'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
'Smallville' Season 10, Episode 21 (Series Finale) Recap
by Mike Moody, posted May 14th 2011 2:30PM
['Smallville' – 'Finale']'Smallville' ended its ten-season run with an alternately exciting and disappointing finale, which, if you think about it, suits the series perfectly.
The show has always offered a consistent mix of the inspiring and the awful, even from the perspective of a Superman/comic book fan like me.
I loved seeing this story come to life on the tube, and, in some ways, this modern re-telling of Superman's early years was more thrilling and fun than almost any other Superman origin tale. But, at its heart, 'Smallville' was always a sappy teen soap loaded with clunky sci-fi/fantasy mythology elements.
The show carried on in that often clumsy, unsophisticated vein all the way to the end, but there's one thing 'Smallville' always got right – the depiction of Clark Kent as a beacon of light for all humanity.
The finale – well, at least the last 15 minutes or so -- celebrated what we love most about Clark Kent/Superman – his power to delight and inspire us, or, simply put, his awesomeness.
Tom Welling's Clark Kent finally strapped on the blue tights and red cape that Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh and, er, Dean Cain wore before him. And he flew! The image of Welling wearing the classic Superman garb (while quick and mostly CGI) and flying around saving the world was pretty satisfying. But, unfortunately, we had to sit through countless minutes of poorly paced padding, filler, and manufactured conflict to get there.
The bulk of this two-hour finale was just painful to watch. We're all probably used to 'Smallville' rehashing the same old themes, frustrating conflicts and vacuous ideas over and over again by now, but all that stuff seemed more cumbersome and anticlimactic than ever here. For much of the first half, I kept thinking, "Blah, blah blah, I'm tired of this convoluted identity issue business, LET'S GET TO THE GOOD STUFF, SHOW!"
And by "good stuff," I don't only mean the suit and the flying. I was hoping for some fun superhero action with the Darkseid storyline, and perhaps another Justice League meetup, or, I don't know, something a little more compelling than watching Clark learning to view, accept and harness his life experiences as a whole. I mean, hasn't Clark been down this road a million times before? The details might have been different, but Clark's internal journey here didn't feel new or interesting.
And the excessive will-they-or-won't-they-get-hitched business between Lois and Clark reached epic levels of romance novel slushiness, which was super annoying, especially in the scene that took place in and outside the apartment. (Did I see Clark hump that apartment door once? Because I could swear I did.) But luckily, Erica Durance's plucky performance made most of the long and mushy romance scenes bearable.
A lot of screen time here was devoted to making sure the characters and the situations lined up with Superman canon as best it could. One of the most enjoyable things about this decision was the return of the excellent Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor. I liked that the episode didn't strive to give us an over-the-top explanation for why Lex was coming back. As Lionel Luthor said, Lex was into cloning, most of his experiments failed, and this one (this super secret one!) didn't fail. Simple.
The insane Luthor family drama between Lionel, (Lu)Tess(a) and Lex was fun to see play out here. The Luthors are dark and twisted, and they're all played by the three best actors on the show. Any scene with the Luthors in this finale felt like it was imported from a better, darker, stranger show.
Earth-2 Lionel sacrificed himself for Lex, which felt appropriate somehow, since Lex murdered original Lionel. And we finally saw Lex come face to face with Tess, whose life of constantly being kidnapped, beaten and having guns stuck in her face came to an end before the episode was done.
I didn't like seeing Tess go. It felt like the only reason she died was because, maybe, Lex didn't have a sister in the classic Superman comics or in the Richard Donnor movies, which inspired a lot of the finale's final act. Again, the show was lining up its characters and situations with canon here, as Tess made sure that Clark's secret was wiped from Lex's mind before she died.
Oliver's arc in the finale felt a bit silly and pointless, but I did like seeing him destroy Darkseid's unholy trinity with his bow and arrow. His succumbing to The Darkness really only culminated in the fight with Clark in the church, which only served to ruin that lovely walking down the aisle scene.
Yes, I liked the wedding scene, even if it was a little disturbing to see Ghost Pa Kent in the pews, and even if Clark and Lois didn't actually get married. The image of Clark walking Lois down the aisle was simple and sweet, and it was more emotional and compelling than all the tiring relationship drama we had to watch at the start of the episode.
But the really cool stuff didn't start happening until the end, when Jor-El played a video reel of Clark's greatest hits, inspiring our Supermanboy to believe in himself and fly. Did anyone else smile when Clark started hovering and then obliterated Darkseid by flying right through him? That was awesome.
The scene with Clark meeting Lex was also very interesting, as it played on the classic Lex Luthor-Superman dynamic. Lex admitted that he was jealous of Clark's power, and he was disgusted by Clark's humble personality and attitude. Through Lex's self-serving eyes, such power should only be granted to someone who could easily embrace it, not to a farm boy who struggles to blend in. Lex embraced his destiny and role as Clark's main foe, but he also helped inspire him to become Superman.
Seeing Ghost Pa Kent pop up was a little awkward and creepy until his final appearance, when he arrived in the fortress to hand Clark his costume. It was a great moment, as Jor-El admitted that his time with the Kents made Clark a hero, and Jonathan smiled and said, "Always hold on to Smallville." Clark was finally able to embrace his Kryptonian side and his human side equally, as he took the costume and flew out of the fortress to save the day.
The episode became a mini Superman movie after Clark did his cool mid-air quick change. Dressed in the red and blue, he saved Lois by righting the plane and pushed Apokolips out of the atmosphere. The thought of the fire planet encroaching on Earth never really felt all that threatening, but it made for a great visual as a caped Superclark flung it out into space.
From a fan's perspective, the John Williams 'Superman' score made everything feel more profound and exciting (though I'm sure it may have felt a little excessive to everyone else).
I also appreciated the seven-year time jump. Chloe and Ollie had a kid (who was obsessed with Superman, which really has to get Ollie's goat), the Real Jimmy Olsen popped up acting all Jimmy Olsen-like, we heard Perry White use his nutty catch phrase, and mild mannered reporter Clark Kent stumbled on the stairs in full view of star reporter Lois Lane. Oh, and Lex was president. It all just felt right.
The final scene was a joy to watch. Someone was in need of saving, so Clark rushed to the roof, flung off his jacket and tore open his shirt to reveal the classic Superman "S" on his chest as the music soared.
The finale as a whole felt tedious and uneven for the most part, but that last shot was nice, 'Smallville.' Very, very nice.
OK, 'Smallville' nerds, it's time to tell us what you thought about this finale. Did it live up to your expectations? Did you want to see Clark spend more time in the suit? Did you appreciate the homage to the original movies and comics? What were some of your favorite scenes and moments? Let's hear it in the comments.
The CW will rebroadcast the 'Smallville' series finale on Thursday at 8PM ET.
Follow @mikemoody on Twitter
34 Comments