"Smallville": C or D???

But when Clark sez the only way to rescue some hostages in the LexCorp building is to jump from the roof of the adjacent Daily Planet and Pa Kent sez, "But aren't you afraid of heights?" = CLASSIC.

I think Smallville would probably replace Buffy in my ... loyalties, for lack of a better word ... if I weren't invested in the characters on Buffy and watching mostly just to see how everything turns out. So yeah, I can see that.

Has there been a new episode since the Christopher Reed guest-star one where Clark learned how to read Kryptonian?

I don't -think- so. But I've missed some episodes, including some of the ones that have been shown lately, so at the time I wasn't sure if they were reruns or not. But I figure they must be, since Clark hasn't been going around going, "Holy crap, I'm a Kryptonian. Dig me."

The ad for next episode has Clark referring to his home planet as Krypton, though, so must be new.

See, that's the main thing I'm digging in the show: Clark's gradual discovery of who he is, what his powers are, his putting together the Superman mythology we already know. It could be done really crappily and/or really campily, and they're pretty much avoiding both so far (I think red K could've been introduced in a way other than making it the stones for the class rings, but the episode itself was cool). The dreams of flying, thinking maybe he'd managed to fly in the season premiere, that leap off the skyscraper where he's just flailing around like he's gonna make a basket -- that stuff rocks :)

Biggest surprise for me: I really, really like John what's-his-name as Jonathan Kent.

.. I can't believe I am old enough to type something like that.

Clark is a great axis for all the others to pivot round. Like Franz Beckenbaur.

Lex is plain sexy. Bald: rowr.

Chloe & Pete are hugely underwritten.

The investigations of family: intriguing.

Having Lionel blind in the 2nd series: k-classic.

I am loving this a lot, repeating the first series on early-morning channel 4 has turned me onto it in a big way and can't wait for them to start repeating Series 2 so I can fill in my gaps.

Red Kryptonite?

I suppose this is doing for me what Buffy does for a lot of others.

Chloe ist serr gut.

How does the Lex-Clark relationship evetually sour?

And yeah, if I weren't already invested in Buffy, Smallville would be my Buffy, I have no doubt.

After DC's Crisis rewrite, I don't know that there is any more explanation than that they are two contradictory people seeking to grab the heart of Metropolis (=>US=>the world), and the businessman approach we are seeing is much more in keeping with that. There's something of the same sense here of Luthor Sr and Jonathan Kent struggling to define the soul of Smallville in this show.

So I have no idea how the Lex/Clark split comes. It doesn't have to, of course - if they are never to introduce the separate identity of Superboy/man, the split is not inevitable. It already can't be reconciled with Lois & Clark, so what constraints are there?

I think even if there is a Clark/Lex split of sorts, it's going to be much more interesting because of their history -- even if they're on opposite sides of something, there's going to be some measure of mutual respect, and if the writers don't drop the ball, that could make for really good television. Of course, like Martin says, that split doesn't ever have to occur, and I think the show could be equally strong either way.

I can't articulate fully why I love this but I'll be crass: it is the first show that I've been able to chart the complexity of 'character' in. (As I said, I don't normally look for this sort of thing and am always bedazzled when you people talk about character arcs and developments and subtleties and the like on the Buffythreads.) Now, I 'get' it.

I'm not making a case, more a personal note.

Another show I've recently started watching, speaking of that -- Roswell, since it's in reruns on the Sci Fi network. Kind of wish I'd watched it when it was new.

On a side note, I wonder what will happen after high school. "Metropolis", anyone?

Yes, I know. Also, what happened before he started wearing glasses?

Someone told me the voice of Jor-El was done by Terrence Stamp (General Zod in the Superman movies) -- I hope that's not a hint that it isn't -really- Jor-El, because I still think the whole "holy crap, I was sent to rule the world?" reversal of the Buffyangst is where some of the show's biggest potential lies. From the start, I've been wanting them to abandon canon in some kind of major way, something more significant than any of the changes of the previous filmed incarnations.

And yeah, the Luthors really make the show. I've always loved John Glover, and damn, even when he chews scenery, he just does it with such ... smarmy charm.

My one complaint about the show is the pacing of the season, which is maybe something I'm noticing more because Buffy, which airs the same night, suffered from such slowness this year. Every time Smallville pulls something where I'm like, "Damn, I wonder where this is gonna go," it takes a long time to get there. Maybe they're gonna do it like the X-Files, though, and wait until they're confident enough of a stable audience to do episodes that really require you to have been watching.

And dig Chloe!

What I want to see next season: as much of the Luthors as possible. Less relationship angst. I mean, yeah, it's not only integral to the teen-protagonist show, it's also sort of built into the Superman mythos. I get that. Please play less Dawson-appropriate music during it, though. We can hear the angst loud and clear without the soundtrack. More Christopher Reeve. More spooky revelations about Krypton. Appearances by other DC Universe folks -- young (or even not young) Bruce Wayne or Barry Allen or somebody like that. More Clark-developing-his-powers, but keep working up to the flying thing slowly. And Bizarro. I mean, come on. Lionel's got clones going, and an obsession with all things Kryptonian. Clone Clark, LL! You know you want to!

And yet, I continue to watch because it's before Angel and I *do* think that Tom Welling is cute.

It's more like an update of Lassie.

Pete is boring. I don't know if the street-racing episode was an attempt to make him less boring, or what. If so, I don't think it worked.

Lex is underused this season, after a strong beginning with him, but I'm hoping that'll change.

I'm also put off by the clumsy insertion of Superman references. "I always thought my dad was a man of steel," "Which are you, Clark? Man or superman?"

[Also, I have not seen most of seasons 1 & 2, just bits and pieces, but Jonathan used to be *more* corny? My god!]

The street-racing episode was interesting in some respects, from a directorial standpoint at the very least... The argument scenes between Clark and Pete were filmed with a handheld, giving it a bit of urgency, and after Pete was beaten up he was awfully bloody, which gave his desperation in front of Clark a bit more weight. And it seemed to have a bit of a different color palette, but that might have been my imagination. The show always seems jarringly oversaturated to me.

Also, I'm not sure how many actors on that show are just bad and how many are badly directed. My instinct is that Kristin Kreuk can't act at all, but that Tom Welling has a certain subtlety that sometimes bleeds through (he had a great moment in Obsession where he told his parents that he hadn't revealed his Kryptonite weakness to what's-her-name-teleporting girl, and looked really really childishly proud of himself for keeping that a secret).

I agree on Kristin Kreuk, though; she's eye candy enough for me to buy Clark being into her, but I'm not going to feel any "but they were meant to be together!" pangs when he eventually moves on.

Jonathan wasn't more corny in this particular series, necessarily, but between the movies and comics, the other TV shows ... trust me, you're getting the best Jonathan yet :) (I guess the one in the Christopher Reeve Superman movie wasn't bad, but he wasn't there for long, either.)

The Superman puns are dorky, and they sometimes feel like the writers think the audience needs to be reminded who Clark Kent is when he grows up, but someone out there must like em, I guess.

I was thinking Adam Knight was Bruce Wayne at first, since he showed up around sweeps and there were/are plans to bring Bruce Wayne in this season ... but now, who knows.

And while I understand the need for his secrecy, it has become a much bigger issue than it should be and unnecessarily hinders the show. Though maybe this is a bit of a Superman history issue, in that the Clark Kent/Superman dichotomy are so important to the mythology that no one would ever be able to take the idea that there's a group of kids in Clark's old hometown who know exactly what he is. But hey, that can be solved by killing them all in the season finale.

I wish they were more willing to let Adam be as much good as he is evil, but it seems like they're pushing him firmly towards the evil camp, though with hints of unwilling victimhood.

It's Tony and Angela right now, and yeah: I was hoping Adam would shake that up more than he did. I was really hoping Adam would turn out to be Bruce Wayne, because one of the show's biggest potential strengths -- and maybe why I give it more credit than it deserves sometimes, because I want it to survive long enough to explore that potential -- is the ability to flesh out Clark's background in ways everyone will appreciate, even people who've never read a comic book or seen any of the movies, because some stuff everyone knows. How cool would it be if the first time Superman and Batman met, long before either of them was Superman or Batman, they were fighting over the same chick? They're maybe the two most different well-known superheroes, and it would just add to that contrast.

Unfortunately, they're not doing that.

And while I understand the need for his secrecy, it has become a much bigger issue than it should be and unnecessarily hinders the show. Though maybe this is a bit of a Superman history issue, in that the Clark Kent/Superman dichotomy are so important to the mythology that no one would ever be able to take the idea that there's a group of kids in Clark's old hometown who know exactly what he is. But hey, that can be solved by killing them all in the season finale.

I wonder if they're worried about comparisons to Buffy? I think the best bet would be to let more people know -- although I suppose there's the question of how to do that without Lex being one of them, and one of the problems with Tom Welling's imperfect acting is that I'm really not sure how well Clark trusts Lex. More than the audience does, but how much more?

That would actually make for a really good season finale, though. The series needs to grab the bull more often -- I thought the season opener this season was great, in that respect, with Clark being a dick in Metropolis, but it petered off a bit after that.

And yeah, I wish they would flesh out the mythos a bit more... But they seem to be actively focusing on ways to keep the story from moving forward. To end the season in the same place it started.

And not being familiar with Superman... Will Jonathan die? The show really needs something like that to shape it up, though I dread the episode it happens [it won't be "The Body", that's for sure].

I think we're also spoiled somewhat by the post-X-Files, post-Buffy television world where that's not the default; I can never quite decide if Smallville is trying to play it safe, since more mythos-building shows die than survive (but if that's what they're doing, they need to ask themselves how many non-mythos-building genre shows survive). I've been watching Roswell lately, since the DVDs for season 1 just came out, and it's kind of reminding me of that -- every episode, there's slight movement forward, but most of it revolves around the mapping of high school angst to "hey, here's some aliens."

(On the other hand, does Smallville have enough angst?)

And not being familiar with Superman... Will Jonathan die? The show really needs something like that to shape it up, though I dread the episode it happens [it won't be "The Body", that's for sure].

They can go either way -- in some of the comics, and in the movie, Jonathan dies early on. In others, he doesn't. I thought they were going to kill him, but then they did the punch-pulling bit again (or it seems that way, at least).

I had a small crush with Mr. Tom (it's gone the way of all flesh now), but I prefer Angel, if only because no one is writing theological essays on Lana as a suffering saint.

And as I recall, in the old Superman television show, the dad kicks off in the pilot episode (of a heart attack, no less).

Well, one of the show's flaws is it tries to create angst about largely inconsequential events.
And Clark has no particular purpose. Perhaps if he was really actively, obsessively pursuing his history, that could be interesting? It would give him something to do. It would give them all something to do.

Please talk me out of this, as I really do hate this show.

The show still sucks, but I find it so much more entertaining now. I think it's the introduction of that novel concept called "humor" that makes it more watchable now.

That said, the whole Lana witchcraft story arc is terrible.

The dog episode was adorable.

And Tom Wopat is guest starring at some point too. Uhh...hee.

I just really wish they would kill off Chloe and Lana. And they're rather irrelevant now that they've brought in Lois.

It's still dumb, but the sort of dumb that I love.

Smallville is a dud...yet I can't help but watch.

I didn't even realize this was still on the air.

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Sunday, October 16, 2005 8:24 PM (3 years ago)

RIP I guess.

I think I will probably get home in time to see him turn into Georgechristopher Reeeve(s).

so has Terence Stamp's face ever appeared as Jor-El?

Watching this. I don't know what's going on. They did the Darkseid Apocalypse story?

I quite enjoyed that.

For a show I used to really dislike, it came a long way and that was a really great way to end it.