10 years ago I saw Smallville and one of the characters I never forgot was Alicia. Now I'm doing the rewatch, and her story broke me. After the last episode, which ended with Clark holding Alicia in tears, now she and Clark still are somehow together. The episode begins with everyone at the Talon, including Lois and Chloe, on a sing along. But everything turns quiet when Clark and Alicia show up. Everyone hates her, Jason scolds Clark for bringing her there, and when Alicia apologizes to Lana, she refuses to accept and rebukes her off. Alicia walks away saddened while Clark can only look at the scene helpless. Later, Lana is attacked by some "sand man" on the shower, but when Jason appears, the attacker fades away. And so, everyone around thinks Alicia did it, except Clark. Chloe, Lois, Jason, Lana, Clark's parents, the sheriff, all think the same. Jonathan and Martha are usually wise, good persons, but here they were blind, like everyone else. The writers made a great job. I hated each one of the characters. How can be Clark the only good hearted man to see through Alicia? When she is actually innocent, and wants to be trusted, but no one does? Why do mental illness are so stereotyped?? Why being different, having powers on Smallville has to mean the person is a freak, bad, cruel? Eric Summers (on Leech) felt this way, and that made him worst, not better. All they want is to be accepted. Alicia's speech was very well done. She suggested Clark that if he told everyone his secret, he'd be free, and people would treat him as they treat her. Of course, she doesn't know that Clark wasn't meteor infected, that he's actually from another planet, but it still applies.
Later, in the attack to Jason, the attacker leaves behind Alicia's scarf on purpose, so this leads Clark to believe it was her. Only when the sheriff tells him that she's innocent because she was interrogating her at the moment, Clark realizes. Meanwhile, Alicia does her last act, leaving a big mark on the series: she takes Chloe to a car drive, and calls Clark, telling him she's in danger, so he rushes to saves her, but Alicia teleports herself and Chloe out of the car, so she can see Clark using his powers. Alicia revealed Clark's secret to Chloe. She intended Chloe to reveal it to the rest, but still, this will be very important, given that after Pete, Clark desperately needed someone else to trust his secret. A detail I thought was that Clark could have thought that Alicia can teleport herself out of the car, but it's clear that in the heat of the moment, he didn't really think. And then comes the saddest part. Alicia returns home, only to find the attacker, Tim, there, who was waiting for her, with clothes to frame her. She realizes it, but he surprises her and uses a peace of cloth to make her sleep, so she can't escape through teleport. Then, when Clark comes, he finds her hanged. A really tearful moment, for me, the audience, Clark. One of the most unfair events of the show. Clark is heartbroken, even with all his powers, he couldn't save her. It was too late. And while he holds her body, crying, the perfect person appears: Lois. After a reluctant date she accepted with Tim, she realized he's the murderer, and tells Clark, who rushes to face him. Clark wins the fight thanks to the heat rays, and in a rage because Tim killed the girl he loved, he's about to choke him to death, and once again, Lois comes to look after him. She calms him down, makes him stop himself from killing a person. That was another beautiful moment. Only Lois Lane could be the one to calm, comfort Clark in such a critical moment. After that, the implied imprisonment of Tim, Clark spends at least 2 days of mourn, without leaving the barn at all. His parents try to comfort him, but to no avail, Clark feels responsible for not believing Alicia when he had to, for not revealing his powers like she wanted to. The last two scenes show Lois giving a great advice to Chloe (not to reveal Clark what she knows, wait til he's ready), and Chloe visiting Clark at Alicia's grave, where he leaves a rose. She's sorry for everything, and shows remorse and more understanding feeling for people who is different, people with powers, afraid of how the world will look at them.
The episode is very sad. I always liked the character of Alicia. Her obsession with Clark wasn't really crazy, how was possible for her to find a nice guy with such abilities, and not only that, but also one of the greatest superheros, the one with a good honest heart. A man who always tries to see the good on people. The signs of mental illness appeared when she started to become manic with the relationship, and when she tried to kill Lana. But as many persons with different mental illnesses, she got healed, she got better. All she needed was compassion, understanding, someone to love her, a second chance. Clark tried to do all that for her. He loved her. And that's why the episode is so sad, unfair, tearful. Alicia understood Clark in many ways, and truly loved him. Honestly, I prefer her over Lana, who has put herself above Clark a lot of times. Besides, Lana has been very cold towards Clark on this season, and couldn't even show a little bit of mercy towards Alicia, unlike Clark, who always showed mercy and compassion for everyone, even his greatest villains. And so, this episode raises Lois, who even without knowing what the sheriff told Clark about Alicia's innocence, realized who was the real attacker by having an open mind. An she was there for Clark when she needed him. On the other hand, the secondary plot between Lex, Genevieve, Jason, wasn't very interesting, only keeps a game of lies that I've already seen.
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