Finale

The preceding (9th) season of Smallville was my least favorite--a 4/10 star stinker. Finally given an endgame to shoot for, the series improves a bit on that performance here--but unfortunately not as much as one might hope. The plotting and character beats still bump up against the same old problems that the series forever harbored.

I'll start with the good: every S10 episode feels like a wrap-up, of sorts, bringing back an old character for a denouement or bidding farewell to a fond location. This is a marked improvement over the parade-rest stalling of S9 which became interminable. A few episodes--such as Homecoming, Beacon, and the two-part Finale--are surprisingly emotionally affecting for such a long-in-the-tooth show.

Alas, the series still gets stuck in the molasses swamp in two key arenas:

First and foremost, it seemingly can't keep an arc in its head for more than a couple episodes at a time. The last time the series attempted a long arc was the decent Doomsday angle back in S8. There are actually some interesting ideas thrown around in this S10, such as...

-The U. S. government's reaction to superheroes.

-The notion that Darkseid preys on the evil within human hearts.

-The "Earth 2" arc, which really teased some interesting character combinations and allowed old friends to return. In all honesty, the entire season could have been built around this and it might have been more successful overall.

-Clark Kent (Tom Welling) coming to terms with the hero he is destined to become, including a relationship with Lois Lane (Erica Durance) that in these later seasons produced some surprising chemistry (considering Lois could have been voted "most annoying character" in her early goings on the show).

Sadly, none of those arcs realize their full potential because the writers seemingly cannot (or will not) commit to any of them. More of a "mix everything in a bowl" approach as opposed to really digging in to the pacing and storytelling.

Character-wise, Smallville's tenth go-around also does the thing it has engaged in since the Pilot...that being allowing plots to dictate character motivations rather than the other way around. Here, the way a character is utilized in any given episode is almost 100% predicated on "what this week needs" rather than any sort of past precedent. This approach renders character consistency moot and undercuts much of the potential emotional fertile ground. It is really tough to truly feel anything towards characters that are pulled hither and yon depending on what the plot calls for this particular 42 minutes.

Overall, I settle on a right-down-the-middle 5/10 ranking for Smallville's curtain call campaign. Does the season deliver a solid finale? Yes. But ultimately the breadth of the campaign bandies about a lot of interesting possibilities without committing to any of them. Pair this with no more than surface-level (if that, at times) character depth and you have a season that feels like a different show every week--and Smallville isn't supposed to be an anthology.

I wanted to check out this series because I had read Arrow compared to it quite a bit over the years. This series was ok but I would have quit seasons ago if not for the character of Oliver. He really embodied what a hero should be. His integrity, his comedic timing, saying so much with just a facial expression...I loved the CW series Arrow and their version of Oliver Queen. It is one of my all time favorite series. Justin Hartley's Oliver is different, but just as great. He kept me watching when the overall angst got to be too much. I actually liked so many characters - Lex, Lana, Lois, Lionel, Chloe, Jimmy, Martha, Tess and others...all such great portrayals, lots of depth and complexity. The only character I really did not like is Clark. Which is ironic because he is the central character. The longer the series went on, the less I liked him - to the point I just forwarded through many of his scenes. I found him to be the worst Clark/Superman I've ever watched. He was often so incredibly self-centered, lied to excess to EVERYONE who meant anything to him, REPEATEDLY. He was a horrible boyfriend to every one of his girlfriends. And he was so self-righteous! Ugh!! He held everyone else to a standard that he never set for himself. It would have been different if he grew and matured during the series into the kind of man a hero should be. But I didn't see it happen, not to the degree it should have. Probably because this version of Clark never had it in him like he should have. To the end, he still fell back into his whiny ways. Give me Dean Cain's or Tyler Hoechlin's versions of the character. Because they both showed character and integrity. I think they embody the kind of person I've always felt Clark/Superman should be. Still with flaws like we all have but they were/are both heroic. But Smallville's version of Clark was a major disappointment, over and over. I can't believe how much I disliked him. But all the other characters made it watchable and enjoyable.

And Oliver and Chloe's relationship was so great to watch that I could ignore Clark to see them and make it through to the end of the series.

Three months after it was aired in the US, I in France just came at last to see Smallville's finale and... oh my God! I was screaming and laughing and crying in front of my screen: at last I was seeing the true Superman live again! Tom Welling was meant to wear the blue suit and red cape, he was made to be Superman; for the first time since the 1978 movie with regretted Christopher Reeve, I saw this symbol of hope, flying with his red cape in the wind and the mythical music theme of John Williams as a bonus. This final double episode was really satisfying, with beloved guest-stars and many brilliant ideas to link together the series with the universe of the comics. Of course, not everything was perfect, for example Lois and Clark's relationship was not quite as bubbly as usual, but they're cute nevertheless, and I believe that every fan found what they expected. I think we can congratulate Smallville's writers and producers for the coherence and inventiveness of the universe they created and its respect for its model. They took the stand for 10 years and they can be proud of their work.

There is question endlessly debated about how Johnathan can be able to make physical contact with Martha who doesn't think anything of it. While never directly addressed there's a answer from earlier in the season Brainiac-5. Earlier in this season we saw Brainiac, the Brain Interactive Construct as he was intended to be: a much kinder, update of himself called Brainiac-5. He taught Clark to stop being afraid, stop punishing himself and everyone around him for past mistakes and to embrace his future. When Evil Brainiac tried to convince Clark to kill Lionel it was by pretending to be Johnathan Kent. He could physically interact with everyone. So why wouldn't the more benign, supportive Brainiac 5 we saw in Homecoming take Johnathan's form trying to give Clark a gift? Everyone seems fixated on how Johnathan could be back from the dead and Clark's wedding and a room full of people not notice, but that's just it: There's nothing to say anyone except Clark and Martha can even see him. When Johnathan interacts with them, you can kind of see that he's just there for his friends and recognizing the importance of this moment...but not entirely sharing it. The hesitation in putting his hand on Martha's shoulder in the barn. Knowing it would be comforting but worried about over-stepping. To Have Johnathan there in some form for a moment as important as the wedding. But the main reason I don't think this is actually a beyond the grave incarnation is Johnathan does seem to be talking about himself a step-removed here, like he hesitates to refer to himself as Clark's father. Andf that Johnathan has NEVER 5 had so little reluctance in referring to Jor'el as Clark's father. It really sounded like this was coming from someone who knew and respected Jor'el, and always had. Like J'onn Jo'nzz or someone from Krypton.

Cassidy Freeman wasn't on set with anyone. Everything felt if not particularly rushed, more grand, fantastical and sweeping than anything that had come before it. Everything did happen pretty much at once. A little jarring but it was an adrenaline-filled season finale; the fast pace and 'no time' feeling probably was what they were actually going for. I actually saw Crisis on Infinite Earths of the CW Arrow-verse, before I saw this final season. I was wondering why Clark was so chill about President Lex Luthor apparently being in town. Clark was so cool with it because Lex didn't remember any of this! He was no longer the monster we've come to know over the past few seasons and might have been just a normal politician. He had truly been freed from the shackles of being raised, then confused and angered by Lionel as well as his feelings of betrayal with Clark's secrets and having judgment on speed dial season 5 onward. He explained in season six's Nemesis he got sick of Clark always having judgment on speed-dial, assuming the worst of him. And now he doesn't have to deal with what he perceived as a knife in his back and the loss of his best friend much less the circumstances of that loss. Tess didn't exactly redeem him, but did give him a truly precious gift: An unshackled future. Which apparently held 20 years later when Supergirl's Lex showed up, Tom Welling's Clark mentioned Lex was president. And actually seemed 1,000% cool about it.

I just want to say thank you smallville And thanks to everyone in this show, I know maybe it's not the greatest but I am really glad watched it