Spoiler Level: High As It Gets
As I've mentioned before, I have to wait until Tuesday mornings for the WB.com to post the latest episodes. Normally that's not a problem, but in this case, the wait's been driving me nuts. I've been going out of my way to avoid everyone's reviews. Finally I decided not to wait any longer, and purchased the episode through Amazon.
I've just finished watching it.
My immediate reaction? A decent ending... but not 100% satisfying.
The satisfying:
* Apokolips looked fantastic. I mean, every shot of Apokolips is just pure gold. This is Apokolips brought to life. I never thought Smallville would attempt anything like this.
* At long last, the return of Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor.
* Some very beautiful montages of the ten year journey we've had with this show.
* Clark being an inspiration to Ollie. As I've stated in the last few episodes, this is a Clark Kent that I can believe is Superman, and it leads to his being an inspiration to everyone in the world's time of need.
* Clark having reconciled his past and his destiny, his humanity and his Kryptonian heritage.
* Clark finally flies!
* The music, and not just the John Williams music; Louis Fabre's Blur/Superman theme that's been used for the end credits since Season 8 gets a lot of use in here, until it finally gives way to the all-out John Williams score. A fantastic way to show Clark taking that final step. And the swoosh effect on the closing producer credits was great. I only wish they had kept on going and done the entire closing credits in that style to the John Williams music, but in this modern age of "squish the credits to the side while we run another commercial" it probably wasn't worth spending the extra money on.
* Getting to see The Suit in action.
The unsatisfying:
* Ten years and we get NO money shot of Tom Welling standing tall in the costume, cape blowing in the breeze behind him?!? Really?!? Once he gets the suit, all the shots with his face are from the neck up so you don't see the costume; all the shots of the costume are from a distance so you don't see his face. Doctor Fate got a full-body shot in his costume. Superman should have gotten a full-body shot in the costume.
* Darkseid's final battle being in Lionel's body. Yeah, that really didn't work for me. Not quite as unsatisfying as Doomsday, but still a disappointment.
* I've been asking for years how they were going to get around Luthor not recognizing Superman as Clark Kent right away; I thought they were going to just go with the fact that yes, Luthor knows in this version. But instead, they bring out the old memory-wipe ploy. Ahhh, I should have expected the old memory-wipe ploy. I could live with that if it just wiped out his memories of Clark; but it didn't. It wiped out all his memories. So, umm, if every single memory of his life has been wiped out, then that means he went from a total amnesiac to President of the United States in 7 years?!? Not to mention, if everything that happened to him in this series is gone, then what's his motivation?
It's a shame really, because this show just got better and better over the last three years, and I feel like they slipped a groove at the end. Nowhere near as badly as Star Trek: Enterprise did, mind you; this is an okay ending, but it's just okay, and the previous years have shown me that they could have delivered.
And so, we close the book on Smallville. It may have been a bumpy ride, but overall there were more highs than lows. I'd like to thank Home of the Nutty one last time for the screen caps, and all the folks who worked on the show for striving so hard to entertain me. Thanks to everyone involved.
This episode is available to watch for free (with commercials) at http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/smallville/. Amazon is still only charging the regular 1-episode price even though it's a double length episode.
2 comments:
I agree with your review. whilst this was an okay story it should have been much better and grander. For one thing I think they should have resolved the marriage crisis before the finale so that they could concentrate on Darkseid, Luthor and Clark's transformation into Superman. The marriage was a bit lame as well since virtually no one showed up for it. No Pete, Lana, Stargirl, Black Canary, Aquaman, Mera, Cyborg, Zatanna, Impulse, Martian Manhunter, Connor, Supergirl, the Legion, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, General Lane, Lucy Lane, Cat Grant, Perry. Hell not even Dr. Hamilton showed up even though he was at the bachelor party. Some friends they got there. I'm sure it was largely due to budgetary reasons but I felt we needed a few more guests to give the impression that at least some of their friends showed up. Connor, Perry and Lucy should have been there at the very least. Maybe that's why it took them 7 years to get another go. Maybe they actually wanted some friends to come to it.
It was nice to hear Perry's voice at the end though along with Jimmy's cameo.
And Jonathan showed up without any explanation as to how or why both Clark and Martha could see him. Was he a ghost? Was he an hallucination? Did Highfather send him to support Clark? I need an explanation.
The battles were anti-climatic as always for the finale.
I loved the fact that Luthor was elected President at the end. Its a shame it seemed to happen on a year where there would be no presidential election. Presidential elections would be in 2016 and 2020 not 2018. Maybe its different election years in the Smallville universe.
I did enjoy it but I really enjoyed the rest of the season more.
Good point about none of their friends showing up at the wedding; Pa Kent being there distracted me from that fact.
As to Pa Kent, I just assumed he was a ghost and that Clark and Martha were in tune with him.
Another good point about 2018 not being an election year, I hadn't thought about that either. Maybe it was a special election because something bad just happened to the President? Hmm, no, the line of succession doesn't work that way, the villain would probably have to wipe out all of Washington. Okay, never mind, it's just one more flub.
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