Smallville Better or Worse?

[Jetfire]

I love the show, I really liked it from the begining even with it's flaws...My question to other fans of the show...key word "fans"...Has the show gotten Better or Worse starting from season 5 til now?

I think it has gotten Better in some areas but Worse in others.

I like the show being more mature now and including alot of the Superman mythos that they really couldn't touch until after Superman Returns came out.

Where it has gotten worse would be introducing Kara and never seeing the character again, Doomsday was a mistake and ofcourse introducing Jimmy Olson and then it not being the real Jimmy Olson. I am not feeling the Zod thing either. To me alot of things in the past 3 seasons have been rushed and some of it becoming retcon.

I really miss the Kent family stuff too.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Overall, worse. Seasons 2, 3, and 5 are sill the show's best. And, while it's certainly improved a bit over the last year and a half, it's still not what it once was.

 

[Bad Bishop]

On the show, "the Red-Blue Blur" has become an absurdly familiar name for Metropolis' superhero. I'd be happy if I never heard that term again.

I think it's unfortunate that the widow Chloe Sullivan has been reduced playing the techno-wizard. She basically has no life outside of the Watchtower.

On the plus side, I think Erica Durance has been very good this season. She has real chemistry with Welling.

 

[gastrof]

I hate Clark looking like Neo from THE MATRIX. Fine the "S" is on his chest, but this isn't enough. And in a way it was better when he was in the red and blue. At least that was heading in the right direction.

I'm also ticked that Clark was shown in the glasses before the hiatus, but in the very next episode (the last before the break), he wasn't wearing them.

They'd best have Welling willing to wear them from now on, because if they don't go in that direction now, it's going to become idiotic.

He's known from the start he's playing the young man that will one day become Superman. He HAS to know this will include wearing the glasses and the costume (even if only for the last few moments of the final episode).

If he thinks he'd become more typecast as Superman by wearing the glasses or appearing in the costume, I've got news for him.

He's already embedded in the psyches of MANY people as Clark/Superman, so it's a little late to worry about it now.

Put the glasses on, Tom, and have them start measuring you for the red and blue WITH CAPE.

You're playing Superman. Get used to the idea.

 

[DarKush]

To me Season Five was the best period.

Great season: 5
Good seasons: 1, 2, 8
Okay seasons: 3, 7
Seasons I didn't like: 4, 6 (Except for the Bizarro stuff and "Justice")

Jury's out on Season 9

Overall I've enjoyed Smallville. I think they reinterpreted Superman for the 21st century and did it in a way that bought a whole new audience in, while respecting the movies and to some extent Superman's comic legacy. Something I feel that Superman Returns failed to do.

I do think there's been a bit of decline in quality since Season 5. Though I didn't care for Season 4. The Lana witch thing and the Teagues were a big waste of time even though Jane Seymour is still hot and of course I like Jenson Ackles. What saved Season 4 for me was the season finale. I think Season 4 had the best finale. The only thing that marred Season 5 was the finale and the Lex-Zod. I just thought that was stupid and I haven't been quite as much into Smallville since.

I liked some of the post-S5 ideas, bringing in Phantoms, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow (though it took me some time to get used to Justin Hartley, I thought he was a horrible actor at first), Supergirl, etc. The execution hasn't always been there. I also think they haven't always done a good job closing out arcs. Martha just disappeared, can't they even give her a cameo once in a while? I think it took them too long to end Lana's arc and made it more convoluted than it had to be (though I never had a problem with Kristin Kruek in the role and didn't want her to go per se). I really thought Season 8 was going to suck, but I was surprised at how well they integrated Doomsday into the Smallville universe. Now, the S8 finale did suck. I didn't care for Jimmy Olson, but I think its way past time for Chloe to die. She should've died permanently in S6. Nothing against the actress, I like her too, but I think its time to wrap up that storyline. I think the character served her purpose already.

Throughout its run Smallville has given us some great villains and performances along the way: the Luthors, Dr. Fine/Brainiac, Tess, Davis/Doomsday, Metallo, and some of the smaller guys like Toyman and Parasite were good too, but so far I'm not feeling Major Zod. He over enunciates his words and he's just not as bad ass as the musical cues suggest. They screwed up Zod in S5/6 so I think they should've just moved on to another villain. For Kryptonians you've got Jax-Ur and the Eradicator. Or maybe go with Mongul or Darkseid for an intergalactic villain. I guess the name Zod just has more weight, particularly for Superman movie fans, and they decided to go with that.

My biggest gripe with Smallville overall is that they do great buildups but the payoffs are never that good. The fights last two seconds, and that's always bothered me.

 

[Admiral_Young]

This is an interesting question. I'm inclined to say that it's got worse despite the fact that I still enjoy watching the series and how they've handled myth episodes and event episodes hasn't changed. I think one of the ongoing problems that Smallville has always suffered from is a lack of consistency from the writing staff. Last year was a good example. I thought the first half of last season was going very well with the infusion of new characters, they were dealing with the mystery of Lex's disappearance, then all that momentum had been halted by the return of Lana Lang who got IMO a shitty departure from the series. I can not express how much I hated what they did to Lana, as bad a character and actress as she's been she did not deserve the type of writing out that they gave her, how's this add to her supposed "legend" that Imra told her she had in "Legion"? Then as was mentioned they rendered Doomsday almost irelevant...and we find out "Jimmy" Olsen isn't even the Jimmy we expected, I wonder how Aaron felt about that when he found out.

This season...I've missed five episodes of this season for a reason, because I wasn't interested in them. Basically I've picked and chosen what episodes I want to watch. I'm intrigued at how the Kandorian storyline will be handled, I was excited that Zod was returning but not with how they've dealt with him. I'm looking forward to Absolute Justice in Feb and anything else that they might have planned yet for the second half of the year. It's been lack luster...and just proves my point that they're running out of stories and it's time for Clark to finally grow up and become Superman. Not this Blur....

 

[Othello]

Season 5 and 6 were the high points for me because those were the slow descent of Lex into the full villain we all know and love and the Lex, Lana, Clark triangle was extremely compelling to me. I wanted the Lana -Lex pairing to last longer though they did a great job with it. They have more "geek out" moments now where they really do a good job pulling from DC lore into the show but I REALLY miss the three L's Lex, Lionel and Lana. I especially miss Lex cause there really isn't anybody who challenges Clark like Lex did with the those really cutting true rips into Clark and his character by pointing out his flaws and hypocrisy.

Still an enjoyable show that I will faithfully watch until the end and hope there is a season 10.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I agree that Season five and six are probably the highlights for me too. Tess is an intriguing villain on the show though because she knows about Clark, wants to help Clark but is going on about the wrong way. Tess seems like Luthor lite in some ways, considering that she's his protege. There isn't really a villain for Clark right now since Lex has left. If only the producers could get around the bald cap/shaving head problem we would see Michael back on the show.

 

[Dick Whitman]

On the show, "the Red-Blue Blur" has become an absurdly familiar name for Metropolis' superhero. I'd be happy if I never heard that term again.

I agree with this. At first I was ok with it. But they have done this completely wrong. Its not a name and should not be an actual name. But its treated that way now.

Every newspaper should have their own name for this mysterious guy/phenomenon. With no particular one more popular than the other with the public

Because as it is, his name is THE BLUR. Why would people ever see him otherwise?

Look at celebrities. Prince was always thought of as Prince even when he tried to change his name to a symbol. First impressions stick.

 

[Corran Horn]

Anything is better than the Lana/Clark staring longingly into each other's eyes (with no resolution of anything) that the show had descended into a few seasons ago. Clark and Lois have a real chemistry and they're actually starting to do something about it.

As is the case with Smallville (and also Giles on Buffy) people get bonked on the head WAY too much still.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah I don't get why the Blur has become the accepted name for Clark other than the fact that the writers don't want to use Superman or any of his nicknames yet. I'm guessing that the writers are using the Blur as a homage to Lois naming Superman except for that fact that she hasn't yet. Much like Superman caught on and was used, The Blur/Red Blue Blurr is now accepted.

 

[Christopher]

I love the show, I really liked it from the begining even with it's flaws...My question to other fans of the show...key word "fans"...Has the show gotten Better or Worse starting from season 5 til now?

Let's see, we're currently in season 9, right? I'd say it went progressively downhill from season 5 to season 7 (I actually gave up watching in the last part of S7) and has rebounded hugely in the past two seasons. The original showrunners, Gough and Millar, had trapped Clark in an increasingly absurd rut; rather than showing his progression toward the world's greatest, noblest hero, they had him frozen in the role of a self-absorbed farmboy who stubbornly refused to embrace the responsibilities or mindset of a hero and was, if anything, so petty, judgmental, and vindictive toward others that it would've been truly frightening if he ever became proactive with his powers. Also, the writing was just dreadful.

Since Gough and Millar left, though, the new showrunners have been embracing all the growth and change that had formerly been forbidden. Over the past year and a half, Clark has gotten a job at the Daily Planet, embraced the role of a crimefighter, and finally started to become recognizable as the decent, compassionate, idealistic Last Son of Krypton we know from the comics. True, it's kind of arbitrary that they're not letting him fly and use the name Superman yet, but in most respects they're finally telling Superman stories.

And they're doing excellent things with the mythos. Last season, they brought in Doomsday, but instead of being the empty plot gimmick that Doomsday was in the comics, they made him into a complex, nuanced, ultimately tragic character who was vastly more interesting. And this season they're bringing similar depth and richness to Zod as the main villain.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Except Zod isn't really Zod...General Zod is still trapped inside the Phantom Zone.

 

[Christopher]

Sure, it's a clone, but it's an exact duplicate of the person Zod was a few decades ago, before Krypton's destruction. And it's intriguing how the show has made him a more nuanced figure. It's kind of a replay of Smallville's Lex Luthor, a character who starts out as a flawed but decent man who's a friend of the protagonist (Jor-El) but who has a darker side and is destined to become a great villain. But it's working for me.

 

[DarKush]

I agree with most of Christopher's post but I've got to ask, where is the character richness and depth with Major Zod? I know the episode with Jor-El revealed a bit of his past regarding his son, and I could see how that added to the Jor-El/Zod dynamic, but I don't see elsewhere where the character has been developed all that much.

Or rather to be honest, I'm not too pleased in the directions the writers have taken him in. I don't necessarily see that as development. The awkward flirtations with Tess and then making him a generic corporate type villain, that doesn't work for me. It seems beneath Zod, well Terrence Stamp's Zod from Superman 2.

Davis was a complex and interesting dark character, but Zod seems like a one-note stock villian.

 

[Othello]

I agree that Season five and six are probably the highlights for me too. Tess is an intriguing villain on the show though because she knows about Clark, wants to help Clark but is going on about the wrong way. Tess seems like Luthor lite in some ways, considering that she's his protege. There isn't really a villain for Clark right now since Lex has left. If only the producers could get around the bald cap/shaving head problem we would see Michael back on the show.

Personally I think Rosenbaum should get over having a bald head. Have you seen the guy with hair if it has any length to it? He looks like a goof.

I don't think I've ever seen a worse head of hair than him in Urban Legend.

 

[startrekwatcher]

It drove me away in season 5 and I have only seen the random episode over the years but from what I can tell it has gotten even worse except for the big event episodes.

Like so many shows on the CW, studio interference trying to appeal to a certain demographic and overall poor writing has just crippled this show.

 

[gastrof]

I agree with most of Christopher's post but I've got to ask, where is the character richness and depth with Major Zod? I know the episode with Jor-El revealed a bit of his past regarding his son...

Ah yes, Zod's son.

Didn't Faora, when she was inhabiting Lois' body, say that she and Zod couldn't HAVE children of their own, which is in part why they included their own DNA when creating Davis?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yes Faora did indeed say that...I have always thought that Davis wasn't created so they could have a heir of their own but to harness Doomsday, as part of their plan. That was part of his tragedy, Davis was always a pawn and had no life to himself.

I'm curious if by the end of the season Zod discovers the Fortress of Solitude and tries to release his phantom self only to be possessed by Zod?

 

[Jetfire]

^
What if M. Zod becomes a vessel for G. Zod and Tess the Vessel for Faora?

I doubt it but...I remember seeing something about the fortress in Lois's first dreams of the future which I didn't see in Pandora.