Smallville, “Kent”

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When I wrote this piece yesterday, I mentioned that the Smallville writers should do their best to focus on Clark and try not to detour into too many gimmicky episodes or characters not in the main cast. “Kent” is sort of a cheat, because it does both. Bring back Clark Luthor and shooting CK over … Read more

Waiting for Superman, week one: How Smallville can stick the landing

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With only five more weeks of Smallville, there are mixed emotions in the TVS headquarters. To work out those conflicting feelings, I’ll be writing a pre-episode piece every week from here on out until the final episode on May 13. This is the first one, obviously. Smallville‘s tenth and final season has been a bit … Read more

Smallville, “Fortune”

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UGH. Ever since I read a few spoilers about “Fortune,” I prepared myself for a terrible episode. But I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the giant suck-fest I watched unravel on my screen this evening. It’s been well-established that the Smallville writers have no qualms about ripping entire plots from other texts … Read more

Smallville, “Masquerade”

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Up to this point, neither Chloe’s return or the development of Darksied’s crew have been handled quite well. The budget strongly impacts the latter while before this episode, I wasn’t convinced the writers had any plan for the former. Allison Mack was willing to come back, and thus she did. Thankfully, “Masquerade” figures out a … Read more

Smallville, “Beacon”

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Apologies yet again for the delay. Busy Valentine’s Day weekend. Such is life. After last week’s “Collateral,” I was legitimately concerned about the final run of Smallville. That episode was so tepid, uninspired and generally stupid that it set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the season. I don’t want to say I had … Read more

Smallville, “Collateral”

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Apologies for the delay in this review, hectic weekend. When it was announced that Smallville‘s 2011 return would be pushed back a week, I wasn’t really upset. For the most part, this final season has been more scatter-brained and problematic than the last two seasons, despite some very, very great moments. Usually the series is … Read more

Smallville, “Luthor”

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Time travel, alternate universes, these storytelling techniques are such gimmicks — gimmicks Smallville uses on a fairly regular basis. However, because the series is so good when they do employ this gimmicks, I’m willing to give them a reprieve for dipping into an elseworlds-type tale in “Luthor.” Plus, the series is based on a comic … Read more

Smallville, “Patriot”

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Sorry for the delay folks, with the holidays and the end of the semester coming up, it’s going to be something of a crazy time for me. After last week’s episode solidified a number of things in the overarching plot, “Patriot” pushes that narrative forward in a very satisfying way, while still dealing with some … Read more

Smallville, “Abandoned”

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This week on Smallville, it’s all about family and family histories. And though his issues with Jor-El are certainly present here, “Abandoned” works well in letting the two ladies move to the front and deal with their pasts in emotional resonant and in Tess’ case, twisty kind of ways. The result is the second fine … Read more

Smallville, “Ambush”

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Sorry for the delay folks, I had to take a few days off to restore some sanity, and not the Jon Stewart variety. That decision is kind of unfortunate, at least in relationship to Smallville, which turned in one of its better episodes of the season. After a few goofy and gimmicky episodes, “Ambush” felt … Read more

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