Quick thoughts on the Smallville Finale

May 13, 2011 22:43

Quick, because I want to get these down before I read anyone else's review:

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Comments 23

serrico May 14 2011, 05:57:37 UTC
ALL OF THIS. YES.

the biggest piece of awesome was that Clark's real superpower actually was DEMONSTRATED to be believing in people

You put this so *well*. Yes. As much as I loved...almost everything else...the way the finale showed Clark/Superman to be a force for good purely because of the way he himself views humanity as innately good in and of itself...that was beautiful. I liked it a lot.

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norwich36 May 14 2011, 06:03:31 UTC
For me, this is why Smallville is better than any other (film) incarnation of Superman--because it has always really emphasized Clark's faith in people, and how powerful that can be. (And I really think it was reading latxcvi's reviews all these years that really spelled that out for me). SV has done a lot of things poorly through the years, but that's one thing they always got right.

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lonelywalker May 14 2011, 06:41:16 UTC
I'm just grateful for that terribly iconic scene of the three of them in the barn, and will ignore the actual conversations.

Yes. This. The imagery of the episode worked very well, and everyone (apart from Glover, really) looked terribly, terribly pretty. But the words were a bit. Um.

You could interpret Tess taking Lex's memories as being a chance to protect him, too - to give him a fresh start without Lionel, and without that sense of competition with Clark. But clearly that didn't work out too well.

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norwich36 May 14 2011, 06:46:44 UTC
Hmm, that's a charitable reading of Tess's actions, but considering that for the past few seasons she's been all about protecting Clark, I don't know if I buy it.

Glover really wasn't looking his best tonight, but that's ok because this is one of the few eps when I've had an unabashed hatred for Lionel, and it helped that he wasn't looking as hot as normal.

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lonelywalker May 14 2011, 06:49:14 UTC
Indeed. And he did just kill her.

Well he was supposed to be a bit deranged, and then a zombie, so the unkemptness helped. Glover has since had a haircut and shaved and is looking about 20 years younger. Curse his apparent immortality!

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roxymissrose May 14 2011, 06:47:03 UTC
OH LEX. OH TESS. OH HOUSE OF LUTHOR, WHY SO CURSED. I was really hoping Tess, at least, would have broken free of the curse.Yes--it's like the Luthor superpower is to believe that they're cursed to be evil. Lex kind of gloried in it, definitely thought that his villainy would be the thing to guide Clark into greatness and at the same time, seemed to still think he had a job to do, keeping Clark in check. That little speech about the way Clark said his name--he was laughing at Clark for still believing after all this time, but there was a fondness there too. At least it seemed so to me ( ... )

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norwich36 May 14 2011, 07:03:41 UTC
I loved that speech about how Clark says his name--SO MUCH fic fodder in that one line.

Honestly, all of that Jonathan and Martha speechifying seemed extremely contrived and time-wasting to me. I'd rather they spent that time giving him marriage advice, for fuck's sake.

I thought they might have Lionel kill Tess, but I really, really didn't expect Lex to do it. I don't know why--it's a good way to remind the audience he IS the villain of the story--but I just wasn't expecting it.

Yeah, I was so dehydrated from crying after this!

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bagheera_san May 14 2011, 17:20:05 UTC
Okay, that review did redeem the finale a little for me :) Tess really was great, even though I had never seen her before (I quit halfway through S7) she immediately won my heart the moment she freed herself and shot Lionel.

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norwich36 May 14 2011, 17:59:56 UTC
I'n not saying every moment in seasons 8-10 was great, but Tess was an amazing character--pretty much everything I wish the producers had been able to do with Lex (if they weren't constrained by stupid comics canon) they did with Tess.

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ciaan May 14 2011, 19:49:45 UTC
Luthor Math

Lex = Tess
wanting daddy to love you = killing him
Clark = redemption
everything = tragic

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norwich36 May 15 2011, 02:35:40 UTC
Yeah, that's pretty much it.

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norwich36 May 15 2011, 02:37:23 UTC
They got all the important stuff right, which is what really matters.

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