I have to say, till the very end (including the finale) Smallville provided moments of greatness mixed in with things that made you want to punch your TV square in its components…so at the very least it was consistent. For me, it became a point of accepting what Smallville was and did well versus what it consistently screwed the pooch with.
The Good:
We saw something that has never been seen in live action before. A young Clark Kent going through his developmental stages growing to be the man that always chooses the right path and is a beacon of hope inspiring others. He doesn’t just become that man when he is sent to Earth, the trials and tribulations endured throughout his young adult life makes him that way and we got to see every bit of it with Smallville. The scenes with Lois, Jonathan, Martha and Jor-el in this finale were pure gold and struck at the heart of the character and all he has endured over the last ten years. It was how a boy became a Superman, while not in costume, it was certainly in heart and spirit.
While I thought the scenes with Lex were good too, I think the uncertainty of Michael Rosenbaum’s participation in the finale and the already initiated Darkseid story arc was a tough one to merge. It seemed like both story lines ate away at the precious time that the other villain could have used in this finale.
I also realize that Lex losing his memory pissed off a lot of people. To me, even though Lex loses his memory this could be why Superman does not try to inspire/help Lex be a better person in future encounters, he has done that and has seen the evil inside of Lex and who he will eventually become again. Just as Clark was destined to become Superman, in some way shape or form, by accepting that destiny Clark now realizes that Lex is destined to become his greatest enemy. Just as occurred in the history of Smallville, I’m sure Lex will consume his time with old files, saved data, and many forms of brain transplants or information downloads to gain some semblance of a memory back. At least enough to fulfill his part of the proclaimed destiny.
The Bad:
My list of “smack my head” moments from the finale is as follows:
-Oliver taking out Darkseid’s trinity…in one shot. Would it have killed them to show the entire justice league in that one scene come up behind Green Arrow?! At least so we got to see them all one more time and that they weren’t just chilling somewhere else not caring that the world was about to be taken over. Hell, at that point there wouldn’t even need to be a fight, the trio just could have retreated back to Apokolips to join with Darkseid saying that they would meet again soon bringing back an army to face the JL.
-Lionel as a vessel for Darkseid, who loses in one shot. – Really at this point why bother? They should have just done something to say Darkseid would take full form once the negative energy from the humans consumed the world and not had a half-assed physical interaction. This could have been done in the scene with Lionel where we see an image of Darkseid in the lab. Clearly it happened, was short, and unimpressive, but a scene at the end showing Darkseid forming anyway and swearing revenge on Earth and Superman would have been a cool way of foreshadowing future encounters, in my opinion.
-The omega symbols vanishing from everyone like a fart in the wind by Superman (the flying blur)…nudging Apokolips away from Earth. I can honestly say that this was the part of the finale that hurt the most. Leading up to the episode, my thought was that Superman presenting himself to the general public would make the symbols vanish, as the episode built up with Lois sneaking onto Air Force 1, I thought there would be a big scene where Clark saves the plane for EVERYONE to see which would make the omega symbols vanish and little by little Apokolips fade away. Boy was I wrong. F-
However, I have accepted that with Smallville, fights are and always have been a secondary priority to Clark’s “path” and they are going to wrap up any main problem in the storyline by the end of the episode. So I learned not to blink or you might miss it. While it pissed me off about “what could have been” over the years visually, the bar has been set and any further live action incarnation can learn from it and must surpass it. Smallville undoubtedly hit the emotional growth of our beloved character, and as far as I am concerned the best is yet to come in Superman’s story with Doomsday in the ground, Darkseid poised for revenge, and Lex left to drive himself to madness and villainy trying to re-discover his past through saved documents and computer files.
The Ugly Truth:
In its premise, like it or hate it, Smallville accomplished what it set out to do. It told a story of Clark becoming the man he was destined to be. There were never any promises of seeing Tom Welling in full Superman gear, in fact they clearly stated for 10 years that there were to be “no tights, no flights”. They also said that the show would end once he was ready to embrace his destiny as Superman. It was only during the past few seasons of constant pressure that the Smallville team little by little started hinting at something slightly more. So before fans start crying that “we didn’t get what we deserved after 10 years” I say to you, then you set your expectations too high and did it to yourself because they went above and beyond what they originally said they were going to do.
To be completely honest, at first not seeing a full shot of Tom Welling as Superman left me too with a bad taste in my mouth…at first. Looking back, I am glad they added those CGI scenes of Superman in action from a far and ended with the shirt rip then focused in on the “S” symbol. To me this is their way of saying…”We want you to be excited for Superman but we do not want to leave you with a strong image of Tom Welling in full Superman gear so that you don’t think about him when the new movie comes out next year”. Did the finale leave you wanting to see more!? Well if so then they did there job and you will get to see more in December of 2012 with Henry Cavill in Superman: The Man of Steel”.
