Smallville: Season Eight.  Created for TV by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.  Based on the creation of Joel Schuster and Jerry Siegel.

For eight years, one of the bright spots in the Televised Wastelands has been Smallville.  A different take on the Superman story, Smallville is the story of Clark Kent, not Superman, and not Kal El.  It has been about the son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, and his very human take on his alien powers.

Starting with his freshman year of High School, we have watched him grow up and turn into a man, his own man, and a hero.  School long behind, Clark has left Smallville, and is finding his way in the big city of Metropolis.

Clark steps out into the bigger world; Lex is dead or hiding and we are not sure which is worse.  There is a new villain on the block, and the heroes are coming out of the woodwork.  Clark is moving more and more towards fulfilling his destiny; the only question is, how much of his life will he have to sacrifice to do so?


Season 8, Episode 1: Odyssey

Chloe Sullivan: All that time alone in the cell, I realized, what I wanted in the past, kept me from seeing what I had right now. And that's you. And you're perfect.
Jimmy Olsen: I am *so* far from perfect.
Chloe Sullivan: Which is perfect for me.

A month after the collapse of the Fortress of Solitude, and Clark and Lex are still missing.  Luthor Corp is under the rule of a ruthless new power, Tess Mercer, a real Lex groupie; she has orders to carry out, and ideas that do not bode well for our heroes.

Clark is being searched for by the incipient Justice League; Green Arrow, Black Canary and Aquaman; Chloe has been kidnapped by an organization that is using her to find them!

And Clark, Clark is powerless, and not in a good place.


 Season 8, Episode 2: Plastique

First days are never easy, but Clark's first at the Daily Planet is heralded by an exploding bus!  A meteor freak is probably involved, and Chloe meets a paramedic who feels the sparks, despite the fact Chloe is engaged to Jimmy Olsen.

 Season 8, Episode 3: Toxic

Davis Bloome: You must be Lois.
Lois Lane: You must be the one who's actually qualified to do this.
Davis Bloome: He's dying. I'm sorry.
Lois Lane: Here is what's gonna happen, Dimples. You are going to reach into that handy little tackle box of yours and pull us out a miracle. Oliver Queen does not die today.
Davis Bloome: The best I can do is keep him alive a few minutes longer.
Lois Lane: Then do it.

Here is an interesting fact.  The word Toxic is derived from the Greek Word for Bow; a reference to Heracles' arrows poisoned by the blood of the Hydra.  So it is a little ironic that our favorite archer, Green Arrow is poisoned at a charity fundraiser, and Clark is on a quest to find the cure.

 Season 8, Episode 4: Instinct

An Amazonian Queen from another world is looking for a Kryptonian to mate with.  Too bad her kiss kills anyone not from Krypton.  Meanwhile, Jimmy is poisoned by insecurity when he stumbles on an old love letter, Chloe wrote Clark, but never delivered.


 Season 8, Episode 5: Committed

Jimmy and Chloe drop out of sight and after awhile, Lois and Clark suspect it is not just a romantic getaway.  Were they kidnapped?


 Season 8, Episode 6: Prey
John Jones: You can't save everyone, Clark.
Clark Kent: The moment I believe that is when I stop trying.

There is a killer on the loose, and Clark can't seem to catch a break.  And as Metropolis descends into a panic, Davis is blacking out.  He has to wonder, could he be the Killer? 


 Season 8, Episode 7: Identity

When your best friend is a shutter bug, and you have a secret identity, sooner or later, there is going to be a conflict of interest.  And when Jimmy is on the trail of the red-blue blur, Chloe announces she is out of the obfuscating business on this one.  So Clark turns to Green Arrow for help at throwing his photographer friend off the trail.

Lois meets a new reporter, Sebastian Kane.  He has a meteor power; he reads memories by touch, and he is hunting the Alien crystal for Tess Mercer.

 Season 8, Episode 8: Bloodline

Lois and Clark are ambushed by a crystal sent to them that knocks them into the Phantom Zone.  And while Kara, Clark's cousin is able to get them out again, Lois has picked up a hitchhiker; Faora, wife of Zod, takes Lois on a rampage through Metropolis.


 Season 8, Episode 9: Abyss

Having an alien computer downloaded in your brain might make Chloe a super genius, but when the assimilation reaches a tipping point, Chloe finds her memory being overwritten.  Clark uses the Crystal to help her, resurrecting the Fortress, and using its systems.  Meanwhile; Davis is waking up to the fact he is not from around here, and his fascination with Chloe deepens.


 Season 8, Episode 10: Bride

Priorities are tested, and decided as Green Arrow closes in on the elusive Lex Ghost in the Web.  But Clark has to choose between helping Oliver, or being there for Chloe on her special day.

Lois finally sees Clark with clear eyes, and is just about to say something when there is a surprise visitor to the reception that is fuel on the fire, but a bucket of cold water for Lois.

Nor is there just one Wedding Crasher.


 Season 8, Episode 11: Legion

Rokk Krinn: Lightning Lad. You might want to take your A.C. foot out of your D.C. mouth before you short yourself out.

As if having your best friend's wedding crashed by an alien bioweapon who kidnaps the bride wasn't bad enough, now Clark is being attacked by an axe wielding madman from the future, The Persuader!  The Legion of Superheroes steps in, and is invaluable in dealing with him, and what is to come.

Meanwhile, in the Artic, Chloe possessed by Brainiac informs Davis that he is a Kryptonian Weapon of Mass Destruction, programmed to kill Kal El and destroy the world!

 Season 8, Episode 12: Bulletproof

When John Jones is shot in the line of duty, Clark impersonates a police officer to track down the culprit.  Meanwhile, little Miss I got a secret, Tess Mercer, receives an earful of secrets from the lips of Lana Lang Luthor, shaking the CEO's world view and making her reevaluate her loyalty to Lex and Luthorcorp.


 Season 8, Episode 13: Power

Lana realizes that she and Clark can never be together completely until she is able to defend herself, and keep up with the boyfriend of steel.  So she steals a super suit developed by Luthorcorp, and it is up to Clark and Chloe to save her from herself.

Season 8, Episode 14: Requiem

Lex Luthor: Clark Kent and Lana Lang, welcome to your destiny. You've destroyed me in every way, so now I'm going to take away what matters most to you.
Lana Lang: Lex?
Lex Luthor: Do you know what people remember about the greatest star-crossed romances? Not how the lovers met, but the way the relationship tragically ended. The skin Lana's wearing was designed to absorb enough meteor rock that you'll never be able to go near her again.
Clark Kent: You're a coward, Lex. Come out here. Face us!
Lex Luthor: No, Clark. It's time for you to face your defining moment. You can walk away, sacrifice innocent lives to stay together, or defuse the bomb and sacrifice your love forever.

Oliver Queen drops a bombshell on Luthorcorp with a hostile take over!  But that is nothing to the real bomb that blows up in the wake of his announcement.  Is Lex reaching out from beyond his supposed grave or something else?  And Lana learns that one of the powers of her suit is to absorb Kryptonite.  It is not as cool as it sounds.....


 Season 8, Episode 15: Infamous

Like a bad actress, Linda Lake is back, and she has plans to black mail Clark with his secret identity.  Clark decides to take the cape out of the closet, but discovers there are problems with being a public super hero.


 Season 8, Episode 16: Turbulence

Clark's identity is under attack again, this time from Tess Mercer, and Davis is trying to cope with his Jekyll/Hide problem.  Of course this is sort of complicated when Jimmy Olsen sees him killing someone....

 Season 8, Episode 17: Hex

Here is a clue about magic.  Don't mess with it.  Chloe wonders what life would be like as someone else, and finds out, the hard way.


 Season 8, Episode 18: Eternal

A little investigative journalism reveals Clark was not the only new arrival to Earth on the day of the meteor shower.  Davis is freaking out as the net closes in.

 Season 8, Episode 19: Stiletto

Lois Lane: Meet Stiletto. I was going to sew an "S" into the chest. Is that tacky?

When a random mugging and some savage kicks with her new boots gives her an idea, Lois takes to the streets as Metropolis' newest super heroine (or part time dominatrix) The Stiletto!  Stealing the red-blue blur's thunder, and making the news (isn't that a little unethical?) she enlists Jimmy Olsen's help.  However, the real hero and she are on a collision course as Clark tries to locate Chloe's laptop before the League's data can be compromised.  Meanwhile, Chloe is climbing the walls, worrying over the laptop, and hiding Davis in the basement of the Talon.

Meanwhile, Jimmy is working as a bartender at a club where the thugs hang out, and they are planning to kill Stiletto and take back the streets for themselves!

 Season 8, Episode 20: Beast

Davis is melting down, clinging to Chloe like a man to a life preserver.  He is begging her to leave town with him.  Jimmy, driven from Chloe by the secrets and his insecurities, has turned to pills.   Oliver Queen tries to help, but gets a rude response.  Clark discovers that Chloe has been concealing Davis, both the fact he is alive, and his physical form.  Meanwhile, Jimmy breaks into Chloe's apartment, looking for money and pawnables for drugs, and Oliver tries to stop him.  Sadly Davis confronts them both.  Faced with what he has done, he takes Chloe and retreats to the Fortress, and Clark is in hot pursuit.


 Season 8, Episode 21: Injustice

In a very strange turn of events, Chloe shows back up in Smallville, advocating Clark kill Davis.  Tess is a step ahead, having assembled a meteor powered kill squad, and Green Arrow, who favors killing Davis, is breaking into Tess' safe looking for Black Kryptonite, which might be able to separate Davis from Doomsday. 

However, no one is exactly who they appear to be, and Tess is working for a real power behind the throne figure.


 Season 8, Episode 22: Doomsday

Jimmy Olsen: I know about Clark.
Chloe Sullivan: What? What exactly do you know?
Jimmy Olsen: *The* what. I saw him. And I saw what he can do, who he is. And now I see all kinds of things. I see what you sacrificed for him. For everyone, really.

Every group has some plan for Doomsday; Green Arrow and the League think he needs to be killed, Tess wants the beast for herself, and the Legion thinks exiling him to the future is the only hope for Clark.  Clark comes to the realization that he has to be absolute; he doesn't have the luxury of situational ethics.

Jimmy discovers Clark's secret, and Clark is forced into a showdown, trying the risky path of using Black Kryptonite to split Davis from Doomsday.  What happens, no one is prepared for.




The Cast

Tom Welling ...  Clark Kent
Sexy as heck, outside a fondness for primary colors, our hero is the heart and soul of this show.  And Tom's broad shoulders are up to the job.  Sensitive without being sappy, his humor carries through.

Allison Mack ...  Chloe Sullivan
Created for this series, she has become one of its most popular features.  I blame the actress; if she wasn't so very good, continuity would still be intact.

Erica Durance ...  Lois Lane
I was a little off put by this choice at first, but she has grown into the role; there is something about her that reminds me of the silver age Lois with all her whacky schemes.  I can see the attraction.

Aaron Ashmore ...  Jimmy Olsen
How to do the cub reporter right; that was always a challenge.  How to inject the humor without making him a clown.  Aaron proved he was up to the task, and adds a layer of cuteness to the shows line up of sexy.

Cassidy Freeman ...  Tess Mercer
Boo!  Hiss!  I wanted Lex, not his dominatrix stand in.

Sam Witwer ...  Davis Bloome
An interesting twist on the Doomsday saga; and definitely added a human element to the monster.  And I think that deepened the concept.  It certainly gave Chloe a whole new set of problems.

Justin Hartley ...  Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Because you can't have too much sexy!  Justin has really grown as an actor during his stint on this show.  I like his counter balance to Clarks Eagle Scout ways; like he provided with Green Lantern back in the old days.

Phil Morris ...  John Jones/ Martian Manhunter

Not my first choice for an actor, but he does a good job.

Alaina Huffman ...  Dinah Lance / Black Canary
Definitely cuter as a brunette; they have to find a better look for her.  The girl can actually act, but not around that makeup.

Alan Ritchson ...  Arthur Curry/Aquaman
I like this guy; less supermodel, more guy next door, you wanna play football with him, or maybe water polo.  I hope they give him a role to step up to this next season, to see if he really can act.

The fact this series has reached an eighth season speaks volumes about it.  It is just that good, and has a rabid fan base.  I know they are reaching the end of what they can do with the series, but talks are underway about a spin off:  Metropolis?  One can only hope.


The Smallville Saga

Smallville: Season One
Smallville: Season Two
Smallville: Season Three
Smallville: Season Four
Smallville: Season Five
Smallville: Season Six
Smallville: Season Seven
Smallville: Season Eight


Animation

Superman: Doomsday

Novels

The Last Days of Krypton

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8