After months of anticipation, the two-hour Smallville television event that everyone has been waiting for is now upon us as Hawkman, Star Girl and Dr. Fate teams up with Clark Kent, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter to track down a killer before it’s too late.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock that has no internet or television, you’ve heard something about the Smallville television event “Absolute Justice” in which The Star-Spangled Kid/Skyman, Sylvester Pemberton, seeks out of the help of Chloe and her band of superheroes, all while Lois Lane is dealing with the evil Amanda Waller and the secret government agency, Checkmate. The episode is written by DC Comics (and fan-beloved) writer, Geoff Johns.
No wonder this is a two-hour event – there’s no way you could squeeze this many DC references into a single 60-min episode. Even I had to dust off my DC Comics Encyclopedia to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything.
Still, I had to at least miss a couple of fanboy references and I’m sure that the readers will make sure to tell me in the comments, there’s no doubt that for a fan of Smallville or comic books in general, “Absolute Justice” is a must-see event.
Review
While “Absolute Justice” started in the typical Smallville fashion, it quickly became apparent that in terms of storytelling that this episode would easily become one of the best, if not the best, episode of Smallville in its nine years of being on the air.
It was a wonderful to see that guest characters could be on Smallville with a backstory that’s more than the normal “guess who just happened to come to Metropolis.” In the months leading up to this television event I was worried that maybe the costumes wouldn’t work or that the story would be bland. Luckily, the manner in which the Justice Society and its Golden Age DC characters were handled exceeded above and beyond all of my previous expectations.
There were so many names being dropped and characters being referenced that I challenge anyone to watch this without hyper-focusing on every name being mentioned wondering if you happened to miss someone. (Was that supposed to be Thomas Jagger impersonating Clark Kent to drop off the Checkmate package to Lois Lane?)
Who would have thought that as the episode concluded that I would be happy with watching a Justice Society television show each week? One more thing that pleasantly surprised me was only wonderful Dr. Fate was. Some characters don’t make the transfer from print to television that well, but like Green Arrow, Dr. Fate easily stole the show.
Still, the episode was not without its faults. When the Lois Lane/Checkmate storyline kicked in it completely took me out of the story and made me wonder if the writers had originally written this plot in or if someone thought it would be great idea to crowbar in some foreshadowing to the ninth season finale.
Continuing with the Checkmate conundrum was the “big bad” of this episode. Icicle wouldn’t exactly have been my first choice as antagonist, especially when they decided to cast such a poor actor to portray the son of Dr. Joar Mahkent. His mannerisms were extremely odd and for the most part, the only way I could justify him making it this far with his “revenge” plot was because that’s what the writers decided. It certainly wouldn’t be because he has a formidable foe.
Final Thoughts
Overall, “Absolute Justice” was a wonderful glimpse back at the Golden Age of DC comics with more than enough nods to keep comic book fans busy searching through their mental Rolodex of superheroes while maintaining a wonderful storyline that could easily be enjoyed by those that aren’t so comic-literate.
Discussion
Before everyone starts yelling at me, I know that I passed over some things. Yes, it was great to see Martian Manhunter get his powers back and I have to admit that I got goose bumps when we saw glimpse at the fate of Clark Kent.
But, were you as happy with “Absolute Justice” as I was? Do you agree with me about Icicle and Checkmate?
Did you catch all the superhero nods and references?
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I got a laugh out of that part too
Super mega dittos! At first I thought of Bale with Shanks' voice but then I kept thinking Dirty Harry. So much could have been done with this; it was OK but really missed the mark for me.
hey, you can watch it at http://www.watchsmallvilleonline.com
enjoy;)
You have to look past the small budget and the few actors that needed some work. If you are indeed a Smallville fan Im sure you still enjoyed it alot.
Followed by Hawkman referring to Green Arrow as “Green Punching Bag”
Hawkman's lines were epic!!
Green Arrow: Clark he dropped me through a window!
Hawkman: I hope I didn't make you cry!!
Green Arrow: Drop the mace Conan
Hawkman: I will…on your head!
I thought this was his “angry man” persona and tried to just accept it at face value. Perhap that's how the director saw Hawkman's character, having a deeper voice than Shanks could deliver.
I have to agree. An electrical effect around the mace during Shank's great lines would have so polished things up. I know plenty of others here could easily point out many other things. They should have taken up a collection, to put some extra shine in.
Actually the CW does show episodes online at their site. I should know lol, because I've had to watch a few episodes of Supernatural and Smallville that I missed when they were aired
And when he called him a jackass. lol (if i can say that)
I did
wow ur clueless those lines were Epic Hawkmen your pretty mucj Wrong on All counts except for Icicle!
Just heard back from CW PR and they literally just put “Absolute Justice” on their website to watch.
http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/smallville/smallvi...
I must say that I disagree. First off the ways the JSA was incorporated in the story was great. And although i must admit that Icicle was a pretty bad opponent, the storyline was still great and this episode ill go down as one of the best Smallville Episodes of all time… Things I particularly liked about this episode.
1.) The mention of Lex Luthor
2.) Martian Manhunter turning green, phasing out, and getting his powers back
3.) Chemistry between the JSA and the regular smallville characters/new generation (especially hawkman and green arrow)
4.) That one major fight scene at the end when Clark, the green Arrow, Hawkman, Stargirl, and Martian Manhunter team up (although it may have been a little cheesy i like how they were all moving at Icicle in slow mo)
5.) Reference to familiar comic book characters… Green Lantern, the flash, ext
I also like how not only are the smallville characters coming together to form an actual league (finally…) but now their is a possibility for either a JSA spin-off episode or even another Smallville superhero “team” episode maybe involving Bart, Cyborg, and A.C. this time. Overrall AMAZING episode!
I found it on you tube the day after..go to The Supernatural9000 channel..he has it in 10 parts..
I didn't get a chance to see this either, but if you're in the U.S. you can check out hulu.com
They might have it
I was overall impressed with the show. The only problems that I had were of course Iceboy and Hawkman. The fact that Hawkman talked like a bad Batman wasn't really the problem for me. It was his flying and his wings. His costume it's self was awesome but when he started flying i threw up a little in my mouth.
me too, my favorite part was John Jones turning into Martian-Manhunter-Green. and, please, I hope the show brings back talks of Lex only if it will be portrayed again by Michael Rosenbaum.
I doubt that Michael Rosenbaum will even dare touching this franschise again. They'll probably give some stupid story about Green Arrow's attempt to kill Lex failing, and he had to go for reconstructive surgery… Enter new actor with no acting skill.
It dragged a bit, and the too-convenient newsreel was a bit goofy, but it worked. The costumes had me wanting to see Green Arrow in a more traditional costume — and it's been time to get Clark into his for years already. My main beef (entirely personal) — it's never clearly stated, but the JSA looks like it was last active anywhere from 25-30 years ago — but the actor playing Hawkman is 39, only 6 years older than Tom Welling. This is mostly about me (I'm 39) — but is Smallville telling me my day has long been over? I'm mostly kidding here.
One interesting thing in real life is that high performance careers, especially dangerous ones are shorter than your standard career. Police officers typically serve for 25 years for example. Of course JSA had other reasons besides some career members getting a little long in the tooth for calling it quits, as your well aware, described in the show.
It dragged a bit, and the too-convenient newsreel was a bit goofy, but it worked. The costumes had me wanting to see Green Arrow in a more traditional costume — and it's been time to get Clark into his for years already. My main beef (entirely personal) — it's never clearly stated, but the JSA looks like it was last active anywhere from 25-30 years ago — but the actor playing Hawkman is 39, only 6 years older than Tom Welling. This is mostly about me (I'm 39) — but is Smallville telling me my day has long been over? I'm mostly kidding here.
One interesting thing in real life is that high performance careers, especially dangerous ones are shorter than your standard career. Police officers typically serve for 25 years for example. Of course JSA had other reasons besides some career members getting a little long in the tooth for calling it quits, as your well aware, described in the show.
Just saw this show on the CW.
Had no idea Smallville had improved like this. I might come back.