Very disappointing

By: jorson28
Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I had high hopes for this finale but, then again, I had high hopes for this season.  Given it had to exist at all, it got off to a fairly good start and it pushed forward the mythology in a way that few seasons before it had.  Unfortunately, and I think this due in part to the rush created by the writer's strike, it ended on a low note. 

The fact is that Smallville outgrew its original premise when season 4 ended and Clark was no longer in high school.  That was the premise - Clark Kent growing up in Smallville, learning what he needs to become Superman.  They stretched it a bit longer in season 5 until Jonathan's death, and then a little longer to conclude Brainiac's storyline (for the time being, anyhow), but by season 6, Clark's reluctance to "embrace his destiny" started becoming a bit laughable.  I wondered how someone this cowardly, even in spite of everything he's seen and been through, could ever become Superman? I got really tired of people urging him to embrace his heritage, destiny, whatever they called it, urging him to move forward and him always whining about just wanting to live a "normal life." When, in the series, was it ever what we would define as "normal"?

And then, of course, there's the addition of Superman characters like Lois Lane, which has been entertaining but which stretches the credibility of her not immediately making the connection between Clark and Superman in the future, with or without the glasses he's supposed to wear as Clark (but doesn't).  I think this season finale is the writers essentially saying, "Hey, we're being forced into another season - we're out of juice creatively and we're not making any bones about it."  I think they lowered expectations for the next season by essentially giving us not a season finale but a series finale, one which would, if it were a series finale, suggest that in this timeline, Clark never becomes Superman and that he and Lex both die in the Fortress.  And, you know, that might be the episode's redemption because based on everything that's happened, that would be the logical conclusion of the series.  Whatever happens in season 8 to suddenly change Clark's mind, make him become Superman, bring Lex back and not have Lex or Lois just immediately make the connection between Clark and the new maskless superhero on the block will have to be VERY SUDDEN indeed. 

I really wish the news I'm hearing about them bringing Doomsday into the series in the form of a conflicted young bartender with a violent past to be discovered was faulty information.  Even with the characters they have leaving, they're really just letting go of excess baggage. They don't need new, regular characters, especially for the final season. They just need to make Season 8 ALL ABOUT Clark's training to become Superman and the rearrangement of his world to fit the world Superman will inhabit in the future.  Sadly, I don't think this will happen, and while Mania thinks that the creators leaving is a good thing because of fresh blood, well, perhaps they didn't read who will take over in Gough and Millar's place.  They're the same writers that have written virtually every episode since season three.  This isn't fresh blood, this is the creators not wanting to humiliate themselves so they leave it in the hands of the people that can't get other jobs and have been doing all the work anyway for the past several years.

That's all I have to say and, frankly, that's all that can be said - honestly.

Click here to read the staff review by Mania.