Tonight is the night, no not a good night but a bad one. Smallville’s 10 year run comes to an end tonight in the 2 hour series finale. 10 years!! I have been watching this for the last 10 years of my life, its crazy to think just how long I’ve been watching this show. Now I did not come in on season 1 (yes what was I thinking!) but instead during season 2. I remember I caught my first Smallville ep the begining of Season 2. They were showing the Season 1 finale and I saw it as well as the Season 2 premiere and it was all over after that, I was sucked in.
Now I’ve always been a DC Comics fan more than a Marvel so Superman and Batman had always been my top favorite characters so had I heard of Smallville before season 1 I am sure I’d have been watching from day 1. Smallville was really a unique new thing on TV, the story before the Man of Steel became the Man of Steel. Now let’s not confuse this with Superboy the Live Action series created in 1988 that ran until 1992 in syndication. That was Clark already wearing a suit, already flying, as Smallville was Clark learning who he was, what he was, what powers he had and how to use them, as well as meeting his enemies, frenemies, and friends and family. This was a show about Clark Kent not Superboy, not Superman, but the person he was/is (yes I know he’s fiction so shush).
Smallville has always been a great show IMO, however it did have its moments that could have brought it down crashing way before today. What was the biggest problem? Lana Lang. This character although somewhat imporant to the Clark/Superman story, just brought the show down so many times. The character was written as a whining pathetic damsal in distress, and even when they tried to make her all tough and fight back it was just Lana Lang annoying in black clothes. I believe a lot of she series was wasted on her, when the show should have focused more on Lex and Clark. The main focus IMO should have been and I believe was supposed to be about Clark and Lex’s relationship before it went downhill (yes it was not the canon storyline in the comics but I think a great twist), not a teenage love story. Lana Lang should have been at most 2 season’s worth of story and then thats it, done and over with.
The hardest part of the last few seasons has been Michael Rosenbaum’s absense on the show. When Lex was “killed” by Oliver I wondered how they could possibly make this go on without him, and well they did. Now MR not being on the show was always a thorn in many fans sides but we still had enough to keep us coming back for more. Sure we could have done without some filler episodes, we could have done without them killing Jimmy, and without them killing Jonathan. Oh also, less Zod, he was just one of the worst longest storylines EVER (aside from Lana). Best part of the show was the addition of Olver, The Green Arrow.
I am not looking forward to this finale tonight, shoot I’ve not even seen last week’s episode becasue I knew that it was the last one before the finale. These darn TV execs have taken Buffy, Angel, Charmed, Firefly and many more before their time, and yes although Smallville’s been on the air for 10 years I believe there are still more storylines to be told! So it’s a sad bitter day for Smallville fan’s and I have to wonder just how appropriate that today happens to be Friday the 13th.
One thing that I cannot wait to see is MR back on the show, back face to face with Clark. This is going or atleast I hope it is going to be what we as fans have waited for, for a long time. It has to set the tone for the future, for the epic future and battes Clark and Lex have, and for the love of all that is holly PLEASE DO NOT have Lana Lang in it!
Well I guess that is it for now, come back later, perhaps tomorrow for my update on my thoughts and sorrows about the finale!
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UPDATE: 5/14/2011
Well it’s over, Smallville is now gone but certainly will not be forgotten. The 2 hour finale was just not long enough for me it was left wanting more. The begining half of the 2 hour finale focused on Clark and Lois getting married only to end with them not getting married. It was just a big let down not to actually see them be announced “Husband and Wife,” but I am getting ahead of myself here, lets start from the begining.
Chloe… oh how many people thought she’d get the axe and look at her going strong into the finale and being the first person we see! Take that Lana Lang! We start 7 years into the future with Chloe reading a Smallville comic to a little cute blond boy, its obvious he is her son. As she reads the comic we are taken back 7 years into the past to the current time it should be and then our finale ep really gets going.
I loved that they showed Chloe in the future finally happy, finally having a family. Many people did not like her character, did not like that the wirters/producers created a new character, someone not in the Superman comics, but I always liked her, I always thought she brought something extra to the show, and the little boy ADORABLE!
Once the ep starts we get Lois and Clark arguing because Lois doesn’t think she can marry Clark, she doesn’t want to stand in his way and take his time away from people he can be saving. Clark is trying to convince her that she’s why he goes out there and does what he does, for love. In the mean time Chloe and Oliver are setting things up at the church for the wedding where Oliver shows Chloe the rings he picked up for Clark and Lois. Two nice looking gold rings… too bad they are Gold Kryptonite! Remember Oliver was marked by Darkside, he has falled under their control without even knowing it. They know that Gold K takes away Clark’s powers so that is what they planned in order to stop Clark from trying to defeat Darkside.
Later on we see Martha Kent (which had she not been there it would have meant heads would need to roll!) at the farm. Clark and Lois did end up selling the house, boxes are packed and Martha is upset. She tells Clark she gave him the deed to the farm in order for him and Lois to start a life, a home there. Clark things he needs to let his past go to be the man he needs to become in the future. In the ghostly background Jonathan Kent is there (glad he was there too!!! Heads are safe!). Jonathan is teary eyed watching his son basically trying to let go of things, of him.
During all this Chloe is still trying to get Lois to come to her senses in which she does, but then Clark thinks perhaps she is right. Drama!! However none the less they do end up at the alter… while Tess is being kidnapped after finding out Oliver shut down all the satelittes at watch tower… except the space station Martian Manhunter set up, in which she see’s Darkside coming… a big burning planet hurling towards earth. Which of course interrupts the wedding… after Chloe realizes the rings are made of Gold K and knocks them out of the way before Clark can touch them. Oliver’s secret is out, however Clark’s belief in Oliver breaks the hold Darkside had over him and Oliver is no longer marked. It seemed a bit too easy but its only 2 hours long and they had a lot to wrap up. Such as Clark seeing Jonathan… they talk about the man Clark is to be, and Clark apologizes for thinking he needed to leave his memory behind. They have one of their famous father/son talks and Clark then rushes off to save the day.
Now back to Tess being kidnapped… did you guess who? Did you watch the ep? Lionel Luthor was the one who kidnapped Tess, but no not for a happy family reunion… but to cut her open and steal her heart for Lex! Lex whome made himself a new body from parts and pieces of the failed clones. This was a bit jumping of jumping the shark for my liking, it was just too… too… ridiculous. Now it did bring us back Michael Rosenbaum so it was something we had to accept for the trade off I suppose… Now little did Lionel know that not Tess but he would be Lex’s heart donor… as well as a container for Darkside in a deal he makes, his soul for Lex’s life. This crazy Lionel cared so much about Lex he gave his life up for him, although Tess had already shot him so he’d have died anyways so take it as you will, so in the end we had Lex Luthor back.
We also had Lois Lane knocking some chic out and taking her clearance badge to get onto Air Force One to try and warn the president that its not a meteor but a planet they are about to nuke… but suprise surprise… the government already knew and didn’t care… makes you wonder if that will be the case some day…
Lois manages to get them to give Clark some time to try and stop it on his own, of course she says “the blur,” not Clark. This entire scene though reminded me of the Superman movie in which Lois is on Air Force 1 and the plane starts to go nuts and Superman comes in and saves the day.. but lets not get ahead here… fast foward to Clark arriving at the charred remains of the Luthor Mansion. He is searching for Lionel and through GPS he see’s Lionel’s last known whereabouts being the Luthor Mansion… now he doesn’t find Lionel… he finds LEX!
We get our Lex vs. Clark show down… in words however. Lex telling Clark how he always managed to be one stop ahead, how he never had a chance against Clark because Clark always had the upper hand. He lets Clark know that great men have alwasy been defined not by family, not friends, but their enemies and procedes with a great speech.
“We have a destiny together Clark, only on different sides.”
“And I’ll always be there to stop you, always.”
“Oh I’m counting on it… our story hasn’t been written yet, Kal-El, every villian is only as great as his hero… you see that all relies on you saving us from the coming apocalypse.”
“You know about Darkside?”
“Did you really think I just read the cliff notes of the Veritas Journals, they fortold of a chosen savior, the light that will inspire this would out of darkness, your the light Clark, only you hold the power within you.”
“I’m not so sure that Clark Kent can save the entire would on his own.”
“You can’t, but we both know who can.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’;t save you Lex.”
And with that he takes off to fight Darkside, leaving Lex in the mansion waiting to see the outcome of the Darkside saga. It was a scene we had all been waiting for, well I had. I wished it had been a bit more, more screen time for Lex but I guess we should be glad for what we got. Thanks MR!
Now here is when Oliver goes and kills the evil Darkside minions who infected him to begin with, and Lois barges into the area with the Secritary of Defence and the President as mentioned above… Clark on the other hand is finally face to face with Darkside… in the barn… talk about taking a epic scene and hitting it down a few notches. It’s during this fight that Clark realizes he was wrong trying to not only push Jonathan away but Jor-El as well. Jor-El shows him as he gets tossed back by Darkside scenes of his trials, of his accomplishemts (i.e. flashback sequence), which I think was done in a nice tastefull loooking way. Sort of like projections onto the crystal’s of the Fortress of Solitude. Clark then realizes and understands it was always in him, and then we see it, we finally see him fly! Well hover… and then blast into Darkside destroying him.
Short but sweet. Too bad what happened to Tess after this wasn’t sweet… Lex hugs her and then stabs her… stating he is doing it because he loved her, because he doesn’t want her to turn into him.. she then says it’s too late, Clark arleady did that, turned her like him. She touches Lex’s face with some black liquid on her hand, its a nero-toxin that Lex had created himself. It wiped out all his memories before that very moement. Of course this was needed to make Lex forget Clark’s identity. A bit of an easy way out, but in the end It was Tess that saved Clark’s identity for the future, sadly she had to give up her’s to do it.
Clark on the other hand is back at the fortress, Jor-El tells him he’s proud and Jonathan hands him the suit. He takes off changig into the suit mid take off. From here on out its a lot of CGI because as we all know, “no flight, no tights,” was in Tom’s contract. At least we got a little flight but without the suit, after the suit was on we just saw strategically placed head shots and far cgi shots. It was still an awesome scene to finally see, but I just wish we could have had one close up, one good shot of him in the suit. Not to fear though, fans out there have been creating digital shots of Clark in the outfit and today I came across one fans deviant art page >here< in which he has some aswome digital manipulations that really look the part. So if you like me missed the scene we so wanted from the start, take heart and take a look at that page. Something is better than nothing. We got our Smallville for 10 seasons, we got to see Clark become Superman, we got to see our characters grow and become happy. We had some guest appearances (Jimmy!) and we had a nice shot of the future. Smallville might be in our past now, but it will not be forgotten. Thank you Tom Welling, you gave us 10 years of awesome TV, and you did a damn fine job playing Clark, Kal-El, and Superman!
