7.19 Confession (Part XIII) by TW and JG

TW [calmly]: Cut to a profile shot of Nell, Pete, and the extras as they are enveloped in a blinding white light, accompanied by a loud rumbling noise. Cut again to some pedestrians across the street from the Talon as they are also enveloped in the light, then we cut to a long shot of Smallville's main street as the light rapidly spreads out in a dome-shaped fashion. Cut again to an aerial establishing shot of Smallville itself as the dome spreads out to cover it, turning into something akin to a giant water ripple, and then the center of it actually balloons out into a gargantuan white mushroom cloud that almost envelops the camera's POV.
[JG collects himself and takes the page back from a shocked AoT]
JG: Uh, um, then...then...cut to a long shot of the Kent farm in shakycam mode. Then cut to an interior shot of the barn as things are shaking and falling to the ground, and pan over to Shelby sitting on top of a bale of hay looking towards the barn doors. We then cut to [mouth drops open again] a reverse shot of Shelby watching an oncoming wave of energy and debris, and he makes a barely audible whining noise before...before it envelops... [stares at TW in utter astonishment]
TW: Cut briefly to Clark as we hear his phone make a very high-pitched whining noise, then silence. He looks at it in surprised confusion and says, "Pete? Hello, Pete?" Cut again to Lionel's office, as a very bright flash of light brings his attention to the window; cut to a shot of him looking out the window, and seeing what looks like a distant second sun on the horizon beyond the Metropolis skyline. Cut to a through-the-window shot of Lionel looking astonished...just like that, John, that's good...as the building itself shakes a bit.
[TW pauses, looks around, then goes on]
TW: Finally, cut to the mansion as Lex and Chloe's faces are illuminated by the same flash. They both turn to look out the window, Lex in surprise that turns into utter shock, Chloe calmly. Chloe says, "Oh, dear."
[TW looks around again, and smiles]
TW: Cut to a reverse shot as we go to shakycam to show that everything is shaking in the study, and we can also now see this huge wave of energy, debris, and smoke rushing across the plain through the window, wiping out everything in its path. Chloe turns to Lex and says simply, "Get down," and pushes him to the floor about two seconds before everything in the study is obscured by flying glass and dust as the stained glass windows explode inward. Then everything is basically a gray, swirling cloud of dust for about ten seconds.
AM [astonished]: You...you ripped it off!;
TW [nods]: Yes, pretty much.
AM [shouting]: You ripped it the fuck off!;
KK: I...I....Tom, you...you just nuked Smallville!;
MR: You nuked Lex!;
AM: And Chloe!;
ED: You just blew up a city, Tom!;
AM: I can not believe you just did that!;
AoT: N-neither can I...
TW: Don't worry. The worst is over. We cut back to Clark as he--
AM [shouting]: You destroyed Smallville!; You killed Clark's dog!; And you ripped off Six and Baltar from Battlestar Galactica!;
KK: Pete...Nell...Lex...Chloe... [outraged] Shelby?!;? What the hell did he ever do to anybody?!;?
TW: We cut back to Clark as he shrugs and closes his cellphone, saying something about Pete possibly losing his signal. Then he has to grab for support as the building shakes a bit. Cut to the bullpen as a cup slides off Lois's desk and shatters on the floor, and she and everybody else present look around in surprise. "What the hell was that?"
JG [collects himself again]: Um...Bittleman looks about as confused as Lois does. "I have no idea, Lois."
TW: "Last I knew, Metropolis wasn't near any fault lines..."
JG: "Yeah, that hasn't changed in the last five minutes."
TW: Clark walks back into the bullpen. "Hey, did you feel that?"
JG: "We sure did. Looks like we might have a new story, Blondie."
AM: Tom, what the fuck did you just do to our show?!;?
TW: Almost done.
AoT: Done with what?
TW: The episode. So Lois goes to reply to Bittleman, but is cut off by a loud blast of generic TV station music from a wall-mounted flatscreen TV across the room. As she turns to look at the TV, we cut to a closeup of the screen--which is now displaying the KTMP logo and the words "SPECIAL REPORT." After a few seconds of that, we cut to a TV news anchor's desk; Evelyn is sitting behind it. She looks unnerved. "We interrupt your regular programming for a KTMP special report. Uh...we are receiving reports that some kind of tremor has just hit the greater Metropolis area. We are trying to verify as much as possible, but it appears that this may have been a minor earthquake."
ED [snatches page from JG]: Give me that!; Dammit, what are you going to do to Lois...cut to her as she just says, "I was just saying that, thanks, Evelyn!;" That's it?
TW: And at that moment Evelyn puts one hand to an ear. "Wait, they what? What? You can't be..." Her face goes white, but she does her best to cover it. For about five seconds. "Ladies and gentlemen...KTMP News has just...just learned...that a massive explosion of some kind has taken place in central Kansas. The shockwave from...the explosion is apparently what caused the tremors felt here in...uh...felt here."
ED: Wide shot of the entire bullpen, as other reporters stand up and stare at the screen in shock, with Bittleman and Clark and Lois centered in the shot. Lois whispers, "Holy...how could this happen?"
TW: As she says that, Clark backs quietly out of the bullpen. A rising tide of noise masks his exit as people begin running every which way and yelling for other people to do various things, and he looks around--and then stops in his tracks as a terrified expression appears on his face. "Oh, God...Pete." And he super-speeds out of there.

JG [takes page back from ED]: Cut to a tracking shot past a grove of trees that appear to have been violently stripped of all their leaves and most of their branches. As the camera clears the trees, it opens onto a panoramic view of a huge, barren, blasted plain...the remains of various buildings can be seen in the distance, along with wrecked cars and a couple of small aircraft. It zooms in a little bit, still tracking from right to left, until the camera finally stops at the rim of what appears to be a fairly large crater. And at this point Clark super-speeds into the center of the shot and stops, back to the camera, looking around.
TW: And as he arrives the choral part of Media Vita In Morte Sumus starts up again, louder than it was before and with more bass. The camera pans around Clark to his front, and we see him staring around in total shock at the devastation before him--quick cuts to various thoroughly leveled buildings, to a tiny part of the Talon sign embedded in the side of a wrecked SUV, and so on. Clark walks for a little while through the carnage, at the edge of the crater, still looking around in shock, and we switch to an overhead shot and pull back rapidly as he walks until we end up with what would be the usual aerial establishing shot of Smallville--except that it's not there any more. Just this blasted, barren plain with a crater in the middle.
JG: And as the music reaches its crescendo again, we abruptly switch to another closeup of the TV at the Daily Planet. Evelyn is about to say something when the screen abruptly goes to static; cut to the bullpen crowd staring at the TV in horror, then back to the TV as a new image appears--a tall, well-built man with a beard and a thin mustache in a dark green uniform of indeterminate design--but definitely not a typical U.S. military uniform.
ED: Wait. Isn't that--
JG: It is, isn't it...the man Lionel's been talking to off and on for a few episodes. And he says, "People of Earth...may I have your attention, please." Extremely hard cut to black with a metallic clang, and we go to a "To Be Continued..." title card. [puts page down] That's it.
[everybody looks at TW]
JG: I think an explanation is in order.
AoT: I agree.
KK: Why the hell did you do this?
TW [closes his copy of the script]: I'll tell you why. I just ran out of bullshit.
MR: You...what?
TW: I ran out of bullshit. And you know why? It's because of all of you. Your goddamned insanity.
AoT: Excuse me?
TW [angrily]: It occurred to me that I spend just as much time trying to keep you all in line than I do trying to make sure our show doesn't completely suck. You know what? I'm tired of it. I'm beyond tired of it!; It's a losing situation!; It's like I'm the warden at a miniature Arkham Asylum, just trying to rein in [points at KK] people who think the show is merely another way to entertain some sort of sadistic urge...
KK: B-b-but--
TW [points at AoT]: People who think they're above everything and attempt to rule by force!;
AoT [surprised]: It's...worked so far...
TW [points at ED]: People who are more concerned with style over substance!;
ED: What? Hey!; I'm not--
TW [points at MR]: And people who are so concerned with their character's images [moves pointing finger to AM, then finally JG] that they don't care if the rest of the show goes down in flames apart from that!;
AM: I...well...I'm not that bad...
JG [nonplussed]: I haven't exactly been subtle about that...but I'll grant you the point.
TW [pounds fist on table, voice gets louder]: And then, on top of all that, we get Bryan Singer--oh, God, what fresh hell was that? The shit he laid at my feet, firing Allison...the fucking Suit...so we finally get rid of him, and then Michael in his infinite motherfucking wisdom thinks it'd be awesome--no, wait, [impersonates MR] awesome--if Joss Whedon was running the show. And [pound] then the [pound] son of a bitch [pound] from Charmed [pounds table hard enough to crack it] shows up!;
AM [stunned]: Uh, Tom, calm down, please...
[TW abruptly stands up so fast his chair falls over]
TW [shouting]: And you all think it's just fine for good old Tom to take care of it all? Well, guess what, you bastards--I'll take care of it, all right!; Singer...Whedon...Kern!; I'll take care of everything!; I'll take care of it so that we never have to worry about bullshit like this ever again!; And you know why? Because I'm the showrunner for the remainder of the fucking season!;
[everybody gapes at TW in surprise]
TW [suddenly icy calm, voice drops to a growl]: So don't worry, folks. Tom will fix it. [pulls out his cellphone and dials a number] This is Tom. Go, goddammit. [closes phone] Oh, and Kristin?
KK [hesitantly]: Uh...yes?
TW: That's your new car out front, isn't it?
[TW goes to the door and exits, slamming the door behind him. Everyone is silent for a few seconds, and then KK dashes to a window]
KK: Oh, thank God, it's still there!;
[Heavy machinery can be heard outside.]
KK: Hey, do you hear--
[A huge chunk of concrete suddenly lands on a small parked car, destroying it.]
MR [runs to window]: Holy shit!;
KK [screams]: Oh my God!; My car!; They...they pancaked my car!;
ED: Wait, what?
KK [sobs]: My car...my poor...pancaked...car...
[KK faints]

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