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.

Epic ending to a fantastic story, I got goosebumps and wet eyes. Thanks for the journey Smallville, Im sad its already ending here, but all good must end some day and better it ends at its peak.

All the actors through the series have done such a great job bringing the story to live, and my favorite is and will be Lois and Clarks relationship in the end, just wow, so natural that it almost feels like its not a movie 😁 Now I will proberly just start watching it all over again 😂😀😁

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.

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

Thanks forever Smallville! What a epic and nostalgic final after ten seasons!! Incredible!!!