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Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!
Now, my best friend and I were talking about this and she threw out an interesting theory that i'd like to get you guys opinions on, she said that one possible explanation was that he was indeed supposed to fly in this episode but when the writers strike ended and Millar and Gough knew this wouldn't be the last, they rewrote the ending?
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I doubt it, but who knows? Before the strike started, I seemed to recall reading that they had scripts prepared through either episode 16, and last week was episode 15. So in theory at least, whatever happens at the end of next week could have been the possible season finale. Kryptonsite is reporting that they're only going to 20 this season, with five left, scheduled to air weekly without interruption. That will hopefully get things back on track, at least from a "having-fun-watching-it-every-Thursday-even-if-it-sucks" point of view.
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Originally Posted by Gary Seven
The majority of people here think that he is supposed to go through some specialized training, reflecting I guess the 12 year "training" period that happened in the movie. Being that they pretty much have rewritten the mythos, there is no reason to believe that the specialized training will take place. I would say you are watching his training take place in the events shown in the show.
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I'm not so sure about that, if only because they keep referring to it. I'm not expect a 12 year training period a la Richard Donner, but it seems like there would at least be something. You had to figure that if Kara hadn't shown up, someone would have to teach Clark about flight. Has Jor-El ever clearly laid out what's expected of his son? I don't think that's happened, so there's certainly the chance for that. As season 6 got underway, I had wrongly guessed that the training would be the story arc for the second half of that season; I'm not expecting 22 episodes of Clark in the fortress, but little bits scattered throughout the season would be nice.
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Originally Posted by Greg_S_H
In the comics, he was either superheroic from almost the beginning (when Superboy was still canon), or he just basically showed up as a hero. It's hard to see this Clark get to the point where he's a selfless hero for the world. It should be something that's a part of him, that he can't turn away from even if he wants to. That's just not the case here.
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I would have had a harder time getting into the show in the first place if he just showed up as a hero, but that's just my take on it. I've always liked that Smallville was about him not being there yet, but you're right in that it is a problem if he never gets there. When I watch the show now and I see Clark avoiding his destiny, there's a part of me that really understands that and relates to it. Not to make too fine a point of it, but I think a lot of us have had life experiences where in the process of just trying to figure out who we are and our own place in this world, we've been thrust into other situations that have forced us to question what we should be doing, wondering why we got stuck in some situation instead of trying to lead that quiet, simple life with the things we always thought we wanted growing up.
One thing even I sometimes forget is that Clark on the show should be about 21, 22 now. He was what, 14 or 15 when the show began (freshman year of high school), and now it's the seventh season. I've always been of two minds on Tom Welling: I like what he does with the role, but he's always been way too old for the part. I didn't buy him as being 14 when the show began, and I don't buy him as being 21 now. (Ironically, Tom Welling is older than Brandon Routh, meaning that the older actor is playing the younger version of the same character.) If you look at Clark's actions forgetting he's supposed to be that young, thinking of him more in terms of the 26-30 year old he looks like, then it's understandable to be upset with where the character is.
One of the fundamental problems with the show for me had been that they set it in high school, and set it at the beginning of high school....and then when that ended, after the graduation, they tried college for a little while but essentially gave up on that, giving the characters jobs and roles that would be hard to believe in real life. I have a really hard time with Lana's entire transformation, with Chloe working full-time at a major newspaper without so much as a college degree, etc., etc. It's just the way the show is, and always has been.
And hey... if Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent was allowed to have second thoughts about his role as Superman, if he was willing to give up (rather than just downplay) his abilities, all for a shot at happiness with Lois Lane (however temporary it may have been in Superman II), then I'm certainly willing to accept Tom Welling's Clark having a long way to go.
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Originally Posted by Mark Butler
I certainly agree that the last episode was much better than the chewing gum episode. But so what, what was it you liked about it? Just because something isn't as bad as usual doesn't necessarily mean you have to accept it as thats as good as it gets. I don't expect perfection in Smallville, but I do expect consistent characterization, likeable characters (evil or not), and coherent plotting. Plot points that should be followed like the Phantom Zoners are dropped, characters motivations are constantly changing with no visible reason, plot points are dropped in from out of the blue with no relation to anything that has come before, and I could go on.
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I know, I could go on too... it's not that I think you're wrong, I've often had the same complaints. When my friends wonder why I watch Smallville, I usually reply that it's mostly a crappy show with two or three spectacular episodes per year, and it's entertaining enough the rest of the time to be worth an hour a week for me. You asked what I liked about the episode. The last couple episodes ("Traveler" and "Veritas") have kind of blended together in my head, so forgive me if I end up citing things from both episodes. I really liked the reveal that Lionel had had some idea of all of this for a long, long time. I loved the flashbacks where we saw young Lex overhearing some of this stuff and getting ready to travel to Smallville. I liked that Dr. Swann was referenced. I enjoyed Brainiac's appearance. I thought John Glover had some great acting moments, and I actually bought it when he was talking about becoming Jor-El's emissary changing everything for him, that he had been selfish, greedy, obsessed with power and control, and that a touch of this otherworldly presence opened up his mind for the first time. I like that Lionel, even wanting to do the right thing, often fails and does the wrong thing because nothing in his life has ever really prepared him to know how to do right. Or maybe he's pulling one over on all of us, and if that's the case, he's doing a great job of that. I love that things seem to be heading where Lionel will have to make a choice between Lex and Clark.
Yes, I wish the characterizations were more consistent, yes I wish they had more episodes that followed an extended story arc. I wish the show from week to week was as connected as say "Heroes" or "24" instead of a looser connection from episode to episode with occasional big payoff episodes like "The X Files". But obviously, if they had done that, they probably wouldn't have been able to sustain the show as long, they would have run out of things to do.
I was surprised to see that Millar and Gough will be leaving the show; then again, I don't really follow the behind-the-scenes on it at all (and haven't really watched any of the bonus features on the DVDs), so I don't know exactly how much of the day-to-day work they do anymore. Maybe it'll make the show different, maybe things will seem exactly the same. It does feel that the show has kind of hit a wall creatively. It's as though they want to do more story arcs and less monster of the week type stuff, but that they don't have the story arc planned out enough to work that way, but also don't have a great supply of monsters to use on a weekly basis. Though I don't watch it, I've read that on "Lost", they've set an end date for the show and knowing where it's supposed to go, can work backwards to get it there without worrying about needing more material if the show went on. I've been saying it for a long time, but I think that's exactly what Smallville needs. Don't treat it as a cancellation, treat it as an opportunity to cross the finish line in a blaze of glory.
Just out of curiosity, what's everyone's favorite season of Smallville and why?
