On Smallville

I lost touch with Smallville after the fall hiatus last year. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the show, it had been chugging along at pretty much the same rate for the past four seasons and season numero five wasn't much different. It just seemed like my life got increasingly hectic around the Christmas break and a lot of my TV watching habits went by the wayside.

Some was a genuine loss. (I'm looking at you Battlestar Galactic) Others I picked up again after a bit (and shouldn't have). Prison Break, take a bow. And others, like Smallville, just slipped off the radar never to be seen again. Well yesterday I got a chance to watch my first episode in a little over a year. And I could immeadiately tell that if any epi was going to bring me back to the fold it was this one.

The plot line dealt with an early incarnation of the Justice League (Green Arrow, Cyborg, Impulse\Flash, Aquaman and of course our man Kent). Being a huge JLA fan I was interested to see how this onscreen version would fair and as far as superhero shows go it was definetly better than getting kicked in the head.

It wasn't terrible, but that's what I've been saying about Smallville since it first aired. It's never been awful but it takes a dedicated fan to tune in on a weekly basis. I suspose that with all the other shows that have been cruelly obliterated by corporate decree in the last couple years I should be glad that there's something out there that I still like.

I was struck by an overpowering aura of sameness as I watched. Clark is still suffering the same do I, or don't I tell angst. Lex is a full on baddie now, just not bothering to hide it anymore, and still feuding with Lionel. Ma Kent has grown into her role as folksy Superhero Den Mother. (No sign of Pa Kent though. I remember, briefly, hearing that he'd shuffled off his mortal coil sometime last season. Presumably they'd told Clark that he'd gone to visit Grand Ma's farm to stretch his legs and run around with all the other disposable charcaters in order to soften the blow and avoid more teenage angst from out favorite protagonist) Even the teaser for the next show was exactly the same sort of stuff that I'd been watching before I left the series. Clark searches for lost Krpytonian artifacts that may or may not explain his lot in life.

But on the whole it was like I had never left the show. It seemed very soap operatic that way. That I could leave a show for almost a year and come back so seamlessly is a testament to the writer's ability to keep everything status quo for so long and make it just interesting enough to keep viewers sticking arouind. To be fair, I'm sure that all sorts of important things have happened in the last season but none of them of them had the ability to change the core philosophy of Clark and his sheltered existence.

So sadly I won't be coming back to Smallville. As always it's never been bad show but its always seemed to lack those flashes of brilliance that make for truly memorable television. Maybe it's just a victim of canon unable to break free of its comic origins and operate on its own steam. Or I could be on superhero overload. I'm little tired of rebirth, retreads, reboots and reimaginings right now. What I'm really looking for is some change and growth out of my heroes. Because, unlike Smallville, the real world doesn't stay the same year after year.