Smallville10x21&22 "Finale" Discuss/Grade

[davejames]

Still kind of surprised to see them use the SR suit though. It was understandable that they would trot that out for the brief glimpses we got earlier, but for the finale I fully expected them to craft something new and put their own unique stamp on it.



(Although at the same time, as someone who thinks SR is hugely underrated, I have to admit it WAS nice to see that movie validated in some small way.)

[Guy Gardener]

Broccoli wrote:

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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.

(Sarcasm noted, but I can't stop myself. )

Well that's what Kelly and Brian wanted us to think.

So 12 people seeing some sort of red blue blur angaist a skyline of blue skies and the brilliant red of an exploding (friction, glancing blow, whatever) planet, and they were supposed to know that...

They've not seen the Blur for years.

It was time to SEE Superman.

We live in an age of mass communication.

Punching Darkseid in the face on an international feed, showing the world that they backed the wrong horse.

You know like at the end of Bill and Ted II.

Doctor Who repelled a massive occupation by an alien menace last week armed just with Neil Armstrong's foot.

Years (seasons) before that an assistant of his spent an entire year walking the cursed and conquered earth by some despotic alien mastermind, telling stories about a saviour that would rise up to save them if they just believed in him when the time was right...

Having the best product in the world is meaningless if you don't know how to market it.

It's like the Nixon tapes.

There's a missing 18 and a 1/2 minutes.

[FreezeC77]

Seriously. I expected that Lois would be filming him in the suit and it would be broadcast to the World and we'd see the reactions (like you said kind of like Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey) of people around the world seeing on the TV's and computers the image of this superhero pushing it back and it would be what convinces them there was still hope.

Hell, I couldn't even fucking make out Superman once he flew into the thing and as he flew to it I only realized what it was because we know it's Superman. As just Joe Schmoe on the street in Metropolis I'd have no idea what was going on.

So the only people infected were in Metropolis? The rest of the world apparently isn't evil...Just random people in Metropolis.

[Guy Gardener]

davejames wrote:

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Still kind of surprised to see them use the SR suit though. It was understandable that they would trot that out for the brief glimpses we got earlier, but for the finale I fully expected them to craft something new and put their own unique stamp on it.



(Although at the same time, as someone who thinks SR is hugely underrated, I have to admit it WAS nice to see that movie validated in some small way.)

I'm assuming that a "new" costume would have meant dolling out a huge consideration in licensing, when this costume had either already been folded into the Smallville licence years earlier or it was just a clever get around to paying DC thousands upon thousands of more dollars to "alter the brand" with their own take on the classic.

Considering we didn't get a good look at it, it's possible that they weren't allowed to show a fully kitted up super man with out doubling the budget of the final episode.

Poor Welling had already paid for Rosey's time out of his own pocket, how much sacrifice is this guy suppose to make for "art"?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Average to Above Average for me. I was going in with really low expectations having being burned from finale to finale. But I just keep coming back for more. The first half dragged a lot and we still should have hit all these same notes over the course of the season, instead of being crammed into the first hour.

I still think they should have built up Darkseid like Harry Potter's Voldemort and given him more of a presence and a personality over the season, but alas again more cramming. Seriously like I said before, this whole season could have been ALL KINDS OF FUCKING EPIC! And if not the whole season at least like a 7 episode arc building up Darkseid, the darkness taking over, and Earth's impending doom leading up to the "moment." And when I say moment, I'm not talking about a 5 minute extended version of the opening credits and Tom Welling hanging from wires flying into a CGI'd vapor cloud that turns into black crows.

The Lex stuff was good and I'm fine with the memory wipe, although one has to ask how somebody with amnesia and presumed dead for years is even able to run for president.

Rosenbaum slayed the part as he normally does. Great to see him back. The only 2 characters whom I felt were a little off were Lionel and Chloe. Glover wasn't "Magnificent Bastard-ey" enough tonight and felt like a completely different character. And sorry to say, but Allison seemed like she was just phoning it in. Erica did ok and let's just say Welling's Welling. He's set in his ways. I did enjoy the whole Jonathan Kent as a spectre thing, but I thought they were going somewhere with it. However, I enjoyed Clark and his dad's exchange during the cemetery scene, well done. And of course the Clark and Lex scene as well.

The CGI Superman was laughable towards the end, but overall it is what it is and I'm satisfied with it and can finally put this show behind me. Onwards and upwards to Zack Snyder's Man of Steel! <crossing fingers>

[Gaith]

I DVR'ed this in case it was worth watching. Doesn't sound like it...

davejames wrote:

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(Although at the same time, as someone who thinks SR is hugely underrated, I have to admit it WAS nice to see that movie validated in some small way.)

By him not wearing the suit?

[JoeZhang]

I watched the first two or three seasons of smallville and then got bored and wandered off - watching this, all I have to say is "that sucked donkey's balls".

Seriously that was the big send-off? You guys are stronger than me if that's an indicator of the last ten years.

[Checkmate]

So he shoves Darkseid, turning him into smoke which, I guess, we're supposed to assume vanquished him.
Then he shoves Apokolips, and everyone is cured.... somehow.
And half the show was a glorified clip show.

Oy.

At least the show died the way it lived: Incredibly lame.

[DeafPoet]

Gaith wrote:

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I DVR'ed this in case it was worth watching. Doesn't sound like it...

By him not wearing the suit?

I dunno, if I had stuck with it through each and every episode, I might be kinda pissed off. But I didn't.

We all wanted Superman to happen and he did. You can gripe about how it happened but I loved it.

[Aragorn]

Checkmate wrote:

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So he shoves Darkseid, turning him into smoke which, I guess, we're supposed to assume vanquished him.
Then he shoves Apokolips, and everyone is cured.... somehow.
And half the show was a glorified clip show.

Oy.

At least the show died the way it lived: Incredibly lame.

Well isn't that how he's defeated most of his opponents over the last ten years? With a big slow motion super shove or super punch?

Other than the John Williams music and finding a new appreciation for Allison Mack, I have to say I'm glad I bailed on this show halfway through its run.

[Carcazoid]

The moral of the story ...

Clark had the power all along, he just had to find his "center" in order to use it. His "center" turns out to be the very thing he once held onto so tightly, then tried so hard to let go of: Smallville.

Superman is not about the suit. Superman is the hero inside all of us.

...

Ok, that's a bunch of crap.

I thought the finale was ok, but it could have been better. I would like to have seen a real suit, but making a one-off for TW was probably not gonna happen. He was probably worried that he'd have to stuff his tights to live up to the legend anyway ("We've got armadillos in our trousers. It's really quite frightening.").

The comic book thing? I kinda got the idea that the whole series was just a bedtime story that Chloe read to her son. None of it was real ... (cue twinkle in Chloe's eye) ... or was it?

Seriously, the finale stayed true to the rest of the series. The focus is on Clark's journey to his destiny. The rest is just filler.

Now, how much do you think that box set is gonna cost?

[Admiral_Young]

The box set is tentatively priced at $339 American according to the IGN article announcing it.

The episode wasn't a glorified clip show...the only clips I remember seeing were those of Clark's life that Jor-El showed him in the Fortress. Hardly a large portion of the finle.

It is what it was. Like I said before, people expecting more than it was...I'm not sure why you would be doing so. Smallville was consitent in it's inconsistancy right through to the end


Again...why are people confused with the comic book thing? That was a framing device and clearly a homage to fans who read comics in general. It was real because Chloe calls Lois on her cell phone (apparently we're still using the same phones we have now in 2018 ) the scenes with her son took place in 2018. The flash forward sequence was a homage to Clark's alternate flash forward dream from last season's finale from 2013.

[DeafPoet]

This made me wanna watch Superman Returns. God damn is that move underrated. It's no great shakes or anything, but for my money you can't get any better than when he lifts that boat out of the water and saves Lois and fam from certain death.

[Checkmate]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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The episode wasn't a glorified clip show...the only clips I remember seeing were those of Clark's life that Jor-El showed him in the Fortress. Hardly a large portion of the finle.

Then you have a very poor memory. They were constantly doing that throughout the finale.

Again...why are people confused with the comic book thing? That was a framing device and clearly a homage to fans who read comics in general. It was real because Chloe calls Lois on her cell phone (apparently we're still using the same phones we have now in 2018 ) the scenes with her son took place in 2018. The flash forward sequence was a homage to Clark's alternate flash forward dream from last season's finale from 2013.

It's confusing because it means that despite the now pointless erasing of Lex's memories, everyone knows exactly who Superman is. Either the entire show was a story Chloe was telling her son, or it wasn't. If it is, fine. If it wasn't, the whole glasses/Lex memory wipe/etc. was completely and utterly pointless.

[Skywalker]

Carcazoid wrote:

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The moral of the story ...

Clark had the power all along, he just had to find his "center" in order to use it. His "center" turns out to be the very thing he once held onto so tightly, then tried so hard to let go of: Smallville.

Superman is not about the suit. Superman is the hero inside all of us.

Superman is the hero Clark needs to be, but not the one he deserves to be.