Smallville (Season 3)

The first two seasons of Smallville were fine. Enjoyable, but they rarely elevated to being extremely good. Season 3, however, is a different story. In a similar vein to shows like The Next Generation or The X-Files, it feels like the quality took a massive boost with Season 3 right off the bat.

Smallville's third season is pretty interesting in terms of plot because I think many of the overall story arcs are a fair bit weaker than the ones last season. There isn't a strong central theme like Season 2's family theme, unless you count putting the entire cast through the winger as a theme. Jonathan starts the season making a deal with Jor-El to bring Clark back after he left in the finale, and most of the season has them both dealing with the consequences of that, leading to a decently touching arc where Jonathan develops a heart problem. Lionel is probably the strongest part of the season, he's at his most cruel here between blackmailing and firing Chloe, gaslighting Lex, and leaving a certain other character to die. Speaking of which, probably the weakest part of Season 3 is once again the Lana plot in which she meets a new guy named Adam Knight who's later revealed to be a spy for Lionel. This is a great concept in theory, but the jig is revealed way too early, before Adam and Lana could really develop an interesting dynamic. On the other hand, I truly appreciate how much less romance there is this time. The Clark-Lana-Chloe love triangle isn't completely dead, but it doesn't impact the overall plot of the season nearly as much, and the writers took great strides to make Chloe in particular feel quite a bit more mature and likable again. Lana developing a weird friendship with Lex is also genuinely really fun, she's come a long way since the rough first season.

However, the highlights this season were primarily the standalone episodes. Season 3 really went wild with the Freaks Of The Week, offering some super creative and fun concepts.  There's no way to really articulate how cool these episode ideas are without just listing some of them out, so here goes. Clark facing off against a meteor freak hunter, a dream sequence episode, a comedy episode where Clark gets nagged by a hapless reporter played by Chuck McGill, Clark going blind and developing super-hearing, Chloe's friends getting brainwashed into trying to kill her, Clark entering a relationship with a meteor freak over their shared experiences only for her to be a yandere, the group getting a call from a future Lana, I'm sure you get the point by now. I think the big change that made this season so much fun compared to the previous two is that standalone episodes are less focused on a specific meteor freak and their abilities, and more focused on putting the characters in engaging and memorable situations.

Highlights

Exile: Smallville has had a pretty good track record with its season premieres so far, but Exile in particular was a unique breath of fresh air as it took place almost entirely in Metropolis, with Clark using red kryptonite to run away from his problem. I liked seeing Chloe, Lana, and finally Jonathan try to convince Clark to come home in their own ways.

Extinction: Extinction was the first standalone episode of Season 1 and it immediately set the bar by focusing more on the public perception of meteor freaks, with even Lana harboring a bit of a discriminatory mindset after all the times she's been put in danger by them (no wonder Clark doesn't want to tell anyone). I also really liked Van as a one-off villain, despite not having any powers, he's been one of the closest to actually killing Clark. 

Truth: Putting aside that one incredibly uncomfortable moment where Chloe accidentally outs a gay person... this episode was very enjoyable. Chloe gaining the ability to wring the truth out of others and going mad with power over it is both a fun and creative concept for a one-off episode, and it's able to facilitate some exciting bits of plot progression. Among other things, we learn Lana is going to Paris, Pete is in love with Chloe, and best of all, Lionel admits to killing his own parents on recording (which he sadly confiscates).

Memoria: And immediately after, we got what's probably the best episode of the series to date. Memoria was the culmination of all the drama between Lex and Lionel up to the point, finally revealing what really happened with Julian. The reveal that Lex took the fall for his mother is crushing, and the episode makes it clear in brutal fashion that his relationship with Lionel is irreparably screwed up because of it. The subplot of Clark learning about his own mother is cute too, though, especially as it contrasts Lex's rougher past.

Covenant: In yet another crazy Smallville cliffhanger episode, we get, like, half a dozen cliffhangers in the span of a few minutes. Seriously, let me count:

- Clark is taken by Jor-El to be reborn
- Jonathan is left unconscious in the caves
- The Kent farm gets a Kryptonian symbol burnt into it
- Clark learns about Lex investigating him and breaks off their friendship
- Chloe and her father get blown up
- And Lex gets poisoned

It's not all just for shock value though, like last season's finale, Covenant feels like a tragedy that the whole season was building up to, though I wasn't nearly left as mixed by what ended up transpiring. The main plotline of "Kara" showing up did feel like pretty blatant bait, the real Kara would never appear this early in the show, but I think it works in the context of Jonathan's deal finally coming back to haunt the family. The Lionel stuff is even better though. As cool as it was to see Lionel finally face consequences and get denied bail, he was able to wreak havoc on everyone who's wrong him in return. Clark and Lex falling out was a long time coming but it hurt nonetheless, and the final montage of Lionel getting his haircut was fantastic

Overall, Season 3 of Smallville was easily the best one to date. It may not have been as iconic as its predecessor, but it feels more refined. The writing is tighter, the acting is better, the standalone episodes are more inventive, the dramatic highs are more impactful, the romance is diminished, and the final stretch was pretty stellar. The Adam plot was still pretty weak and the middle stretch of the season dragged a bit, but otherwise, I thought Season 3 was a great step-up. Let's hope senior year can stick the landing for this era of the series.

4/5 Stars