For a while, it felt like Smallville had really started to find its groove with Season 3, Season 4, and the first half of Season 5. However, the second half of last season started to wane in quality a bit, and sadly, Season 6 only ends up continuing that downward trajectory. Despite being roughly the same length, this season felt like it took a lot longer to work through.
Season 5 felt like it was split up into two distinct halves and Season 6 goes even further with this. The first half of the season is very much focused on the introduction of the Green Arrow, quite the nostalgic storyline for me considering I grew up with the Arrowverse. This version of Oliver Queen isn’t quite as… noble as his successor, but he’s a great foil for Clark and easily the most interesting and complex superhero we’ve met so far. The culmination being the first Justice League team-up of the show also made for an easy highlight of the season. Probably the most interesting thing about this half of the season is how little focus Clark got. We had several episodes that focused primarily on Oliver, or Lois, or Lana and Lex, which was a nice change of pace. It’s just a shame two of those characters suck ass. I’ve been back and forth on Lana but I already wasn’t a fan of her getting with Lex last season, and their relationship in Season 6 is absolutely miserable to watch. The sheer hypocrisy of being pissed at Clark for lying to her, only to cling onto Lex who's also blatantly keeping secrets from her just annoys me so much. And the aggressively soapy, constant angst and drama Lana causes throughout the season really bogs down the experience, and it only gets heightened when Lana reveals she’s pregnant.
Thankfully, the season does get better in its latter half, which is funny since that half is arguably primarily about Lex and Lana's marriage. It introduces a number of genuinely interesting plot points like Chloe discovering she might be a meteor freak, has a good amount of fun and creative one-offs like Labyrinth and Crimson, and most importantly, Lana gains some freaking sanity for once. She starts to realize Lex is a pretty awful person and tries to break it off from him and finally discovers Clark's secret, with the finale in particular being an incredibly cathartic sendoff for most of these irritating plot threads. That being said, there's still way too much angst here. More than any other season, Season 6 felt primarily like a soap opera, pushing the romantic storylines way too far into the forefront with everything else fighting for screentime. It all just feels so... ugly to watch.
Highlights:
Justice: Justice was just a fun crossover episode between all the superheroes we've met so far. There wasn't much to it in the way of actual plot progression or character development, but it was incredibly entertaining, between seeing characters like Bart, Cyborg, and Aquaman again, to the pretty fun final battle, to all the enjoyable banter between the league members.
Phantom: Despite all my issues with this season, it managed to have the second strongest ending behind Season 4. The entire first half is filled with payoff after payoff, so many plot threads from across the series finally being addressed. Clark telling Lana about his secret was obviously the highlight here, but you also have Lana tearing Lex a new one for his actions, Lionel's deal finally being elaborated on, an extended farewell to Martha as she leaves for DC, the Project Ares team being almost entirely killed off, and the reveal that Chloe has healing powers. The second half is a typical Smallville finale drama bomb with most of the cast being either presumably dead or trapped in a flooding dam, and while Bizarro's debut is really cool and very well-handled, my one gripe is that the ending feels somewhat abrupt. However, everything else about this finale was so great that I really can't complain.
Overall, Season 6 is easily the worst season of Smallville than the first. It does have its fair share of fun episodes, the Arrow and Chloe/meteor freak plotlines are neat, and the finale was strong, but the entire season is heavily bogged down by Smallville romance at its worst. I think Lana was mishandled in a lot of ways, but forcing her with Lex was probably one of the worst decisions this show has made to date, and it made for a season that was occassionally entertaining but frequently a slog.
2/5 Stars
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