Just finished watching the finale of Smallville and, as I suspected, it was fairly anticlimactic. They setup so many things in the tenth and final season that it became a footrace to cram every loose end into the last two hours of the series. It figures that the same problems that plagued most of the season finales would be present in the final episode.
Far too much time was spent on the wedding in the first hour, which compounded the problem. There was a heavy overdose of second thoughts, doubts, and generalized wimpiness from Lois and Clark dominating what was supposed to be the big debut of Superman. It also dragged out and didn’t get interesting until the battle that, of course, derailed the wedding at the last moment. After that, the second hour was much better but things were crammed into that short span that would have benefited greatly from more time.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The return of Lex Luthor felt as rushed as could be, but no surprise there as they weren’t sure the actor would be involved. The death of Tess was no surprise, nor was alternate universe Lionel Luthor becoming the host for Darkseid in an ultimately disappointing appearance as the big bad guy.
What surprised me was that we never got the iconic Superman pose or a clear full on shot of Tom Welling in the costume. That is utterly baffling as fans have waited ten years for this. Yes, he was seen in costume, but blurred, obscured, or CGI’d the entire time. That and he wasn’t officially called Superman until the seven years later segment really annoyed me.
Smallville was never deep or consistent in quality, but it usually was entertaining. It was too much to expect a really well done ending, I’m afraid.
Now for some more positive notes.
Apokolips was very well rendered and the red skies were a nice tribute to Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The omega symbols being revealed as part of the Anti-life Equation was a nice nod to the comics.
Jonathon Kent handing the costume to Clark was very nicely done as the two fathers sent their son off to be a man.
Chloe and Ollie apparently having a son in the seven years later bookends was kind of sweet. Better yet, Chloe didn’t die!
Lex having his memory erased by Tess as she was dying at least explains how he wouldn’t know Clark was Superman in the future.
Jimmy Olson MK II was the surprise cameo at the end in the seven years later bit. So the little brother at Jimmy’s funeral did replace him in the mythos.
Still, it was a disappointing end to the series and felt more like a setup for something more. It lacked the emotional impact that Superman’s first public appearance should have given us. They simply fumbled the ball one yard from the end zone.
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