Well, I'm back to reviewing Smallville. I was out on vacation the last month and couldn't watch TV, but now that I'm back, I can finally get a resolution to that nasty Season 3 cliffhanger. From what I can tell, Season 4 is the end of the high school era of the series, chronicling Clark's senior year. Does it live up to the last three seasons of buildup? Well, mostly.
Season 4 is honestly a pretty polarizing season for me because it has a lot of high points and a fair amount of low points. Let's get the high points out of the way first. Lois Lane finally appears in Season 4 and she is almost immediately the best character of the show. Witty, funny, curious, fast-talking, has incredible chemistry with Clark, Erica Durance absolutely nails Lois right from the get-go and might even rival Margot Kidder as the best live-action version of the character. With Lois comes a generally much more light-hearted tone than last season, Season 4 has a generally much lighter, more energetic, and more comedic feel to it and I actually really enjoyed it. As much as I loved seeing Season 3 put everyone through the wringer, Season 4's comfy senior year vibes really helped it stand out as a fun watch throughout, and the goofier standalone episodes (Transferrence, Onyx) were actually some of the highlights this time. It's also a more sex-focused season which I guess makes sense since the characters are past 17, one episode in particular definitely feels like it's aping Buffy's iconic Surprise/Innocence two-parter. Chloe, as usual, was also a highlight as this season marked the point where she learned of Clark's true identity, and seeing her grapple with this new information made for some of the best dramatic material and character growth of the season.
However, where Season 4 falls flat is in its overarching plot. Season 4 primarily revolves around a pretty drab MacGuffin hunt for three Kryptonian stones. While it does lead to a pretty fantastic finale where they send Clark to the Fortress Of Solitude, the actual lead-up to this moment is miserable for a number of reasons. First off, this whole plot arc ties heavily into Lana getting possessed by a bunch of witches which not only is a level of supernatural completely out of Smallville's usual territory, but it's also just really dumb and screams of the writers trying to find something to do with her. Then, there's Lana's dull new boyfriend Jason who's also involved because his family is also looking for the stones, and honestly I couldn't be arsed to care about them either. The Lana/Jason stuff is such a blight on this season, it's all so boring and stupid and uninteresting, and I'm always tempted to skip to the characters I actually care about whenever they're on screen. I though Lana did get better in the last two seasons, but Season 3 was such a perfect sendoff from her that she feels entirely unwelcome this season. What does she even lend to the show anymore? Chloe and Lois are far more interesting and dynamic female leads who actually grow and mature over the course of this season, and all Lana really does this season is be an annoying drama magnet who, if anything, has regressed since last season in terms of her attitude.
Highlights:
Pariah: Any time Smallville deals with meteor freak discrimination usually leads to a pretty great episode. Pariah feels like a massive turning point in that regard with Alicia's death being a really crushing tragedy that showed off the worst of Smallville. She wanted a chance to just live her life and be with Clark, but the town rejected her and that can definitely hit close to home for people.
Beyond that though, I adore Chloe's storyline in this episode. I really wasn't expecting her to just learn Clark's identity all of a sudden, but I was especially surprised by her reaction. Smallville totally could've went for the standard liar revealed trope where Chloe gets pissed at Clark, but she tackles things with a lot more maturity, using the opportunity to change her perception of meteor freaks as a whole and deciding to quietly support him until he trusts her enough to tell her. What amazing character development, Chloe rules.
Spirit: Spirit feels like a Season 2 episode of Buffy in the best way possible, it could totally rank among the likes of Halloween or Band Candy. The concept of a prom queen possessing the other characters is great, but what really elevates it is the fact that Smallville doesn't do the easy voice replacement that most body swap episodes go for. It actually goes the length and has its cast act like a prom queen so you end up getting some of the funniest performances from actors like Kristin Kreuk and Annette O'Toole in the whole show. Onyx and Transferrence are great, but this was my favorite gimmick episode of the season.
Commencement: This finale was absolutely nuts, even by the standards of Smallville finales so far. It honestly feels like they crammed an entire season's worth of plot in this single episode, for better or worse. Clark only just now learned he was supposed to get all the Stones, so the episode plays out like an incredibly tense episode of 24 where he races to unite them all before the meteors hit, all the while a timer is constantly shown ticking down. The pacing did feel quite rushed for this reason, but I still think it all came together in the end. We got to see at least a part of the graduation, Clark and Lana properly kissed again (thank god, I thought it was gonna be will-they-won't-they for three more seasons), and the ending even teased the Fortress Of Solitude. I liked that we got rid of the Isobel/Genevieve stuff within the first minute too, Lana's whole murder thing was the most interesting she's been all season. And as usual, there were a metric ton of cliffhangers. What happened to Lionel? Did Jason die? Did the Kents die? Where did Clark end up? What happened to Chloe and Lex in that cave? And what will be the fate of Smallville after yet another meteor shower?
Overall, Season 4 is a bit of a mixed bag for me. At its best, it's a far more consistently fun season than its predecessors, more comfortable in its own skin. The standalone episodes are better than ever, Lois adds a truly welcome jolt of life to the cast, and the finale ranks as the series' best to date. But it's dragged down hard by the weak Stones plotline and the dull characters it revolves around. I still found this season to be a more thoroughly enjoyable watch than the first two, but it doesn't come close to reaching the dramatic heights of Season 3.
3/5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment