7.19 Confession (Part V) by TW and JG

as retold by Bill C

ED: Hold it. Is Clark still shirtless?
KK: What?
TW: Actually, he grabbed a shirt on his way... [skims script] Okay, there was a line in here about Clark grabbing a shirt before going into the loft. [looks at JG]
JG [after a few seconds]: A wizard did it?
MR: You dirty old wizard.
JG: That's bastard, thank you.
AoT: John Glover, old dirty bastard.
ED [brightly]: Oh, that's great!
AoT: What is?
ED: Ol' dirty bastard!
JG: I think I'd rather be called magnifi--
ED [raps]: Cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.A.M., get the money--dollar dollar bill, y'all...
[Everybody stares at ED]
ED: Oh, for God--you never listened to Wu-Tang Clan? Enter the Wu-Tang?
MR: More like Enter the Lu-thor.
AM: Zod already did that.
MR: Okay, I left myself wide open for that.
AoT: If it's not Elton John, it's crap.
JG: I can't believe I'm saying this...but I actually got Erica's joke.
AM: Cash does rule everything around you, John.
JG: Well, yes, it does.
ED: Good for you, ODB!
[JG sighs]
AoT [to JG]: You encouraged her.
KK [skims script]: Okay. So Clark has been shirtless for an entire scene?
AM: Technically, two scenes.
AoT: This may actually be unprecedented.
TW: Where'd I put that pen...
ED: It hasn't happened since I've been here, I think.
JG: This is the first sweeps episode, Tom. Clark should stay shirtless in this scene.
ED: And not just because the episode is so boring.
TW: Clark wouldn't just sit around shirtless with company.
KK: Chloe's a bit past "company," though.
ED: Come on! Consider it a love letter to your fans!
MR [to ED]: More like one of those beefcake greeting cards.
TW [finally pulls out a pen]: Okay, Clark grabs a--
ED: Towel?
AoT: Shirt, but he forgets to button it up?
AM: Blue or red wifebeater?
KK: Okay, I like that one.
AoT: Which would be preferable in this case: his chest or his arms?
ED: Considering he spent an entire scene bending and stretching...and bending...
KK: And sweating.
JG: Let's go with the wifebeater and not cut the viewers off cold turkey from the beefcake.
ED: It's even part of Clark's fashion code!
AM: All in favor? [AM, KK, ED, JG and AoT raise their hands]
TW [thinks]: You know what? I don't want to argue the point right now. [scribbles in script] Clark grabs a red tank top on his way up the stairs and puts it on. There.
AM: Seriously, Tom, it--wait. [surprised] My suggestion goes?
TW: Yes, Allison.
AM: Uh...damn.
TW: Getting back to the episode, okay?
AM: Okay!
JG: Yes, there's a great Lionel/Martha scene coming up.
AoT: Since Martha isn't at home with her son or anything like that.
TW: Clark looks at Chloe with a combination of anxiety and sadness. Slow zoom on him, as some quietly dramatic music starts up. "Chloe...do you really want to hear this?"
AM: Slow zoom on Chloe. "Yes, Clark. All of it."
TW: Clark takes a deep breath. "Okay. You know about the invasion."
AM: "Of course."
TW: "The aliens came from a planet called Apokolips. Apokolips and Krypton were at war."
AM: "Okay, I get that. But what exactly was the Crusade?"
TW: "Zod was Krypton's military commander. He came up with a plan to...to modify human beings for use as troops in the war."
AM: Chloe hits the "WTF?" face. "So Lex got the idea from...God, that figures, he never has an original idea in his head."
MR: Hey!
ED: Oh, God, exposition hell.
AM: Chloe then pauses to consider something. "Wait. So...that girl who claimed to be Kara a few years ago..."
TW: Clark nods. "Yeah, that was probably a good example of what Zod had in mind."
AM: "But Jor-El--the Fortress version--he was responsible for that, right? So it and Brainiac were allies?"
TW: "No, no. Jor-El was set up just to protect me when I was sent here. That's all. Kara...that girl...was already dead by the time Jor-El took over."
AM: Chloe frowns a little. "Well, that's suitably disturbing. Okay, so I'm assuming Zod's plan never got off the ground. What happened?"
TW: Clark stands up and takes a couple of steps towards Chloe. "Zod's plan involved a first strike on Apokolips. This got him in trouble with the Kryptonian government."
AM: "Even Jor-El?"
TW: "Yeah. It's what got him banished to the Phantom Zone."
JG: At this point we fade to a flashback to Zod beating down Clark in Return and ranting about how he was screwed over by the Kryptonian government.
MR: Even in deep space, the Man still keeps you down.
JG: The audio is kept low so we can hear Clark and Chloe talking over it. Before Clark's next line, it changes to the scene from Escape with Darkseid bragging to him and Zod about how he orchestrated the whole thing.
TW: "Zod originally wanted to use modified humans for a sneak attack, but Jor-El wouldn't allow it. Zod thought Apokolips would definitely launch a full-scale assault on Krypton at some point, and he went ahead with the first strike anyway...starting the war."
AM: "And the Man didn't--" [grumbles] Dammit, Michael!
[MR laughs]
AM: "And the Kryptonian government didn't like it."
TW: "For a while he blatantly defied the orders of his superiors and engaged Apokolips' forces while they were trying to find a peaceful solution to everything. Even Jor-El couldn't condone what he did, and eventually Zod was tried as a renegade...convicted...and exiled to the Phantom Zone." End flashback and fade back to Clark as he finishes saying that.
ED: See? If it's going to be this boring, we might as well get some arm porn out of it.
JG: Okay, you can stop making sense now.
AM: Pan over to Chloe, arms folded. "And after this was when Krypton was destroyed. So when Zod was released last year, and he was apparently trying to remake Earth in Krypton's image...he was trying to pick up where he left off?"
TW: "Probably."
JG: God, this seemed a lot shorter in print.

AM: Chloe nods. "Great. So how does this tie into the invasion I missed out on?"
TW: Cut back to Clark. "Zod was freed from the Zone again right before that. At the time I was trying to find this man named Hasaad--it turned out that he was from Apokolips, and set the whole invasion up."
AM: "Why does that figure?" Whoa. Acknowledging the schlock ever so slightly?
TW: It seemed fitting. "Zod and I ended up going to Apokolips, got captured, escaped, and I managed to get back to Earth--but Zod died there, fighting to save me and the rest of us."
MR: He did not! He died because he didn't want to spend the rest of his life living with apes!
ED: Damn, people, can't you blow up a car or something?
KK: Or show Lois in a bikini.
AoT: She's easy.
ED: Yeah!
AoT: You missed it again.
ED: Missed what?
AM: Chloe scowls and gets a little bitchy. "So Zod basically didn't try to screw Earth over that time just because he was too focused on Apokolips. Of course. People are alike all over, huh?"
TW: Clark walks back over to the window, then turns to look at Chloe. "I honestly didn't know Brainiac had survived, Chloe. Zod never said--"
AM: "Yeah, like he'd just go 'Oh, Kal-El, before I forget--I left a Brainiac running loose on Earth trying to continue my work and restart an interstellar war that ended decades ago. Sorry about that.' Between him, Jor-El, and the Zoners...I don't know how the hell your people ever got respected as any sort of great or superior race, Clark. You're all so judgmental and holier-than-thou--"
KK [surprised]: Whoa.
ED: Wow.
MR [to JG]: You or Tom?
JG [thinks]: Him, I think.
MR [to TW]: Damn, Tom.
AM: Can I continue? "You're all so damn judgmental and holier-than-thou, pronouncing hypocritical judgments on all those you declare lesser than yourselves."
[KK starts giggling]
TW: Clark is stung by Chloe's outburst. "Chloe, I'm nothing like that."
MR: The captain is now turning on the "unbelievable bullshit" sign...
AM: "Aren't you, just a little? Even if you can't admit it to yourself now?" And on that note Chloe turns on her heel, walks down the stairs, and heads out of the barn.
TW: Cut to a tracking shot of Chloe as she goes down the stairs, which becomes a front shot as she walks towards the barn doors, and she stops as an out-of-focus Clark comes halfway down the stairs and calls out "Chloe, wait! Where are you going?"
AM: A flash of sadness zips across Chloe's face, but just for a second. Her voice betrays nothing. "This girl's got things to do, Clark." And the camera moves up and over her as she walks out, then centers on Clark looking confused and concerned on the stairs.
MR: Truth sucks, huh, Clark?
TW: It's supposed to be Chloe feeling...well, not all that normal.
AoT: Which just gives her carte blanche to tell people off, because it'll all be reset later. Which it will be.
KK [stops giggling]: Good point. Damn!
JG: Aaaaand we go to commercials after that.

Continued...