Warning, here be spoilers! If you wouldn't want to know anything about what's going on with Smallville because you're watching it now, I suggest you move on to another post. That being said- Cheers!
I started getting myself reacquainted with Smallville. It was the holidays, and the CW was showing reruns of the current season (we're at Season 7 now, boys and girls). I caught an episode (I think it was Episode 2 of Season 7...) while I was in the US with my folks, and as I was watching, I just realized how much I missed.
Right there and then, I was asking myself...
- Holy crap! Did I just see Supergirl fly off in the opening credits? Woohoo!
- Where the heck were Martha and Jonathan Kent? What? Jonathan Kent is already dead?! What the frack happened?
- Since when did Chloe and Lana know of Clark's powers?
- So just how "evil" is Lex Luthor now?
- Wow, Lois Lane is at the Daily Planet now. And isn't that the dude who played Bobby Drake in the XMen movies? He's Jimmy Olsen now?
It's really getting more interesting now that they're featuring more and more characters and plot elements from the DC Universe- even certain Justice League members have shown up (mostly in Seasons 5 and 6).
Anyway, I thought now that the writers' strike is still going on, I don't think any of my other current TV series are going to be seeing any screentime soon- so now's a good time as any to catch up on some good ol' Smallville.
Smallville So Far.
The recap is really more for me, to keep track of how the Smallville saga has developed thus far. I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum- but you know this post can't be completely spoiler-free. Here we go.
Season 1 - Naturally, we get introduced to the main characters: Clark, raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent, and we have Clark's buds in high school- Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross. Lex Luthor is also introduced- not so much as the enemy just yet- in fact, he's more of Clark's best friend- and it's such an interesting thing to see how he shifts from friend to enemy in a few seasons.
The season mostly deals with Clark coming to terms with his superhuman powers- how he has to learn them and control them, and fit in as inconspicuously as possible with the high school crowd.
By
Season 2, we see less kryptonite-monsters-of-the-week and a little more character development. Lex gets more tangled up with his love-hate relationship with his dad, Lionel Luthor. Chloe digs into Clark's past, and things get rather complicated with Lana.
The season delves more into Clark's alien origins, we see heat vision coming into play, the introduction of Jor-El, and a Christopher Reeve guest-starring in a couple of episodes.
Season 3 sees even more characters passing through Smallville: Perry White, for one, who's not quite the Daily Planet editor just yet. The Jor-El story angle is explored even further. Clark learns he has super-hearing. Pete Ross is written out of the series.
Season 4 introduces Lois Lane- actually turns out to be Chloe's cousin- as a guest star first, then is given a regular recurring role.
A main story-arc is created by the producers to tie everything all in: Jor-El instructs Clark to find these three Kryptonian stones- which pretty much contains all the information of the universe. As expected, all kinds of people scramble to get said stones and figure out what's in it.
Lex tries to rebuild his crumbling friendship with Clark, Chloe discovers Clark's secret, and Lana dates a dude she met in France.
More Recent Smallville.
These are the episodes I need to catch up on. Apparently we see more elements of the Superman mythology getting some screentime from this point onwards. I like it that the producers and writers of Smallville have somehow paid homage to those actors who've played key roles in past movies and TV series of the DC universe.
I suppose it started with the late great Christopher Reeve (in seasons 2 and 3, was it?), and of course Annette O'Toole (currently cast as Martha Kent) who played Lana Lang in the old Superman 3 movie.
Now you have Dean Cain, Lynda Carter, Helen Slater, Mark McLure and others coming in to the series, cast in an episode or two. Still- it's great to see them once again, even just for a short while.
In
Season Five, we see the Fortress of Solitude, Zod and the Phantom Zone, and Braniac- yeah! Clark and Lana finally have a relationship going on, and we get guest appearances from Aquaman and Cyborg. Cool, ain't it.
I've seen this season in bits and pieces, and I'd like to finally bring myself up to speed and finish it up.
Season Six was the season I started getting in bits and pieces as well. The hype online was incredible- and with good reason. We see Green Arrow/Oliver Queen, a precursor to the Justice League, Jimmy Olsen, and Martian Manhunter.
The hype to
Season Seven (the current season) has also been extraordinary. We see more of Lois and the Daily Planet, a more criminal mastermind-oriented Lex Luthor, and probably the biggest treat for me- the introduction of Supergirl, Kara Kal-El.
Now, how's THAT for a marketing shot, huh? Obviously I'm a huge geek-boy over Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, and supergirl over here, Laura Vandervoort. Say it with me now: "Van-der-voort". Excellent.
As of this writing, only eight or nine episodes of Smallville season 7 have been aired. TV.com mentions that the next new episode airs at the end of the month, January 31. Only on The CW, of course.
That gives me a couple of months to catch up, which means I should be getting to it now :)
Catch
more Smallville goodness on the CW website, and you can also read up on what you need to know about Smallville on
Wikipedia,
TV.com, and
Imdb.com- episode summaries, cast bios, trivia, and so much more!
