Since Hobbes started the Angel Finale thread, and I never watched Angel, I'll start this one.
I haven't seen much of Smallville's second or even third season, but I like the show. It's a good take on the mythos.
I take it from what's been happening the last few episodes that Clark and the Kent family have uncovered alot of information about Kal El's origins and that Kal's parents aren't the nice, lovable folks they've been in other incarnations.
So... Jor El sucks Clark into a chasm in the cave, strips him, and tells him he will be reborn. I'm wondering if Clark will emerge next season with his Superman abilities more developed.
Lionel seems to be on a mad kick too. Looks like Lex got poisoned, the Kent family farm is on fire, and Chloe's a crispy critter. Poor Chloe.
I was also disappointed in the relationship between the advertising and the show. The radio commercial said "Someone will give their life so that Clark can live." That didn't happen. Jonathon Kent is down, but I don't think he's dead. Chloe's dead. But neither of them sacrificed themselves for Clark. They were both attacked. And Clark's life was never in danger. Jor El just wants to SuperSize him or something.
What did everyone else think (assuming I'm not the only one here who watched the show)?
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
It was fairly entertaining. I've watched the show since it began in '01, and thought it to be a good take on the mythos, as you pointed out.
However, the Clark/Lana/Chloe triangle became annoying after it was in about the 20th straight episode. And in the series' beginning, it reminded me A LOT like the X-Files.
Still, the season finale was pretty good. Chloe died, and although I'm not really sad, I'm surprised. It's good to see Lionel is finally getting his comuppetnce (however you spell it), even though he's taking a few people down with him.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I find it interesting that the supporting cast has all been written out. Sam, Chloe, Lana's boyfriend from season 1... all gone.
So it's down to the main characters: Clark, Lana, Lex, and the Kents. Lionel is now a regular too.
Lex obviously can't die, though Jonathon might as the death of Jonathon Kent is a pretty established part of Superman's backstory.
Lana won't die either, though whether or not she got on that plane for Paris seems to be up in the air. One thing that always bothered me about Clark's relationship with Lana is that we know it will never work out. He has to eventually dump her and fall in love with Lois Lane.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I'm not convinced Chloe is dead dead. I think we would have heard about that in advance. Besides, she's too cute to die. Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
However, Chloe's cousin IS Lois Lane...it was established in a recent episode. Maybe Chloe's death (possible death?) will bring her to Kansas.
Posted by deadcujo (Member # 13) on :
Speaking of Chloe, there's a kooky idea about her and Lana Lane in the comment here.
From what we saw, Chloe was definitely a goner. Now, unless Clark goes back in time to save her or she has some meteor-related power that grants her immunity to being blown the hell up, I don't see how she could have survived. I do, however, remember reading somewhere that she's been confirnmed as returning next season. If that's true, then I really hope Clark doesn't spin around the planet to save her.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
She is confirmed as coming back next season.
Clark will probably have to make a choice in the cave with Jor El to either save Chloe (via time travel) or get the answers to all his questions and unlock all his powers.
Since the producers of the show said they don't want Clark to fly during the entire run of the show (except perhaps the last episode) I'm guessing he chooses option A.
Chloe has been using the name Lois Lane to write articles for the Daily Planet so I think the witness protection program will probably change their last names to Lane (sucks for her cousin though).
It was a great episode, very Godfather-ish ending.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
See... I'm way too far behind on this then, because I had no idea about Chloe's relationship to Lois.
So, let me get this straight: Chloe's cousin is named Lois Lane, and Chloe has been using that name as a nom de plum for her daily planet articles... So which of the two Loii is the one Clark ends up with, Chloe or the unseen cousin? Or is that a little romantic mystery they've left hanging?
Has Kristen Kreuk (yummy) been signed for next season as well? If she's leaving the show, maybe the love interest will shift to "Lois/Chloe" who would be living in Metropolis and working for the Planet, which evidently isn't too far from Smallville in this incarnation.
I agree that Clark will most likely end up time traveling somehow to save Chloe, and possibly Lex, his father, and their farm as well.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
Kristin Kreuk is back as well. Presumedly she will tire of Paris and return after three months or Clark will go after her and bring her back.
They're leaving the issue of whether Chloe is the Lois Lane Clark eventually falls in love with or whether it's her as yet unseen cousin up in the air, though given Chloe's skills as a reporter and the fact that they mentioned the real Lois wants nothing to do with being a reporter I'm thinking it's Chloe. But they could just be doing that to screw with the audience.
Unless I missed something I think the farm is OK, it was just one of the Kryptonian symbols that was burning in the field. I think that might have been related to Jor El instead of Lionel though the sequence does make it look as if all of Lionel's plans are set in motion.
They really are making Jor El out as quite the bastard in this series aren't they? Not sure how I feel about that. I do like how they've changed things about the mythos to make it fresh and interesting, but I don't want Jor El to turn out to be an asshole either.
Does anyone think Christopher Reeves character might be Jor El in disguise? It just seems to me that he knows waaaaay to much about Clark and Krypton, even with supoosed "satellite intercepts".
Major props on using Terence Stamp as the voice of Jor El though. General Zod was always my favorite bad guy from the movies. Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Sadly, I've missed all the eps with Christopher Reeve in them. The only thing I've seen is a preview of him saying, "Hello Kal El." So Iknew that he somehow knew about Clark's background.
I also think it's interesting that Jor El wants Clark to be a conqueror and a warrior in this version, whereas before, he seemed to know that Kal would be able to help people on Earth.
My guess is that, after his time with Jor El and his choice to save Chloe, Clark's issues with hurting the people he loves will clear up, realizing that he is *supposed* to be a protector and choosing that role for himself. And I think he'll probably end up going to Paris to get Lana back.
Did anyone catch the symbolism in the last image of Clark? The glowy shape that was around him was the diamond shape of the Superman insignia and the way Clark was curled in the fetal position formed the "S" in the middle of the diamond.
Some other symbolism I catch every now and again: they seem to love dressing Clark in blue and red. It was cute the first few times they made reference to his future costume, but I'm not sure it's still funny. Like, in the courthouse, he had a blue t-shirt on with a red jacket over it. Honestly... who in 2004 would wear that outfit? If Welling wasn't such a friggin' hunk, it would just look dumb.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
They do get a little carried away and beat you over the head with the symbolism sometimes, the blue and red outfits all the time being the worst offender.
I noticed him inside the emblem to. Pretty cool.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Has the S logo showed up in the series at all? I remember on Lois and Clark, it was on the ship Kal crashed in. Have they used it in Smallville at all? If not, the fact that it's on the DVD packaging is even more odd.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
It has, more or less. A similar shape was burned into his chest a while back...
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
living in Metropolis and working for the Planet, which evidently isn't too far from Smallville in this incarnation.
Three hour drive. Though you can see the skyline from a windmill in Smallville. And it has a coastline, despite being three hours from a town in Kansas.
And the S symbol was, I believe, seen on a board in Lex's room of Clark stuff.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Hrm. Another possibility has occured to me, though it's a long shot. From Legacy, it's possible that Dr. Swann has some sort of teleportation tech. That COULD have been used to get Chloe and her dad out in time.
The possibilities are as follows, as I see them.
1) There was no explosion, it's Lionel imagining things. It'd be bad writing, so it's unlikely.
2) It's not Chloe. Someone who looks exactly like Chloe was in the building, ala Tina Greer. It'd be out of nowhere, thus bad writing, thus unlikely.
3) Chloe dies permanantly. Unlikely, given that Allison Mack is listed in the cast for next season. But then, she could play someone else, i.e. Lois. I'm doubting it, though.
4) Chloe dies temporarily. She's brought back using Clark's blood, or time travel, or cloning, or what have you. That COULD be done well, they did it with Spock, but it'd be pushing things.
5) Chloe doesn't die in the explosion. She's invincible for some odd reason, or teleports out with Dr. Swann's toys, or some superbeing saves her, Clark, Kara, Jonathan, the chick from "Obsession", whatever.
Anybody got other ideas?
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
The "S" symbol is also the Smallville High School emblem, at least it was in the first season when the jocks had it on their letterman's jackets.
They painted the Smallville High "S" on Clark when they hung him from a scarecrow post in the premiere episode.
Of the options listed above, number four is the only one I could realistically see being used (hopefully). It is convenient to the plot as well since he is going to be either briefly or permanently given extra superpowers in Jor El's chamber in the cave.
The only other option I could think of is that maybe what we were seeing was a film made by the FBI as part of the Witness Protection Program to fool Lionel into thinking Chloe is dead. But that would be pretty lame if that's how they revealed it next season.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Regarding the Jor-el/bastard discussion, it occurred to me that he might be testing Clark to make sure that he doesn't become some evil overlord of earth. Sort of reverse psychology. Knowing what his son would be capable of under a yellow sun Jor-el might even be willing to kill Clark or at least strip him of his powers, to protect Earth...or maybe in this continuity Jor-el has been trapped in the phantom zone too long and is going a bit weird.
I'm not up to date on Smallville either and I'm not sure how far along in the series E4 has gotten so far. The latest one that I've seen has Lex trying to get his memory back, only to end up remembering that his mother smothered his baby brother. Personally I don't mind the red/blue/yellow imagery, remember that this is all comic book stuff and I suppose they should at least have to establish that Clark actually likes those colours. In the movie I never got where his costume came from, or why it never got torn or burnt or even dirty if I recall.
As for the origin of the 'S' symbol, I'm pretty sure that the Smallville high school's shield looked rather like the golden age symbol (the one with the red S on a black background) so that may have some significance. Combining the kryptonian shape with the 'S' for Smallville may be his way of acknowledging both halves of his mixed heritage...or perhaps I'm reading too much into this.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
In the movie the cape was the blanket his Kryptonian mother wrapped him in but they never showed the other blankets that formed the rest of his costume (according to the comics).
The costume was indestructable so Martha Kent had to unravel a thread then use Clark's heat vision to cut it so she could sew it into a suit for him.
His belt, boots, etc. all came from various straps inside the spacecraft.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
So kryptonian blankets are indestructible and have a non-stick coating? Ok, I'm satisfied.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
It can withstand a direct hit with six nuclear weapons but it's a bitch to dry clean.
Posted by Woodside Kid (Member # 699) on :
I missed the episode, but one of my friends at work said Clark whipped up the "S" shield in metal shop early in the series run. Supposedly his teacher was a little ticked off because it wasn't what he was supposed to be doing.
As for the whole thing with Jor-El, Clark's obsession with the idea that his father sent him to earth to "conquer" may be a result of mistranslation. That came from a message he saw projected inside his ship, telling him something on the order of "rule them with wisdom (been a while since I saw the episode -- could be mistaken about the wording). However, the first Christopher Reeve episode made a point of showing that Clark didn't fully understand the language. It's entirely possible he misinterpreted the text he was seeing.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Except for the fact that he just about tore Jonathon Kent's head off in order to get Clark into the cave chamber. Doesn't really bode well for his nice-guy image.
In the comics, the S Shield is the El family crest, right?
I caught the use of a stylized S as the Smallville letter, but I didn't think is was exactly what ends up on Supes' costume. I remember it being very close, though.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
Another option: Chloe was thrown from the building during the explosion. She's alive but horribly burned and in ICU.
Of course, since this is TV land, she can be expected to make a full recovery without the need of plastic surgery.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Let's hope not. She's way too cute to be horribly disfigured.
I'm still voting for time travel.
Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
quote:Originally posted by Aban Rune: In the comics, the S Shield is the El family crest, right?
I caught the use of a stylized S as the Smallville letter, but I didn't think is was exactly what ends up on Supes' costume. I remember it being very close, though.
Yeah, the "S" was the family crest.
The "S" on the Letterman's jacket, like all of the ones shown, has been very close to the one on the suit but just slightly off. Even the alien symbol of the "S" was a little bit off, so like someone said earlier it appears he used a mixture of the "S" from Krypton and the "S" from Smallville to represent the two sides of his upbringing.
quote:Originally posted by Aban Rune: Let's hope not. She's way too cute to be horribly disfigured.
Seriously. Lana's alright but she's high maintenance. "You just saved my life for the fiftieth time but we have trust issues". Screw that. Chloe's hotter anyway.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Yah... Lana does seem to like the drama way too much.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Hi, I don't watch Smallville - i gave it about 5 episodes.
Anyway, there is some Smallville convention in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - with both Clark and Lex. So if there is anyone in Brisbane, Queensland or Australia or even New Zealand, Oceania or further abroad there are details at:
Quite a coup for Brisvegas as they 'meaning TV stars for cons' usually just go to Sydney.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Wow... I'm surprised they could get Welling to do a Con. Generally the biggin's aren't interested. He's like... gorgeous. The women, and at least a few of the men, will certainly be going insane.
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