Smallville: The Road Not... where in the hell are we?

[DeadmeatDiggory]

So we're a week and some hours away from the end of a ten year tease, and I was thinking back on some of the events that took place on Smallville, that all logic suggested would lead to one outcome, only to end up somewhere else/disappointing, or just dropped never to be mentioned again.

I don't know about you, but the one that sticks out for me is:

Jor-El is Brainiac is Zod, nah forgetaboutit!

The Set-up: Way back in Season Two's "Rosetta" Clark opens his shuttle, only to find a message from Jor-El that said "They are a weak species, my son, Rule them well".

Therefore: Kal-El wasn't sent to Earth to be safe or to protect us, he was sent to conquer us. Holy plot-twist, Batman!

Further Evidence: When we later meet Jor-El, he is voiced by Terence Stamp (General Zod from Superman II), and he's a bit of a dick. He tries to cut Clark off from his human feelings and values, he sends a mind-controlled Kara to capture him and when he returns he is reprogrammed and under Jor-El's control. Brianiac is later introduced and eventually manipulates Clark into releasing Zod from the Phantom Zone, who possesses Lex and when he is exorcised by Clark his phantom is a CGI Terence Stamp as Zod from Superman II.

Conclusion: Taking this all into account, it seems as though it was being set up that Zod's creation Brainiac had replaced Jor-El's AI (and that inside Clark's ship) with a Zod AI who was trying to control Clark and bend him to his will, but only to be completely ignored for the rest of the series.

I might be reading a little more into this then there is, but Jor-El did tell Clark to conquer us, and that was dropped and never mentioned again. And that was only one instance, what sticks out for you?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah that was my favorite theory. I had a variation where Brainiac uploaded a virus into Clark's ship and it overrides the Jor-El simulcrum which explained his different behavior. I just chalk it up to bad writing and depiction. Being a punk ass to your son and his adoptive family half the time is not the same as being cold and removed.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

That is 10 season long arc they should have ran with. With Clark becoming Superman somewhere around season 8 with a bigger (than what we actually got, if we even really got anything at all) emphasis on the arrival of Darkseid to finish off the show.

 

[DarKush]

Yeah, I was so hoping that the Jor-El AI had actually been Zod. I mean, come, why have Terence Stamp voice the AI, if it isn't Zod? His advice and actions, especially early on, sounded more like advice Zod would give anyway. That would've been such a neat twist.

 

[Gaith]

I loved the Jor-El = twisted tyrant twist in the first place; I wish they hadn't dropped that.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ That would have been an interesting spin if they kept that. It gave me an idea for an alternate Crime Syndicate version of Kal-El. I never followed up on the idea lol.

 

[borgboy]

I was sure that Jor El was Zod, big missed opprotunity not to go that route.

 

[Gaith]

I've never been a big fan of the Jor-El AI in the first place, but if you've got to have it, why not make him evil? That reinforces Clark's "last son" nature, and provides a compelling villain. But if he's basically benevolent, and you add in Kara, Krypto, Kandor, Superboy, etc... then Clark doesn't seem quite so unique anymore. Dilution of concept, and it hurts, man.

 

[Admiral_Young]

My story idea was that the Brainiac virus was designed to corrupt the Jor-El program into conditioning Clark into accepting Zod's doctrine of a New Krypton on Earth. Then Zod himself would be freed from the Phantom Zone in a two or three episode arc. I never really fleshed it out.