Category: Archived

Continuing my Smallville journey. In the last post I talked about how Season Four was Smallville’s peak. Season Five proves that’s true. It’s not quite as good, largely because it feels like some of the characters lose relevance and zest. But it’s not bad. I think bad is coming later.

1. Dukes of Hazzard Throwback

Smallville does a lot of throwbacks to previous Superman iterations and other TV shows.

This season has, I think, one of the more heart-warming throwbacks to John Schneider’s (Jonathan Kent) TV show, Dukes of Hazzard. Dukes of Hazzard was an action comedy of sorts that ran from 1979 to 1985. It starred Schneider as Bo Duke, a good ole boy from Hazzard county who drove around with his buddy, Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) in an orange 1969 Dodge Charger called the General Lee. There are no shows like this today, so maybe it’s better to show you what it was like:

Imagine starring on a TV show for seven years and reuniting with your friend in an homage to that show twenty years later; jumping in a (blue) Dodge Charger where “one of the doors has been stuck since he bought it” (Bo and Luke could only get in the General Lee through the windows because the doors were welded shut).

It’s all kinda respectful and I love it.

 

2. The Family Man Episode

There’s an entire episode this season dedicated to a “what if” Lex story. In this episode, Lex is shot and experiences a near-death vision of his life as kinder, gentler, poorer Lex. It’s not unlike the plot of the movie The Family Man where a wealthy, single man gets a glimpse of what it would be like to be married with children in the suburbs. I recommend that movie. It’s much better than this episode.

When I see something like this I wonder, do people actually like Lex? Are we supposed to be torn at this point as to whether or not we think Lex is good or bad? Is this supposed to be the one episode we remember as Lex heads into a relationship with Lana? Is “Lexana” a genuine thing fans enjoyed?

Because he’s not painted as grey as the show thinks, he’s been painted black for a long, long time.

 

3. Clark Works Well with Children

There’s something about juxtaposing Superman with a child that works well. Particularly children that are vulnerable, or threatened in some way. We so desperately want to see the child be OK that standing next to someone who is bulletproof makes us feel safe.

Perhaps the best example of this is in this season where Clark meets a young girl who has was so traumatized she stopped speaking. She is also extremely anxious and the more anxious she gets, her powers to break glass activate and all the glass in the room starts exploding. It’s an over-the-top version of the formula, but I think the formula is so sound that all you need are a few reliable actors and it will work every time.

 

4. The Decline of Lana

Clark and Lana get back together (again) this season and I was SO HAPPY … for a couple of episodes. Then Clark starts lying to her again and her interactions with Clark become a merry-go-round. Her character effectively gets reduced to various iterations of, “Clark why are you pulling away from me, why don’t you trust me? Clark, I love you, you can tell me anything.” And then he doesn’t, and then there’s another episode, and another situation that forces the issue, and repeat.

I’m sorry to say it, but this was the season where I started to want Lana to go.

 

5. The All Powerful Jor-El

When you have an undefined, seemingly all-powerful force on a show, it becomes a cure-all solution for every problem, which ultimately dissolves tension from the show. There are two deaths this season that Jor-El rectifies. TWO. I can appreciate that people don’t stay dead in the comic book world, but when someone dies, or something impossibly bad happens on the show, we don’t worry as audience members — whatever it is, Jor-El’s got this.

 

6. Exploitation

I’m not proud to admit there’s an, “all right, all right, all right” part of me that appreciates the exploitation of women on Smallville, but this still needs to be said.

There’s an awful lot of parading of women’s … assets on Smallville. Particularly Lois. In this season there’s an Aquaman episode that makes sure Lois has multiple, well-framed shots of her coming out of the water in her bikini. Later, there’s an episode where she helps Chloe investigate a story by posing as a stripper, which, naturally, includes a scene where she does a dance on stage. There’s also the infamous apartment-above-the-Talon shower that every young woman on Smallville uses. Even Chloe finds her way in there this season and she doesn’t even live there.

I’m probably not recalling all the shirtless Clark moments, but I’m fairly certain exploitation is weighted towards the women on the show.

Just imagine how Erica Durance (Lois Lane) must feel when she receives a script that calls for her to be scantily clad for “plot reasons” yet again.

“‘Lois comes out in a bikini.’ Uh huh. This is gonna make Mom proud.”

 

7. It Still Has Great Moments

There is one bright moment that’s one of my favourite in the series. (Larger-than-normal spoiler alert). After Jonathan’s death, Clark spends an arduous episode tracking down his Father’s stolen watch. At the end of the episode, he gets the watch and returns home to find his Mom watching an old video of Jonathan driving a tractor.

“This young man’s a Man of Steel, look at him!” Jonathan says in the video. “Trying to show our son the back forty. After all, it’s all gonna be his one day, right? Clark, wave bye to Mommy, Son.”

And then he looks into the camera with that charming smiling and says, “bye bye.”

It’s simple and effective. Clark and Martha don’t say anything while watching, their reactions tells us how they feel. It’s how the medium should be used, to let images convey the character’s emotions rather than dialogue. And the scene gets me every time.

In my previous post I talked about Season Three of Smallville maturing a little. Season Four is all grown up.

Continuing my journey through Smallville, I believe I’ve come to the show’s peak, Season Four. It’s a season that is comfortable with itself, isn’t afraid to have a little fun, and is finally good enough to set up an emotional moment and ensure it delivers.

1. Martha Kent is the Most Important Thing in Smallville

I know Lois is hot, but a story doesn’t work unless you care about the characters and Annette O’Toole (Martha Kent) is the emotional center of the series. If there’s a touching scene in Smallville that works, O’Toole is usually part of it.

There’s an openness and warmth to her face, her expressions, her voice. It’s easy to feel for her, and O’Toole utilizes her gifts to earn our empathy. Like the scene at the beginning of the season where Jonathan is in hospital and the doctors want to turn off his life support. Martha refuses. When Jonathan wakes up, she tells Clark and Jonathan that, “My Father used to say, ‘life asks of you what he thinks you can handle,'” and that she held on because she knew they would all be together again. It’s not just a great speech, it works because O’Toole is the best one to sell the weight of what family means.

Later, there’s an episode where Lionel Luther and Clark switch bodies and Clark (from inside Lionel) must convince Martha that he is actually Clark. He tells her a story:

Remember when I was six and I was playing tag with Dad. And all of a sudden I started running faster than I’d ever run before and I was in the middle of Palmer Woods, completely lost. And you and Dad had to call Sheriff Ethan. And when you saw me you started crying. And I thought something was wrong with me. And you said, ‘No there wasn’t.’ And then you held me in your arms and you told me I was just special.

This is very weird coming from Lionel and hard to believe, but as soon as we see Martha’s face as she understands the situation, we buy into the story, we buy into the body swap, and we buy into her love for Clark. All because of O’Toole.

 

2. Dean Winchester Is In It

Smallville seems to be a revolving door of actors on their way to greater things and this is the case for Jensen Ackles who plays Jason Teague on Smallville (Lana’s love interest and assistant football coach). After leaving Smallville, Ackles goes on to play Dean Winchester in the Supernatural series.

I love Supernatural. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it. It’s much, much darker, and has a far stronger horror element to it than Smallville, but if TV shows were family members, I would call the two shows cousins.

On Supernatural, Jensen plays a badass demon hunter. He suffers a lot on the show, so on the one hand it was nice to see him play a character on Smallville who doesn’t have to suffer so much. On the other hand, it was extremely frustrating to watch someone who is so adept in Supernatural at hunting demons be so inept at fighting dark forces in Smallville.

In the episode where Lana, Lois, and Chloe get possessed by witches’ spirits, Jason uncovers this, rescues Clark and runs off to go find them. I started to get excited. Finally, I was going to see a little bit of Dean.

Nope, Clark saves the day all by himself. Such a waste of one of the Winchester Boys.

 

3. The Witches

I was really worried about these witches. When it was airing, every so often I would check in to see if I should re-dedicate myself to the show. I distinctly remember doing this and seeing the episode where Lana, Chloe and Lois get possessed by witches from the 17th century. It was just too weird for me and that was it — no more Smallville. In fact, every time someone mentioned the show to me in the future, this was the episode I would think about. “Oh God, not Smallville. That show is terrible.”

But you know what? There’s only a few witchey episodes here and there and they’re not that bad. Certainly less unappealing when you’ve seen four seasons of meteor rock freaks, and powers, and aliens, and native american prophecies, and characters afflicted with an insanity that comes and goes. But a few witches? I can live with that. No matter how ridiculous they looked.

 

4. It Finds its Comedy Feet

After awhile, a TV series gets comfortable. Whether it’s the cast, or the writers, or some combination of both I’m not sure. But in this comfort, people start to have fun.

There’s an episode this season where a sorority-type girl gets body swapping powers and swaps into various bodies, including Martha Kent’s. Lois asks, “I don’t mean to be rude Mrs. Kent, but did you crack open the cooking sherry?”

Martha replies like an angry spoiled child: “Of course not. I’m just SUPER PUMPED about prom!”

Since Smallville is full of things that are hard to believe, I think it works best when they have fun with it.

 

5. Alicia, Alicia, Alicia

Alicia is my favourite. She should be everyone’s favourite. (Bigger-than-normal spoiler alert incoming).

This is how you do loss. Unlike the lackluster attempt in Season Two I discussed, the loss of Alicia works better because the show does a better job of establishing her vulnerability and likeability.

In this season, Alicia is released from the mental hospital. All she wants is a second chance with Clark despite the fact she tried to kill Lana. And Clark can’t help himself. He can be honest with Alicia. They’re vulnerable with each other. Clark’s willingness to believe in the best in people is just as strong as Alicia’s desire to be accepted by Clark and those around her. So when she’s taken from him, we already understand and accept how much they mean to each other. There’s more clearly defined loss.

And it is deeply felt.

 

6. Lois is Great

In this season we’re introduced to Lois Lane. While she’s not in every episode, it’s clear there is something special about her, something that even distinguishes her from all the other women on the show. And it’s not just that she’s abrasive, and gung-ho, and funny, and straight-forward, and that she and Clark don’t like each other, it’s that she doesn’t call Clark for help. She thinks she can do anything on her own. What happens when Chloe is in trouble? She calls Clark. When Lana is in trouble? Calls Clark. When Lois is in trouble? She thinks she can solve the problem all by herself.

 

7. Pappa Clark and Momma Lana

Did you think I was going to let you get away with this nonsense, Season Four?

There’s an episode where Clark and Lana find a baby boy in a mysterious crater. Clark brings him back home and he and Lana start to treat the child like their own, holding him, changing him, caring for him.

Clark likes kids, I get it. But he and Lana immediately assuming parenting roles when they don’t live together and aren’t dating is just bizarre. I’ll go as far to say this is the most uncomfortable, unbelievable episode yet, and this was the season with the witches.

I’m not mad, Season Four, I’m just disappointed.

 

8. It’s Figured Out it’s Emotional Power

Like most guys, I’m not very good at expressing my emotions. I like to keep them to myself and try and bury and forget about them. Usually they keep pretty well under the dirt, but we all go through tough times and when we do, the mound gets bigger.

Every so often, a TV or movie executes a heartfelt moment so well that a little emotion escapes, and the mound gets a little smaller, a little lighter. That’s a good thing. I could use a mini excavation right now.

There are a lot of moments in Season Four that have disturbed the dirt, and allowed some emotion to seep through to the surface. Like when Martha gives her speech about family, or when Lois convinces Clark not to kill a Meteor Freak, or when Martha recognizes Clark inside Lionel.

Season Four has probably been the best in that respect. I believe it is some kind of culmination of certain actors getting better, and the show evolving to a point where direction of the season and the projected storylines for all the characters is working well, and everything just sings. Mostly.

And it becomes like a friend, taking a moment, silently acknowledging that the pile of dirt is getting too big, grabbing a shovel, and digging.

In no particular order, here are my picks for the top ten greatest Survivor players of all time.

Cirie Fields

People cite Cirie as an inspiration to people on the couch who don’t think they can play Survivor. That’s nice, but it’s simply not true. The truth is she’s one of the best social players the game has ever seen and likely far beyond the capability of your average couch squatter.

Sorry, people on the couch.

In order to succeed in Survivor you need to be able to convince people to vote how you want them to vote. Cirie is a master at this. She once orchestrated a plan that convinced Erik Reichenbach to give up his immunity necklace. She didn’t just have the idea, she helped each person frame what to say to Erik, how to say it, and when to say it.

She seems to intrinsically understand people. Not just who people are, but what they’ll believe. And that made her very, very dangerous.

 

Yul Kwon

I loved watching Yul play Survivor. I loved watching people try to play against Yul. Nate, from an opposing tribe described Yul best: “You don’t want Yul in the challenges. Yul is intelligent. I do not want that boy thinking anymore. You know what I’m saying? You don’t want that clock tickin’ there, homey.”

Yul doesn’t get mad very often, he just calmly and logically tells people why he’s doing what he’s doing and states it in such a political, soft-spoken way that nobody feels bad.

Once Yul established power on his season you saw people immitating him. For example, Adam Gentry and Parvati Shallow asked Yul to vote out Jonathan Penner before them, in return for their jury vote. There was no point in Adam or Parvati denying Yul was going to the finals, even with six people left in the game. Yul had already crunched all the numbers.

They let that clock tick too long.

 

Russell Hantz

Cutthroat, chaotic, aggressive, egotistical, strategic, bandy-legged little troll. I’m not sure there’s anything Russell wouldn’t do to move himself forward in the game.

He makes quick, firm alliances, dedicates himself to finding immunity idols, and utilizes this foundation to intimidate and overpower the rest of the tribe.

Russell says he, “plays as hard as he can.” He’ll throw away the tribes machete just to create chaos in the camp. While being targetted, he’ll give away his hidden immunity idols. He’ll get in people’s heads just enough to sway their votes. And he invented finding idols without clues.

He’s played three times and got to the end twice. His only failing is that he plays the game so hard that he doesn’t seem to care how he gets to the end and doesn’t get enough jury votes.

 

Parvati Shallow

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains was comprised of a number of great players who had already played and (in many cases) already excelled at the game. And on this season people spent a lot of time and effort targetting Parvarti because they said she was dangerous.

As Jeri said, “she has ways of roping people in even when they don’t want anything to do with her.”

And that’s her biggest asset. She pulls people in, she establishes power, and she gets people to vote how she wants.

On two separate seasons with players that had played before, she established alliances, stuck with them, and manipulated players all the way to the end of the game. To make it to the end on a season with no returning players is impressive, to do it twice on seasons with multiple returning players is an unrivaled feat.

 

Ozzy Lusth

Most of the people on this list (and great Survivor players in general) are very good at two to three Survivor fundamentals: strategic game, social game, and physical game. The most important one is social. I don’t think you can win Survivor without at least some social game because you need people to like you so they will vote for you in the end.

A lot of people wouldn’t put Ozzy on a top ten list because he lacks a good strategic game and his arrogance makes him iffy on the social game. But Ozzy is special. Ozzy’s physical game is so strong that it breaks the conventions of how to judge a Survivor player. And with the exception of perhaps Joe Anglim, he may be the only Survivor capable of doing this. Theoretically, you don’t need a strategic game if you stand a legitimate chance of helping your tribe win every immunity challenge and you win every individual immunity challenge after the merge. And Ozzy is a legitimate threat to do just that.

In his first season, Cook Islands, with one exception, he won every single individual immunity challenge, guaranteeing him a spot in the final three.

In Survivor: South Pacific, he went to Redemption Island on purpose and defeated six straight challengers there, earning him the right to return to the game. Once he returned, he won individual immunity once, and in the final immunity challenge, narrowly lost. Had he won just once more, he would have been in the final three.

It’s not a well-round game, nor an orthodox one, but it is an unbridled force, which, left unchecked, has the power to go all the way to the end.

 

Kim Spradlin

Watching Kim Spradlin play Survivor makes you believe in destiny. She has a multitude of skills and attributes to win: she’s likeable, she can win challenges, she appears genuine and trustworthy, she can manipulate people to do what she wants, she has these angelic eyes that draw you in, and she never seems to lose her cool.

It appears to be a very understated game. You aren’t worried about Kim at first because she’s not pushing too hard for anything. By the time you realize how dangerous she is you’re already swept up in the power she amassed.

On her season she built relationships with everyone, made two separate alliances she used to better position herself and gain information, and was the deciding force behind the majority votes.

Watching Kim do this on her season it seemed like she was always just a few feet ahead of people in challenges, a few moves ahead of them in strategy, and all with an unnerving calm that never waivered. Like it was easy. Like everyone else was just getting in the way of her destiny.

 

Sandra Diaz Twine

I don’t want to put Sandra on the list. I don’t like Sandra, I don’t respect her game, and frankly, I can’t make a strong case for things she does well, other than winning.

I’m even resistant to the idea of picking people for this list based purely on results. There’s a lot of luck in Survivor. A large portion of the game is who you’re playing with and how everyone reacts as the game changes. But the fact that, despite all the game’s swings and luck she made it to the end twice and won twice forces me to take pause. Maybe something is going on there that I don’t fully understand or appreciate.

Perhaps Sandra’s strategy of utilizing the fact that, “there are always bigger fish to fry” other than her, making it to the end, and being a more appealing choice than the people sitting next to her (and winning), makes her the best damn goat the game has ever seen — a super goat. A two-time winning, super goat.

Give it up for the super goat.

 

Tony Vlachos

Captain Spy Shack. Every time my friend mentioned Tony’s spy shack I always downplayed it. “Who cares about his spy shack, we never see him go in there!” Later I learned it was because the Survivor crew respected his gameplay and didn’t want to screw up his strategy.

Like Russel Hantz, Tony plays the game as hard as he can. He constantly searches for (and finds) idols, he tirelessly gathers information to assess his biggest threats, and then he acts upon them. The biggest way in which Tony differs from Russel is that he’s better with people. Even if Tony is loud, or too straight-forward, or backstabby, somehow people just chalk that up to Tony being Tony.

Tony’s wrecking ball style of gameplay requires a surprisingly delicate skillset that is unique, impressive, and entertaining as hell to watch.

 

Rob Mariano

A lot of people don’t like Boston Rob. I’m guessing they don’t like how popular he is, or how arrogant he is, or that it took him four times to win.

To me, Rob’s biggest problem was that the first two times he played, he was too young to temper his personality. And while in All Stars that prevented him from winning the million, his alliance with Amber, his strategic moves, and his domination of challenges got him to the end.

In Heroes vs. Villains, even though he got voted out eighth he was voted out at the head of an alliance.

In Survivor: Redemption Island, Andrea Boehlke made it clear on the reunion show that Rob built relationships with everyone in his alliance, and orchestrated his way into a final three with two other people nobody would want to vote for (just in case he’d pissed the jury off too much). He created a buddy system for his alliance so no one would go off alone to be swayed out of the group. He took all his previous Survivor experience and talent, and applied it in a way to assure his victory. At the trial he presented himself as humbly as he could.

Juror David, said it best:

One person doesn’t deserve it, so we can cut him off. The other one thanked somebody for doing it all. Who’d she thank? The guy sitting in the middle. He did everything. And most importantly, he managed to blindside Matt. And in the process of doing that he sent a message to his tribe that, “if any of you show any signs of not being loyal, you’re gonna go home.” He controlled all of you. He controlled your minds, he controlled what you did, he controlled your thoughts, you all bought it, and one, by one, by one, all of you were blindsided. A little ruthless, but brilliant.

 

Amanda Kimmel

This is a contentious choice because Amanda has never won and might be incapable of winning. To win Survivor, you gotta get your hands dirty and Amanda isn’t cut-throat enough. But there’s a reason she has the record for third highest number of days spent on Survivor.

There is value to supplementary players; people that help others progress in the game and are great to work with. Amanda has proven she is one of those people by getting a top three placing on two separate seasons.

In order to get far in Survivor, it helps to team up with someone like Amanda. These are usually people with one great Survivor tool (social, strategic, physical). Players like Trish Hegarty, Matthew von Ertfelda, Latasha “Tasha” Fox, or even Rupert Boneham (to a degree). Amanda, on the other hand, has mutiple tools. She can help win challenges (making her a strong voting buddy), or she can help you execute social strategy, and she’s likable enough and pretty enough that people want to talk with her. She’s an ideal Survivor symbiont. You really can’t underestimate the power or importance of being likable.

I continue on my journey through Smallville. While I called season two the awkward teenage years, you can see season three maturing a little.

Sometimes season three tries a little too hard and focuses a little too much on melodrama, but there are moments where Smallville‘s potential shines underneath all that, and you hope its about to blossom.

1. More Superman History I Don’t Like

I really don’t. It’s just an excuse for the cast play “different” characters and dress up.

Something about Jor-El actually being on Earth in 1961 and falling in love with a Lana look-alike, mixed with some kind of weird flashback, murder-mystery-solving-I-don’t-know-what-I-stopped-paying-attention. Tom Welling (Clark) plays Jor-El in the flashbacks and Kirsten Kreuk (Lana) plays the Lana look-alike and they’re in love, but still shouldn’t be together and blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-blah.

I can’t talk about it. It upsets me.

2. Lex Cray Cray

Either Lex is on a deserted island seeing things, or he’s in an insane asylum, or he’s experiencing repressed memories.

I’m trying to think of a good reason they did this storyline. It’s always a good idea to give characters a personal conflict to work through and it’s interesting to see Lex as a more vulnerable person, I guess?

I think that’s part of what they were trying to do with this storyline, but for the most part it simply doesn’t work.

 

3. Lana and Clark

Nothing intensifies ill-fated love like having it and losing it. Clark breaks up with Lana and the whole season is a Lana/Clark forlorn, lovey dovey extravaganza.

Lana gets a new boy. Clark gets a girl. Jealousy intensifies.

I enjoy melodrama, but this is too much.

 

4. Alicia, Alicia, Alicia

BEST. EPISODE. EVAAARRRRRRRRRRRR.

This episode introduces Alicia Baker who is beautiful and has secret powers she’s trying to hide, just like Clark!

Clark reveals his secret to save her and so she reveals her secret (teleportation) to save him and it seems like Clark finally has found a girl he can tell the truth.

Alicia is sweet. She appears to be even more vulnerable than Clark is when it comes to hiding from people and the actress portraying her (Sarah Carter) strikes just the right endearing note. So when Alicia turns out to be crazy obsessive and starts putting up pictures in Clark’s locker and trying to kill Lana, somehow we forgive her a little. Carter and Welling work well off each other. It’s funny to watch Clark be polite and evasive while Alicia is being bubbly and flirty and crazy and stalky.

There’s a mix of comedy and heart in this episode that is special. It may be the best of Smallville and is something we see more of in season four. And I think it’s due entirely to Sarah Carter.

 

5. Let’s Talk About Pete

Maybe this is inappropriate to say, but sometimes I wonder if Pete’s character is on the show just so the cast isn’t devoid of black people. Historically, Clark is white, Lana is white, Jonathan and Martha Kent are white, and Lex is white. How do we address this? Black best friend Pete.

And he’s never fit on the show. Learning about Clark’s secret gave him some new dimensions, but primarily Pete is positive, upbeat, jokey, and unnecessary.

There’s an episode this season that encapsulates the Pete problem. Out of nowhere, Pete gets into drag racing. When Clark tries to stop him, Pete becomes oddly defensive and angry. While it’s good that Pete has (and displays) other emotions and make mistakes, it’s so unusual that it just feels alien.

Sure enough, Pete’s character leaves this season as if to say, “See? we had black people on the show. Can’t say we didn’t.” Maybe that’s reductive, but that’s how it feels.

 

6. Better With Emotions

While season two had more complex story ideas with no feeling behind them, season three is much better at establishing emotional purpose behind characters and events.

For example, even though the ongoing story of Lex’s mental instability is stupid, it concludes with a concrete memory that tells us exactly why Lex and his Father, Lionel, fight so much. Which is then furthered when Chloe gets temporary truth-telling powers and Lex admits the only thing he wants from Lionel is love. Also, when Clark gets a memory flash about his real Mother, Lara, he admits to Martha that he wishes he could remember her and Martha tells him that Lara was his first word.

These are small details, but crucial to make an audience care, and season three finally starts to get it right.

 

7. It’s Still Growing

While the show is better with tension, emotional foundations, and overall structure, it still feels a bit young. The Lex insanity storyline is almost desperate and Pete’s character flounders. There’s also a concluding montage where dramatic character cliffhangers/changes are played against Mozart’s Requiem Mass as if to say, “look at my big boy pants.”

Season three is nearly grasping adulthood, but hasn’t fully matured. But you can see that it’s figuring itself out. You can see the promise in there. All you can do is hope it realizes its potential.