Smallville has been a cult phenomenon since it first aired in 2001. Focusing on the life of Clark Kent, not Superman, we see how an awkward teen grew to be the Man of Steel. There is no costume, and thus far, Clark can't voluntarily fly. Instead the focus is on his interactions with his adopted planet, and how an alien child became one of the most human of

The series has won Emmys and Saturns and numerous other awards and nominations, (won 2 Emmys, 22 wins, and 97 nominations.) It was voted the best family friendly series on TV today.

Warning: This review contains spoilers. If you are one of those people who watch the series only on DVD, then just skip to the bottom and rate it Most Helpful, and run along.

This season, Clark has a new focus; his cousin Kara. Now, not only does he have to get on with his own (selfish) concerns, but he must expand his circle of influence and show her the ropes, and protect her from her mistakes. He also has to learn to trust her.

Other forces continue to haunt our boy of steel, the return of Bizarro and Brainiac, and the past rears up to haunt both him, and Lionel Luthor in the form of the Secret Society, Veritas.

Chloe continues to struggle with her status as meteor infected, and her on again off again relationship with Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy suffers from the Lana syndrome, confused and hurt by the lies and lack of communication with someone he loves. And Kara is a cutie....

Lex grows darker, more focused and more obsessed with learning Clark 's secrets. He also gains a relative, and looses two. Lana's obsession with Lex follows just about the same pattern...

The show was less affected by the writer's strike than many others, clocking in at 20 episodes. And the adventure continues.

The Episodes.

Season 7, Episode 1: Bizarro

Clark is confronted by Bizarro, the strange doppelganger who has assumed so many of his powers. Their battle places Chloe and Lois in danger. When the damn breaks, Lionel Luthor is one of the ones swept away! Lois is critically injured, and Chloe uses her meteor granted powers to save her, but at a price Chloe dies! Lex is arrested for Lana's murder last season. Also, who is the mysterious blond beauty who seems to have been released by the flood?

Season 7, Episode 2: Kara

Original Air Date: 4 October 2007

Clark and Lois discover a space craft from Krypton, but before the can open it, they are attacked by Kara Zor-El, last daughter of Krypton! And she says she is here to protect her infant nephew, Kal-El! But according to Jor-el's recording in the fortress of Solitude Zor-El is an evil get! (Major departure from comic canon)

Clark Kent : Chloe, not only is she strong as I am... she can fly.

Chloe Sullivan: Whoa. It sounds like we got ourselves a true blue Supergirl.

Clark Kent : Well, define "super." Nearly every Kryptonian I've come across has turned into a cold-blooded killer.

Chloe Sullivan: Yeah. What is it with you people? Are you the only half-decent member of your Kryptonian race?

Season 7, Episode 3: Fierce

Kara is trying to assimilate, but her version of low profile is to enter the Miss Cream Corn contest. She finds out Kryptonians attract trouble when three super powered beauty queens try to kill her to get at buried treasure! Clark is pulling his hair out, worrying about exposure!

"Listen, I've spent my entire life trying to hide my identity. I can't have you exposing us both in a single night. Watch and learn." Clark Kent .

Season 7, Episode 4: Cure

Dean Cain, (Superman from the wonderful Lois and Clark series) guest stars as Dr. Curtis Knox, who claims to be able to "cure" meteor freaks.

Chloe Sullivan: I came here for help, not to be cut open by some Jack the Ripper wannabe!

Curtis Knox, M.D.: I *was* Jack the Ripper.

Season 7, Episode 5: Action

When Warrior Angel, a popular comic book, starts filming in Smallville, Clark learns that you don't need meteor powers to be a super freak.

" In the comic-book world, when you're destined to save mankind, you're destined to be alone." Lex Luthor.

Season 7, Episode 6: Lara

Kara has been in search of her father's crystal; basically, the hard drive to his computer. She thinks she is invulnerable, but discovers earthlings armed with Kryptonite are dangerous. Held prisoner, they plan to use a truth serum based on green K, not realizing it can kill her!

Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the movie of the same name, plays Lara, Clark 's birth mother!

Special Agent Carter: I want to know about your home planet.

Kara: You're on it. It's called Earth.

Season 7, Episode 7: Wrath

Lana is back, and a near miss with lightning and Kryptonite grant her a measure of Clark 's powers! Outside of seismic sex, what will she do with these powers? Why, try to kill Lex, of course!

Lana Lang: I would do anything for Clark .

Chloe Sullivan: Even kill. What a lucky guy!

Season 7, Episode 8: Blue

Clark hears a voice coming from Kara's crystal, and plugs it into the Fortress of Solitude, bringing Lara, his mother back to life! However, this, and the blue kryptonite ring she gives him, are all part of the plot by Zor-El to take control of the Fortress, and found a Kryptonian dynasty on earth!

Further, Lex and Chloe find out about Grant's and Lois' office romance, and try to put a stop to it. Their motivations are vastly different.

Also, in the fine tradition of Cameo roles, Marc McClure, who was Christopher Reeve's Jimmy Olsen, plays Dax-Ur.

Lana Lang: You grew up on a planet of human beings. It's okay to feel. Your emotions are part of who you are.

Clark Kent : Yeah. They're more dangerous than kryptonite.

Season 7, Episode 9: Gemini

As Christmas pulls closer, Lois receives a call, ala "Phonebooth" that Chloe is carrying a bomb, and will be killed if Lois does not crack her computer and download the 33.1 info it contains. Clark escapes imprisonment in the fortress, and returns home. Focused like he has not been before, he has Lana use her Isis Foundation spy capabilities to bring down Lex Luthor!

"Regardless, you call Clark before you dial 911. I mean, what's he gonna do, dismantle the bomb with his great hair?" Jimmy Olsen, to Chloe.

Season 7, Episode 10: Persona

Bizarro, who has been impersonating Clark , finds out information from his girlfriend, Lana. Further, Grant Gabriel, aka the clone of Julian Luthor, reveals his real nature to his father, Lionel.

"Lying to you would be like lying to a mollusk. There's no point." Milton Fine, aka Brainiac.

Season 7, Episode 11: Siren

Green Arrow is back, continuing his vendetta against Lex! He is thwarted by Lex's new hire; Black Canary!

Season 7, Episode 12: Fracture

Lois and Kara are being held prisoner, and the only way to figure out where is for Clark to enter the mind of Lex Luthor. But Lex has been shot, and if he dies while Clark is in there... But Clark finds an old friend in the twisted cobwebbed corridors of his nemesis' mind, Lex's good side, Alexander.

Season 7, Episode 13: Hero

Pete Ross is back in town, and like in the comics, he has a power! He chews Kryptonite laced gum, which grants him the power to stretch his body like silly putty! Meanwhile, Lex continues to drive a wedge between Clark and the amnesiac and depowered Kara.

Chloe Sullivan: Unauthorized surveillance is totally unethical.

Lex Luthor: Pretty big words from a cub reporter. Shouldn't you be using them to write stories?

Chloe Sullivan: Good idea. I think "office espionage" has a nice ring to it.

Season 7, Episode 14: Traveler

Lionel Luthor kidnaps Clark and holds him prisoner in a Kryptonite cage! What could be so important that he would risk killing Clark to protect Clark ? Meanwhile, Chloe takes Kara to the fortress to get her memory and powers back so she can rescue him.

Lex Luthor: What secret was so important that you and your friends built a group around it?

Lionel Luthor: Oh, think about it, Lex. Skull & Bones, Scroll & Key, the Delphic. The rich have secret societies. The others have poker nights.

Season 7, Episode 15: Veritas

Brainiac tries to force Kara to join his crusade. When Clark intervenes, Brainiac takes his revenge on Lana!

Lionel Luthor: If we don't open that envelope, Dr. Swann's conclusions could be mythical as the gods of Mount Olympus .

Robert Queen: Virgil's going to be here in any minute.. I suggest you don't refer to his life's work as mythology.

Edward Teague: Veritas...it's the greatest secret the world will ever know.

Robert Queen: We formed this group to use our wealth and power to protect that secret. Not expose it.

Lionel Luthor: Is that Robert Queen talking, or is that Virgil Swann? You're sounding more like him every day.

Season 7, Episode 16: Descent

Lex is closing in on the secrets of Veritas, and nothing, and no one are going to stand in his way. One of the most remarkable episodes of the series.

"Total absence of love. Some say that's the definition of evil." Chloe Sullivan.

Season 7, Episode 17: Sleeper

We tend to forget that these characters do not exist in a vacuum. The Feds are very interested in Chloe's numerous hacks into government facilities. They enlist Jimmy to get the goods on her. And to show the government meddles with all equally, Lex is a no fly flag.

"Look, I'm not your James Bond.. I went to a Halloween party once as James Bond. Everyone thought I was the maître d'." Jimmy Olsen.

Season 7, Episode 18: Apocalypse

In the Smallville, "It's a Wonderful Life" episode, Jor-El shows Clark what will happen to Earth if Brainiac succeeds in killing him in the past; most people he know are happy and productive, but Lex is president, and Kara has been raised as a Luthor!

"There's no yellow sun to charge you here. You're not in Kansas anymore, Kal-El." Brainiac.

Season 7, Episode 19: Quest

When the last member of Veritas tries to protect The Traveler by killing Lex Luthor, Clark 's moral fiber is put to the test!

Clark Kent : That's the last thing I need. Someone going around killing people in my name.

Chloe Sullivan: That's probably how God felt about the Crusades.

Season 7, Episode 20: Arctic

Why is Kara showing Lex where the fortress of Solitude is? In the season finale, Chloe is sent into the same catalepsy that afflicted Lana, and Lex is given the key to destroying Clark.

Brainiac: This is a simple matter of self-preservation. When I couldn't kill you, I knew I had to control you.

Clark Kent : I'm in control now. And you will release Chloe! You'll release Lana!

Brainiac: The only way to save them would be to kill me now, in cold blood. Which goes against everything you stand for. You could never deliberately take another man's life.

Clark Kent : You're not a man. You're a machine.

This show delivers week after week, a stead stream of quality entertainment. At its worst, "Freak of the Week" style episodes are still well done and entertaining. At its best, it wins awards, and is truly memorable. The material is iconic, and every week, the writers, actors and crew struggle to make something worthy of the Legend, while still remaining true to the man. It is a precarious line, and a tangled maze, and yet they succeed, time and time again. The slips are minor and forgivable. The triumphs are unforgettable.

Tom Welling has grown into the role. He IS Clark Kent . The question remains, will he become Superman? Tall, good looking, sexy in a nice wholesome way, Tom gives Clark personality, morals without saccerine, and shows the constant struggle between desire and obligation.

Kristen Kruek as Lana Lang has managed a nearly impossible task; she has been the love interest, sustained for a very long time, retained her appeal, but also managed to let us see clearly exactly why she and Clark are not destined to be together. Exotically lovely, Kristen has grown with the role, gaining poise and confidence, and considerably more range.

Allison Mack plays Chloe Sullivan, one of the nicest surprises of the show. A complete creation of the show, Chloe has grown to fill the role of Clark 's side kick. She has had to deal with an unrequited crush on Clark , and the constant tension between her reporter's dedication to the truth and her role as number one guardian of Clark 's secret. She also is a meteor freak, with powers of healing, the precise limits of which are not fully known. She is much more useful however, as an Oracle, providing Clark with whatever information he needs with potent hacker skills, and solid investigation.

Chloe is funny, perky, and resourceful, and makes Clark 's life a hundred times better. She is his encyclopedia and his confessor. And she gives him dating advice. What a gal!

Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor. If there is one thing that Smallville did right, it was the care and grooming of Lex as a villain. He started out as Clark's best friend, and grew to be his worst enemy, largely because Clark's secret forced him to treat Lex the same way Lex's father Lionel treated him, with lies, half truths, and holding him at a distance. You can't hate anyone as much as someone you have loved. Ask any divorced person. And Rosenbaum pulls it off flawlessly. A calm cool villain, no empty threats for him. He just does what he does, and makes you feel like a fool when you confront him. Rosenbaum is a genius.

The rest of the cast is quite good as well. Justin Hartley has really grown as an actor, which bodes well for his recurrent role as Green Arrow in season 8. Erica Durance is a feisty Lois Lane . Another surprise was John Glover as Lionel Luthor. In the comics, Lionel was only a mention; Lex's dead father. Here he has been villain, mastermind, caretaker and fool, a wonderfully complex character. Glover, of course, had no difficulties with the role.

This season is a bit difficult; the Kent 's are gone...Jonathan dead, Martha, serving Kansas in Washington . Clark is all grown up. But he has yet to take on his adult role as Superman...and until he does, it leaves the character in Limbo, neither kid nor adult, kind of like College.

So, grab this set and catch up on what has gone before, and catch the season premiere on Thursday, September 18th at 8pm on the CW.

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 Age 9 - 12