Smallville Series Finale
What you may have missed…
In case you hadn’t heard, tonight (well, last night, officially) marked the final episode of the CW’s Smallville. Premiering ten years ago on the then WB, this show followed the adventures of a high school aged Clark Kent as his powers first began to develop. Starring Tom Welling as Clark, Michael Rosenbaum (voice of the animated Justice League‘s Flash) as Lex, John Glover as Lionel, and Annette O’Toole and John Schneider as Ma and Pa Kent respectively, it was an instant hit. Over the years, it’s… faltered… at times, but in the past three seasons, it finally hit its stride, with each at one point or another having been touted as its “last.” But thanks to recent additions, most notably Erica Durance’s Lois Lane and Justin Hartley’s Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, it earned repeated stays of execution. This season, though, the hammer was to fall, and the writers, directors, and producers decided they were going out with a bang. As each season has featured an over-arcing theme/villain, this season’s was the arrival of Darkseid to Earth, opposite Clark’s final ascension to Superman. To that end, the season has been fairly fantastic. But the finale?
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Let’s just do this by the numbers, shall we?
- Shouldn’t a planet the size of Apokolips suddenly arriving in Earth’s orbit cause horrible planetwide destruction due to its gravitational field? I learned this from the episode of G1 Transformers where the Decepticons pulled Cybertron through the space bridge. If they could get the physics even remotely accurate on an 80′s cartoon, it’s all the more depressing that they ignore it here.
- I suppose this is more a gripe for the pacing of the season than the finale itself, but after… what?… one or two mentions of Gold Kryptonite (with its power stealing abilities), Darkseid’s emissaries just happen to have a wedding ring made out of the stuff here?
- Wasn’t that same ring still in Ollie’s hand – albeit crushed – when Clark gives him a hand up? I guess as long as it’s not in the form of a ring around a Kryptonian’s finger, it can’t affect them.
Why do we never actually get to SEE Clark and Lois get married? Blue balls, thy name is Smallville!- Hey, remember the Legion of Doom from the last episode? And how Chloe went off to get the help of the “other heroes?’ Yeah… we never get to see ANY of these people in the finale, or even series semi-regular Dr. Emil Hamilton. Though he wouldn’t have provided the same amazing fight scene I THOUGHT we were being set up for when the LoD was shown assembled last week. Balls… so… blue…
- I guess they didn’t really have time for a big hero/villain fight scene what with the 18 aggregate minutes of montage. Alright, that’s a rough estimation, but holy shit… If I hadn’t ever seen a single episode of the series whose finale I was in the middle of, I guess these montages would’ve really helped me get a grasp for what was happening. As is, they were a RIDICULOUS waste of time.
- They did, however, explain how Clark finally gained the ability to stand on something just off camera.
- Is it REALLY a fight with Darkseid if Omega Beams aren’t used even once? And does it count as a fight if the hero only ever has to land one punch, and it turns the villain into a cloud of ash, smoke, and ravens? Ollie’s fights against Hawkman and Clark from previous episodes were BOTH far superior and much more satisfying.
- Y’know what wasn’t satisfying? The defeat of Granny Goodness, Glorious Godfrey, and Desaad… courtesy of three arrows fired with one shot from Ollie. Not only was their lack of resistance disappointing, but what the hell were those arrows tipped with, Phantom Zone crystal shards? I mean… if they were, that’s actually pretty badass, but I don’t recall there ever being any reason to think that was the case.
- Speaking of all-too-easy plot resolutions, let’s take a minute to ponder how a Kal El – who sometimes has trouble stopping automobiles or overpowering super strong enemies – was suddenly able to push a planet out of Earth’s orbit. It’s also impressive that he presumably calculated a trajectory for Apokolips that would prevent it from colliding with anything important like, I don’t know, Mars?
- It’s SO impressive how quickly and easily he was able to remove the threat of Apokolips, in fact, that the entire population of the world INSTANTLY had the darkness within their souls wiped away.
- Then there’s Lex and his completely-irrelevant-except-that-it-had-to-happen return, complete with its own all-too-easy fix in the form of Tess’s Adamantium bullet virus that she smeared on Lex as she lay dying, after he killed her; a completely irrelevant and unmoving death for a character no one ever seemed to have any idea what to do with. At least she got to learn karate beforehand.
- Minor nit to pick, but… the “uthor” not only managed to fall off of the LuthorCORP sign, it also somehow left a perfect “X” in its place? Weak, man. Just weak.
- On the topic of weak, how about the costume we never actually get to see Tom Welling wear? I mean, there’s some side shots, and the shot of him tearing open his shirt, but I THINK most of the shots of Clark in costume were CGI, and terrible CGI at that.
- Oh, and we never get to hear him called Superman. Not once. By anyone.
To say that this series finale was a complete and utter failure is unfair, because to be honest, it sucked in every single way we should have expected it to. I don’t know why I’d come to believe there would be an amazing fight scene between Superman and Darkseid, caught on camera by Lois for all the world to see, transforming Clark into a bastion of hope for the entire population and freeing them from “the darkness.” I’m not sure what could’ve come over me that, after seeing last week’s episode, I’d tricked myself into expecting a Justice League vs. Legion of Doom subplot. I can’t fathom why, for even a second, I’d allow myself to think we’d have a single still shot of Clark in the suit being referred to by name as “Superman.” We only have ourselves to blame for wanting more from this show than it has ever given us reason to expect. Still, I can’t help but think of what could have been as compared as to what was, and so…
The Smallville series finale gets 1 out of 5 heartwarming moments between Clark and Lois through the door of their apartment, because that was the only scene in the whole effing show worth watching.
And how the FUCK does the Smallville comic book exist within Smallville continuity without completely giving away Clark’s secret? Seriously, Smallville… thank you. Thank you for a finale that in no way, shape, or form makes me sorry to see you go.
For more Smallville finale jibber jabber, be sure to check out The Cool Kidz Table and tune in to this week’s Panels on Pages PoP!Cast, Tuesday night at 10pm EST as we talk to Ben and Kiel and get their reactions!
Oh, and I’m not including this as any sort of critique of the episode, but… who the hell was at the wedding? I get the rationale that you couldn’t have the League there as it would look suspicious. And most of Lois and Clark’s friends/family have died over the years, sure. But… didn’t Lois have a sister? And could they really NOT get Michael Ironside for the finale?
I mean… who the hell WERE those people? I’d guess at least 90% of the attendees were Planet staffers who felt compelled to go, except earlier in the day when the wedding was off, they were all at work, and they were there again after the fact. So, really… who were these people supposed to be?
Your article is very well said and hits the nail on the head exactly. What a huge, huge “cop out”
Writers, producers, and Tom Welling not listening to a word of what the people want and sticking to their own SHIT!!!
My understanding from the bookends was that the series was a comic trying to tell Superman’s origin and some stuff they happened to have gotten right. Otherwise why would it have mattered if they panned past the bow in the corner of Chloe’s kid’s room, right? And they wouldn’t have waited another seven years before trying to finish the wedding, I wouldn’t have thought. It doesn’t make perfect sense, but for me, it’s the easiest way to excuse the holes.
It’s been a while since I saw that many commercial breaks in a tv program. That’s my biggest criticism.
There isn’t really anything to try to deny about JK’s criticisms. A few things did work for me, though. I liked Lois and Clark working out their problems. I liked all the father/son stuff between Pa Kent, Jor El and Clark. Most of all, I really liked every moment of the closing bookend because of the John Williams score.
More than never hearing him called Superman, I hate that we never really got to see Welling in the suit. It was always a CGI Superman. I thought Tom deserved at least one shot at a classic pose.
I’d give it 2 instead of 1 if I was being objective. A subjective score is probably a 3 just because those last moments hit the right notes for me.
I didn’t get the feeling the series was just a comic book. They specifically show that the events of the show took place seven years prior to her sitting down and reading her and Ollie’s son a bedtime story.
The waiting to get married SORT OF makes sense. What bride would, a week after doomsday, try to hold a wedding. I took it as “Hey, let’s wait. We love each other, we’ll find a time that’s right.” Maybe you’re right though. I don’t know.
I’ll agree the music was awesome, but… when one of the “best” parts of the show was playing the music we already love from previous Superman outings, that seems like a low point in and of itself. I’ll tell you what, let’s hang out next weekend and have a really awesome party. Then, fifteen years from now, we’ll get together again, and we’ll play a song that we listen to at THIS party. And that’ll be the best part of the party fifteen years from now.
So tell me… do you REALLY want to have that party in fifteen years, knowing that?
Talking with my brother, we really liked how GA took out the three Fourth World folks at once, then immediately went home and changed so he could go down to the street to panic.
I think what you say about the music and all is pretty accurate. I know it alluded to the Superman series I wanted Smallville to be. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much, but maybe I should feel like Lucy just jerked the football out from in front of me when I was about to kick it?
Yeah… I was going to comment on that quick change, too. It is SUCH a weirdly unnecessary costume change. And WHY would you even bother to do that? What if Clark had screwed up in some way and needed Green Arrow’s help? Time for another change of clothes!
And, yes, the music was great. But yes, it was such an awful bait and switch. “Hey guys, we didn’t do SHIT these past two hours, but here’s Clark opening his shirt with the John Williams music! Yay! Right?” Just imagine if Batman and Robin had ended with the Danny Elfman Batman animated music.
Well it ended and some of your points are valid and some, well agree to disagree. However the gold k ring was made from gold k Oliver found and gave to the baddies who made it into a ring.
If there was a flaw in tonight finale it was they tried to wrap up too many subplots. The wedding, the return of lionel, tess, return of lex, get the suit, fly, keep the farm, fix Oliver, darkseid.
These could have been done better if they would have paced the season better. I actually enjoyed part 1. Part 2 honestly felt like “oh crap we have all these loose ends better fix them now or we never will”. But we got to see Clark fly, the suit, the return of lex, pa Kent, jimmy.
Smallville had created their own superman origins but the last ep felt like they tried to shoe horn it to fit dc continuity. But the superman music? Awesome
Oh, I GET where the Gold K ring came from. My point is just this: they had one episode where they mentioned its existence, then last episode, Ollie dug some up, and now this episode, he’s given a Gold K wedding ring for Clark. It just felt, like so much else, too rushed and out of the blue.
And I agree, trying to de-Smallville Smallville was one of their biggest mistakes.
yea that was pretty weak pacing on that one also. i felt the final part of the finale (part 2) could have/should have been spread over 3 episodes (to be done properly)
One scene with Clark in the costume seemed cribbed exactly from Superman Returns, and they just popped Weilling’s head onto the shot. It was the exact same pose.
I did not expect much going in, and was still underwhelmed. They did way too much to shoehorn Smallville into a more recognizable DC continuity. If they had just told a story that fit what they had already established, rather than trying to go from their own continuity to a more DC proper one in just a handful of episodes, it may have been more satisfying.
Exactly. In the DC comics Lex and Clark do not know each other, so we have to give Lex a mind erase. Lois and Clark took a long time to get married, so we have to do the same.
I still enjoyed it (the whole series) even if it had cheesy acting, subpar plots and sometimes boring moments. But overall it was an enjoyable hour each week.
Well, in the good ‘ol, golden age Pre-Crisis days Superboy and Lex were best friends…until SB blew out a fire in Lex’s lab, splashing Lex with chemicals which made him go bald and hate Superboy forever with the passion of a thousand suns. While that may not exactly be Clark and Lex, he did live in Smallville and it’s, well, small.
While I don’t disagree with most of the points in the article, I still enjoyed the episode (for the most part).
The Clark/Lois stuff (especially the scene with them on opposite sides of the door) was great. I also loved the Clark/Jonathan moments.
My favorite part of the episode was definitely the end bit at the Daily Planet 7 years into the future. Seeing Jimmy (even if it was technically “our” Jimmy’s brother) was great. I would have liked to have actually seen Perry, but at least we heard him. Playing the Superman music at the end was awesome.
The montage didn’t bother me. It wasn’t that long, and it just made me sad that the show is over.
I wasn’t disappointed by there being no Legion of Doom in the episode because I was positive they wouldn’t be in it. I had my time to be pissed about it last week when they were introduced and I knew we’d never see them again.
I was a little disappointed that we didn’t seen any members of the Justice League. I was hoping to see at least a few. It would have been awesome if they’d gotten everybody to come back, but I wasn’t expecting that.
It also would have been nice to see Pete and Lana, but again, I wasn’t expecting that. I did like that we got so many former cast members back though.
The thing with LuthorCorp sign breaking and leaving an X didn’t bug me since if you look at the sign prior to it breaking you can see Xs behind the word LuthorCorp and so when the letters fell off the X was just more visible. Was it convenient? Sure, but whatever.
I will admit I kept thinking about Apokolips’ gravitational field and the fact that Clark shouldn’t have been strong enough to move a planet. It does bug me, but not enough to ruin the episode.
The gold K ring being in Ollie’s hand’s did bug me. I’m also pissed they killed Tess. I liked her. I know it doesn’t matter so much since it’s over and it’s not like the show will be going on without her, but it was a pointless death.
I don’t get why Clark and Lois waited 7 years to get married. I also don’t get why Clark was calling her Miss Lane if they are already together. People obviously know they are a couple.
Now on to my biggest complaints/problems. First, the fact that we don’t get to really see Clark in the costume. After 10 years all we get is quick half glimpses and CGI? Really? Come on!! I did like the end with him opening his shirt though.
Next complaint would definitely be the “battle” with Darkseid. All Clark had to do was fly through him? Seriously? UGH!!
And finally, the comic book. It makes no sense. I saw the last 5 minutes of the episode before I watched the whole thing and when they first show Chloe with the comic (since I hadn’t seen it at the beginning) for a split second I was worried the whole show was going to have ended up being her reading a comic to her son. Anyway, as others said, it just doesn’t make sense. With Clark’s identity being secret this book can’t exist. It would either give his identity away outright or be such a colossal coincidence in the fact that it gets so much of Superman’s origin right that it would put suspicion on Clark. It just shouldn’t have happened.
K-Whack’s idea of having Lois film a big battle with Darkseid and having the public see it would have made a great finale.
I forgot to mention that I quite liked the Clark/Ollie fight, and Lois knocking that other reporter our and calling her a bitch.
Maybe I missed something, since I only caught the last twenty minutes or so, but where did Apokolips go? He pushed it up out of the atmosphere (which, I agree K-Whack, without gravitational disasters was absurd even by Smallville standards) and then it was just gone. Did it Boom Tube away? (Have there even been Boom Tubes on the series?) Is it slowly making it’s way through space, seeing as how Clark didn’t shove it away with very much force? Does Earth have a new, evil moon? I DEMAND CLOSURE, SMALLVILLE!
“Does Earth have a new, evil moon?” Find out, this Fall, on the CW’s new hit: A Moon Too Many!
See, I would’ve gone with “Darkseid of the Moon.”
::smh::
Oh, hey, here’s another great question… they couldn’t even get CONNOR back for the wedding. Really, this episode was just a big ball of failsauce.
At first I thought it was Conner walking Ma Kent down the aisle, but when they panned back I realized it wasn’t. Right?
yea it was weak. the whole part 2 was weak. I still enjoyed it for what it was but…
I’m sad there was no Darkseid fight. I knew Clark was going to push Apokolips out of orbit, but I thought they were going to go about it a different way. Here’s what I was expecting:
Clark mentioned that Apokolips was drawn to Earth because of the omega symbols tainting the population. I was expecting Clark to show up in the suit and give this big heroic speech that would motivate the world to stand together and rally behind him, thus eliminating the omega taint and weakening Apokolips’ momentum, allowing Clark to push it out of orbit.
Jason I stand by everything you said about finale in your review. To me it was lackluster cop out. I mean we sat through ten years of this! I can only laugh… lol!
ok, I read the first 6 things you said, and yeah, it’s all true, but it gave us what we wanted all along, at least in the last like 15 minutes of the episode, Oviuosly these guys knew it was time to wrap it up. The show got a little slow in the last couple of seasons; I’m not sure if it was when I stared noticing Tom Wheling being one of the producers or co-producer. their budget maybe got cut due to ratings. because we also lost some key actors. When the show started I was buying all the seasons, and if any of my buddies came to hang out, i would tell them you to see this show its amazing and they would say, not interseted, I’m not a big fan o superman, so I would then say and I’m quoting my sel ” just watch the intro to the episode and if you don’t waana keep watching, I’ll put the stupid hockey game back on” my friend most of them became huge fans of the show. these guys got obsseed whith it. buying the season, setting up get togethers everytime a new episode was coming. It was insane!! the wife will just say, “another bite the dust” that eventually changedI even stop buying the seasons. it got pretty slow, it lost that whole, how can I tell it? iIt lost the whole: Clark finding out new things about himself, and the plots got boring. Again, lack of budget. I honestly kept watching becouse I’m a huge fan of the man of steel, I mean collectable stuff, superman that is, not smallville or the last supermann movie, which by the way: It was a dissapointment, but I leave that for some other website.LOL, in essence: What I’m traying to say, they did pretty good, considerind the amount of peopple thy lost and I mean actors and witters, and others ,,for sure. like I said they gave us what we all kept screaming about..(OMG hes gonna fly, OMG they gonnathe suit, OMG they said SUPREMAN!!!! unlike Lost
thank you and have agood one.
Yes, he flew. But we never REALLY saw him in the suit and I never once heard them call him Superman. Did anyone else? So… they delivered on the 1/3 that they’d already semi-delivered on before by having him fly every time he got possessed? Sorry, I still think that’s pretty weak. BUT… I’m glad other people were able to enjoy it more than I was.
*Over the Toys R Us intercom* ‘Jason, you have a clean up in the series finale isle, repeat, you have a blue balls clean up in the series finale isle’ lol
I think my favorite part of this whole review was when you said “I learned this from the episode of G1 Transformers”…WOW..and you wonder why I don’t take your logic seriously. XD
Oh Jason, my Sensei taught me that it’s not about the destination, but the journey to make to the destination. That’s how I feel about this show, it’s a modern telling of how Clark Kent became Superman. Chloe said it best DURING the series finale when she STATED that “And that’s how that boy became SUPERMAN.” (to counter act your #15 statement)
You also gotta remember that not many people out there know the mythos from the comics. They are not fans to the fact and just enjoyed seeing this show, only knowing Superman from media TV/Movie. Being both, I enjoyed the series finale. It WAS enjoyable. Sure I too had a couple of nit picks about the finale, but it WAS a show ABOUT a boy’s journey to become Superman. So I enjoyed, smiled, laughed, cheered during the finale. Smallville told it in their own way and during the seasons they did have some misses but they also knocked it out of the ballpark too. Awesome guest stars such as Christopher Reeves, Teri Hatcher, Margot Kidder, and Dean Cain from Superman Media fame. The Sueprman III Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole) played Ma Kent for Odin’s sake! (See what I did there?
) It ended the way I wanted to see it, Tom Welling as Clark Kent with glasses ripping his shirt off to reveal the “S” with John Williams Superman Score playing in the background. I would have loved to see him in the suit and the Legion of Doom a little more, but with the budget they had, it probably wasn’t possible.
The science of where, why, and how, I never took it seriously because it would drown the enjoyment of this piece of fiction, because that’s what it is…FICTION. Not to be taken that seriously, but just to enjoy it. Maybe get something out of it, try to find or be an inspiration or hero? Who is your hero? Ect… That’s how I see it, they did what they could, and I’m happy. *shrugs*
Oh, believe me… I’m not complaining about the journey at all. Well, not HERE at least. Overall, I enjoyed Smallville as a series. It was far from perfect, but it was fun. But a series finale is the last part of the journey, and THAT should be the destination. In getting us there, I feel they did not deliver, and based on the other comments on this review, I’m far from alone in that thought.
Again, it was a fun show. I just wanted more from the finale. I’d honestly rather they not waste the time with the wedding that didn’t happen and not waste the money on the planet that didn’t matter. Take that time and budget and give us a better fight with Darkseid or something. And seriously… one clear FREAKING shot of Clark in the suit.
There were things I liked about this finale, and things that really bugged me. Most of it is covered in the article, but what really chapped my hind-end was having to hear the frickin’ vows TWICE. Yes, we GET IT. We’ve always gotten it. There was no need to beat us over the head with it, and there was no reason to have voice-over if you’re GOING TO SHOW THE CEREMONY. It made me want to hit someone. GRAGH.
And, was it me, or were they -sort of- imlying that Chloe’s son might be Conner Hawke? The color palette of the toy arrows was the same as the younger Green Arrow’s, so it kind of caught my notice. I could have just been reading into it, though.
I loved the montage, but I wanted more superheroics and less exploding demon-smoke-people. Let’s see -why- he’s called Superman after that. Otherwise, he was just being the Blur again, only flying.
Well said, Doug. Well said. The voice over WHILE showing the ceremony was one of the strangest directorial decisions I’ve ever seen anywhere. You want to play a sappy song? Okay, I guess. But this? Just weird.
And I hadn’t even considered Conner. Maybe?
I was thinking the kid was definitely of GL lineage. When she was leaving the room, I kept waiting for her to say “Goodnight Roy”. I hadn’t considered Conner, though surely a possibility
I meant GA lineage
Honestly, I wonder how Clark would be able to push away a planet even though he is superman and all. Remember, when you land on a planet, its like you being on earth.. How he hell would he push it, its like saying he could literally push the earth away.
Easy for a rock not a planet.. Should have done better there.
Your comment put me in mind of a scene in Peter David’s Supergirl series storyline ‘Many Happy Returns’, in which Linda Danvers is watching Kara Zor-El attempt to move the Earth out of the way of an imminent meteor collision and is completely baffled as to why the girl thinks she can do that. Later, when Superboy asks Linda if there’s any Super-power she doesn’t have, Linda responds ‘Yeah — the power of a ninth-grade science education.’
I had a similar thought when that moment occurred, but recall that Welling’s Superman is clearly an homage to the Donner and Donner-inspired movies, and we did see Reeve’s Superman manhandle huge masses in those. So, while it lacks the science to back up such a move, such a move is not unprecedented.
Wow-that’s a whole lot of over-thinking. Glad I didn’t read this right after the show. Would have harshed my John Williams induced Superman buzz. I was just too caught up in the epicness of having 10 years of a show I loved, despite its flaws.