Odyssey

DVD, Smallville S8 (Odyssey)

It's been a while since I watched the end of Season 7, and it's telling that the only thing that stuck in my head was the Fortress of Solitude collapsing on Clark and Lex. Telling, because you'd think an exciting season ender would be full of the kind of moments I wouldn't forget. But just as that wasn't that great or memorable, so this season opener follows the same lines: it's a jumble of things happening, people running around, the occasional fight, and developments (or undevelopments), aplenty. If they wanted to make the series feel more like a comic book, then they succeeded, but since I don't much like comics in general, and aren't impressed by things just happening for the sake of spectacle or surprise, this wasn't a good development. It's not like the series hadn't long ago eaten itself and become a live-action cartoon, and as Clark himself says when standing in his loft with Phil Morris' character (I can never remember his name - did he have a name?), about seeing his parents and Lana as he was dying made him realise things aren't like they used to be (dying? He lost his abilities at the Fortress, somehow survived tonnes of ice crashing down on him, ended up in some Russian labour camp of some kind, and then gets shot by Green Arrow under the influence of Kryptonite juice which only lasts a couple of minutes, long enough to track him down, interrogate him, and take him out - see what I mean about a jumble?).

Seeing his parents and Lana made him realise the life he has on the farm hasn't really existed for a long time (does that mean he shirked his chores and wasn't making a go of it, or were corn prices at a new low and he just had to get out of the market…?), so he's decided to give it up. While we're still at the farm with Phil Morris, who shows up in the nick of time to save Kal-El again, (only this time it's for the 'last time' because… just because. Sounds more dramatic, okay?), we find out that all you have to do is fly Clark near the sun and that makes him all better and restores the powers that were taken away for no real reason except to make Clark weak in this episode so we could be 'wowed' by having the Justice League show up (are they even called that yet, I can't remember?), or three members of them at least, although it's down to the normal, human Lois Lane, and abnormal, humanised Clark to actually save Chloe (who, lest we forget, was arrested by the Department of Domestic Security last we saw her, only it wasn't the government, it was Lex Luthor's own subordinates who look to be fighting over his estate. Well, two of them, and the man goes missing by the end…).

So what was the point of the heroes? They didn't even have all the members in the episode, with Aquaman, Canary Cuckoo Girl (or whatever she's called), and Olly Queen. Because Cyborg and Flash are off looking for… erm, was it Clark, or Lex…? It certainly wasn't Chloe 'cos the rest of them were looking for her, but everyone was looking for someone, and they obviously couldn't afford to pay all the actors to come back, especially as Justin Hartley's Queen (that sounds odd), is the only one to have actually joined the cast. Which is why they all agree to lay low and go their separate ways, not to save on budget at all, but in case they're tracked down, because Chloe (with her new super-intelligence power, keep up!), was tricked (not that super-intelligent, then), into working out what each of… their phone… numbers were? I think? And from that they could track them and these superheroes had no defence against being knocked out and captured (be so much easier to have killed them - save on budget; baddies have less to fight; everyone's a winner!).

And they did go their separate ways, quite literally each walking off from the city street the three of them and Clark had met at to exchange a few last, choice words (like suggesting Clark should wear a costume, you know, essential superhero banter like that)! That's how intelligent the writing was, but if they had to save all the money on the Justice League it must have been because they had so many set-pieces, like Clark driving a lorry into… a pile… of drums (of the oil variety, he was working at a Russian caviar facility, not auditioning for a boy band). Maybe I'm being a little unkind, but this is the first season I come to without any knowledge. I knew Hartley joined the cast at some point and I was glad to hear it because he was so good in Season 6 (and his brief moments in 7), that it could only be a good thing, but rather than build the character he gets nothing of value to say or do, except provide a threat which lasts no time at all, just so Clark's powers can be restored (and how did Phil Morris get him back to Earth if the sun drains away his powers while strengthening Clark's?).

The only moment that had a glimmer of potential was when Chloe rushes to the bleeding-to-death-because-my-mate-shot-an-arrow-through-my-heart Clark, willing to try and heal him though we know that if she does try to do that she could very likely die herself. But somehow her new super-intelligence power has meant that she's inexplicably lost her healing power (the one she couldn't use because it might kill her, but was always there hovering around waiting to be turned into a tragedy of self-sacrifice), in exchange for being able to read really fast and do maths homework in seconds. As if the writers thought it was pointless her having an ability that couldn't be used and had to give her something new for no reason in the story's logic. Never mind, her cousin wasn't treated with much better respect, shamelessly dressed in a French maid's outfit to infiltrate Lex' old castle home. At least we're heading for the 'Superman' mythology now that Clark's joining journalism, right?

Does Clark's new position at the Daily Planet (and I'd love to know on what basis he was hired, because I doubt it was for all those old Torch articles from High School!), mean the end for all those familiar Smallville sets? Let's face it, the series should have stopped being called that and changed to 'Metropolis' - they could even have saved money by getting new contracts for the main players and ditching all the old sets. Ah, but we may not be done with Smallville completely because new femme fatale, Miss Tess Mercer, a lowly member of Lex' organisation we've never heard of, seen or smelt the slightest inkling of before was apparently granted control of his empire as acting CEO of LutherCorp. Maybe because she's utterly devoted to finding him and clearly still thinks he's there in spirit, not even wanting to sit in his chair in front of her lackeys! Well, she (played by Cassidy Freeman, and another guy, Sam Witwer whom we didn't meet yet), along with Hartley are the new additions to the cast (cousin Kara's off the bill, though I can't actually remember exactly how she got written out last season or if she even did!), with Lionel having died (murdered by Lex, I think), there was a spot open. So far I wasn't impressed, but then we don't really know much about her or learn anything to make us care, but she's clearly set to be the new villain to replace Rosenbaum.

So where does all this farcical, cartoonish drama where everyone bounces around like rubber balls in a rubber ball factory, leave us? I dunno, but I agree with Clark, it's been a long time since his life on the farm meant anything, and it's a toss up whether his new life on the roster of the Daily Planet will be worth it. I suppose if you've stuck with a series into its eighth season you're not going to care about the quality of the writing, the stories, or whether anything makes sense, you just want to have MORE! My own motivation for continuing to watch something I don't rate very highly is partly because I enjoy pointing out the flaws, I want to see it through to the end, and I know it can sometimes be good, occasionally even great. Whether this season will have enough to make me want to keep the DVD or sell it as soon as I've finished, I don't know, only time will tell. On the basis of the first episode it's going to be more of the same; they apparently run with the misconception, 'if it's broke and people like it anyway, don't fix it'! Oh, and I almost forgot: Chloe said 'yes' to Jimmy Olsen's marriage proposal (good in a way as I thought they were going to become the new cyclical romance/gone bad that always was Clark and Lana, though there's still time), so super-soap lovers will have been overjoyed, I'm sure. Still, nice to dive back into the ridiculous world of Clark and chums' colourful claptrap.

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