My Smallville Concerns

I have been watching Smallville since day one with its pilot episode and I was hooked on to it since because it’s a Superman TV series about Clark’s journey to become Superman. The first four seasons were great because it focused on his high school years without the tights and flights. If Clark wore the suit during the first four seasons – it would not be Superman anymore, but rather Superboy. The show was supposed to focus on Clark, Lex, and Lana because it’s a back

story of the Superman mythos, but the minute they introduced Lois in the 4th season that’s when I had a feeling that

Superman mythology had been altered. Lois should not be in the series whatsoever and that she, Jimmy Olsen, Metropolis, Daily Planet, and Perry White shouldn’t be used at all. They should be used only in Clark’s later years as Superman. Pete Ross is a character who’s part of the Superman Mythos and they didn’t know what to do with him, but they’ve written him out in favor of a made-for-TV character named Jason Teague, who served no purpose in Clark’s journey? I know that more could be done with Pete Ross if the producers and writers have read the old Superboy stories, even if Clark wore the tights. After the fourth season, the show start to lose focus because there were stories that had nothing to do with Clark’s journey. The 5th season was more about the Coming of Zod than Superman-In-Training because Clark never listened to Jor-El and that Brainiac prepared Lex to become Zod’s vessel. In the current season, Clark is not shining because they added Green Arrow, whose arc is to find other heroes to form the Justice League, and the theme of the season is the Rise of Lex Luthor and the Corruption of Good. All of the characters are involved in relationships, but Clark is the odd man out. This tells me that the series is written around Clark rather than about him – the same problems that I had with Superman:The Animated Series. As for Jimmy Olsen while I disagreed about having him in Smallville, at least they’ve kept him in Metropolis because he had no business in being in a small town like Smallville. In this current season, Clark is finally willing to embrace his destiny and wants to train with Jor-El after

taking out the Phantom Zoners. So you’re telling me that he has been resisting his destiny for 5 seasons. 5 damn seasons. Also I’m hearing a lame excuse that they don’t have the budget for Clark fighting villains and yet the villains like

Lex/ Zod are beating the heck out of him. I can see that the writers and directors do not like Superman, but his villains.

At least, I’m looking forward to the Justice League episode so I hope they’re all on equal footing. The series is set to last 7 seasons so the final season should devote to completing Clark’s journey to become Superman. My

main concern is that if Clark doesn’t wear the suit at the end of the series, then the entire series & his journey is all

pointless from the start. There needs to be a goal and a payoff on going from point A to point B. As the latest issue of

All-Star Superman points out – if Clark stayed in Smallville, there would be no Superman mythos at all. I’d wish the people

in Smallville would understand that. We have already seen hints of what Lex Luthor will become and there’s room for only

one Luthor in the end. If someone else other than Lex kills his father, then the Lex/ Lionel relationship conflict would be

undercut for the same reason that if Clark didn’t wear the suit in the end.