I skipped "Smallville" on TV for the most part, hearing that it was mostly akin to Superman meets "Dawson's Creek" or other obnoxious teen-fare dramas that I despise so much. Not until my comic-book-uber-geek buddy forced me to watch the season 1 DVD did I change my tune. Some small annoyances aside, this is a fantastic show.
Since a show is composed of many stories running over several years, featuring both highs and lows, it seems the most fare to me to review the show on a seasonal basis as opposed to one blanket review.
Season 1: Welcome to Smallville, meteor capital of the world, a fact we witness in the shows fantastic pilot episode as a shower of deadly meteors tear the small town asunder and bring with them baby Superman. Fast forward a bit and Clark is beginning his Freshman year of high school just in time for the radiation from the meteor shower to begin making super-freaks that will be the "monster of the week". The pilot season sticks to the story mythology fairly closely (Clark is a nerd, has an unrequited love for Lana, etc) but when it does stray, the new additions are a little hit and miss. The character of Chloe is a fantastic addition to the mythos (it doesn't hurt that Allison Mack is as cute as can be) as is the brotherly friendship that develops between Lex and Clark, but some of the meteor mutants are just aren't very interesting. This is Superman we're talking about, hardly any of these baddies pose a real threat. The weekly plots suffice, but the lack of an overlapping story line hurts.
Season 2: For better or worse, not much changes between season 1 and 2 in terms of content and execution. Weekly mutants show up to run amok and are summarily pummeled by Clark and Clark and Lana keep going back and forth with the "I love you, I love you not" bit; not until the end of the season do things start to pick up. With some revelations involving the ship the brought Clark to earth and some manipulations by Lex's twisted father Lionel, the show finally starts to grow some real teeth in it's plotting. The only kink in these chain of events that didn't work for me was Chloe's apparent switch to the dark side. Aside from that, season 2 ends on a fantastic cliff hanger that leaves most every character is some kind of horrendous turmoil.
Season 3: After a strong start, picking up were season 2 left off, season 3 starts to drift back into the familiar weekly-baddie cycle and threatens to wallow in mediocrity. With the exception of a few strong episodes most of season 3 is been there, done that territory. That is until just past the mid-season point, when decisions characters made earlier in the show begin to return on them with dire results. This all concludes with another fantastic season finale that arguably trumps the great season 2 ender and leaves not only the fate of some characters in question, but seemingly kills some.
Season 4: Ah, now this is great television. From the spectacular opening (featuring an airborne Clark) to the explosive conclusion (literally, as a second meteor shower decimates Smallville), this season never fails to be intriguing nor surprising. Some fun new characters are introduced and the show finally attaches itself to a lengthy, overlapping story line that has nothing to do with the by now wearisome love/hate thing Clark and Lana can't get past. Also new to the season is a healthy dose of broad humor that helps off set the more serious moments (and there are a lot of them). Character relationships are tried, test and ultimately changed; some for the better (in the case of Chloe and Clark) and some for the worse (Clark and Lex's brotherly bond finally begins to unravel).
Season 5: After the big 'hooah' that was season 4, season 5 feels much more subdued, but none the less interesting. Clark and Lana's oft-taxed relationship seems to be finally coming to a close, Chloe and Clark's friendship is deepened, Lex falls father and farther away from his humanity, now just a step or two shy of full-on villainy and events are in motion that may bring about the return of General Zod, the man responsible for the destruction of Krypton. Lacking the visceral punch of season 4's conclusion, 5 still manages to trump it with a near unfix-able conclusion.
Season 6: The quality keeps up with another fantastic season of the man of steel. Things get really wacky this year as the Green Arrow makes his debut in Metropolis, Lionel appears to be a full-on good guy, Loise finds a hunky new man, Martian Man-hunter shows up, a bunch of evil-doers escape the phantom zone and as if that wasn't enough for poor Clark to be shouldered with, Lana gets set to marry Lex! As has become the staple of the series, a huge, seemingly unfixable delima is presented (or more to the point several delimas) that will leave fans drooling for season 7.
Season 7: (coming soon)
Viewed as a whole entity, it should be said that the show is a slow starter but moves along excellently once it finds it's niche. The early seasons (1-3) have some good individual episodes, but for the most part they are fairly interchangeable and lack personality. Also, the Clark/Lana quasi-romance is at first effective in an adolescent kind of way, but after a couple of years it borders on obnoxious; they really need to hold a moratorium on that plot element, it's the one eye-sore on a show that otherwise continue to expand and improve.
A little heavy on the melo-drama, but otherwise a solid view.
8/10
Since a show is composed of many stories running over several years, featuring both highs and lows, it seems the most fare to me to review the show on a seasonal basis as opposed to one blanket review.
Season 1: Welcome to Smallville, meteor capital of the world, a fact we witness in the shows fantastic pilot episode as a shower of deadly meteors tear the small town asunder and bring with them baby Superman. Fast forward a bit and Clark is beginning his Freshman year of high school just in time for the radiation from the meteor shower to begin making super-freaks that will be the "monster of the week". The pilot season sticks to the story mythology fairly closely (Clark is a nerd, has an unrequited love for Lana, etc) but when it does stray, the new additions are a little hit and miss. The character of Chloe is a fantastic addition to the mythos (it doesn't hurt that Allison Mack is as cute as can be) as is the brotherly friendship that develops between Lex and Clark, but some of the meteor mutants are just aren't very interesting. This is Superman we're talking about, hardly any of these baddies pose a real threat. The weekly plots suffice, but the lack of an overlapping story line hurts.
Season 2: For better or worse, not much changes between season 1 and 2 in terms of content and execution. Weekly mutants show up to run amok and are summarily pummeled by Clark and Clark and Lana keep going back and forth with the "I love you, I love you not" bit; not until the end of the season do things start to pick up. With some revelations involving the ship the brought Clark to earth and some manipulations by Lex's twisted father Lionel, the show finally starts to grow some real teeth in it's plotting. The only kink in these chain of events that didn't work for me was Chloe's apparent switch to the dark side. Aside from that, season 2 ends on a fantastic cliff hanger that leaves most every character is some kind of horrendous turmoil.
Season 3: After a strong start, picking up were season 2 left off, season 3 starts to drift back into the familiar weekly-baddie cycle and threatens to wallow in mediocrity. With the exception of a few strong episodes most of season 3 is been there, done that territory. That is until just past the mid-season point, when decisions characters made earlier in the show begin to return on them with dire results. This all concludes with another fantastic season finale that arguably trumps the great season 2 ender and leaves not only the fate of some characters in question, but seemingly kills some.
Season 4: Ah, now this is great television. From the spectacular opening (featuring an airborne Clark) to the explosive conclusion (literally, as a second meteor shower decimates Smallville), this season never fails to be intriguing nor surprising. Some fun new characters are introduced and the show finally attaches itself to a lengthy, overlapping story line that has nothing to do with the by now wearisome love/hate thing Clark and Lana can't get past. Also new to the season is a healthy dose of broad humor that helps off set the more serious moments (and there are a lot of them). Character relationships are tried, test and ultimately changed; some for the better (in the case of Chloe and Clark) and some for the worse (Clark and Lex's brotherly bond finally begins to unravel).
Season 5: After the big 'hooah' that was season 4, season 5 feels much more subdued, but none the less interesting. Clark and Lana's oft-taxed relationship seems to be finally coming to a close, Chloe and Clark's friendship is deepened, Lex falls father and farther away from his humanity, now just a step or two shy of full-on villainy and events are in motion that may bring about the return of General Zod, the man responsible for the destruction of Krypton. Lacking the visceral punch of season 4's conclusion, 5 still manages to trump it with a near unfix-able conclusion.
Season 6: The quality keeps up with another fantastic season of the man of steel. Things get really wacky this year as the Green Arrow makes his debut in Metropolis, Lionel appears to be a full-on good guy, Loise finds a hunky new man, Martian Man-hunter shows up, a bunch of evil-doers escape the phantom zone and as if that wasn't enough for poor Clark to be shouldered with, Lana gets set to marry Lex! As has become the staple of the series, a huge, seemingly unfixable delima is presented (or more to the point several delimas) that will leave fans drooling for season 7.
Season 7: (coming soon)
Viewed as a whole entity, it should be said that the show is a slow starter but moves along excellently once it finds it's niche. The early seasons (1-3) have some good individual episodes, but for the most part they are fairly interchangeable and lack personality. Also, the Clark/Lana quasi-romance is at first effective in an adolescent kind of way, but after a couple of years it borders on obnoxious; they really need to hold a moratorium on that plot element, it's the one eye-sore on a show that otherwise continue to expand and improve.
A little heavy on the melo-drama, but otherwise a solid view.
8/10