7.09 Collusion by TW and ED (Part XII)

as retold by Bill C

TW: So in the next-to-last scene, Lionel and Burgh are in Lionel's office. It's actually nighttime by this point. Lionel is standing at his window, looking out over the city.
JG: Okay, what's up with the windows?
ED: Burgh: "Sir, I have a report from our contact at STAR Labs. Apparently they are in possession of something interesting."
JG: I'll read my own dialogue, thank you. "Define 'interesting.'"
TW: "They were given some sort of weapon. She didn't say by whom or go into specifics, but the impression was that the weapon used some sort of advanced technology. As in advanced beyond anything they've ever seen on this planet."
JG: "I see. I don't suppose there's any chance of LuthorCorp getting its hands on it..."
TW: "She said that it's being kept top secret and under lock and key 24/7...but that it was possible that the other contact, the one your son uses, might have found out about it as well."
JG: Wait, Lionel knows about Lex's contact? All righty.
MR: And Lex doesn't know about Lionel's contact?
TW: No, he doesn't.
MR: That's not fair.
JG: That's how the Magnificent Bastard rolls. Suck it up. "Lex's mole. I really should have had him fired when I had the chance."
TW: "Should I pass anything on to our contact, sir?"
JG: "No, just the usual bribe. Thank you, Otis." Wait. Otis? His first name is Otis?
TW: That's right.
AoT [thoughtfully]: Otis...Burgh.
[Everybody stares at TW]
MR: Tom. Seriously. Do you have a death wish?
TW: I like to think of it as my trying to get a point across.
JG: Yeah, that you want to be looking for a new job.
TW: No, John. The point is that this is Smallville, not Superman, and the two just sort of dance together from time to time. They're...cousins, not identical twins.
MR [after a long pause]: You're right, Tom, and we all know you're right...
JG: But you are so getting fired.
MR: Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Welling has lost his natural mind.
ED: Hey, give him a chance to make his case, okay? There's still some chance, right?
AM [hesitantly]: Never say never?
AoT: I'll say it, then: never.
TW: Meanwhile...Otis leaves the office, and Lionel goes to his desk and sits down just as the phone starts ringing. He answers it.
ED: It's Martha. Annette?
AoT: She's actually onscreen, right?
ED [nods]: We're cutting back and forth between her and Lionel.
AoT: Okay. Let's see...Martha sounds depressed. "Lionel, I probably shouldn't have listened to you..."
JG: "Martha? What's wrong?"
AoT: "I heard about that explosion in Metropolis. So did everybody else here on the Hill, because that Skinner fellow...the lobbyist who's joined at the hip to Senator Chandra?"
JG: "The one from Utah?"
AoT: "Yes, that's him. Senator Chandra has already made some...suggestions...about the MRA."
JG: "What kind of suggestions?"
AoT: "Among other things, an amendment which includes a clause about--listen to this--'any person or persons recognized as an entity of mass destruction' being immediately detained if not openly imprisoned. 'Entity of mass destruction'? That's not what I wanted..."
JG: "Martha, considering the lead story on every news show last week was a mutant who apparently could animate and control the dead, and the lead story tonight is another mutant who just destroyed a building, does that really surprise you?"
AoT: "No, but that's not the point. It's so...draconian."
AM: Well, just call her Princess Ardala.
[AoT hits AM in the forehead with an eraser]
JG: "Perhaps. But I will bet you breakfast in bed in Paris that something like that will allow the MRA to be passed as opposed to dying a slow comatose death on the Senate floor, Martha. People are afraid of mutants, and people in power doubly so."
AoT: "It's not what I wanted, though."
JG: "It never is. It's all a matter of compromise."
AoT: "You're probably right. Though I hate that you are."
JG: "I'll see you in a couple of days, Martha. We'll talk then."
AoT: "Good night, Lionel."
JG: "Good night, Martha."
ED: So Lionel hangs up, there's a pause while he appears to consider something, and then he picks up the phone again and makes a call. We'll need to get one of the interns to pose as a secretary for this part. "Senator Chandra's office."
JG: "Michael Chandra, please. This is Lionel Luthor."
ED: "I'm sorry, he's not in right now."
JG: "He's not? All right, please tell him that I would like to speak to him at his earliest convenience about possibly supporting a revision he made to the MRA. And tell him that his earliest convenience should be as soon as possible." Click.
MR [makes a whip-crack noise]: Damn.
AM: When Lionel talks, extras listen.
AoT: Both sides against the middle?
JG: Damn, it feels good to be a bastard.
ED: After that phone call, Lionel unlocks a desk drawer and pulls out the NOKC--
JG: The fuck?
ED: No, no. N-O-K-C. Notebook of Kryptonian Crap.
JG [after a pause]: Okay.
ED: Anyway, he pulls out the notebook. He riffles through it for a few seconds, and finally finds a particular Kryptonian symbol--we don't know what it'll look like yet, but under it is written the word "threat."
TW: Lionel looks at it for a minute, then closes the notebook. He then presses a small button on the speaker box still sitting on his desk, and it starts playing back Lex's earlier bits of dialogue. We need your best "meditative bastard" face there, John.
JG: In my sleep, Welling. In...my...sleep.
AoT: That's it for the Martha stuff, isn't it?
MR: Look at it like this, Annette: long weekend.
AoT [brightens]: Good point.

Continued...