Smallville Season 6 Premiere

By: Stephen Lackey
Date: Tuesday, October 03, 2006

OK, there's two ways to come at this series, the first being from the perspective of a rivet-counting comic book fan, and the second is from the perspective of being just a fan of sci-fi/fantasy TV. If I approach this from the rivet- counting comic book fan perspective, I'd just simply rip this series apart from the ground up. So I try to look at this series just as a fan of good TV, but the comic book fan in me always creeps in with opinions. The writers used the past 50 years of comic book mythology as a jumping off point to tell their own stories. Over the past 5 years the series has become an amalgamation of Superman comics' old Superman TV series, the Superman movies, and Dawson's Creek. The first two seasons of SMALLVILLE were very strong with the series building a great base of characters and creating its own unique Superman mythology.

After that though, the series didn't just jump the shark, it jumped the whale. It all started with the introduction of Lois Lane as a character in the series. You might think that only comic book fans would have a problem with Lois coming into the series but I take issue with that because I believe that the basic Superman story is so universally known that it had to throw off not only comic book fans but fans of the movies and any of the other older TV series. No offense to Erica Durance, who plays Lois, because she does a fine job in the character and she brings a certain fresh charisma to the series. She could have been given a different character name in order not to screw up the timeline though. I fear that the writers are starting to paint themselves into a corner. After season two, the episodes were really hit and miss with some still being outstanding but many bordering on ridiculous or just plain bad. There has also been a ton of fan service with the writers finding ways to turn Clark (Tom Welling) into a bad boy and the girls getting nearly naked as often as possible. Now, I am a man, so I of course don't mind seeing some skin, but it doesn't have to be so obviously fan service. I still require clever writing mixed into my fan service. I know that's hard to find.

Let me get to why we're here, and that's to take a look at the sixth premiere of SMALLVILLE. The season final last year actually redeemed the entire season for me. Finally, some of the series now almost "too convoluted" mythology came together in a deservedly epic story. Much of this story takes influence and characters from the film Superman II. Zod is the ultimate villain in Clark's life as he is responsible for the destruction of Clark's home world Krypton. Clark's father put Zod n the Phantom Zone, a dimensional prison from which he could never escape. In fact, his corporal body was destroyed so he only exists in the Phantom Zone in a spiritual form. Meanwhile in SMALLVILLE, Milton Fine, known to comic book fans as Brainiac, has hatched a plan to help Zod escape using Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) as a "vessel", hence the title of last season's finale. Jor-El, Clark's real father, who is dead, but can randomly appear throughout the series with all the answers, appears to Clark to warn him of Fine's plans and give him a weapon to kill Lex before he can become the vessel. As expected, Clark destroys Fine with the weapon allowing Zod to exit the Phantom Zone and take over Lex's body. Once on Earth Zod places Clark in the Phantom Zone and sets about turning Earth into a new Krypton with Lana to provide him an heir. Even on their limited budget the creators managed to make the story feel epic with the power going out around the world and people going crazy rioting and destroying Metropolis. This season finale was easily the most exhilarating episode of SMALLVILLE in a few years. So, I was naturally excited for the season premiere, which aired Thursday September 28th on The CW.

Let me just be honest, this season premiere doesn't feel as epic as the episode that led up to it, and it relies on the clumsy writing that the creators have been using the last few seasons to get themselves out of a jam. Clark meets a friend of his father's in the Phantom Zone who knows how he can escape. Once he returns we get the best few minutes of the entire episode; a fairly grandiose battle between Clark and Zod starting with a wink at the audience members who are fans of Superman II. This battle also features one of the weak writing tricks used in this series way too much. At the beginning of the battle, Clark appears once again to save Lana. Zod flings Lana against a wall knocking her unconscious so she doesn't get to see Clark use his powers. They've played that card a few seasons too long. Also, Clark uses a simple plot device to send Zod back to the Phantom Zone. The whole episode felt weak and disappointing. It's a cheap move that this epic story was tied up in one episode with simple plot devices and tricks that have become way too prominent in this series. One other thing, why is it every other person who develops Clark's powers can fly within a few minutes but Clark still hasn't in 5 seasons? I'll contemplate this question and others as I continue to watch this season and hope for the best.