Smallville (Season 8)

Season 8 of Smallville almost feels like an entirely new show. It's now set in Metropolis, Lana and Lex are both demoted to very minor characters, and the main romantic focus has been shifting to Clark and Lois. In some ways, it feels like Smallville should have made this kind of shift years ago, maybe even after Season 4. And while this season still has its fair share of issues, it still feels like a refreshing change of pace.

Season 8 has a pretty messy first episode that tries to unravel a lot of the messy plotlines set up by Arctic. You can tell the showrunners want to pull off a soft reboot of sorts with this season, but they also realized they still have those pesky cliffhangers to deal with so we get shit like Clark being trapped in Russia. Once that's all resolved though, Season 8 really comes alive with its second episode where Clark finally moves to Metropolis and gets a job at the Daily Planet alongside Lois. It's been a while since we really got Clark and Lois sharing a lot of screentime, but I immediately remembered why I love these two together, they have such incredible chemistry and seeing them actually develop their relationship for the first time since Season 5 makes the whole season for me. Oliver Queen being promoted to a major character was also great, Justin Hartley got to really shine as the Arrow more than he has in previous seasons. With Lex and Braniac both (partially) gone, Smallville also needs to find some villains to replace them, to mixed results. The Lex replacement is Tess Mercer, and yeah, she's alright. No one can top Michael Rosenbaum's Lex so they didn't try to, Tess is her own unique character whose cold exterior makes you wonder what she's hiding. Even better is the season's main antagonist Davis, aka Doomsday. His whole Jekyll & Hyde arc isn't usually my cup of tea, but Sam Witwer's charistmatic, layered, and intense performance does so much to sell his conflicted nature. I'm not at all familiar with Doomsday from the comics so I don't know how accurate this version is, but hey, it's well-executed enough that I don't think it matters. At its best, Season 8 feels so fresh, almost as if it had a renewed sense of energy and inspiration to it.

Barring that shaky first episode, the first half of Season 8 was some of the best Smallville I've seen in a while. Between the fun episodic storylines involving Clark and Lois, the surprisingly well put together series of storylines that pay off in two of the best Smallville episodes in quite some time, and the strong balance of tone makes for an incredibly fresh experience. Even if I have a few issues with some of the plot points, like Chloe briefly forgetting about Clark's identity and Lana showing back up only to push Lois out of the show for a few episodes, that midseason payoff was so strong that I didn't really mind. However, once again, I do think the second half is noticeably weaker. I didn't mind Lana's return at first since Bride and Legion were such good episodes, but then she and Clark got back together again and her arc just kept dragging on, leaving me desperately waiting to see Lois again. After that's over, we have to deal with Chloe's messy relationship drama with Davis and Jimmy's already irritating jealousy issues being cranked up to eleven, culminating in a fairly unsatisfying and messy finale that resolves it all by killing both. Not to say that there weren't great moments in Season 8's second half, though, it's got its highlights. Tess had some fantastic character development with her faith in Lex being shattered, and the more lighthearted experimental outings like Infamous, Stiletto, and Hex gave this stretch of the season a real sense of fun. However, it was a noticeable step-down and it's a real shame that what was slated to be one of Smallville's best-crafted seasons just couldn't stick the landing.

Highlights:

Bride: As I said earlier, I think the double whammy of Bride and Legion make for some of the best Smallville episodes we've gotten since, like, Phantom at the latest. Even with those aforementioned controversial bits like Lana's return, Bride manages to cram so much into itself. The creepy documentary-style opening, all the cute throwbacks to early Smallville, the reveal that Lex is in fact alive, and of course, the Red Wedding-esque debut of Doomsday make for an episode that feels like it can rank alongside Smallville's best season finales in terms of sheer spectacle and shock factor.

Legion: And right off the heels of Bride, Legion is a surprisingly fun payoff for pretty much the entirety of Season 8's first half. Despite my misgivings with the Chloe/Braniac stuff, it felt really rewarding to see Clark finally send Braniac away for good. I actually really liked the Legion and how they serve as a commentary on the consensus around Smallville, all the jokes about "no flights, no tights" and Chloe being an original character were not only quite funny and charming, but gives the episode a lot of interesting subtext.

Hex: Was this the funniest episode of Smallville? Hex starts off as a pretty standard body swap where Chloe ends up in Lois's body, but it really comes alive when Clark accidentally wishes to be a normal reporter. Tom Welling's performance as "skeptic Clark" was absolutely hysterical, and made for a nice bit of levity just as the season was starting to get a bit darker again, almost reminiscent of Buffy's seminal Tabula Rasa. Also, Zatanna showing up was nice, she's always a fun presence. 

Doomsday: Doomsday is often considered the worst finale, and one of the worst episodes, of the series for a number of reasons, and I... didn't hate it? Pacing-wise, it is an absolute mess and tries to cram so much into its short runtime, not properly conveying a lot that happened. Just to cover everything, you have the returning Legion, the introduction of the Watchtower, the Justice League vs Clark, Clark vs Doomsday, Davis and Jimmy killing each other, the reveal that Jimmy has a younger brother also named Jimmy, Tess summoning Zod, and Lois traveling through time. It's a lot and naturally not everything is as well-executed as it could've been, particularly the Doomsday fight which felt really short and cheap since Clark couldn't actually fight Doomsday this early. However, the central conflict at play with Clark warring with the Justice League over his belief Davis could be saved, only to have his faith in humanity shattered when he realizes Davis was always a monster is a genuinely compelling one. Jimmy was also at his most likable for the entire season, and the thing he left behind being the Watchtower itself is pretty cool. And of course, the Zod cliffhanger was very exciting. There is a lot here to like, it just could've been a bit more refined.

Overall, Season 8 is very much a transition season, an attempt to bring the show in a new direction while also pruning all the elements of prior seasons that weren't working. While the process was at times awkward and frustrating, it's hard to deny that this season was a massive breath of fresh air, with more thoughtful and engaging writing, a great tonal balance, and a far stronger core in the lovable relationship between Lois and Clark. If Smallville can keep up this pace and smoother over those rougher edges, we might be in for the best arc of the entire show.

3/5 Stars