Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Smallville Series through S8 ***SPOILERS***

Okay, then here are my comments on plots and characters. (Warning: spoiler for ALL squadrons !!!)

PLOT:
I have to say that in the beginning I was a bit confused because the basic scenario of how Smallvile was designed as a city was so different from what I remembered from LNC. Actually also logical, after all, it was the central place of a whole SErie. Nevertheless, that was unusual at first. But I got used to it quickly.
The many MEteor freaks I felt in part as a badly worn concept, at least after a while.
It just seemed weird that pretty much ALL Superpower people, like Clark, went crazy and / or aggressive.
Unfortunately, many of the A-Plots did not seem very credible, as it is sometimes only partially possible to reasonably represent the transformation of a character within 45 minutes.
What I liked, however, was the development of Clark and the others to start the series.
At least then I had the feeling that there is a logical development.
Clark has only relatively few powers at BEginn and is therefore not much more powerful than most MEteor freaks.
I'm even referring to some episodes where somebody else had to turn off MF after all, just because Clark could not.
I liked it, as Clark slowly got to know his powers and his origin (krypton, etc.).
Although it has to be said that the way in which content has been dealt with has become increasingly crude and unbelievable in the course of the series.
Eventually, it led to everything becoming more and more of a kind of unchanging fate, which I somehow found stupid.
In general, all these pre-determinations / planned events (Clark's journey through space was planned well from the start, etc.) went down to my biscuit.
That simply does not fit with what makes up the Superman origins.
Especially as in the course of time decided too many Kryptonians rumrannten on Earth or too much Kryptonian influence on Earth existed.
This made the "Last Son Cryptons" phrase more and more untrustworthy.
But no matter, I digress from the topic.
On the one hand, I liked how Clark has to master the problems of a normal adolescent in addition to his peculiarities. On the other hand, this was partly greatly exaggerated.
The teen aspect of the first 3-4 seasons started to get really annoying after a while and the we-with-you also started.
After that (about S5-S6) that was sometimes even worse (example Lana / Lex).
At times, I almost had the feeling that the series had become a soap - at least in some subplots / episodes.
Despite the sometimes questionable backgrounds (see above) I found it good that about S4 continuous action sheets were introduced for the squadrons. That gave the series more dynamics overall.
Well, I also found that gradually, but fortunately not all at once, other "heroes" or their boy versions were introduced. That was a nice contrast to the increasingly stupid MEteorfreaks.
Although I have to say that Clark's special status, like that of LNC, is pretty much extinguished, that was already the case before.
The Clark-Lex relationship is always addressed as a great strength of the series and by and large I can agree.
It was very refreshing and at first I really asked myself: how should these two enemies be?
I somehow liked Lex a little bit and he was almost a bit tired in the early years, mainly because not only his father but also (if not aware of it) Clark contributed to his obscuration (see below).
I have to say that the middle part (S5-S7) was sometimes too unoriented / messy for me, or the series did not seem to know where it was going (Smallville / Metropolis etc.).
And I also agree that in the 7th season or after that significant breaks to previously noticed.
What bothers me a lot here is that in Season 7, more and more of this whole conspiracy story around Clark's background is being uprooted to the point of unbelievability / utter overloading, especially since it hardly plays a role later on.
The change to Season 8 then becomes like a mallet: Clark is suddenly a reporter on the planet next to Lois, the Justice League is involved everywhere.
This is not necessarily bad, but "different" and the transition was accordingly bumpy.
The cast also shrank more and more to fewer people together, which the series has also done quite well in my eyes, as some of the characters in the squadrons before it were pretty pointless and either went under or received their own actions to be forced to still be there.
Nevertheless, everything became more coherent and I was also pleased that now after six seasons "Meteorfreaks" and an X-Files-like S7 now more "normal" opponents were with it and the plots individually again made more sense.
With the Kryptonian Invasion Squadron 9, I'm only partially warm, that does not really work for me - I do not know.
You know here and in the last season just that you wanted to end the series or they had already exceeded their Zenith.
Accordingly, the last season will work.
The "declination / fate" phrases that have been reduced a bit in the last few years have been pulled out again and the "ultimate evil" AKA Darkseid was the opponent - which somehow made little sense because practically the entire season is not clear who or what Darkseid should actually be.
Also, I'm not really clear what the change from "Blur" to "Superman" should be so great now, I mean seriously, it can not be flying by itself.
And although I understand why the show ends there, where it does, the end does not seem "round" to me ...
This may sound quite negative, but I would like to emphasize that I had a lot of fun with Smallville as well - but these are just some points that stand out when writing.
And let's be honest: complaining about the negative aspects is always easier than praising the positive aspects.

CHARACTERS:
Let's go through all the main characters.
CLARK: To be honest, I was often a little disappointed with his characterization in the series. While I found him to be OK at first, over the next few years he became increasingly tearful, self-centered, and moody.
His urge to protect his "big secret" was on the one hand so great that he regularly built several important relationships of friendly and romantic nature because he could / did not trust anyone, but on the other hand it was okay to use his powers against all freaks who were then all locked away together?
I mean, that does not fit together.
No matter. Maybe that's also because LNC Clark simply portrayed a strong personality, just as Clark / Superman should be, without being "superhuman" but still emphasizing Clark's humanity.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, Smallville did not manage this balancing act at all.
This is probably partly due to the teenage drama of the first years, yet it seems to me just too wobbly and uncertain to sufzufüllen the role of a Superman.
So I admit it openly: This Clark is not the character I best identified with on the show.
LEX: His figur is definitely one of the strengths of this series.
In contrast to "I do not want to change or take responsibility" Clark shows in an impressive way, how a person is transformed by his surroundings and his behavior into what he is.
Initially, he makes an honest effort to improve and be accepted, but is shunned and excluded by those around him for his or her father's past or his father's worst friend, Clark
lied to and partially exploited, while also like to put him as the evil.
I do not want to say that Lex is innocent, he also contributes to his own demise, but I can not help giving Clark some blame.
It is frightening when I look at an S1 episode and then an S7 episode and can hardly find anything in common in this character.
His disappearance at the end of S7 seems inappropriate and meaningless: Barely 5 minutes after he finds out Clark's secret (and let's face it, he had plenty of opportunities before AND pretty much everyone knew it before him), he disappears from the show.
So the moment it became interesting for the two of them.
His death in Season 8 is a total joke, just as his revenge on Lana makes little sense here.
It looked like "Hey, wait a minute, we still have to get rid of Lex". One did not even think it necessary to behave the original actor.
The more meaningless then his performance in the finale, which just acts compulsive and meaningless.
Nevertheless: Definitely one of the well-developed characters in this series.
Lana: I admit: at first I thought she was nice and nice, even though Clark's obsession was a bit annoying for her. But she could not help it.
Over the years, at least from S5, she then began to annoy me a bit, in part they got their own subplots, such as with Lex, who had almost nothing to do with the actual main plot.
I always got the feeling that she should stay compulsively there.
In Season 7, she became really disagreeable with me and I began to seriously wonder why Clark wanted to have a relationship with her, to say nothing of his fear of telling her his oh-so-mysterious secret.
Your return to S8 was just ........... GRRRRR!
The terribly in love couple was separated from the outside, but in the next episode, nobody cares anymore - no, it's clear.
In my opinion you should have taken them after one of the various separations (eg in Season 5) from the series, that would get their character better.
CHLOE: I liked Chloe. Really. She was coll, funny, knew what she wanted, was loyal, mostly friendly, and had pretty much all the qualities Lois should have.
She often put her needs back for others and for Lana or Clark she almost always proved to be a good and reliable friend.
I would even go so far as to say she was the better Clark for a long time.
One might be divided about the wall of madness, but at least she was aware of the danger that she had occasionally brought to people - in contrast to Clark, she was also responsible for what she did.
Unfortunately, unfortunately, the producers of the series decided to completely reverse their character in the eighth and ninth season.
During the eighth season, the inquisitive, ever-loyal new-growth reporter became a suspicious, surveillance-obsessed person who no longer trusted her friends and her own husband and started to use people for their own purposes.
I like to blame Brainiac's short-term takeover and Clark's completely stupid Memory-Wipe in-story, but I do not think that's the real reason for their change.
Season 9 will be even worse. She mercilessly manipulates people in some dangerous ways (such as Oliver in Roulette) for her own plans, trusts no one, and oversees the entire city.
In addition to that she gets into a relationship with Ollie just after losing her husband.
I do not want to mention the entire Davis fiasco here.
Their presence in the last season seems somehow strange. Sometimes the "old" Chloe comes through again, but not really.
Here I'm clearly willing to say that the script writers have ruined Chloe (probably in favor of Lois?).
JONATHAN: I want to be honest, I never really liked Jonathan in this series. Jonathan Kent, whom I know from LnC, may have influenced me or not, that I can not say exactly.
He is totally fixated on his own opinion and incredibly stubborn, always wants to make all decisions for Clark, and is full of prejudices against others (especially Lex and all Kryptonians who are not under his education).
Yes, he even threatens to shoot a reporter who knows Clark's secret.
I'm glad he did not meet Kara ...
I also sometimes blame him for behaving as stupidly as he does, simply because he always wants him to do it right, and that's just not working with such a weird idea of ​​how Jonathan has the life.
The whole Senator election is then somehow meaningless, if you let him die in the end. Still, I'm shocked to say I never really mourned him after his death.
All the more it annoyed me then that Clark still tried to make it always posthumously right.
His appearances as a ghost in 5c17 and S10 have then reconciled me a bit with him, but still ... SEtzen, six!
MARTHA: Actually, I always liked Martha, but I often had the feeling that in the first four seasons she was far too short or was always in the background.
Jonathan has always been the dominant character in the series and Clarks live, Martha seemed to be totally lost.
That's why I was kind of happy when, after Jonathan's death, it seemed like Martha would become more important just to put her back a year later, because (admittedly logically) she could no longer be the focus of the series.
What should that mean? "Martha becomes a messenger because her husband stood for election?" It makes no sense, though I think she'll do well, probably better than her husband.
Unfortunately your return to S9 was a single farce. First: She and Perry (at least the Perry of this series) do not match at all.
Second, her behavior as a "Red Queen" is not at all like Martha's before and after, and it does not suit her.
Well, in Season 10, she was back to normal and reasonable, even though she seemed to have run out of energy.
Nevertheless, I like them!
LIONEL: I still do not know what exactly this character should be.
As an alibi for Lec change he works and he made a great villain. Oddly enough, the writers did not seem to know what to do with him, because over the next few years he seemed to regularly get a new personality that was totally different from the previous one.
At some point it was no longer clear what he wanted and on which side he stood.
In addition, these personality changes were rarely explained.
In the end, portraying him as Clark's great benefactor and protector makes no sense whatsoever and is just ... WITHOUT WORDS!
His "return" in Season 10 was then a succession in order, but it should have left it. The rest was meaningless and strange.
I do not say anything about the whole Lionel-Martha situation, because I do not know exactly what to say.
LOIS: Lois is also one of the few well-crafted characters in the series. I like her.
In part, despite the other background, it reminds me a lot of "our" Lois, if not so career obsessed.
Her interaction with Clark was awesome, and she was the only one who has managed to make friendly skirmishes and mutual swipes with him.
For a long time, however, it seemed to me that she was just thinking of it - a good friend / sometimes rival for him, but not anymore.
At first she says she does not care about journalism and has a new job every season.
Her employment at the planet (she visits her cousin and is hired by the editor just because he likes her) is ridiculous and one of the biggest plot holes in the series.
What really annoys me is the way Clark and her begin their relationship.
For years they live side by side and there is no romance, because Clark all the time Lana sews on and she does not seem to be romantically interested in him.
Then, suddenly, Lana is gone, they come closer and suddenly they are somehow together.
I think that's good, because they fit together - somehow - especially since the Clark of the last seasons is also a better character than the crybaby of the previous years - but it still seems completely strange and implausible.
While there is a year-long up and down between Clark and Lana, Lois and Clark become lovers in a handful of episodes from good friends. Totally unrealistic.
But that should not be a criticism of Lois. As I said, I like her and she is one of the few whose character remains relatively constant over the whole time and is consistently sympathetic.
PETE: I always liked Pete and appreciated him very much. He was a good friend to Clark and I'm always upset that he has so little time. I almost feel that, after knowing the secret, even less than before.
For being the only initiate for a long time, he went down too often in the series.
The only episode that made it even more important was that Clark totally screwed him up because he made a mistake ONCE - but expects that everyone will forgive him for everything? GRR!
His departure was then only halfhearted and his return to S7 a disaster. The potential of this character was wasted in a stupid way!
Oliver: In the beginning I liked Oliver a lot, he was a refreshingly new character, harder and more uncompromising than Clark, who knew what he wanted and what he wanted, not always to the advantage of others, but still a good one. And of course an interesting opponent for Lex.
Unfortunately, in season 8/9 he was also subjected to a very questionable change and he became partially unsympathetic to me because he always thought only of himself and his interests and often completely ignored others.
Fortunately, that improved again until Darkseid pulled him back into the dark, and so on. MY feelings towards him always remain somehow in vain.
TESS: The same applies to them. She was an interesting character, but I always felt that the producers never knew what to do with her.
It has never been clear where she is and her actions were sometimes very contradictory.
In the end she helps Clark and co. then. Well, a bit questionable, elaboration could have been better, since many of her actions remain strange and unexplained.
JIMMY: I've always liked Jimmy and can understand why his relationship with Chloe was so difficult.
I was very happy when they finally came together and really liked him.
The ZWeit half of S (unfortunately it has quite discredited him, although I blame him for that very little.His death was pointless and I think not properly appreciated.
No matter if he was the "real" Jimmy or not, for me he is and will remain the Jimmy of this series and it is a pity how he was ultimately treated, because he was a brave and great character until then.
Whitney and JAson: Meaningless characters that nobody needs and that were just jealous bombs for Clark (no, keep away from my Lana etc!). No wonder that both had to go to a season.
Kara: I like Kara. She's tough and mentally stronger than Clark. She made a few mistakes at the beginning, but since EVER did ALL, I forgive her. I thought it was a pity that she stepped so fast into the background and then disappeared.
Her reappearance showed only that she is the better super heroine of both - but she had to leave so Clark could take his top spot. Oh, dude! Pity about her,
I would have given her more leeway - but then you would have had to explain why Clark is so great, and probably nobody wanted to take that on.
Davis: Actually, I liked it very much at first, even though it did not make sense to me at first. I liked how he tried to fight his inner dark side.
Ultimately I found his change in the last episodes but then extremely and also a little incredulous, that could have been better solved.
Zod: I do not know what to think about him. His development is difficult to define and it would have worked better if he had been there for more than a season.
Jor-El: Even if he is not a main character, he certainly influenced the series.
However, I rarely understood his behavior and he often acted very contradictory, especially compared to the intentions of the real Jor-El.
Especially when you find out in the end that he allegedly has only data and no feelings, this does not make much sense in retrospect to his actions.
Alright, let's leave that.
CONCLUSION: There are certainly many interesting characters, unfortunately, many of which have been damaged in the course of the time or were simply used unfavorably or there was a lot of potential because you really wanted to concentrate on Clark,
whose character was unfortunately not worked out well, which is probably one of the biggest weaknesses of this series. However, there are many strong characters who can enjoy watching if you get involved.
Wow, now I've written over 70 minutes on this post - hope somebody reads it all :-)
No matter. That was my point of view.