Smallville: The Way It Shoud Have Been

[Admiral_Young]

I agree that aspects of their friendship were done really well and like you Treker4747 I wanted it to last a little longer. I also agree that Lex has good in him but he's already damaged goods due to Lionel's harsh expectatiosn and lack of parental attention towards him, again I point to Lex wanting Jonathon's approval so badly during season one and two.

Lana...sigh...another debacle. I really don't blame Kristen Kruek as some fans do for her portrayal of the character...her acting can be bland and boring as hell but I think she was just going with what the writers gave her which wasn't much. I don't like how she was handled in Smallville and would have perferred her exit to be her video diary and she just go off to do her own thing in Paris or whatever. Becoming Kryptonite Woman was like a knock on the head of all fans spelling it out for us that she's toxic for Clark. We got that already, why'd you have to bring Kristen back to interrup the momentum of a perfectly good season? It was at that point. Plus how is she going to turn into the grand woman that Saturn Girl said she would be in the future if she's Kryptonite Woman? I really don't get that ending.

 

[Trekker4747]

I agree that aspects of their friendship were done really well and like you Treker4747 I wanted it to last a little longer. I also agree that Lex has good in him but he's already damaged goods due to Lionel's harsh expectatiosn and lack of parental attention towards him, again I point to Lex wanting Jonathon's approval so badly during season one and two.

Lana...sigh...another debacle. I really don't blame Kristen Kruek as some fans do for her portrayal of the character...her acting can be bland and boring as hell but I think she was just going with what the writers gave her which wasn't much. I don't like how she was handled in Smallville and would have perferred her exit to be her video diary and she just go off to do her own thing in Paris or whatever. Becoming Kryptonite Woman was like a knock on the head of all fans spelling it out for us that she's toxic for Clark. We got that already, why'd you have to bring Kristen back to interrup the momentum of a perfectly good season? It was at that point. Plus how is she going to turn into the grand woman that Saturn Girl said she would be in the future if she's Kryptonite Woman? I really don't get that ending.

Yeah, the Lana stuff stopped a decent season dead in its tracks. And I do blame Kruek's potrayal of her as her potrayal is so, so..., well, vapid. I mean it, that girl is the very definition of the word. Chloe's arc of "I want Clark to love meeeeeee" was just as nonsensical but Allison Mack's more range as an actor made it work more and her and Clark actualy had chemistry. Hell, I've liked the Clark and Lois arc(s) as those two actors have Chemistry. Clark and the infinitely lovable Alicia (the delicious Sarah Carter) had chemistry. You felt for Clark when she died and you could "see their love."

But then when Lana comes up the Barness of Mopitude's steps, seemingly concetrating on every step, the music goes all morose and she talks like she just took a handful of valium and chased it with a bottle of NyQuil, ugh, it just makes me want to bang my head on the wall.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah Tom and Kristen had no chemistry together...which also ruined their relationship and how it was portrayed.

 

[Joe Washington]

I'm going to wait a bit before posing Season 4. But while you guys are waiting, what do you think of Clark and Lex's development so far and the development of their friendship? Do you prefer this way or the way it was on the show? What do you think of the other characters?

 

[gastrof]

[Lana]Becoming Kryptonite Woman was like a knock on the head of all fans spelling it out for us that she's toxic for Clark. We got that already, why'd you have to bring Kristen back to interrup the momentum of a perfectly good season? It was at that point. Plus how is she going to turn into the grand woman that Saturn Girl said she would be in the future if she's Kryptonite Woman? I really don't get that ending.

You forget. The kryptonite she'd absorbed was a side point. She'd already become a super-woman in her own right. (The "quality time" she was now able to spend with Clark, and him having his powers?)

Lana is now able to become a super-hero in her own right, and so Imra's comments are fully in line with how it was left.

(I was just afraid they were going to have Lana become Wonder Woman before she exited.)

Lana's being a great hero in her own way doesn't require that Superman be able to stand next to her.

 

[Joe Washington]

SEASON 3 ADDITIONS

• To help bring Martha of her depression following the loss of her baby, Lex offers her a job in the charity organization. While working there, Martha uncovers Lex's real reason for establishing the organization is to find the remaining meteor freaks. She shares what she knows with Mr. Kent and together, they share this with Clark. But Clark told them that Lex is just looking for the meteor freaks for him to protect them from the government, believing he has his reasons for lying and to use the chairty organization for his search. So Martha and Johnathan decide to work together to keep an eye on Lex's meteor freak search and to make sure he never gets near the meteor freak club.
• Lex eventually stops his meteor freak search when Clark makes a remarkable discovery about his blood. During one of his sessions with Jor-El, Clark learns that his blood has special properties which can cure the most incurable of diseases and may even bring back the dead. But there are some serious side-effects to a resurrection. Clark gets to see these side-effects face-to-face when he used his blood to bring back Whitney after he died. Clark was forced to kill Whitney to take out him of his misery. Still wanting some good to come out of his blood, Clark turned to Lex and offered him his blood so he can use it to make medical advances that could benefit humanity in miraculous ways. Lex told Clark he will but, behind closed doors, Lex used the blood for his super-soldier army project in combination with the meteor freak DNA. And the combination worked perfectly. Now all Lex has to do is round up enough capable men to become his first batch of super-soldiers.

 

[Joe Washington]

For those who may think Clark may be blind to Lex's dark side in this version of Smallville, here's an interesting bit: when Lex throws a birthday party for Clark in Season 3, they end up having such a good time that the two start drinking alcohol at some point during the party. Clark stops himself before he drinks too much but realizes that Lex is drinking too much and doesn't seem to care. When Clark tries to stop him, Lex tells him to back off and gives Clark a resentful look. Lex tells Clark in his drunkenness, "You have...you have no idea...how much I've...I've done for you. What I've...sacrificed to keep...you safe." Clark asks Lex what he means by that and Lex stops himself before telling Clark about him killing Lionel. After the birthday party, Lex blamed what he said when he was drunk on his grief over Lionel's death and the pressures of his job. But Clark doesn't completely forget about his encounter with the ugly side of Lex's personality which he had heard only stories and rumors about until now.

This moment marks the beginning of a grim shift in Clark and Lex's friendship.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Interesting...enjoying the way you're handling the Lex and Clark friendship. Season Four yet?

 

[Joe Washington]

• Season 4 will show the beginning of the end of the Clark-Lex friendship and the long-awaited reveal of Lionel's mysterious silent partner.
• This season, Clark develops telescopic vision and flying.

SEASON FOUR

• In the aftermath of the ship's explosion, much of the Kent Farm have been repaired thanks to Lex. But the effect it left on Clark lingers. For months, Clark has been searching for the missing crystal in every place he can think of with no results.
• Clark's obsession with finding the crystal is distracting him from his classes in Kansas State University. The only class he's actually paying some attention is his astronomy class because it is something to remind him of Jor-El and his destiny, which delay frustrates him to no end.
• Despite how they relived feel that Clark won't be leaving them any time soon, Johnathan and Martha are deeply worried about their son. Pete and Lana, who are also attending Kansas State University, try to boost his spirits.
• Lex promises Clark that he will use every resource in his disposal to find the crystal but takes it upon himself to help Clark train for his destiny in the meantime, an invitation Clark jumps to finding college life boring.
• But that begins to change when the students and teachers of Kansas State University receive a major surprise when the famous Dr. Milton Fine decides to take a teaching position in the college. Fine sees the job as a relaxing break from him running things at the Fine Institute of Advanced Sciences. The Fine Institute posses the most advanced experimental technologies in the world and conducts major research for the US government. Fine takes an interest in Clark and finds his knowledge of astronomy which goes beyond someone of his age fascinating.
• Meanwhile, Mr. Kent uncovers a hidden message sent by the Jor-El AI which was recorded just before the ship's explosion. In the message, Jor-El reveals to him that what happened to Clark's ship was anything but accidental. Johnathan keeps this from Clark until he is sure whose hand was behind the ship's explosion. He does tell Martha including Pete, Lana, and Lex so they can keep an extra cautious eye out for Clark. Lex is concerned by this development and compelled to make sure that every inch of his involvement in the ship blowing up has been covered.
• Pete and Lana go through the trials and tribulations of being a new couple and college life.
• With Clark's destiny safe and sound in his hands, Lex has been feeling some hope for the future. It is because of that hope that Lex finally asks for Dr. Bryce's hand in marriage. After some thought, she happily said yes.
• As a part of Clark's training, Lex takes him out on business trips to shady, dangerous parts of the world to show him more of the world he will be facing in his fight to protect humanity. But there is another reason why Lex is taking Clark to these places. Lex has reason to believe that a strange virus is spreading in certain parts of the world that accelerates human aggression which leads to violent outbursts of chaos. The governments of the world have been keeping the virus's existence a secret to prevent the public from going into a global panic. Recently, some of Lex's men came across this virus and informed him about it. Lex has tried to use what remained of Clark's miracle blood to combat the virus but the virus is resistant to its effects which makes Lex think the virus is alien in origin. Lex uses the virus as an opportunity to put Clark to use by looking for a cure to the virus and finding the people responsible. Without Clark's knowledge, Lex is also using his superman soldiers to keep the violence and chaos resulting from the virus from spiraling out of control.
• While keeping tabs on the investigation into the explosion on the Kent Farm, Mr. Kent learns there has been someone else doing the same thing. Johnathan tracks the person down and it is revealed that the person works for the Fine Institute of Advanced Sciences. A meeting is arranged between Fine and Johnathan who believes it isn't a coincidence that he is teaching at the same college his son goes to. Fine confirms this by revealing his knowledge of Clark's alien origins. Fine tells Mr. Kent that he is secretly a Kryptonian and a close colleague of Jor-El's. He survived the destruction of Krypton like Clark by traveling inside a ship. He knew about Jor-El's plan to send his son to Earth so he made Earth his destination so he could look over Clark from a distance out of loyalty to Jor-El. The reason why he is teaching at Kansas State University is so he can protect Clark from a danger he is unaware of. He thinks Clark is being used and manipulated into being a weapon by Lex Luthor and has proof that it was Lex who was behind the explosion of Clark's ship. Fine wants to work with Mr. Kent to get Lex out of Clark's life and help Clark fulfill his destiny out of his own free will. Johnathan forms an alliance with Fine aganist Lex but does it cautiously, still a bit suspicious about Fine and his intentions.
• With Clark not focused on fighting crime in Smallville, Pete and Lana discover that the meteor freak club has formed into a group of vilginates inspired by the example Clark set for them with his heroic deeds. But, despite their good intentions, the meteor freak club is causing all sorts of trouble in town. So Pete and Lana step in to mediate the dispute between the meteor freak club and the outraged town people since Clark is preoccuped with stuff with Lex. Pete and Lana meet with the meteor freak club face-to-face and learn what's really driving their desire to be heroes. Since Whitney's death, the meteor freak club has been feeling a bit lost. They also failed to apply for colleges after graduation out of fear of being outed in an environment that no matter how they try to keep in mind otherwise isn't like Smallville High. So, to give them purpose, Pete and Lana press Mr. Kent into giving the meteor freaks jobs as volunteers to Smallville's Sheriff Department. When Pete and Lana get in touch with Clark, they tell him what happened and use this situation as an example of how Clark has become so obsessed with the big picture that he has been forgetting about the important little things and the people who have cared about him and looked up to him. What Pete and Lana said to Clark only begins his wake-up call while what happens next completes it.
• Lex finds out from his sources that the Fine Institute is working on a cure to the alien virus and its battles aganist the virus has been increasingly successful. Finding such news suspicious and wanting to get to the heart of the matter and partially driven by jealously that someone may save the world before he does, Lex sends Clark to break into the Fine Institute to see if this cure is for real and to bring it to Luthorcorp for further testing. During his break-in, Clark gets caught by security. Before he could give them a run for their money, he is surprised to find his father Mr. Kent accompanying them. Clark demands to know what's going on from his father so Mr. Kent brings him to meet Dr. Fine face-to-face. All three of them have a sit-down together in which Fine tells Clark the story about being a Kryptonian and his connection to Jor-El. After that bombshell, Mr. Kent and Fine share with Clark their suspicions about Lex. To back them up, Fine shows Clark proof that Lex was the one who blew his ship including proof of his hand in the creation of a group of superhuman soldiers who have been injected with a combination of meteor freak DNA and Clark's miracle blood. Fine also has some reason to believe that Lex killed his father.
• When Clark refuse to believe any of this, Fine tells Clark to go to Lex, tell him what he has just learned, and look in Lex's eyes when he ask him if any of this is true. Clark does just that. When confronted with the actions he has taken in the past, Lex takes this moment to finally let Clark know the truth growing tired of lying to him about these things. So Lex admits to Clark that everything Fine has told Clark about him is true, hoping he would understand. Instead, Clark is horrified and feels deeply betrayed by Lex. Clark demands Lex to tell him where his crystal is but Lex refuses to tell him, saying it isn't time for him to use it yet. Lex tries to explain to Clark that he did what he did to protect Clark and his destiny. But Clark is so filled with feelings of anger and hurt that he can't clearly listen to what Lex is saying. So Clark leaves Lex to be by myself and mull over Lex's revelations.
• Not wanting to feel guilty for the things he did for Clark, Lex focused his feelings into blaming Fine for his friend's conflicted response which incites a power struggle between Lex and Fine over Clark.
• Mid-season, it is revealed that Fine is not only Lionel’s mysterious former silent partner but Brainiac from the future. He sent himself to the past to rid himself of Superman once and for all by killing him. He arrived on the day of the meteor shower and was about to kill baby Clark when he was found by the Kents until he came up with another idea to deal with Superman. That idea is for him to find a way to control him and make him into his ally. To do so, he needed Lionel’s help to keep the piece of the alien ship in shortage to postpone Clark from fulfilling his destiny for a while Fine thought it would be better for Lionel to have the piece in his custody to keep Clark off his trail if he learns about the piece's location one day. It was his intention to use Lionel to get Clark and bring him under control so he can be under his control. But things change when Brainiac saw the potential in Lex to be the very thing he needed to turn Clark against humanity. So he gives Lex a push in the right direction to bring his father down. Then Brainiac pushed Lionel to up the ante in obtaining Clark knowing that Lex's father becoming more of a threat to Clark would push Lex hard enough to kill him to save Clark. Killing his father would send Lex down a dark path, corrupting him enough so Brainiac could show Clark how much of a corrupt, flawed, and weak race humanity can be with Lex as its prime example. Brainiac was the one created the alien virus and used it to manipulate Lex into eventually sending Clark in his direction.
• After learning the truth from Lex, Clark hasn't been responding to Lex's calls or messages and has been throwing himself into his college work. The Kents, Pete, and Lana have been making attempts to comfort and reach out to Clark. But all of them have failed. So Dr. Fine steps in to "help." Fine meets with Clark alone in his dorm and offers him a side job to help spread the cure to the virus, hoping that helping others would make Clark feel better. Clark accepts.
• Lex has been busy trying to dig up some dirt on Fine which is straining his relationship with Dr. Bryce. Helen feels that she's been seeing less and less of Lex these days and their engagement wasn't the change for the better that she was hoping it to be. Not wanting to lose Helen and to show her that he still loves her, Lex includes her on in what he is doing. Helen volunteers to go undercover in the Fine Institute to get some of the dirt he needs to bring Clark back on his side. Helen is willing to do anything to bring an end to this mess and to bring Lex’s mind back into them getting married. So Helen gets into the Institute by posing as an excited intern and, during her investigation, she uncovers Fine's secret. To keep her from telling Lex who would tell Clark, Fine kills Helen and makes it look like it was an accident Lex orchestrated to keep Helen from spilling the beans about where Lex is keeping the crystal.
• Lex is devastated by Helen's death which turns his war aganist Fine into a personal vendetta. He uses every dirty trick in the book to push the government into shutting the Fine Institute down which would kick Fine out in the cold. But Lex finds out that Fine has used his own dirty tricks to make sure that doesn't happen which makes Lex very curious.
• Fine tells Clark about the accident and his suspicions about Lex's involvement in it which pushes Clark to take matters into his own hands to finally take the crystal from Lex's custody. Fine uses his sources to track down the possible location of where Lex could be hiding it and finds out it to be contained within Lex's personal vault at his Luthorcorp office. With Fine's help, Clark makes it look like it was a robbery committed by your usual criminal thugs to conceal his identity from Lex so he won't know it was him right away.
• Lex learns about the robbery and sense that Fine has something to do with it. Luckily, he planted a tracking micro-chip on the crystal in case something like this happened. Lex is shocked to find out that the crystal is at the Kent Farm. There, Clark has told his parents what he did with Fine by his side. Mr. Kent has a bad feeling about this and Fine's infleunce on his son especially when Fine suggested to Clark that they use the crystal to create the Fostress so they can free a colleague of Jor-El's who help Jor-El create the device that allowed to see the future. But he was caught by the Kryptonian Council and sent to the Phantom Zone for his crime in creating such technology that was forbidden on Krypton. The colleague took the fall and fooled the Council into thinking the device was destroyed. Fine tells Clark that colleague's name was Zod. With Zod's help, Clark can fulfill his destiny and be a hero to the people of Earth and aganist corrupt people like Lex. Clark considers doing this but, convinced by Mr. Kent's warning that Lex being on the lookout for the crystal may be get in the way, Clark feels that for now they should keep the crystal hidden until the heat from the robbery cools down.
• Meanwhile, back at college, Pete and Lana discover an email recently sent to Clark's account which Clark didn't have time to open. The email contained a photo taken by Helen who quickly sent the email to Clark in case something happened to her. The photo reveals Fine's true nature. Pete and Lana inform the Kents and before they could tell Clark, Lex comes to the farm with some of his men to tear the place apart for the crystal so it won't fall into Fine's hands. Clark and Lex have a tense confrontation in which Lex tells Clark that he was shocked to find out that he robbed him and that Clark rather trust a stranger than his own friend who's been there for him for the past three years and sacrificed everything to keep him and his family safe. Clark throws back that what Lex has done aren't the noble deeds he's making them out to be but moral wrongs he committed out of greed and his need to control Clark the way his father tried to control him. Lex is hurt by Clark comparing him to his father.
• Fine gets into the situation, using his powers to fight back aganist Lex's men and telling Clark that the time for them to use the crystal to create the Fostress is now or never. So Clark is forced to agree concerning the circumstances and gets the crystal so he and Fine can fly to a location Fine had in mind for the Fostress to grow. Mr. Kent gets his hand on Clark before he flew, unwilling to leave Clark alone with Fine.
• Fine, Clark, and Mr. Kent land in an Artic region. Mr. Kent is nearly overwhelmed by the horrendously cold environment but Clark and Fine remain unaffected. Clark supports his father who's trying to tell him about what Fine really is. Fine takes the crystal and throws it into the ice. Emerging out of the ice like an icy palace is the Fostress of Solitude. Clark, Fine, and Mr. Kent enter the Fostress. Fine is telling Clark what to do next which would open the Phantom Zone when Mr. Kent finish what he was trying to tell to Clark. Clark confronts Fine about what Mr. Kent said and Fine, sick and tired of this charade, reveals his true nature and uses his powers to agonize Mr. Kent to coerce Clark into doing what he says. Fine needs Clark to operate the Fortress since it only works for someone with Kryptonian DNA and wants Zod and the other Phantom Zone prisoners released so he can use them to take over the world and enslave humanity. At this moment, the Fortress’s Jor-EL AI becomes active when it becomes aware of Clark, Fine, and Mr. Kent in the Fortress. The AI threatens to destroy Fine whose presence is recognized as a threat to the Fortress. But when Fine threatens to kill Clark if he did so, the Jor-El AI backed down from wanting to destroy him. Submitting to Fine's demands, Clark puts in the commands to open the Phantom Zone. The Phantom Zone opens. Mr. Kent resist aganist Fine to make Clark stop what he is doing and Fine uses his power to kill Mr. Kent, seeing no point in letting him live anymore. Angered by what Fine did, Clark fought aganist him and is able to destroy with the Jor-El AI's help. After that, Clark put in the command to close the portal but he was too late. Most of the Phantom Zone prisoners are released and destroying Fine has let out a vicious computer virus which has taken over the Fostress rendering it inert. A deeply heartbroken Clark takes Mr. Kent's body out of the Fostress back to Smallville.
• The season ends with Mr. Kent's funeral, Lex and Clark still estranged despite the fact that Lex attends the funeral in honor of their friendship, and Clark feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders after what has happened.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Ready for Season Five Joe...

 

[Joe Washington]

Sorry it took me too long. Here's the first half of AU Smallville's Season 5. I'll send in the second half once I'm finished with it:

• Season 5 is the final season of Smallville. The season focuses on the conflict between Clark and General Zod and Clark and Lex’s friendship being given a shot at rebuilding itself after the tragic events of Season 4.

SEASON FIVE (First Half)

• The season opens with General Zod waking up in the middle of nowhere. He’s dizzy, nauseous, and suffering from some temporary amnesia. He begins to wander on his own until he gets found and taken in by Fine’s people from the Fine Institute. They are under orders from Fine to find Zod whose DNA has been coded into a Fine Institute satellite designed specifically to find him. They have been also ordered to put Zod in charge of the Institute while Fine’s off on “vacation” for an undetermined length of time. Fine must have calculated his demise some time before it happened and made preparations for Zod in case that occured despite his efforts to stop it. Recalling who he is and learning about the existence of other prisoners like himself out in the world, Zod accepts control over the Institute and begins his search for his fellow inmates. He has also tasked the people of the Institute to give him all pieces of data on Clark Kent after Fine's right-hand man relays to Zod an one-word message from Fine which is "Kal-El", a name Zod recognizes instantly.
• Clark has dropped out of college to look after his widowed mother and to search for the escaped Phantom Zone prisoners with the help of Pete and Lana. He has also been attempting to fix the Fortress of Solitude with no success.
• Lex has been conducting his own search for the Phantom Zone prisoners to help out Clark who he’s been trying to contact since Mr. Kent’s funeral. But Clark hasn’t replied back and Martha doesn’t want Lex to have anything to do with his son anymore. Martha partially blames Lex for her husband’s death because, the way she sees, if he didn’t keep the crystal for himself, Clark could have used it in time to stop Fine which would have saved Jonathan’s life.
• While pursuing the first escaped Phantom Zone prisoner he has tracked down, Clark falls under the allure of the prisoner’s ability which is trap his victims’ minds with illusions of an ideal reality while slowly draining on their life forces. In Clark’s illusion, he is not the Kryptonian son of Jor-El but a normal human orphan adopted by the Kents. Clark reunites with Mr. Kent who’s alive in this reality. He’s also still friends with Lex who seems more like the Lex of old. Whitney is alive and the baby Martha had survived and grown into an adorable half-brother for Clark. Clark is almost persuaded to stay in this reality until a part of Clark’s mind breaks through the illusion and confronts him with the consequences of his normally human life and the meteor shower not happening in this reality. Whitney is the asshole he used to be in the beginning of the series because he didn’t went through the changes brought on by his father’s meteor freak condition and death. Lionel is still the head of Luthorcorp and continues to conduct shady business dealings in Smallville. Instead of taking over the company, Lex just quit his job and is trying to fight his father’s company from the outside with Clark’s mother by his side. But the fight has become a losing war. Lana hasn’t changed from who she was in the beginning of the series and is still together with Whitney while Pete observes her romantically from a distance. Not liking what he is seeing, Clark uses all his mental strength to get himself out of his illusion and defeat the prisoner.
• The illusion convinced Clark, above everything else, that he should give Lex a second chance and to put aside his differences with him to stop the Phantom Zone prisoners together. Clark does this despite Martha’s feelings on the matter and, in return for Clark's offer of reconciliation, Lex promises to Clark that he'll mend his ways for good and walk the straight-and-narrow for now on. But Lex will realize that such a promise is easier said than done.
• With the Fostress incapacitated, Lex offers Clark an advanced security facility to hold the Phantom Zone prisoners before the Fostress is fixed and the prisoners can be sent back to the Phantom Zone for the rest of their lives. Feeling he has no choice since he doesn't have anything in his possession that can hold people like the prisoners, Clark agrees to the use of the facility but refuses Lex's offer to send some of his people over to the Fostress to repair the damage. He'll let Lex cook up something that can help and then he'll use it to fix the Fostress personally. Despite their genuine intentions to give their friendship a fresh start, there's some lingering trust issues between Clark and Lex.
• Meanwhile, without Clark’s knowledge, Martha has been on a covert campaign to rid Smallville of Lex Luthor’s influence with the help of the Mayor (Lana's father who replaced Mr. Kent as Mayor), Pete and Lana (who both agree that Lex is a threat), and Luthorcorp's rival company, Wayne Enterprises. She is hoping to find something to blackmail Lex into backing off Smallville and Clark forever.
• When Lex finds out about Martha's campaign, he secretly tries to deal with this on his own without Clark finding out, not wanting his focus distracted from saving the world from the Phantom Zone prisoners. Because of the involvement of Bruce Wayne who Lex has history with going back to prep school, Lex declares a state of corporate war against Wayne Enterprises using every dirty trick in the book to remove Bruce as Martha's ally. Being Clark's mother, Lex gives Martha only a warning to stop her vendetta against him and focus on helping Clark with the task he's facing. Martha replies to Lex that Clark is a grown man and can take care of himself. This pushes Lex to undermine the positions of Pete, Lana, and the Mayor to help Martha and to cover his tracks in the process so Clark won't get a whiff of them which would threaten their slowly healing friendship. When Pete and Lana wanted to confront Clark about Lex and what he is doing, Martha stops them telling them to keep it to ourselves and between them and Lex because it can wait while Clark has bigger fish to fry in the moment
• During their hunt for the Phantom Zone prisoners, Clark and Lex were able to capture some of the prisoners but most of them have been captured by people who worked for the Fine Institute. When Clark and Lex discover this, they wonder who would be running the Institute since Fine is destroyed. Lex uses his resources to find out the identity of Fine's replacement and how he figures into all of this.
• Zod has taken on the identity of Dr. Allen Jorel, claiming to be Fine's former colleague and old friend chosen to take over things in the Institute in Fine's absence. Fine's people were able to fabricate enough paperwork and identification to keep a lot of people fooled except Lex who sensed the fabrication. Lex tries to use back doors to get to the heart of the truth so, to remove him as if he was a bug, Zod makes an attempt on Lex's life by poisoning his favorite brandy. Lex survives the attempt but falls into a coma due to remnants of the poison plaguing his health.
• Clark is on the warpath after his friend is nearly killed and Martha puts his war against Lex on hold to help him find out who did it because whoever tried to kill Lex can be just as much of a threat to Clark.
• Mid-season, Clark and Zod have their first face-to-face meeting which takes place in the barn. Zod treats Clark with the pride and fondness of a long-lost uncle which Clark finds uncomfortable, recognizing his name as the one Fine mentioned to be that of a colleague and friend of Jor-El which turns out to be a lie. But Zod points that wasn't a lie exactly. Zod and Jor-El used to be friends long ago until clashing viewpoints divided them. When Jor-El shared with Zod the future vision of a doomed Krypton, Jor-El thought the only way to stop it is to convince the council of the danger and work together to prevent the disaster from ever happening. But Zod can't help blaming the coming destruction of Krypton on the troubling arrogance of the council, for the council being too smug with power to see the signs of something like this potentially happening. So Zod used the vision to incite civil war aganist the council. It was his plan that once he would take over the government, Zod would somehow prevent the cause of the disaster with Jor-El by his side. But Jor-El refuses to participate in a course of action that would result in bloodshed and an unsettling upheaval in Kryptonian society. So Zod goes ahead with it, regardless of what Jor-El thought thinking it was for his own good and the good of Krypton. But Zod's war against the government backfired. His followers were executed without a mercy and Zod was sent to the Phantom Zone which the Council thought was a fitting punishment for a mad warlord like him. Jor-El watched the whole thing with a heavy heart. Zod thought Jor-El was too much of a scientist to do what needed to be done. That is the thing Zod hated about Jor-El and felt sorry about him at the same time. Zod is deeply saddened by Jor-El's death which he learned about when discovering that Krypton has been destroyed. However, he sees his arrival on Earth as a blessing in disguise. He plans on resurrecting his homeworld by turning Earth into the new Krypton, with him as its ruler of course. He needs the Phantom Zone prisoners to carry out phases of his plan which he refuses to discuss with Clark unless Clark joins him. Zod misses Jor-El's company and having Clark by his side can be the next best thing. He also sees less of a scientist in Clark and more of a warrior. At the time that he takes over Earth, Zod wants Clark to be his top lieutenant of his army. But Clark refuses to help Zod hurt and kill countless lives in his quest for global domination. Zod doesn't back down from his offer to Clark completely and instead decides on a different tactic to convince Clark to join him.
• The first half of Season 5 ends with a major cliffhanger. Zod encases Smallville in a forcefield invented by Fine and propels the town deep into space with Clark locked up inside the forcefield along with the other residents of Smallville. Zod plants the town with the most monstrous Phantom Zone prisoners who he has ordered to kill anyone in Smallville except Clark. If Clark won’t join him out of his own free will, Zod will use the threat of Clark losing everyone he cares about to make him join his cause.

So what would you do think of the final season so far?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Very cool...it's going to be interesting to see how the finale goes. Liking Clark and Lex so far, and mention of Wayne Enterprises and Bruce (I would have been satisfied with just a mention) and when it all comes crashing down should be fun to read.

 

[Joe Washington]

Here's the first part of the second half of the final season. I'm currently doing some rewrites with the second part which hopefully won't take too long:

SEASON FIVE (Second Half) (Part 1)

• When the second half of the season opens, Clark rounds up the townspeople (Pete and Lana among them) to form a defensive stand against the Phantom Zone monsters. Members of the meteor freak club who are volunteers of the Sheriff’s office pitch in. But things quickly go from bad to worse and people start dying off like flies.
• Flashing forward two weeks later, Lex wakes up from his coma in a hospital in Metropolis. The doctors check up on him and his vital signs. There are some lingering remnants of the poison still in Lex’s system but with daily treatment, the poison will be purged out of Lex’s system in a matter of months. When Lex asks about Clark, one of his people informs him of the shocking news of Smallville disappearing, leaving a huge hole in the earth. The government has been investigating the town’s disappearance which is creating a bit of hysteria in the world. The Fine Institute was tasked by the government to use every one of its advanced resources to uncover the cause of the incident.
• Lex pushes himself out of bed and to get himself released from the hospital so he can go to his office to use his company’s resources to find out what’s doing this to Clark and stop it. But standing in the way of Lex’s pursuit is the board of Luthorcorp who has been running the company in Lex’s absence and struck a partnership with the Fine Institute in the investigation of Smallville since one of their branches (a charity organization) was a part of Smallville and not doing anything in response to the disappearance would be considered bad PR. One of the conditions of the partnership is the non-involvement of Lex Luthor, who has been viewed by the Institute as a troublesome threat to their organization because of his interference in their affairs in the past. The board has no problem pushing Lex to the sidelines, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to get rid of Lex once and for all on the basis of his health problems and remain permanently in control of Luthorcorp. Lex refuses to take this lying down and vows to use his share of the company among other things to regain control of Luthorcorp. But because of the ticking clock on Clark and the other people of Smallville, Lex reluctantly goes to Bruce Wayne for help with the situation.
• Back in Smallville, Clark and what’s left of the townspeople have barricaded themselves in Town Hall. Many have died in the past two weeks, those who haven’t have lived in constant fear with little sleep, and Clark being indirectly responsible for this mess is causing a lot of frayed tempers to flare. Defending Clark against the growing angry mob are Martha, Pete, and Lana. Clark is trying to protect the Smallville residents the best he can while the weight of their trials and tribulations grows increasingly heavy on his shoulders. Throwing temptation in his way is Zod’s representative sent to oversee the monsters. Every day, Zod’s representative appears in front of Town Hall awaiting a different answer from Clark to Zod’s offer of joining his cause which the townspeople have no clue what he is talking about.
• A situation arises when a mother leaves Town Hall to search for her daughter who wandered away somewhere in the outside. Clark is forced to leave as well to look for the mother and the daughter. Pete and Lana arm themselves before following Clark to cover his back.
• Back on Earth, Bruce and Lex are putting their minds together to develop a way towards finding Smallville and bringing it back to Earth. In their scene together, we finally shed light on Lex and Bruce’s history. Years ago, they both went to the same prep school. Bruce was a bully to Lex when he was having trouble dealing with his parents’ deaths. Lex was almost able to handle it until Bruce and Lex became partners in a science experiment. Bruce wasn’t paying much attention to his part in the experiment that caused their chemistry set to explode. Bruce was able to find cover in time but the experiment literally exploded in Lex’s face. Lex’s face was repaired but his exposure to the experiment resulted in a massive loss of hair which he’ll never regain. Lex was branded as a freak in the school which got to Lex so bad that he brutally beat up the next person who made fun of his baldness. Lex blames Bruce for his hair loss and the torment he went through before and after that. But Bruce has tried many times to seek Lex’s forgiveness. Lex refuses to give it to him, preferring to see Bruce rot instead. But for the moment, he is willing to join forces with Bruce to help Clark. In the end, they come up with a plan to break into the Fine Institute, suspecting their hand in Smallville’s disappearance, and destroying the machine they have which created this predicament.
• Back in Smallville, Clark tracks down the mother who reunited with the daughter but one of the Phantom Zone monsters finds them as well. Clark fights against the monster who’s almost close to disobeying Zod’s order to keep Clark alive until Pete and Lana enter the scene and start using their weapons against the monster. The monster is temporarily incapacitated long enough for Clark, Pete, Lana, the mother, and the daughter to run back to Town Hall. But soon the monster's back in the action along with a few others who catch the humans' scent. Clark, Pete, the mother, and the daughter get back inside Town Hall in time but Lana is too late to join them. The monsters surround her, ready to shed her into pieces. Out of ammo, Lana only has a grenade on her person. Lana slowly takes out the grenade, gives Pete a tearful look, and takes out the pin. Before Clark could race back out to save her, the grenade in Lana’s hand explodes killing both her and the monsters surrounding her. The people in Town Hall are devastated by Lana’s death including Clark, Pete, Martha, and Lana’s father who collapses into tears.
• Back on Earth, an assault team under the command of Lex and Bruce from afar breaks into the Fine Institute, looking for the machine responsible for Smallville’s predicament. When they find the machine, Zod comes out of the shadows confronting the team. When they threaten to use their weapons on him, Zod gives a single vocal command which triggers a powerful laser on the ceiling to turn the assault team into a burnt stain on the floor. Lex and Bruce are a lost what to do after that and wonder who that mysterious guy is.
• Back in Smallville, Clark goes to some part of Town Hall to be by myself. He thinks about Lana and the deaths of all the others before her, wondering what he should do. If he says yes to Zod’s offer, how does he know if Zod would bring Smallville and its people back to Earth safe and sound? What if Zod just let them die in the void of space? But if Clark doesn’t say yes to Zod’s offer, many more people will die like Lana and Clark can’t bear any more deaths on his conscience. In his moment of personal struggle, Clark suddenly disappears from Smallville and finds himself in some kind of council chamber where the leaders of the Interstellar Consortium reside. The Interstellar Consortium is composed of the most advanced alien superpowers in the universe. They have been keeping an eye on Earth since the prisoners of the Phantom Zone were released. The Phantom Zone prisoners were dangerous criminals that came from their societies. The Consortium turned them over to Krypton to imprison because they posses the most secured prison system ever constructed. But with Krypton destroyed and most of the Kryptonians dead except Clark and Zod, the Consortium have been very concerned about the fate of the Phantom Zone. If Zod succeeds in taking over Earth with the Phantom Zone prisoners under his command and turning it into a new Krypton, they fear he’ll launch an aggressive campaign to conquer their worlds to make New Krypton the center of an empire. Refusing to let that happen, the Consortium is considering destroying Earth to stop Zod and they want Clark to construct a new Phantom Zone in case any of the Phantom Zone prisoners escape the destruction. They think him being the son of the brilliant Jor-El would give him the same technical knowledge as his father. But Clark tells them otherwise. He also tries to persuade them to give him time to stop Zod and the Phantom Zone prisoners and to put them back in the Phantom Zone where they belong. Out of their debt to Krypton, the Consortium gives Clark six months to resolve the situation. Then they sent him back to Smallville.
• Knowing what he has to do now, Clark comes out of Town Hall despite his mother’s protest and says yes to Zod’s offer through Zod’s representative. Zod instantly sends Smallville back to Earth, to its original location. The Phantom Zone monsters are beamed away and Zod’s representative tells Clark before being beamed away as well that Zod will give him enough time to get his affairs in order before leaving Smallville to join him.
• After Smallville’s return to Earth and the disappearance of the monstrous Phantom Zone prisoners, funerals are arranged for those who had died in the fight. Clark watches Lana’s funeral from a distance having a feeling that many would be bothered by his presence there.
• Clark says goodbye to his mother but not to Pete who wants to be by myself at the moment. Clark gets beamed away from Smallville with Zod’s representative by his side. When Clark reunites with Zod in the Fine Institute, Zod happily embraces him looking forward to their time together in the campaign to create a new Krypton. You can see on Clark’s face that he feels the opposite. It is Clark’s covert plan to pretend to go along with Zod’s plan so he can get close enough to him and the operation’s inner workings to find a weakness. He’ll use the weakness to stop Zod and fulfill the promise he made to the Consortium.

Any comments? What do you think of the dark turn the season has taken?

 

[Joe Washington]

Does anyone out there have any thoughts on the AU Smallville so far? I'm having trouble connecting a few dots for the rest of the final season and whatever comments you guys can offer could help.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Again I'm enjoying the intricate plot of the season's overall arc...interesting final season so far and I like how you connected the Fine Institute with General Zod. Bruce Wayne appearing is interesting even though it would never happen in real life. I have to admit that I don't like Bruce being depicted as a bully...just the nature of his personality I think would prevent him from being one. I reflect on Ollie and Lex's past at Excelsior Academy seeing as how the Smallville writers took parts of what they had planned for a Bruce Wayne appearance on the series and just adapted it to Oliver's storyline. I see Bruce and Lex as rivals, and too involve Bruce this much in Superman's mythos at this point also seems wrong to me.

I have no idea what to add to help you out...as always I do look forward to reading whatever you end up with.

 

[Joe Washington]

For your reading pleasure, Temis.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I have a completely different take on this. Mine is more of a re-editing of the actual series. Cutting out a bunch of episodes. Reordering episodes. Combining repetitive story arcs together. Using a 13 episode season count instead of the actual 22.

I been thinking of starting a thread about this. Though my ideas are not nearly as developed as Joe's.

 

[Admiral_Young]

That would be an interesting idea Donald maybe it could be possible to reedit or cut out the more silly dramatic aspects of the characters relationship's with each other. I don't know how this would be possible since IMO this aspect of the series has defined it over the years and has taken away from the mythological event episodes that makes the show worth continuing to watch. I wish that these characters actually would mature and grow up. It seems they are stuck in this temporal casualty loop which keeps them in a state of immaturity. I realize this is partly due to the demographic of being on a network targeted at teens and young adults. At some point though don't these characters have to grow up?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Well I did start a thread. http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=115151

I think the key to this idea working is the repetitive nature of the series. It would be more plot focused than character focused. Considering the relationships ping ponged back and forth to restore the status quo it would be easy to remove a lot that stuff.

 

[Joe Washington]

And now, after the passing of so much time and waiting on you guys' part, here's the final part of the AU Smallville saga.

SEASON FIVE (Second Half) (Part 2)

· After Smallville’s return to Earth, the media, law enforcement, and the DPA (Department of Paranormal Activities) all come over to the town demanding answers. But running interference for the town is Bruce Wayne, who has a feeling that the town’s residents aren’t in the mood to answer questions about what they’ve been through. Lex can’t help but feel jealous towards Bruce’s gesture when he returns to Smallville to check up on everybody. Seeing the power Bruce has at his fingertips makes Lex ache even more to have his back.
· Lex is shocked when he learns from Martha that Clark said yes to Zod’s offer to save the lives of the townspeople. Lex wants to find Clark so he can know where he is and keep an eye on him. But without his company’s resources, Lex is blind like a bat.
· Lex has been fighting to regain control of the company with the help of his lawyers but his lawyers have been either bought or intimidated into not representing him on this case. His accounts have been frozen by the board who say it is for his own good, fearing that he may be suffering from mental trauma as an after-effect of his poisoning. Lex has also been kicked out of his penthouse in Metropolis which is considered Luthorcorp property, forcing him to return to his mansion in Smallville. The only source of support he has during this time is the surviving handful of his superhuman soldiers who were all programmed to follow his commands and his commands only.
· Meanwhile, Clark learns about the dynamic between Zod and the Phantom Zone prisoners. The Phantom Zone prisoners don’t like Zod or have the greatest of trust in him or truly believe in his cause to make a new Krypton. But they’re going along with it because once Zod conquers Earth; the Phantom Zone prisoners will have the freedom to do whatever they want with no resistance from the humans. The Phantom Zone prisoners also have a greater hatred and distrust for Clark.
· Back in Smallville, the Mayor decides to make Martha his new Deputy Mayor after the former Deputy Mayor died at the hand of one of the Phantom Zone prisoners when Smallville was in space. The Mayor thinks Martha is perfect for the job because she possesses that Kent strength which the town desperately needs during this dark time. But there are those in the town who are unhappy with Martha’s rise to political power.
· After becoming Deputy Mayor, Martha comes up with an idea to hold a vigil in honor of those died in Zod’s takeover of Smallville as a way for people to come to terms with what happened. But the vigil starts to take a disastrous turn when the people uses it as an opportunity to throw angry insults and verbal attacks at Martha since they blame her son for what happened. The attacks stop when Pete stands up to defend Martha against the angry crowd. Pete entered a period of seclusion after Lana’s death, locking himself up in his old room at his family’s home, rarely talking to anyone. He had no idea where to go from here and shown zero desire to go back to college. Pete started to wake himself up from his grief when he heard about the vigil.
· For a while, Zod occupies Clark with overseeing the training exercises of the Phantom Zone prisoners who are getting themselves pumped up for when the time comes for them to be unleashed into the world. Zod doesn’t believe for a second that Clark’s truly on his side but is determined to keep him there whether he wants to or not. To test how far Clark is willing to go with his subterfuge in a way that’ll put him in too deep with his side that he couldn’t dig himself out, Zod gives Clark his first major assignment. The assignment is to take some of the Phantom Zone prisoners with him as he hunts down and kills every scientist on the list Zod provides him with, making each of their deaths look like a natural accident. Each of the scientists poses a threat to the launch of the satellites by uncovering its true function through their intelligence.
· One of these scientists contacts Lex to share something big about the satellites with him since he doesn’t seem to be a part of the plot and the government wouldn’t believe him if he told them.
· Lex and Clark’s paths intersect when Clark reaches the location of the first scientist on his list and Lex is at the location when he meets up with that scientist.
· A chain of events unfolds afterwards which leads to Zod’s death and the reins of the Phantom Zone army changing hands from Zod’s to Lex’s.
· Lex drugs Clark with kryptonite to weaken him so he won’t stand in the way of his plans for the Phantom Zone prisoners. Clark was able to reach Smallville before he collapses into a kryptonite-induced coma. He is found by Martha and taken to the Kent Farm to recuperate. Word of Clark’s return Smallville spreads among the townspeople.
· While Clark recuperates, Lex uses the Phantom Zone prisoners to wipe out the Luthorcorp board that opposed him and destroy the Fine Institute for all the misery it brought to his life before and after Zod’s arrival. But being the simple head of Luthorcorp isn’t enough for Lex with the Phantom Zone army under his control. So he starts attacking parts of the Wayne corporate empire as payback to Bruce for his past bullying and his annoying ability to be a hero in Smallville’s eyes. Lex becomes increasingly addicted to the power in his possession.
· It takes time for Clark to regain his strength. After regaining at least some of it, Clark works towards restoring the Fortress which is needed more than ever to stop Lex and the Phantom Zone prisoners. Helping him out are Bruce Wayne and Pete who’s inspired by a dream involving Lana to come to his friend’s aid in his most dire time of need.
· When the Fortress is fully restored somehow, the Jor-El AI gives Clark the tools to fight against Lex and the Phantom Zone prisoners.
· In the series finale, the Interstellar Consortium makes preparations for the destruction of Earth. Clark race against time to stop Lex.
· The Phantom Zone prisoners are sent back to the Phantom Zone through the Fortress of Solitude. After seeing proof of this, the Interstellar Consortium puts permanent hold on the destruction of Earth.
· Bruce dies but here’s a surprise twist for those out there worried about Bruce Wayne’s presence in AU Smallville: the Bruce Wayne who’s been playing a role in Season 5 is not the real Bruce Wayne. The real Bruce Wayne is currently traveling around the world, using a series of false identities while searching for the tools and knowledge he needs in fighting against criminals. Before embarking on his global search, Bruce hired an impersonator to take his place in Gotham to keep the board of Wayne Enterprises from ruining his father’s legacy and to keep the media from getting suspicious. Bruce educated the impersonator on every aspect of his life and his past including how he was in his prep-school days. Now the death of the Bruce Wayne impersonator is going to be covered up by Bruce’s manservant Alfred who’ll establish a cover story for Bruce’s sudden absence before the real Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham.
· In the final scene between Clark and Lex, the two have a sit-down in which they openly acknowledge the fact that they can no longer be friends after recent events and making peace with it and accepting how things would be like between them in the future.
· By the end of the series, Lex dismantles his mansion in Smallville removing his only physical connection to the town and Clark and makes a complete, permanent move to Metropolis.
· The people of Smallville make their peace with Clark and present him with an award for his years of being a hero to them.
· Clark says his emotional goodbyes to Pete and his mother. Pete decides to stay in Smallville to help out his family and the townspeople for a while until he figures out his new path in life.
· Leaving Smallville, Clark goes to the Fortress of Solitude to begin the next stage of his training under the Jor-El AI so he will one day emerge from the Fortress as Earth’s professional super-hero protector.

So what do you think of the end of AU Smallville? If the show was a reality, would you prefer this over the original or stick with the original?