Phantom

While season 6 as a whole was disappointing, and ranks among my least favourite seasons, it was shocking to me how good the finale "Phantom" really was. Not only is this a great season finale, I'd say it's probably the 2nd best finale in Smallville history, behind only season 4's "Commencement, and probably also in my top 3 or 4 Smallville episodes of all time.

I thought the season made many mistakes, but what Phantom does is make all of those weak moments and dull episodes pay off big time. The Phantom Zone escapees had been incredibly mishandled all season, but here we get a fantastic payoff, which not only surprised me, but had me more excited about the season 7 premiere than I had been for any Smallville episode in years. The best thing about the final battle between Clark and the Phantom is that it provides a satisfying climax for Clark, who as a character had been on the sidelines for much of the season. The Lana/Lex marriage actually worked well throughout the season, in my opinion, and the way that story concludes here was dramatically powerful thanks to some good writing, good acting (for a change on Lana's part) and a solid cliffhanger. Finally there's the revelation for Chloe's power, which again was handled poorly throughout the season, with too little time spent mentioning it. It was too easy to forget she was supposed to have a power, but when it is revealed, it was surprising and dramatic.

Every Smallville finale is packed with cliffhangers for all of the characters. Some seasons handle it well, like season 2 and 4, where all of the characters are left in tight spot, but all still fit together as part of the overall story. Others seasons have multiple cliffhangers, yet it feels like the writers just came up with an idea off the top of their heads and never properly worked it into the story. Every cliffhanger in "Phantom" works well on it's own, and builds the drama on the other stories. This is as close to a perfect episode as you'll find in Smallville.