Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

Season Grade: B-
DVD Features Grade: C+
Overall Grade: B-

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 8 years since this amazing tale of the Man of Steel’s beginnings growing up in the town of Smallville first hit the airwaves. A lot has changed over time but one thing that has remained consistent is the overall quality of the show and its ability to keep the viewer tuning back in week after week. Sure there might be one too many ‘saved-in-the-nick-of-time’ moments but with any Superman-esq show that’s to be expected.

The true test of a show’s ability to endure is a change from its initial setting. After 4 years in High School in Smallville our heroes started the slow journey to a more Metropolis based existence. They still scoot back to the Kent Farm and the Talon Coffee Shop back in Smallville every now and then but Clark Kent’s feet are now firmly pressed on the concrete streets of the big city rather than the dirt roads of where he grew up.

Along with this change in venue the show had to endure the loss of two of its top three characters this year when Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk opted not to extend their contracts to reprise their roles as Lex Luthor and Lana Lang respectively. There was speculation as to whether or not the show would be able to survive their departures but after a successful eighth season and now a ninth on the way, I’d say the answer is pretty clear. It seems that not even that Kryptonite bullet could kill this series.

The loss of Lana and Lex ended up opening the door to some new story lines that proved to be almost as interesting as the Clark, Lana, Lex triangle. They had pretty much gone as far as they could with that one. So when faced with the possibility of not having a main villain each week the writers did the smartest thing they could do. They introduced a scarier, more deadly villain in his place. Smallville…. Meet Doomsday!

Not to worry they didn’t leave the human element out of this new triangle because they’ve also given us Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) the new acting head of Luthorcorp. Her journey in a single season was impressive; starting out as a clear Lex Luthor stand in but ultimately becoming a layered character all her own. I tend to think of Tess and Doomsday as the proverbial carrot and the stick. Tess will try to talk her way into and out of things whereas Doomsday is all about destruction. There’s far less making out in the new Clark, Tess, Doomsday triangle but it works.

When Doomsday isn’t the horrific alien monster that sometimes looks a little too much like a Jem Hadar soldier from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for my taste, he masquerades as Davis Bloom (the smoldering hot Sam Witwer) an E.M.T. working in Metropolis. Always ...