Smallville wishes

June 6th, 2010 · 11:59 pm → Blog

As anyone who knows me or has read this blog knows, I’m a big fan of the CW’s Smallville. This Fall, it will be going into its 10th and final season. About a week ago, the writers went back to work, and given my love for the show, I can’t help but chip in my two cents on what I’d like to see in Season 10 and hope somewhere, somehow they listen.

When I think back on the past couple of seasons, I think my favorite two have been Season 6 and Season 8. While this is probably just “armchair pontificating”, I think I can attribute the success of those seasons to five things, of which I hope to see more of in Season 10:

Epic scope of heroism – Season 6 gave Tom Welling’s Clark Kent a purpose far beyond the little sandbox which the show had traditionally confined the characters to. It wasn’t just a question of defending his friends from “the freak of the week”, it was about Clark expanding the scope of his activities, teaming up with other budding heroes to save the world from enemies from the Phantom Zone and the machinations of an increasingly power-hungry Lex Luthor. Season 10 needs to have something just as epic, to allow Clark to truly flex his heroic muscles. He has to turn into Superman, after all…
A real challenge – Season 6 and Season 8 gave Clark something he never truly experienced in seasons before that: the very palpable chance that Clark wouldn’t win out in the end. Season 6, in particular, was good at this. Not only was Clark getting pounded into submission by villains from the Phantom Zone, he was being chewed out by recurring guest star Green Arrow/Oliver Queen for not truly realizing his full potential as a hero, and he could only watch as his archenemy Lex Luthor won the heart of his love, Lana Lang. Season 8 saw Clark face Doomsday, a creature potentially more powerful than he is, a 31st century terrorist, and a tricky heroic quandary about whether or not its ok to kill one person to save many. It takes a great challenge to make a great hero – lets hope Season 10 delivers on that.
Green Arrow/Oliver Queen as a badass – Season 6 introduced Justin Hartley as Smallville’s rendition of the Green Arrow. A billionaire who had decided to use his talents for hand-to-hand combat and archery to help people, he not only gave Clark a much-needed kick in the pants to more actively pursue his heroic destiny (saving Clark’s butt on occasion), but introduced to Clark the idea that he didn’t have to be alone in his quest to “save the world.” In Season 8, the Green Arrow returned, this time as a full-time cast member, and provided an interesting “dark” counterpart to Clark, not only challenging Clark’s own moral code but, in one memorable episode, saving Clark by single-handedly taking out two super-powered villains. This past season of Smallville has seen Oliver’s character go from rock-bottom to his old wise-cracking self, but I can’t help but miss the days when he was full of heroic badassery. I think Season 10 is about time the writers fully restore Oliver to his original, awesome state.
Awesome guest stars – I think some of the highest rated episodes of Smallville have been the ones which prominently feature the show’s rich set of guest stars. I would imagine this has to do with the type of shows that are written when there are guest stars: they tend to splurge on the special effects/action sequences and they tend to present Clark as he should be: a hero taking on challenges which require the cooperation of multiple heroes. Please, writers, for Season 10, bring back The Legion and the Justice League (and Society)!
Lex Luthor – I think Callum Blue (Major Zod), Sam Witwer (Doomsday), and Cassidy Freeman (Tess Mercer) have done admirably as villains after Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor departed from the series. But, let’s face it. You can’t tell the story of Superman without his archnemesis Lex Luthor. Season 6 worked so well because we saw Lex’s ambitions finally manifest themselves as a project to create an army of super-powered soldiers. Season 8 worked well, in part, because the shadow of Lex Luthor was cast over much of the season. It’s the last season, writers. BRING. BACK. LEX. LUTHOR!