Smallville Finale Thoughts

 Smallville Finale

Thoughts

Warning, the following blog contains spoilers to the Smallville finale. You have been warned.

Smallville, a show that started ten years ago and ended up being one of my most favorite shows for many years. Over the years that passed, the show quickly dropped from that spot, but still remained to be a must watch show. It had its up, it had its downs. But in the end it was an enjoyable show that was both entertaining as time filling. 

But then came the finale. Part One was quite brilliantly made and written, always staying the course of setting things up for the second part where everything was going to conclude. Jonathan Kent saw a return to the series, where he and his family shared some beautiful, eye watering moments. The romance between Lois and Clark was pretty much solidified in that part with some romantic moments and brilliantly written scenes. The fight between Clark and Olly turned out to be the best fight in the finale, which ... shouldn't actually have been the case. Since there were still a few enemies to come. 

Then came Part Two. Yeah ... Part Two ... Let's just say that it was ... an ending. Let's first talk about what it did right. It had the best two scenes in the entire run of the show. One scene was between Jonathan Kent and Clark, where Jonathan handed him the Superman Costume. Now that actually made me cry.

The other scene was between Lex Luthor and Clark Kent. Their last encounter was absolutely fantastic. If ever there would be a list of top ten villain - hero confrontations, this has to be in it. Lex completely steals the show here, showing that he thinks that by accepting his role as the villain, he can help Clark be the role of the hero. The entire chemistry here gave me goosebumps. Too bad everything that was set up in this scene was pissed upon later on. 

There was also the final steps of Clark's journey of understanding who he needs to be and what he has done wrong. The talks he has with his mother and father, the talks with Lois, the talk he has with Jor-El. Good stuff. Very good stuff.

What I also liked were the various music cues, borrowing from the Christopher Reeves movies. This includes the ending scene where Clark rips open his shirt and reveals the shirt. Unfortunately, the power of this scene is once again undercut by something else. 

The return of Jimmy Olsen was also a nice and very welcome touch. 

Now on to the bad. 

First up: The end of the villains. Every villain is defeated in a piss poor manner that makes me want to get the writing staff fired. Darkseid? The main villain of the entire fucking season is defeated by Clark simply FLYING THROUGH HIM. Apokolypse? That ginormous planet that is drawn to the planet by the darkness within mankind? Simply PUSHED THE FUCK AWAY. The darkness within people? Well, apparently seeing Clark push it away helped clear that rash right up. Darkseid's legion? Olly shot them with an arrow and they vanished in smoke. Lex? Well, Tess just sprinkles him with some magic fairy dust, wiping his memories. 

Next up: Superman. WHERE THE FUCK WAS HE? Tom Welling, the actor playing Clark, had put in his contract he wasn't going to wear the suit. Fine. But come on! If we're not getting a close-up of his face or an extremely distant shot, we're only seeing blurs of him in the suit. CGI has come a very long way, I'm positive they would have been able to give us at least one money shot. But nooooooooooooo.

I understand that they didn't have much of a budget (made clear by the "let's get Apokolypse away by hitting the rewind button" shtick), but to not have a money shot of Superman? Outrageous! That was supposed to be Clark's finest moment in the entire series. Hell, the name of Superman isn't even mentioned. At all. Well, no, that's not true. Lana Lang says it in the "Previously on Smallville" segment. 

This is what ruined the impact of the final scene, where Clark was speeding off to save people, cued by the famous Superman theme. Because I was still expecting that god damned money shot. Instead we get just another fan service moment.

Also, Tess's death. I never really liked or even wanted this character, but her death just bugged me. She gets stabbed by Lex who is saving her from becoming a Luthor? Yeah, it's a nice concept, but it was handled rather poorly.

Ten years of loyally following Smallville, alongside millions of other fans, this is what we get? It's a real damned shame.