...And So It Ends

[MatterEaterLad]

I would not say the first two seasons were "great"...tale after tale of "meteor freak" of the week. But they DID have some good moments in some episodes where you almost felt the pain of Clark trying to be a human and understand why he was not with Lana. I LOVED the episode with Bart Allen...there really was an idea of a teenager with super powers who is finally relieved that another person has some too...Clark's expression when the Flash smokes even his super speed is really cool (though no one ever explained how the shoes held up).

Then it got maudlin. Moping over Lana (to the point where even fans wanted Lana's character killed), Lex's mysterious motivations. The search for the "code" and a lot of "mystery" never resolved over season after season. To get away from this, the show suddenly started bringing in variations on DC characters, sometimes good, sometimes pretty bad. I could take Green Arrow, but when Supergirl suddenly was lecturing Clark...yuck. Tentative romance after romance. Chloe and some "false" Jimmy Olsen. Season long references to the Phantom Zone, Doomsday, Bizarro, Zodd - all culminating in weak  and quick conclusions. Characters in Metropolis driving back to the coffee shop in Smallville to enact scenes.

But the show had one thing. It was a really EMOTIONAL take on Superman. It was DIFFERENT. But the series finale threw it all away. Clark gets the suit, the Donner music is everywhere and suddenly he is play-acting exactly like the bumbling Kent from the the Donner movie.