7.19 Confession (Part VII) by TW and JG

as retold by Bill C

TW: Yes, it's boring. And you wonder why I was so pissed about the commercial spots.
KK: The commercials would have gotten more people watching the show.
TW: Kristin, your "spots" would have gotten more people watching PBS.
KK: Whatever you say, doubting Thomas.
TW: The show is supposed to be important...the spots, not so much.
AM: While I'm initially of a mind to agree with you, Tom...after six years, people know what to expect from this show.
MR: Sexy Lex!
ED: Hot Lois!
AoT: Smart, dignified Martha.
AM: Heroic, embattled Chloe.
JG: Lionel, the magnificent bastard.
KK: Lana's still dead.
ED: Rampant cheese and HoYay!
MR: And.....Clark.
[TW shakes his head]
AM: Everything else is like...
MR: Shit?
AM: ...like putting mayo on top of--
TW: Don't you dare bring up chicken again.
AM: ...I wouldn't dream of it.
TW: Okay.
AM: The point is that people are used to the show. Good and bad. It's a known quantity. It's safe. There's no way around that.
TW [after a few seconds]: That's a good point. I'll have to remember that. So, okay, we were at...
AoT: "...disservice to the metahumans," blah blah blah.
JG: Right. So Lionel responds, "Martha, you know you have my full support. And you know I don't want to see the MRC get subverted either."
AoT: Martha smiles a relieved little smile. "I'm glad to hear it, Lionel. Now, I think I'm going to let you go--"
JG: Lionel chuckles softly. "What's the saying...if you love something, let it go?"
AoT: Martha's smile grows wider. "Goodbye, Lionel. And, again, thanks." She hangs up.
[everyone is silent for a few seconds]
KK: John, you can cut that subtext with a chainsaw.
JG: Your point?
AoT: I'm not complaining.
JG: Thank you.
AM: It's like they were...flirting.
MR: And old people flirting doesn't work unless it's on General Hospital.
AoT [bristles]: Old people?
MR [after a beat]: Okay, bad choice of words.
KK [to TW]: And you let him do that?
AoT: He has more important things to worry about.
TW: Yeah, yeah.
ED: Okay, we're going from boring to slightly creepy? What kind of episode is this?
MR: We started out at creepy, Erica. We've come full circle.
TW: Going on, people.
KK: You're leaving it in there? Ballsy.
JG: Lionel hangs up his phone, and we pan to a behind-the-chair shot of him looking up at Otis. "Something else, Otis?"
TW: Otis points at the device. "That's what Mr. Ferret gave to your son, boss."
AM: "Boss?" Please tell me you're not making Otis a bumbling sidekick.
TW: God, no. "R&D is having a field day trying to decipher it. But that's not why I stuck around."
JG: Lionel nods. "Go on."
TW: "The security server integrity check? It turns out that that server that was wiped was a test machine for some new backup software...it had made full backups of all its recordings to an auxiliary machine that wasn't part of the security system. The auxiliary machine was in a--"
ED: Wait. So...the security recordings weren't completely wiped?
KK: The hell?
AM: Oh, no.
JG: "The point, please."
TW: "Everything that was recorded in Lex's office prior to the disabling of the cameras was still stored on this auxiliary computer." Cut to a closeup of Otis as he pulls a mini-CD from a pocket and holds it up. "I took a quick look at the last few minutes of recordings, and I...I thought you would want to see this immediately."
AM [frowns]: Oh no, not again.
JG: Cut to a front shot as Lionel takes the disc from Otis and slides it into a slot on the side of the monitor on his desk. He then hits a key on his keyboard, and we switch to a monitor closeup as--
KK: He gets to see Chloe kill Lana.
JG: Cut back to Lionel as he's watching...one hand under the chin, full-on thoughtful mode, dramatic music...
AM: [sighs] Tell me this is the last time we show this.
JG: Stop whining, Allison. We've only gone back to it twice, including this scene.
TW: But, yes, this is the last time.
AM: Thank God.
TW [pauses]: Until the scene after the next one.
AM: You suck!
JG: It had to come out sooner or later, you know.
KK: Because only Lana could get away with murder on this show.
MR: Has anybody ever asked you why you're so sentimental about such a bitch?
ED: Take Al and Miles out of the equation and it's not so bad?
KK [waves hand]: Lana without Al and Miles is like...Clark without kryptonite.
TW: Pretty cool and all but invincible?
KK [thinks]: Add some inevitable bitching about secrets and lies and I'll allow it.
TW [shrugs]: Meanwhile, as Lionel is still watching the murder--
AM: Invol--oh, fuck you.
TW: --video, we cut to an exterior shot of the Luthor mansion's wine cellar. Lex comes around a corner, opens a door, and enters the cellar, heading straight for the good stuff.
MR: Iron Lex works up a thirst taking over everything he surveys!
JG [impersonates MR]: "And when I get thirsty, I go right for the Night Train."
TW: Tracking shot as Lex goes into the depths of the wine cellar, to a rack in the back, and he pulls a bottle of wine down from an upper tier...dusts it off...and looks at the label with approval.
AM: You're obsessed with tracking shots.
TW: Budget cut.
JG: Cut to a close shot of Lex with the bottle as he turns to leave, then the previous exterior shot as he comes out and stops. He sees a spider on the wall opposite the door...cut to a closeup of the spider as it skitters up the wall, then past a small dusty security camera partially hidden by a support beam that the camera stops on--
AoT: There's a camera in the wine cellar?
MR: Okay, when the hell did he have time to install that?
ED: While Lionel was talking to that Ferret guy last week?
AM: Kahloe did it?
KK: Jor-El went back in time and did it?
JG: Actually it's the work of a secret society which has been watching the Luthors for generations, waiting for a moment of great peril, and is trying to breed the ultimate human being through them.
KK [to JG, after a few seconds]: Dammit, John, this is not Dune! The name Luthor is not a killing word!
ED: Oh, God, I loved that movie!
AM: Can we stick Lex's hand in the fire box?
ED: Dun dun da-dunnnnn...
AoT: John, you actually read that?
MR: Iron Lex is the ultimate warrior! Yeah!
TW [mutters]: Oh, for chrissakes...
JG: The movie was on a couple of nights ago. The "killing word" scene put me right out.
ED: ...dun dun da-dunnnnnnn...
MR: Wait a minute! The wine cellar--oh, shit!
ED: What?
MR [to TW]: Dammit, you can't fuck with Lex like this!

TW: And I am. Brief shot of Lex looking thoughtfully up at the camera, brief shot of the camera again with a little red light lit on top. Jump cut to Lex walking into the study and going straight to his desk, typing on the keyboard...
MR: And no doubt pulling up the scene from Promise with Clark busting Chloe out of the wine cellar.
TW: After a few other little shots of various drones going through the corridor, into the wine cellar, and so on, sorted by date. Lex sees the date of his and Lana's wedding pop up, so he eventually goes to watch those and...boom.
JG: Alternate-angle, though, which means we'll have to reshoot parts of it.
KK: You might as well use the original footage. It'll fit the cheap-ass vibe this episode has going.
AM: Can we reshoot the scene where Clark kills Lex too?
TW: Lex watches the scene quietly, with only some quietly oh-shit dramatic music going and the occasional cut to a closeup of the monitor for effect in spots. His face goes from curiosity to surprise as Clark rips the wine cellar door off and puts it back on, to shock as Lana sneaks out of the cellar after Clark and Chloe leave.
JG: Halfway through, we cut to a--
AM+AoT [sing-song]: Tracking shot.
JG: --of the Lanabot--
KK: Oh hell no. You're adding the Lanabot to this?
JG: --walking into the study and over to Lex. "Lex? Baby, what is it?"
AM: What's she wearing?
JG: Did we figure that out?
TW: We flipped for it. I lost.
JG: Oh. I don't feel like embarrassing Kristin too much today, so we'll go with...a blue minidress and stockings.
KK [sourly]: Gee, thanks.
JG: But the hair stays.
KK: Dammit!
TW: Lex looks up at the Lanabot, confused and pissed and frustrated all at once. Cut to her just looking back at him, smiling her programmed smile. Back to Lex as he looks away, down at the floor--then he looks up, sets his jaw, and pull back as he strides away from the desk and out of the study. Hold for a second on Lana--
KK [through her teeth]: Lanabot.
TW [chuckles]: --looking confused, and we go to commercial.
[AoT leans over and lightly whacks MR in the back of the head]
MR: Hey! What the hell, Annette?
AoT: Old people?

Continued...