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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i just thought of a possible reason why doomsday didn’t kill the JL and Davis and Chloe… he didn’t care about them, he was after clark. while on a rampage he gets all flustered that he can’t find him and takes his anger out on a little girl and her mom.
…and did anyone else notice the couple walking toward doomsday when clark was super-speeding to save the girl? kinda odd to be moving toward the strange alien beast, but who knows… maybe they were suicidal
Hey everyone,
I couldn’t read through *all* the comments, wow a lot of people posted. Hopefully I’m not re-posting something that someone else already said.
The one thing that struck me is that Lois is out of time sync with everyone. Like the previous episode where Clark announced his identity and then went back in time and reversed that change… Maybe Lois is going to do the same?
It would be a horrible ‘dream sequence’ type ending to have her negate the entire season finale, but it’s there to be done if the writers want to pi$$ us all off a little more.
Just my $0.02
Although I grew up on comics I never really read Superman so I wasn’t too familiar with The Eradicator. However, after asking one of my friends about him I think Arsalan and Dan’s comments are on the right track.
From what I gathered The Eradicator appears after Superman’s death claiming to be him but with no memory of how he survived the battle with Doomsday. He also has a conversation with Lois where he tells her he’ll no longer pretend to be Clark Kent. I mean that really sounds pretty dang close to what we saw in the season finale.
I for one thought this season, flawed though it might be, was a definite step up from last season but not as good as Season 6. I don’t really understand why so many people disliked 6, I really thought it was one of the better ones.
Oh Smallville….
I will never claim that Smallville is a good show; even though I have watched every single episode and own most of the seasons on DVD. It’s never been very well written, and God knows it’s taken way longer than it should to put the guy in the suit. However, I’ve always had hope for it.
Season Eight finally felt like that hope would be realized. They finally moved him to Metropolis, put him next to Lois, got him to being a super hero, set up the epic battle with Doomsday, and then……..BLAM! Lana comes back. Lana returns with ridiculous subplot firmly attached. The major arc of the season comes to a screeching halt and she sticks around just long enough to derail the entire rest of the season.
The season never really recovered after Lana’s exit. The relationship between Chloe and Davis went from a dangerous flirtation to a psychotic caricature. Chloe’s actions made no sense, Davis became more annoying than menacing, and it all continued to fall apart until the very end.
The biggest problem I have ever had with Smallville is with all of the huge story buildups that never pay off. The season 8 finale was the epitome of this flaw. First of all, we have the secret team that Tess begins assembling early in the season. It seems that she is going to build some sort of Anti-Justice League. Instead, we get a couple of teens in spandex chasing Doomsday.
We get dire warnings from the future Justice League about Clark’s untimely demise. We assume he will be killed by Doomsday. As par for the course, we are given a lame bait and switch instead.
The biggest disappointment, however, is the “battle” between Clark and Doomsday. This is something they have been building towards for AN ENTIRE SEASON. It’s not something that we wished for, was implied, or was hinted at. This was something that we were beaten over the head with. When it finally comes time for the big day, all we get is Clark getting punched (twice!) by a guy in a black spandex suit with some horns glued to it. Really?
And then, as if to say “oh yeah, we’re supposed to kill 2 people this episode” Jimmie gets speared through the stomach. I guess it wasn’t enough getting him hooked on pills. (Not so hooked, however, that he sells his badass clock faced apartment that he bought for Chloe.)
Finally, as everyone broods and walks away in slow motion, we are left with the omen of Zod’s return. Yeah, we’ve been there already. Remember? Lex was possessed by Zod like 3 years ago. Probably not because it only took about 2 episodes to clean up the world wide destruction.
I’ll tell you, I was really rooting for this season. It was getting so close! You could actually see that there was a master plan for the season. You could feel the tension hanging over each episode as you waited for the ultimate showdown between Doomsday and Clark. Unfortunately, they Smallvilled it up at the end. Maybe the next one will finally get it right.
And maybe he’ll finally put on the cock-a-doody suit.
K this is my take, i just watched it and agree on a lot of the negative talk.. but at the end, I think Clark is dead, like he was told was going to happen, which is probably why Chloe said she hasn’t heard from the justice league and the were there at the funeral.. and when does Clark disappear? (at the end) he dead…n if i got it right Clark dying made zod possible.. my guess is that Lois will see some crazy zod doomsday ran earth in the future or something.. then make everything ok.
The doomsday fight completely sucked.. lmao about the killing machine leaving 4 people a few feet away from each other and in one piece and sends Clark through a handful of buildings.. haha funny stuff…
One thing though.. Oliver seems to have found a way to kill doomsday? anyone else get that?
Overall i was at the edge of my seat.. for not much.. lots of questions.. first episode of season 9 better have some action..and some answers..
Louis D
@mysticzine
GREAT analysis!
Vic
People! For goodness sake!!! this wasn’t a battle between clark and doomsday. it was just clark fetching doomsday so they could put him in the hole. i don’t know why people are so stuck on it. i realize we all wanted to see an epic battle, but that won’t happen until clark IS superman.
and again… clark will not be in the suit on smallville until possibly the last episode… ever. because smallville is the story of clark BEFORE he is superman
Again I will say as two others have said. Why did Chloe say that the JL guys/gal were missing when they were at the funeral? I just found this episode overall to be confusing.
This is my brother Jimmy and my other brother Jimmy….
To the one who wrote the article. Jimmy and Lois were at the Daily Planet, not the mansion.
It amazes me that so many of you want this story to stick to the comic book mythos and then don’t like it when the writers don’t use the script that you sent them (betr luck next year), because they are trying to get it back on Comics track to satisfy you. In an interview, one Smallville writer stated that they know what the fans want. Be patient. Stay tuned.
As for the season and finale, it wasn’t so bad.
1)You think Lex is dead. He’s not. Therefore Green Arrow is not a murderer. He may even know where Lex is- we may see him next year. Come back Michael, so these guys will shut up.
2)Doomsday is not dead, as several of you who seem to know what you are talking about have said (Foopher). He’ll be back some day to fight the epic battle that you all so wanted to see but hopefully never will- because he kills SUPERMAN and the name of the show is SMALLVILLE, which is about CLARK KENT. Only 2 hits- Boo Hoo! We want more violence. It will happen but not on this show(I hope). What I can’t figure out is why you want to see Clark dead before he gets a chance to become the Super hero that the world knows and loves?
3)I’m not worried about Lois- she’ll be back to be mean to Clark. By the way, someone said that Lois was introduced “so early in the series.” What? That was in the season 4 premier and the writers had no idea whether it would be renewed for a 5th season. Who knew there would be a 9th?
4)Jimmy is dead (rest in peace, I’ll miss you), and his little bro apparently will take his place as the real JO in a few years. After “Smallville” is over. Lois is not reversing it. Get over it.
5)Chloe. Thank you writers for keeping her alive. You knew betr than to kill Chloe. (And to get Allison to sign a contract for 2 more years, if it lasts that long). It will probably be cancelled since so many of you will no longer be watching it- good riddence. By the way, A)she hasn’t had healing powers all season. B)Everything she did was for Clark, not Davis, who IS DEAD. C)Why do you care whether or not she knew Jimmy’s family? Big mystery!
5)Clark will fly. I wish he would fly all over the place in the season premier next year so that you people will stop whining about it. (If he does, I’ll know it’s not really our Clark).
6)Maybe Super Lana will teach him how after she rids herself of the Krypton suit and rejoins the show.
By the way, KK HAD to be in those 5 episodes to fulfill her CONTRACT. Do you people never read the articles and interviews about what’s going on behind the scenes? The writers did a great job of ending the Clark/Lana love story (I love roller coaster rides and the one they were on for 8 years). They also did a wonderful job of birthing the Clark/Lois/Superman relationship with Stiletto, one of my favorite episodes.
If the writers read these posts, good job guys. You have made Smallville the show to love and hate by the diehard and fair weather fans. And if you don’t know where the story is going from here, maybe you got some ideas, some good and some crazy. But please, for Tom’s sake, don’t ever put him in that silly halloween costume. Clark/Superman can fly without it.
If anything, I only hope that my post can help reach out to the Smallville writers about how horrible this season’s ending was so they don’t butcher the next one. Here are the top issues I disliked about the ending:
1. Seemed rushed, tried to pack too many things into one episode.
2. The doomsday fight was like 3 seconds. Ok no. It was like 3 punches.
3. The scenes kinda felt out of place leaving me confused or feeling like the scene should have had more too it.
4. And lastly, the build up to the finale was very weak. It didn’t even feel like a season finale. My wife and I were shocked.
Overall I didn’t mind watching. It just wasn’t the best season finale. I still like smallville though. I can understand they wanted to leave room for another ending and more stories to come. But still… they could have done better.
2/5 stars (below average)
OK, thank you Tricia for agreeing with me (unless i read that wrong and you actually think i’m and idiot).
Now, in the episode LEGION (s8e11), clark’s legion ring was given to him with only the ability of time travel. “no flgiths… yet” as Rokk said. BUT WAIT!!! Clark was given another ring in the beginning of the episode. If this ring has all the powers in it, when clark finds lois in time he might be able to get the ring back from her and use it to… FLY.
then again maybe not… just thought of that today
ugh… and yes i know how to spell flights. i don’t know what happened there
And for the people still all flustered over the JL “disappearing”; when chloe says that, alot of time has gone on between that scene with clark and the funeral. plenty of time for them to go into hiding or something.
if you watch the episode and actually listen to what they say you will understand what’s happening
I thought this was the weakest season finale for Smallville thus far. Unlike you, Bruce, I liked seasons 6 and 7 much more than season 8, at least they had Michael Rosenbaum. His portrayal of Lex Luthor always had a life of its own that surpassed the other actors. I always thought he was the best actor on the show – remember the scene when he went delirious on a desert island at one of the season’s openers? – that was incredible. This whole season 8 has been so lame and stale. I think the writers need to start treating the characters they are writing about as if they were real human beings, put themselves in the place of Clark Kent and pretend to be him and ask yourself, “What do I want to be doing in 1 year or in 5 years or ten years?” Real human beings make plans and want to accomplish things that are tangible and long-term. But since these are just characters they are treated that way – and the writers just wing it as they go – and that’s how it felt for me this season. They need to develop a solid story arch for the whole season, and have the same for the characters. They need to get some better villains back on this show quick, not that Lex is gone and his father is gone, Davis and the main characters have been too dull as of late. I am very disappointed by this season and frustrated that it feels like a limp, dead fish. I hope to God the original writers return next season. Just didn’t like it this year.
The Toymaker is an exception. He was a very cool villain this year. I also like the reporter played by Tori Spelling, and seeing her “get hers”.
This response is to KK – Regarding Jimmy’s younger brother, his name is probably actually “James”, which could become a nickname, later, much later in the future due to the younger brother having an emotional bond to the one we know as “Jimmy” who is now dead. BOY THEY FOOLED US!! DIDN’T THEY??!! Or maybe it’s just a load of bologna the writers has to come up with to fill the LOGIC GAP in explaining to fans why Aaron Ashmore is leaving the show yet to stay true to the mythology. All they had to do, really, is let Jimmy move away like Pete did. Since Jimmy was hating Chloe and Davis and life in general. I guess the writers like to appear to be original by doing something unexpected (killing him off instead of sending him away with Lana and Pete in Fantasy Land.)
does any one know any spoilers for next season ??
at jimmy’s funeral the man guy said “rest in peace Henry James Olsen”, suggesting that jimmy isn’t his actual first name and his little brother’s first name is actually jimmy
Foopher, “Jimmy” is a pet name for “James”, just as how “Bill” is a pet name for “William” and “Chuck” is for “Charles”.
Either way, Smallville just lost a fan. Permanently.
The stories suck. The glaring departure from canon over the past 8 years sucks. Clark not flying sucks. Chloe needs to die (she is not even in the original story!), the storylines are dragged out for too long and the production values are lame. This 8th season drove the last nail in the coffin for me. I can’t watch anymore of this garbage.
I’m sorry, but if they cancel Smallville, I will not be surprised and will perhaps be the most relieved. It is easily the lamest thing on television. They’ve really messed this one up for sure.
In my opinion there are two things Smallville needs to include next season: Clark getting a lot closer to his Superman destiny, and a Lex comeback. I’m not saying he should be the main villain, but with Lex dead there is no Superman.
I’m 54yrs old and still buying comics and watching comic book heroes on the small and big screens. Everyone that says the Smallville finale was lame is right on the money. They were supposedly building up to the the BIG FIGHT What the hell happened? Not only that, but yes it is time for some flying, supergirl flew immediately, surely he’s soaked up enough solar energy by now (especially since Martian Manhunter got him up close and personal to Sol). And speaking of MM, what happened to the powerful creature they showed him to be when he first showed up? He ends up some whimpy looking Black guy (calm down,not a racist comment I”m Black). All in all as said before, Smallville is now merely a cash cow that they will suck dry and ruin.
Xeno, by not his actual first name i was suggesting that it was his middle name. I know jimmy is a nickname for james.
Why should smallville follow the comics? Those stories have already been told. It would be pointless to do it again just in like action. I mean yes they should FOLLOW the comics, but not tell the same story we’ve already heard. It’s time for new adventures, and Clark going through stuff we’ve never seen before.
I also think smallville has done a great job of getting people to actually feel something. I mean most people are upset and what not, but they got people to talk about it and it got peoples attention. Ya gotta love it.
It is called a “reimagining” of the franchise. So of course they use the characters we know from the franchise, but create different or unique story lines from there.
Following the comics or running parallel like story lines is what a creative write does.
It seems incredibly moot to continue discussing the point that they are or aren’t following the comics.
I have literally grown up reading every single Superman comic I could get my hands on. I was a lucky enough kid to have family members who had all the original comics that DC produced on the Superman story. I can honestly say this is the only series that actually was able combine the whole myth into something closer to the original story-lines. And yes I even read the original Superboy series. where Lex and Clark grew up together. What they have done here is a brilliant job of combining all three Superman origins. Since the Comic was first produced in the 30′s there have been three slightly different origin stories. So at first I did not like Smallville. Now I am a diehard fan because I saw, what they were doing in combining all three origin stories. I like season 8 most of all. Because they introduce a lot of DC’s iconic figures like they were. I do agree that the Doomsday fight was to short. But remember this is tv and there is only so much they can fit into a 40 minute episode. I have a feeling they are going to show us the full fight scene later on in the next season. BTW I dont think that was the Clark we all know in love. There was a DC Storyline where Zod came in and took over Supermans identity. There was also one where after Supes died the eradicator cloned kal-el and took over for him until Supes was healed. Either way I can hardly wait to see what they do next. BTW Green Arrow shooting Supes in the back was a classic DC move. Remember the Dark Knight series., where while Batman Fought Superman, Green Arrow tried to shoot him in the back with a Kryptonite arrow. Supes looked at him and said not again. Didnt you learn the first time you did that. or something close to that. Actually in quite a few comics Green Arrow did do this. So they did good with the limited time that they had. As I said I can hardly wait to see what they do next.
this is my first time posting a comment. and i just have to agree with everyone that the finale was a bust. i have been reading, however, peoples comments that the finale acutally leads into the story of superman. i just don’t like the fact that the tried to fit everything into one episode. like for example they could have totally left out the whole scene with louis and tess and there fight scene because that just totally created another side story with louis going to the future/past and focused more on the fight. i just have this strange feeling that the big fight we have been waiting for is going to take place in the next season. and i know that people criticize other people for being impatient on clark flying and all i have to say to that is IT HAS BEEN 8 SEASONS, I WOULD THINK BY NOW HE COULD HAVE ATLEAST FLEW. and i hate to say it,and i know its just how superman is, im just getting so tired of clarks “save everyone” attitude. i mean if he just killed braniac when he was in chloes body, that would have killed two birds with one stone. chloe would have been gone from the series and remember how the legion member said that because they didnt kill chloe clark was dead in the future. i will watch the rest of the season because im just so die hard on this show that i have faith that they can redeam themselve. I JUST REALLY WANT TO SEE HIM FLY!
I dont get it, Cloie had some healing power right. why it didn’t work on Jimmy???
still cannot figure that out.
Also the season finale was really a disappointment. I was waiting for it from so long.
I really love the show and waiting for the next season.
To Shabs- in Season 7, Brainiac (as Kara) attacked Chloe- her healing powers weakened him, but since then she has not been able to use them. After that, though, is when she started exhibiting Brainiac type powers (like when she killed the guy in Season 8 “Identity” by overloading his brain).
I do agree that the Lana storyline seemed to derail the season’s progression a little bit, but I understand there were contracts to fulfill. It seems there could have been a better way to resolve the relationship between Clark and Lana- now it just seems as if the only reason he is ever with Lois is because he cannot be with Lana. No woman (especially a sassy alpha woman like Lois) wants to play second banana to another woman.
To Ali- the Newhart reference cracked me up. You don’t hear too many siblings with the same name, but I guess if George Foreman can do it, Jimmy and Jimmy Olson’s dad can do it too.
Can someone help me. Im watching in the UK and have just watched Arctic and i think its season 7 but not sure. Lex just took the orb and apparently killed clark?? Sorry. Im a bit lost as i didnt have cable for a while there and have lost the plot altogether? Is that the final episode of season 7?