Smallville 7.12 "Fracture" - review

Smallville episode 7.12 “Fracture” aired February 14, 2008.

REVIEW

“Fracture” explores the themes of choices and responsibility, of depravity and hope. Chloe must choose between using her powers at the risk of death. Clark holds on to hope that there is something left in Lex that is worth saving.

The conflict begins when Lex shows up in Detroit at the diner where Kara works. Kara, as an amnesiac Linda,  was taken in by Finley, an ex-con. Lex offers to help Linda get all her memories back using this amazing technology and great doctors at his disposal. Finley gets paranoid with this idea and gets her hostaged. (Un)fortunately for Lex, Lois followed him to the diner and as usual, she got involved in the hostage drama. Finley and Lex have a shoot out, and poor Lex was the worse shooter. Finley gets his arm grazed with a bullet; Lex gets the bullet right on his bad, bald forehead.

So Lex is now in a coma;, and Lois and Kara are missing. Conveniently, the Luthors have a secret project that involves a machine that lets a person enter another man’s mind to recover hidden memories. Clark volunteers to enter Lex’s mind and search his memories for clues about the two women.

Inside, Clark encounters Alexander, a younger, better version of Lex who helped him navigate the maze that is Lex’s twisted mind. In there, Clark was led into a ‘room’ that Lex never visits. And we discover this very painful memory – the harsh treatment and anger that Lionel poured on a young Lex, and rejection by his anguished mother Lilian. 

Unfortunately for Clark, he is powerless inside Lex’s mind. To his alarm, Lex is able to see him. This hidden side of Lex is more powerful, menacing and totally depraved, and who seeks to kill the young Alexander, that remnant of his personality that is still good. In the future, Lex will succeed in wiping out this side of himself, and what he is inside his mind will emerge to be Superman’s most hateful enemy.

Lex drags Clark into a memory that Clark would not rather see – the fireside lovemaking of Lex and Lana where she promises to always love him. Somehow, we know this is going to haunt Clark forever and damage that fragile relationship he has with Lana.

Clark found where Lois and Kara are, and desperately reminds the young Alexander to never give up fighting to keep that good side of Lex. In the real world, Lex is dying and Clark, trapped inside his mind, could die along with him. Chloe steps in and uses her powers, healing Lex and eventually freeing Clark.

As she admits herself, of all the meteor freaks her powers are the most amazing. And even as she questions why she was chosen to bear this, Chloe is the one unselfish person in Smallville who deserves this power to heal. It’s unfortunate that she doesn’t have a place in the larger Superman mythology. What would Clark Kent do without this tiny sidekick force of a friend?

The episode winds down with Lionel expressing his love for his son, who was almost taken from him that day. And, maybe that “I love you” is a little too late for Lex. In the final scene with Kara, we see a congenial looking Lex offering to help Kara regain her memory. And from what we saw in this episode, that generous offer is not without an ulterior motive.

Michael Rosenbaum takes centerstage in this episode, and he nails this portrayal of the many angles of Lex Luthor. “Fracture” is one of those Smallville episodes where everything comes together. Every scene was useful, every character essential. There was none of those hastily drawn fight sequences between Clark and a meteor freak. One is not left wondering why this certain character or angle wasn’t explored more. In short, nothing in the writing and direction of “Fracture” was a fracture.