Technically the midway point for most television shows these days is episode 11, at least assuming a TV series gets a full 22 episode season. If I were to give Smallville a grade for its first 11 episodes, I would give it a solid B mark. Some episodes were weaker and others were stronger, as is the case with any TV show, but averaging them together Smallville did very well and deserved no less than a B for the first half of the season.

However, Lana Lang’s return arc began in episode 11 and so I felt it necessary to include her arc in the mid-season assessment. To say that the inclusion of her arc throws the grading curve for a loop would be an understatement. It was such a radical departure from the progress the season made to that point that a teacher would ask the parent if the promising student was having trouble at home, or perhaps had started dabbling in drugs.

Smallville began its eighth season making up for lost time, or more accurately wasted time. For seven years Clark Kent remained bogged down in the same place with little to no advancement. He wasn’t in school, didn’t have a job other than 5 minutes worth of farm chores and would happily leave his powers behind if possible. What did he do with all that free time? He pined for Lana, of course.

This year, however, Clark charged out of the starting gate after being imprisoned in a Russian work camp for several weeks without his powers. This was the result of Lex Luthor getting control of a device that rendered the Traveler (Clark) powerless and also caused the collapse of the Fortress of Solitude in last season’s finale.

After that loose end was tied up Martian Manhunter sacrificed his own powers to restore Clark’s, which led to Mr. Kent experiencing an epiphany. He said, “I’ve been hanging onto a life on this farm that hasn’t existed for years,” and when Martian Manhunter asked him what he was going to do about it, Clark replied that he was going to let the old life go, and for the first ten episodes, that’s exactly what he did.

Clark got a job at the Daily Planet and, thanks to some fashion advice from Lois, ditched the flannel for suits and ties.

He began listening to the police scanner for anyone in trouble who might need a super helping hand. He was careful to make his rescues at super speed so that he could not be seen, but he didn’t count on Jimmy being at the right place at the right time with a camera.

Jimmy snapped a photo of a red-blue blur saving Lois Lane’s life and suddenly Metropolis had a mysterious new hero.

Speaking of the mercurial Ms Lane, she began her second year at the Daily Planet and was actually welcoming of her newbie coworker. As mentioned she got Clark out of his ruben rags and into something more professional and even took him out on assignments.

This is not to say her motives were completely altruistic. Clark proved to be a sharp observer and his x-ray vision and super hearing didn’t hurt either, but Lois also had a hidden incentive.

Despite vowing to never fall for a guy like Clark Kent, Lois began to tumble. Clark’s feelings for her, on the other hand, were given more ambiguity. Lana was returning after all, but he was permitted to give Lois adoring gazes, big smiles and he took care of her during a hangover, a true sign of love in any language.

Korbi Ghosh, whose Korbi TV column appears on the zap2it television site, praised the nascent relationship.

Their chemistry is palpable. You could actually feel it in last night’s opening scene at Chloe and Jimmy’s engagement party. She razzes him incessantly and his face just lights up when he smiles at her. My apologies to those who prefer Clark with another, there is electricity between these two. And speaking of the sparks, I squealed like a school girl when she was forced, under pain of electrocution, to admit her love for him last night [Committed aired]. You too?

It’s been a long time since Smallville has gotten noticed in the media. Then again, when the show stayed quagmired in the same place for seven years, why would the media notice?

The re-energized season 8 was also noticed by Mike Moody at tvsquad.com in his article Five Reasons to Watch Smallville. Reason number 1, Clark’s a Big Boy Now. Moody mentions Clark leaving the farm and the flannel behind for life in the big city as a reporter and reconciling with Jor-El, who was finally transformed into a “benevolent mentor” rather than a sadistic punisher.

Moody also said, “The show is moving further into Superman territory than ever before, and it’s pretty thrilling to see that happen.”

Reason number 2, Lana is out; Lois is in. He mentioned that part of the charm of season 8 is derived from Clark and Lois’s budding feelings and butting heads. Regarding Erica Durance’s performance as Lois Lane, Moody said, “Erica Durance’s Lois Lane has to be one of the best versions of the character to hit any screen, big or small” and is a Lois Lane worthy of Clark Kent/Superman’s affections. “Durance’s Type-A personality is a welcome change from Kristin Kreuk’s mopey Lana Lang.”

Reasons 3 through 5 lavished praise on the new supporting characters. Number 3, Doomsday/Davis Bloome, “Re-imagining the character as a likable do-gooder paramedic with a deadly dark side, and throwing the better parts of his comic book origin into the mix, was a smart move.”

Number 4, Tess Mercer, “Lex Luthor’s leggy successor is almost as fun to watch as the big bald baddie himself … Tess Mercer isn’t all eye shadow and bad attitude. She’s a jilted former good girl with a deep connection to our number five …” I’ll also toss in that Tess was starting to build an army of malcontent mutants.

Number 5, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. Moody admitted that he wasn’t pleased when the show introduced Green Arrow a few years ago since it was obvious the producers were shooting for a pseudo-Batman, but that Hartley’s portrayal won him over. “His charismatic performance added a nice light counterpoint to the doom and gloom usually surrounding Clark.”

Another plus for season 8 was having the Daily Planet be a newspaper, not just a backdrop for Clark needing some database hacked by Chloe. Suddenly the people in the background have begun interacting with those in the foreground instead of just peopling the scene. One Planeteer chided Lois for invading his personal space and gave the impression it was not the first time.

Clark and Lois also actively discuss what they’re investigating and go out into the field. Lois uses her take-no-prisoners approach while Clark plies his super advantage during investigations.

The show was now ready for the eleventh episode and the end of the first half of the season. With things going so swimmingly, what could go wrong?

In the episode Bride, Chloe and Jimmy’s wedding served as a backdrop for several building story lines.

Chloe had been cleansed of Brainiac by Jor-El, who also purged her memories of Clark’s secret at Clark’s request, but Brainiac had infected the Fortress of Solitude as soon as he left Chloe.

Davis, who had been suffering blackouts where he went on killing rampages, was more and more drawn to Chloe and refused to go to her wedding because he didn’t want to see her marry the wrong man.  He kept phoning her on her wedding day, but Chloe did not answer his calls.

Meanwhile Oliver, dressed as the Green Arrow,  had tracked Lex to an old warehouse in Cuba and fired an arrow into the head of a mannequin he mistook for Lex. This was bad old school Smallville writing where the characters are twisted to fit the plot. Other than a vague “Lex is evil and deserves to die” motive, Oliver has no real reason to kill Lex.  Actually it was all an excuse for Lana to make a grand entrance flying out of the darkness like a little ninja to scold Oliver for his unheroic behavior.

Unfortunately Oliver convinced her to attend Chloe’s wedding and very little of the new school writing was left from that point forward.

Just at the moment Clark and Lois’s feelings began to boil over during a dance at the wedding reception, Lana made her kiss-stopping entrance.

Lois left, but glanced back a last time at Clark, who looked like he’d taken a rifle butt to the head as he stood dumbly looking at his ex-girlfriend.

All at once the season that had been so different and promising began to revert back to the angst-filled soap opera it had been in the past,

Lana Lang, described as “mopey” in the TV Squad article, is actually a young woman who seems to thrive in a bubble of melancholy. This is so much a part of her personality that on the rare occasions where she experiences fleeting happiness, she actually seems out of character. She even wore black to Chloe’s wedding.

In an unwelcome blast from the past, Clark and Lana had one of their barn loft scenes of emotionally evasive conversation and tensely polite reminiscing.

Clark asked Lana what changed her mind about coming back for Chloe’s wedding, but she didn’t answer. Instead Lana complimented Clark’s work as the Red-Blue Blur and awkwardly injected a romantic reference by saying she had always dreamed of a summer wedding taking place on Clark’s farm, but with her having the lead role as the bride.

That comment not only seemed oddly out of place, but even tacky considering Lana had left Clark with a “dear john” DVD. Of course later it is revealed she was forced to make the DVD, but at this point Clark doesn’t know that and so it came across as being in the worst possible taste. Yet Clark continued on as if she’d said something rational and relevant to their current situation. This is Smallville old school writing at its worst.

Perhaps the best comparison of old school and new school writing was the unintentional parallel drawn between the scenes of ex-lovers. Oliver found Lois sitting on the front porch with a bottle of champagne about to drown her sorrows and offered a sympathetic ear. The dialogue was honest and believable as Lois tried to explain her confusing feelings for Clark. At no time did Oliver make an attempt to steal the spotlight. He was, as one reviewer put it, “a stand up guy.”

The episode ended with Doomsday raiding the wedding, disabling Clark, nearly killing Jimmy and kidnapping Chloe. There was a final shot of Lex hooked up to some sort of life support equipment watching everything unfold. How he was able to do that was not explained.

Had this been Lana’s first and last episode, I would have still given Smallville a B for its mid-season grade. Unfortunately it was merely her first in a string of five episodes and each got progressively worse.

Lana had little to do in the episode Legion and that’s probably due to the fact the episode was written for an earlier spot in the season prior to Lana’s return.

The old school writing continued with Chloe miraculously having her memory of Clark’s secret restored. Why even take it away if it was going to be given back with no fanfare or consequences a few episodes later?

A small hint as to what Lana would be up to in her arc was revealed at the end when she told Clark that “Our destiny is not written in some book in the future. We write it ourselves.” Apparently Lana wasn’t happy with the vibe she got from Saturn Girl regarding how she was remembered in the future.

In Bulletproof Lana had a side story involving Tess Mercer in which she revealed to Tess that Lex had been using her as his eyes and ears by implanting some optic nerve device in her head. Now how Lana knew this is never revealed, but again that was in keeping with the old school writing just like a pointless drawn out martial arts brawl between the two women.

Clark’s story, which had no bearing on Lana’s, involved going under cover as a cop to find out who shot Detective John Jones, Martian Manhunter’s earthbound identity. It wasn’t a bad story, but it wasn’t terribly original either. As a friend put it, the story line could’ve been done on the show Kung Fu The Legend Continues. At least the martial arts brawl would’ve made sense.

The penultimate episode of Lana’s arc, Power, was an episode the former show-runners Gough and Millar could’ve written. Lana was the star, the  hero and Clark was merely used to wander around listening to flashback testimonials from other characters as to how awesome Lana is and to point out that she had been forced by Lex’s goons to make the farewell DVD she left for Clark.

The plot, such as it was, involved Lana stealing an experimental suit designed for Lex to keep him alive and to make him super strong and super fast. Did she steal it to destroy it? Hell no, she stole the suit to have it fused to her body so she could ply her new trade as a superhero! This was embarrassingly bad storytelling and was soundly panned in reviews.

The worst part, however, for a lot of Superman and comic book fans was not just the choice of having Clark stupid enough to hook back up with Lana romantically again for the millionth time, but to have the bad taste to have the couple kiss on the rooftop of the Daily Planet. That rooftop has been Superman and Lois Lane’s rendezvous spot for decades.

It was tacky and insulting and became an over idealized, overblown cinematic  moment with the sun rising in the distant and a pull back shot bathing the wonderful couple in a golden glow. There were people who never  hated Lana before who started hating her at that moment, which is neither here nor there since she has no importance in the Superman saga, but it dragged the star of that saga down with her.

After Power, there was a quarter of a million less viewers who tuned in to Lana’s final episode Requiem. Perhaps the title referred to the death of the audience.  The plot involved Toyman working for Lex and setting up explosives around town and it was the job of Metropolis’ new power couple, as Oliver mockingly referred to Clark and Lana, to save the day.

In Bulletproof Lana suffered from an overdose of hubris by referring to herself as Lex Luthor’s equal. In Power she said she was Clark Kent’s equal, but this episode painfully illustrated she was neither.

It never seemed to occur to Lana that Lex, a person who hated Clark and knew his weakness to kryptonite, would build a suit for himself that would exploit that weakness. Pride goeth before a fall and Lana fell hard. Lex designed the suit to absorb kryptonite and then had Toyman design a bomb filled with kryptonite. Clark naturally couldn’t get near it and so Lana had to defuse the bomb and in so doing made herself as toxic to Clark literally as she had been metaphorically for all these years.

The episode ended with Clark crumpled on the loft floor after a suicidal kiss with Lana. She ran off to save the world after Clark begged her to stay. It’s funny that the super suit project was called Prometheus, named for the Titan who defied Zeus and brought fire to mankind. His punishment was to have his liver ripped out over and over throughout eternity by a giant eagle. So why was Clark the one left with his guts ripped out?

Lana’s farewell arc was scheduled for last year, but Kristin Kreuk, the actress who plays Lana, left prematurely to film a movie thinking the WGA strike would last longer. In turn her arc had to be wedged into this season. It’s highly possible that a lot of the elements that were supposed to be used last year and made more sense last year, were adapted to scripts this year. Show-runner Darren Swimmer said they’d been planning Lana’s arc before this season began and so it does sound like it was the arc, in whole or in part,  designed for last year.

A solid B turned turned into a solid D after Lana’s arc. I can’t even imagine why the audience would come back for the next new episode. From their point of view the end of the arc would look like a cliffhanger, not a final resolution of the Clark/Lana relationship.  After all Lana is still alive. There are a lot of scientists Clark could consult to try and find a cure for Lana’s kryptonite radiation.

The producers can be grateful the show has been renewed for a ninth season because this one may be unsalvageable.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Buzz, Reviews, Smallville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.