Is Smallville Circling The Drain?

Actually, my first title for this was going to be “Is Smallville Swirling In The Toilet?”, but I thought that might be a bit much.

If you read this site regularly, you’ll know that I’m actually quite a fan of Smallville. But when I like something I tend to hold it to a high standard. Granted, this isn’t high brow entertainment, but it has been fun to watch over the years as Clark has matured from a geeky high school student to a man of responsibility. Also great has been seeing the slide into darkness of Lex Luthor.

However one thing that really drives me nuts is when a TV series hangs on too long. This was the case with the most excellent Stargate SG-1, which should have ended when Richard Dean Anderson left the show and before the wretched Ori storyline began.

Now Smallville is entering “should’ve quit while they were ahead” territory.

The last couple of episodes have been probably the worst of the entire series.

First we had “Siren”, a couple of weeks ago. The episode introduced the Black Canary, a DC universe super-heroine who in the comics is romantically involved with Green Arrow. In the opening minutes of the show, it was so incredibly cheesy that I thought it was some sort of wierd parody of the show or strange dream sequence.

I kid you not.

When the episode just kept going from there, I was stunned. It was the most cornball thing I’d seen in a long time, complete with cringe-inducing dialog. The romantic exchanges between Lois and Oliver Queen were also really awful.

It was actually painful to sit through and felt like it lasted about 3 hours to me. Even my daughter who loves superhero-related stuff thought it was terrible.

And then last week we had the episode titled “Fracture,” where Lex tracks down amnesia-ridden Kara, Clark’s Kryptonian cousin, and while trying to bring her back to Metropolis suffers a gunshot wound right between the eyes – and survives!

I almost turned it off when they cut to the hospital room and said he was in a coma. A gunshot to the forehead, dead straight on, and he’s just in a coma.

Wow.

Anyway, Clark had to use experimental technology to get inside Lex’s subconscious in order to find out where Kara and Lois are being held in Detroit. He discovers a little boy in there who is the final remnant of what good is left in Lex.

In the end Chloe once again manifests her super-duper lifesaving powers to heal Lex completely.

They’ve brought in too many Kryptonians, Clark still can’t fly, Lana has been turned into this dark, twisted character and they gave Chloe super-powers so I suppose she’d be more relevant to the show.

If the next couple of episodes don’t improve, things are going to get really bad. And on top of all this, they’re planning on continuing the show with an eighth season despite the fact that Michael Rosenbaum (who plays Lex) is leaving the show and the only actor committed to returning at this point is Tom Welling (Clark).

I always bring up the TV series Seinfeld as an example of a show that bit the bullet and quit while it was at the peak of it’s popularity. Sure, it’s tough, but now it will always be remembered as a great show and not one that slid into mediocrity towards the end.

CW, I know you’re hurting for ratings and a hit show, but if this is any indication, season 8 of Smallville is going to be horrifically awful.

Quit, while you still can.