#1.1 “Pilot” Retro Review

This is probably the only time a review of mine will not contain spoilers, unless you’ve somehow failed to see the series’ first episode. I’m going to assume that you have seen it so if you haven’t and you don’t want to learn important plot details before seeing this, get to it. It’s probably some of the best TV I’ve ever seen and I’m going to tell you why in this review.

Foreword:

When I first started watching “Smallville,” it was in the middle of the second season. My first episode was possibly the most unlikely one I could think of as being the first: ‘Visage.’ If you don’t recall the episode it’s the one where Tina Greer, a class-mate of Lana’s and Clark’s capable of shape-shifting into other people, had come back disguised as Whitney Fordman, Lana’s ex-boyfriend. (Tina had obsessed over Lana during her previous outing on the show in the first season’s ‘X-Ray’ and was back to get herself into Lana’s life any way she could.)

It was an extremely confusing episode to see having almost no other experience with the show. I had no idea who Whitney and Tina were and the situation was completely impossible to understand. Also, several of the recurring characters were not recognizable from what I knew of Superman’s origins. I knew who Lana and Pete were, even though physically they didn’t look much like the comic versions of the characters, but Chloe and Lionel? I hadn’t a clue…

Even as confusing as it was, the episode intrigued me enough to keep on watching, although I wasn’t yet a regular viewer. The rest of that season was exciting and (despite more than a few missteps) displayed some very good writing and acting. By the time the third season came around (2003-2004) I never missed an episode. That was probably mostly thanks to the terrific one-two punch of season ender of season 2 in ‘Exodus’ and season three’s fantastic premiere in ‘Exile’, but I wasn’t truly in love with the show yet. However, I liked the series enough to ask for the DVD sets of the 1st and 2nd seasons for my birthday the summer of 2004. I wanted to see the first season and early second season episodes I’d missed.

Once my birthday rolled around in June and I finally saw the first episode, which I had only seen parts of when it had been rebroadcast earlier that year, it was like I’d fallen in love. Maybe that makes sense, and maybe it doesn’t.

In a way, being a fan of a TV show can be like a relationship. Some relationships are more distant because there is no emotional connection; others are more casual, just for fun, even while you are truly fond of the other person; while others become serious love affairs. You get deeply emotionally invested in the relationship and, even when it takes work to stick with it at times, and despite the occasional stony silences at dinner, you’re in it for the long haul, no matter what. You’re committed. For me the show is like that. I have stuck with it even though at times it was hard…

Thanks to the Pilot, I completely fell in love with the show and I fell hard. It hasn’t always been all hugs and kisses, the show has made some serious missteps from time to time as I’ve pointed out over the years in my reviews, but I still love the show deeply and I am very happy to have gone the distance with it.

Writing a review of this episode now, about ten years after it was filmed, seems to be the right thing to do. No, it wasn’t the first episode I had seen, but it makes sense to me since finally seeing this episode was when my love affair with this show truly began…

Review:

Most television series don’t have a solid future when they’re first presented for consideration with a network. Many more are considered than actually end up getting a Pilot order. It is up to a network to tell the producers ‘Yeah, alright… We’d like to see this on film.’

However, even after that a show still isn’t in business. If the network likes the Pilot enough they’ll put in a series order, that’s when things get real because it’s then that the producers get more money to spend. That’s what the producers need and want, but there are many Pilots which get produced that don’t get that series order, actually more than a lot.

However, once the producers get their ‘series order,’ the show hires writers and crew and builds sets… Not all Pilots that get picked up get a full series order, however. “Smallville” didn’t, they had started with only a 13 episode order. That’s pretty common. If the show turns out well, the network will order more, like it did with “Smallville,” which ended up with 21 episodes the first season. (They had filmed 22, ‘Redux’ was saved for season 2.)

So, the first episode, the Pilot, of a series is very important. It not only has to set up the show, establishing the characters, settings, central storylines and general themes a series will need to be based upon, but it’s also got to convince cynical network suits to agree to spend millions on filming more episodes and committing a timeslot in their line-up for this new show. That’s a pretty tall order to fill and few series do it as well as “Smallville” did.

I’ve been a fan of TV for a very long time and I’ve seen a lot of Pilot episodes. Few are as good at starting out a series as this episode was.

And I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic either. Series Creators and ‘Pilot’ episode writers Miles Millar and Al Gough just did everything so well in this, so maybe it’s not surprising. The DC Comic characters in the episode were all so well-conceived, even though they weren’t exactly like they are in the comics, and the situation was nearly a perfect way to start a show about Superman before he becomes Superman.

The series description says it’s a ‘twist’ on the Superman legend and that’s exactly what they gave us. It’s about Superman, so it’s familiar, yet the series also gave us a fresh take on the mythos. It starts out with Clark’s arrival to Earth. That’s standard Superman origin fair. However, kryptonite-filled meteors coming along with Clark’s ship I don’t think was in the comics. Usually, they come later for some reason, but this way makes a lot of sense.

But the kryptonite-filled meteor shower being what caused Lex to lose his hair? There have been several different explanations for Lex losing his hair in the comics, but I don’t believe that has ever been one, so that was a new twist and what a fantastic one. It gives Clark several reasons to hide his secret from Lex as the series progresses.

Though Clark and Lex hadn’t been friends when Clark was growing up in most versions of the comics, his being there when Clark was in high school wasn’t a new idea before “Smallville” first aired. While not completely innovative, it was an added twist that allows the show to follow Lex’s origins as well as Clark’s. In early seasons the show was at least partly about Lex’s origin in addition to being about Superman’s beginning.

They are really like two halves of the same coin since one cannot exist without the other, there is no good without there being bad, so it was the same in the show. I especially thought it was terrific that Clark saved Lex’s life before Lex saved his, firmly planting the seeds of friendship that we all knew would somehow go very, very wrong in the end.

That was perfect because that accident served several purposes at once, which is something this episode does so well. Things happened for multiple reasons and have ramifications on different levels for the various characters. It’s a more complex episode than many of the others from the first season were because of things like that…

And Clark saving Lex so easily after an accident which would have killed anyone else only brings up what must have been an issue for Clark the previous 12 years of his life: his unusual physiology. Growing up he just wanted to be normal; he just wanted to be like everyone else.

However for some fans, the fact that Clark has (for the majority of the series) fought so hard against who he really is, what being Kryptonian really means for him, has been frustrating. I can see their point too. Superman should want to be who he is. He should embrace the destiny he was born for. However, if Clark had fully accepted that back in this first episode, the show wouldn’t have had very far to go and probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a season or two at best (even if it had been picked up for a series order to begin with).

To have obstacles to overcome in order to reach their ultimate goal is what makes a character more compelling. A character who finds it too easy to reach his goal makes for a pretty boring story. We learn more about a character in watching him struggle to achieve his goals than we would if they had been easy to reach. So, it’s great they set that up to be a continuing conflict for Clark, it makes him as a character far more compelling.

In this Pilot episode, one of the main things it established was this profound inner conflict. Clark just wants to be like everyone else, but because of who he was born (Kal-El of Krypton) and who he becomes (Superman) that is the one thing he can never be. It’s probably some of the best dramatic irony in TV. (Dramatic irony is when the characters in a story don’t know something the audience does.) It’s that irony that makes this show as good as it is. Everyone who knows even a little bit about Superman knows who the teenaged Clark Kent will become even while (in the Pilot) he has no clue.

It’s brilliant how well they established that major theme right from the get-go. The fact that his isolation and insecurity ties in so well with the kryptonite that came down with his ship (another plot-point that had ramifications on several different levels) and had affected the lives of so many must have seemed like manna from Heaven to the writers. Clark’s major weakness being the cause of so many problems he is uniquely able to solve is brilliant.

The kryptonite causing bizarre and dangerous mutations was over-used in early seasons and it was rightly something that had become a less common plot-device in later seasons. Yet, at the beginning it was a beautiful thing and this episode beautifully set up that as a recurring theme.

Another thing that was beautifully established in this first episode was all the complexities of the relationships in the show. Clark has a lot of different relationships in the series, with his parents , Lana, , Whitney, the budding friendship with Lex (even though everyone knows the bleak future that relationship has), and the very different friendships he has with Chloe and Pete… It sets up all these little triangles and that idea of triangular relationships (love triangles or what have you) is firmly established in this first episode.

It’s something the producers and creators, Miles Millar and Al Gough, had talked about numerous times in the press the first handful of seasons. All the triangles were a hallmark of the series and the way those were set up so perfectly in this first episode was brilliant. Not only did all the characters have competing goals that would eventually bring them to conflict, but the characters all had their own relationship triangles between them and other characters. Visually, the idea of triangular relationships was beautifully reinforced by Director David Nutter and his Directory of Photography Peter Wunsdorf.

The camera was very mobile, making for very dynamic cinematography, and the way the camera moved and created new triangular compositions within a scene in concert with the actors’ movements was beautifully well-done. So, David Nutter’s solid visual sense combined with the nimble camera work made for a very visually dynamic episode. The way the scene on the river bank was shot with Clark, Jonathan and Lex was a good example of this. The later scene in the Torch office with Chloe and Pete talking with Clark about Jeremy Creek was an even better example. The visual presentation of the show was brilliant.

And the look of the show was far different then. Almost everything was shot on location since they hadn’t built many sets yet. I think the only sets that were built had been the Kent’s house interior and the barn’s loft. I believe everything else was on location, either interior or exterior, since nothing else looked like it did later in the series.

The costumes and photography looked vastly different too. In the Pilot, they hadn’t yet established Clark’s red and blue jackets as his pseudo-Superman uniform and Lana hadn’t yet been stuck perpetually (and unfortunately) in pink… The photography was also crisper and less romantic, in general. I’m not sure because I’m no cinematographer, but it looked like there was probably a lot less color correction, so it looked less stylized than the show does now. No warm sunsets or cold Metropolis cityscapes in this episode…

I watched the Pilot again several times while working on this review and there are a few things that feel dated about it. But there were only a few. I don’t like the fade ins and fade outs at the beginning and end of each act. In more recent seasons, the show would start out in black, or cut to it, no fading. Somehow, that looks better.
And the music, as much I generally love Mark Snow’s later work for the series, was seemed dated too. I’m not sure I can really explain why, but it just seemed old fashioned to me.

Those are picayunish things that didn’t really affect my overall enjoyment of the episode, but they are probably the only things that really date the show stylistically, aside from the ancient computers and flip-style cell phones…

Even though I wasn’t totally wild about the score in this, the popular music that was included in this episode was terrific. There were some fantastic choices for the music.

I think one of the stronger aspects of this episode, aside from now beautiful it looked and how wonderfully it was written, was the terrific acting. I would have to say that as good as Tom Welling has gotten, he truly had given uneven performances in most of the early seasons.

However, in this episode, with an especially strong script and an exceptionally gifted director Tom Welling showed what he had truly been capable of. I’m not sure even this episode won me over to Tom Welling’s acting, but in this outing he certainly showed a lot of promise. His style was more natural and less studied than some of the more experienced actors in the cast. However, as the seasons had progressed he has shown that the promise he showed in this episode wasn’t a fluke.

As the series went on, the strength of Tom’s performance (even despite some missteps) over the years is probably one of the main reasons the show has lasted as long as it has. He seems to have shown a lot of dedication to this show and he works very hard. I am not sure if anyone else had been cast as Clark, it would have lasted this long.

John Schneider as Jonathan and Annette O’Toole as Martha were nearly brilliant casting choices. Annette was brought in after the show got its series order, so that was a lucky thing for the show her schedule had opened up and she could do it. They both did excellent jobs in this episode and they perfectly set the stage for themselves as Clark’s overprotective parents.

John Glover was brilliant in the opening scenes as Lionel. Lionel was one of the original characters created for the show and he was a fantastic addition to the series. A perfect foil for the Kents warm and loving parenting style, Lionel is complex and charismatic, yet believably ruthless and cold-blooded. John played him perfectly even in the few scenes he had in this episode.

Kristin Kreuk didn’t have much to work with in this episode, I think Al and Miles mostly fetishized Lana (she was usually a convenient damsel-in-distress for most of the seasons she was in), and she was probably the weakest written character in this episode. She was largely passive and more of a beautiful fantasy for Clark to long for, but never attain. Even given those limitations, Kristin had some nice moments.

Allison Mack has almost always been pure joy for me and I adore Chloe as a character even when I haven’t always been happy with the directions the character would sometimes go. Allison Mack showed her skill right from the get-go and is possibly one of the most solid performers in terms of consistency over the entire series and it all started here. I loved Chloe in this episode, her conspiratorial nature was made playful and awe-filled instead of creepy, which I think could have been a danger. She delivers expository dialogue probably better than almost anyone…

Sam Jones III as Pete and Eric Johnson as Whitney had short stints on the show. Eric was only on the show as a regular for the first season and Sam made it to almost the end of season three, however both actors had good starts here for their characters. Sam played Pete perfectly as Clark’s earnest and insecure best friend. He was charming. It’s a shame Pete didn’t work out so well as a character. Eric was terrific as the bully Whitney, but he still gave the character hints of complexity that might not have been obvious ones to make.

As much as I loved this episode, there were a few oopsies:

Jonathan’s and Martha’s seat belts weren’t used before the truck flipped in the prologue, but the Kents hung upside-down afterwards. How did that happen without seatbelts? Maybe they wore lap belts, but it just looked odd.

And when the close up on the Smallville sign is shown at a couple of points in the episode, it’s pretty easy to tell it was digitally added to the scene, as were all those corn stalks flattened after the meteor shower.

I never did like the meteor shower itself. The trajectory of the meteors should have been roughly the same, since they were all coming from the same distant point in space, yet the ones in this episode come down in different directions, crisscrossing in the sky.

And in the United States, license plates are issued by the state, not by individual cities. Yet, the plate on Lex’s Porsche listed ‘Metropolis’ at the top and ‘U.S.A.’ at the bottom. That doesn’t happen…

When Whitney throws Clark to the ground before he and his football buddies kidnap him, you can see Tom’s elbow pad.

Despite the few faults I found in this episode, which I only found because I’m so familiar with it (it’s probably the single most-watched episode for me, and is one of the few from earlier seasons I’ve purchased from iTunes even though I own the DVD sets), this episode is about as perfect as TV can get. It nearly flawlessly setup the complexities of a series that would help form the basis of a ten season-long run.

That’s an amazing accomplishment for most TV shows, but given the strength of the foundation the Pilot had given the series that fact probably is not surprising.

This is the point where I usually grade an episode and give it some sort of half-cute rating, but it’s hard to say what I would give this one. I love the episode, but it surpasses so many later episodes on so many levels it’s hard to quantify that so I don’t think I’ll even try. This is still my favorite episode of the series; or at last, my favorite one so far… The series has so few left to air, so we’ll have to see if that holds up, but if I had to give this a grade, I suppose it would get 10 tiny Kryptonian spacecraft out of a possible 5. It’s just that good.

Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback.