Tonight after 10 years on British TV, Smallville finally ended and while I have not reviewed any single episode of this long running show on HorrorCultFilms before for reasons I will get to in a minute, I feel its only right that we at HCF say a few words of praise to a show that so many fans love with their heart.
Not many TV shows last a full ten seasons, I mean Buffy went after 7, Angel with 5, 24 only lasted an 8th day, while the most talked about show for many years, LOST said its goodbyes after six glorious years on that island, so the fact Smallville outdone them all, is a huge credit to all those involved. For me personally and I do not mean to upset the fan base here, but I gave up on the whole show after the 8th season. I offer no apologise when I say that I got tired of the whole “Clark Kent growing up” storyline and to be fair Tom Welling does not really look like a teenager anymore. But to say I gave up completely is a lie because I did dip into the odd show now and again and I always made time to watch the season finale which always ended with a good cliff hanger and of course the Season opener which always worked out the predicament with ease! I also have to admit that I totally loved Erica Durance in the role of Lois Lane. You can see why many Superman fans love her because she is so damn perfect and she brings sexy and sassy in one whole package. So you can see why I could not review this programme before if I only dip in an out but I always made a promise to myself that when the show finally ends, then I will be there soaking in all the glory because lets face it, we have had ten long years of waiting to see Clark Kent become Superman.
Tonight we finally got to see the years of build up and I thought it was only right now that the show has finished that I will show the respect the series deserves for giving us a perfect ending that had me cheering in the air. Yes my last two years of flipping in and out meant I had no clue what the heck was going on, but I could work out the jist of it all and I have an unexpected feeling of pride that the writers managed to come up with a finale that would have delighted fans everywhere.
Whatever the back story was, a planet coming to destroy the world and of course the return of Lex Luthor played once again with relish from Michael Rosenbaum who showed why many fans like me turned off when he quit after Season 7. The entire episode was about Clark and his final destiny and the calling to become the man of steel. Yes, like I said I had no idea who he was fighting because I am not going to insult your readers by lying to you but my heart filled with pride when Clark heard the words of Jo-El (voiced by Terence Stamp) and we were greeted with flashbacks of all his heroics of all past seasons of Smallville, including a glimpse and a great respecful clip of Christopher Reeve. Then the ground crumbled and out came an ice wardrobe which contained the infamous suit and to make us all sentimental further, we then see his dead Earth father Jonathan Kent “hand over” the suit and like a speeding bullet we saw a boy become a man!
Finally fans got see Tom Welling as Superman and while we never saw a close up which I thought was a very clever move- give the fans what they want but not too much- we see the world have their first glimpse of Superman and with it the end of Smallville.
It was perfect really and what I loved was the small build up of the John Williams score through out which you knew at any moment was going to blare out at any minute. First we had to get through the loose ends of all the other characters and we saw Tess finally become good, Lex having his mind erased which was predictable but had to be done because he knew the power Clark had and of course the birth of Lois Lane as the greatest reporter ever known.
Then we skipped to seven years later and the world was full at ease with their Superhero. Lex was seen on a TV screen being elected the American President, Chloe was in bed with her son reading a comic book called “Smallville” and then we cut to the office of The Daily Planet!. Jimmy Olsen and Perry White were there and then we got the final coming together of Lois and Clark. The look of love and the talk of marriage was in the air before a cry of help was heard and then Clark run up to the roof, ripped open his shirt for us to see the “S” one last time while of course John William’s iconic score booms out loud.
It was perfect, it was great and ended a show often criticised by many on a soaring high…….
Bye Bye Smallville, you had your problems but when you were good, you were Super!………
Ross Hughes
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