If I didn’t get my geek cred completed revoked last time when I admitted I didn’t watch Battlestar or Buffy, I’ll definitely get my nerd license taken away for this full-throated defense of Smallville. But I gotta admit: as a hardcore Superman fan from way back, I am an unabashed fanboy for the show fanboys love to hate.
I’ll leave the individual episode reviews to John Keegan’s excellent Critical Myth column. Instead, I want to take this opportunity to look back at the last eight and a half seasons of the show since tonight’s episode “Pandora” marks the mid-season finale of what has become the Supermanliest of Smallville seasons.
When the show debuted back in 2001, I was as skeptical as the next guy. While a show about a teenaged Clark Kent sounded interesting, I was worried that it would either be campy (a la those old “Superboy” shows) or melodramatic (like everything else on The WB at the time). And sure, those early episodes definitely had a “7th Heaven/Dawson’s Creek” vibe, what with all the pining after Lana and over reliance on a pop music soundtrack. But I thought overall it was still a good show with just enough nods to the Superman legend to please my inner-nerd.
What I really dug from the outset was the casting. As a guy who also grew up on “Dukes of Hazzard” (What can I say? I’m from rural Virginia, after all), seeing Bo Duke play Pa Kent was awesome sauce. Also loved the idea of former cinematic Lana Lang Annette O’Toole as Martha and John Glover as Papa Luthor. (Brief tangent: but one of my favorite aspects of the early seasons of “Smallville” was the family dynamic. I always liked that Superman was one of the only superheroes that was not thrust into superheroics because of tragedy–a la Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker–and actually had a grounded family he could always return to. So yes, I prefer a Superman with Ma and Pa still around. End rant.) And while I’d never heard of Michael Rosenbaum or Tom Welling at the time, each actor has gone on to be the definitive Lex and Clark in my mind. And they made Lana Lang Asian American. I mean, I had to watch!
But it didn’t become my favorite show until midway through its second season with the episode “Rosetta.” For the uninitiated, that was the episode where Clark learned of his Kryptonian origins. Oh, and it guest starred Christopher Reeve.
The one thing that I don’t think people give the show enough credit for is the fact that it has made the Superman story relatable to modern audiences. That’s one of the knocks against Superman whenever a Superman franchise crashes and burns [*coughSupermanReturnscough*]. Part of its appeal is that the characters are able to grow and develop. I like to think of “Smallville” as a 220-hour “Superman” movie. In fact, my hope is that if we can never get a theatrical Superman movie starring Welling, Rosenbaum and Erica Durance, than I hope the series finale will be a two-hour movie event called “Superman.”
I think the reason “Smallville” works for me is because I appreciate it for what it is, a 21st century retelling of the Superman myth. When detractors berate the show for “not lining up with the comics,” I always ask myself, which comics are you talking about? The ones where Superman doesn’t fly? The ones where Lex and Clark grew up in Smallville together? I mean, who picks up a copy of Superman: Red Son and says to himself “Heresy! Superman’s spaceship didn’t land in Russia!” These guys have never hidden the fact that this is a reinterpretation of Superman. And hasn’t the mainline DC continuity been rebooted more times than a five-year-old PC running Windows? Plus, I think the SV creators have enriched a lot of the Superman legend with elements like the meteor shower, de-aging the Kents and characters like Lionel Luthor and Chloe Sullivan. To be fair, though, the producers have made some ill-conceived missteps, too: making Smallville essentially a suburb of Metropolis, a Kryptonite-powered Lana, Chloe Sullivan fans, etc.
I mean, I’ll be the first to call “Smallville” out on the carpet when it screws up. For example, during most of Season 7, I was firmly in the camp that the show should end sooner than later. And I do get the feeling that the showrunners like taking three steps back for every step forward, prolonging the inevitable. I always felt the smartest thing the “Lost” ‘runners did was establish an endgame and gear its storytelling to that point. The one thing “Smallville” has had since the beginning was its endpoint. We all know Clark Kent will become Superman, so it’s painfully obvious whenever the story stalls. But I have to admit, the show has a renewed energy this season, its ninth, because it has essentially embraced the Superman. I didn’t think it had it in them, but the show has become a live-action comic book (having abandoned its “Dawson’s Creek”-like melodrama years ago). This season alone has featured live action interpretations of Zod, Metallo, Toyman, Roulette, Speedy, Jor-El, the Wonder Twins, and will be getting the JSA and Amanda Waller later in the season.
For the fans who complained that “Smallville” was more teen drama than live action superhero show, I hope they’re tuning in this season. If not, tonight’s episode, the mid-season finale and last of 2009, might be the best jumping-on point. In it, Lois is transported to an apocalyptic, alternate future in which Zod and his minions have taken over the planet. You don’t get more comic book-y than that, right?
Keith is the Editor-at-Large of the groundbreaking graphic novel anthology SECRET IDENTITIES and Outreach Director for SIUniverse Media. Visit the official Secret Identities blog to keep up with Keith and the rest of the SI team
