Three years ago, my brother Nathan got me hooked on Smallville,
the CW show that re-imagines the adolescence and young adulthood of
all-American superhero Clark Kent. Within one year, we'd watched the
first five seasons, but we only just finished season six now, which
leaves us two seasons behind and despairing of ever catching up before
the series concludes. Whether or not we manage it, we'll certainly be
sticking it out to the end on DVD.
Every season of Smallville
finds Clark and company with different preoccupations. This time
around, Clark (Tom Welling) has a doozy of a problem on his hands when
he accidentally releases several of the most heinous criminals in the
universe from the Phantom Zone where he was trapped by Zod, the evil
entity whose possession of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) set up the
season five cliff-hanger. Rounding up the rogue Zoners becomes his top
priority, though he also has his eye on Lex, who is secretly
experimenting on meteor freaks while getting uncomfortably cozy with
Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), who, much as he hates to admit it, is still
the girl of Clark's dreams.
For the most part, Lex's devotion
to Lana seems to be the only thing keeping him from fully succumbing to
his devilish destiny, though there are still flickers of decency that
come across elsewhere, particularly in a powerful late-season moment
with Clark. Their interaction is limited, however, and generally
bristling with animosity. It's clear that Lex hasn't far to go to become
Clark's nemesis, just one indication that the series must be nearing
its end. I get the sense that if Lana had embraced Lex's advances a
season or two earlier, it might have been enough to curtail his
villainy; by this point, he's just in too deep.
Another
indication that the series is moving into its endgame is the relocation
of much of the action to Metropolis and the addition of both the Justice
League and bumbling photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore). As a
long-time fan of Jimmy, I was tickled to see him join the cast of
characters, though I had mixed feelings about the manner in which he was
introduced as an old flame of Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), since he
turned up just when it was beginning to look like Clark might actually
return Chloe's long-unrequited affections. Since we know that Clark has
to end up with Lois Lane (Erica Durance), though, I guess there's not
much point in throwing him and Chloe together now and risking the
strength of their friendship. In that light, adorable Jimmy is most
welcome as a sincere suitor and a consistent source of comic relief.
The season drops occasional hints at the future Lois and Clark romance, especially in Crimson,
the Valentine's Day episode in which Lois applies some aphrodisiac
lipstick with disastrous (but largely hilarious) results. But Clark is
still mooning over Lana throughout the season, while Lois spends half
the season getting acquainted with charming billionaire Oliver Queen
(Justin Hartley), a prep school rival of Lex who turns out to have as
many secrets up his sleeves as Clark does. Their sassy repartee reveals a
couple well suited to each other, but like most of the romances on this
show, their blossoming love is threatened by the things they conceal
from each other.
Even Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) has a
romantic prospect on the horizon, though in this first full season since
the death of the Kent patriarch, her grief is too fresh for her to
consider anything beyond friendship with the ever-enigmatic Lionel
Luthor (John Glover). He is a powerful ally for her as she strives to
serve honorably in the senatorial seat Jonathan won at such high
personal cost. At this stage of the game, Lionel may be the most
fascinating character for me simply because he's such a wild card. Chloe
is the only other major player without an established destiny in
Superman mythology, but it's a pretty safe bet that Clark's best friend
isn't suddenly going to turn evil. Lionel, on the other hand, started
out pretty rotten, and some of his actions in this season still seem
reprehensible. But he also appears to be fighting for the side of good
at times, and if nothing else, his affection for Martha is genuine.
While his redemption would be ironic in the face of Lex's ultimate
villainy, it would lessen the sting of that terrible transformation.
Like Michael Emerson, who portrays the inscrutable Ben Linus on LOST, Glover constantly keeps us guessing with his complex performance.
In some ways, this is a very dark season. Lex's plans grow more and
more grandiose and grotesque, and we learn in a flashback of a
disturbing chapter in his youth. The Zoners wreak major havoc on some
unsuspecting humans - not to mention the fact that there are still
troublesome meteor freaks to contend with. The hustle and bustle of
urban Metropolis can't match the comfort of bucolic Smallville, and an
intrusive, oppressive score often ensures a skin-crawling sensation,
especially in any scene involving Lex. On the other hand, new situations
and characters inject freshness into the series. Many of the scenes
with Lois and Oliver and Jimmy and Chloe are just plain fun, and it's a
kick to see how the writers find ways of paying homage to these
characters' forebears. Noir, an episode late in the season in which Jimmy dreams his way into a film noir version of his life, plays like a love letter to The Adventures of Superman. Clark has his own alternate experience with reality in Labyrinth, a much less aesthetically pleasing episode that finds him cooped up in a mental institution; reminiscent of LOST's Dave,
in which an old friend of Hurley's turns up to inform him that the
Island is all in his head, it allows us to see these familiar characters
from an unusual perspective.
While I started getting tired of
Lana's drama queen ways back in season two and always faulted Clark
just a bit for overlooking the intrepid Chloe in favor of whispery,
whiny Lana, giving her such intimate access to Lex puts her in an
interesting position this year. Though she shows an alarming capacity
for duplicity and vice, she also reveals the depth of her feelings for
Clark, taking the character in refreshingly tender directions as she
comes closer to figuring out just what he's been hiding all these years.
Having Lois follow in Chloe's footsteps by writing for a tabloid is a
fun way of bringing her closer to her journalistic future, and Chloe's
bond with Clark is as solid as it's ever been, with one late-season
development giving her role as his most reliable wingman even more
creative possibilities.
Smallville grows more complex
every season, sacrificing some of the innocence of previous seasons but
creating a more intriguing web of plots and characters so that each
episode is an important piece of the puzzle rather than being just a
showcase for the meteor freak of the week. Will Clark ever don the
famous suit and take to the skies? I can't wait to find out!
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