Television Review: Smallville Season Two
Smallville Season Two
Starring: Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, Annette O'Toole, John Glover, John Schneider
Series Creators: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
When we first started watching Smallville season one (we borrowed it), I wasn't sure if I'd like it at all. I've never really followed the Superman character, besides general comic knowledge and watching the movies as a kid, and am weary in general of WB shows. But, since we finished up Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and are close to finishing Angel and Roswell, we were looking another action/sci-fi/drama series to get into so we figured we'd give it a try.
The first season was decent, but not outstanding. The characters are all likable enough (except for Lionel Luthor, Lex's dad, who is supposed to hated, and is) and the action is fun. The special effects are all pretty good for a television show, although sometimes they are a little too ambitious and come off as poor. The writing on the show is good enough to not be embarrassing, but not outstanding like BTVS or Sports Night. The real problem I have with the show is their tendency to do only self-contained episodes.
Some might consider this a strength, as there are some who dislike shows with seemingly never-ending plot arcs. Not me, I love when shows take several episodes to tell a story, especially in this genre. It made BTVS and Angel seem like live-action comic books. Comic books rarely ever wrap up a story entirely, because they know that they have to publish monthly stories, hopefully forever. As a TV show based on a comic book, you'd think Smallville would follow that format, but not so much. I understand that season-long arcs can be annoying, especially if you're following a show week-to-week as opposed to watching a box set in its entirety, but three episode character arcs would have been nice. Worse, while the characters themselves seem to evolve as the show goes on, their relationships with each other were very static in season one, seemingly unchanging from the end of the pilot to near the end of the season.
We were prepared to not follow the show into the second season. While entertained, we weren't often sucked into the Smallville universe. Then, they picked up the pace to lead into the season finale, which drew us in just in time for a season-ending cliff hanger. They suckered us into buying season two. Bastards.
I'm happy to say that season two was a marked improvement over the first. Many of the problems from the first season still exist, but this time, there was an underlying threat and purpose to the season in the form of a more involved Lionel Luthor and the presence of caves that inexplicably seemed to hold secrets for Clark Kent that gave the season a more cohesive feel. Plus, relationships managed to change between characters. Clark and Chloe grew closer, then farther apart. Lana and Clark danced around with their feelings, but at least it was out there. Lex Luthor managed to gain levels of acceptance from Jonathan Kent. Pete Ross was given a stronger role. Lex and his dad fought tooth and nail. A real sense of danger was introduced to Clark's life, which isn't easy to do when the main character is invicible (you know, other than the kryptonite thing).
The series is still flawed though. It's great that they have Jeph Loeb as an executive producer (he's a comic book producer), but what they really need is one creator whose overall vision dictates the direction of the series (in the mold of Joss Whedon or J.J. Abrams). This would lead to more ambitious plot arcs, and less jumps in the storyline. The series would be humming along, then in comes an episode out of nowhere that seems to be weeks after the last one, even when the last one ended on an unfinished note. Very annoying.
Highlights of the season include the introduction of Clark's heat vision, red kryptonite which turns Clark into the opposite version of himself (i.e. cocky, reckless), the removal of the boring Whitney character, Clark actually getting some action, and guest stars such as Sean Faris, Richard Moll, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachery Ty Bryan, Neil Flynn, the voice of Terrence Stamp, and Superman himself, Christopher Reeve. Oh, and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) is the best thing in the whole series.
Related Reviews:
Smallville Season Three
Superman: The Animated Series Volume One
Superman: The Movie