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Smallville: Doomsday

Clark: "Sometimes we can't outrun our destiny."
Lois: "But I thought you were invincible."
Clark: "So did I."

This was the weirdest cliffhanger they've ever done. I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't confusion.

Did Clark defeat Doomsday? Or the spiky half of Doomsday? Did Jimmy Olsen actually die? Will all that just happened be erased by whatever Lois did with the Legion's time travel ring? I assume it will, since killing off Jimmy Olsen permanently would completely deep six Superman canon. Speaking of which, even though I don't read the comics any more, I know how important Doomsday is supposed to be. Did they just decide not to carry through? Postpone it until the end of the series, maybe? Whenever that is.

And who was that at the end? Was that a young, naked reboot of Zod? Was that... Sam Witwer? (If that means they're hanging on to Sam Witwer, I'm all for it.) If bringing Zod back was Tess' motivation all along, that would put to rest any confusion about whether Tess is completely evil or not. She is. Can they please write her out now?

(I have to say again that it's not the actress's fault that Tess drives me nuts. It's that they're trying to make her into Lex, but without the seven seasons of character development. It just doesn't work for me.)

Yes, the human half of Davis killing Jimmy made sense, especially under the circumstances. But I was completely floored when Chloe told Jimmy she still loved him and she hadn't cared for Davis at all – very stupidly, with Davis right there, supposedly unconscious on the other side of the room. Allison Mack did her best, but I just didn't believe it. Chloe had demonstrated over and over that it wasn't just saving Clark that was motivating her; she thought, like Clark did, that Davis himself was worth saving, and she certainly acted as if she was strongly attracted to him. This felt like a great big writing mistake.

Like the way they've minimized Lois this season was a mistake. That romantic goodbye phone call between Lois and the Red Blue Blur was great; I loved it. I thought maybe, maybe, Clark would tell her who he was before he went to what he thought was his death. And then he told Jimmy, instead! Clark and Jimmy had the bonding moment I wanted for Clark and Lois. I feel cheated.

And now, "Clark Kent is dead"? What does that mean? Was it a symbolic death to make up for the way he was supposed to actually die at Doomsday's hands? (Okay, paws?) Is he going to abandon his family farm, his job, his friends, his dog? Oh, well. As a character, Clark is in limbo. I'm sure it's because he's more than ready to jump into his role as Superman the moment the series ends, but they never thought it would go on this long. The boundaries of the series are holding him back, and will continue to hold him back. And it keeps getting more and more awkward as the series continues past its logical expiration date.


It was fun to see Bart and Black Canary again (I like Bart), but with Oliver in the cast, why didn't we get more Justice League this season instead of Lana and Tess? The manufactured fight between Clark and Oliver didn't make a lot of sense to me, either. Yeah, I know, Superman doesn't kill people. Oliver doesn't exactly run around victimizing the innocent, though. Will it all be okay between them if it turns out Lex is alive to kill more innocent people?

Ditto the Legion. Clark's and Chloe's absence from future history was interesting. More about the Legion this season would have been fun.

Bits and pieces:

— Dying may be Clark's true destiny? Resurrection time? Alien Jesus, anyone?

— Jimmy seemed to be just fine, his drug addiction magically gone. Before he died, anyway.

— Did Clark fly? Are they going to get around that one by saying he jumped?

— New Watchtower set, with tons of space, a view of Metropolis, lots of stained glass. How could Jimmy possibly afford that place when he didn't even have money to fix his car? Of course, if it becomes Watchtower HQ, Oliver will probably pay for it from here on out.

— I thought we were going to get a guest appearance from Lex. Not this season, apparently.

Tess: "You saw it, didn't you?"
Lois: "Seriously. You have a significant deficiency of pronoun modifiers going on."

I wouldn't even know how to rate this episode. It was fast and exciting, but very dissatisfying and confusing,

Billie
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Billie Doux had a love-hate relationship with Smallville, which is why some of her reviews are briefer than they should be.

6 comments:

  1. Apparently Jimmy Olsen wasn't the real Jimmy Olsen - his gravestone read Henry James Olsen. I think it was implied that his younger brother (the one with the bow tie that they gave the camera to) was the real Jimmy Olsen. *shrug*

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  2. Thanks, Ken.

    Yeah, I noticed that, good point. But I discounted it. It didn't seem quite right to me. The idea of the kid growing up and calling himself by his dead brother's nickname just felt too weird. Maybe I shouldn't put it past them, though.

    It sort of harkens back to all those rumors that Chloe was going to end up being Lois Lane, doesn't it?

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  3. It is very odd, but I believe its exactly what they meant by it, his little brother had the bow-tie and everything. Not to mention that DC were really annoyed that the Jimmy we've seen was the same age as Clark and Lois etc, when he should be much much younger. So yeah, thats definitely the route they're going with it.

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  4. I'm clearly having trouble with this concept. :) Thanks, guys.

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  5. You put your finger on what I have struggled through with this episode. No real sense of closure. And the Jimmy stuff is a bit creepy, is it not?

    Once again, Billie, congratulations on another year of fantastic reviews. I can't imagine that this was an easy year to do.

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  6. Tess: "You saw it, didn't you?"
    Lois: "Seriously. You have a significant deficiency of pronoun modifiers going on."
    That was so suddenly meta and funny, lol. And yes the Jimmy... baton pass was kinda creepy when I realized he might actually be dead.

    ReplyDelete

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