Smallville - Season 7 thread (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

You won't get forward movement until you have an end point to work toward. As long as the CW refuses to cancel the series, the show will continue to spin its wheels.

 

[JediFonger]

fav season is probably 5/6 cause of kent's death and what it means and the whole searching for his own identity stuff. i think people can identify with a lot of that. s1-4 were krypto-infected of the week and kinda' boring. i haven't seen season7 except premiere. i liked how clark is lost season6 without his father telling him what to do.

 

[Greg_S_H]

That doesn't have to be. They could decide that they're going to turn it into a superhero show and end it if it doesn't perform, or keep it going if it injects new life into the concept. I think people are too hung up on the name of the show. "It can't be about Superman because it's called Smallville." Smallville barely even matters anymore. Half of the cast is in Metropolis already. We often see the Kent farm and sometimes see the Talon, but just about nothing of the town of Smallville. I'm running out of gas on this thought because I'm about to head out for lunch. . . .

Edit: reading that back, I'm not saying you or hung up on the name Adam. More of an "in general" thing.

Because of that, I can't address Josh's post in detail right now, but I want to clarify that I don't think Clark should be a fully-formed hero from day one. I think the show was pretty strong for the first few years and wouldn't change all that much. They just should have found some way to start showing that Clark burns to help people and make a difference, rather than saving his friends when necessary. I'm definitely far closer to slacker Clark myself than "go out and save the world Clark," but I don't want Superman to be me. Superman is better than all of us. And, he's not like Peter Parker, waiting to be bitten by the spider before he becomes anything. His heroic traits are supposed to come from within. It just looks like this Clark is going to need some specific event to happen to light a fire under him, and I don't think that's what it should be about. Then again, even movie Clark needed a catalyst, and that was the death of his father. That might be the secret to why the show has become so disappointing. Jonathan died, and it didn't have much of an effect on Clark at all--at least, in regards to embracing his destiny. I will admit that the idea of his father's death tying him down because of the farm does have some appeal.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

First off, I love that this conversation is still going on -- it's been a long time since I've had a chance to geek out on Smallville!

I like how, in "Superman Returns", Bryan Singer presented Superman as "our greatest protector" right at the very first title card, and Clark in Smallville definitely ain't anywhere close to that yet. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place (or maybe a cave and a fortress...), and if I were him, I'd probably have a tough time knowing what to do. There are so many times that Clark trying to be the hero has ultimately made things worse, or times when Clark trying to embrace his Kryptonian heritage has lead to more trouble than anticipated. I really like that Clark saved Lex's life in the first episode, and that that had been brought up in the last season in the context of, is this something he should have done? His good deed with Lex, as an example, has led to so many bad things... be it Lex's 33.1 experiments, his liberties with the law, everything he did to Lana, always on the verge of discovering Clark's secret and seeking to misuse it, among countless other deceptions. Would the world be a better place if Clark Kent let Lex Luthor drown? Quite possibly. I like to think that as Clark sits on the fence unable or unwilling to take those final steps that this is something that weighs on his mind. "Is it my obligation to save everyone? Are there some people not worth saving, and if so, what gives me the right to make that decision? Could my actions lead to more pain and suffering, both for people I care about and people I don't know?"

I'm not sure if that's something the writers and the actors ever talk about, but I like to think it's there.

And those are just things that have happened within his control. How does Clark feel knowing that the meteor shower that came with his arrival led to so much death and destruction, both at the time and years later? How about the times that he was influenced by deceptive means (people using different kinds of kryptonite on him to mislead him and control him, people claiming to be friends who were anything but, etc.)? I have to believe that there's a part of him that worries about what could happen if he risked more exposure, and that's part of what keeps him on the farm. Jonathan's death has definitely kept Clark around home longer than expected, and to a point it was justified... but at the point that Martha Kent doesn't even live there, the writers have pretty much lost most of the justification for Clark staying at home. Also, Clark has always had great difficulty with dealing with loss for as long as we've seen on this show; the potential for losing someone or something important to him makes him lose perspective, and the actual loss of something leaves him almost paralyzed. Part of growing up and maturing is learning to deal with those things, and that's something that Clark (who's actually 21 or 22, but being played by a 30 year old) needs to do.

Jonathan Kent was definitely the moral compass of the show, and his absence is not something that goes unnoticed by me. Jonathan could be the force that guides Clark through those difficult choices, but instead, for the second time in his life he's lost a father. It leaves Clark in this awkward place of having been raised as a human, but not actually being one; knowing all about a heritage and a culture (ours) that isn't his by birth, and not fully knowing what to believe about his home world and the people from it. Clark's like 21 or 22, and he still needs a parental figure to guide him through these things that no human could truly understand. But who can he turn to? Most people given abilities by Kryptonite have used them for malice or superficial rewards, so those people are out. People that have come from Krypton have been a source of trouble. Jor-El has never been honest with Clark, and at a time where he needs someone like a Jor-El to help him on his way, he doesn't trust him. (Freezing him in the fortress probably didn't help.) He's stuck in this rut and doesn't know how to get himself out of it.

I wonder how much of this is intentional, and how much is poor writing; unfortunately, I tend to think it has more to do with bad writing. I also wonder what the reason for Millar and Gough's departure is. Is it possible that they had a grand plan to end the show with the upcoming Season 8 and the CW, not wanting to lose it's top rated show, shot it down, forcing them out the door? I really think the source of a lot of the problems in the show, especially over the past couple seasons, comes from not knowing how much time they might have and not wanting to get to the end too quickly. Why else would character motivations flip back and forth, story arcs meant to advance Clark's journey stall out, etc.? While I personally don't see a need for the show to end when he puts on the tights, the writers/producers/network clearly seem to feel that that has to be the end, and for whatever reason haven't allowed them to get there in a timely fashion.

Instead, we're stuck with a show that shows us flashes of brilliance on occasion, often shows us tons of mediocrity, and sometimes flat out stinks. By now, there's absolutely no reason for the show runners to waste time on Pete's kryptogum, a movie shooting in Smallville, a beauty pageant at the Talon, etc., etc. Those episodes are the ones I have problems with, the things that were cute and appropriate for a show about high school freshmen but have been done to death by now. During those episodes, which feel like nothing more than filler to me, that's when I get frustrated with the show. But episodes like "Traveler" and "Veritas" are what keep me interested, and I just wish they'd do more of those. (A "mythology" collection of Smallville episodes like the X-Files sets put out a few years ago would be pretty cool; I should make a list of those episodes sometime, if I could remember which were which.)

 

[Chip_HT]

Smallville had better not go to season 9...which I'm now worried will happe without Millar and Gough.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Why not? If next season turns out better than this season because of the new staff i'd certaintly welcome a 9th season.

 

[pitchman]

I don't necessarily disagree, but at some point in the not too distant future, Welling will no longer be able to pull off this teenager schtick. Think Steve McQueen in The Blob, a.k.a. the world's oldest teenager!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I don't know, Welling seems to be one of those special people who will look the same at 40 as they did at 25 lol.

 

[Greg_S_H]

He'll be 80, looking the same and still moping about Lana. "Chloe, I'm too damn old to start flying now! And, no, I won't give you a kiss! Get off my lawn!"

 

[Chip_HT]

Because there's only so much you can do with Clark Kent before he has to become Superman. And we're already reaching that breaking point now. So, if they really want to keep going past season 8, they might as well turn it into a different show. Either Clark travelling the world, or going ahead and donning the blue and red.

Plus, if season 8 is even better than season 7, I'd rather they go out on that high note, rather than risk crashing and burning in future seasons.

I don't think the new showrunners will really make a huge difference on the quality of the show, since they were the ones who were primarily writing the show for the last few years anyway. Other than the end credits, there will probably be very little evidence on the screen that anything is different.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'm not so sure about that, when the Paladino's left Gilmore Girls in it's final season the flavour of the show changed, granted it was a little but a long time fan could definitely tell the difference.

I also would like season 8 to be the last, but it has to be one HELLUVA season for me to want another, I should have made that clearer before.

 

[Mark Butler]

Another thing that needs to happen is the separation of Clark and Superman. As it stands now if Clark decided to becomes Superman tomorrow, he couldn't. Everyone knows that it is Clark, there is no personality change or disguise. All the meteor freaks( sorry, meteor infected) he put away know he has powers. He has saved a major hollywood star, a corporate CEO etc. His Mother is a senator in Washington. Unless he wears a mask( which I wouldn't put past them) or a magical Amnesia Ray that Jor-El activates to make all his friends and the world forget about him but even then they would have to destroy all the newspapers and any information Lex had (although with all the blows to the head Lex has had I am surprised he can even form a coherent sentence). The reason for the time gap before he becomes Superman is so the world can forget about Clark. Back in the 30s it was easy for someone to come from a small town to the big city and be anonymous and that Clark Kent lived pretty much off the radar before he came to Metropolis. And subsequent Superman stories really were more about fun than worrying about an continuity or reality. I am interested in hearing others opinions about what Smallville could do to rectify this problem or if you think it's a problem at all.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Heh. I'd love to see Superman hovering in front of Lex. "Who the hell are you? I've never seen you in my life!" Just won't work.

Maybe Clark can make a deal with the devil and have the world forget his identity. /bitter Spider-Man fanboy

 

[JediFonger]

greg, easy reset button, throw some krypto-pixie dust in his face and lex forgot who his nemesis for most of his young adult life is .

 

[Greg_S_H]

To keep the advertisers happy, how about brain damage from too much Stride gum? Or, "I can't tell who you are because I'm wearing these damn Acuvues!"

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Good God does this season of Smallville Suck. I just watched last weeks show and I tell you they've sucked out all the fun this show used to be. I think I'd rather go back to the Freak of the week shows than what is being shown now. Maybe with the cast losses and the creators leaving they'll have an Enterprise renaissance, it can't be much worse. The Constant back and forth with Lional, the Pining for Lana, Clark Being a weenie and even afraid of failing to fly in front of Supergirl. I can't take it anymore. The final scene was such a downer I was hoping the Doctor Who Blink statue would finish the both of them.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

New episode tonight???

 

[Greg_S_H]

Yes. I believe there's supposed to be some big stuff going down with it, too.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yep, tonight is when Lex makes his final transition into darkness and from what I can tell kills his father.

 

[Greg_S_H]

What can they do with this show next year? Lionel and Lex will be gone, Lana will barely be in it, and last I heard, Allison hadn't signed and was maybe going to have a deal like Kristin's. It's just going to be Clark, Lois and Jimmy? They kill too many people on this show. Clark still needs a mentor. Or, maybe the absence of one will force him to get on with things.