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Smallville returns for its ninth season with a real burst of energy. It wasn't quite as good as my fondest dreams, but not nearly as bad as my worst. In fact IMO, it's the best premiere since Arrival, so I give it a solid A+.
We are faced with a giant mystery with the fate of the world in the balance and Lois's fragmentary dreams as the only clues to preventing the apocalypse. I love that we as the audience are almost as in the dark as the characters themselves. I thought the writers did a good job of raising a lot of questions to play out over the next year: Why did Major Zod get pulled to Earth by the Orb with his followers, and why don't they have powers? Who exactly is Alia? Why did Clark give her his father's watch and why did she return from the future to stop him? Did Clark really wind up siding with Zod in the alterna-future? Which world was Alia trying to save - Earth or Krypton? Is Chloe really going to die or will Clark be able to prevent this? What's Ollie up to with that shovel? Whose side is Tess on, now and in the future?
And then there's the Clois. We've always known the end game of the relationship and now Lois has seen part of it as well in her dream - she and Clark share a seriously sexy embrace. But how are they going to get to this future, when Clark seems to value Lois mainly as a confidante and Lois is starting to go quietly gaga for what she thinks is someone else? In a show that's all about the journey, this is something I want to see play out slowly - and with lots of humour. That's why I love Clois after all, for the banter and the way she makes him happy and self-confident. I'm hoping the show will SHOW us Clark's growing realization of his feelings, rather than skipping through that.
Clark was absolutely fabulous in this episode as he swooped in to save the train and then dealt with the Alia situation. He didn't have enough screentime to make me truly happy, but I understand why in this case. They had a lot of story lines to begin, and none of them felt as unnecessary as last year's Chimmy, or as redundant as the multiple Tess introductory scenes in Odyssey. Anyways, I was utterly relieved to see that Clark was still a caring person who was just trying to take a big picture view of the world. I had feared that he would let himself be swayed too much by the Jor-El AI's attitude, and become what I view as the antithesis of Superman - Kal-El from Crusade. When Lois returns, Clark's focus on his training is impaired and Jor-El makes some typically ambiguous statements. I didn't get the impression the writers were saying Clark is madly in love - I just think it's a continuation of what Maxima referred to last season - that there's a connection between the two of them. Something stronger than either of them realizes. I do call BS on the reason given for Clark not being able to fly - the best answer for me is that he doesn't do it because he doesn't NEED to do it. Not yet. I mean, sure flying is cool, but running gets him where he needs to go and it's his other abilities that win the battle. The way it stands, it now has the potential to come off as Lois holding Clark back from his destiny, and that's just wrong. The best I can hope for is that at some point Clark confronts the AI over its attitude and tells it that his love for humans is what makes him STRONGER. And that's the real birth of Superman - neither human nor Kryptonian but both.
I didn't like John Corben at all, although Brian Austin Greene played him well. I take it we'll learn next episode why he's carrying such an anti-Blur chip on his shoulder, but I certainly don't get "ego trip" out of Clark leaving the S symbol behind at the scene of his saves. I also really hated Corben's first scene with Lois, and especially the kiss. Just, yuk! Actually, this may be a good sign for the future - maybe Smallville is going to abandon the woobification of at least some villains. Metallo doesn't become evil because of the kryptonite heart - the kryptonite just gives him the power to do what he's wanted to do all along.
The Chloe scenes were better than I'd feared, but all my good will evaporated in her last lines to Clark. Not the request to save Jimmy, but her reaction when he logically and compassionately tells her no. I'm not going to write about it anymore though because I don't want to dwell on the negative. Similarly, not a lot to say about Ollie other than to quote Lois: "an obnoxious jackass". However I did like to see new Watchtower set and think Emil Hamilton is a real keeper of a character. So here's hoping their scenes won't be as excrutiating as I found most of them last year.
I was really impressed by Callum Blue's debut as Zod and if the writing holds up, I look forward to seeing lots more of him. I can't help but wonder how the writers have planned the time travel elements out, since there are TWO loops in play - Zod coming from the past and Lois coming from the future. I somehow doubt we'll see anything as tightly reasoned as last season on Lost, but it still could be fun. For years now it's been dangerous to get too excited with any given story line on Smallville because the writers have the ability to screw up even the most promising premises. On the other hand, they can also hit it out of the park. So here's hoping!!!
We are faced with a giant mystery with the fate of the world in the balance and Lois's fragmentary dreams as the only clues to preventing the apocalypse. I love that we as the audience are almost as in the dark as the characters themselves. I thought the writers did a good job of raising a lot of questions to play out over the next year: Why did Major Zod get pulled to Earth by the Orb with his followers, and why don't they have powers? Who exactly is Alia? Why did Clark give her his father's watch and why did she return from the future to stop him? Did Clark really wind up siding with Zod in the alterna-future? Which world was Alia trying to save - Earth or Krypton? Is Chloe really going to die or will Clark be able to prevent this? What's Ollie up to with that shovel? Whose side is Tess on, now and in the future?
And then there's the Clois. We've always known the end game of the relationship and now Lois has seen part of it as well in her dream - she and Clark share a seriously sexy embrace. But how are they going to get to this future, when Clark seems to value Lois mainly as a confidante and Lois is starting to go quietly gaga for what she thinks is someone else? In a show that's all about the journey, this is something I want to see play out slowly - and with lots of humour. That's why I love Clois after all, for the banter and the way she makes him happy and self-confident. I'm hoping the show will SHOW us Clark's growing realization of his feelings, rather than skipping through that.
Clark was absolutely fabulous in this episode as he swooped in to save the train and then dealt with the Alia situation. He didn't have enough screentime to make me truly happy, but I understand why in this case. They had a lot of story lines to begin, and none of them felt as unnecessary as last year's Chimmy, or as redundant as the multiple Tess introductory scenes in Odyssey. Anyways, I was utterly relieved to see that Clark was still a caring person who was just trying to take a big picture view of the world. I had feared that he would let himself be swayed too much by the Jor-El AI's attitude, and become what I view as the antithesis of Superman - Kal-El from Crusade. When Lois returns, Clark's focus on his training is impaired and Jor-El makes some typically ambiguous statements. I didn't get the impression the writers were saying Clark is madly in love - I just think it's a continuation of what Maxima referred to last season - that there's a connection between the two of them. Something stronger than either of them realizes. I do call BS on the reason given for Clark not being able to fly - the best answer for me is that he doesn't do it because he doesn't NEED to do it. Not yet. I mean, sure flying is cool, but running gets him where he needs to go and it's his other abilities that win the battle. The way it stands, it now has the potential to come off as Lois holding Clark back from his destiny, and that's just wrong. The best I can hope for is that at some point Clark confronts the AI over its attitude and tells it that his love for humans is what makes him STRONGER. And that's the real birth of Superman - neither human nor Kryptonian but both.
I didn't like John Corben at all, although Brian Austin Greene played him well. I take it we'll learn next episode why he's carrying such an anti-Blur chip on his shoulder, but I certainly don't get "ego trip" out of Clark leaving the S symbol behind at the scene of his saves. I also really hated Corben's first scene with Lois, and especially the kiss. Just, yuk! Actually, this may be a good sign for the future - maybe Smallville is going to abandon the woobification of at least some villains. Metallo doesn't become evil because of the kryptonite heart - the kryptonite just gives him the power to do what he's wanted to do all along.
The Chloe scenes were better than I'd feared, but all my good will evaporated in her last lines to Clark. Not the request to save Jimmy, but her reaction when he logically and compassionately tells her no. I'm not going to write about it anymore though because I don't want to dwell on the negative. Similarly, not a lot to say about Ollie other than to quote Lois: "an obnoxious jackass". However I did like to see new Watchtower set and think Emil Hamilton is a real keeper of a character. So here's hoping their scenes won't be as excrutiating as I found most of them last year.
I was really impressed by Callum Blue's debut as Zod and if the writing holds up, I look forward to seeing lots more of him. I can't help but wonder how the writers have planned the time travel elements out, since there are TWO loops in play - Zod coming from the past and Lois coming from the future. I somehow doubt we'll see anything as tightly reasoned as last season on Lost, but it still could be fun. For years now it's been dangerous to get too excited with any given story line on Smallville because the writers have the ability to screw up even the most promising premises. On the other hand, they can also hit it out of the park. So here's hoping!!!
