Triplet's Reviews
#8.22 “Doomsday” Review
Triplet reviews the eighth season finale, “Doomsday”.
HUGE SPOILER WARNING: Do not read a single word of this review if you haven’t yet seen this episode. I’m not kidding. You will regret it. Just be sure to come back when you’re done. I have a lot to talk about so you might not want to miss this one.
Huh… Really? Writers/Executive Producers Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson thought that this episode was actually a good idea?
I know I have said this before, but this episode wasn’t at all what I had expected and in probably the biggest way that I could mean that. Way back before the season had even started I had heard that Doomsday was going to be coming on the show the fact sort of set up some expectations into my mind.
I have written about this previously, so I know if you read my reviews every week you should be aware, as if Tess’ constant references to Davis’ and Clark’s destiny to kill each other wasn’t a big enough of a reminder, but let me sum up: Doomsday is destined to kill Clark. In fact, he is the only character in the comics who had killed Superman.
Knowing that, you would have thought a couple of things might have been a given: Clark and Doomsday getting into an epic fight and that their confrontation might even be fatal, or ‘fatal,’ for Clark. And, you know what? Neither thing happened.
There was a fight, if you can call it that, but it wasn’t anywhere close to being epic (it mostly comprised of Doomsday beating the crap out of Clark with him not even getting in a single punch) and Clark definitely did not die (or even ‘die’) at the end of it. Yet, despite not getting a single thing I’d been expecting out of this episode, in the end I really didn’t mind it too much.
That might surprise you, but as I’ve said, I was a Superman fan going way, way back to the dawn of time (or the 1970s, which was probably the dawn of time for most of you), so I’ll spare you and won’t go into any details here. (For a refresher, go back and read my “Odyssey” review where I talked about just that very thing.)
So, a few years back, after Smallville had rekindled my love for the character, I had started buying trade paperback versions (individual comic book issues compiled into the ‘Graphic Novel’ format) of Superman comic books I’d missed. One I had picked up and had enjoyed reading, although it hasn’t really aged all that well, was the “Death of Superman.” Originally published in the early 90s, the series told the story of Doomsday’s arrival on Earth and Superman’s fight with him, which ultimately ended up being ‘fatal’ for Clark (although he got better).
After I’d seen this episode, I pondered a lot of things in the episode in terms of what had happened in that book. So before I’d written a word of this review, I dug out my copy of
“The Death of Superman” and reread it.
In the book, Doomsday punches his way out of being inexplicably trapped somewhere underground while Superman and Lois are off doing what they do, Clark saving people and Lois investigating crimes, as Investigative Reporters like her do (although her hair looked very red, not black or dark brown – as is usual – which I thought odd). Anyway, not long after Doomsday punches his way out of being buried alive he starts killing and destroying things as he heads toward Metropolis. While that was all happening, the commentary in the book kept stating, rather ominously, ‘Doomsday is coming.’
As you might guess with that phrase getting used over and over, the foreshadowing ran pretty hot and heavy in the book. For example, in a televised town-hall type question-and-answer session designed to be shown to high schools country-wide, Clark (as Superman) even ponders whether there was anything out there that was too strong for him to take down. Yeah, he said that right before he meets Doomsday, the creature that ends up killing him.
The book wasn’t at all subtle.
But it wasn’t like they had needed to trumpet that Superman was going to die. I mean, I can even remember at the time all news shows saying how Superman was going to die in the comics. I’m not sure anyone had really bought that Superman would really stay dead. Who would kill Superman?
Yet, despite the hokey on-the-nose dialogue and the denouement being telegraphed from the first panels, the book was enjoyable. They effectively built the suspense as the stakes slowly and steadily increased for Superman. They actually managed to fit in some romance between Clark and Lois before his demise. Also there were some cute moments, like when Lois kicked Superman in the butt when he was being a bit on the dense side and tried to detain her source. Yet as things started looking pretty bleak, most of the Justice League had ended up in the hospital thanks to Doomsday, Clark still wrestled with the idea of killing the monster. Even in the comics he is reluctant to use deadly force. Clark eventually realized that things had gone too far and that he would have to kill the beast, or die trying. Their battle was truly climactic and it ended with a very dramatic death scene for Superman. The earlier romantic scenes between Clark and Lois made her crying over his lifeless body all the more tragic.
But the main thing with Doomsday in the book, and also in the animated film that had come out a year or two ago, was that he had killed Superman. I know that it hadn’t stuck, Clark got better (I guess given enough sunlight, Superman can recover from almost anything), but in that book Doomsday beat Superman to death even as Clark had killed him in return.
So, this episode was more than a little different than “Death of Superman.” I’m not sure I really expected him to die, or even ‘die’, but I had expected something a little more exciting.
In Smallville’s “Doomsday,” Clark didn’t realize his mistake; that trying to save Davis was wrong until it was too late. He didn’t understand that Doomsday had needed to die until after now-Doomsday-free Davis had killed Jimmy. If Clark had done what Oliver had wanted, killed the Doomsday and Davis both, things probably would have turned out a lot better for both him and for Jimmy. Yet, that wouldn’t have been as good a bit of drama so seeing him make that mistake was actually good for Clark the long run. His mistake has consequences he will have to suffer through, as will everyone around him. It makes for good drama and it leaves him something to potentially deal with next season.
In a larger sense, it was also good for the show. I mean, it’ll better line up Smallville’s canon with comic canon. Maybe Clark not making that decision to kill now will make the time he makes that decision in the future more of a big step for him. The lesson that Clark had learned here had to be different than the one he learns later, or where else would he have to go otherwise?
Even Doomsday getting buried alive helps further that. He had been buried alive in the first part of the book “Death of Superman” (although how he got there was vastly different) and had to punch his way out. Should Doomsday make an appearance in Smallville next season, or even if they don’t deal with him again, when he climbs his way clear his threat to Clark will be that much greater. Better yet, his storyline will be exactly in line with what had happened in the comics. So, in the end I’m okay with how that worked out, even though I think a lot of people were disappointed. Well, I was okay with what happened with that except for Clark being only Doomsday’s punching back and not getting even a single hit in. There was nothing epic in that fight. Not only was it short, lasting only about 40 seconds, but it wasn’t really a fight either. The fight he’d had with Titan back in the 6th Season’s “Combat” was tons better and was more along the lines of what I thought we’d get here.
Probably what was more disturbing to some was the fact that Jimmy had died in this outing. As shocking as Jimmy’s death was and, this may surprise you, I’m actually okay with what had happened there too.
I haven’t been a huge fan of the character as Jimmy has been portrayed on this show. Especially in the latter half of this season, I thought he’d been ill-used as character. That wasn’t Aaron’s fault, it was the fault of the producers and writers. However, to kill Jimmy off, an important canon character, was really unexpected.
Although, keep in mind that he arguably was a canon character in name only so perhaps it wasn’t all that shocking that Jimmy was killed. There was a mention in a recent interview that three seasons ago when DC Comics allowed Smallville to make the character of Jimmy a contemporary of Clark’s and Lois’, they’d had some serious caveats on what they’d allow and eventually things would need to be “made right.”
I always thought it odd that Smallville’s version of Jimmy wasn’t much like the character was in the comics. The other DC Comics characters that the show had brought in maybe hadn’t resembled their comic book origins exactly either, but usually the general idea was the same. Not so with Jimmy.
He was too old for one thing. Jimmy in the comics was at least ten years younger than Lois and Clark. In Smallville, he was the same age.
Another thing that was different about him was harder to quantify, but it still is a pretty big difference: this Jimmy wasn’t a huge fan of Clark’s until recently. Jimmy in the comics is awed and excited by Superman and he looks up to Clark as a mentor and hero. He’s earnest, largely naïve and a bow-tie-wearing innocent, going through life largely oblivious of the darker truths of the world.
Smallville’s version of Jimmy didn’t have a whole lot of screen time with Clark and when he did, mostly he was jealous of Chloe’s affection for the beefy farmboy-turned-reporter. He wasn’t really a fan of Clark’s until recently and he hardly ever wore a bow-tie. Recently it also seemed like he’d lost all his naiveté.
Yet, in the past year he had showed some true signs of his comic book origins. This Jimmy showed a lot of excitement when he’d first gotten that photo of Red-Blue Blur saving Lois back in “Identity.” He truly was a fan of the Superhero and, after “Identity,” was a fan of Clark’s. He was a fan of his even after he’d thought that Clark wasn’t in fact the hero he thought he was.
The latter part of this season, though, he’d become something that Jimmy in the comics was most definitely not: drug dependent, jealous and short-tempered. Jimmy hadn’t never really been an angel in the comics, far from it. He has bouts of self-aggrandizing behavior, uncomfortable with his place in the world in Superman’s shadow (sorta like Pete in earlier seasons of Smallville), but largely he’s the comic relief in the comics. The silly things they have Jimmy do in the comics can at times border on the ridiculous. I don’t think he’s really taken completely seriously as a character.
So, this version of Jimmy wasn’t close to the comic canon at all, especially not so lately. Yet, in this final episode, maybe as a farewell gift to us fans or even to Aaron Ashmore, they probably got Smallville’s Jimmy the closest to the comic-canon Jimmy we have ever had. He was earnest and forthright in this episode and he completely geeked out when Clark showed off his powers.
And that last scene between Clark and Jimmy is exactly the kind of scene I’d hoped we would have gotten between Clark and Lana: something iconic, not bizarre or so completely divorced from the comic versions of the character as to be unrecognizable. It was a taste of how Jimmy would act later in Clark’s life, so I was suspicious that it would come now especially since Jimmy in the comics never knew Clark’s secret. I guessed something was up with him then, so I wasn’t really all that surprised later when Davis killed him.
It makes some sense since they had to right things (at least according to that article). They had to set Jimmy’s path closer to comic canon, so we got Davis murdering Jimmy out of a fit of jealousy and Chloe gave the new Jimmy (likely the real Jimmy) his older brother’s camera. That was a sweet scene and it made things right, even if completely invalidated everything that Jimmy-in-name-only had accomplished since he first showed up in The Daily Planet basement back in “Zod.” Talk about your retcons.
Although, I guess Jimmy’s death in this particular episode gives his story some closure. Jimmy arrived on the show in the same episode that Zod, who had been in possession of Lex’s body at the time, had arrived on Earth the first time. Now, Jimmy leaves the show in the same episode that Zod comes back.
One thing I really loved about this episode was how Supermanly Clark was. He was resolved that he wasn’t going to kill Davis to get rid of the beast. Yeah, it turned out to be the wrong decision, one he will have to deal with next season (or maybe after the series is over), but I loved that Clark stood his ground. He wasn’t afraid to confront Oliver about what he’d done and what he was planning on doing.
As much as there were things to like about this episode, there were some things that really made me scratch my head. Persephone and Demeter isn’t the probably the best Greek myth to use as a metaphor for what Chloe and Davis had been going through. How Davis had described the myth isn’t exactly how it had originally worked out. Persephone hadn’t chosen to stay, she was tricked into it.
I didn’t really remember the details of the story, so I had to look this up to be sure, but Persephone, if you weren’t aware, was the daughter of two Greek gods, Zeus and Demeter. Demeter was a very overprotective mother. She hid Persephone away from the other Greek gods and refused any attempts from the other gods to woo her beautiful daughter. Hades had become besotted with Persephone and kidnapped her while she was innocently picking flowers in a field. Demeter was so distraught (she was the goddess of the Earth), that the world became cold and many plants died when she neglected her duties to the planet. Winter hit, basically, because she was too distressed over her daughter’s abduction.
Zeus had to force Hades, who loved Persephone, to let her go, but she’d been tricked by Hades to eat food while in the Underworld. Because once you eat food in the Underworld you’re forever fated to stay there she was forced to stay with Hades, but could come out for part of the year. The other part of the year she returned to Underworld as Hades’ queen, but while she was gone the world again became cold and dead. Her story was largely thought to be an origin of the seasons; the time each year that Persephone spent in the Underworld was during winter.
So, how does the goddess Persephone’s story synch up with Chloe and Davis’, or act as a metaphor for it? Persephone hadn’t chosen Hades over living with her mother on Mt. Olympus, she was tricked into eating that food, it was a pomegranate seed, so love hadn’t been her reason for staying. It’s kind of a stretch, really, to say that Davis and Chloe are like Hades and Persephone. However, I suppose Davis might see that story more from Hades’ perspective, instead of Persephone’s, so maybe that sort of makes sense. Although, it’d probably be better for writers to avoid using literary or mythological references if they don’t really apply. It doesn’t make them look any smarter.
Another thing that I thought was odd was that they put Regan’s clarification of the threat that the orb poses to the earth way back in the second act. Couldn’t they have fit that in somewhere closer? I guess if they were determined to have that girl-fight between Tess and Lois at the beginning of act three, there was probably no other way of doing that. The clarification that the missing orb was so menacing for Earth should have happened closer to the reveal of Zod emerging from it, in my opinion.
But why exactly did Tess think that Lois had something to do with stealing the orb in the first place? That didn’t make sense because there is no way that Lois could have blown through the door to Tess’ vault like that. Was it only because she’d previously burgled something from the Luthor mansion? Her confrontation with Tess turning into a pretty spectacular girl-fight makes it appear it was nothing but a ratings ploy. But what was the deal with Lois leaving only two minutes into the third act? The way she left was a pretty good cliffhanger, but why have her do that way back then? Why not save it until the fourth act when most of the rest of the cliff-hangers happened?
And I hadn’t at all expected that the orb was the repository for the Kryptonian city of Kandor. It’s an interesting twist, especially since Kara is off somewhere trying to find it (like she’d said at the end of “Bloodline”). That was weird, but how exactly did Zod get in there? The last time we’d seen him, Clark had used Raya’s crystal to pull his ‘phantom’ from Lex’s body. They never really said what had happened to him since. I think most people had assumed that he’d been sent back to the Phantom Zone.
I’m not a strict fan of the Superman comics but I don’t like when they stray too far either. So, even as a part of me was disappointed with how things turned out, in other ways I thought they did the right thing. Writers/Producers Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders had needed to tread a very fine line between where the future will take Clark and the other characters and what will tell a good story now. They have to leave somewhere for Clark to go and it was probably a good idea for them to make things line up better with the comics at the same time. Although, maybe the writers/producers trying so hard to make things line-up to comic canon now doesn’t make sense. They’ve never really worried about ‘fixing’ anything before, and they’ve had far more egregious canon continuity errors before this. (Like Mxyzptlk being an Eastern European Exchange Student in “Jinx” instead of being a purple-bowler-wearing trickster from the 5th Dimension.) I’d really like to know why they’re worrying about it now. Maybe they painted themselves into a literary corner with this hooked-on-drugs storyline for Jimmy and killing him off was the only way out of it. That would be too bad if so. I’m not sure their stated reasons for ‘fixing’ Jimmy completely make sense either, but we’ll probably never find out for sure.
So, this episode was far from perfect, it dragged a bit in places, and it was vastly contrived in others and the fight between Clark and Doomsday should have been a lot better than it was. Yet, they left us some terrific cliffhangers to keep us anxious for the show to return next fall. It was a competent episode, even if it wasn’t what it should have been: an exciting end to possibly Smallville’s best season yet. Oh, well. Hopefully Kelly & Brian will make up for it with an awesome Season 9 opener.
However, as I finish this review The CW had just announced that the show will occupy a normally deathly Friday timeslot. Friday nights are usually where networks send their shows to die. You don’t have to look far to find an example of that either. The CW just killed off “Everyone Hates Chris” and “The Game” (their last two half-hour comedies) when they moved them into the same time slot, 8/7 Central and 8:30/7:30 Central respectively, for this season.
So, what will happen with Smallville in the graveyard that is Friday nights on primetime network TV? I don’t know, but few shows do well on Fridays. I would really hate it if the head of The CW, Dawn Ostroff, somehow managed to ruin what is probably Smallville’s last season. I hope the show will survive the timeslot change to get through to some sort of cohesive end.
Anyway, Tom Welling did another terrific job. Clark had some troubling things to deal with and I loved all the choices that Tom had made for Clark here. He played Clark as resolved to do what he thought was right, and truly troubled when what he needed to do went against his better judgment.
I think probably my favorite scene of his was the final scene between Chloe and Clark. When Clark was faced away from Chloe as she told him how desperately she’d needed him, there was a moment where I could almost see that Clark was truly sorry he’d done that to Chloe. An amazing amount of emotions seemed to pass over Tom’s face before Clark spoke to her. It was another wonderful episode from Tom.
Allison Mack did an amazing job as Chloe. That final scene with Clark, however, had to be the best part of the episode for her. Chloe had a tough episode, she lost so much: Jimmy was dead, Lois was missing and she hadn’t been able to save Davis and then for Clark to walk away from her too? Ouch. That final bit with Clark, as he was about to walk out of her life, was devastating. The way Allison played Chloe’s grief was heart breaking. I loved every minute of what she did.
Erica Durance was only in first half of the episode, but what she delivered was awesome. I loved how angry she played Lois when she thought that Clark wasn’t doing his best to try and save her cousin. Although I had thought that the fight was horribly contrived, I loved how Erica played Lois fiercely trying to save Chloe. Her fight with Tess was also more believable than the one Tess had had with tiny Lana earlier this season. Erica and Cassidy are almost the same height and both seem to be in top physical shape, so the fight seemed more realistic. I liked that Erica as Lois gave as good as she got. Probably my favorite part of the episode for her was that phone call with Clark as the Red-Blue Blur. She played Lois as genuinely touched that the RBB was going to try and find Chloe and fight the beast, but also distraught at the idea he may not survive the fight.
Sam Witwer was fantastic as Davis. I loved how tormented he played Davis. He portrayed him as a truly tortured soul. In that final scene where Davis had felt betrayed by Chloe’s love for Clark and Jimmy, and when he killed Jimmy, and was about to kill Chloe, was all terrific. I liked that the way that Sam had played Davis’ death, that he seemed at peace with dying with his nightmarish existence finally being at an end.
Cassidy Freeman wasn’t in this episode much, but I loved every minute Tess was on screen. I have a feeling that Tess might have been tricked by Zod, he’s not the kind of guy to be anyone’s savior, but Cassidy played her as completely sold on what Zod had told her. I’m glad Tess wasn’t the one who died (like a lot of people were guessing) because it means that Cassidy will be around next season and I look forward to seeing what will happen between her and Zod when she finds out how she’d been played.
Justin Hartley did a remarkable job as Oliver. He wasn’t his normal charming self, of course, this was a tough episode for him too. He was extremely effective as Oliver pulling the wool over Clark’s eyes. In looking back through the episode, I couldn’t tell when the decision had been made to trick Clark, maybe it had happened in off-screenville, but I loved how resolved he played Oliver until he realized that maybe letting Clark handle his own demon his own way should have been the way to hande it. I wish he hadn’t been wearing sunglasses in the final funeral scene, so I could have seen his eyes, but Justin had seemed to play Oliver’s mourning of Jimmy very effectively. It was a wonderful episode from Justin.
Aaron Ashmore did an awesome job as Jimmy. As I’ve said, I haven’t been too happy with some of the storylines they’d decided to have for Jimmy (either this season or in any other), but I’ve never really had any complaints about Aaron himself. I’m glad that his swan song in the series showed off his talents so well. He had his comedic moments and his more serious ones. Probably his best scene overall, however, was the ending scene with Chloe. Jimmy had gone through quite a roller-coaster ride the whole series, but that scene had Jimmy in so many emotional states, it must have been daunting, but Aaron played each one so well. He was so specific, I had no problem knowing what Jimmy was feeling, even when he wasn’t saying anything. Aaron did a wonderful job.
It was good to see Alaina Huffman and Kyle Gallner back, as Dinah/Black Canary and Bart/Impulse (aka The Flash). They only had small supporting parts but they were used very well as returning guest stars.
Ryan Kennedy only had a few minutes screen time, but man it was good to see him. I loved his Rokk Krinn/Cosmic Boy from “Legion” so I’m glad he came back. I’m not sure how many guys could have delivered that last line as well as Ryan, “Tomorrow is the day you die.” That was a great line for the Tease ending and Ryan delivered it perfectly.
It was nice to see Ari Cohen again as Regan, even if only for a hand-full of seconds in a video flashback. Regan was last seen in “Power” apparently getting brained by Tess so I really never thought I’d see him again. I like the actor, and his character, so I’m glad they brought him back. He didn’t have a lot to do, just look like crap as he acted defiant to Tess even in light of his apparently impending murder. He also had to deliver some very important dialogue in that short scene so Ari did an excellent job of it.
I loved James Marshall’s direction. He got excellent performances out of every, even the bit players. The only problem I had was with that one little girl Clark had saved from Doomsday. She really didn’t bring much to the part, but she was only on-screen a few seconds so who’s to say anyone could have done any better. However, I did like how mobile the camera was and he kept the pace tight, even though there were so many different storylines to be serviced.
I loved the way that Barry Donlevy shot this episode. The high contrast ratio used in most of the episode fit the darker mood and he very sparingly used slow-motion. I think slow-mo is overused as a device to underscore the importance of something that’s going on, but that slow-motion sequence at the end when Clark walked out on Chloe was well done. As was the slow motion he used in the end with Tess.
I thought that Production Designer James Philpott had done a marvelous job in this episode. The aftermath of the Justice League’s attack on Chloe and Davis was well laid out with the blown out car windows, even though we didn’t see a single bit of the fight. As hard as it for me to believe that former-photographer Jimmy could have afforded that cavernous loft to give to Chloe as a wedding gift, I did like the dynamic design of it.
I don’t usually mention the score much, it usually sort of blends into the background for me (sorry Louis), but a friend recently said that I should mention it more. She’s right, I should. Louis Febre does such a terrific job, so it’s a lack I’ll try to rectify next season (if I do come back), but I did really like what he did in this episode. The whole episode was so well done, but I especially loved final scene between Chloe and Clark on the new Watchtower set. It was heart breaking and his mournful score only added to the emotion.
This probably wasn’t my favorite season finale ever, but I think in general it was a better than last year’s “Arctic,” so I can’t give it a 3.5 like I gave that. So, I give this episode 4 Doomsday monsters out of a possible 5.
Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback.
NOTE: If you don’t like to learn important plot details before you see the episode, then reading this review before you see the Finale is probably the very last thing you need to be doing. Go watch the series finale and come back when you’re done. Also, keep in mind this is the longest “Smallville” episode review I’ve ever written, so you might want to get comfortable…
Foreward
I started reviewing “Smallville” at the beginning of season 4 in September 2004, when I was writing reviews for the pre-cursor of TV.com, TVTome. Those reviews aren’t online anymore since they didn’t get moved to their new site and that’s probably a good thing. A few years ago Craig had offered to host them so I looked at them again. They’re pretty bad, so I told him that it probably wasn’t a good idea. Also, back then I was still learning and it’s best that they’re no longer available to read. (I didn’t start writing for KryptonSite until the next spring with my review for the episode ‘Onyx.’)
However, in writing the review of the finale, the final act of Clark’s journey, it’s made me think of how much I’ve changed since I started. Those old horrible reviews just underscore how much I’ve grown as a writer. I think I’ve gone way above where I had been. I’m a far more capable than when I had started, but I also have a stronger appreciation (and better understanding) of TV that is beautifully made and a story that is well-told.
More than that, the show has meant a lot to me on a lot of different levels, as a writer, a fan and as a person, so it’s with a heavy heart I write my last review for an episode of “Smallville.” This was an epic outing for the show and I hope I am up to the task…
Review
Although this two-hour episode was actually two that were filmed apart (having the same Director of Photography for both parts is a huge clue that they weren’t filmed back-to-back), it felt pretty cohesive. The first part was written by the producer/writing partners of Al Septien & Turi Meyer, and part two was written by executive producers/ writing partners Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders.
The episode started out perfectly, with Tom Welling introducing the episode (“And now: the series finale of “Smallville”) and the flash-forward with Chloe reading a Superman comic to her son. The flash-forward isn’t a device I’m fond of (it’s usually used so poorly), yet it was done well here.
While I think the comic was awesome, I loved the image of Clark on the bridge from events that happened in the Pilot and the illustrations by Gary Frank were beautiful, but I’m not sure how realistic it was. Would Superman really want the world to know early in his career that he grew up among humans in Smallville, Kansas? It would probably be too easy for people to figure out he was Clark, which would endanger the secret behind his carefully honed mild-mannered reporter alter-ego.
Still, the comic was extremely effective, especially given how that later tied into events in the second hour and it underscored the importance of Smallville to Clark, as his home town, in his development into the man who would one day pull on tights.
Although at first I didn’t quite get why they started with that since the first hour was mostly about Clark and Lois and their pre-wedding day jitters, but I’ll talk more about that later in the review…
As I had said in my ‘Prophecy’ review I had thought that Lois telling Clark she didn’t want to marry him was more than a bit contrived. Yet, I have to say that it worked out.
The way that the story of the first hour had unfolded was nearly perfect storytelling. I saw the episode with my two triplet sisters while I visited up north and even my older triplet sister said that first hour was very powerful TV. This was coming from someone who never watched the show more than once or twice.
When my older sister said that (well she’s only a few minutes older, since I’m the youngest triplet), she has never spoken truer words. The first hour had so much going on, yet it didn’t feel rushed or contrived at any point. The pace was steady and the stakes for Oliver, Lois, Tess and Clark rose throughout the episode.
The introspection that Lois’ blind-side had forced Clark into had probably more than made up for the fact her getting cold-feet so late in the game was contrived. In fact, it turned out to be the strongest part of the episode, even though in ‘Prophecy’ I couldn’t understand what the writers were doing when they had Lois break off the wedding with Clark. Lois’ stubborn insistence on not marrying him made Clark take a closer look at just how the superhero gig is going to fit into his life. It made him doubt himself in a one sense, even as it gave him a renewed resolve to become a hero.
The way that Al and Turi had brought in so many aspects of Clark’s life to complicate the conflicting emotions he was going through was the perfect way to handle that.
Bringing in his mother, the ghosts of both of his fathers, his friends and even Lois being so bull-headed and stubborn about her decision, all forced Clark to work through the dilemma and come to a resolution. Of course he decided to do the wrong thing, leave Lois, but it was awesome to see all the different people in Clark’s life giving him input. And it was good to see both Kents, Annette O’Toole and John Schneider were perfect, if only to remind Clark that he couldn’t step away from the parts of the past that helped form the man he is.
It perfectly built upon the foundation that had been slowly formed during the course of the season: the idea of what you are comes from what you remember and what you’ve done and where you’ve been. Clark isn’t who he is solely because of the things he can do. If that were so all Kryptonians would be like Superman. It’s because of Clark’s moral compass and that was mostly due to the parents who raised him, not his biology, as Jor-El correctly reminded Clark in the second hour. It was because of the parents who had raised him who had helped him be a hero, and he would have been one with or without his powers.
Clark’s reactions after the talk with his mother and his little graveside monologue to his father gave the complication with Lois some context. His increasing doubts, perfectly indicated through the ‘talks’ with his parents and his confrontation with Oliver in the graveyard, made his reconciliation with Lois all the more touching.
As contrived as it was, the wedding day jitters gave the show some awesome drama and let us get to know Clark a little better. The tenderness and loving care with how that progressed from Clark and Lois being apart to them finally getting to the church together was perfectly handled. The vows were wonderfully and beautifully read aloud by Tom Welling and Erica Durance. Clark’s vows gave me probably my favorite single line from the series:
“I believe in you. And when you believe in someone, it’s not for a minute, or just for now, it’s forever.”
Not only did Tom perfectly read it, but the best part of that line was that it wasn’t just about his love for Lois, or her love for him. It’s the fact that it’s also reflective of what his parents and Lois feel about him. Even better, despite the fact it might seem a bit of an exaggeration, the line also boils down to its essence the sort of unconditional belief that people have in the show, Clark Kent and Superman.
That’s probably hyperbolic, but maybe I’m not the best barometer of whether it is or isn’t. I’ve watched the show regularly for most of its ten year tenure and have put down more than 300,000 words on it (that’s roughly equal to three novels’ worth of writing) not including innumerable forum posts and tweets… To say that I’m a huge fan is probably not an exaggeration, so my bias is definitely showing.
So, that line meant a lot to me on several different levels and I teared up each and every time I saw those scenes because Clark’s belief in Lois, and her belief in him, was so emotional. It was very satisfying as a fan and as a romantic.
In the comics Clark and Lois have an epic love affair. His love for Lois is strong and one of the only things that is true in almost all iterations of the character. Even when things don’t quite work out between them, I’m looking at you “Superman Returns,” the profound love they have for each other is a huge part of Clark’s and Lois’ lives. As a fan of the character of Clark Kent, not just of the version of him in this show, that also made the Superman fan inside me very happy.
I also adored that Lois didn’t walk down the aisle alone. It was perfect that Clark was there beside her. After taking her hand and looking at her so lovingly I loved that they walked down the aisle together, Lois by Clark’s side as he had said she was earlier.
Given what had happened in their relationship before, it was exactly the right thing to do.
The wedding was so beautiful, with the bride and groom so happy, it just figures that Oliver would come along and spoil it. With “Smallville” it’s just par for the course, so that wasn’t totally unexpected, especially with that earlier scene with Oliver getting the gold kryptonite ring from Desaad. I didn’t mind that the nuptials got ruined by Oliver’s Darkseid-fueled scheming.
It was a fantastic way to help dredge up Oliver’s darkness in a huge way. It not only threatened Clark’s and Lois’ happiness, but threatened Earth’s people with subjugation to a dark overlord that Granny Goodness had earlier attributed stories about Lucifer to.
Darkseid isn’t just the big bad guy, he’s been around so long and is so intensely evil that he inspired stories about Lucifer… Not sure how other folks felt about that, but I liked Granny ascribing stories about Kali and Lucifer to being really about Darkseid since it painted a picture. That shows that Darkseid isn’t just a bad guy, but that he’s the very personification of evil.
Yikes and what a way to up the stakes.
It was awesome Oliver was Darkseid’s pawn and that Clark, with his unswerving belief in Oliver (like the unswerving belief in Lois he had just talked about in his vows), was enough to pull Oliver from the brink. Then right after Clark saved Oliver it was great that Darkseid’s dark planet was about to fall into Earth’s atmosphere, ready to ruin everyone’s day (if not their lives). Talk about rising stakes: that’s really falling out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Now that was an fantastic cliff-hanger to take us into the next (and the final) hour of the series. The entire first hour was completely awesome: it had building stakes, compelling drama, romantic reconciliations, a beautiful wedding, poignant dialogue perfectly delivered and destiny-forging confrontations… The first episode had given the entire cast, and the returning regulars, all terrific opportunities for acting.
Probably my favorite part of the episode was the sequence of events that led up to Clark’s and Lois’ failed attempt to marry in the church. It was fantastic drama and the actors really delivered. It started with the scene in the Planet bullpen between Lois and Chloe. I cannot remember being so touched by such a quiet scene before. It was just Erica Durance standing there as Tom read those wonderful lines in a voice-over. I don’t know how she did it, especially since she probably didn’t have the help of “Breathe Again” by Sara Bareilles playing in the background, but Erica did a remarkable job with that scene. Then that shot toward the end of that scene of Allison as her eyes filled with tears just put me over the top. The scene was extremely powerful emotionally.
What fantastic work by both actresses.
The later scene with Clark and Lois at their apartment door was right up there too. What a powerful amount of emotion and the way it was shot, staged and acted all added to the emotional impact. The wedding perfectly paid all of that off, but I’ll talk more about that in the section on photography. (Directing, editing and the cinematography played a huge part in why I thought those scenes worked so well.) The entire episode gave a chance for all of them to shine. It was all so terrific, what was even better was just how well it built into the second hour. Al & Turi did a fantastic job.
Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders had done a fantastic job working with the beautiful start the first hour had given them. While the middle sorta sagged a bit with a lot of talking, and perhaps the shoving match between Clark and Darkseid could have been a little more involved, still the episode was nearly perfect.
I adored that the idea of Clark wanting to step back from his past, putting his family history (on both the Kryptonian and human sides) behind him, was brought back strongly and it so nicely tied into Tess dealing with her own familial legacy. Tess had always resisted the dark side of her nature and I loved that they brought John Glover back as Lionel (and Michael Rosenbaum as Lex) to show Tess just how dark the Luthor side could get.
Lionel’s reappearance gave the show a reasonable explanation of why Lex could come back, but it also forced Tess to face the facts of her parentage and what that really means. Granny Goodness coming to tempt Tess in the first hour resonated with Clark’s own struggle with his ancestry and how it affected who he had become.
I really liked that both Tess and Clark both came up with the same conclusion (albeit for slightly different reasons): your biology doesn’t decide your fate.
While it’s something that’s not new in genre fiction, I do like how the show dealt with the two characters’ struggles with the idea. There are other examples of this same dilemma from different fictional universes, but the biggest example I can think of is that Harry Potter also had to struggle with that in terms of the huge influence that Voldemort had unknowingly wrought upon him.
So, like Harry, Clark had to finally internalize that no matter how he felt about the tough love that the AI in the Arctic gave him, it was the nurturing his adoptive parents had given him and his choices in life that made him who he really was. And Tess finally came to terms that no matter who her father was; she isn’t like him because she didn’t make the same choices he would have. Sadly, that conclusion came almost too late for Tess. However, Clark’s epiphany was just in time.
Some people online seemed to have thought that Clark’s confrontation with Darkseid was too one-sided, and perhaps they have a point. Darkseid throttling Clark only a little and then throwing him across the barn was a bit on the minimalist side as confrontations go, yet I didn’t mind it. Perhaps that’s odd given the thrashing I gave the non-fight in my review of ‘Doomsday.’ Here, beating down Darkseid wasn’t really the important part of that scene, or even that key a part of the episode.
The embodiment-of-evil Darkseid being downsized to a Hitchcock-like McGuffin (a desired goal that isn’t really the point of a story, even though at first it seems to be) is probably understandably unsatisfactory to some viewers. However, for me it didn’t matter that much because of that other little thing that happened in that scene: Clark finally accepting his ‘destiny’ and freakin’ flying.
I adored how that came to be. I had always thought that Clark would finally learn to fly when the life-or-death stakes were really high and they have never really been as high as this before now. So, for me, it makes complete sense that he finally flew in reaction to this Darkseid-inspired epiphany. After having a little chat with Jor-El in the blink of an eye, he was able to fly and through that destroy the husk of what was left of the mirror universe Lionel, taking care of those threats. Then a couple of scenes later, Clark rose to the skies and save Lois, the President of the United States and then the entire world.
That was complete awesomeness.
And I really liked that when Clark’s life flashed before his eyes when he was faced with impending defeat by the Darkseid-possessed Lionel. Some key memorable moments from previous episodes flashed in front of Clark, reminding him that he is as much a result of his past as he is of his biology. I’m not sure I would have expected that, but it really worked.
That was contrasted nicely by Lex’s at the end of the next scene when he lost his memories of Smallville. Literally his life flashed before his eyes, but instead of accepting those memories like Clark did, for Lex they only came to him just as he lost them. I really liked the symmetry of both men going through the same sort of experience as they get a major step further along their journeys to their destined Superhero-hood and Super-villainy.
Although, I’m not completely happy that Lex lost his memories. I had liked the idea of Lex knowing who Clark was and having that history with his old friend. Although it would have been a different take on the mythos, certainly, if they had kept that. I think it would have given the possibilities in their future relationship more of an edge…
So, maybe they were lining up the series’ future more with the comics, since the few times in the comics that he had known Clark in Smallville later Lex somehow forgot who Clark was. However, it’s a future we will never see, now that the show is over, so I’m surprised they worried about it. Is that why they killed Tess? Did they kill her because Lex doesn’t have a sister named Tess or with the backstory of Tess in the comics? Or is it because dying was the only way that Tess could be redeemed? This isn’t some 1950’s western where the reformed bad guy had to die in order to earn his redemption. Tess could have lived, but again it’s probably not really that big a deal to me.
I would have liked Tess to have survived the events of this final episode, maybe to have gotten the redemption she’d been so urgently looking for, but this way she died protecting Clark and was solidly on his side. So, despite the fact that I didn’t really love Lex developing amnesia, by taking Lex’s memories, Tess protected Clark. It will make Clark and all of his loved ones safer if Lex doesn’t know that Superman was his old best friend, so again, it was something I understood even if it wouldn’t have been a choice that I would have made.
The writers of the second hour had also done a good job in providing the actors with some fantastic drama. John Glover was perfectly creepy in his return of Lionel. I don’t know if the shaggy beard and unkempt, long hair were for this episode, or for some other role, but John looked very, very creepy and a tad bit nuts because of that. It was a fantastic choice.
That scene, and the later scene with Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex, gave Cassidy Freeman a real chance to shine. The scenes were tense and all the actors did a fantastic job. I adored every scene Tess was in. Cassidy did an outstanding job especially in the scene with Michael Rosenbaum. Her death scene was tastefully restrained.
And while Michael Rosenbaum had a very small part in this episode, I loved what he did with it. The scene with Tom was like old times. I’m not sure I completely bought the bald cap, so I’m glad they minimized the close-ups, even as terrific as Michael was in his return. I liked that Lex brought up the line from the Pilot, that Lex and Clark had a destiny together. While leaving Lex to almost be a footnote in the series finale might not have been a perfect choice, I thought the writers did an excellent job with what they had to work with (only one day of shooting with Michael because he had been working on another show) and gave Lex’s and Clark’s intertwined stories some closure for the series.
As for the Clark’s BIG Superman moment, finally pulling on the suit, I thought the way they handled that, with Jonathan and Jor-El helping Clark to finally get to the point where he pulls on the suit, was perfect.
And I understand why some fans weren’t happy with the very tiny bit we had been shown of Clark in that, but I was satisfied. Maybe it’s unexpected, but I really don’t think we needed to see it. Not really.
While my baser instincts miss what I might have seen of Tom Welling as he wore a skin-tight, royal-blue body suit, I must say that the restraint the show exhibited in not showing that was commendable.
Honestly, I am almost glad they didn’t show the suit. It just would have been too easy.
However, if they had they would have run the risk of alienating some segment of the show’s fandom by showing a suit that too strongly resembled one particular previous version of the suit more than it did another. If they had put Tom into the “Superman Returns” suit, I know I wouldn’t have been happy. I have stated more than once how much I hated that suit, for a variety of different reasons. If they had put him in that, I would have been annoyed because it would have tied the show to what I thought was a terrible film, but I might have been persuaded if he looked absolutely fantastic in that. However, I’m skeptical he would have.
Not that I think that Tom would look ‘bad’ in anything, but there are some outfits even the best looking person in the world can’t quite pull off. For me, the one thing Tom Welling might not have been able to look good in would have been the “Superman Returns” version of the suit.
Yeah.
I hate it that much.
Yet, for some people who adored that movie, they would have had their fandom validated in a huge way by Tom wearing that suit. Those fans would have been deliriously happy. Still, would the choice to use that particular suit have left the more traditionalist fans out in the cold?
There are some, no doubt, that might have wanted the suit to look more classical; more like the suit that Christopher Reeve wore in the first Superman films. Or some might have preferred the slightly updated classic suit that Dean Cain wore in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” Or maybe somesuit from the comics… If it resembled none of them, if they had done something uniquely from “Smallville,” then the armchair quarterbacks of the fandom would have still picked it apart.
So, I don’t know if a full body-shot of Tom Welling in one particular suit would have made everyone as deliriously happy as some have supposed. This way it’s better in at least one sense: only getting a brief glimpse of the suit means that each fan can mentally put Tom Welling into whatever suit they would have most preferred. Maybe it’s not ideal, but in the end it’s in part because of this that I don’t really mind what they did.
However, the biggest reason I didn’t mind that was that the show was never really about ‘Superman,’ per se. It was about Clark Kent before he finally pulled on the tights and the last minutes of the show gave us a series wrap-up that completely and beautifully fulfilled that concept.
In the end, even though I had a few problems with some details with the writing of the second hour, I thought as endings go, it was a nearly perfect one. I adored that in the final Fortress scene, Clark faced both of his fathers’ ghosts. It was good it finally struck home with Clark that his heroic destiny wasn’t forged only by his physiology, although being bulletproof and able to fly certainly helps, but by the town where he grew up and the parents who had raised him. What Jor-El and Jonathan said in that scene, and what the ending of the comic finally showed, was that it was because of his time in Smallville that helped make him Superman.
The best part of the episode, the part that got me smiling every single time I saw it: was the final few minutes. The flash forward to the scene with Lois at the Planet, with a brief cameo with Aaron Ashmore as the ‘real’ Jimmy Olsen, was terrific. And although we didn’t see Michael McKean (Mr. Annette O’Toole) as Perry White, I did like the little voice-over he did. The brief scene show-cased Perry’s bellicose side perfectly, without Michael needing to step on set.
Then when Clark and Lois literally bumped into one another on the steps, as John Williams’ well known theme for Superman played underneath, we got a better glimpse into a future that we won’t be seeing: Clark and Lois being adorably in love and Clark playing the fumbling alter-ego perfectly. I adored that how well Tom and Erica played that sort of interaction. I loved that they had turned his secret into something private, a sort of in-joke, and that Clark and Lois could have fun with it. Then to see Clark race to the roof to again save the day as he pulled off his shirt and tie as John William’s Superman theme came to a crescendo… What a great moment.
When I reviewed the ‘Pilot’ a few months back, I had said that a series Pilot has an important job to do. It has to set the stage, establishing characters, storylines and themes that will carry a series. The series Pilot of “Smallville” did that job very, very well.
Yet, at the close of a show, the series finale has an even more important job: it’s got to wrap things up and make an ending for a series that fans will accept and appreciate. It’s especially important that a series ending for a genre TV series like “Smallville” has got to be, more than anything else, satisfying.
That’s the real trick. You have got to fulfill the promise of the series ending for fans that are notoriously hard to please and still wrap up the story that you had been telling for ten seasons. That’s probably not an easy thing to do.
Maybe it isn’t if you have characters with a less well-defined character arc. Love or hate the convoluted path that Clark took getting from the ‘Pilot’ to the ‘Finale,’ he’s had one of the best series-long character arcs on TV.
Despite some missteps along the way, and more than a few loose threads left hanging, the show had a definite place it was heading toward: Clark finally pulling on the tights. And I think they pulled it off with this last season, and this final episode, as they tied so much of the past in together with Clark’s future. They made me believe that Clark really became the hero he was meant to be.
I’m not sure they satisfied everyone with their decisions in the final hour, but in my book I was completely satisfied. They brought in continuity from the show’s past and not only made those references to Clark’s past in Smallville extremely relevant; they made them matter to Clark in a huge way.
They took “Smallville” as a show and turned it around on Clark and made it self-reflective. They made clear that the show called “Smallville” was about how ‘Smallville’ the town helped form the man who would be the fictional ‘leafy little hamlet’s’ best known hometown boy: Superman. I am amazed at the economy Kelly & Brian used to bring all that together and tie up an entire ten-year run into a neat package in the space of a single episode.
Even if some of the talking belabored the point a bit, the end-result was a beautiful piece of writing. Kelly & Brian did a fantastic job and I felt inspired and awed by the final moments of the show. Clark pulling open that shirt while running into the camera as the iconic John Williams music from the Christopher Reeve’s films played, it was the perfect shot. It was only icing that the beautiful slow motion made Tom Welling looked so awesome in the warm light from a fading sunset.
While the episode wasn’t completely perfect, how Kelly & Brian tied Clark’s past in Smallville into helping form the hero that Clark became still perfectly ended the series. This Superman fan was very happy with the entire two hours, and even deliriously giddy during that last few minutes.
Both directors did an outstanding job. Kevin Fair directed the first hour and working with Director of Photography Glen Winter and Editor Andi Armaganian, the entire series of scenes that took Lois from reading Clark’s vows up through the wedding ceremony was fantastic. The voice-over of Clark reading of the vows, which were perfectly delivered by Tom Welling, then the door sequence, with that moving camera and Erica Durance doing a wonderful job with the voice-over of Lois’ vows, then later the wedding itself was all perfectly shot and edited together.
I’m not sure, to be honest, how much of the door sequence was practical and done in the same take (all done in camera) or whether they used some sort of sleight of hand when editing different takes together.
If it was done all in one take, I’m extremely impressed. The wall looked solid (likely thanks to Entity Visual Effects) even as the camera moved ‘through it.’ Then the camera movement was done so smoothly, the actors staying in focus (well, mostly) as the camera moved around them, it was an awesome job by all involved.
If it was done with multiple takes (a ‘take’ being when the camera is stopped, film reloaded, or whatever it is they do with digital HD cameras, or moved to the ‘take’ the next bit of the scene), I’m still very impressed: the camera movement appeared to be completely fluid because the different takes were matched so perfectly. It looked like a single long take.
Either way that was a stunning scene in execution, but how it was filmed also reinforced (combined with Music Composer Luis Febre’s beautiful score) the emotional impact of Clark’s and Lois’ reconciliation and reaffirmation of their love. I am seriously tearing up just thinking about that.
I also loved the wedding scene and the way that it was shot. Once the new act started, and the vows were read by Tom and Erica, I liked how the vows were intercut the way they were. And I loved the almost lazy slow-motion and the moving camera with the lap dissolves, or cross-fades, between them. It was a gorgeously shot and beautifully executed scene.
Lap dissolves more normally indicate a passage of time, which it didn’t here. However, it was very nicely nice choice to use that technique in that scene since it supported the emotions the show was trying to convey. The slow motion also allowed the scene to be stretched out a bit to better underscore the importance of the moment. Yet, the romantic mood moved so seamlessly into the menace that came when Oliver held out that gold kryptonite ring.
I seriously think people need to get Emmys for this, it was that good.
The warmth of the lighting and the romantic colors of the earlier scenes were contrasted nicely by the harsher lighting and darker shadows once Apokolips came closer to Earth. I just adored that moment when Lois and Martha stood at the window at the Kent farm. It was a gorgeous shot. The framing was perfect as the two women stood looking out of the window and the shot finished out great as the camera moved and refocused to bring Clark into the shot.
And I absolutely adored the scene between Tess and Lionel. The stark overhead lighting coming through a grate light like that gave the scene a nice texture. Also, there had been a lot of bright lights and dark darks in that scene, the high contrast ratio being perfect when light and dark were fighting (in a metaphorical sense) during the scene. Louis Febre’s score was also flawless, dark and chilling, and it really added something to it. I liked the low tones he used and the addition of a few non-verbal vocal bits… His score was gorgeous.
And I LOVED the scene in the Daily Planet when Clark met up with Lois on the steps. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go back and watch the scene again, but once Clark and Lois moved down the steps into the bullpen it was the start of a long, single take that lasted more than a minute…
It was a beautifully done piece of choreography with the camera operator and the actors. There were more than a dozen extras in that scene along with Tom and Erica. It was an amazing bit of photography by Glen and his camera operator (the A Camera Operator was listed in the credits as John Davidson) kept the camera moving and in focus and perfectly framed the entire shot. Director Greg Beeman did a fantastic job with the blocking of the scene and the coordination of the camera movement with the actors.
The fight choreography by Stunt Coordinator Jacob Rupp was fantastic, especially with the scene where Tess fought to escape from Lionel and his doctors… It was nice to see how bad-ass Tess could get and it’s terrific to see how physical Cassidy Freeman can get. The later scene when Lois and the other people onboard Air Force One were getting bounced around was a great stunt and is the sort of thing you don’t usually see on TV, so it was probably outrageously expensive. Jacob did a good job with that.
And Production Designer James Philpott did a fantastic job with the sets in this episode. I loved the church from the first hour, James and his Construction Coordinator Tom Hunt and Set Decorator Andrea French all did a terrific job.
Throughout the episode there was so much money on the screen. The Visual Effects by Entity (save for the less than believable pool of black in the baptismal font in the church) were all terrific. I loved the shots of Apokolips in the sky about to collide with Earth. It was gorgeous, if chilling.
Costume Designer Melanie Williams did an outstanding job. I adored Lois’ wedding dress, it looked terrific on Erica, and her reception outfit was equally terrific. I also liked the three piece suits that Tom wore in the episode. He looked extremely handsome.
Key Hairstylist Sarah Koppes and Key Make-Up Artist Tina Teoli did a fantastic job making all of the women on the show look awesome. I didn’t like Chloe’s hair extensions (or wig or whatever that was) on Allison Mack in the flash-forward scene. It didn’t look real, but her shorter do in the rest of the episode did look fabulous on her.
I’m not sure what I had imagined this episode would bring, but I must say that was completely enraptured by it all: I thought that while there were a few things that weren’t flawless, overall the two hours were perfection. I completely enjoyed this outing and, as sad as I am to see the show go, I’m thrilled they did such a wonderful job wrapping up the season and the series. Everyone involved with the show deserves a huge ‘thank you’ from all the fans of the show. I’m not sure how easy it was to get the show through to this point, but they did a remarkable job and gave the show the kind of epic finale it deserved. It didn’t quite turn out like I had thought it would, but it was still everything I had hoped in the end. If it were possible to give a TV show a standing ovation, I would have. So, instead I give this episode 10 Superman shirt rips out of a possible five.
Take a look at a gallery of images from the episode!
Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback
Triplet's Reviews
#10.20 “Prophecy” Review
Triplet’s review of Supergirl, Toyman, and superpowered Lois in “Prophecy”.
NOTE: This review contains spoilers, so read no further if you don’t like to learn important plot details before viewing the episode. This is a good one, so just come back after you’ve seen it.
AND ANOTHER NOTE: This review was started before the airing of the May 13 “Finale” so some comments and questions posed have since been answered.
I didn’t know much going into this episode since I am trying to avoid spoilers now more than ever. However I had seen some images of Lois holding up a sizable chunk of the Fortress. (How is there any of that thing left? Is it so huge a few beams falling down occassionally don’t negatively impact the structural integrity of the thing? Maybe fortress magically repairs itself, it formed by itself so maybe that’s not that big a stretch…)
Anyway, I will tell you right now that I am probably not the biggest fan of this particular episode, but I’m perplexed at the logic behind it. Maybe my confusion is inexplicable to some. I’m sure some people loved this episode, but for me there were just too many problems. Perhaps it is typical of this particular kind of episode since the problems I saw in this episode, I’ve seen in others shown at about the same time every year.
I don’t know if there is an actual term for this, but this one is what I’d call a ‘bridge’ episode. I mean, what happened in this episode largely depended on storylines introduced in previous ones, while also doing a great deal of setting up of future complications. So, it acted as a bridge between the events of the previous 19 episodes and the series finale. I suppose that might be arguable, but I think it’s clearly the case mostly because not much was resolved in this episode. It’s main goal clearly was to help flesh out the complications that will be resolved at the series end.
Usually, this is the type of episode that is typical of the 20th one of the season and is probably why so many of the 20th episodes tend to tank in my reviews. Although to be fair, that trait hasn’t really stuck the last few seasons.
Despite the fact that this type of episode is needed (there’s a reason they had episodes like this every season), it’s still largely a thankless task to try and build an episode that tells its own story yet helps setup future ones because it’s probably hard to do well. Bryan Q. Miller and Anne Cofell Saunders really had their work cut out for them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure they were completely successful.
First off, the way that Kara showed up only to leave without too much complaining about it seemed inexplicable. I get why she was there to begin with, however.
Not only was it nice to have Laura Vandervoort back, if only for a few minutes in this episode, but Clark was powerless and busy dealing with Lois getting his powers so bringing in Kara was a great way to balance out Oliver’s darkness. There’s a lot of balancing out that needed to be done. The recurring idea in the episode of tipping the scales made it perfect for Kara to show in order to counter Oliver’s darkness: Dark and Light, evil and good, an agent of Darkseid and a Kryptonian do-gooder… It was very nice and I liked the way that worked a lot.
However, the explanation of why she wasn’t going to be around when Clark finally confronts Darkseid was sorta lame. Her going to the future sort of makes sense given what happens in the comics, but her abandoning Clark in his time of need with hardly any fuss maybe not so much.
While I actually liked Lois’ trying on Clark’s powers for a day, it is reminiscent of a storyline from “All Star Superman” series of comics (and probably other instances I don’t know about), I wasn’t sure that I completely bought Winslow Schott’s scheme. Water rights are not parceled out the way that the show had it. I’m no lawyer, but I used to live in Colorado and California and I’ve read stories on disputes about how water rights are bought and sold. In a relatively arid plains state like Kansas I’m sure it’s a big deal, like it was in both Colorado and California.
Protecting the water that allows a city’s citizens to quench their thirst is a municipal responsibility of vital importance so I doubt any law would exist that allows a business to control even a portion of its water rights. Rural rights might be different and I am no lawyer or water rights specialist, so I could be completely wrong, but still… That story doesn’t really make much sense.
Added to that it isn’t logical for Winslow Schott, the Toyman, to hold the city hostage with a scheme that doesn’t have anything to do with toys. I guess making members of the nascent Justice League become living, breathing marionettes sorta works, but the goal of the plan itself was too nebulous. The stakes weren’t high enough for Toyman to go to the lengths he did, so it didn’t completely work as a conspiracy.
And I didn’t completely buy the reasons Clark stated for turning off the AI in the fortress. He clearly isn’t quite ready to put on the Superman suit, or he wouldn’t have anywhere to go in the final episode, so I’m thinking turning off Jor-El was a bit premature. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Lois taking that diode from Winslow Schott doesn’t make much sense. She’s not stupid and she knows he’s not at all trustworthy. I don’t at all buy her believing his lies. She would have done some fast thinking and figured another way out to make sure Clark wasn’t hurt while he was vulnerable. I don’t think the writers did a very good job at selling Lois making that choice.
I really liked that Lois getting Clark’s powers brought her a much deeper understanding of how Clark perceives the world. So, it even makes sense for her to pull back.
Then Lois abandoning Clark when she knows how much he depends on her doesn’t seem to be completely in character. Clark and Lois have talked about how much he needs her and that he can’t do what he does without her support. I just don’t see her deciding to not marry Clark.
Yeah, it was a profound discovery for her to see the important decisions he has to make almost every minute of the day. Yet, even as it was a beautifully acted scene (especially by Erica Durance), it was also contrived. Lois telling Clark she won’t marry him is something I think was only done because it gives the couple somewhere to go in the series finale. Clark and Lois will have a happily-ever-after, at least eventually, so on top of how out-of-character that was it’s not really much of a cliff-hanger. We all know where their story goes in the end.
While this episode had some things I didn’t really like much, there were other things I did. I liked the humor of the episode, Anne and Bryan did a good job injecting some comedy into what was overall a pretty dark episode. Lois getting Clark’s powers to catch up on work was funny and her model of the city was humorous. Oliver losing what looked like his one shot at redemption isn’t exactly a happy storyline so having the lighter side of the episode balance out the darker side was a very good thing. (More balancing of scales, so thematically that was also a win-win for the episode’s scribes.)
And bringing in Granny Goodness to ruin Oliver’s day was a terrific idea. She is really good at using your weaknesses against you. I loved that she showed up to take away Oliver’s chance at redemption, also giving Justin Hartley a chance to do some pretty good acting…
I liked the brief look at all the bad guys, even ones we hadn’t seen before, even if none of them actually talked. It’s nice to see that the bad guys are banding together here like they do in the comics.
And as evil cliff-hangers go: Oliver finding that chunk of rare Gold Kryptonite was a doozie and I did say that Lois telling Clark she wouldn’t marry him makes sense in a way, so I am still amped for the series finale. I’m glad they’re not spilling too much about the last episode. So I guess only seeing that one will help me really decide how effective this one was, but I have to judge an episode on its own merits and to be perfectly honest I just don’t see how some of this will play out in the next episode.
I suppose part of me is going to have to trust that the writers knew what they were doing. However, there were too many head scratching moments in the story for me to say that this episode was completely a successful one for Anne and Bryan.
Director of Photography Gord Verheul shot another beautiful episode. The actors all looked awesome and the scenes in the chamber with Kara and Oliver were terrific. I loved the bright overheard light when Kara was trapped by that bright circle of light. The rotating light pattern above her when she was trapped was a great choice. Oliver using the flashlight in those scenes was nice: it was so bright against the darker background, so that was beautifully done. I also really liked the sunset scene as Lois was trying to kill Clark, with the warm light coming in from behind Tess.
Production Designer James Philpott did a great job with the ancient chamber Oliver found the bow in. It looked older and I liked the design elements carved into the floor and onto those columns. And I also liked the bow a lot, so kudos probably need to go the Property Master Aleya Naiman as well.
I loved the clothes the Costume Designer Melanie Williams had put the cast into, Tom Welling looked awesome and that red suit Erica wore fit her perfectly and she looked great in it. However, I have an issue with a couple of costuming choices that had actually conflicted with wardrobe mentions in the dialogue.
For example, in the opening scene between Clark and Lois as she tries to figure out why she lost her crab cakes, Lois wore that terrific red suit with awesomeboots with high heels. Well, she later complained to Clark that the number of heels she had broken while super-speeding was ‘out of control.’ Unless she has 20 pairs of identical boots, her wearing what looked like the same pair every time we saw her in that suit makes no sense.
Also, Lois refers to herself as the ‘Burgandy Blur’ in that one scene where she and Clark were sitting at the café table. Nice and alliterative, yet the suit she wore wasn’t burgundy: it was red.
I know complaining about things like that might seem to be picky, but that kind of stuff bothers me. I mean, if certain wardrobe is referred to in dialogue, it certainly would be nice for them to follow through in the Costume Design. Or at maybe the writers needed to get a call about changes that were needed to be made so a little rewrite could be done.
Composer Louis Febre wrote a terrific score. It was full and helped support both the lighter and darker moments in the episode, and I don’t think that would be easy. He did a great job.
While I was disappointed that this episode wasn’t better given it’s the second-to-last one ever, I think the writers succeeded in most respects. I give this episode 3.75 Bows of Orion out of a possible 5.
Take a look at a gallery of images from the May 13 SERIES FINALE of Smallville!
Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback
Note: This review contains spoilers, so read no further if you don’t like to learn important plot details before viewing the episode. This is a good one, so just come back after you’ve seen it.
When I heard that Zod was coming back onto the show, I was curious, exactly, how they were going to do it. It makes sense that he was supposed to join the long line of previous characters making their final bows on the show, but I had no clue on how they could fit him in so that it made sense. With the script by John Chisholm, the way this story brought him back was really pretty good. Zod somehow getting banished to the Phantom Zone by the other Kandorians might be a bit of a stretch, but if it were possible that completely makes sense. He was making everyone angry at him by the end of last season, so it worked. I know that if I had been one of the Kandorians, I probably would have sent him to the Phantom Zone too.
Zod figuring out how to trick Clark into coming to him was pretty smart as well. Even though initially I thought it was weird that Zod had done that. Why not use the crystal to send himself and all those criminal Kryptonians to Earth instead? That is just what Zod would do, so tricking Clark to come to the Phantom Zone didn’t really make sense. Well, at least it hadn’t until Zod had his little chat with Oliver and explained what Darkseid had wanted from him. That was a well-written scene that was well-acted and directed too. It was perfect. Zod gets to rule a world and all the man had to do was to kill Clark, something he wanted to do anyway. It was like a win-win.
On Earth it wouldn’t have been so easy to take over management, even given an army of Kryptonians. The criminals from the Phantom Zone would be unstable and hard to control in addition to the equally hard to control and ungrateful humans he’d encounter trying to rule Earth. So, the offer Darkseid gave Zod probably seemed more like a sure thing.
John did a great job in being sure that made perfect sense. Yeah: initially it seemed out-of-character, but it wasn’t. And the fact that Zod knew about Oliver’s dark mark after Oliver managed to come along with Clark to the Phantom Zone probably wasn’t a coincidence, but I guess only time will tell how deeply Darkseid had orchestrated the whole thing.
Although I think the gladiatorial matches were a bit odd since “Smallville” doesn’t usually do anything like that, but in thinking about it still worked well. Actually, it worked really well. The slow motion photography by Director of Photography Gord Verheul helped that out a lot. It was very well done. And I liked that there were touches of “Gladiator” (with that one combatant’s helmet) and a bit of “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (with Oliver fighting using two swords) in the gladiatorial match scenes.
In that I would like to think that the show paid homage to sword and sandal gladiatorial epics partly because a former producer and writer for the show, Steven S. DeKnight, is the show runner (series creator and head writer) for the Starz shows based on Spartacus’ infamous slave rebellion. Well, at least I’d like to think they’d did that because I love both shows so much.
As hackneyed as ‘gladiatorial’ matches are they do make for great dramatic stories (heck, DeKnight has done a great job of turning the drama of a gladiatorial match into a series). Other shows have used the occasional one-off gladiatorial type of fight (friends forced into a fight to the death). Think of the several times that “Star Trek” the original series did it, Kirk fighting Spock to the death in the pon farr episode “Amok Time” was probably the best example they had.
However, as trite as the idea is of having two friends fight to the death is, what John did with this was pretty awesome. He turned the genre TV trope into a terrific platform for exposing the effects the Omega symbol has had on Oliver, at the same time putting pressure on his relationship with Clark. By putting Clark and Oliver through that ordeal, it was the perfect way for Zod to pry the two friends apart so he could get what he wanted (Clark dead).
Yet, it was also a dramatic gold mine for the writer: Zod was a great foil for Clark, as he has always been. Yet, by forcing Clark to confront Zod, John made him expose a little bit more about himself in the process. Clark learned more about how he is like Zod, but he also learned just how he is different. That was another good thing for him to learn leading up to the end of the series. Added to that, we also got better look at just how close giving into the darkness Oliver really is. It was truly a beautiful part of the episode.
That was because of all the great opportunities for acting that aspect of the story had provided the cast. Every single member of the cast, especially Callum Blue reprising his role as Zod, did a fantastic job. The interplay between all the characters along with the charged dialogue let the actors shine. I loved that Oliver had to trick his way into going to the Phantom Zone, it set up some conflict between him and Clark and gave their interaction in the episode a bit of an edge, which both Tom Welling and Justin Hartley did a terrific job at playing.
Callum Blue was awesome as Zod. Callum makes the man so complicated: he’s not just another cold-blooded killer. Zod has very little regard for the lives of others, yet part of what he wants is simply to be accepted and loved. In this episode it was a nice touch for John to write Zod striving to find in Oliver what he’d lost with Jor-El and never got with Clark: someone who could be like a brother to him. Despite his sociopathic behavior, that innate need to be accepted and loved seems to be a major flaw for him as a character. So it’s good that John used that to bring some good drama to this episode.
Another thing I really liked about this episode was the physical peril that Clark and Oliver were in. The violence helped to counter-act them being pretty passive in the early scenes after their capture. It also allowed the men to show off their physical fitness. I know that Oliver is a very physical character, so it makes sense that a fit guy like Justin would love playing him (like he seems to do).
What about Tom? I don’t know the guy, although I would never turn down a chance to meet him, but it has to be frustrating for such an obviously physical guy to always have any sign of strength by Clark always be some sort of parlor trick. Clark’s show of abilities is heavily supported by special effects (both practical and visual) to show feats of Clark’s physical strength.
Yet, in this episode they had probably some of the most physically challenging fight choreography that Tom’s had to do in almost the entire series. (Well, with a heavy assist from his stunt double, no doubt.) The fight between Oliver and Clark was fairly long, as it needed to be since an important fight shouldn’t be over in 45 seconds (I’m looking at you: the non-fight in ‘Doomsday’). Added to that, it was more physically involving than usual for Clark’s fights.
Maybe Clark isn’t as smooth a fighter as Oliver, he doesn’t really do much hand-to-hand combat on Earth so it makes sense that he isn’t as good, but it was nice to see Clark wasn’t a complete push over despite that. It was nicely written aspect of the episode and a perfectly realized scene by the cast, crew and the freshman director.
And I don’t know if that was hard work for Tom or whether he found it fun (the sword fighting, jumping, rolling around in the dirt, and hand-to-hand combat with guys holding swords), but it was probably a blast. It’s not often he gets to be that outright physical in the show so it must have been satisfying, if not cathartic, to have not just one, but two, really physically intensive fights in the episode.
Then it was beautiful that without his powers, Clark ultimately beat Zod by outthinking him. I think it would have been easier for Clark to beat Zod up, as a character he is more likely to solve a problem by smashing things or throwing opponents through a wall rather than work out a problem by thinking it through. It was nice to see Clark use some of his intelligence to solve a problem that seemed unsolvable. Although, the way that Tom played it Clark looked really surprised at how well Oliver was playing the part Zod wanted him to. Of course Clark doesn’t know Oliver has been marked by Darkseid, so when he does find out, it will make sense.
I don’t want to leave Erica Durance and Cassidy Freeman out of mentions, but they also turned in terrific performances. The tension between Lois and Tess in that scene when Lois held Tess at gun point was awesome. I loved Tess’ desperation and Lois’ determination so both women played their parts in that scene perfectly.
As much as I love Erica, I did have a bit of a problem with her toward the end. I thought that when Clark showed up in their apartment after coming back from the Phantom Zone that Lois wasn’t happy enough to see him. Her running into his arms seemed too reserved, maybe it was too rehearsed, for me, but it was probably the only moment I had problems with anyone’s acting the entire episode.
Well… There was probably one more: when Zod had dragged the sword down Clark’s chest, the blade didn’t even cut the skin, much less that blue t-shirt, yet it looked like that caused Clark agonizing pain. That didn’t really make sense given what we were seeing. I don’t think he would have been in real pain until Zod started pressing the sword tip into that wound at the end of that little bit, although that part Tom did completely sell me on the pain Clark was feeling there.
However, those two things were probably the only acting moments I had problems with. This was such a solid script by John Chisholm that it must have made first-time helmer Justin Hartley’s job easier. Despite the fact that the script started out a bit awkwardly with Clark and Lois getting interrupted in their unpacking (maybe writing romantic banter isn’t John’s strong suit), it really picked up from there. The act breaks were strong, the stakes kept rising for all the characters, and the action was very well-done.
This episode just didn’t let up. Not even when Zod was doing all that talking in the middle part of the episode did it seem like it dragged. So, John delivered a very strong episode that managed to serve up a ton of expository dialogue from Zod without it seeming like an info dump, but it also had good action and surprising twists and turns. I also liked how (again without Darkseid ever showing his face) the Omega/Darkness storyline was brought in and then the stakes were upped even higher.
With only two more episodes left in the series (three if you count ‘Finale’ as being two) John helped craft an episode that will help build up to the coming final confrontations of the series. I can’t wait to see how Oliver’s dark mark affects him as the series comes to its close and how Clark will react when he discovers the truth. While this wasn’t a perfect episode, John certainly turned in another solid effort that was extremely enjoyable.
Freshman director Justin Hartley probably had a relatively easy time of things, despite his inexperience, because this was such a strong script. This turned out to be probably the most solid freshman helming effort of any of the cast members. It showed Justin had a sure hand when it came to directing his co-stars (with only two acting missteps, in my opinion) and he even had a good visual sense.
The Director of Photography Gord Verheul having a very cinematic flare helped, I’m sure. However, if I hadn’t known a first time director had helmed this episode (aside from maybe one or two shot choices that didn’t seem to make sense) I don’t think I would have been able to guess. He did a very good job on both sides of the camera, which in and of itself is something many freshmen actor/directors don’t do well. All the time he’s been acting on the show Justin apparently was paying attention to more than just learning his lines and hitting his mark. He has learned a thing or two and it showed. Justin did a very good job.
Director of Photography Gord Verheul also did a very good job. The slow-motion sequences in the fight scene between Oliver and Clark were well done. It was very reminiscent of how the fights were shot for the two Starz Spartacus-based series. It wasn’t identical, it doesn’t look like “Smallville” has the same super-high-speed cameras “Spartacus” uses since the look of the shots weren’t quite the same, but it had a similar feeling. It was beautiful too, which made it just icing. The de-saturated colors and the slow-motion tableaus that Clark and Oliver made while fighting were perfect and it made both men look very good.
Costume Designer Melanie Williams did an outstanding job with the Zoner costumes, likely buying a lot of those costumes (I don’t think she made that many costumes), but the almost steam-punk look of the long coat Zod wore was a good choice. It was different than the homespun, almost Arabic-look from previous visits to the Phantom Zone, but there were some costumes that echoed that choice too. It was a nice mix that I liked.
Normally I don’t have too much negative to say about Key Hairstylist Sarah Koppes, but I really hated Erica Durance’s hair throughout this episode. I’m not sure what’s different, maybe it was the pulled back look looking too groomed, but it really went beyond hate and moved into loathe territory… It seemed like it was a really bad wig, actually. Maybe it was. Maybe they did something with Erica’s hair in the ‘Finale’ two-parter (the last three episodes were filmed out of sequence, although I’m not sure of what was filmed when), so it appears they had to use a wig for some reason but did they have to have such a horrible one? I know the series has wrapped by now, but hopefully that look isn’t done in any of the remaining episodes.
As much as I hated that, I thought the Tom’s and Justin’s hair in the Zone scenes was fantastic. Just tousled enough to sell the post-Apocalyptic desolate feel of the Phantom Zone without going too far…
Composer Louis Febre’s score was awesome. I loved every minute of it, but I especially like the non-vocal choral parts in the fight scene between Clark and Oliver.
This wasn’t a perfect episode, but it was pretty close. I give this 4.75 escape gate console crystals out of a possible 5.
Take a look at a gallery of images from the May 13 SERIES FINALE of Smallville!
Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback
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