7.21 Apocalypse by TW and AM (Part XVI)

as retold by Bill C

TW: Hope gets a little something to do, rushing over and helping Clark to his feet after his meeting with the wall.
MR: You're going to kill her, aren't you?
TW: No, Hope survives what's coming up next.
KK: What, you're just going to blow off her leg or something?
AM: I fought for that, but nope.
MR: Then you're going to kill Martha?
AoT: I told you--
MR: Right, sorry.
AoT: Wait. Shouldn't Martha be helping her son right about now?
AM: Not in this case. She's still next to Lex, with parademons leveling guns at her, and we cut to her turning away from Clark and just...staring at Lionel. It's not a death glare, but she's really pissed.
AoT: Why can't it be a death glare? If she faced down the President, she can certainly use a death glare after being betrayed by her best friend.
AM [thinks]: Tom, she's got a point.
ED: And I don't think Martha's ever done the death glare before...
TW: It actually doesn't hurt anything. [writes in script] Death glare for Martha.
AoT [surprised]: Really? [worried] You are going to kill her, aren't you?
TW: Oh, for God's sake. Nobody's dying in this scene, okay?
AoT+MR: Okay.
JG: We go from Martha's death glare to Lionel, looking a little unnerved. He shakes it off, though, as befitting a God of Bastards...and then addresses the group. "I'm truly sorry about this. This was the only way to be sure--"
MR: Lex cuts him off, yeah! "To be sure of what, Dad? That your name would end up in the history books?"
ED: Replacing whose, Benedict Arnold's?
JG: Lionel goes all imperious on his son. "You fail to understand, Lex, that this was the only way Darkseid would be satisfied!" He then turns slightly to look at Clark. "The attacks in Alaska, in Russia...those were from splinter elements of General Steppenwolf's army that attacked on their own. When that happened, I--I realized that while your idea of leaving Earth might have worked...there was only one way to be absolutely sure. You...you had--"
TW: Cut to Clark, Hope still at his side. Some quietly heroic music cues up. "Lionel, stop."
JG: For the God of Bastards, Lionel is being cut off a lot in this scene.
TW: It doesn't really kill the buzz, John. "You know what? You're probably right."
KK: Clark abandons the crazy logic?
ED: In favor of crazier logic, I think. But I'm not sure.
TW: Tracking shot as Clark slowly walks away from the wall, past the control panel, and ends up right in front of Lionel and Kalibak. His voice gains strength. "This ends now, Lionel. Right now." He turns slightly to look at Kalibak. "If it means the attacks stop..."
AM: Dramatic pause here as we cut to closeups of Lex, Martha, a very quick one of Hope, Kalibak looking annoyed, and finally of Lionel looking imperious.
JG: That's better.
TW: And then back to Clark, as he turns to look Lionel in the eye. "And if no one else will be hurt...then I surrender."
JG: Cut to Lionel nodding. "It's the only way, Clark."
AoT: Hard cut to Martha as she...oh, good. Slow zoom as she gets her mad on, tears in her eyes. "No, Lionel. No. This isn't the only way. It's the only way you left us. And I'm going to make certain--absolutely certain--that the entire world knows that you would sacrifice an innocent man just to save yourself!"
KK: Mama Bear defends her space cub.
JG: Lionel seems to frost up a bit at Martha's words. He hides that too. "I'm doing this for all of us! For humanity!"
KK: Insert "Bullshit" sign here.
JG: "Unfortunately, Martha, while society often looks down on such men history will admit they often played an invaluable part in events."
AM: As he finishes speaking Kalibak punches Clark in the gut. As Clark doubles over, he follows up with a blow to the back and drives him to the ground.
JG: Lionel--dammit, he shows remorse here? No!
TW: It's only for a split-second. Show it, then bury it.
JG: No, dammit! It kills the God of Bastards vibe!
ED: Go for the remorse! That means there's still a chance for Lionel and Martha!
[AoT and JG stare at ED]
ED: ...what?
KK [to ED]: Oh, Christ. Tom's right--you really can't watch General Hospital any more, okay?
JG [shakes head]: Fine. Closeup on Lionel's head as he briefly looks over at Clark getting beat down, that damn flash of remorse...oh, shit, he actually sounds remorseful?
MR: He's a caring God of Bastards! For the new millennium!
JG: Fuck that! You can't even let him do that in private? [sighs] "This...is my invaluable part."
ED: I don't know...that's pretty high-level bastard as it is, John. But, Tom...even I'm ODing on the symbolism here.
KK: Yeah. What next, Lionel stabs Clark in the side with a kryptonite spear?
AM: Kalibak scoops Clark up like a sack of potatoes and slings him over one shoulder. "Father is waiting, Kal-El." He turns and does the slow stomp thing towards the boom tube. After a couple of seconds, Lionel turns and follows him.
TW: Hope gets one more line in this scene. She's our exposition. "What happens now?"
AM: Kalibak stops short of the boom tube. Rapid zoom as he looks over the shoulder that doesn't have Clark on it. "Kill them."
TW: Separate reaction shots of Lex and Martha, looking pissed.
KK [laughs]: Okay. Everybody that didn't see that coming, raise your hand.
ED [raises her hand]: ...oh, wait. You said "didn't," right?
JG: Wide shot as Lionel catches up to Kalibak and speaks urgently at him. "No! They haven't done anything! The deal was to hand over Kal-El in order to end all hostilities!"
MR [deep voice]: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further!"
TW: Close. "Human, they assisted Kal-El. Kal-El and Zod destroyed an entire city on Apokolips...they must be executed for aiding an enemy of Darkseid."
JG: "No! They are non-combatants!"
TW: "There is no such thing, human." Kalibak turns around entirely and yells, "Kill them! Now!"

AM: Cut to Lex, Martha and Hope, now all gathered together. Jump cut to the parademons leveling their weapons at them. And cut to Clark, still slung over Kalibak's shoulder, murmuring. "No...no..."
ED: Yes! It is Rocky III! [really bad Boston accent] "He's not gettin' killed, he's gettin' mad!"
TW [after a beat, shrugs]: Clark finds his inner Rocky, then. "No!" He struggles a bit and manages to shove himself off Kalibak's shoulder, then as Kalibak starts to turn around he grabs him and spins and shoves with all his strength. Kalibak stumbles forward and falls into the boom tube with a growl, blue flash.
ED [sings]: It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
TW: We go into super-speed slo-mo for a few seconds as Clark then runs past Lionel and right at the parademons, who were turning in his direction. We come out of it as he hauls off and punches one hard enough to catapult it completely out of the shot.
ED: Rising up to the challenge of our rival
TW: And then we go into this minute-long fight scene where Clark basically beats the parademons into mush, with everyone else looking on.
ED: And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
TW: He gets tag-teamed and shot by a couple of them, but in the end they all just go mush.
ED: And he's watchin' us all in the eye--
KK: You can stop now, Erica.
ED: Oh, come on! Annette gets to do it all the time!
AM [to TW]: We can't possibly use...
[TW stares at AM]
AM: ...right. Okay, so the fight ends after Clark finishes beating down the last parademon. Quick cut to Martha looking relieved, then back to Clark--just as he gets shot by about half a dozen energy weapons.
ED [claps hands]: Round two!
TW: These belong to a phalanx of parademons that just exited the boom tube. Followed by Kalibak--and he looks and sounds pissed. "Kill all the followers of Krypton--but Kal-El is mine!"
AM: Hope rushes over to Lex. "Lex, come on!" They make a run for it as some of the parademons open up, bolts of energy and bits of ice hitting around them as they make it to a corner and duck out of sight.
MR: Lex lives to fight another day!
AM: Martha, meanwhile, dives for cover behind the control panel as the rest of the 'demons fire at her.
AoT: If there was ever a time when Martha needed a gun, this is it.
TW: Clark rushes the parademons and basically body-blocks a big chunk of them. Cut to Kalibak growling, still pissed, and go to a long pan as he literally leaps clear across the room and tackles Clark to the ground. He then grabs Clark's head and smashes it into the ice, very deliberately, five times. Each smash is punctuated by a really loud crunch.
KK: Looks like Clark is now Kalibak's bitch.
JG: I'm guessing Zod left some smokes on Apokolips before he nuked it.
TW: Kalibak is ranting while smashing. "You destroyed my city! You hurt my father! We destroyed Krypton, and we'll destroy the last Kryptonian--now!"
AM: Quick shot of Lionel looking genuinely hurt at all this.
JG: He's faking it! The God of Bastards must fake it!
AoT: You're starting to sound like Michael, John. This isn't a good thing.
TW: Kalibak pauses after the last smash. "Come out, human! Come out and witness the death of your savior!"
AoT: Zoom as Martha stands up behind the control panel. She's royally pissed. "That...is...my son."
TW: Zoom on Kalibak. "This is the last Kryptonian, and this is the day that Krypton truly dies." He yells at the parademons again. "Kill her!"
AoT: Back to the zoom on Martha as energy weapons are primed off-camera. Okay, that's better.
AM: We go to the new parademons again as they level their weapons, and at that moment we hear a high-pitched whining noise. Then we go to a close-up of the barrel of some sort of machinegun as it comes up and starts firing, and then back to the parademons as they all go down in a blaze of heavy gunfire.
ED+KK: What the hell?
AM: Cut to Lionel looking surprised, and the camera pans around him into a reverse shot so we can see the now dead parademons, Martha, the control panel, the returned Hope, and what is basically a slightly larger version of Lex's battlesuit from his fight at the Slab standing next to her.
MR [pumps fist]: Oh, hell yes! Iron Lex 2.0 saves the day!
AM: Profile shot as the suit lowers one arm, which has a machinegun on it. Lex then speaks via its PA system--
MR: I got this. "I was hoping that the saboteur who took out the ROV wouldn't follow me here, but I thought I should be prepared."
AM: Quick pull in on Lionel as Lex says that.
KK: Okay, that's kind of cool.
TW: Right about now Kalibak picks up Clark and throws him across the room. Clark goes flying into the wall, then down to the ground, and Kalibak charges after him. Lex raises his arm again and starts firing, and while Kalibak takes a couple of hits he doesn't slow down until he grabs Clark and shoves him into the wall.
KK [giggles]: Into the wall...
TW: Shh. Closeup on Clark struggling, trying to push Kalibak away, and then a reverse shot as Kalibak pulls him from the wall, turns ninety degrees, and shoves him into a huge outcropping of ice. He then roars in Clark's face as the music abruptly cuts out. "You will die, Kryptonian. You will die...but not before you see the death of your deluded mother...and finally your followers."
AM: Closeup as Lex aims his gun at Kalibak and Clark, then a quick HUD-eye view to show that Kalibak's too close to Clark for a clear shot.
ED: Come on, it's eye of the tiger time!
TW: Clark is gasping for air, since one of Kalibak's hands is around his throat. But we see his face...change. He gets very, very pissed. "No...no more..."
AM: Another shot of Kalibak, now sneering. "What are you going to do, Kal-El?"
ED: Oh, hell. That's it. The minute someone says that on this show, they're so dead.
KK: Damn, you're right.
TW: Back to the shot of Clark as he slowly reaches up and grabs the wrist of the arm that's choking him and squeezes. We hear a faint crunching noise, and we cut to Kalibak realizing what just happened and his face briefly contorting in pain.
ED+KK: Ow.
TW: Clark then reaches up with his other hand, grabs the wrist of the other arm. Squeeze, crunch. And he still looks angry as hell. "No more."
MR: Oh my God. Clark finally loses his shit.
AM: Kalibak briefly goes to one knee, but then gets back on both feet and somehow manages to push Clark even further into the wall. "N-no...you will not escape--"
TW: Extreme closeup on Clark as he cuts him off, his voice gaining strength. It also slightly cracks. "No more, Kalibak! No more of this! Do you HEAR ME? NO MORE!" And then he unleashes a massive blast of heat vision...directly at Kalibak's head.
KK+MR+JG+AoT+ED [after a few seconds]: Whoa.
AM: Go to a closeup of Kalibak's head as the two beams of heat vision strike his forehead, and hold on the shot. After a couple of seconds the impact points begin to smoke, and Kalibak's growl of anger turns into a scream of agony. Back to Clark as he's still going full blast with the heat vision, his face scrunched into a vicious snarl.
JG [sighs]: Well, if you're going to upstage the God of Bastards, this is one way.
AM: Back to Kalibak, the heat vision now causing two large smoking black marks on his forehead. The scream slowly dies off into a gurgle as his eyes roll up into his head.
ED: Okay, that's just a little gross.

Continued...