Smallville

[Stavros]

X-TREME JUSTICE

wait, they did that-

The only title adjective worth anything to me these days in comics is Irredeemable. As in Ant Man. Its the only one that was never shit at one time or another. Thanks for turning me off Astonishing Warren Ellis.

[KnightWing]

Okay, I'm almost halfway through Season 7, and I actually like it. The greater emphasis on Kryptonian mythology, the less-annoying Lana, Lois actually being a good reporter, Kara's introduction (even though I feel like I should hate her, I don't)... it's all been really neat thus far. It's the first season of Smallville that I've actually really liked since Season 2.

[KnightWing]

Aaaaaaand I just hit the halfway point.

7x01 "Bizarro"

...This was actually kinda kickass. I mean, it opens with a dam breaking, a giant wall of water bearing down on the stereotypical father and son out fishing, and Clark VAPORIZES THE ENTIRE WALL OF WATER WITH HEAT VISION. It sounds suspect in concept, but it was awesome on-screen. And then he actually punts Bizarro a few miles. That's right, Clark uses his super-strength in battle, and it's awesome. Heck, Bizarro wasn't quite the Bizarro from the comics, but he was still pretty cool.

4/5

7x02 "Kara"

I don't hate Kara. I know that I *should*, but I don't. I kinda like her. Also, they're playing the "Lex has turned over a new leaf" card again. Ehh.

Still, not bad.

3/5

7x03 "Fierce"

Kara enters a beauty pageant. >_<

And Lana is back, but she's... not annoying? Not passive-agressive? Hmm. This is odd.

2/5

7x04 "Cure"

DEAN CAIN IS VANDAL SAVAGE! (or at least someone with the exact same backstory and abilities)

And at one point he gets to fight Clark.

Jimmy and Chloe break up. No one cares.

J'onn shows up (yay!) to tell Clark that Kara's dad was an evil bastard. Kara tells him to suck a dick. Not sure who to believe at this point.

Overall, pretty fun stuff. I liked it.

4/5

7x05 "Action"

...ehhh...

It started out with a really, REALLY great "Clark save" moment (one of the best in the entire series by far), but then gets gimmicky. Still not anything vomit-inducing, though.

2/5

7x06 "Lara"

HOLY F! KRYPTON! LIKE, WE GET TO SEE KRYPTON! GREAT visual effects in the opening scene, AWESOME set design, awesome everything. Too bad it had to end.

So Zor-El WAS an evil bastard! And a really effing creepy one at that. Also, Helen Slater is Lara. It actually kinda works. Yay.

4/5

7x07 "Wrath"

Lana (temporarily) gets Clark's powers, and quickly reverts to evil-Lana from before. Greeeeeeat.....

Oh, and Braniac's still around? Hmm; that was random. Cool, I guess?

2/5

7x08 "Blue"

Artificial clones of Lara and Zor-El appear! Sweet!

And then they go away. Aww.

4/5

7x09 "Gemini"

So... Chloe and Jimmy make up (and make out), but still aren't together? Eh. Whatever.

Clark shows up (without explanation from the last episode), and... sort of flies? Coulda been a giant leap. Hard to tell.

Grant is a clone of Julian. Interesting.

I really, really liked this one. And that ending totally got me by surprise. (I know other people have said they saw it coming, but I didn't)

4/5

7x10 "Persona"

Bizarro is back! Braniac is back (but is apparently a homeless bum)! There's another Kryptonian living on Earth (but he doesn't last long)! Lex orders Grant to be murdered (for no good reason)!

I liked this. It struck just the right chord. Nothing quite jaw-dropping, but it was pretty good.

4/5

I have an overall positive view on this season thus far. Haven't had that since Season 2. Weeeiirdd.......

[Koete]

The reveal that Bizarro was impersonating Clark was probably one of the best twists the show has done.

[KnightWing]

The reveal that Bizarro was impersonating Clark was probably one of the best twists the show has done.

I know, right? He totally acted normal (aside from being a bit stiffer), and until that last face reveal, I hadn't even considered it not being Clark.

And they actually played that through into the next episode, and did it well.

[JackFetch]

Season low ratings for the last two episodes. How low?

TNA Impact has better ratings.

[NightAngle04]

Well to be fair it was preempted in the tri state area, but yes the ratings suck, hell every show on the CW sucks.

And I didn't even mind the ep, it wasn't good or something I remember in a couple of days, but it wasn't the usual Smallville awfulness that causes me to lose my mind

[Black_Adam]

I like Smallville, hell the last 2 eps were pretty good. While I agree some are hit or miss, I just take it as an elsewolds take on a modern origin of Superman. And not every show on the CW is bad. I mean you have Supernatural, Gossip Girl, America's next top model... It is kind of sad though when you think that Smallville is the CW's flagship show. They are even making a Smallville RPG . I call the emo one! No, the other one.

[ShaunKL]

I thought last episode was very well done. I've never seen a non-villainous take on Metallo before so that was nice. I also thought the dialogue was a lot more "free" than it has been in a while. Everyone seemed happy while filming it. Some good plot development thrown in there aswell. The preview for the next episode looks very promising, can't wait.

[Black_Adam]

I think the Red Chess Queen Waller was pissed about was a badass senator Martha Kent.

[Koete]

Martha Kent is visiting Smallville and she's bringing Perry White with her.

[Guest DCAUFan1051]

May 7th and the 14th are looking even better now. Besides IM2 on May 7th as well.

[NightAngle04]

I cannot believe this show got another season, I was watching it last night and was just so bored by it, that the one thought going through my mind was "How did this show get another season?"

[KnightWing]

I cannot believe this show got another season, I was watching it last night and was just so bored by it, that the one thought going through my mind was "How did this show get another season?"

Even the mediocre ratings it gets are pretty high for the CW.

[KnightWing]

Just finished Season 7.

7x11 "Siren"

Well, this was random. Black Canary shows up looking like a lesbian hooker (really? closely-razored hair and a makeup mask? geez...) and does the usual "new hero thinks the good guys are bad guys, but then realizes her mistake and changes sides" storyline. (granted, it makes sense that she'd assume GA and the rest are terrorists, seeing as how they're blowing up LuthorCorp factories) Green Arrow comes back for this one episode, and practically nothing is made of it. He just shows up as if he never left, then never appears again in the season. I wouldn't say that this episode is abysmal, just disappointing.

2/5

7x12 "Fracture"

The opening scene for this episode (seeing Lex get shot in the head) was pretty amazing. Then the rest of the episode went into weird territory, what with Clark literally traveling inside Lex's mind in order to find out where amnesiac-Kara is. This episode does set up the "good" side of Lex as an actual character, though, (himself as a young boy) so that's cool. But then it ends with a stupid Kara plot twist that just... ugh. A pretty bad episode overall.

2/5

7x13 "Hero"

STRIDE GUM! STRIDE GUM! STRIDE STRIDE STRIDE STRIDE STRIDE!

This whole thing was just one giant ad for Stride gum, with Stride banners plastered everywhere, and Pete Ross (oh yeah, this episode has the one-episode return of Pete Ross) temporarily getting super-stretching powers from chewing kryptonite-soaked Stride gum. YEAH.

I can deal with Kung-Fu witch-possessed Lana. I can deal with kryptonite-enhanced nitro street racing. But completely mishandling Pete's return by making it a STRIDE GUM ad, and even temporarily making Pete into a villain for no good reason? No. That's just too much. I can't deal. This is, bar none, the worst episode of Smallville yet.

1/5

7x14 "Traveler"

This was pretty neat. Lots of Luthor family backstory, and a plausible connection to much of the Luthor family's actions in the series thus far. Oh, and Galen Tyrol shoots Clark with a kryptonite taser. That sounds stupid, but it was actually pretty cool. And here, Clark finally gets it: Lionel shouldn't be trusted. (well, duh!)

4/5

7x15 "Veritas"

I knew before I saw this episode that Lionel would die in the next one, so seeing his desperate pleas for help denied by the principal cast actually made me feel really bad for him (despite the fact that the characters are actually doing the right thing in this case). Oh, and Lana goes into a Brainiac-induced coma that makes her a completely lifeless, dead character. I like her better this way.

3/5

7x16 "Descent"

This show has played around with whether or not Lex is truly "evil" for a while now. Even though he's murdered people in the past, it lacked the "moment:" the single incident when it was clear, now and forever, that Lex is completely beyond any and all hope. This episode's prologue had that moment: Lex throws Lionel out his office window. Then, later, he imagines grabbing his morally upright ten-year-old self and SHOVING HIM INTO THE FIREPLACE, HOLDING HIS HEAD DOWN INTO THE FLAMES. YEEEAAAHHH, that's right. Awesome.

5/5

7x17 "Sleeper"

Jimmy Olsen: Super-Suave Secret Agent? No. No, no, no, no, no.

2/5

7x18 "Apocalypse"

It starts out as Smallville's version of "It's a Wonderful Life," then quickly shifts and becomes awesome. And we get to see Clark dress like the REAL Clark Kent! Oh! And we get to go to Krypton again! Yay!

4/5

7x19 "Quest"

The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager shows up as a monk dedicated to the Kryptonian legends. I thought no one knew anything about Krypton? Whatever. He gets all psycho on Clark while Lex gets within a hair's breadth of Clark's secret (again).

Meh.

2/5

7x20 "Arctic"

Kara turns out to be Brainiac in disguise. Kara turns out to be stuck in the Phantom Zone? Brainiac tries to assimilate Chloe, but her healing powers fight his nanoprobes off. Clark (supposedly) destroys Brainiac once and for all. Lana wakes up from her coma, but leaves Clark a "goodbye" video, as she's now leaving the series. Joy. Lex finds out Clark's secret, and confronts him in the Fortress. The Fortress is destroyed, leaving Clark and Lex's fate uncertain.

Not bad.

4/5

Eeeeesh. I liked this season at first, but it quickly turned back to the usual Smallville-blather in the second half. And, to be honest, once I finished the season, I realized how pointless it all really was. Grant Gabriel was a useless character, as he really just showed up and wasted precious screen time until he died. Pete Ross's return was the worst episode in Smallville history, and Lex Luthor's (sort of) final episode didn't even give the character any closure. Perhaps if he returns before the show's end, it'll all be better, but still, this is just crap.

Positives:

I liked Kara; I really did. Her storylines varied from craptacular (the beauty pageant) to excellent (the Krypton stories), but overall she was an interesting addition to the show.

Lana wasn't annoying-as-hell this season. She was actually a decent person and a loving girlfriend for the most part, even if she took a turn back into her old ways towards the season's end.

The Veritas backstory was pretty good, and it made quite a bit of sense. It aptly combined many of the lingering plot threads from past characters (the Swanns, the Teagues, and the Queens), stretching all the way back to the pilot episode. Very nicely done.

Perhaps most of all, I enjoyed seeing Clark actually act more like the real Clark than before; he was much more assertive, and seemed like much more of a man. He wasn't perfect by any means, but he was definitely entertaining to watch.

Overall, I'd give this season a 2.5/5. Not terrible, but far too flawed to be all that great.

I've gotten a few episodes into Season 8, and WOW is it better. I thought Season 7 started strong, but I was mistaken. THIS is how to do a Superman show.

[KnightWing]

First half of Season 8! Woo!

8x01 "Odyssey"

It's pretty obvious that there are new people in control of the show at this point. The characters are doing things that make sense, and there's none of that "last season's plotlines don't matter" crap from the last several season premieres. Oh hey, and this episode actually had superheroes doing superhero things, and it didn't feel hokey like in Justice. Yay. This new "Tess Mercer" replacement for Lex is... well, I'm undecided as of yet.

Still, though, this is a good start.

4/5

8x02 "Plastique"

This one starts off with a bang (literally), and does SO many things right. Clark is working alongside Lois as a reporter for the Daily Planet, he responds to a nearby disaster and saves people (as Superman would), and there's actual chemistry between Lois and Clark. Even the meteor-freak-of-the-week actually makes sense in the plot and serves a purpose.

YES! FINALLY! Smallville is a good show now! I can say that without a hint of irony!

4/5

8x03 "Toxic"

Oliver gets sick, and we see his origin story (sort of). We also get more background for Tess, and discover that she's got history with Ollie.

Pretty good. Not amazing, but decent.

3/5

8x04 "Instinct"

Maxima shows up, and wants to make out with Clark. Lois gets jealous, and Jimmy nearly dies (again).

Not... terrible, but not exactly good in hindsight.

2/5

8x05 "Committed"

Some psycho guy wants to test couples' compatibility, so he straps them to electric chairs and makes them answer questions. YEAH. Also, Lois is apparently in love with Clark. Interesting...

2.5/5

8x06 "Prey"

Detective John Jones! Hints of Doomsday! Shadow Thief?

Pretty neat.

4/5

8x07 "Identity"

Clark has to decide whether or not to allow people to know that he's out there doing his superhero thing. He does, and people now know of "the Blur." This is pretty neat, as it's part of Superman lore (in some versions) that he appears as a red/blue blur before he fully reveals himself as Superman.

Nice.

3/5

8x08 "Bloodline"

Lois and Clark get sucked into the Phantom Zone and find Kara (so THAT'S where she was!). Then Zod's wife breaks out, and reveals that Davis is actually Zod's artificially-created "son" (hey! He kinda does look like Terence Stamp!), and also the monster Doomsday. She then KILLS HIM ("That which kills you makes you stronger"), and we see him come back to life, now adapted against being killed that way (being stabbed). MAJOR geek-props for actually getting the Doomsday lore pretty close to the comics. I actually like this "reinvention" of the character. It's kind of a Hulk/Jekyll&Hyde/Doomsday hybrid, but I like that.

4/5

8x09 "Abyss"

Chloe's Brainiac-infection is finally taking its toll. About frikkin' time. But now Clark decides to wipe her memory of his powers?!? WHAT?!? Since when does Superman ever knowingly alter someone's mind?—oh yeah.

3/5

8x10 "Bride"

Chloe and Jimmy get married, then Lana shows up. (BOO!!)

But then DOOMSDAY INVADES AND TRASHES THE WEDDING RECEPTION, RIPPING PEOPLE TO SHREDS AND CAUSING THE ATTENDANTS TO FLEE IN TERROR! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Nice.

4/5

8x11 "Legion"

YES. YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!

THIS is how you make a Smallville show. This is an episode that wholly acknowledges the differences between Smallville continuity and the actual Superman continuity, uses the Legion of Superheroes in a believable and sensible manner, and is totally fun to watch. Even the continued presence of Lana can't bring this episode down. I was giddy with joy while watching this.

5/5

I feel weird now. I've given this first half of Season 8 an average score of 3.5/5. That, by any reckoning, is a good score. At this point, I would actually call Smallville a good show. There's no more of that weirdness where characters' personalities randomly and suddenly change in each episode for the sake of the current plot, the ongoing threats are pretty good, the meteor freaks are all-but-extinct (except where they make sense), and the entire series has made huge leaps towards being an actual Superman show rather than just a "young Clark Kent" series. I am very happy thus far.

[Koete]

Just wait until the season finale. That's when I stopped giving a shit about Smallville.

[NightAngle04]

Clark becoming a reporter for a major newspaper without a college degree and never writing any articles was pretty laughable. I'll get too angry when discussing season 8 so I'll stop now.

[NightAngle04]

The end to this miserable season comes to an end next week and from the trailer it looks like the finale rips off the Matrix Revolutions Neo/Smith fight, I am not filled with hope for this one.

[KnightWing]

...out of curiosity, why are you still watching the show, then?

[NightAngle04]

I will watch Allison Mack reading a phone book.

[KnightWing]

I will watch Allison Mack reading a phone book.

I'm with ya on that one, buddy.

[KnightWing]

Last half of Season 8.

8x12 "Bulletproof"

John Jones gets shot, and Clark goes undercover as a cop to find his assailant.

Eh. Not bad.

3/5

8x13 "Power"

I don't know if you guys have realized this, but I don't really curse that often at all, even on the forums. Really; my mouth (online or not) is pretty clean. I also am not prone to outbursts of anger; I prefer to stay optimistic and enjoy things rather than criticize them. And yet, I have this to say:

FUCK

THIS

EPISODE.

I can understand the "feminism" ideal that they were trying to portray: that Lana should be a strong woman regardless of Clark's presence. But this isn't feminism; this is flat-out sexism (which isn't always different, but whatever). Lana basically says "I WANT POWER! POWERPOWERPOWERPOWERPOWER!" and I'm only slightly paraphrasing there. News flash: not having superpowers does not make you a weak person; it makes you normal. Actively seeking out power in such a driven manner is not "female empowerment"; it's narcissistic power-hunger. That's the mark of dictators and mass murderers, not heroes. The whole story is just there to glorify Lana, and it's sickening.

0/5

8x14 "Requiem"

Lex (who's covered in Darth Vader / Matrix tech) exacts his final revenge upon Clark with a kryptonite bomb! Only it's not actually meant to kill Clark; it's there so that Lana (who apparently has kryptonite-absorption powers) can suck up al the green energy, thus making it impossible for Clark to be near her ever again. WHAT?!? LAME! (Heh, it makes her a literally radioactive character. Wait, does that make Lex the hero of this episode?)

Speaking of Lex, he's apparently killed by Green Arrow, who blows up a van that Lex is supposedly hiding in. Oooookay?

Oh hey, and Toyman show up? Huh?

Whatever.

2/5

8x15 "Infamous"

Tori Spelling comes back, cheesier than ever. BOOOO!! She threatens to reveal Clark's secret. Clark one-ups her by revealing his secret on his own. Nice, if completely lore-contradicting. Bad things happen because of this. Clark goes back in time with the Legion ring in order to stop it all from happening in the first place, then destroys the ring.

The majority of this episode's plot points happen with literally no reason or factual support. It doesn't even make sense half the time.

1/5

8x16 "Turbulence"

Tess takes Clark alone on a private plane ride. Either because she wants to bang him, or because she wants to blow up the plane to test if he's really the Traveler. Probably both.

Meanwhile, Jimmy finds out that Davis is a murderer, but he's on morphine at the time, so Chloe doesn't believe him. He says "fine, bitch!" and divorces her. Ooooookay.....

This wasn't exactly "good," but I don't know that it was bad, either.

2.5/5

8x17 "Hex"

Zatanna? Really?

I mean, she's hot and all, but... she comes off a little too hot, like she's supposed to be a seductress. Oh, and she tries to mess with the laws of life and death. But Clark teaches her a very important lesson about the nature of right and wrong, and she vows to be better... or something. Oh, and somewhere along the way, Clark temporarily (magically) forgets that he's from Krypton, and acts like a total thick-headed doofus. It sounds stupid, but it's actually kinda fun.

3/5

8x18 "Eternal"

The episode opens with some flashback footage from the Smallville pilot episode, which unfortunately show how much better the effects were in Season 1. I mean, that meteor shower looks INCREDIBLE for a TV series. The backstory of Davis/Doomsday is shown, and it's... kinda cool-ish. I mean, it works. Oh, and in the present-day, Davis persuades Chloe to kill him. But he comes back to life, so Chloe lets herself become his sex slave decides to "stay with him" so that he stays calm and doesn't kill more people. What?!

1.5/5

8x19 "Stiletto"

So... this episode has the dumbest idea ever for a plot, but it kinda works? Weird.

3/5

8x20 "Beast"

...I just watched this episode a mere few hours ago, and can't remember what it actually did to advance the plot. I don't really think it did anything except have Chloe make a completely moronic choice that doesn't make any sense.

1/5

8x21 "Injustice"

Plastique, Parasite, Livewire, and Neutron are all part of Tess's meteor freak team, and they all go rogue to try and stop Tess/Doomsday/Clark/prettymucheverybody.

LAME.

1/5

8x22 "Doomsday"

Cosmic Boy comes back for thirty whole seconds! Woo! He gives Clark another ring, but then Lois accidentally puts it on and time-warps into next season. Weird.

The Justice League "team" decides to use black kryptonite to separate Davis from Doomsday, which is actually a pretty good idea. But oh, wait! Davis is evil, too. =P

Davis stabs Jimmy. Jimmy tackles Davis onto a large steel fork thing. They both die. Turns out Jimmy Olsen wasn't THE Jimmy Olsen; he was comic-Jimmy's older brother. Um... bonus points for the sudden jump to making Jimmy work in comics continuity, but minus points for the WTF factor.

Oh, and Clark "battles" Doomsday for all of two seconds, then tackles him into a mile-deep tunnel under a geothermal power plant that explodes. No idea what happened to Doomsday. Clark suddenly gets all emo for no reason, and decides that "Clark Kent is dead." Huh?

2/5

Wow, okay, this season had a HUGE drop in quality after the Johns-brilliance that was "Legion." It's like all the great character work and sensible plot construction from the first half just faded away, and the show receded back into its former nonsensical drama-for-the-sake-of-drama ways. I'm sorely disappointed. Not enough to actually stop watching the show, mind you.

[Koete]

The character assassination of Chloe pissed me off to no end.

[KnightWing]

The character assassination of Chloe pissed me off to no end.

See, that annoyed me, but her character wasn't "assassinated" for me. Were Chloe a living, breathing person, then yeah, she'd be dead to me. But in the fluidic continuity of Smallville? Eh.

I pass it off as a fluke, just as I occasionally do when a bad writer makes a beloved comics character do something stupid.