Upon recommendation from a friend, I got into Smallville at the start of Season 2. I was immediately captivated by the show. I grew up watching the classic, "Adventures of Superman" with George Reeves. I believed that nobody could surpass Christopher Reeve in the films (especially the first two!)
For nearly 7 years, Smallville was my favorite show. I watched the show through the middle of Season 8, quit watching, and then finally decided to finish the series. Such was the joy and angst of Smallville for me.
The Great:
-- The first three seasons of Smallville are pure gold. The genius of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar--with their five year story arc--gave us a young Clark Kent desperately trying to make his way in the world, dealing with finding out who he is, his powers, and the trials of being a teenager.
--Tom Welling is the best Clark Kent of all-time. He was taylor-made for the role. He gave us the most complex Clark Kent to-date.
--Michael Rosenbaum, in turn, gave us the best Lex Luthor of all-time (regardless of some nut fan telling him to his face that Gene Hackman was better). In many ways, the evolution of Lex Luthor was even more compelling than that of Clark's, as we see Lex slowly descend into madness to become the arch-villain we all know. Lex's story is--in fact--a tragic one, and he was sorely missed after leaving the show after Season 7. And John Glover was beautiful as Lionel Luthor!
--John Schneider and Annette O'Toole gave us the best Kent parents to-date! By making them younger (rather than grandparent age), they were easily able to interact with the younger cast and have storylines of their own.
--The special effects were top-notch for its day, and they still hold up extremely well.
--The cliffhangers of Seasons 1-5 are impeccable! It was tough waiting out an entire summer during those years!
--Erica Durance would become my favorite Lois Lane of all-time. She absolutely nailed the part. No one has come close before or since. Not even Margot Kidder.
The Good
-- Seasons 4-6 weren't quite as good. For some reason, and some of this was after Gough and Millar stepped back as Souders and Preston took over. Storylines involving Zod, bringing in Jimmy Olson, and some other stories worked some of the time. Season 4 is almost a limbo season, but it's still quite good.
The Ugly
--Clark/Lana story arc went on for WAY too long. Good God! The back-and-forth was enough to give someone whiplash. Had they resolved things around Season 3 or 4, it would have been much better. Clark and Lana were often painful to watch because they were both so stupid. Tom Welling obviously agreed as he was renowned for walking around the set after shooting one of the Clark/Lana scenes and mumbling, "Clark is an idiot! He is such an idiot!"
--It made no sense that Clark was able to trust Pete and Chloe with his secret, but not Lana. And yet, that point never came up in Season 7 after "the reveal." If I were Lana, I would have been pissed that Clark never chose to confide in her. At the very least, I would have least questioned him about it. Fans got robbed of a serious Q&A after the reveal.
--Yes, Clark did a lot of delporable things, so he wasn't innocent either. But Lana was always so quick to get angry with Clark and not trust him over things he did or didn't do. A good friend will always ask and inquire before exploding. I never thought Lana was good for Clark. She'd be holding a grudge one minute, and then back to like him in the next. She was a serious Jekyll-and-Hyde case! She was way too immature and unstable. And frankly, Kristin Kreuk is a fine actress, but her need to overpronounce her lines was often irritating. People don't talk that way.
--Seasons 8-10 got away from Clark's upbringing and became more about bringing in the next DC hero or Superman villain, which was silly. Doomsday?! Seriously?! Bring him in before Clark has even become Superman? The show lost its punch and its focus under Souders and Preston. And it also lost two of its three best actors in Michael Rosenbaum and John Glover. In short, the show should have stuck with the original Gough and Millar story arc and then ended. Instead, those last three seasons really hurt the show, taking it from "exceptional" to "good."
Despite its last seasons, Smallville is still a good show. I often re-watch Seasons 1-6 and ignore the last four. And then I'll watch the very last episode to round things off. Still, Smallville is disappointing to me for wasting so much time and so much potential. That's often the frustration of seeing greatness being diminished.
For nearly 7 years, Smallville was my favorite show. I watched the show through the middle of Season 8, quit watching, and then finally decided to finish the series. Such was the joy and angst of Smallville for me.
The Great:
-- The first three seasons of Smallville are pure gold. The genius of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar--with their five year story arc--gave us a young Clark Kent desperately trying to make his way in the world, dealing with finding out who he is, his powers, and the trials of being a teenager.
--Tom Welling is the best Clark Kent of all-time. He was taylor-made for the role. He gave us the most complex Clark Kent to-date.
--Michael Rosenbaum, in turn, gave us the best Lex Luthor of all-time (regardless of some nut fan telling him to his face that Gene Hackman was better). In many ways, the evolution of Lex Luthor was even more compelling than that of Clark's, as we see Lex slowly descend into madness to become the arch-villain we all know. Lex's story is--in fact--a tragic one, and he was sorely missed after leaving the show after Season 7. And John Glover was beautiful as Lionel Luthor!
--John Schneider and Annette O'Toole gave us the best Kent parents to-date! By making them younger (rather than grandparent age), they were easily able to interact with the younger cast and have storylines of their own.
--The special effects were top-notch for its day, and they still hold up extremely well.
--The cliffhangers of Seasons 1-5 are impeccable! It was tough waiting out an entire summer during those years!
--Erica Durance would become my favorite Lois Lane of all-time. She absolutely nailed the part. No one has come close before or since. Not even Margot Kidder.
The Good
-- Seasons 4-6 weren't quite as good. For some reason, and some of this was after Gough and Millar stepped back as Souders and Preston took over. Storylines involving Zod, bringing in Jimmy Olson, and some other stories worked some of the time. Season 4 is almost a limbo season, but it's still quite good.
The Ugly
--Clark/Lana story arc went on for WAY too long. Good God! The back-and-forth was enough to give someone whiplash. Had they resolved things around Season 3 or 4, it would have been much better. Clark and Lana were often painful to watch because they were both so stupid. Tom Welling obviously agreed as he was renowned for walking around the set after shooting one of the Clark/Lana scenes and mumbling, "Clark is an idiot! He is such an idiot!"
--It made no sense that Clark was able to trust Pete and Chloe with his secret, but not Lana. And yet, that point never came up in Season 7 after "the reveal." If I were Lana, I would have been pissed that Clark never chose to confide in her. At the very least, I would have least questioned him about it. Fans got robbed of a serious Q&A after the reveal.
--Yes, Clark did a lot of delporable things, so he wasn't innocent either. But Lana was always so quick to get angry with Clark and not trust him over things he did or didn't do. A good friend will always ask and inquire before exploding. I never thought Lana was good for Clark. She'd be holding a grudge one minute, and then back to like him in the next. She was a serious Jekyll-and-Hyde case! She was way too immature and unstable. And frankly, Kristin Kreuk is a fine actress, but her need to overpronounce her lines was often irritating. People don't talk that way.
--Seasons 8-10 got away from Clark's upbringing and became more about bringing in the next DC hero or Superman villain, which was silly. Doomsday?! Seriously?! Bring him in before Clark has even become Superman? The show lost its punch and its focus under Souders and Preston. And it also lost two of its three best actors in Michael Rosenbaum and John Glover. In short, the show should have stuck with the original Gough and Millar story arc and then ended. Instead, those last three seasons really hurt the show, taking it from "exceptional" to "good."
Despite its last seasons, Smallville is still a good show. I often re-watch Seasons 1-6 and ignore the last four. And then I'll watch the very last episode to round things off. Still, Smallville is disappointing to me for wasting so much time and so much potential. That's often the frustration of seeing greatness being diminished.