Smallville Season 4 thread (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan Carter]

Come on, I'm a huge Angel and Buffy fan also, have been from day 1, but those shows had their share of problems also so let's not make it seem like they were lights years more superior.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I agree with Jonathan. This forum has gone from constructive criticism to just bitching.
If you dont like it, there's always Hawaii or Lost or some reality show.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

They didn't make it seem Lex had to worry about any treatments for his poison or whatever, in this episode. Is he over it?

 

[Kenny_H]

Hmmm, lots of discussion on the current season of Smallville! After scanning the above pages, i've noticed that no one has made mention or connection to Belle Reve that was mentioned by Lionel Luthor. In the D.C. universe it is a government run, high security housing for some of their most dangerous criminals. The title of the series was THE SUICIDE SQUAD, it featured various non-redeemable criminals released from that facility and sent on missions where one (or more) weren't expected to return. It was run primarily by a woman named Amanda Waller, a no B.S. type, who stood up to and recruited Batman to keep them in line on these missions. I'm sure SMALLVILLE is putting its own spin on this facility for holding superhuman types. I'm interested in seeing where this goes. As someone who intentionally did not read the upcoming cast additions/spoilers before the season started, i'm getting a real kick out of this as it unfolds. Just my 2 cents. Enjoy!!!

 

[BrianBr]

Mikel,

No offense... but you shouldn't complain about people bitching... and telling people that they should just watch something else is a bit rude!

For reference, just look at many of your messages in the Enterprise thread... where many people who enjoy the show have told you the same thing! What's the diff?

 

[todd s]

Kenneth, I made mention of Belle Reve about 5 posts up from yours. But, your info reminded me of the Suicide Squad connection.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

Agh!

Everything that was fantastic about the first episode of this season (see my previous post about my likes & dislikes) was totally backwashed by Episode Number two.

What a festering episode this was. Were the writers HIGH on something? Was there a lack of ventilation in the writing room, and the toxic fumes were getting to them? The biggest mystery of the season is how this episode made it to the screen!

Where to begin?!?

Ah, the villain of the week. Hi, I'm a T-1000 clone, nice to meet you. Not only do I have the same powers, I morph the same way, and create the same weapons. I have about as much of a personality as roll of aluminum foil. Oh, and when you kill me, please do it in a foundry in front of a big boiling vat of molten metal, because that's original.

Lana Lana Lana, go somewhere far away without telephones, internet, or electricity. Lose yourself in the moment, get preggy with someone, and just get a life outside of the show. After so much hearfelt deliberation in Season 3 about whether or not she should leave Smallville, she's back, and more annoying than ever. "I have a tattoo on my back now, I guess I should go home! Forget all that soul-searching I did before - I was just kidding. Goodbye Paris, Smallville, here I come!". And when she comes home, where does she setup shop? The Talon! Oh god, the Talon! Wait, wait, let me guess... what's next? Do I forsee a coffee shop in the future? And don't get me started on Mr. Cardboard cutout boyfriend, because you know how any guy is going to chase halfway around the world to be with his flaky 2 month "girlfriend". Buddy, you're a pussy!

(I wonder how long it'll take for this guy to get all up in Clark's face, and oh the joy of the conflict between those two, as Lana pouts in the background about how difficult these silly boys can be.)

Oh look, Chloe's back! Yey! One of the more promising potential storylines introduced by the Season 3 finale cliffhanger, and they pull a bullshit explanation out of their rectums! Excuse me for that little flashback, but I clearly remember seeing the fireball consume Chloe & her poppa during the finale's musical montage. There were NO soldiers there to carry them away in time! There was NO conveniently placed Harriet Tubman underground railroad tunnel! My god, I'm typing that, and I can't believe how rediculous that entire plot resolution is! Talk about rewinding, backpeddaling, and insulting the audience's intelligence! It's like the producers did a double-take, and decided that they didn't REALLY want to kill Chloe, so let's introduce these rediculous circumstances to fix our collective mind-fuck.

Ok, so now Chloe's alive. How do they handle it? Same as usual... she's in peril, and 5 minutes later Clark is there to save the day. Where'd daddy? Who cares... he's not important anyway. He's... somewhere, having a cup of coffee and reading this month's issue of Maxim with Avil on the cover. Of course, now that Chloe's saved, do we spend any time covering the trauma that she's gone through during this ordeal? No, of course not, because the more interesting story is all about Lana and her fucking flowers.

Boooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a strong supporter of this show, I'm very disappointed that this is the direction that the writers are chosing to take. Every risk & interesting plotline has been "elegantly" resolved, only two episodes into the season. Bah!

I'm holding out hope that this was just one of the bastard episodes of the series (see NOS episode for a good example of what I'm talking about), and that something a little bit more appealing presents itself in the months to come.

Moe.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

You need to ask? There's really no comparison in the quality of Smallville and Enterprise. I think Smallville has always been a couple of notches above the lazy writing of Enterprise but, that's my opinion.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

The main difference between the Smallville & Enterprise threads (and I've beat this drum to death!) is that, in the Smallville threads people complain about the show. In the Enterprise threads though, people tend to make it personal.

We've been round and round and round this issue ad nauseum regarding Enterprise. Let's not make this a problem with Smallville too...

Moe.

 

[Phil Dally]

I see a Lois Lane spin-off much like Nancy Drew Mysteries.

And what kind of sick being would want to use their x-ray vision to see Chloe blown to bits in her coffin??

 

[Holadem]

Exactly! One or two more eps and everything will be back to the way it's ALWAYS been. Nothing seems to ever have any lasting consequence in Smallville, people don't change, the dreaded RESET button is never to far away .

Listen guys, I don't enjoy bashing this show, I WANT to enjoy it like everyone else. The waisted potential is just extremely frustrating. Somehow I had managed to work myself up for this new season because of that gutsy finale but this second ep just reminded me of everything I hat frustrates me about this show.

--
H

 

[Jason Seaver]

The show's biggest asset is also its biggest curse - everyone knows the Superman mythology, that Clark eventually moves to Metropolis, takes a job with the Daily Planet, and appears as Superman without anyone but the Kents and Pete Ross being the wiser. Mess with that too much, and the producers risk alienating or confusing the audience.

 

[Matt Stone]

Exactly. And I'm not going to start talking about "wasted potential" in the second episode of the season. Last season, Jonathan reset the show by making the deal with Jor-El and getting Clark back. The show "got back to normal" ...except it had to deal with the consequences of that choice, as well as the key/cave paintings for the rest of the season. I'm sure they're going to have to continue dealing with Lionel, not to mention the Clark/Kal-El duality. The choices made in the first two episodes will have consequences.

I'm not saying that people who don't like the show are wrong...I'm just saying that it's too early for me to judge.

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

I smell a writer's reset coming. Too much stuff going on. Here are the things that I think will be reset:

T-1000 / Belle Reve connection
Lana's tattoo
Lois' existence this early in the Supes timeline
Lionel's conviction
Chloe's resolution

some other things.

We shall see. I am a dedicated fan. In other words the only decent actress in the young cast has just returned (Chloe). She needs a boyfriend. Call me a Chloe-'shipper.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Did the underground railroad even run through Kansas? It was farther west than any of the slave states and I thought the Underground Railroad primarily moved people north to Canada.

 

[Kenny_H]

Hey Todd, you are right! I must have scanned too fast. Maybe it was because of of some of the more repetitive and um, how do I say this politely...venting comments about what should or should not be included in this series. As someone who have read D.C. (and Marvel) comics since a kid (i'm 49 now), i'm just going w/the flow. Good or bad, it has me as a viewer.

 

[JustinCleveland]

Kansas and the Underground Railroad

 

[Dan Rudolph]

That's in Kansas City, only a few miles from the border. I got the impression Smallville isn't too near there.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

I'll admit that I'm guilty of that... my apologies if it seems extreme.

I just see a lot of wasted potential with the beginning of this season, given the high-point on which Season 3 ended. Considering the displays of creative genius displayed by the writing staff in previous episodes, I'm just expecting a higher level of creativity & storytelling. Maybe it's expecting too much from a series on the W.B. (considering that this is a mix of Teen Drama & the Superman mythos), but the bar was set high by some of the previous episodes & storylines, and it bugs me when they purposely limbo below that bar to seemingly make things easier on themselves.

Moe.

 

[Eddy-C]

The thing that pissed me off the most about episode 2 was that the writers thought Lana and her new boyfriend were more important than Lionel's trial and Chloe's return. i wish the writers would get over their lana-obsession. She's the one link in this show that I can't stand.

Michael Rosembaum was really...devilish in that last scene with Lionel. Think he'll join the dark side, this season?