Carstairs Considers....: TV Show Review: Smallville

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

TV Show Review: Smallville - Season 2

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Fun stories and amazing acting

Cons: A couple of dropped plot points

The Bottom Line:

Superman grows more

And mythology as well

Show getting better

"Okay, What Planet is that Guy From and What Did He Do with Clark?"

Superman by way of a high school soap opera. That's how I'd best describe Smallville, at least in its early years. That's definitely the case for season two of this show. But I'm not saying that as a bad thing. This is one high addictive treat.

For those not familiar with the premise, we are visiting Clark Kent in the days before he put on his tights and flew off to save the day. Here, he's just a high school student (Tom Welling) trying to adjust to his powers and save his friends without revealing that he is an alien. Heck, he doesn't know where he came from. The only people who know his secret are his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider and Annette O'Toole) and his best friend Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) who finds out early this season. He has a crush on Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) but is afraid to pursue anything. Meanwhile, his friend Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) has a huge crush on him. Rounding out the cast are the Luthors. Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) and Clark are best friends. Lionel Luther (John Glover) seems to be visiting town quite frequently, and his visits aren't always good news for Lex.

Season two picks up right where season one left off. Clark manages to save Lana from the path of a tornado, but Lionel Luther isn't quite so lucky. While Lex saves his life, Lionel winds up blind.

But as life slowly gets back to normal, things have a way of continuing to be, well, weird. Clark develops heat vision, brought on by thoughts of sex, and he discovers the dangers of red kryptonite. Chloe and Pete become adrenalin junkies. High school students start dying of old age. And Lana is visited by her best friend who died years ago.

But with everything else going on, Clark also gets hints to his past, much to the worry of parents. A cave is found in Smallville that has ancient drawings depicting Clark's story. The ship that brought Clark to Earth seems to come to life at times. What does it all mean?

On the soap opera side of things, we've got the love triangle. Lana and Clark are on one minute and off the next. Poor Chloe is trying to maintain a friendship with both of them, yet she keeps getting hurt in the bargain. Frankly, I find shows with on again off again couples frustrating. I get building tension. But either build it or ignore it. Don't let us think it will be resolved only to build entire episodes around tearing them apart again.

It's not just the love triangle that gives the show the soap opera feel. Lex gets married twice (with Clark as best man both times). And there's an unexpected pregnancy.

Let's not forget the science fiction element of the show. The first season quickly got the show labeled "the freak of the week" show because it seemed most of the time Clark was fighting some person with weird powers brought on by exposure to the meteor rocks that fell around Smallville when Clark landed as a baby. (That's Kryptonite to the rest of us.) They still have some freaks of the week, but they are more balanced with the shows about Clark getting pieces of the puzzle as to who he is. And these episodes aren't nearly as formulaic as they were in the first season. Some of them can be quite freaky and give me the chills.

Along the way, there are some plot holes in the show. Chloe is the editor of the Smallville High paper, "The Torch." It seems, however, that she is the only one ever writing for it (they don't even mention Clark writing for it until late in the season). Plus, it seems like it is a daily. How can one person do all that plus have time to wish she had a love life? A few plot points seem to get dropped from one week to the next. The worst example of this is the strange case of Martha and her job working for Lionel. This is a major source of tension in the first half of the season. She and Jonathan are always going on about whether she should keep doing it or not. And yet, once Jonathan has decided it's a good idea (so they can keep an eye on the Luthors), she is suddenly not working for Lionel any more with no explanation as to what happened. Um...?

Really, those are minor points in the grand scheme of things because the characters draw us in and don't let us go. Everyone on the cast does a great job of bringing the writer's words to life. The main cast has settled in nicely to their roles. But special praise must go the two Luthors. Both Michael Rosenbaum and John Glover are simply amazing. Their scenes together as they try to outwit each other are absolutely enjoyable. And Michael plays Lex as a man trying to overcome a shady family to be a good man. At times, it is almost painful to watch knowing what he will become.

Speaking of which, these shows are still peppered with great throw away lines aimed squarely at who Clark (and Lex) will become. I love those nods to the established mythos.

In a fun bit of casting, Christopher Reeve (Superman in the movies from the 70s) shows up in one episode as Dr. Virgil Swann, a man who just might be able to tell Clark who he really is.

I have to mention the special effects. Considering this is a weekly TV show, they are amazing. Heck, even for a movie they'd be fantastic. Whether it's the normal things like heat vision or super speed or the unusual like flying through a tornado or stopping rain, you'll buy every thing you see.

This boxed set doesn't short change you, either. There are 23 episodes on six discs. The episodes are presented in widescreen and stereo sound. In addition to the episodes, we get several deleted scenes, four audio commentaries on two episodes, bloopers, a featurette on Christopher Reeve's guest spot and a second on special effects, focusing on three of the biggies from this season.

If you are looking for an addictive show, you've come to the right place. Once you start, you won't want to stop watching the second season of Smallville.

Season 2 Episodes:

1. Vortex

2. Heat

3. Duplicity

4. Red

5. Nocturne

6. Redux

7. Lineage

8. Ryan

9. Dichotic

10. Skinwalker

11. Visage