Smallville: Finale

[bagheera_san]

So. I watched that.



Smallville sure didn't get any better in the three years I didn't watch it, did it? God, that was some *terrible* television.

The whole first part was nearly unbearable because NOTHING happened. People (mainly Clark) just waffled. And wasted time. And procrastinated. And hesitated. And weren't quite sure, and then they changed their mind. NO BLOODY WONDER it took Clark and Lois seven years to get married because if Clark didn't have superspeed, he'd be known as the SLOWEST MAN ON THE PLANET.

So 40 minutes in, I was practically wailing at the screen for Clark to just please, please finally get on with saving the world, because HOLY SHIT DARKSEID. Instead, Clark went to the barn. Thanks, Clark. I'm sure you're going to save the world by going to the barn. This is Smallville after all, wonders do get accomplished in the barn. And nice to see it again, I guess.

Really, I don't know how Clark ever accomplishes anything. How does he even get out of bed in the morning without both his parents and all his friends and his space dad and his nemesis giving him some sort of motivational speech? And why does he even need motivation to fight Darkseid? I'd think that'd be a pretty clear cut issue. Probably even Lionel would have fought Darkseid if someone had reminded him that there wouldn't be much point in being evil once the world was destroyed.

The only ray of light was Tess. Hello, Tess! I hardly knew ye, but you were pretty cool because you actually tried to save the world while other people wasted time, and you kicked some ass and shot Lionel and even tried to talk to Lex.

Which brings us to the actual reason I watched this finale, namely, Lex Luthor. Creepy Frankenstein's Monster resurrection was pretty awful, but not half as terrible as the mindwipe because WHY? Probably because Lex Luthor just can't get a break, even when he's newly risen from the dead. His confrontation with Clark was just weird - I mean, what did they actually say? Clark maybe meant to say that he thought Lex might not be evil, I don't know. Maybe he just wanted to get another motivational speech out of this, which Lex delivered. Champion of light, hero to my villain, and all that. And I guess Lex meant to say that he was going to be Clark's nemesis, but what was that, "Oh, I don't know if I can save the world, Lex," bit followed by, "I know who can"? For a moment there I was going, "omg, yay, let's rip off the plot of JLU's finale, I'll love you forever!" But that didn't happen. I think they completely failed to get each other here, because obviously what they should have said was, "HOLY SHIT OUR PLANET IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE LET'S TEAM UP!"

Only that would have been effective, so instead Clark left and Lex went to go sit around at Luthorcorp and stare out of the window. Some supervillain and superhero these two are.

Then there was a big clipshow for both of them, which was not very great, and Clark finally, finally put on his Superman duds and went to fight Darkseid...

Except not. No fight, no climax, no face-off with Darkseid. He just shoved Apokolips back into space. You'll regret this when Darkseid comes back, Clark. And then somehow he and Lois managed to not get married for another seven years while Chloe produced a kid with Oliver Queen (WTF) and Lex got elected for president, which you'd think would at least cause him to smile a little villainous smile, but I think by now Lex's thoughts are just, "Oh god please let me remember this tomorrow!"

I can't say I'm thinking the same. Which is not to say that I hated it, I was just terribly exasperated with it. I wanted you to do better, show.

Comments

[lukita.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched SV in ages, don't know if I should laugh or cry but the ending with the Chloe/Oliver sounds cracky, at least she's alive.

but I think by now Lex's thoughts are just, "Oh god please let me remember this tomorrow!"

LOL

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was pleasantly surprised Chloe made it to the end, too (and actually, she was turned into the narrator in some way, pretty cool.)

It would be pretty embarrassing if you were President and didn't remember it. It probably happens to Lex all the time and he's just bluffing his way through life as if it's some sort of Alzheimer's joke. Poor guy.

[lukita.livejournal.com]

I really love Chloe when I was watching, I figured of all the new actors they had on the show, she showed the most potential. Hope Alison would do better things in the future.

I want to ask, but I don't really want to know what they did with Lex, it sounds pretty dumb. I think there's fic of that, back when S3 or something, then the script writers took our bad fics and turned it canon.

[gnine.livejournal.com]

but I think by now Lex's thoughts are just, "Oh god please let me remember this tomorrow!"

Bahahaha, it's funny cause it's true!...course, it's also rather depressing for the exact same reason! Oh Lex!

Neechan and I were just trying to figure out if EVERYTHING is wiped, is Lex actually evil any more? I mean, all they show is that he's president, and wearing white, nothing more...maybe Tess actually saved him?

Overall, my reaction was pretty much the same, BLEH! But really, that's been my response to SV even when I was knee-deep in the fandom, so...Loved the fandom, but the show was always much more of a...well...hate-hate relationship...

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

I think he literally forgot every memory, so that when he's standing there in his office he thinks, "Who am I? Where am I? Who is this dead woman on the floor?! Why is there a GIANT FLAMING PLANET in the sky?!! OMG, why is my body made of spare parts?" and then he decides to become president. As you do.

Probably he remembers basic skills like speaking and driving hot sports cars and how to do his taxes...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

OMG, why is my body made of spare parts?" and then he decides to become president. As you do.

XDXDXDXDXD LOL VERY Lly!

(yes, I read it the same way, as a complete memory erasure - which means I'm quite impressed he managed to become President in 7 short years!)

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Maybe with all the crazy wiped off his harddrive, Lex finally had some free space for badassness. Other Lexes have gone from convicted criminal to president in less than a year, so... idk.

[tasabian.livejournal.com]

In the final season, they became far too worried about achieving perfect alignment with the comics - it made for some exceedingly abrupt character shifts and wiping Lex's memory is another example: how much interesting is a future in which Lex knows?

Hello, Tess! I hardly knew ye, but you were pretty cool because you actually tried to save the world while other people wasted time, and you kicked some ass and shot Lionel and even tried to talk to Lex.
Tess and the amazing Cassidy Freeman is a rare bright light in s8 - 10.

The whole first part was nearly unbearable because NOTHING happened. People (mainly Clark) just waffled.
They could have made a neat visual pun while having Clark and Lois cook waffles as they waffled. But...yeah. That first hour was my version of Clark's Trials, Jor-El testing us all!

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Trials indeed. I feel like I deserve a medal for enduring that hour. Or at least some freshly made waffles.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I was so confused by the Lex memory-erasing - I actually concluded back in s1-2 that the only way the series would work with SV canon was if Lex got his memory erased, but I didn't think they'd ever come up with anything so sensical, and also I was only thinking he'd get SV erased, not EVERYTHING. So, um, if he goes supervillain now I guess it's because he is just Born Evil, since it can't be blamed on Lionel's forgotten parenting?

...if he actually did go evil. We just see that he's becoming president and that doesn't necessarily mean he's evil at all? (unless you think all US prezes are evil; ymmv?)

But he wouldn't have any grudge against Clark now, would he?

Also confused because his killing of Tess seemed to be more because he was batshit than evil, doing exactly what his mother did to Julian...SV's confusion between insanity and villainy is disturbing.

Also also if this is Frankenclone Lex then maybe real Lex is still around? zomg the show ended as Identical after all!

(okay, appearances to the contrary I watched the whole thing not just the Lex bits, but I was talking over most scenes where there wasn't a Luthor on board, so.)(but dude that was a meteor, not a planet, if it was only the diameter of Metropolis, which it definitely looked like at the end there...)

[rakshanda.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I was afraid it would be bad.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Alas, after three years of not watching Smallville, my memory had blurred to the point where I expected it to be good.