Smallville
2009.03.29 - Sunday
Smallville is great. Just this weekend I finished watching the entire series up until the latest episode, and I'm really surprised that I didn't catch on to it sooner. I had seen the occasional show here and there; probably a half dozen of them, but honestly the impression I was always left with was that of a cheap show with bad dialogue. In a lot of ways it reminds me of "Babylon 5", another absolutely classic sci-fi series who's story is so good it trumps all of the production's faults. Apart from the first season, who's episodes are mostly all the same, "Smallville" is largely unwatchable as single, random episodes. Once the serial storyline gets going somewhere in season two, you're hooked.
"Smallville" is basically a Superman series, and Superman is pretty much my favourite comic hero, so it's hard not to like it. It's still frustrating that the show is into its eighth season and he's not flying yet, but from a budgetary point of view I understand it. They've managed to push the unassuming Clark Kent towards his eventual Superman destiny reasonably well, and in a realistic amount of time. Now that all of the pieces are starting to fall into place, it would be nice to have them fit together a bit more in what is sure to be the series' last legs. I don't know if Tom Welling has agreed to a tenth season of the show, but however long it goes, I think they have to get him into the suit at least for the finale. It seems kind of pointless to me to produce an entire series about a young Clark Kent's life without having him actually become Superman at the end.
The one thing about Superman that "Smallville" absolutely nails is his basic character. He's unapologetically positive and righteous. He doesn't kill. He hates to lie, though he's forced to do it time and again to protect his friends from knowing his identity, since being in his inner circle essentially amounts to a death sentence at the hands of any number of super-powered baddies. That's the reason that he's also incredibly lonely, spending evenings and weekends alone in a barn, unable to have any truly intimate relationships, all to protect the people he cares for. All of that eventually carries and develops into the Superman character, who has a single minded devotion to the protection of mankind at the expense of nearly every pleasure life has to offer.
The show also nails Lex Luthor. The comics and cartoons figured it out decades ago, so it's nice to finally see a filmed version that's done properly. Lex Luthor in the Superman films is an embarrassment. He's not supposed to be a petty criminal with above average intelligence, he's supposed to be a corporate mogul. A boardroom shark of the worst possible kind, who's obsessed with controlling everything around him, which is why he's fixated on the uncontrollable Superman. He's not necessarily evil, but he is completely amoral. His sick experiments and plots are always carried out in secret, and always through minions and fall guys. Superman always knows that Luthor and his company are behind the majority of Metropolis' pain, but it can never be proven. Ultimately, Lex is smarter, and that's the character we see develop in "Smallville".
The whole thing still makes me wish for a good Superman film. It's amazing that there have been five of them, all ranging from decent to horrid, but nothing you can honestly say is good. The comic stories have been amazing, the animated projects excellent. It's all right there in front of the film people, all laid out like a paint-by-numbers project, and they still can't piece it together.