Smallville Season 8 Finale Review & Discussion
May 15, 2009 by Bruce SimmonsDiscuss whether Smallville ended this season on a high note… or was a bust.
This season of Smallville was better than the last few – and yet the last few episodes were starting to force me to extend my patience bubble farther out than normal. Stilletto? It felt like it was trying to fall apart for me to some degree, yet I suppose what can you expect from a fantasy show that has inexplicable superpowered aliens?
This reflection on the Smallville season finale will have spoilers…
The Smallville season finale brought closure to some story lines, had some oddball hanging logic at spots, fulfilled some past tidbits on who was going to die and set us up for the next season.
Though I’m not sure what they intend to do with next season or if after this episode, they’ll have viewers coming back. I’ve already seen some comments about this finale and they haven’t been pretty.
Clark, You Are Going To Die
The episode starts out with Clark learning from Cosmic Boy that he’s going to die tomorrow. Cosmis Boy also gives Clark another time travel ring, asking Clark that he send Doomsday to their time where they are prepared to deal with him.
Meanwhile, back at the super large mansion, Tess Mercer loses her Kandor Orb. Here’s the issue with the Orb… if Doomsday dies, something worse is released from the Orb.
Clark’s big plan is to bury Doomsday but the Justice League double crosses Clark and dupes him into a trap where Green Arrow plugs Clark with a green arrow… really… a kyrptonite laced arrow. It really was green.
The Justice League Thinks They Can Take Doomsday
Then the Justice League of mortals (Note the fragility of that word?) goes off to do kill the invincible Doomsday. They walk away leaving Clark to lie in the street, subdued. Nice, real nice, and real odd.
The Justice League actually captures Davis but as they prepare to off him, Chloe gets in the way AGAIN and thrusts the black kryptonite at Davis, splitting him and Doomsday apart. It’s amazing how stupid this girl acts, and I mean it with the best intentions.
At one point Lois is snooping around Mercer’s mansion. How the hell do people keep getting in this place? Later on Mercer confronts Lois at the Daily Planet and accuses Lois of stealing her Orb.
They get into a cat fight. (This was probably the best part of the episode folks.) Finally Lois clocks Tess out cold. As this scuffle comes to an end, Clark’s time travel ring that he left on his desk, falls off his desk and as Lois picks it up, she vanishes in a flash. Obviously to the future.
The near iconic character of Jimmie Olsen finds Clark and pulls the arrow from his back. Suddenly it all begins to make sense as he pulls the arrow out of his back and watches Clark heal. Jimmie is cool with Clark’s secret.
Clark locates the Justice League battered and bruised by what was Doomsday, which really, they seemed less worse for wear considering they just went up against an unbridled, pissed off Kryptonian killing machine that had no human control.
It’s back to the original plan and Clark engages Doomsday.
As they come together, Doomsday clocks Clark, sending him flying through several buildings. As Doomsday comes after him, Clark does a leaping tackle where they land at the refinery where Clark had left the Justice League. As they land there, it would seem that Clark packed Doomsday in one of the tunnels that he had first planned to put him in, where then Black Canary would set off this multitude of explosions to bury Doomsday. There are big explosions but in no way were we shown that they were set off by Canary.
The next morning, Jimmy and Chloe have taken the humanity known as Davis to this loft Jimmy bought as a wedding present way back when. As Jimmy and Chloe start to make amends, the jealous Davis stabs Jimmy with a pipe. As Davis goes after Chloe in a jealous angry rage, Jimmy uses his last bit of energy to shove Davis into more pipes, killing him. Jimmy dies. JIMMY OLSEN DIES (what?). So the monster was Davis. Great.
After the funeral Clark and Chloe talk. Clark doesn’t know how he survived the explosion or seemingly what happened to Doomsday. Clark is mad at himself for not seeing that Oliver was right about killing Doomsday.
Clark said he tries to forget he’s an alien and yet, it’s his human side that makes poor decisions based on emotion. He decides that he is no longer going to be Clark Kent and declares that Clark Kent is dead and walks away.
Meanwhile, back at the mansion the Kandor Orb shows up and hatches a man on the front lawn, carving out a big Z in the grass. Zod, has returned.
Where Do I Begin?
This episode had so many oddball illogical scenes that happenstance seemed more like logic than the situations that took place here.
Leaving a time travel ring on your desk at work. Fine. Clark has a lot on his mind.
A batch of humans with some powers, looking to take on Doomsday. Fine. They have to. Right?
The fight between Clark and Doomsday was incredibly short and lame. Two hits. Three at the most? This should have been the payoff for this whole season of waiting. And it was two hits. Gimme a break folks.
At Jimmy’s funeral, we find out that his middle name is Jimmy. Jimmy is not his real name. Chloe gives “Jimmies” camera to his younger brother. Head slap. So Jimmy Olsen did not die. Just a guy whose middle name was Jimmy.
Clark saying that Clark Kent is dead – Is this what the showrunners meant when they tried to tease the viewers into any sort of anticipation about character deaths and the season finale? You’ve lost your credibility with this critic because that was a hollow lie. On both counts. If it’s not really Jimmy, then you’ve lied to us all along. Clark “dies” by a decision. I’m so over this it’s not even funny.
Zod is back. Cool. Sure. Why not bring Darkseid in the action as some sort of midget horticulturist while you’re at it.
Did I forget something? I’m sure I did. Are you as agitated as I am? As a show goes and if you’ve put on a thick skin of anti-logic, the episode was fine but the convenient scenarios and situations that led to some of the story closures felt contrived. Did someone quit and you had to get a fill-in writer?
I liked the premise that Jimmy found out Clark’s secret. Learning that information made a lot of things make sense to Jimmy and why he could start to forgive Chloe. In fact, the forgiving had started and bam! OK, you had me there. Watching someone in a passionate make up kiss and hearing the shthunk sound of pipe going through their torso sucked.
Smallville Season 9 Spoilers
Erica Durance will be back for Season 9. Sam Witwer may be continuing with the show as he might be playing Zod. It’s noted that Faora did say that Davis Bloome resembled his father.
Your Turn
Ok folks. It’s your turn. You can either back me up and show me more moments of “huh?” or tell me why you thought this was OK in your book. I’m totally open to any thoughts.
Now gang, I’ve asked for opinions on both sides, so this is my fault if you see things you don’t like. Don’t take it out on each other. This is a safe place to express your thoughts.
Images and Season 9 Info Source: Krypton Site
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Louis D, i see what you mean. i don’t really know what to think about the whole clark thing. it’s got me all confused and i just want to watch the next season to know what the fooph is going on. haha
but what you’re saying does make sense
and your theory of lois being in the future with the legion; i think you might be right. it was meant to send doomsday to the future.
at first i thought the last place she would be was the future, but that’s an interesting point
i have no idea what to think about what happened to clark. but, Louis D, you’re right. clark didn’t change anything in the past so not sure what’s going on there. i just want to see the next season and get some answers. the suspense is killing me!!!
and lois; the last place i thought she’d be was the future. but after your post about how the ring was meant to send doomsday to the future, i’m starting to think maybe she is there. interesting points
i don’t know what to think about the whole clark situation. i just want season 9 to come so i can get some answers. the suspense is killing me!!! i mean he very well could be dead (it’s happened to people on the show before), but i’d like to think that he’s not. But yeah, doomsday’s not dead; he’s trapped, trying to get out.
and to the point of lois being in the future because that’s where clark was told to send doomsday, i like it. at first, the last place i thought she would be was the future, but now i’m thinking otherwise. interesting points.
and you’re right about clark not changing the past… so it’s whatever. haha
Actually, when Lois put on the ring and disappeared, that somewhat annoyed me. Clark was supposed to put on the ring to send DOOMSDAY to the future, not himself. So why did it send Lois?? I seriously doubt anyone fighting Doomsday could be holding him in one hand and put a ring on with the other… so I just don’t get it.
Nor do I believe Clark was supposed to get on a knee and propose to Doomsday to make him put the ring on himself. Or the writing *could* be that weak… not sure at this point.
gee you’re like constant downer, huh?
it also showed in the episode (if you were watching) clark super speeds up to doomsday to save the little girl. showing that clark has the ability to run up to doomsday and do stuff, like maybe slip a ring on him. OH MY GOD look at that
Meh – that feels weak.
DD would be as fast as Clark and there’s no real speed advantage. It’s equal terms.
B
but he could still get him by surprise (much like how he took the girl from his hand)
alright..i have someone in my corner..haha
just wanted to comment on the ring thing…to put this in perspecive..clark and DD are both kryptonian..but DD has armor and brass Knuckles(in a way) if i was fighting just another guy i think i could get a ring a third of the way on his finger…(that’s all it took Lois)
I forgot i wanted to say something else..about the Legion, why dont they fix there own mistake? It’s driving me crazy..they let someguy steal a ring and screw up 1000 years…so instead of fix that which took them about 1 min they put it on clark to just go with it…they could just stop that guy from stealing the ring and all is good.. Not the smartest group of superheros..
N also if anyone is still reading..if clark died..(as the guy from the future tells him happened) why is the legion still around..didn’t that guy tell clark he brought all those races together…that he was the reason for all that..see what happens when you involve time travel.. everything gets crazy
Louis D out…
exactly. that’s why THEY couldn’t fix it, there was no THEY
So i hear smallville is getting a new character; “Alexander Mason”. (has anyone else heard this?) Who, from what i’ve read is a big fan of Alexander the Great. Wasn’t there a super-powered villian that called himself “Alexander the Great” in the comics?
At first i thought this guy would be the alter-ego for zod, but i saw a comic cover with supes and “A the G”, so now i’m thinking that’s what’s going on.
I saw a spoiler on Kryptonsite.com about that- they are casting for the role of Mason. I was trying to figure out who it was. He apparently has a connection to Tess.
yeah. i read that on kryptonsite too. but on another website (iforget what it was) it said his name was alexander mason. and it said about his fetish with alexander the great. it also said he had some kind of power.
Isn’t it obvious that Lois went somewhere into the future? And she did not put the ring on- she just picked it up and looked at it curiously, then zap! Now she’s missing and Clark told Chloe that he had looked everywhere for her.
Yes, Clark was supposed to die that day according to the Legion guy, Rokk, and Clark told Chloe, “Clark Kent is dead.” Didn’t Rokk tell Clark that every time they go back in time they take a chance of changing the future? So maybe he did when he warned Clark that he would die, therefore giving him the chance to do something to alter the event- and Clark did not literally die. How will Clark continue on his journey to becoming Superman if he is really dead? He is emotionally distraught by Jimmy’s death and blames himself. He’ll go to the fortress for a while, Chloe will need him and he will have to go get Lois from wherever she is. I know this sounds too boring and simple for you commies to
accept. Those of us who are still fans have something to look forward to.
Tasouli, I was not going to reply to your comment about Tom Welling’s ability to act, since it’s your opinion. But I have to offer mine and get it off my chest. Are you watching the same show that I am? You are judging the work he did when he first started. He has continually improved over the years. In his first year as CK, his obvious discomfort in the role was perfect for the character. By the time he did “Red” with Clark on red K in season 2, he was much improved. In the commentary for that episode, the creators Gough and Millar said that Tom’s personality is more like Clark on red K than the normal Clark. So he has spent all these years playing the “normal” Clark. Did you miss the episode of Clark on silver K? And Bizarro pretending to be Clark? Over the years, several great actors/characters have departed- Jon Schneider, Annette O’Toole, John Glover, Kristin Kreuk, and the fantastic Michael Rosenbaum. Yet the show is continuing into it’s 9th season. Why? Tom Welling. In my opinion, the show whoud never have made it into season 2 without him. And I hope that when Smallville ends we will see more of Tom- that he will prove you wrong.
Tricia, you rock! YOur first post has great points and your second one is right on the money about Tom.
also something i’ve wanted to add to the discussion of the flight issue. I think clark has bee flying through the whole series, he just doesn’t realize it. S1E2- he’s floating above his bed. S2E1- he tells his dad that he was willing himself towards lana’s truck in the tornado. In some other season 2 episode- lex finds him in the middle of a road miles away from his house after he had been dreaming of flying. S4E1- he flew. S5E3- he jumps after the missle, but not before the same bundle of energy forms beneath him that did when he flew as Kal-El in season 4. season 8 “Hex”- chloe says “up, up, and away”. the same energy forms beneath him and he launches to the roof of the daily planet.
then again maybe not. just something to think about i guess.
The flying makes sense to me- it’s like when the adrenaline kicks in or his subconscious takes over, he can fly. Clark maybe just does not have the confidence to fly on his own yet?
Also, I am re-watching the earlier seasons, and am on Season 4. In the first episode, when Kal-El has control, he says “Clark Kent is dead.” I just thought that was an interesting parallel.
And Tom Welling is great, especially since he has played all the different alter egos (and even Lionel Luther in that body swap episode). I can’t wait for the next season!
Tricia, you really do make a lot of good points in your post. Especially with the idea that Rokk might have changed the future when he went back in time to warn Clark. One thing I’d like to point out is that, in comics, it turns out that Superman was actually in suspended animation all along, rather than actually dead. Which would fit right in with your theory. I’ve actually studied up quite a bit on the whole “Death of Superman” arc and the more I read
the more I become convinced of two things.
1. As many others have said, Doomsday is not dead. He’s buried underground. There were a million different ways they could have decided to end that battle and the fact that they specifically chose to “bury him one mile underground”, really makes me think they’re chosing to follow the comics on this one.
2. The Clark at the end of the episode is the Eradicator. At first I wasn’t totally convinced, I thought maybe the writer/producers were just tossing a bone to fans familiar with the storyline. But the thing is, in those few minutes Clark speaks with Chloe, they manage to squeeze in so many details that mirror The Eradicator that I really don’t think it’s coincidence.
A) In his first public appearance after Superman’s “death” the Eradicator has a conversation with Lois Lane that VERY closely mirrors Clark’s conversation with Chloe.
B) The Eradicator truly believes he is Superman, but subtle changes in his personality leave Lois confused. These include him expressing his sudden disdain for humanity, and a nihilistic attitude in general which seem completely at odds with his previously optimistic views on mankind.
C) The conversation ends with The Eradicator telling Lois that he must end his relationship with her, he has decided he will no longer pretend to be Clark Kent, but instead be Superman all the time. I mean honestly, doesn’t that sound too similar to all just be a coincidence? I mean they purposely tried to replicate that conversation as well as they could without deviating from the show’s established canon. There was one final detail that really sealed the deal for me. When The Eradicator is talking to Lois it has no memory of how he survived Doomsday, only that he “somehow managed to escape”. When Chloe asks Clark how he escaped he doesn’t remember. Why would the writers include this detail if it was just regular ol’ Clark? I mean really what relevence would it have to the story? The only real reason I see in bringing that up is to show that this isn’t the Clark we’re used to.
So what do the rest of you all think about this? Did I at least give you guys something to think about?
Luke:
Fascinating idea… Indeed.
I don’t dislike it.
Thanks for the idea.
Yes Luke, yes. love it. makes complete and total sense. clearly that wasn’t the real clark. good investigative work haha. it’s nice to know some people know what they’re talking about.
and to clear up my opinion of Lana, i liked her best when she was the sweet high school girl that cared about people. the second she started dating lex and got all attitudy with clark, i couldn’t stand it. haha. then she got blown up and i was like cool. then she came back and i was like well she better act a little nicer to people, and she was. that was the lana i liked to see. when she got clarks powers and went after lex she got back on my nerves. i liked that they brought her back in season 8 and i almost cried a little at the end of “Requiem” (that was so freakin’ sad). when she got all krypto-ish and clark couldn’t get near her i was like good for her, but then i felt bad because they do love each other and it’s terrible that they can’t be together anymore.
but yeah, that’s why i really don’t like how lana has developed. but the shows not over and they have time to fix her
We can restore Smallville Into the Superman era by having Jor’el (the father of Superman) make everyone think that Clark and Superman don’t look alike! Now this can explain the Clark Kent glasses and Superman won’t have to wear a mask or hood! Michael ( Lex ) will be back in season nine for two shows! That would help the show alot! Any comments? Steven Dunetz 640 16st. San Diego,ca. 92101
lex will be back? yay. you better not be teasing us.
and i’m sure the writers can come up with something that wipes everybody’s memories of clark or something for him to start wearing the galsses. it won’t be that hard.
i know the writers know what they want to happen, it’s just a matter of getting there.
The Eradictor arc is the most plausible at the point. In the comic, the Eradicator is a clone of Clark but 1 percent of him was left out of the clone because of time constraints; that 1 percent was compassion. If this is Eradictor, he will be brutal in season 9; I feel sorry for Zod already
. Clark will be back but not at full strength, if this is going by the comic. He will have to absorb much of the suns rays to gain his full strength. In the comic, Supergirl helped him; maybe she will be back for season 9.
i definitely like it, John. IT seems like that’s where they’re headed. also looking forward to the beat down that zod’s gonna get. but that raises the question; how long will zod be with us? last time he was around for like 1.2 episodes
Clark has to realize that he and the Red-Blue Blur are the same person, only the one has super powers. He then has to realize that if he wants to make the dual identity thing work he needs to become 2 different people. A goober with glasses and a Super man.