Smallville10x21&22 "Finale" Discuss/Grade

[JD]

I've been a big Smallville fan off and on since it started (I loved it for the first three or four years, stopped watching for a year or two, and have loved it again for the last three or four years) and IMO this was the perfect way to end the show. Honestly, I think this was one of the best finales I've seen in a while, if not in overall quality, at least in being an appropriate ending for the show. The only real issue I had with it was how quickly they killed off Darkseid, I was expecting this big knock down drag battle that would take up most of the last 10 or 15 minutes, and he killed him in one hit. I absolutely loved the seven years later bit, and TBH it kinda makes me wish they would do a Smallville movie instead of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.

Frontier wrote:

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To be brief, it was the minimum of what was acceptable. It was a good finale, I liked it. But I wanted more suit time. More close-up suit time. A single long draw-up shot of him from boots to hair in the damn suit.

Good finale, very good. But my desire for more suit will always taint it. It just barely skimmed by on the minimum on that front.

the_wildcard wrote:

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Agreed. I just finished watching it and overall I thought it was a great finale. It had its ackward points to say the least....but it started out good, held on and ended okay.

More suit time would have been good and I am curious as to why they never showed him in the full suit up close.

He spent alot more time in the suit than I expected, TBH. I expected the last minute or 30 seconds of the show to be him putting on the suit for the first time and then flying past the camera.

[Gryffindorian]

It wasn't perfect, but I still thought it was a great finale. I think they could've done a better job with Tess's death in the hands of Lex and the whole scene where Clark saved the Earth from Apokolips. The ending certainly felt rushed, fast-forwarding to present-day Metropolis (+7 years into the future). Tess has been an integral part of the team, and it would've been nice to see an "epilogue" showing her funeral and the Blur, a.k.a. Superman, revealing himself to the public.

EDIT:

I agree. The battle scenes (e.g., Oliver's confrontation, Clark vs. Darkseid) were less than epic; instead, they put too much emphasis on Clark and Lois' relationship.

[JD]

Well, he did kinda revealed himself to the public when he flew past to get rid of Apokolips. Or do you mean actually going before a camera in the costume and speaking to the public as Superman?

[CaptainJack]

All the things I saw in the final 15-20 minutes would make a great introduction to a real Superman show. In fact, it is what this lame show should have been for the last 3-4 seasons.
Also, we should do what they did to that senator guy Rick Santorum. And basically all of us go around and keep posting the words Tom Welling and Prima Donna or Deuche in as many places as we can then we can get it so that when ever anyone types Tom Welling into google the first thing that will come up is Prima Donna and Deuche.

[DeafPoet]

JD wrote:

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Well, he did kinda revealed himself to the public when he flew past to get rid of Apokolips. Or do you mean actually going before a camera in the costume and speaking to the public as Superman?

Before Lois turned the camera on the President, I thought she was going to file the brief 2011 version of Margot Kidder's "I Spent The Night With Superman" and that's how they'd handle it.

[Guy Gardener]

I was outraged and confused and dumbstruck. How? When? When... WHAT THE FUCK!?

Seriously, how did he get rid of Apokolips without removing the gravametric attraction of half the populations omega Sigils? The story was leading up to the notion that he was going to inspire humanity to repel Apokolips and the darkness by discarding their marks and denying Darseid, but instead he just shoves it with his shoulder and every one feels safe enough to reject Darkseid because they have a caretaker to look after them and that is why they lost their marks... Was the cart before the horse or the horse before the cart?!

DAMN YOU KELLY AND BRIAN!

It's like words like Cohesive and contiguity are just concepts that happen in other peoples productions.

The last 5 minutes were cool.

(I teared up a little.)

Chloe with Ollie Junior was extraordinary too.

[Admiral_Young]

^ It would have been perfect if Chloe had said "Good night Roy." when she turned off the lights. LOL.

[Guy Gardener]

That would have been amazing.

Though the comic doesn't make sense, if like the cover suggests that it was (mass)produced by DC Comics, unless the world knows that Clark Kent is Superman.

(Retrieved from a mirror universe?)

Um.

Are we sure that Mommy was Chloe and not Allison, or some one else entirely that we could be arguing a Saint Elsewheres like every episode of Smallville before this has been made up comic book bedtime stories for that kid?

The Warrior Angel jammies on the kid were a nice touch.

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yep. Agreed. The comic was a nice framing device but ultimately pointless...unless it was a one of a kind comic. Nice to know DC Comics are still holding the line at $2.99 in 2018.

[Frontier]

Really, it was chalk full of massive plot-holes...

Younger Jimmy Olsen looking identical to his older dead brother, and looking too old as well. Why did Lois and Clark postpone the wedding for 7 YEARS? Why was Chloe reading a comic to her son (?) that reveals such information... why was Apololipse so easy to get rid of? Darksied so easy to defeat?

Really, it's symbolic of the entire show.

It was good, but far from great. It had awesome moments, surrounded by lots of holes and soap opera lovey drama.

I was more excited by the canadian promos. Not that there where not a bunch of awesome moments, but if we'd gotten to explore such over this last year, it'd have been much better.

In the end, the legacy of Smallville, I think, will be the longest tease in television that in the end, delivered by the skin of it's teeth rather than leaps and bounds as it should have.

[Admiral_Young]

Chloe was reading the comic to her son that reveals too much informtion because it was designed to be a framing device for the episode. I assume that in the Smallville DCU the comic book Superman goes by a fictional name other than Clark Kent.

[Guy Gardener]

I'm thinking back to all the mirror universes we've seen and if Apokolips was coming for them too?

Lexmas?
The one were Lex is president and Kara is his aide and both are puppets to Brainiac?
The Ultraverse?
The Future we saw where Zod won and the skies were red? Darkeid vs 80 bland an unspirational supermen and superwomen?

When Clarks Cape was flapping, it reminded me of that death seer from season one, what he saw when he touched Clark, even though he claimed that Clark was Immortal.

If Darkseid destroyed the earth, which was almost a certainty, wasn't it also an almost certainty that Kara would arrive in an asteroid field in Earths orbit like when Leia tried to go back to Aalderan? (You can't go home.) The Answer-phone that thinks it is Jor-El really does dislike that girl.

[Brent]

A lot of my sentiments about this finale are missed opportunities. They had 2 hours to really put a lot in there, but spun their wheels and wasted a lot of it to be honest. There was also a lot of hype leading up to it. So while we should have all expected the same tripe we usually get from Smallville, this finale seemed special, like they were going to really ramp it up and give the fans what they wanted. However, it did not deliver. It is sad to see the series go out like that, but it is what it is. I'll write up a more lengthy grade post later.

Leaning toward a Below Average right now, but I am going to give the finale a second chance, watch it again tomorrow, and then grade it upon second viewing.

[Broccoli]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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I was outraged and confused and dumbstruck. How? When? When... WHAT THE FUCK!?

Seriously, how did he get rid of Apokolips without removing the gravametric attraction of half the populations omega Sigils? The story was leading up to the notion that he was going to inspire humanity to repel Apokolips and the darkness by discarding their marks and denying Darseid, but instead he just shoves it with his shoulder and every one feels safe enough to reject Darkseid because they have a caretaker to look after them and that is why they lost their marks... Was the cart before the horse or the horse before the cart?!

He did inspire people. He gave them the hope that they were not all doomed. When he flew past, the Omega symbol was lifted from the people in Metropolis. This weakened the pull that was attracting Apokolips enough for Supes to start moving it. Presumably, when he started to push it off, the symbol started to lift from other people on Earth as well.

[davejames]

Well despite the frustrating lack of suit-time at the end, I still thought this was a pretty good finale overall. It was ridiculously overwrought and melodramatic as hell (seriously, enough with the hemming and hawing and go save the freakin day already!!) ... but, hey, that's Smallville for you. By this point, it would be stupid to expect anything different.

At the very least, those moments did seem much better written and acted than usual. Everyone in this got a really great moment to shine, particularly Durance. And the final Clark/Lex conversation was nice to see too.

And while I've never been terribly impressed with Welling before, there's no doubt that he sold the final moment on the roof PERFECTLY. That's the kind of powerful, commanding presence Superman SHOULD have, and it was cool to finally see him show that on screen.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't get chills watching that.