7.19 Confession (Part XII) by TW and JG

as retold by Bill C

AoT: Seriously, gentlemen. Where do you go from Lionel killing MM?
JG: Actually, that's the end [flips page in script] and we go to--hold on, where's the last page? This script has no last page.
[everyone but TW flips pages in their copies of the script]
ED: That's odd.
AM: Trouble at the copier?
TW: Oh, sorry, John. I made a last-minute change to the script. [pulls an unstapled page out of his copy and hands it to JG]
JG: You didn't make that a dream sequence, did you?
TW: No, I didn't mess with it at all. Lionel still--
KK [whispers]: Quotes......Spock...
MR: I never thought I'd see the day when Tom managed to give Kristin an aneurysm. Thanks, man.
JG: All right, so... [skims page] You added a scene, Tom?
TW: Yeah, nothing special. After Lionel kills MM, we hold on that shot of him for a few seconds as the music reaches a minor crescendo. Then we cut to a wide shot of the study at the mansion; Lex is there, his back to the camera, leaning over the empty fireplace.
MR: Okay, now he gets the manly flipout?
TW: Well...no. We go to a side shot of him, looking down into the fireplace with a stony look on his face, as some generic sad music plays. And then we hear footsteps as someone walks into the study and stops. Lex of course goes, "I said I didn't want to be disturbed."
JG: Let's see...the footsteps start up again, as we pan around Lex from left to right with the audio of the footsteps indicating someone is walking in the opposite direction. Lex straightens up and looks in that direction, and the camera rotates just enough to keep him in the shot and show that Chloe is now standing to one side of the desk in the study.
AM: Okay, why would she go to see Lex now?
ED: I've got nothing.
AoT: Twisting the knife.
KK: Duh.
AM: What's Chloe wearing?
TW: She changed since the previous scene--this time she's wearing a red jacket and miniskirt.
ED: You know, I'm starting to hate this new White Queen Barbie thing Chloe's got going.
AM: Red again? I hate red now.
TW: Chloe simply gets as far as "I just came to say--" before we cut to stone-faced Lex pulling out his gun again and popping off three shots at her. He misses and shatters a few lower panes of the stained glass window behind the desk, just to one side of Chloe.
MR: What the hell?
JG: Well, that was manly. He didn't whine about anything before trying to shoot her.
AM: Chloe doesn't do the Neo thing this time?
TW: Nope. She stands there, looks behind her at the broken window, through which we can see some trees and so on, then back at Lex. "That's an interesting way to greet someone, Mr. Luthor."
MR: She doesn't even use his first name? Oh, this sucks.
JG: Cut back to Lex as he lowers the gun, still stone-faced.
TW: And then we cut back to the Talon. Nell--
KK [sarcastic]: Pete and Nell? How many iPhones will we have to use in the next episode to afford that?
TW: --is talking to a wholesome-looking young woman with red hair. No, not the Lanabot. "So, Renee, do you need anything?"
JG: Pete can be seen in the far background, and closer to Nell and this...Renee...who is that?
TW: She's a singer-actress. Renee Olstead.
ED: Who?
KK: Just guessing: she's CW-friendly?
TW: Basically, yes.
AoT: A musical tie-in? Those are usually fairly lucrative...
TW: So Renee goes "No, I'm fine, thank you," and chit-chats with Nell for a minute before going to a little stage set up in a corner with some generic band already in place.
JG: Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen takes a couple of pictures of her from the near background.
AM: Jimmy too?
MR: Well, we haven't seen him in a little while.
ED: And he's not dead. I think.
JG: After the chit-chat, we pan over to Pete, still at his window table and talking on his cellphone. "So tell me, Clark...how badly did Lex kick your ass at the Slab?"
KK: Damn, he's still sharp as ever.
TW: Cut to Clark, still outside the bullpen at the Planet. "What? How do you know about--"
JG: Pete lowers his voice a little. "I saw the whole thing live on TV. One, only one person I know on this planet would go after Lex like that, and two--Lex is too much of a peacock to let anybody else steal his thunder. Even if it meant risking his own life."
MR: Screw Pete! Iron Lex sets an excellent example for humanity!
ED: Of how badly denying a person's true feelings can screw them all up.
MR: Oh, shut up!
ED [thoughtful]: Though I suppose if Clark and Lex ever did admit their true feelings for each other, the show would suddenly get a lot shorter and duller.
AoT: There you go being...well, kind of smart again.
KK: But she is right. One of the building blocks of the show is HoYay.
ED [sings]: We built this city...we built this city on raw HoYay...
AoT: Wouldn't you have been seven when that song was on the radio?
TW: The song's so famously bad everyone in North America knows the chorus.
AoT: You have a point.
TW: Anyway. Clark has to laugh, albeit a little bitterly, at Pete's comment. "Tell you what, Pete. I'm at the Daily Planet in Metropolis. Give me a couple of minutes to get to the Talon, and we can catch up in earnest."
JG: Pete nods and gets as far as "You got it, Cl--" before being cut off by a loud metallic thump from outside. He looks out the window, though we can't see what he's looking at. "What the...hey, Nell? Was anyone expecting a delivery?"
MR: Well, hey, since we just offed the Waynes why not have the Joker leave a giant jack-in-the-box outside the Talon?
JG: Nell comes over to Pete's table, as in the background this Renee begins singing a suitably Gen-Y version of What A Wonderful World, and looks out the window. "The manager didn't say she was expecting anything today, no." Cut to a reverse shot of the two of them, staring out the window at what appears to be a big metal sphere mounted on a tripod, which is taking up a parking place.
AM: Oh, great. Now we've got more aliens taking up space on the show?
TW: As we cut to the sphere, a very specific piece of orchestral music starts up. It's an arrangement of a Latin chant--Media Vita In Morte Sumus.
JG: We're going back to that well again?
TW: It's for effect. Cut back to Clark as we hear Pete's voice over the phone. "Hey, Clark? You're not on your way, are you?" Clark answers in the negative, and Pete goes on: "Somebody left some sort of abstract art project outside..."
JG: Cut to a medium reverse shot of the sphere as it begins to hum and glow from a series of circular seams around its surface. In the background, Pete slowly stands up from his chair. "Uh...Clark, this thing's glowing now..."
TW: Cut to Clark, as a look of puzzlement appears on his face. "Pete?"
JG: And then back to the mansion, where we get a through-the-window shot of Chloe looking out the broken window in the study. I don't think we've ever done that before. "I wanted to thank you. If it weren't for you...I literally wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't be the woman I am today."
AM: Yeah, she wouldn't be a slightly unstable and formerly dead walking superweapon.
MR: With great legs.
AM: Quiet over there.

TW: Cut to a wide shot as Lex slowly walks around the side of his desk and grabs Chloe by the shoulders. "You've already done your damage, Chloe. Lana's dead." He lets her go. "I...I can't hurt you, so just leave me alone. Get out!"
[AM looks thoughtful, but she doesn't say anything]
JG: Back to the sphere, which is glowing brighter now and humming very loudly. Quick cut to Pete and Nell, now with Renee and a few other extras around them, all looking at it--then Pete, still on the phone, quietly says, "I've got a bad feeling about this." Cut to a frontal zoom on the sphere, where we can now see a symbol crudely painted on its "front"--the symbol of... [stares at TW in astonishment]
ED: The symbol of what?
JG [to TW]: You wouldn't.
KK: He wouldn't do what?
TW [to JG]: It's done.
KK: What's done?
AM: I'm not liking the sound of this...
MR: What the hell is going on?
[JG reads further down the page, and his mouth drops open]
AoT [puzzled]: John?
TW [calmly]: The symbol on the sphere is the emblem of the Apokoliptian military.
KK: It's the what? [pauses] What the hell is about to happen here?
TW [looks at JG for a beat]: Cut back to the mansion, as Chloe just looks at Lex for a few seconds. Her face shows a tender, almost loving, expression.
AM: The hell?
TW: And then she softly says, "I just came to thank you. And..." And she takes his face in her hands and lays a slow, passionate kiss on him.
AM [shocked]: The hell?!?
MR: Tell me Lex gets to smack her. Please tell me he gets to smack her.
TW: No, but he pulls back and looks at her with--yeah, pretty much the expression you have now, Michael. Pure shock. Then we cut back to the sphere...
[AoT leans over and takes the page from JG's hands and reads it. Her mouth drops open.]
TW: ...which is glowing and humming like crazy underneath the orchestral music, which has gone to a fast-paced chorus and has been building to a crescendo since the last scene cut. And then, one second after the music hits a crescendo and fades...the sphere explodes.
[everyone stares at TW, speechless]

Continued...