With apologies to Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh, I’ll take a Smallville season finale over their summer hit Superman Returns any day. I saw Superman Returns only a few weeks after I watched the fifth season finale of Smallville–its last on The WB–and when it ended I thought, “Cut out the part where Superman caught the falling airplane and the rest of this movie wouldn’t stand up against an average Smallville cliffhanger.”
The Smallville season premieres are pretty awesome, too, and this Thursday’s sixth season opener (acquired by MediaVillage for this exclusive review) is no exception. It delivers the goods in typical exciting style–no small feat for an aging series that is built upon a very specific, time-sensitive fantasy. This show’s innovative twist on the classic Superman legend was customized at the time of its premiere six years ago to explore the high school years of young Clark Kent, with the promise of “no tights and no flights.” Clark has long since graduated, and he has flown a time or two, but the series’ producers have managed to continue his story into manhood without betraying their original premise or putting star Tom Welling in a spandex costume.
Actually, it might not be that long until Welling finally dresses the part. The outcome of tomorrow night’s episode–the series’ first on its new home, The CW–makes clear that the creative team behind this show is going to recharge it yet again, and that Clark isn’t going to be so small-town anymore. Multiple plotlines from past seasons are satisfyingly wrapped up, prompting Clark to contemplate the next phase of his life.
“Everything’s changing,” he says near the end of the hour, reflecting on the outcome of recent events. “I don’t know where to go from here.”
“Every world needs its heroes,” his loving mother replies. “They inspire us to be who we are.”
The last episode of season five left every character on Smallville in dire peril–along with every living human being on Earth. Milton Fine (Brainiac to those in the know) died in spectacular fashion. The spirit of the evil General Zod was released from the Phantom Zone and took over the body of Lex Luthor. Zod released an electronic virus that was crippling all technology around the world. There were blackouts and riots on every continent. Cities were in flames. Lionel Luthor and intrepid young journalist Chloe Sullivan were about to be murdered by a mob. Lana Lang, having fallen in love with Lex, didn’t realize her beloved’s body was now home to one of the most ruthless and powerful beings in the galaxy. Lois Lane and Martha Kent were trapped on a plane that was careening out of control. And, in the wake of his battle with Fine, Clark had been trapped and sent to the Phantom Zone, a dimension created by his father Jor-El to contain the living consciousness of intergalactic evildoers.
All this action and plot advancement was really just business as usual. Since its unforgettable premiere in 2001, Smallville has powered its way through one ambitious science-fiction spectacle after another, seemingly unaware that it is a mere television series rather than a sweeping cinematic saga. Even in its usual mid-season lulls, Smallville never fails to engage the imagination of the viewer in a big way. (Its personal touches can hit home, as well. In last season’s most memorable episode Clark lost his Earth father, Jonathan Kent.)
Season six picks up in the midst of the far-ranging disaster brought on by Zod. Clark lands in the Phantom Zone and is attacked by creepy creatures. (This desert-like wasteland has a bleached, stark quality that calls to mind the production design of Supernatural, another transplant from The WB that will make its second season debut following Smallville on Thursday.) Martha winds up in the Fortress of Solitude and becomes a key player in a plan to kill Zod. Chloe makes her way to the Daily Planet and encounters Jimmy Olsen on his first day of work (“My first official day at the Planet and the world decides to end!” Jimmy exclaims). Lana and Lex-Zod watch Metropolis burn. (This Midwestern city has become so dark and dangerous of late it might be confused with Gotham City.) The only character with little to do is Lois Lane, who spends much of the hour unconscious.
If there is one complaint to be made, it would be the series’ predilection toward scenes of violence inflicted on pretty young Lana Lang. Easily the most brutalized woman on prime time, Lana has over the years been thrown across rooms, into walls and down stairs and endured more physical punishment than any ten professional wrestlers. She is tossed around in this episode, as well, and in a scene of truly shocking (and, I would argue, gratuitous) violence Lana is savagely impaled by the rotten Zod in a manner that would likely result in permanent injury. Great Caesar’s ghost! This has to stop!
Overall, this episode should satisfy Smallville‘s still vital fan base while providing a simple point of entry for new viewers or of re-entry for those who may have lapsed. Whoever thought a series that seemed destined for cult status would after spanning five seasons and crossing two networks still deliver on the promise of its ever-expanding premise, and still do it so well?
