User Reviews

I've been a die hard Smallville fan since the very first episode, and season 8 left me extremely disappointed, made worse by the season 8 finale "Doomsday" which despite being heavily criticized, I still find people are too kind to. The season 9 premiere "Savior" was just what the show needed to get back on track. What a huge improvement over the entire second half of season 8. While not a perfect episode, "Savior" was enough to recapture my attention.

The writers and producers did a lot of damage in season 8 by making pretty much every character, with the exception of Lois, unlikeable, and Clark became more unlikeable than anyone. By the end of season 8, Clark was a whiny, depressed, Eeyore like character who was starting to become pathetic by not accepting the responsibility of becoming a hero. With just the opening segment of "Savior" Clark's character has been redeemed. It was so important for Smallville to reintroduce Clark in a way closer to Superman than ever before, although the Matrix style costume looks ridiculous. I'm glad season 10 updated it.

The cast is also free of Davis Bloome now, which is unfortunate only because Sam Witwer was a solid actor. The character was a train wreck however, and with him gone, Chloe can get back to being an ally of the heroes, and not a serial killer sympathizer. To replace him we have Zod, or at least a duplicate of him, in an earlier and younger form from the super villain already featured. While I do think it was a mistake to follow in season 8s footsteps by dedicating an entire season to building only one villain, Zod in this single episode was more entertaining to watch than Davis in the entire season prior.

Season 9 would have ups and downs like most Smallville seasons, and while it's still far from one of my favorites, Savior did everything possible to kick the season off on a high note.

After last seasons Doomsday season finale jimmy Olson and Davis bloom both departed from the show from sad deaths. Smallville had disappointed most people with a 10 second fight between doomsday and Clark that didn't live up to the hype If you don't know Smallville has moved to Fridays let's hope it's moved back to Thursdays or this show will have rating problems.the season 9 premiere of Smallville will Be my most watched recorded show on my TV. But now Smallville is back and better with the season premiere of Savior which in my opinion is the best premiere compared with season 3's. You even hear different music tone through out the episode. The acting by the cast is Perfect. I would give this episode 4 out of 4 stars for being just plain sweet.

Talk about hot, what's a good season premiere without a new improved Lois Lane, a rogue hero complex, a steamy love interest who used to kick terminator butt and well another step closer for a man in a cape to become the 'Man of Steel'.

What would the world be like without Clark Kent? In all the Superman based movies we've grown to admire, Kal-El and Clark didn't last long apart from each other. It is his human part that makes him who he is. That is why this is called Smallville and not Superman right? Here we are again, where we open with the Smallville cliché's; dark and stormy, a distraught Chloe and a MIA Lois. At least someone always seems to be missing or supposedly dead in a typical cliffhanger, but when Chloe reached a point where her search for Lois justified hacking into personal software then explaining why she was doing it, defined a new side of crazy Chloe we haven't seen before.

This mystery filled Smallville was over pouring with non stop action and unending questions that would have you twitching your lip upward and scratching your head slightly. Upon watching the new storyline involving Zod and dips into the future, my fond memory of 'Superman' based shows like 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman' and the definitive Movie 'Superman' itself came to mind. I found myself relating his character to the icons we knew of. Zod is nothing but human without his powers.

Clark mentioned an important factor when he encountered Lois' crazy killer, he had one year to figure out why he betrayed 'them', which is one season for us. I know Zod would not remain powerless forever, he would find some way to regain his powers and destroy Kal-El and take over the world like so many before him has tried to do. I still think it was foolish of Tess to allow herself to be captured and beaten, especially since it was all in vein.

Doomsday is out of sight, out of mind for now, but what about Clark? The only thing that made him come up for air was Lois. What are the odds, the one glass Lois decided to land on when Clark saved the falling train, was the exact one Lois landed on. I am sure Clark leaving a symbol meant something territorial like 'The Blur was here', but was it necessary really? Maybe he needed a count of the places he's saved before he erased Clark completely. It actually was nice seeing him squirm over Lois.

I didn't think I would ever say this, but it looked as though the cancellation of 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicle' freed Brian Austin Green's schedule to be Lois Lane's love interest. Did you get that spark? If Clark doesn't clean up his game someone else might just win our hearts over, and it really wouldn't be so bad either.

The most heartbreaking plot of this series was watching Chloe beg Clark to 'bring her Jimmy back'. At one point I believed he might do it and Jimmy would be a part of the theme, but lost hope when he wasn't seen in the credits. It was still heartbreaking when she practically called Clark a ruthless SOB. Was that fair of her or was she right? He did mean it when he said that Clark Kent was dead.

Some questions though, why would Oliver join a death ring unless he seriously wanted to be killed and how much paparazzi news did Lois read to find him.

Smallville has set its standard so high that each time it has to come bigger and better than before, just to keep viewer interest. This series has the most loyal fan base and would no doubt gain support. So, for a season premiere it was satisfactory, the production style has changed to dark and misty and there are many unanswered questions which I would like answered, but Clark standing on a roof top with his overcoat blowing in the wind was well... to corny and could have been mellowed down a notch. I can't complain though, I know I would still watch this series until the season finale episode. Until then let's hope some lose ends start tying themselves up.

While saving the best for last, it must be mentioned that Lois' dream was somewhat to be pondered upon. Was she and Clark...?

Lexa Reviews

http://lexabuti.blogspot.com/

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Four out of Five Stars

Grade B-

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It was great to see our favorite characters back and in fact I can't believe I have waited so long before watching it. The story began three weeks after Doomsday's ending. As expected Clark's side was dark but I thought he would be far much more disturbed after what happened. So it wasn't as The Dark Knight inspired as I thought it would be. However his interaction with other characters was interesting and revealed how hard he was actually working to embrace his destiny. About Tess and Zod I have to admit that the writers lost me in the hook. I didn't quite get what happened and in general I found the two stories editing quite messy. It kept going back and forth without any smooth transition, one minute you were in front of Clark in his black outfit and the next you were at Lex's Third Reich-like mansion with Tess and a bunch of creepy Zodiers. I appreciated the historical reference and the monochromatic visuals were well designed but it didn't fit in the Smallville universe. And like if it wasn't enough to swallow a new character was introduced, casually played by Brian Austin Green. But in fact it was a nice surprise as the acting was good and I also liked his playboy attitude. I can't wait for the inevitable confrontation with Clarkie. Chloe and Oliver were also featured but they didn't bring anything really new nor worthy. I was specially disappointed by his scene with Lois as it felt like déjà vu. However there're a few scenes that should appeal to the long time fans, like the barn one and the scene where you know who finally try to do you know what. So overall it wasn't flawless but it's definitely a must see if you want to learn more about Clark's dark arc. After all it's not everyday you see the Red-Blue Blur almost dressed as Batman !