Smallville season 10 (1 Viewer)

[NeilO]

Originally Posted by Vaughan Odendaal

The other thing, why on earth did it take one punch from Clark to destroy Darkseid ? He is this Big Bad...super powerful entity that gets destroyed in 1 second ? No slug fest ? No using Clark's other abilities...like heat vision....and strength...and/or flight ? The culmination of 10 seasons against the biggest threat and he just flies into him. On a separate side note, not sure why Clark was clenching his fists like he just gained all this extra strength. Just a strange thing to see.


... Heck, at a minimum, show a close up of his face so that we could see how difficult it was to move this planet (technically a super giant ship).


If they could have showed us his struggles it would have made it so much more powerful and believable (in the context of the show). Don't just show a distant shot of a giant mass being moved like it's nothing. There was no precedent for any of it. I have no doubt that Superman could do this at the height of his power, but don't make it look like a breeze, especially after Clark just acquired his ability to fly. It was a piece of cake for Clark.... it took only 5-6 seconds to move a planet from Earth. How anticlimactic.

A couple of things that you might not have picked up on -- he did use flight against Darkseid - he was floating in mid air and then flew right through Darkseid.


He didn't move Apokolips all on his own.

It was explained that Apokolips was somehow draw to the Earth through all the people who had accepted the dark. Somehow his appearing there and attempting to move it, brought light to them and help repel Apokolips. [Of course, Apokolips itself appeared to have any gravitational field or else a lot of things would have been happening before it "snuck" in there.] There appears to have been a lot of "mystical" things going on with both Clark's fight against Darkseid and the removal (and appearance) of Apokolips.

The episode could have been a lot better, but it also could have been a lot worse. It was fairly representative of the series as whole - some very great moments along with a number of cringe-worthy ones.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Quote

Originally Posted by NeilO

He didn't move Apokolips all on his own.


It was explained that Apokolips was somehow draw to the Earth through all the people who had accepted the dark. Somehow his appearing there and attempting to move it, brought light to them and help repel Apokolips.

Agreed.


For what it's worth, I had no problems with them not really doing a series of close-ups with Clark in the suit. I don't think it was meant to be about that. The same way I don't think the political overtones in some of this season were meant to be really political, they were very generic politics that could be relatable in almost any time or context. I think the idea being conveyed was that this darkness was spreading across the globe, and it wasn't about aliens or supervillains (thematically speaking) so much as it was about people losing their faith in themselves, in society, in the world. Superman has always been a character that was inspiring, that brought light to the world. What needed to happen in this finale, what did happen, was that all of these things helped Clark take that final leap - to understand that it wasn't just about what he could accomplish but what the idea of Superman could accomplish. It gave people something to believe in again, at a time when it felt like all hope was lost. So when we saw Clark as Superman, it seemed appropriate that we saw him essentially from the perspective of all the people of the world -- because he embraced that he belonged to the world now -- and also because it was just cool to get a sense of what it would be like to look up in the sky and see a man fly.


I can't speak for anyone else, but there's something about the Superman myth that's always been very appealing to me. Superman can't be everywhere and he can't save everyone at all times, but that's not his true purpose - his purpose is to be our protector, someone who could prevent the major wrongs and catastrophes (either natural or man-made) from causing damage. There's something I always found very inspiring about the idea that a stranger to our world, looking at it with a different perspective, could look past some of the awful things people do to other people to see something in the human spirit worth protecting and saving, that someone could see past the many flaws in this world and see all of the good that people are capable of, and want to dedicate themselves to being a part of upholding that. If someone with those kinds of powers could look at humanity and see the best in what we could be, how can that not inspire people to look at themselves and do the same? I honestly could have cared less about seeing a big special effects battle between Superman and the rock planet or the Darkseid monster - what was completely thrilling to me was seeing Superman spreading the light, spreading hope to the world, in the open, for all to see.

 

[Vaughan Odendaal]

A couple of things that you might not have picked up on -- he did use flight against Darkseid - he was floating in mid air and then flew right through Darkseid.

Yes, I noticed he flew. But we seldom see Clark use all his abilities in a given scene. This was a perfect opportunity to display Clark's gifts. Instead what we got was a joke. Destroying Darkseid so easily and effortlessly ? Really ? Sorry, just not believable to me. I suppose to each their own.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Clark was stronger in every way when he went through that mental montage. That's why he flexed his fists... he felt a new level of power and ability he'd never felt before. Flight was just one part of it.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Just yesterday, I was highly disappointed—when reading about cast members of Land of the Giants—to learn that Stefan Arngrim had allegedly molested his sister from the time she was six until she was nine. Now, today, I read that Kristin Kreuk and Allison Mack allegedly were involved in torturing women and forcing them into the sex trade?! What the ACTUAL what?!?!

I’m going back to my practice of trying to know absolutely nothing about the actors/actresses I enjoy on screen.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I didn't hear about Kristin Kreuk, but I knew about Allison Mack. The cult she's involved in is headquartered in Albany, NY so there's stories in the local news about it all the time.

 

[Greg_S_H]

It says Kristin was involved in Vancouver, presumably as far back as when Smallville was filming. I know almost nothing about this cult, but maybe she was a victim or maybe it morphed into something worse later. I have no idea.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The cult is big into branding women with fire-heated marks.

 

[RobertR]

Weird...very weird.

 

[DaveF]

Yikes!!!

 

[Greg_S_H]

Kristin Kreuk's statement:

She's 35, so that would be seven years involvement, which seems an odd length of time to take a self-help course and not know anything fishy is up. But, I hope she's telling the truth. The whole thing sounds like an even skeevier version of Scientology.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

‘Smallville’ actress Allison Mack arrested for role in alleged sex cult

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I really wonder if I'll ever be able to watch the show again. Granted, that's a minor consideration compared to the alleged horrors that the victims have faced here. I can normally separate the art from the artist, but I'm not sure that I can watch a show where a main character who crusades for goodness is being portrayed by an actress accused of causing this much harm.

Amazing the sway that these cults can have over people. The guy who ran the thing appears to be a big nobody, and Mack was a costar on a top rated network program for a decade. It's kinda flabbergasting that she'd fall in with these people when, on the face of it, she had more success than the people who recruited her. What's a cult leader in upstate New York have to teach an actress about getting ahead, when that actress already has achieved more success than most aspiring actors ever will?

Just hard to wrap my head around the whole thing.

 

[Bob Cashill]

The right line of BS can pull anyone under. So sorry to hear this. I had dinner with John Glover once, about ten years ago, and he praised Mack to the skies.

 

[Garysb]

NY Times article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/nyregion/allison-mack-smallville-sex-trafficking.html

CNN:
Smallville' actress Allison Mack arrested for alleged role in sex trafficking case
By Sandra Gonzalez, CNN

Updated 8:07 PM ET, Fri April 20, 2018


(CNN)Actress Allison Mack, best known for her role as Clark Kent's clever confidant Chloe on CW's "Smallville," was indicted on Friday on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy, according to a statement released by the Justice Department.

Mack's arrest is related to her alleged involvement with an organization called Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ium), a group that claimed to be a self-help program but was, in reality, a pyramid scheme in which some recruits were exploited "both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants' benefit," according to U.S attorney Richard P. Donoghue.
Nxivm's founder, Keith Raniere, also known within the group as Vanguard, was also indicted on Friday.
"As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere," Donoghue stated.
A representative for the actress had no comment on her arrest.
John Marzulli with the U.S. Attorney's office confirmed to CNN that Mack entered a not guilty plea.
Raniere will be arraigned on a date that is still to be determined.
A statement posted on the homepage for the Nxivm website says the group is "working with the authorities to demonstrate [Raniere's] innocence and true character."
"We strongly believe the justice system will prevail in bringing the truth to light," the statement reads.
The allegations
Officials allege that Nxivm, based in Albany, New York, encourages recruits to pay thousands of dollars for courses to rise through the ranks of the organization and recruit others to do the same.
Officials say Mack, 35, is the co-creator of a program within Nxivm called The Source, which was targeted toward actors.
Mack and Raniere's charges stem from what officials say were activities that took place as part of a secret society within Nxivm called "DOS," in which women recruited others under false pretenses to perform sexual acts. Raniere was the sole male in DOS and the leader.
Until women recruited others, they were called "slaves." Those who successfully recruited were called "masters."
The indictment claims many so-called slaves were branded on their pelvic areas using a cauterizing pen with a symbol which, unbeknownst to them, incorporated Raniere's initials.
Mack is being accused by two unnamed women, identified in official documents as Jane Does 1 and 2, of directly or implicitly requiring them to engage in sexual activity with Raniere.
Mack allegedly received financial and other benefits from Raniere in exchange for the women's cooperation with their demands.
The women claim they were blackmailed into complying, as DOS has compromising information about them.
If convicted of the crimes charged, Raniere and Mack each face mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years' imprisonment, and up to life imprisonment.
Who is Allison Mack
Mack began acting at a young age but rose to popularity when she joined the cast of superhero series "Smallville," which told the story of a young Clark Kent's teen years.
The series first aired on the WB network in 2001 but became property of The CW network, after that network was created in 2006 by the merger of the WB with UPN.

"Smallville," which starred Tom Welling and Kristin Kreuk, ran for ten seasons, ending in 2011.
Though it attracted a conservatively sized audience, in its prime, "Smallville" had a passionate fan following.
Even many years after the show finished airing, cast members from the series are often paid to make appearances at various fan conventions across the country and world.
After "Smallville," Mack had roles on FX's "Wilfred" and NBC's "American Odyssey."
One of her most recent credits was a voice role in Amazon's animated series "Lost in Oz."

 

[Greg_S_H]

I think of J. Geils. But instead of my angel being a centerfold, she’s a psychopath.