6.01 Freedom
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Original TwoP air date 6.20.06
With Clark trapped in the Phantom zone Chloe is faced with an unenviable choice: form an uneasy alliance with the likes of Molly Griggs in the fight against Zod or trust that if she takes Lionel to the ice fortress together they may be able to free Clark from the Phantom Zone. Martha makes a startling discovery about Brainiac.
So the teaser opens with the Luthorcorp jet parked in front of some sort of temple. We splash “Nepal” at the bottom of the screen so everyone knows that this part of BC is supposed to be halfway around the world.
Cut to Braniac inside the temple. He’s in a room with some sort of crystal holder with the capacity to hold a dozen or so crystals.
But only two or three remain. Brainiac carefully removes one of the crystals and studies it for moment.
That’s the Kryptonian weapon, isn’t? It glows green, right?
[waving MR off with a hint of irritation] He zips out of the scene and we cut to the interior of the Luthorcorp Jet with a close up on Martha. As she slowly regains concesness we pull back to reveal Brainiac kneeling over Lois with his fingertips placed on her forehead.
OMG! What’s he doing to Lois?
We don’t know. He might not being doing anything.
We thought we’d stick that in there in case we wanted to have a Lois mind-wammie episode later. We don’t have to actually do anything with it.
Martha shouts
“What are you doing to her?”
“That is none of your concern Martha Kent”
Brainiac turns toward Martha and she tries to scramble away. Brainiac holds out the crystal to her
“You must get this to Lionel Luthor” he says
Martha would never trust him, not after he nearly killed her to trick Clark into releasing Zod.
Martha gives him the coldest look she can, “Why should I trust you?” she asks.
“If you don’t your world will die, and your adopted son will remain imprisoned forever.”
Brainiac places the crystal in Martha’s hand. She is in complete shock.
As soon as Martha takes the crystal Brainiac zips out of the scene leaving Martha and Lois alone.
End teaser.
But how are they going to get back to Metropolis?
Lois will fly.
What?
Sure that’s all part of her [forms quotes with his fingers] military [quotes formed again] training her dad put her through.
Whatever.
May we continue?
Yeah, sure.
Cut to the streets of Metropolis where we last saw our intrepid heroes being accosted by a mob.
So Lionel is a hero now?
You’ll see. [Gives Kristen a wink]
Vengeance girl jumps into action and throws a couple of the hoodlums around.
Everybody scatters and she leads Lionel and Chloe to the “resistance” camp.
With Chloe as the resident expert in Krypto freaks and Kryptonians she’s named the defacto leader.
And that causes a bit of conflict between her and a certain Molly Griggs character.
Are you guys going to blow your whole budget on guest stars? What about special effects?
They aren’t stars, they’re mostly cameos. Trust us on this.
Anyway Molly and Chloe are able to make a shaky truce and Molly gets to work on counteracting Brainiac’s computer virus. Lionel insists on trying to get to the fortress to ask help of Jor-El.
Chloe insists that Clark wouldn’t what her to do that.
Lionel argues that if they don’t defeat Zod it won’t matter what Clark would want.
Chloe blurts out that she doesn’t have the key so they couldn’t even if she wanted to. She immediately realizes she may have said too much.
Lionel stops arguing but seems intriged by the idea of a key to get to the fortress.
Chloe re-focuses on getting the resistance organized.
[Getting testy] You’re like over ten minutes into the season premier and the leads haven’t even shown up yet. What gives?
Cut to Zod and Lana. Lana pulls back from their kiss with a look of confusion. “Is everything all right?” she asks.
In typical Lex fashion Lex responds that things have never been more right. He’s defeated his mortal enemy and won the girl.
Lana of course can’t help pointing out she’s not a prize to be won.
Despite 5 years of mounting evidence to the contrary.
And goes on to ask if this is about Clark.
Because when it comes to Lana it’s always about Clark.
Except of course when it’s simply about her. Anyway, Zex scoffs.
And deflects, “Of course he never did tell you the truth, did he?”
Lana gets all squirrelly faced. Zod knows exactly how to puch her buttons.
“He never did really love you, and you know it. How could you love someone you can’t trust?”
Lana is stuck. Even though Zod is speaking the truth this behavior is unacceptable. Without a backup boyfriend what is she to do? She decides it couldn’t take more than one act to attract some sort of pathetic kryptofreak so she decides to stomp off. “I gave you a chance when everyone else had given up on you. What a fool I’ve been!”
Hey, isn't that Clark's line?
But Zex has plans for Clark’s old squeeze. He grabs her arm – and not gently I might add, “I’m not done with you yet.”
Three cheers for Zod!
Cut back to Nepal. Lois is coming to and Martha in typical Kent fashion hides the crystal. She tells Lois they need to find Lionel.
Lois makes some snotty comment about having been right about Martha and Lionel and says she could fly the plane if there’s enough fuel.
She sits down in the cockpit and comments with surprise that the fuel tanks are completely full.
Martha interjects, “But we don’t even know where we are and you said…”
“That I failed geography. Right. I may not be able to remember Luxemburg’s gross national product but I can use a GPS and read a map.”
But didn’t Brainiac’s virus knock out all technology? Wouldn’t GPS be included with that?
Well that’s why we decided to pay extra for Molly Griggs to show up.
But even she wouldn’t be able to stop the virus that quickly.
Unless she had some help
Cut to our South American locale.
Brainiac #1 is standing in front of the ship.
Brainac #2 comes up from behind and does the terminator thing with his finger into the back of Brainiac #1’s neck.
Braniac #1 begins to shake when Brainiac #3 and #4 walk up.
“What are you doing?” Brainiac #3 asks Brainiac #2.
Brainiac #2 raises his other hand pointing his index and pinky finger. He does the terminator thing into their necks and says, “A little bit of reprogramming.”
Brainiac #4 says “This unit seems to be malfunctioning”
And just when the audience thinks the battle is over Brainaic #2’s head explodes and the camera pulls back to reveal that three more Brainiacs have simultaneously done the terminator thing on his head with their whole arm. Brainiacs #1 through #4 fall to the ground and Brainiac #5 says “we must determine if the mission has been compromised” They all zip out of the scene.
You just blew the entire FX budget!
Well, most of it. But you’ve got to admit it is cool, don’t you?
If I knew what the hell was going on maybe I would.
Well then we can fast forward to Chloe’s exposition about how Lion-El must have reprogrammed one of the Brainiacs rather than destroying it back in season 5.
That’s kind of a cool idea.
As an added bonus for the rest of the season when we see Brainiac no one will if he's “good” or “evil”.
But back to our story, Lois and Martha piece together that things aren’t right with the world on their way back to Metropolis.
Lois is able to make a bumpy but safe landing nearly blind at the Metropolis airport. Then she hi-jacks a car to get the two of them to the LuthorCorp building. But Lois insists on stopping by the DP first in an attempt to check on Chloe in the middle of this chaos.
Low and behold Chloe is in the basement of the DP coordinating the resistance. Martha takes her aside and tells her about the crystal.
That’s when she postulates the re-programming thing we mentioned earlier. Martha gives the crystal to Lionel who is skeptical. He doesn’t know how to use the crystal nor does he trust Brainiac.
Martha explains that this might be their only chance so Lionel reluctantly heads for the Luthorcorp building.
He figures maybe Clark was right and Lex’s survival instincts will kick in. Maybe Papa can talk some sense into his son. He’ll use the crystal as a last resort.
Because Zod has superpowers he doesn’t feel any need for security and Lionel is able to walk right in. Lana is pouting in a comfy LuthorCorp chair.
Is that really necessary?
Well, she needs to witness this.
No, I mean the pouting part.
What if we change it to brooding?
I can probably deal with that.
Done. Lionel tries to reach Lex but it’s no use. Finally he asks what Zod has done to his son.
Zod is amused. He tells Lionel to ask himself that very same question. He explains that Lionel’s masterful manipulations were precisely what made Lex the perfect host.
After Clark, points out Lionel.
Quick shot of Lana to show her confusion at this comment.
Zod agrees. Perhaps everyone chooses Clark over Lex, even Lex’s own father. Zod then gets self congratulatory. He has given Lex the thing Lex always wanted, the thing Lionel always snatched away, power. And what’s more Zod has given Lex more power than Lex could have ever imagined.
That’s doesn’t make any sense. Zod took over Lex’s body. He didn't give Lex any power.
No, it’s not supposed to make sense. Zod is just toying with Lionel.
Lionel, enraged, exclaims that Zod hasn’t given Lex a thing. He pulls out the crystal and holds it up to Zex. It glows faintly.
It glows green! Write down that it glows green!
Zex is amused. He wonders how Lionel got a hold of this "weapon" but doubts he knows how to use it. And even if Lionel did know how to use it
Zex zips behind Lionel and explains that he could just take it away before he even had the chance.
Kind of like Lionel always did to Lex.
Lionel attempts to turn and face Zex but Zex grabs him by the arm.
Lionel’s body freezes up and he eyes glow. We see concern in Zex’s eyes for the first time.
They both take hold of the crystal which begins to grow brighter and brighter. So that the episode isn't completely deviod of action insert a brief battle here. Basically use up the balance of the special effect budget.
Zex claims that if he goes down he’ll take Jor-El with him.
By this time Chloe, Martha and Lois have made there way to the battle to serve at witnesses. Jor-El explains he’s willing to do whatever needs to be done.
Zex trying to find a way out says that if he does, he has failed. Kal-El is not ready. Without his father’s guidance he’ll never become the man Jor-El wants him to be.
Jor-El retorts that he has great faith in his son. He’s seen more good in him that Zod could ever imagine.
There’s a great burst of light. We cut to a shot of Clark and the PZ window shattering. Clark, disoriented begins to free fall to the Earth. Where he lands isn’t important but it takes him a couple of seconds to get back up and he appears to have a headache. Once he’s regained his composure he zips off screen.
Cut back to the Luthorcorp building Lex and Lionel lie unconscious. Lana and Martha rush to their respective love interests. Lois quips to Chloe that the whole exchange didn’t make a bit of sense. We see Clark zip into the doorway but no one else notices him.
Chloe pretends to agree with Lois but we know different because she wipes away a tear.
Of course Lionel and Lex only have cloudy memories of what happened. After a shot of a bitter Clark watching Lana and Martha tending to Lex and Lionel we cut immediately to wrap up scenes so we can avoid the awkward dialogue that would realistically ensure after such an event.
Right, the wrap up. Lex and Lana – Lana explains that Lionel had found some sort of weapon which he used to defeat Zod. Lex is intrigued.
Lionel and Martha. Lionel knows it Martha may never trust him. But he’d like to have the chance to earn her trust eventually.
Clark and Chloe. Clark tells her how proud is of her, his mom, even Lois. They came together to defeat Zod without any of his help. Chloe tells Clark how proud Jor-El is of him. Clark brings up the kiss. Chloe pipes up that it was an end of the world snap judgment type of thing. She’s just glad they’re both alright. Clark agrees, somewhat cautiously. Chloe looks away and frowns. She tells Clark that all she's ever wanted was to be with him but she doesn't want to be a suragate for Lana and she's not sure Clark is over her yet. Clark says he doesn't want that either and suggests they take things slowly. Chloe can't supress tears of joy and simply says ""OK"
Clark leans in for a tender but brief kiss.
There’s hardly any Clark scenes here.
It sucks being a supporting character, huh?
Clark should save somebody in the premier!
You should be glad Clark’s not blowing up police cars or ripping off airplane doors in mid-flight! Clark’s got to save somebody? Give me a break.
He should at least get more screen time.
He does. The last scene is Clark in the fortress alone. He shouts out to Jor-El but there’s no response.
Clark gets to do a rather eloquent soliloquy if I do say so myself about how alone he feels.
Suddenly Brainiac appears
“You are not alone, Kal-El”
He hands Clark a crystal.
“The spirit of your father is contained in this crystal, but so is that of Zod. One cannot be extracted without the other. When you are ready to face them both break this crystal. Until then hide it well for there are still forces on Earth working for release Zod."
Clark wonders why Brainaic is telling him this.
Jor-El was able to temporarily reprogram him but his self-healing subroutines will eventually restore the old Brainiac. He will self destruct before then but in the meantime he will work to reprogram and remove as many of the evil Brainiacs he can.
Clark asks how he’ll know if a Brainiac is good or bad.
“You won’t. When you run into one of me assume I am the enemy. Do not hesitate to destroy me or the ship, if you find it.”
“How?”
“With this”
He hands Clark the black crystal from Solitude.
"Jor-El wanted you to see this.”
Brainiac taps one of the crystals and zips out of the scene. We see a holographic recording of Jor-El. Depending on casting it can be more of a ball of energy than a person. He tells Clark he is proud of him and that Clark must now choose his own path. Then he says good bye. Cut to black from a shot of Clark studying the crystal containing Jor-El and Zod’s spirits.
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