So the sonic bomb devastates the ocean cavern killing Sea Devils and humans alike. Salt grabs Barclay and saves him by propelling them to the surface. Kate is still being shot at and even her UNIT soldiers who come to save her are also targets. The question is, who hired an assassin? Was it one of the people in the war meeting last episode and what exactly is severance?
This kicks off with Barclay going on the run from the government with Salt as a world wide message from Salt is broadcast, claiming they have killed the human delegates as a warning to all humans. We know it’s a fake but Barclay and Salt turn fugitives as she is now a prisoner of war.
Sea Devil ambassador, Tide, arrives, demanding the return of Salt. She will answer for the crime of saving a human while her own kind died all around her. She will be banished and forever swim alone in the oceans as per Sea Devil law.
Now, again, I’m getting a pedestrian vibe and frowning at what exactly has happened. By the way, in the review for episode three, I suggested former companions of the Doctor should have been part of the team to go to the ocean floor. Given everyone died, I take that back.
Tide tells the grieving Kate Stewart that their plans to clean the oceans will be done within five years or else. Wait a minute, didn’t the Sea Devils clean the oceans in episode 2 even returning the Titanic? So that was only a partial demonstration? I’m feeling a little bit of lazy scriptwriting as in how the 14th Doctor managed to regenerate his clothes? Like how did the Rani bigenerate when it was a myth that only has happened to the Doctor? I’m confused now. I shouldn’t be confused this far in. I should be seeing an endgame. Tide also threatens that they have the power to turn everything to rust if Salt is not returned to them to face punishment. Again, if the Sea Devils have such power then why the hell are they making threats and not just crippling humanity so they can reclaim the world as their own? By the way, Tide, Dry is such a crap name for a planet. I’m quite sure that wasn’t the name of it when you guys ruled.
We may have gotten a little glimpse into why Salt is acting as she is. She sees humanity as burning on land but they have mapped the stars and gone to the moon. Neither Silurians nor Sea Devils achieved this. Does she see something more in humanity than her brethren? Is there hidden greatness in normality? And is she looking to make babies with Barclay? A new hybrid species that contains the best of both worlds that will shape the future of Earth? They give in to their passion but I don’t know if they have actually had sex with each other. It’s a dirty warehouse and it’s cold so was it nothing more than a making out session? I had to chuckle at the sentence. “You taste of salt”. Those of you with a similar toilet humour will laugh too. So did Salt put herself into a position where she would get up close and personal with a species that intrigues her and may be the saviour of both species?
I also got shades of Sound of Drums as Barclay’s ex wife leads troops to capture her former husband and Salt.
Kate shows her strength when she learns Salt is innocent and has been deep faked by shadows unknown. The American General orders Salt to be shot as they only need her body. You can feel her channeling the Doctor as she risks a bloodbath to protect Salt from being murdered. American soldiers are ready to fire on British soldiers and vice versa. While this is exciting, it is Salt that stops this massacre and flees into the Thames, leaving Barclay behind.
I have to say the ending with Barclay shouting he will find her and that she will never swim alone is cringeworthy. Kate stands out here because she is a woman grieving and on the verge of exhaustion but she finds the strength to continue and fight for Salt and the world.
I feel like this is going in a pedestrian direction instead of something new and exciting. All I can think of is the Aquaman joke about him fucking fish. Is that what I’m supposed to think because I really think I should be rooting for Barclay, Kate and Salt. Gemma Redgrave has never been better as Kate but there’s something not sitting right with me. This is the penultimate episode and I feel like I’m at the beginning again, not sure what is going on.
I have had a week to think about the last two episodes of this show. I have to admit, I still have questions. We have met the Sea Devils in the past and the future and never have they ever shown the power they did last week. If the Sea Devils, I refuse to use Homo Aqua, are that powerful to clean the oceans as they did, why are they engaged in talks with humanity? With that power, they could just conquer and trap humans on land til they died. But this sudden superpower is too convenient somehow. If Sea Devils had such power, this would all have started and ended with the third Doctor. But that aside, let’s look at episode 3 where Barclay faces the Sea Devils on their own turf; the bottom of the ocean.
Just for the record, any Sea Devils out there thinking of appointing me as their ambassador, forget it. Being ever so slightly claustrophobic, there is not a chance in hell of me going dowwn in that metal ball diving bell. Nope, sorry, drop twenty foot of plastic if you want, Quinn ain’t going down.
This week I felt the narrative was a little slow. A team is assembled to go with Barclay to the ocean floor. I understand the need of giving every character some sort of tiny background so the audience can hopefully identify with them. But I felt some it was very pedestrian, cliched. One hasn’t spoken to her brother in twenty years so is going to phone him when this is all over. Good luck with that. They don’t come across as agents that should be better equipped to deal with this mentally. Barclay is better equipped than they are and this is probably the highlight of this episode for me. When Barclay’s daughter berates him and he breaks down following his failure last week, it is a real reaction. The eyes of the world are upon him against this formidable enemy and he is a loser in their eyes. Just as Turlough and especially Mickey Smith were seen as not the bravest or someone you could count on, now Barclay is in that position.
His breakdown in the arms of his ex wife is very human. Indeed, to help one of the team, an Australian older man, Ted Campbell, cope with panic attacks on the way down, Barclay steps up where none of the rest of them have. He is terrified but refuses to let that bring the rest of them down. Ravi especially seems very ill equipped to be part of this mission which, let’s face it, is the only thing standing between humanity and annihilation.
The scenes between Salt and Barclay also shine when they are alone and speak candidly. He feels like he has known Salt forever and she says the tides have brought them together. But why? Is barclay going to create a whole new meaning for sushi? Can humans and Sea Devils actually do the deed? Do they have the parts? Fish sex? Come on, prove me wrong please! The Sea Devil city is beautifully done with the legion of Sea Devils ready for an audience with the human delegation.
This is where I feel former companions should really have been included here. Russell Tovey is doing a great job as everyman Barclay but Tegan, Ace, Mel, Martha or even Donna would have been welcome here. Tegan has fought tthe Sea Devils before in the future where they tried, along with the Silurians, to trigger a war that would wipe out humanity. That’s where I feel this story is lacking.
On the flipside, Kate Stewart is facing hostile opposition which ends in tragedy for her. It is wonderful to see just how she copes with running UNIT and you can feel her father, the Brigadier, very strongly here. She is taking his and the Doctor’s place in protecting humanity but it is taking its toll. UNIT no longer has the punch it once had as she faces a hostile meeting in which corporations rule and foreign states and her own Prime Minister are working against her. They are prepared to launch war on the Sea Devils using all sorts of weaponry. Kate is little more than a nuisance, standing in their way.
But while this is a bit slow, the final twist makes us sit up again. Someone tries to assassinate Kate but her love, Christofer is killed instead. She is helpless to save him as he dies on the floor of her home while at the bottom of the ocean, Ted reveals himself to be an assassin and tries to hand Salt a bomb which detonates.
Overall, I am loving the exploration of Barclay and Kate right now while the mystery of his connection to Salt deepens. However, these 45 minutes felt like a pause with a lot of padding and lame characterisation.
Left Unsaid was never meant to be part of the When Angels Burn & Other Stories anthology book.
It wasn’t ever going to be a monsters from space story. Every chance I get I like to add to the characters and their backgrounds. The label Time Warriors sound like the Thundercats or He-Man crew were about to arrive. But that is the point. The Time Warriors are you and me. They are ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. Like all of us, they have flaw and weaknesses which are universal. They look like us, they live like us and life treats them just as good and badly as it does everyone who has ever walked this planet.
We all grieve and miss our loved ones. Something I saw on social media disturbed me. You’ve all seen these apps which take photos and bring them to life. I tried one and using a photot of me, I was singing and dancing in it.
I was so disturbed by it I didn’t go any further
There was something totally unnatural about my movements and yes, I know it’s AI but still, it was looking at a stranger. It was like something had taken my body and was using it as a puppet to make me a parody of myself.
I’ve seen so many advert where old pictures are brought to life and know people are flocking to them. I got to thinking what if people were bringing photos of their deceased loved ones to life. Social media is so addictive as it is, without people becoming hooked on this fake slice of life where their loved ones are animated again.
That disturbs me on many levels and I recall David Bowie talking about the arrival in the internet and saying it will impact us in ways we could not even imagine back then.
He was right, so right.
Grief is something that can grip people and keep them down in a dark pit. They may need counselling. They may be alone and no one to speak to. Or they could be surrounded by family and still not have anyone to talk to. But if they had an app in which they could animate old photos of the dead is an incredibly terrifying thing. Addiction can come in many forms and this one is one that can destroy a life.
With advancing technology, how long before these apps become VR environments where the grieving can go and pay to interact with their deceased ones as fully fledged holograms. Privacy laws and their adult status would ensure this isolation would continue. Who knows what the consequences would be if that grief took them to the edge of suicide.
That is not a healthy scenario so I choose Michael to be the one to suffer from untapped grief. I chose him because Michael is the positive person that will keep going when life is shit. He is the one that has lost the most but gained the life he wanted with rachel and his daughter, Sarah. He had lost two father figures in his life, his father and grandfather, so I thought it was time to meet his grandfather whom we learned in the Wolves of Chernobyl & Other Stories had died from leukaemia when Michael was a teenager.
Left Unsaid is not a long story but it is an important one for anyone dealing with grief or mental illness because of people they have lost. It is a dangerously slippery slope at the best of times but when technology gives us a forbidden fruit then the serpent strikes.
If you have issues like discussed in the story please reach out to the likes of Samaritans who will always be there on the other end of the phone for you. Michael is lucky. He has the people round him that know him and love him. So are you; you just don’t realise it becausse grief is eating you up. No matter what you think, there will always be someone there for you. All you need to do is pick up your phone and dial the number. Or if it helps, leave your story below. I wanted the Time Warriors to always be somewhere to inspire and make people feel like they can come any time.
I’m not an expert. I’m just someone that has lost too many people and wish every day that I could have just one more minute with them. I was tempted but these apps are too disturbing.
On this podcast, Stephen and Owen go head to head to tentacle with John Carpenter’s the Thing. We look back, check the facts and reveal a few surprising details you may not know including whatever happened to Nauls the roller skating cook?
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Whilst not the greatest story in the history of Doctor Who, season twenty two’s Timelash did offer a striking looking alien that is both evil yet sympathetic. With H.G. Wells along for the ride gaining more than a few ideas for his future books, the Doctor and Peri land on Karfel, visited by the 3rd Dotor in an unseen adventure. Back then he befriended and ultimately reported scientist Megellen for unethical experiments on a species of creature called the Morlox.
Despite this Megellen continued with his work in secret and in a tragic twist became fused with one of the creatures he was working on on a molecular level thanks to mustakozene-80. While he retained his intellect, Megellen now was subject to the base urges of the Morlox. Horrified by his appearance, Megellen became the Borad and his new form gave him greater strength and a longer lifespan than normal but was confined to a chair due to his deformed legs.
He became the dictator ruling from the shadows of the planet, using the Maylin as a mere figurehead to carry out his orders. Maylin Rennis was killed and replaced by Tekker played by Blake’s 7 antihero Avon, Paul Darrow.
When the Borad spoke to the people he used the image of an old man while building an android to be his hands and legs now crippled by his transformation. He was also able to create a weapon attached to his chair that could age a person to death in seconds. All mirrors were subsequently banned as he despised his appearance. He cemented his power by creating the Timelash, a weapon in which problem people were tossed to fall into time lost forever. Borad was plagued by loneliness and manipualted their neighbours, the Bandril, into provoking a war that would devastate Karfel. When that happened, the Borad could repopulate the planet with creatures like himself as Morlox were immune to the Bandril weapons.
However resistance is brewing and the Borad orders Rennis’ son thrown into the Timelash to stop ant retaliation following his faher’s death. But his lover, Vena, grabs the control amulet and falls into the Timelash instead. As the Timeleash is a one way trip the Doctor is forced to go after her in the Tradis when Peri is held hostage. Vena has arrived in Scotland where she has met Wells who stows away on the Tardis.
The Borad holds Peri hostage and intends to use her to repopulate the planet. In order to achieve this he chains her up near Morlox nests and ties a canister of mustakozene-80 round her neck to duplicate the original accident. When the Doctor confronts him, the Borad fires at him with his aging beam but the Doctor has a crystal from the Timelash round his neck that reflects the beam right back and ages the Borad to death in seconds.
But the Borad was not as frail as he seemed and revealed his foresight when he revealed the Doctor had killed a clone put in place to protect him from assassins. He grabs Peri intending to blind her to his ugliness but is shoved into the Timelash where he falls back to 12th century Scotland. Legend says he has been mistaken for the Loch Ness Monster.
Robert Ashby does a great job in a thankless part from his vocal intonation to his movements. Borad is a broken creature it seems more Morlox than human now in motivation. The physical appearance is sunning and there is a truly great villain screaming to be born from underneath the poor story and strange reasoning of the Borad’s ultimate plans. The Borad could so easily have been a classic villain up there with the likes of Davros and Sutekh but poor writing disappointed completely.
So, this is it. The climax to the war between humanity and the Sea Devils. And boy, am I feeling somewhat confused.
So, everything we have seen thus far was a distraction from the Sea Devils’ actual plan; to melt the ice caps and flood the world. Or was it the aqua amphibian’s plan? Or was it the fish thing we saw arrive at the delegation in the first episode? Who were they? Oh yes, it was never explained. Maybe some poor cast off from the last Star Wars project desperate for an unexplained cameo. Well, didn’t he come to the right place.
I am just bewildered. The resolution was very much in the style of Kate’s dad, Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge, in the original story introducing the Silurian’s, the Sea Devils’ cousins. If in doubt, kill any threat to humanity whether it be with bombs or biowarfare. Quick point here. The Silurians lived on land in a thriving civilisation yet they are not included in the Sea Devil flood the world plan. And we know they do exist aplenty as seen in the 11th and 12th Doctor era and a certain lady Victorian crime buster that ate Jack the Ripper. So where’s the thought about them in all this? There are still clusters of both species in hibernation all over the world as we saw in Warriors of the Deep.
Ultimately, this story was a love story between Barclay and Salt. But it feels so hollow and daft given the scale of the story and insular aspects at the same time. While I did enjpy Kate’s story and the lengths she would go to in order to get what she wants, I felt Barclay was left a pathetic figure in the end after his build up as the ordinary bloke thrown into a situation where he would rise or fall. But he fell. Badly. He will now inherit the Aquaman mantle as the man who fucked a fish. I use this because it is said to invoke laughs but given the collateral damage here, it’s not funny. If anything, it just shpws Barclay is nothing special and only concerned with what he wants.
This was just a lot of sitting around in between his sneaky night trips to the ocean to call for Salt. The man’s in love but given the events of the last four episodes it is really uncomfortable to have a happy ending. Faced with a life of UNIT protection, Barclay has gone from the great hope to great fool. This also means his daughter and ex-wife will also live like this. Yet the ending of both lovers reunited with Barclay’s new gills and swimming off to shag and spawn a new half human, half amphibian species, left me shaking my head in disbelief. While I suppose the now single Kate, following Christofer’s murder, watching them cavort of ,i s meant to be some sort of healing for her But no. It is a slap in the face.
Barclay and Salt are virtually man and wife now but at what cost?
The murder of the peace delegation at the end of episode three along side the present Sea Devils? The mass murder at the hands of humans of 90% of the Sea Devil population makes me ask how many amphibians died and how many of those fish things from episode one. As there is obviously three aspects to the underwater culture, how much of each trident was affected? Christofer was murdered because of this. Why would Tide warn man that they have five years left and then someone comment that they couldn’t clean a river in five years, never mind the ocean. So it’s an idle threat.
I hark back to the plastic storm in episode two. Are we to believe that the super powerful Sea Devils only vomited a portion of the pollution from the ocean and kept the reest for man to clear up? Doubt it very much. People have died here but the greatest sacrifice is a young girl, weeping for the loss of her dad while being cradled in the arms of her mother. How wonderful Barclay the wimp is swimming the depths of the ocean while his wife and daughter will have to , at the very least, be put into a witness protection programme. They will never be able to acknowledge any connection to Barclay after all this. Yet we are to celebrate the two lovers flapping off to God knows where. happily ever after. Barclay would have been better dying or someone murdering Salt to give him a new purpose.
I’ve so many questions here. I might remind you that the Doctor sacrificed another life for his fdaughter lost in reality. A world saved at the cost of one life, is no world at all. I can take downer endings any time but this is just a mess. Love across species is an old theme but it doesn’t for the horrors left in its wake. Delta and the Bannermen worked well in doing that with the Chimeron Queen so we know it can be done. If you want a really good Sea Devil/Silurian story, read the Final Genesis comic strip featuring the seventh Doctor or Blood Heat also featuring that Doctor.
The only thing stopping Russell Tovey going nude is the prewatershed time slot.
Who authorised the experiment on Barclay to turn him into a man with gills ala SeaQuest’s Tony Piccolo? What was the aim of that? The Sea Devils and amphibians giving themselves up to the rule of man seemed a bit quick, given the rust weapon, melting ice caps in six hours rather than decades and super storm technolgy. It simply doesn’t make sense at all.
Full scale murder is the only way out of this story (no, I haven’t forgotten about accord). i am bitterly disappointed by the way this has unfolded because it started so well. New writers needed now please and I’m first to volunteer. Try the Time Warriors book series to see what good storytelling really is. Unlike the War between the Land and the sea, you won’t be disappointed.
It’s not long before staff are paid off and samples of the dead Sea Devil babies are being bought in rainy streets. Other parties, both political and private, are seeing recession on the horizon if they bow down to the Sea Devils so the deal must include the destruction of the sea dwellers. Barclay’s identity as the new ambassador is leaked causing a media frenzy.
Barclay is reunited with his family with Kate guiding him in his new role.
I have to say the return of scientific advisor, Shirley Bingham, is a let down. I really wanted Lenny Rush’s Morris Gibbons back. He is a much more interesting character and would bring a child’s, even a genius child’s, view to global destruction. There is room for it here but alas, we will never know.
As I said in the last review, this story writes itself and when Barclay must stand before the first official negotiation, it quickly becomes us, the audience, speaking. Salt challenges him to drink a glass of water from the Thames but it is so polluted, he cannot. Barclay ignores the dialogue that has been written for him and just goes off on one. He says what we are all thinking as normal every day citizens. We don’t even know what is in our water supplies any more yet it is always someone else’s problem and we stew in social media. It is beautifully written and hits home because it is what we all know. Water companies and world governments don’t care as long as the money keeps coming. Jack Harkness once said that the 21st century is when it all changes and here it is, in a touching exchange between Barclay and his daughter. He is buzzing about his first performance as ambassador but for every high, there is a greater fall.
In this case, the Sea Devils are furious that the humans say it will take 40 years to achieve just 50% of pollution reversal. Kate compares Barclay to the Doctor, going off script and winging it. But he loses control as the skies darken and every last scrap of rubbish ever dumped into a canal or an ocean falls from the sky back on to the land. Barclay’s ex wife and daughter are almost killed. This is Torchwood/Sound of Drums drama scale as everything from plastic bottles to the Titanic itself is thrown back on to the land. But with such power, why are they bothering to talk? Do the Sea Devils have another agenda?
Helpless, Barclay faces a more cautious negotiation this time as the Sea Devils make three demands. All pollution stops immediately. They demand all the oceans and waterways as their territory including the skies above them and man will not be permitted to leave land. With no air or sea travel, the ecomony will collapse. This causes chaos and suddenly Salt becomes more male, shifting in appearance and voice. If they had done with with the old Sea devil mask design then it wouldn’t have worked so well. Gugu’s performance is electric as she holds all the cards here. Just a flick of her head fins or narrowing of her eyes as she waits for Barclay to drink the water dances off the screen.
She gives me the impression, she still holds hope that Barclay can break the deadlock and use his own mind rather than words written by UNIT. The third is on their terms which Kate urges Barclay not to agree to. It is a beautiful dance between the two characters. Could Salt be testing the ordinary people of Earth because she knows how governments lie and cheat? When she mentioned that humans started this, could she be referring to brigadier Lethbridge Stewart killing the Silurians with a bomb behind the Doctor’s back and similarly, the Sea Devil colony during the 3rd Doctor era?
And yes, you can’t help but think, where is the 14th Doctor? Is he off world with Rose or Donna or is he standing back? His presence is very much felt as Barclay inadvertently becomes a child of time like all the companions who ever met or travelled with the Doctor. Barclay was nervous, insecure, had a failed marriage and just a low key worker so this is making him see he can be better. He can make a difference and the sudden realisation that he is now a historical figure loses its allure by the end of the episode.
The third condition Salt wants is for Barclay to meet the Sea Devils on their turf. and take the negotiation further.
At the bottom of the ocean.
Given what he has seen them do, Barclay agrees against Kate’s wishes.
I’m now at the wow stage of this story. The pollution rain of rubbish is excellent and foreshadowed by a solitary plastic bag in some great direction. This feels Children of Earth like, in that the threat is so big and the enemy so powerful, that man may well be prisoners on his own planet while the original inhabitants take back their world.
So my biggest problem with this is that when it was announced as the return of Martha Jones, actress Freema Agyeman. But as more publicity stuff merged, there was no sign of her. Russell Tovey was rumoured to be the Master with Gugu Mbatha Raw who played Martha’s sister previously also joining as was the nasty American general from Torchwood Children of Earth. UNIT were to face off against the Sea Devils and the 15th Doctor mentions the war between the land and the sea in 73 Yards. So there was a lot of buzz around this.
So, no Martha in a return in the same vein as Mel, Ace and Tegan but Gemma Redgrave is back as Kate Stewart, now in a relationship with her officer, Christofer Ibrahim.
To be honest, this story kind of writes itself as a no brainer. Humanity has polluted the oceans so the Sea Devils rise up to kick some human arse. I was kind of hoping the original Sea Devil design would be used but here we have a redesigned one. It retains elements of the old ones we have already met with the 3rd, 5th and 13th Doctors but for me, they look like something from the Marvel/DC universe with their tridents. It is also a chance to expand on their culture and we get two more sub species of Sea Devils (I refuse to use Homo Aqua).
One is a fish of some sorts and the other, Salt, played by Gugu. She is more in line with the Silurian recon of the Matt Smith era and works well enough. When a Sea Devil is murdered by some fishermen who display it’s body, UNIT arrives including Russell Tovey’s Barclay to quell the situation. I liked the Doctor Who history recap and the implication that this is not the only time since the 3rd Doctor story that the Sea Devils have surfaced.
This is a global threat and I have to say the scenery is spectacular and wide sweeping. The Sea Devil cities rising from the deep are well done. The threat is very much real as we are surrounded by oceans. The Sea Devils have technology older than us therefore what can we do if they want to attack? We’d be helpless.
This is very much a message story ala the 13th Doctor’s episode Praxeous where plastic was killing us, triggered by an alien virus. The most chilling scene of the whole episode is when Salt throws the dead bodies of her stillborn children on the floor of the negotiation room for all the world to see. They died from choking on plastic, oil even excrement which man has ploughed into the oceans for decades.
But with no Martha, it is down to simple admin officer Barcaly Pierre-Dupont. Thanks to a clerical error, he is assigned to top secret missions by mistake. This error is a theme that Doctor Who has mastered over its history. Ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time yet when thrust into strange situations, coming up trumps. Kate, at first hostile, recognises this, especially when all the pomp and ceremony of ambassadors and world governments is cast aside by Salt and she picks Barclay for one very simple reason.
When Barclay at the start of the episode, made the sign of the cruciix before the dead Sea Devil. This mark of respect for a fallen creature he never even knew existed impressed Salt. It showed her he had compassion and something no politician could ever hope to give her. This says a lot as it seems part of Salt hopes war can be averted. Someone who shows her dead children to the thoughtless humans who caused it, should be full of vengeance and hate, without even the possibility of talks in her head. Yet she wants to talk. Whether or not, she likes what she hears is still to be seen.
Russell Tovey is spot on as the awkward, divorced, father of one, nervous Barclay, thrown into this madness as the sudden saviour of the world. I think the Doctor would approve given his hate of politicians. Indeed, Barclay has been touched by a simple hello from the Doctor, the year before when they met briefly. But that hello is in his head every day since. He is full of self doubt and fear but he now has to stand and be the man Salt hopes he is. He was horrified to see two UNIT personnel killed very unpleasantly by being sucked into ground before it solidified around them once the Sea Devils had retrieved their dead comrade.
He is the civilian. UNIT policy states that in these situations, a civilian must document it alongside UNIT, maintaining the tradition of the Doctor and his companion. These are all lovely touches that add to the overall mix.
This is a good start, a nice exploration of Kate Stewart and UNIT away from the Doctor and a very real threat as a war man cannot win looms. There is a lot to like here so hopefully they can maintain the quality.
When it was announced that The Walking Dead star Michael Culditz aka Abraham would be joining the cast of The CW’s Superman And Lois, it was an exciting casting choice.
But little did we know that this Lex Luthor would become the definitive version of the Kryptonian’s nemesis. We have had the movie’s Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey and Jesse Eisenberg as well as Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum to name but a few and they all had an element of humour about them, a humanity at some points. But no one could match the sheer power of the Cudlitz version.
For me, this was the first time I was actually afraid of Lex Luthor.
His arrival was foreshadowed in the cancer storyline featuring Chad L Coleman as Bruno Mannheim, a criminal that is working to restore Hell’s Kitchen which he blames Superman for abandoning. He has also had dealings with Lex Luthor who went to prison seventeen years ago. It turns out he went down for a crime he didn’t commit because of Lois and Superman. He committed many other crimes and Mannheim was happy to see him go away. Lex has total control of the prison and its warden controlling his empire from behind bars. His servant Ottis accompanies him when he is released from prison.
With the long ginger beard and bald head, this is a Luthor that is on a mission. he has been stewing for revenge for seventeen years and is determined to get it. He immediately goes to Smallville and to the Kent farm. He warns Lois to retire. He knows all about Lois and her kids, every last detail of her life. He warns her she should have listened to him as now he is going to take everything from her. Lex is furious that he has lost his daughter and Lois’s words will not be enough. She has her twins while his daughter is now thirty something and hidden from him. He never wants to read her words again; one way or the other. He doesn’t care how it happens but it will happen.
There is no doubt that the first meeting is electrifying. You can feel Luthor’s fury as he faces the woman who took his life from him for seventeen years. Even his roaring at Clark to shut his mouth explodes off the screen. Cudlitz’s very expression is terrifying. There is no doubting he will do what he says and nothing and no one will stand in his way.
The first thing he does is turn Bizarro into the lethal Doomsday. He doesn’t care that this is a person who lost his wife and family in the Bizarro world. Luthor is relentless as he tortures him to death over and over, each time bringing him a step closer to being Doomsday. Such is his anger that Bizarro’s tortured screams are silent to him. All he wants is the ultimate weapon that can kill Superman.
Season three ended with the classic Superman versus Doomsday fight which left viewers breathless as they battled on the moon.
In season four, Luthor’s plans went further with the death of Superman. He has no compassion for Lois or her boys when he finds out who Superman really is. All he sees is two more targets to take out as part of his plan.
That also includes destroying Smallville itself.
We get to see his machinations at play with his cohorts doing his bidding like Otis, Gretchen Kelly/Cheryl Kimble and most especially Amanda McCoy.
When Doomsday kills Superman and delivers his heart to Luthor, the quest for vengeance does not end there. Luthor is a master manipulator and realising Jordan is the son of Superman, he plays upon the grief and anguish of the boy to lure him into a trap. He incapacitates him and calls Lois telling her to choose which son she wants to live. Left with no choice, she picks Johnathan because he has no powers. Luthor later plays the recording to Jordan breaking the bond between mother and son. Jordan is broken also bcause Luthor crushed Superman’s heart beneath his boot inches from the helpless Jordan’s face. Whatever way he can break apart the Kents he will do so.
Another force driving Luthor is tracking down his lost daughter. Only Lois’ father, General Sam Lane knows where she is. Luthor has been buying up property in Smallville and intends to build his new headquarters. He almost kills Sam but Jordan finds him just in time. Sacrificing himself with Superman’s blood running though his veins allows Superman to return to life with Sam’s heart beating in his chest.
Superman asks Luthor man to man to stop this and call a truce but he refuses. Even when Lois appeals to his fatherly side, there is the glimmer of hope that Luthor may change his ways. Erika, his daughter played by Agents of Shield’s Natalie Moon, meets with her father in Smallville. Luthor is to be a grandfather and when talks between them fail, Clark steps in and begs Natalie to give it another shot. We see the past in flashback to the days Luthor lost his daughter. Erika almost persuades her father to come with her and be the father she lost and the grandfather he could be but Luthor’s need to destroy the Kents is too deep for him to let go. We see a softer side to Luthor here who is just a father happy to have his daughter back. To see him switch from a revenge filled war machine to a man about to welcome a grandchild to the world shows depths rarely seen in the character.
Luthor gives up his family for a final battle. He employs Milton Fine, a genius and puts him to work on a new plan.
In Smallville, Clark goes to face Luthor man to man and discovers Luthor has mined the street outside his home with red light that robs Clark of his powers. They have a savage fight to determine the fate of Smallville; no powers, just two men beating each other for control of the town. But even when Clark wins and sends him packing, Luthor never stops. He is consumed. He sends Otis to murder Lana Lane so she cannot prevent him buying up Smallville. The residents, urged by Lois, say no to his over generous offers to buy their farmland which angers him more. It is clear Clark’s secret is about to be exposed so he takes that power away by telling the world who he is. Jonathan (who now has powers) and Jordan find a new found celebrity status.
In a change of tactics, he arranges a televised debate with Lois in which he manages to twist things to show her as the bad guy. He even uses the footage of Clark beating him to a pulp as evidence that he is a victim in all this given he was in jail for a crime he did not commit. While the interview takes palce, Milton is rescued from a car crash by Natalie and John in their battlesuits. However Milton is able to take control of the suits. Just as Erika is about to expose her own father, the remote controlled suits attack forcing Clark and the boys to fight them.
Amanda thinks she and Lex are in love and that she is indispensable to Lexcorp but she is just another outlet for him to get what he wants. The implication is they are sleeping together but she is convinced he loves her despite Lois’s warnings that he did the same thing to Cheryl and now she is dead.
Knowing now that Superman is losing his power, Luthor gets Fine to refine John’s stolen battle suit into one capable of destroying this new weakened Superman. He also soups up Doomsday now immune from Lois’ pleas to its humanity and launches his final plan. If he cannot have Smallville then he will wipe it off the face of the planet. He hovers in the sky watching Doomsday and Superman battle it out beside the super twins. Using John’s hammer, they smash Luthor’s suit leaving him a wreck in the streets of the town he wanted to destroy.
Carted back to prison for life in Stryker’s Island, Luthor thinks he can start again where he left off but this time he is powerless and secured in his cell with no amenities. Bruno Mannheim is in charge now and Luthor will be his bitch now.
In the flashfrward detailing the rest of Superman and Lois’ life, we see a dejected Luthor in a black suit sitting at a table in the Kent household. Clark puts his hand on his shoulder as a show of forgiveness. Luthor, who has lost his chance at a family for the sake of revenge, realises too late how stupid he has been.
And that is part of the brilliance of this version. He has spent his time trying to destory the Kent family but never realised just how wide that family was. All the money in the world doesn’t make you happy; being surrounded by people you love does. These binds can never be smashed no matter what you do to try and break them. If he had accepted his daughter’s offer to go with her and be a grandfather, Luthor would have found the peace he sought. The Kents had what he always sought deep down and he was trying to destroy that thinking it would satisfy his emptiness.
The Luthor in this show was a rampaging madman that was prepared to destroy everything to quench his thirst. Cudlitz was brash but friendly as Abraham in The Walking Dead but here he is a simmering powerhouse of rage, engaging one plan after another to kill the Kents. Cudlitz masterfully steps from super criminal to a man on the cusp of happiness having got his daughter back only be consumed once gain by the darkness. The makers of Superman and Lois have never shied away from brutish reality and in their design for Luthor, they have made a version so deadly that it is a shame that the show has been cancelled to make way for the James Gunn movie.
Family has always been the heart of the show. It is almost like Luthor sees it as the cruxifix to his vampire. He uses Bizarro, who is grieving the loss of his family, to become the weapon of mass destruction to kill his other self who has what he has lost. This is what Luthor is attacking; family. He is flawed because he had the chance to get that for himself but blew it. So if he cannot have it then no one shall have that. Smallville itself is not just a town but everything that stands for family. The Kents are not the heart of this family but part of it. In a way, this theme echoes Smallville to some degree as that Lex Luthor wanted to be part of a family and saw the Kents as that adopted option. His father is pure evil and Lex tried to be part of the Kents but they rejected him outright. So in a way, the Kents helped create the supervillain we know and love in both shows. All he wants is to be part of that love and connection. For the Cudlitz version, he lost all that when his wife divorced him and took his daughter when he went to prison. Lois went on to build her own life and that is what is at the centre of Luthor’s rage.
This version will forever remain masterpiece on how to write a villain the right way.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 