy obsession for his former squeeze.

I love this episode. It’s quite dark, without being gratuitous, and it is good to see the writers of this show tackling the issue of violence against women.

The actor who plays Paul, Helen’s psychotic ex, is very effective in the role. Even in the scenes where he is asked to ramp it up he never over plays it.

It's nie to see Lana’s transformation from helpless victim to royal ass-kicker. It allows us to see the different reactions to violence from Clark, who worries that Lana may become over confident, Lex, who encourages Lana to take out her frustrations with a bout of kick-boxing, and Chloe, who makes Clark see things from the female perspective, allowing him to acknowledge the positives in Lana feeling self-empowered.

The theme of Precipice is anger. Every character involved has a reason to be angry at some point during this episode. Some are justified in their anger. Others are not. Some respond with pacifism, others with aggressive confrontation. Seeing the various ways in which these characters respond in their moments of anger allows us to see into their psyches. The inevitable result of course is that we get to see more of the darkness inside Lex and more of the hero inside Clark.

One of my favourite episodes. 10/10