Smallville Minicaps / Season 10, Series Finale and Season Ten Highlights

The Smallville season 10 minicaps wishes you a fond farewell…and okay, NOW you can cue the theme music!

Stewart here…

Ten seasons have boiled down to this. The threat of Darkseid is looming closer than anyone can suspect, the alt reality Lionel is still running around, Ollie is under the influence of Darkseid’s prophets of doom, and after a almost fatal incident, Lois has gotten cold feet about the wedding to Clark. A lot is going to happen to before its over, along with a few deaths and a rebirth, but most importantly, it’s time for Clark Kent to live up to his destiny and fight the darkness. Go get ’em, Clark.

“Finale”

It’s the big wedding day, and everything’s going well, except some cold feet from both future bride and groom. After reading both their wedding vows, Clark and Lois decide to walk down the aisle, but even there, things go wrong. For one thing, there’s a possessed Oliver trying to get a gold kryptonite wedding band on Clark, and then there’s Apokolips, Darkseid’s giant planet of evil coming towards Earth. Suffice to say, they may have to cancel the wedding party to stop the end of the world.

A lot of stuff goes down in this big finale, so let’s check off the big stuff. Lex is back as a clone (and all daddy Lionel had to do was have his heart ripped out by Darkseid to revive his son…and give up his soul), Tess dies (but not before giving Lex a memory wipe to protect Clark and friends), Oliver takes out Darkseid’s prophets (Desaad, Godfrey, Granny), Lois manages to keep a doomed to fail nuclear strike on Apokolips from happening, and Clark gets encouragement from both his dads before putting on that super suit and flying off to face evil. Yeah, he finally flew. Took him long enough.

This is a pretty busy last episode of Smallville, and that has some good and bad results (more on that in the notes below). However, there is some breathing room to reflect on the past ten seasons, some great emotional stuff, and set up for an interesting future for everyone. For a last hurrah (kind of, but more below), the show delivers a good one to leave on.

Sniff. I need a tissue.

–Some fun things to see in that future wraparound: Chloe and Oliver have a kid, there’s a President Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen’s identical looking younger brother is working at the Daily Planet, Perry White is the editor, and Clark and Lois are about to try and get married…again. I guess there were a few delays in the last seven years.

–On the slight downside of the future stuff, we miss a few things, like: did Clark ever find out what happened to Tess? Did Clark ever finish selling the farm? What happened to Watchtower? It’s nitpicky I know, but considering how full this episode is, I’m surprised we didn’t get a brief mention of those things.

–Speaking of the unfortunate end of Tess, her day starts with her heart about to be transplanted into clone Lex by Lionel, and ends with Lex killing her. Although, it’s a nice final note that she wipes Lex’s brain clean of anything to do with Clark as she dies. RIP you sad soul.

Hey look, Lionel DOES have a heart!

–Ollie’s showdown with Darkseid’s prophets boils down to shooting three arrows at once. Considering the buildup of these three, it’s a bit lacking in resolution.

–Not so much lacking was Clark managing to push Apokolips out of Earth orbit (and maybe saving Air Force One with Lois on it on the way to do that). Although, the lack of Clark in the Superman suit is a bit annoying (although from a production standpoint, being it was the suit from Superman Returns and custom made for someone else’s build, it’s understandable why you didn’t see it full on).

–Ghost Jonathan’s appearances through this episode were really sweet. I’ll admit, I got a bit misty when seeing him hold Martha in that scene in the barn.

–Also nice to see Michael Rosenbaum back as Lex, even if it was for two or so scenes (and with a bald cap), one being that resetting of things with him and Clark.

–Hey, there’s a Smallville comic in this show that explains the origins of Superman? Ahem, this seems like a serious mistake to print something like this in this world, right?

–About time Jor-El showed his kid a little respect after nine seasons of him being a disembodied d-bag.

–“Son…it’s time.”

–“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have had to do that if the world wasn’t in jeopardy and you weren’t such a bitch.”

–“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, Lex.”

–“It’s the best decision I don’t remember making.”

–“You know, I’m actually saving you.” “From what?” “From turning into me.” “Too late. Clark already did that.”

–“Tell the minister I’m gonna be a few minutes late.”

“I love some mood lighting…”

Well, before we put a wrap on this final season of Smallville, let’s take a look back at the season highlights:

BEST EPISODES: “Finale”, “Homecoming”, “Booster”, “Fortune”

WORST EPISODES: “Supergirl”, “Masquerade”

BEST METEOR FREAK THIS SEASON: Well, technically no one gets this award.

LESSONS CLARK LEARNS THIS SEASON: Well, flying! Sure he learns how he doesn’t have to let go of the past to move into the future, to have a relationship and be a hero, yadda yadda yadda, but still…FLYING!

WHY YOU SHOULD HATE LANA LANG: Really, not even a Skype chat to wish Clark and Lois a happy life together? A note? A wedding present? A phone call? Jeez, Lana, you’re the worst.

WHAT HAPPENS FREQUENTLY IN METROPOLIS: Whatever it is, it tends to still be happening in the same block or so of space as the last two seasons.

WHO SHOULD CLARK HOOK UP WITH: Trick question…he just did.

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE: Clark becomes a great hero, and of course: laying a smackdown on President Luthor!

SEASON TEN ANALYSIS: With the producers going into this season knowing it would be the last, it certainly started well and kept going from there. There were some wonderful callbacks to the series’ past, a few unexpected reveals, and some returns of some familiar faces. A lot of the last two seasons had been pushing Clark at a faster rate to the destiny we know he will fulfill, but season ten wisely starts closing out those trials while leaving the old haunts of Smallville behind (and with a rare exception, in flames). If anything, that push to the final episode makes this season the best of the show’s late run.

It could be argued that the whole VRA arc was a bit short, but since it was connected to this season’s arc of Darkseid, it works despite its conclusion. This also became Smallville‘s most comical season (by that I mean most visually connected to the comics) and its most fun in some time. While I have my issues with the plot turns of the finale, it was an emotionally satisfying capper to the series as a whole. The plots of the series itself continues on in comic book form, which seems only fitting for a TV show based on a comic book. Smallville‘s ultimate legacy was to pave the way for the current onslaught of comic book to TV adaptations, which have taken the lessons learned in making Smallville and applied them to shows of its like. Like so many heroes in regards to Clark in the show, the new batch of comic book TV shows takes its lead from Smallville. Not a bad legacy to leave behind.

What, no flyby with a smile to the audience? All right, I’ll let you go on that.

Well, that’s it for the Smallville minicaps. It’s been a great year and a half rewatching the series from its beginning to its end, even through its ups and downs (and there were a good amount of both), and recapping it for you readers. While I might recap the comic book continuation, I’m just content to let the minicaps come to an end. Clark Kent has taken a long trek from high school in a small Kansas town to being a hero for the world, but he has earned his destiny, and its time to let him soar.

Best to close out this telling of a man becoming a Superman, but always remember, that it doesn’t take much to be a hero, and sometimes, being raised in the right place with the right parents can make you a superhero.