#8.22 “Doomsday” Review

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.