Zod

DVD, Smallville S6 (Zod)

"Everything's changing. I don't know where to go from here," says Clark, but I wonder if that could be the voice of the writers. After all, they had seen the series last much longer than I imagine they had expected it to, they had charged through so many story lines, left the world in chaos at the end of Season 5, and now they had learned they could pretty much do whatever they wanted and people would watch. Not that having no boundaries is a good thing, and I'm tired of harping on about how great Seasons 1 and 2 were, because they were kept in a grounded internal reality and continuity of which none remains. The series had gone through so much change through the last three seasons that if anyone was still watching they were probably going to stick around whatever happened, so if they wanted to create worldwide damage or disaster it wasn't as out of place than when the series was about its namesake: a small Kansas town with strange occurrences.

We should be used to quick-fix premieres in which the unassailable problems of the cliffhanger ending to the previous season would be whipped through and wrapped up in the course of 45 minutes while still leaving enough loose threads and hints of future strife that there would be something to continue the season with. No change with this episode. We're left with the pieces being picked up, only Lois looks rather out of the picture - while almost everyone else is in on the crazy events that have been happening, with alien knives and technology, people being taken over by mad dictators, and widespread destruction to the planet, Lois thinks she had a glimpse of heaven (when she saw the Fortress of Solitude), and that's the only supernatural event of which she's aware!

Changes include an updated title sequence which features more recent clips (some of which aren't very appropriate, I felt, one of which has Clark flying through the air fighting Lex and giving away what was going to happen in this very episode! - Maybe they used that scene in promotion for the new season so it wasn't a surprise?), a new recurring character, and new end-title music, the third for the series. I'll let it grow on me a while before I comment. As for Jimmy Olsen, it stands to reason he'd show up eventually (I'm waiting for Perry White to return to the series and become editor of the Daily Planet to complete the set), though it's strange they chose to have Aaron Ashmore play the role as I thought he'd already been in the series - actually I believe it was Shawn Ashmore who played Eric Summers, so perhaps they were brothers? I know Aaron was in the 'X-Men' films. In the few scenes we see of him he's fine, and seems likely to be a more quirky character, much like Chloe used to be.

The other big injection of Superman lore comes in the form of the Phantom Zone; a barren, desert-like reality in which Clark was imprisoned by Zod in the last episode. I must say this was filmed so well, really stark and burnt out. It may have just been a quarry or some gravel pit, but the intensity of the landscape came across strongly. I was a bit disappointed Clark so easily escaped - Jor-el, the architect of this prison, had built in a backdoor in case any of his family should be trapped inside, which was very 'convenient.' At least we find out some good about Jor-el, that he was less tyrannical than we've often been led to believe. We learn that he built the Zone to house criminals, that he didn't escape to it when Krypton died because he was too busy trying to save his planet, and his wife wouldn't leave him, plausible reasons for such an escape route not to have been used. The reason I wanted Clark to remain inside was to find out more about it, and I imagined it could be several episodes before he found his way out to battle Zod. I thought Zod was going to stay in Lex for a while too, perhaps dominate the Earth, but the huge surge of events dropped off in this episode and things righted too easily.

The intense direction, fast pace and multitude of short scenes continued the style of the series, and lived up to most of the other season premieres, but at the same time the tone was vicious, more vicious than we're often used to. People get stabbed in knife fights, there are lots getting battered, and most nasty of all, Lana gets a thick, metal spike shoved through her hand, pinning her in excruciating pain, into a wall so that she has to pull it out to escape - reminded me of the film 'Johnny Mnemonic' in which a character went round doing just that to people. The visuals had become so dark and brooding that when Clark and Martha are in the barn at the end with the sun streaming in, it felt odd and out of place, no longer in line with the mood of the series which used to be so bright and upbeat. I felt the scene where Rya, an inmate of the Phantom Zone, defends Clark from other inmates could have been a chance to have some martial arts fighting, but it's filmed so you can't see much of the action. It gets a bit boring to have people thrown about all the time as the 'trademark' fight scene. It was touching to see Lionel madly take on a gang of assailants in his attempt to reach Chloe, and quite cool the way a bodyguard suddenly shows up to get him to safety, and then rescues the girl because his boss wants her.

I don't think there's any going back to the simple days now that Lana has experienced so much, not to mention poor Martha and so many others, but I did like the scene in which she has a good chat with Jor-el in the Fortress and they reach some kind of understanding. Somehow the plane she and Lois were in crashed near the Fortress without killing them! She generally proves to be a hero, showing just enough sadness and tiredness to give reality to some weird stuff and bad lines. Chloe's barely in it, Lionel doesn't have a lot to do, but we're left wondering if the positive influence of Jor-el has been removed so that the old, evil Lionel has returned since his last scene shows him poring over his own Kryptonian symbols, then writing the word 'POWER' in caps and underlining it, which was rather melodramatic! Lex is in the position that used to be filled by Clark - Lana did love him, but now she's afraid/guilty/wary, and he doesn't know everything that happened. But he too has the remains of the Kryptonian device from the black ship to pore over, so his evil deeds are sure to continue. Unsurprisingly, he has no memory of all that happened since he was in the field with Lana, so Clark's secret continues to be 'safe.' I kind of hope Lionel goes back to being a bad guy again because it's too strange for him to be all good and helpful!

The end shows that some of the Kryptonian criminals came through the backdoor with Clark, unbeknownst to him, so now there's that mess to be cleaned up. Otherwise it was the usual case of style over substance, with some great effects, where Clark and Zod fight, smashing through rocks or trees or fields, but despite the effects it felt 'TV' when they were going for, and sometimes achieving 'Film' - Zod and Clark standing in a little field, with Zod spouting the usual cliched baddie lines about being disappointed there wasn't much of a fight. Too often they go in for that, and it's lazy. I didn't think a whole lot of Rosenbaum's performance of Zod because he just acted grumpy and evil, whereas Lex used to be so multi-dimensional. But laying aside problems, for sheer spectacle I suppose I'd have to say that, overall, it was a pretty good start to the season.

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