Okay, so I just finished up the "Smallville" finale. I've been reading a ton of reviews of the final episode all over the internet, and for the most part, the finale was seemingly widely regarded as garbage. I disagree by taking the stance of "Well, what were you expecting?".
I've been a "Smallville" watcher for years now. I've seen every episode. The finale wasn't disappointing to me, because thanks to all the previous years of watching, I had set my expectations set pretty low. I'm a comic book nerd, and as a comic book nerd I felt it was my duty to watch "Smallville". I would even go so far as to say that "Smallville" helped shape my nerdiness, as I was all but a sophomore in high school when it premiered. There were a few ups to the show, and definitely some downs as well, but why trash the finale if you've been watching it all along?
Over the years there are a bunch of things I liked. I like the fact that Lynda Carter (the original Wonder Woman) played Chloe's mom. I like the fact that Helen Slater (the original Supergirl) played Laura El (Superman's mom), and the fact that Terry Hatcher, who played Lois Lane in "The New Adventures of Superman", was cast as Lois' mom in "Smallville". There were appearances by Dean Cain and Christopher Reeves, which I though was also an awesome tip of the hat to Superman. I also like that we got to see a variety of characters from the DC universe. We saw The Flash, Aquaman and Mera, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl, Black Canary, Hawkman (and the other members of the JSA), Darkseid, Zod, and the obvious Lex Luthor, Green Arrow, as well as countles others. The show allowed me to pay attention, but at the same time not. I have enjoyed the show, but I'm not quite sure how much I'll miss it.
The bad things about "Smallville" to me include things like Lana Lang (whom I felt to be the most irritating character of all time), lack of acting ability, the fact that Superman is called "The Blur", and the fact that after 10 years of waiting, we have to wait until the last 5 minutes of the series to watch Superman suit up and actually fly. The CG on that suit was sooooo bad. I have no idea what they were thinking.
The series finale was like any other episode of "Smallville". It didn't peak nor lose my interest. It was just kind of bland, like most every other episode. I mean, if you put all of the truly awesome episodes of "Smallville" together, you'd barely have a whole season, so there are some huge amounts of filler episodes in there.
I don't want to give anything away in the finale, so I'm leaving this all pretty vague. Basically, if you're like me, the bar is already set pretty low, so chances are, you won't be terribly disappointed, but you won't be elated either. The series had a great run, and a good ending, and I wasn't left wanting more, so all and all it was a pretty good ride.
As someone who never got into Smallville I cannot say I am going to miss it. I tuned in early on but it really felt like a monster of the week Buffyesque show. Later on I would check out any of the episodes that featured other superheros (and would have loved a JSA show!) but really never got a Superman show that went ten seasons without the cape.
ReplyDelete