Smallville has ended its 10 year run making it the longest running series based on a comic book ever.
I’d like to say it was a great run through and through, but it did lose my attention somewhere during the fourth season due to Clark’s teenaged lovey-dovey hijinks with Lana. I saw the odd episode here and there over the years, but I never had the urge to return to my regular viewings of it… until the 8th season.
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It seemed like a switched was flipped and it went into full DC Universe mode. We’ve already had the Smallville‘s Elseworlds version of Supergirl, Green Arrow, Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman on the show beforehand. But they were visually adapted to fit the “no capes, no tights” rule of Smallville. Suddenly we were getting Maxima, Zatanna, and of all characters Doomsday, that very nearly resemble their comic book counterparts! (The real reason for this was because of a change in producers.)
Over the subsequent months and years, we were showed everyone from Metallo, Parasite, Plastique, Speedy II, J’onn J’onzz, Brainiac, Zod, The Wonder Twins, and even Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy of the Legion of Superheroes with an appearance of the Persuader in the same episode!
A highlight of the 9th season is a double-length episode entitled “Absolute Justice” – the only episode title with more than one word on it – which featured the screen appearances of members of the Justice Society of America, including the Sandman, Star-Spangled Kid, Stargirl, Dr. Fate and in flashbacks, Alan Scott, Ted Grant, Jay Garrick and even Ma Hunkel.
The boss villain in the 10th and final season was none other than Darkseid, which recurring appearances of Granny Goodness, Desaad and Glorious Godfrey. However, the sparing use of Darkseid was quite disapointing. But the finale delivered what was promised: Clark finally suited up in classic Superman costume and flying.
The road to the finale was a long, long journey with a lot of parts that could have been trimmed (the entire Jane Seymour as a witch season, anyone) and missed opportunities (final fight with Doomsday) but I’m glad I stayed til the end – or at least caught the last three years of Smallville.
