control, shift, cheeseburger

I am following a terrific Superman blog called Supe Kitchen. The author keeps it real for me by writing about the big picture. I really like her thoughts on Smallville, and if you are a Superman fan, you should check it out.

Technorati Tags: comics, krypton, smallville, Superman

As I told her in an email, I keep up with Smallville for what it is. It’s a Superman show and just as much as I am Star Trek’s bitch, I’m also Superman’s. That said, I think that if I were to place Smallville into the vast cornucopia that is the DC universe, I’d create an entirely new pocket dimension for it because it’s broken faith with every Superman storyline since its inception..

There’s one thing that keeps me watching; the evolving arc regarding Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. They could almost call the show Luthorville because the more interesting stories in the show revolve around Lex, in my opinion. In Smallville, Lex has become a tragic hero to me. It’s the story of two men’s evolving friendship and over time that relationship devolving into deceit and disappointment. In the beginning, all Lex wants is a person to confide in, to trust. That trust is betrayed by Clark at every turn because Lex knows there’s something that Clark is holding back about himself. The worst line in Superman: The Movie is spoken by Superman himself; “I never lie.” This is naive, because he constantly lies. If saying, “I have a dental appointment,” and then changing to Superman to save a school bus isn’t lying, then you’ll have to give me the definition. In Smallville, this is Lex’s main problem.

This is a conundrum that should be haunting the writers of the show because its finale will have to tie up all the loose ends they’ve created in Superman continuity thus far. As currently realized, I can’t see how an older, more seasoned, harder Lex Luthor could look in the face of Superman and not realize it’s his old friend Clark Kent of Smallville. I think they finally have the mechanics for getting around this covered this year. Hopefully, they can make it work when the time comes.

The one benchmark I turn to when discussing the different versions of Superman’s origins is writer/artist John Byrne’s Man of Steel miniseries done for Superman’s post Crisis relaunch in the late 80’s. One of the questions John had to address was, “What do you do with Lana Lang?” John’s answer; he made Clark and Lana best friends growing up, and when Clark was saying goodbye to her so he could go off and do the hero thing, he told Lana about his powers. Lana professed her love for him and Clark told her he couldn’t return those feelings and left. When Clark became Superman, Lana kept his secret out of love. That’s the end of that. Quite different than the way the creators of Smallville have treated these two characters.

In order to pitch the show to the network, the Smallville creators had to convince them their version was “Dawson’s Creek with kryptonite.” In the adventures of Superman when he was a boy, there is no Lois Lane. Who does Clark get busy with? Lana Lang, of course. In fact, Lois Lane was separated into two characters early on in the series; Lana Lang, the love interest and Chloe Sullivan, crusading high school journalist. Clark and Lana having a thing is an OK idea as far as it goes, but even people who don’t follow Superman already know this relationship is going nowhere. The writers don’t seem to care, and this is the most frustrating aspect of Smallville from a continuity standpoint. They have since introduced Lois into the show. This was a wrong headed move in my opinion and as much as I enjoy Erica Durance, this only makes the continuity hole deeper.

Clark and Lana’s relationship is an on again, off again thing. The main reason it is on; these two folks have an animal attraction that is undeniable. Lana is hot and so is Clark. The reason it is off; Lana has the same reason as Lex, Clark’s lying about who he is, although, this can’t happen this season as Lana is (finally) in on the secret. The new problems stem from season six’s story arc, Lana’s love affair with Lex Luthor. While Lex was almost totally honest with Lana at every turn during their relationship, the key word here is almost. Lex was continuing his investigation into Clark without her knowledge and this was the deal breaker for Lana when she discovered what was going on. Without spoiling anything for those that haven’t seen it, Lana has become a harder, more street smart individual and she has an agenda and the money to back it up. She is no longer the woman Clark knew and this is the issue that will blow their affair up.

The other problem with the show is how Krypton fits into all this. Smallville’s version of Jor-El, Clark’s Kryptonian father, is more sinister than in previous incarnations. Jor-El has a plan for Clark, but what is it? Is Clark here to help earth as Superman, or to conquer it as Kal-El? Even Clark doesn’t really know. This season, Clark is less of a wimp, and more sure of himself and how he fits into the world. He’s as mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. When Jor-El tells Clark to do something, and it’s contrary to what Clark wants to do, Clark now tells Jor-El to take a hike. In the movie, Jor-El is a benevolent father figure who wants to see his son live and the people of earth advance. In Smallville, he’s almost a villain. They even got Terrance Stamp, the actor who played General Zod in Supermans I and II, to do Jor-El’s voice.

They’ve now introduced Kara, Clark’s Kryptonian cousin into the mix. You might remember her as Supergirl. Smallville does away with Kara’s comic book origin entirely. In the show, she was sent from Krypton like Kal-El was, except she was 18 when launched and in suspended animation. Her ship was orbiting the earth when she was released and she has no knowledge that Krypton was destroyed. It was revealed in the episode “Kara” this season, that her father and Clark’s birth uncle, Zor-El, was actually not a good guy. He was in love (on Smallville love = obsession) with Clark’s real mother, Lara, on Krypton and apparently knew of Jor-El’s plan to send Kal-El to earth. Zor-El told Kara that he was sending her to find Kal-El when the time came. Zor-El’s ulterior motive; he placed in Kara’s ship a crystal containing his and Lara’s DNA that was to be reconstituted on Earth so he and Lara could conquer earth and rule it with a super-powered iron fist.

Introducing Kara shoehorns Smallville more into continuity and it makes sense for Clark to have someone to play off of that has super powers. He can teach Kara how to control her urges to use her powers and she can train him in the more esoteric skills, like flying. This kind of thing could make for some interesting and funny situations, which I hope the writers take advantage of.

Like it or not, Smallville is here to stay until it is finished. This could be its last season unless they decide to do one more. The CW Network and the Smallville producers are negotiating to make that happen. I am really waiting to see what happens in the finale.

Filed under: Comics, Entertainment, TV