Saturday, May 28, 2011

Goodbye to Smallville

Best night of TV of any of my shows ever. Finale comments then some insights about the series:

Part I got started with Chloe beginning to read a Smallville comic book a child (presumably her son) in 2018, then cutting to the present and a brief shot of Darkseid's planet, Apokolips. Good tease to kick things off.

The Clark & Lois wedding dragged on a bit, especially hearing the vows a second time. I did like the talk they had beforehand and how the camera kept spinning around the apartment wall.

Pretty cool how Chloe, ever the sharp eye, quickly noticed the ring was gold K (which would've taken away Clark's powers forever) and stopped Oliver. Decent Clark vs Oliver fight, though they could've made it more dramatic when he was freed of the darkness.

Got lost about how Jonathan was really there. Seeing it again, I got the impression Jor-El made it possible for him to appear to Clark & Martha (or just Clark part of the time), which is pretty cool.

Darkseid making another offer to Lionel and using his heart for the completed Lex clone was well done. The big applaud moment for me was when we finally saw him again. At last, Michael Rosenbaum was back.

His scenes with Clark and Tess were written quite beautifully and I liked the visual memory wipe. Totally got a Gene Hackman vibe. Brilliant plan from Clark to attempt to stop Lex once and for all and it was sad to see everything he knew completely go. I can only imagine what it'd be like in the future when Clark faces him again.

Nice speech by Jor-El about the past 10 years being Clark's trials and how he was proud of him. Loved how the clips montage blended together with Clark seeing them in the crystals. All this happening when Clark was in mid-air, then taking control and ramming into Darkseid was awesome. Dead Lionel being possessed was great too. Darkseid being gone after that was a kinda sudden, but ya can't expect too from the show in that department.

Amazing to see Clark finally fly in the real world, though I didn't quite like how the suit transformed from his hand onto him as he flew up, up & away and out of the Fortress.

It was only natural the first 'super' save would be a plane with Lois on it. Felt cheap to only get head and distance shots of Clark (and use a CGI Superman resembling Brandon Routh), but anything more just wasn't going to happen. Great re-creation anyway.

Didn't mind Clark just shoving Apokolips away. He'll have to deal with Darkseid again, might as well deal with the planet later as well. There was no public reveal as Superman which I initially thought was surprising... But considering the show walked a thin line between Clark the reporter and Clark the superhero, it was best to leave it to the imagination.

Returning to the future, I liked how Chloe finished the comic book and then we shifted to the Daily Planet. Felt kinda random how Clark & Lois were about to go get married for real when a news story broke, prompting Clark to take action as the theme from the movies kicked in...

And it all came to a close in a perfect homage. The classic theme, shirt rip, graphics... It was beautiful... :D Really, more that I would've imagined and made up for Tom not wearing a full suit.


Back when I started watching Smallville in season 4, I didn't really know what I was getting into... But I got to like it quickly and realized that it wasn't just young Clark growing up and had a fun variety of freaks of the week and special effects.

No season was really better than the other. The episodes with Justice League and JSA heros were always a treat, as were ones with an alt-reality and the events that really stood out. Love how the show re-created part of the pilot once and baby Kal-El being sent to Earth when Krypton exploded another time.

I don't think I ever gave an episode below a 3 and rarely there'd be a plot that just didn't work. Though the show often cheapened fights with big bads, it had a lot of great action and cliffhangers. When season 4 concluded with a second meteor shower, I hadn't seen anything like it on TV and it was incredible.

While the finale kinda left something to be desired in places, the last episode closed out the show well and the final development with Clark/Jor-El and Lex was perfect. Jonathan & Martha were used nicely and having Jonathan there along with Jor-El provided a lot, especially when Clark was given the suit.

Tess dying wasn't a real surprise and it was quite brave of her to sacrifice herself for Clark's future, guessing she thought Lex might kill her. It was great having Chloe back (Loved how she got the Superman namedrop and her "See ya in the funny pages" quip) and I love how far Lois came from season 4 to star reporter. It was a great run and the show went far in 10 years -- a big highlight being Lois's relationship with the Blur in season 9 and when she found out in was Clark.

Smallville was in a league all its own and nothing quite like this will happen again, especially this day and age with shows getting canceled. Eventually I'll start from the beginning (including 63 episodes I've never seen), plus check out Superman III and IV and the new film coming. Through it all, I'll continue to BELIEVE. ^_^

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