REVIEW:

"I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further!"
(Darth Vader)

I have determined this phrase, and this idea, to be the central thesis of Smallville. It seems a fitting way to declare my independence from the concept and review my last episode in what I call the "evolved" style, something I created over the course of the last five long years, which is longer than the show was initially supposed to run.

Smallville promised us the princess would be safe. Then they came in and froze Han, chopped off Luke's hand, and told us that we should be happy for what we have.

Two days ago, I decided to stop analyzing Smallville. I realized that twenty-two days a year is four work weeks. One month. Last month, I wrote a book in three weeks.

I said to myself, before I made the decision, "Neal, you promised. You PROMISED, that you would finish reviewing the show. You swore."

I got emails, last time I suggested this notion, saying, paraphrased, that if I quit, they would understand, but that the review was a good and beloved part of life. I agree. I love it too. It's an old steady. But sometimes we have to break away from an old steady in order to find the new steady with perkier breasts and a nice diction.

I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further. Why? Because Smallville did.

I promised to review Smallville. Smallville is no longer Smallville any more. It is, at best, a bastardized and manipulated attempt to put a hand in the pocket of fanboys the world around, and like the new Star Trek movie, it's a smashing success for it. When I am asked the question, "How long do you think Smallville will run?" my answer has always been, "Until the money runs out." But now the answer is different. My answer is now, "Smallville is over."

Smallville started out as a story of young Clark growing into Superman.

Now Clark is 22. He has no degree. He's fought every major villain in his mythos before he ever put the suit on. He's nearly in a relationship with Lois. He's not wearing glasses. He's still pondering killing people. He's not flying, five years after he should have been.

Martha Kent is not in his life despite being alive. Lana Lang is running around with superpowers. Lex Luthor is... dead? Jimmy is dead. Oliver Queen is a murderer.

This is so far into Elseworlds sans purpose that it has officially ceased to be a relative myth with the death of Jimmy Olsen. Er, Henry James Olsen.

Yes, I saw the kid at the funeral. Not the point. You don't introduce a three year character arc only to have said character be fanw@nk. The backlash for this is righteous. It was crap.

I believe Jimmy was the straw, though I admit I made the decision before I saw the show.

The goal of good drama, the goal of a strong piece of work, which I hope this review has become, is to take a conflict, in this case my adversarial admiration of an attempt to understand Superman for a modern audience, and make it compelling. The goal of a good review, in my opinion, is an analytical take from a writer's perspective on what makes a show good or bad for the person in question. I think many reviews fall short because the writers are not creators themselves, and for that, I hope I have done you all well. If not, caveat emptor.

To that end, say goodbye to the Smallville reviews.

And say hello to them again.

I think it fitting that I draw back to where the reviews started, so starting next year, I'm going to stop using notes of any kind. This will make the reviews far shorter, the analysis less biting, the time commitment fully 1/4 what it was before.

But why, you say? Didn't you say the review was stopping? No. As Smallville doesn't know, the devil is in the details. I said I was stopping analysis. I just did to you what I wish this show would do. I created a tangible conflict, I emphasized it with details of the characters and situations you know and love from this series of interactions we call a review, and then I gave you an action which resolved the conflict with all of the characters changed for the better.

Writing 101.

I will have my time now. I will have no stress about catching every sway and nuance of the plot. I will give a curt and short review of the show that will probably take me all of half an hour to write. I will not sacrifice my honesty or, I hope, my strength of comprehension, but I'll be damned if I will give another episode of this show the 6-8 hours one of these reviews typically takes.

I might goof around. Do a video review. I'm not sure. But I've reached a point in my life where it's time for me to start moving into my own creations full time. I will openly admit I used this forum, where I could get away with typos, mistakes, and honesty, and found my ground for meeting my readership and understanding what is entertaining and what is crap for my target demographic. But it's more than that. You people have become my friends and family and steady-travellers, so I don't make this change with a light heart or casually.

With the success of my first four comic books, with an agent at long last, and with a series character in a novel I believe saleable, it's time for me to put away my twenties and begin to get to the meat of my career.

I started this review eight years ago. Eight years. When I wrote the first one, I had written about seven hundred poems. Now I have two thousand. When I started, I had written two novels. Now I have seven. I was in my second year of college. Now I've been away for six years, and in the process been a construction worker, a caregiver, and now finally, a paid writing professional. The review has been like a temporal constant.

I've endured hate mail, love letters, I traveled the globe and I sacrificed a paying job to get these things out and orderly. I got to meet Michael Rosenbaum in a room with George Takei eating a sandwich. Sulu! Holy crap.

But the long and the short of it is that I just can't be drawn to care about inconsistencies in a show that has been inconsistent for so long that it's become a parody of itself. I will now look, and wryly observe, "That was a nice punch!" or "Holy crap, he drank Kryptonite!" but I will not, for example, try and fathom motivations, make excuses, or chronicle their failures of writing any more. There have finally, at long last, been too many ones for a guy who believes in hope to take. The freaks have come home to roost.

And that's where I am. I've gone from utter despair and loss including two houses and over sixty thousand dollars in debt for writing to bankruptcy, a clean slate, and paid gigs. I have found a mentor, an agent, a gal, a place to live, a truck, a guitar, a good dog, and I'm thinking of throwing out my comics and buying a nice couch. There's a quote from Richard III that covers it nicely, as recommended to me by a good friend.

Richard has conspired to destroy everything good in his world, just for the hell of it. He's a wretch, a deformed man, an about ten millionth in line for the throne. His first action thereby is to seduce a lady he cares nothing for. She makes a wise observation when, after rebuffing him multiple times, he turns to her and says, "Shall I live in hope?"

She replies, "All men, I hope, live so."

I feel like Richard. I feel like I've gotten this ugly little side of me and let him out for a time, because I can, and because this show deserves the wagging finger. But I feel that if I continue, it'll destroy the kingdom and just leave me without a horse, no matter how much can be gained by the intellect of the endeavor. My motives not sinister, but that's not the point. The point is that when you have a beautiful woman in front of you, as I see writing to be, you don't focus your attention on destruction and analysis of flaw in your enemies (bad writing), you instead turn to the things you wish to be with until you die (good writing). You saddle up the horse that will stay with you, and you f#%$ing well live in hope.

We live in hope.

The eight years were a time where I felt I had to push against things. With Bush, who I believe I have stated here I am not fond of, I had an overwhelming feeling that no art and no world was for me, that I was a stranger in a strange land. Now I have some faith I before lacked, and it reflects in everything. I see the things in front of me that deserve assault more clearly in an optimistic world, and I have decided that Smallville is not the hill I want to die on any more. I'll have fun with it, but it won't be the same. You'll see what I mean next year, hopefully with my new book in your hands.

I want to, with a grin, die on the hill of my own fiction and comic stories. Maybe a few songs. Definitely bad poetry.

So my friends, my long time travelers, I'm going off of the note kick into a much slighter review after my words below. This will be the last novel-length review you will see from me, but hopefully not the last novel review, if you please.

You will not hear anything more about my personal life unless you write me a letter, I will not seek to relate through Gonzo prose in this column, not because I don't like it, but because the time has passed with a small revolver, a bullet, a cresting wave, and time. Things fall apart. It's scientific. Don't be sad or angry. We're all still here. Even Jimmy Olsen. Boo.

Here's a good song, and then we'll get on with the last show before I turn out the lights on what once was, here. I imagine many of you will probably depart because of this, so I figure this is a good and hopefully kind way to say thank you and goodbye to those of you who won't read without the big fancy show. If you want to follow me into the books, I'll still fly to see you, but this'll probably be my last longform review piece on Superman.

Live in hope. I'll see you guys in the pit.

BLOW BY BLOW:

Ah, Metropolis harbor, in Kansas. How I love those water masses in the center of the country.

Rokk asks Clark to meet him on top of the Daily Planet, and why? Well, because it's COOL, dad. Why else? He hands Clark a replacement Legion ring, and completely convolutes the plot with time travel paradox dumbness for seemingly no real reason beyond a guest appearance by the Legion. Grandiose.

Paradox one: He says that Clark dies because Chloe survives. He survives.

Paradox two: If Clark dies in the new future, why has Rokk not changed? Why is there a Legion?

Dumb factor three: The Legion has the power to travel through time and transport people who put on a ring, and yet they cannot travel to where Doomsday will be at any point and teleport him to the future.

Dumb factor four: Nothing is stopping them from going back in time and cutting off Davis' head or stopping Zod in a portal to Krypton that existed in the past according to this continuity.

WTF factor five: Why doesn't Rokk tell Clark where Chloe is?

WTF factor six: Why can Doomsday be better handled in the future?

Why do they meet on top of the Planet? Why not a quiet, secluded, not visible place?

The music for the scene is way too intense. Quite literally, the whole show tried to make up for the lack of a major conflict by making it seem like one was occurring in the music. It drew me out, particularly in the Legion scene.

By the end of this episode, Chloe's basically a virgin again. At the beginning of the episode, she's sitting on a hood with a fifty time serial killer talking about Demeter and Persephone. She's making doe eyes.

Later they try and pass it off as her trying to save Clark from Davis. This is crap.

Tess runs into her safe. The orb is gone! Oh no! What orb? What the hell is this orb? When did it become important outside of the end of last episode, and where did she find it? I remember there was a communications device earlier in the season Chloe as Brainiac messed with.

It releases Zod? Zod was put in the Phantom Zone, was he not? What does that have to do with Kandor? All of this doesn't seem intriguing, it seems like the writers threw out the words "Kandor," "Zod," and "Orb" in an attempt to draw our attention. Smallville is not encumbered by logic. If they want something to happen, they just do it. Case in point, Zod. Case in point, Jimmy.

Case in point, Lois sniping at Clark for Chloe being missing and him not searching for her despite no real reason to be mad at him, seeing as she's just standing in the same place. Concocting drama from nothing for the sake of nothing. Tragic.

And then, to put a cherry on it, it culminates as a conflict in Clark magically whisking away right in front of her (without her noticing at all) and calling her on the phone for a protracted shipper scene.

The scene worked after the initial hiccup, which makes me wonder why they did it in the first place. I imagine they're trying to make it seem like there's a difference between Clark and the red-blue blur and how Lois will see it. But it fails, given that Clark has offered her no reason to be mad at him.

Clark's letter, if you pause and read it, is actually quite well written and poignant.

Clark calls in the JLA to handle Doomsday. But why, I wonder, having seen the episode. They quite literally do NOTHING in the episode at all. The only one who does anything is Ollie, who shoots Clark with a dart. Otherwise, they're there to get hit by Doomsday, and to press a button off camera. Why?

Bart takes the black K out two feet from Clark and Clark doesn't split into two people. Were they even trying?

Here, Ollie flirts with something that makes sense. He says that releasing Doomsday sans Davis is a BAD THING. Davis tempers the monster. But then, you realize that Davis chose to kill people before he chose to kill himself, and that he unleashed the monster on people. Both Doomsday and Davis deserve the Phantom Zone at BEST.

Clark turns to Ollie and kicks him out of the Justice League, despite not being a member himself. Clark says, "You're not one of us any more!" And yet, Clark is not one of them either, because he refuses to become a hero. That's so Superman!

Beyond that, Ollie funds everything. Clark didn't really think that one through, did he?

Jimmy (excuse me, HENRY) and Lois sneak into Tess' office and bump into each other because they're trying to find Chloe. It's supposed to be a funny moment until you realize that there's absolutely no reason at all that Lois OR Jimmy would think Tess would have anything at all to do with knowing where Chloe and Davis are.

And yet they open the computer, stick in the flash drive, and BAM! GPS locator for both. How? Who cares! It's Smallville! She embedded it in their skin as they arrived in the ship during the meteor shower. Veritas! Look! A rabbit!

Such an abysmal example of a lacking A to B.

Speaking of which, Jimmy's doing pretty well for a guy who just kicked the junk two weeks ago.

So... Kandor can't be unleashed until the beast is killed? Zod can't be unleashed until the beast is killed? Why? Why are either contingent or related to the other? Because the writers say so, that's why!

Black Canary emails Clark with a voice entry about the GPS, and he knows where they are. Because the Justice League is so bright, they send a RADIO PERSONALITY'S VOICE, labeled BLACK CANARY, and put it on a corporate news entity's server.

HEADDESK.

Clark is hit with a K dart by Ollie, and we learn that Kryptonite doesn't kill Superman, it just tranquilizes him for a bit harmlessly. Of course! Except when it's convenient.

The Justice League thereby become folks who harbor a murderer, working with Ollie, and also, having left Clark with K in his bloodstream, have become accessories to attempted murder, given that K KILLS CLARK. Now the other two League members are bankrupt for me. Grand. At least Cyborg is still a good guy. But knowing the show, in the premiere he'll show up as a white guy named Mechano.

And I might add, the scene is much more effective with an ad for "Hitched or Ditched!" on the bottom of the screen. It really just makes me tingle, how much they care for the overall feeling of a scene enough to interrupt it with a giant green ad that covers half the screen in a show that already is fully a third ads.

"Sorry, Clark!" they say. "We couldn't risk losing you!" Because it's so much better that Clark lives, but the world is murdered by Doomsday. Or worse, they think they can somehow stop Doomsday better with fewer powers.

Or hey, maybe they could consider working together to stop the monster. But they can't, because one's a murderer, and they are all at odds with each other. That's so Justice League!

Tess confronts Lois for taking the orb. Despite the fact that there's absolutely no reason to suspect Lois took the orb. Tess just states it, it is, and then she starts to try and murder Lois.

Ayuh. No, that's not a stupid excuse for a sucky catfight when Tess would more than likely (and has) draw a gun and demand the orb.

Lois knocks Tess out, barely, and in one of the strangest examples of random stupidity the show has seen, sees a ring that's been knocked free by her fight. What does she do? That's right, she puts it on. Because checking Tess' pulse is secondary to a shiny thing she finds on the ground. Or calling the police. Or checking herself for injury. Not FIVE SECONDS pass between the end of the fight and her finding and putting on the ring.

It was like, "Oh! Look! I need a plot device!" VOOOOOP! Poit!

Chloe is now incapacitated along with Doomsday, because they've been superspeed tranquilized off-camera. I guess a guy who can't be killed can somehow be, uh, sedated.

The Justice League beat Clark there after Clark has the GPS information, despite the fact that they're in Edge City. Yeah, that's not a gaping plot hole.

Flash and Black Canary glibly become accessories to another attempted murder, that of Doomsday/Davis. I'm wondering what the plan was. Yeah, guys! Let's split the two, and then we three people who are completely vulnerable and in no way invincible will kill Doomsday with arrows and a high pitched scream!

MENSA.

The transformer bow was neat. I'll give them that.

Why did they wait to Black K him? For that matter, why didn't they just kill him if that's what they felt justified?

At this point it occurs to me that they use Kryptonite on Davis, and it works, despite him having adapted to Kryptonite.

HEADDESK, HEADDESK, HEADDESK.

Jimmy, the FIRST person to find the info, even before Clark, arrives last.

Jimmy then sees Clark heal, learns the secret, and my next note is: "Jimmy is death one."

Super...

...

...

...

...

Guy!

Super...

...

...

...

...

Lame!

Someday, we will have a directive, that is prime... that prime directive, a way of saying we shouldn't interact with pre-warp peoples! Anyone remember that argument? At least Enterprise had the good grace to die.

Jimmy got Chloe a wedding gift of a loft in the highest part of Metropolis. Because photographers who junkie out and get fired can make regular mortgage payments. Oh, wait. Normal folks who work hard can't even make mortgage payments on crapboxes. But they wanted to shoehorn in a new Watchtower set, and Jimmy has to die, so let's make him a saint ex post facto, because he can't go out on a junkie note! What would the shippers say?

So here we go. The Doomsday fight. The thing we watched the whole season for, basically, because hardly anything else was worth a wet fart on a dry day.

ONE TREE HILL! 90210! Another half-screen ad. It quite literally interrupts the visuals of the beginning of the fight. You miss stuff. The most intense fight scene of the show, and they throw up that ad. Why? Because they know you're watching. They just don't realize that you'll be so hacked at having the fight interrupted, you'll never watch those two shows because of it. Not that anyone should anyway.

Clark, who has superspeed, stands and watches as a first pedestrian is injured. Superman is a d#ck.

In the middle of the street, Clark fights Doomsday, sans costume, in front of pedestrians. Secret identity compromised. Ah, well. Not like he'll ever become Superman anyway.

The entire fight is a car lob, two punches, a throw, and one big leap. The special effects try, but they're very rough and not particularly impressive. Ultimately, Doomsday is a guy in a suit, and a very rad suit, but there's no illusion of a fight that comes through here. Everything we see is what we imagine is happening off the screen. It's like when the Legion flew.

The unfocussed double blow into Clark's stomach just doesn't feel like a brawl. The jump in for Doomsday is rushed, and reminds me of the Batista fight.

They land, and the factory EXPLODES! Exciting, except, you know, it would have been neat to see the whole burial underground they described instead of just having it happen off camera. You could have spent the money you spent on that transformer bow on that.

Jimmy forgives Chloe. Everyone seems to forgive Chloe. She's responsible for that pedestrian Doomsday threw though a window, Jimmy's death, Davis' death, and the deaths of all the people Clark couldn't save in that factory he later laments for half a sentence before getting over it.

But hey, Shippy ship ship ship! Chloe and Jimmy, despite having no real catalyst to love each other again, love each other again. Well, there is the building Jimmy bought.

Nothing says "I forgive you for being a psychotic junkie!" like a penthouse apartment you couldn't possibly afford in any coherent universe. Nothing says true love like, "Hey, I know I've been making out with a mass murderer, but you bought me something! All bets are off!"

So Davis stabs Jimmy and kills him, and Jimmy stabs Davis and kills him. And why? Because they spent some ten episodes showing how despite Doomsday, Davis was a misunderstood guy that really deserved to live. Only he wasn't, he was a serial killer, and they knew it, and Chloe went with him anyway, and now, death.

But see, this is all secondary to the fact that Davis has no f#$%ing way at all of knowing where Chloe and Jimmy are, unless he follows them from the scene with the entire JLA.

I can see that scene.

Ollie: "So, uh, I guess we kind of screwed up."

Davis: "Can I go now?"

Ollie: "You killed fifty people."

Davis: "Knock knock!"

Ollie: "Who's there?"

Davis: "Batman!"

Ollie: "Batman who? No, seriously, we have no idea who Batman is."

Davis: (points behind Ollie) "Look! Over there!"

Ollie: "Huh?" (Turns back. Davis is gone.) "Where did he go?"

Bart: "What's a Batman?"

Dinah: "Oh! I get it!"

Henry James Olsen is about the biggest f#*% ^%$ this show could give us. Honestly. It truly is. It's like ending the Lex storyline as they did last year, taken up a whole notch. It's akin to having Clark wake up next season in bed with Lana and saying the last three seasons were just a bad dream. We're in a corner, we need a death, so let's kill a main cast member and just make up some bull$#%#.

Pathetic. Insulting.

Cut to Clark being an emo kid with Chloe. The lesson he has learned from fighting Doomsday and saving the world is that... he can't be Clark any more, because he has to lack emotion in order to save the world, and be more willing to kill.

Yeah, that follows. As does the slo-mo walk where he fades away a la a bad rock video from 1984. Perhaps I will do the same.

1 of 5

No cliffhangers, no excitement, no logic, no progression. Just nothing. It felt like a bad mid-season episode.

And with that, I am out.

Gimme one more, Sid. (that's my version of "Play it again, Sam")

STATISTICS:

Every year I crunch the numbers a bit, to study the show's progression. Or descent, if you will, at least so far.

This year:

Odyssey: 5 of 5

Plastique: 4 of 5

Toxic: 1 of 5

Instinct: 1 of 5

Committed: 1 of 5

Prey: 4.5 of 5

Identity: 1 of 5

Bloodline: 4 of 5

Abyss: 2 of 5

Bride: 3 of 5

Legion: 4 of 5

Bulletproof: 1 of 5

Power: 1 of 5

Requiem: 1 of 5

Infamous: 1 of 5

Turbulence: 1 of 5

Hex: 1 of 5

Eternal: 1 of 5

Stiletto: 5 of 5

Beast: 1 of 5

Injustice: 1.5 of 5

Doomsday: 1 of 5

That crunches to:

2 X 5 of 5s

1 X 4.5 of 5

3 X 4 of 5s

1 X 3 of 5

1 X 2 of 5

1 X 1.5 of 5

13 X 1 of 5s

46/110

The basic analysis shows a broad increase in the number of utterly abysmal episodes with no redeeming qualities at all. They're now more than half the episodes in a given season. In season five they were exactly half. In season six, it was a little under half. To put it in perspective, there were two thoroughly good episodes, one last year, two the year before that, and you have to go back to season four to find more than three fives.

The average show rating is 2.09, which is actually an improvement over last season, for the first time in the show's history for me, largely, I'd imagine, driven by Stiletto and the few forays into character work. This doesn't change the high ratio of suck, however, nor does it change the fact that the average is still a below average television program.

Bottom line, without Geoff Johns and a few incidences of scattered Lois and Clark, this season would have been mostly a total bomb.

Season seven:

1 x 5 of 5s
2 x 4 of 5s
1 x 3.5 of 5s
1 x 3 of 5s
1 x 2.5 of 5s
2 x 2 of 5s
1 x 1.5 of 5s
8 x 1 of 5s

(1.775 average)

Season six:

1 x 5 of 5s
3 x 4.5 of 5s
3 x 4 of 5s
2 x 2.5 of 5s
1 x 2 of 5
1 x 1.5 of 5
11 x 1 of 5s

(2.272 average)

Season five:

2 x 4.5 of 5s
5 x 4 of 5s
1 x 3.5 of 5
1 x 3 of 5
4 x 2.5 of 5s
4 x 2 of 5s
2 x 1.5 of 5s
3 x 1 of 5s

(2.591 average)

Season four:

5 x 1 of 5s
2 x 1.5 of 5s
4 x 2 of 5s
1 x 2.5 of 5
3 x 3 of 5s
1 x 3.5 of 5
3 x 4 of 5s
3 x 5 of 5s

(2.63 average)

Season three:

2 x 1 of 5s
2 x 2 of 5s
1 x 2.5 of 5
2 x 3 of 5s
3 x 3.5 of 5s
3 x 4 of 5s
3 x 4.5 of 5s
6 x 5 of 5s

(3.66 average)

Season two:

0 x 1 of 5s,
7 x 2 of 5s,
1 x 3 of 5s,
1 x 3.5 of 5
4 x 4 of 5s,
10 x 5 of 5s.
1 x 6 of 5, if you count ferrets.

(3.76 average, 3.80 if you count ferrets)

Season one:

6 x 5 of 5s,
9 x 4 of 5s,
1 x 3.5 of 5
3 x 3 of 5s,
2 x 2 of 5s

(3.92 average)

LETTERS:

Radical Dreamer wrote:

Neil,

I hope everything's fine with you. I had been a few episodes behind on Smallville and had to marathon 5 episodes to catch up. I thought you were overly harsh on them (I've always felt that a 1 pretty much means it's unwatchable). But it's always nice when an episode like stiletto comes along. I glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cool.

And on to this weeks episode, I felt there were some things done very well and some other things... not so much.

This episode had tons of continuity.

1) Ollie's own drug addition episode

2) Chloe using the key and the cave to get to the fortress (nice camera zoom in on the key too)

3) Ollie's "it's okay to kill 'monsters' policy"

4) The black-crystal zone key

5) and a lot of other "this season" stuff

I was happy to see these things brought up, regardless of whether or not I agree with them happening in the first place.

Course, my big problem was that this whole episode was hard to swallow. Chloe goes from sobbing and freaking out that like Davis' gonna go ape on her (stiletto), to pretty nearly lovey dovey. I feel as though last week's scene should been cut in order for me to buy this whole episode.

Internal inconsistency... a constant problem for the show.

And Ollie's refusal to enable Jimmy was great. I wish he woulda ratted jimmy out and got him into rehab but I understand that Ollie wants it to be Jimmy's decision. After all, if you go to rehab by choice, it has a much better chance of working. Of course, then he blows it at the end of the episode by hiring a druggie... Christ

I do, though, really like the underlying problem for Clark. In the comics, Doomsday was a thing, a weapon, a monster. But in Smallville he's got his very human side. I agree, this does take killing/the phantom zone out of the equation. I hope this is all leading to Clark proving to Ollie and Cloe that "if you don't give up, there's always another way." Which is a great moral from Superman.

Let's hope for a good last 2 episodes! And man, let's also pray for a non cliffhanger.

~Radical Dreamer~

P.S.

On a completely different note, I know after KC Superman left JSA you quit reviewing it, but did you quit reading? If not, what was your opinion on this final Geoff Johns story arc (with the "Black marvel Family?")

I did not quit reading it, at least until Geoff left, and that's only for a lack of budget, not out of a lack of respect for who followed. I didn't dig the Black Marvel story as much, but that's just because in general I have a hard time relating to Shazam and company. I did LOVE the last issue with Courtney, though. I have a special love for her as a character.

Bruce Kanin wrote (RE: Injustice):

_OVERALL_

_JUST THE GOOD_

_JUST THE BAD_

_JUST THE REST_

_COMING ATTRACTIONS_

_Bruce Kanin_

I think what you wrote summed up my own feelings nicely. Such potential for a villains vs. heroes battle royale, and instead we get royale with cheese.

Sebastián wrote:

Hello there Neal,

This is the third time I write, but since the other two were separated by a year I don't expect you to remember me (I used to complain about the lack of geographycal knowledge of Smallville writers).

Actually, I remember you, which is cool. I'm not senile yet! I don't want to go on the cart!

This time, however, I won't write about Smallville, but about Star Trek. I would like to know if you have seen the new movie, and what are your thoughts about it. For my part I really like it, I think it's a great movie, though I left the theather kind of sad that 40 years (or 120) of beloved Trek history have been reseted. But other than that, it's awesome.

Well, I know that Star Trek is serious business, ever since I put a post on it on my website/blog. It doesn't matter what your opinion is, people will smite you for it.

I seem to be in the minority. I didn't really enjoy it that much. It didn't feel like a Trek movie to me. There were inconsistencies, plot holes, thin motivations, and a lot of things that just flat out fly in the face of Trek science (debris pushing through shields that are up being the most basic example.)

I want to watch it one more time before I decide, though, in typical geek fashion. I will be posting a review/thought on my blog in the next week or two, if you're interested (nealbailey.com)

Well, that's all for now, keep up with the great work you do, and remember that, without counting a few trolls here and there, you have a large fanbase behind you (yeah, you're a rock star, or something like that :P)

Thanks! That's why I feel bad for the format change, but hopefully you guys will follow me into new endeavors. I'm not leaving the Homepage by a longshot, but I do want to cut this column down to a manageable time commitment.

Sebastián (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

P.S.: Since this topic isn't related to Smallville, I leave to you the decision of whether publish this in your review or not.

P.P.S. I apologize for any grammatical mistake, english is not my original language.

I say to you what I always say to my English as a second language folk... in particular the Venezuelan crew who have been so cool to me over the years... generally speaking, if you care enough to apologize, you're doing just fine, and your English makes the text messaging buffoons who populate the internet look like the Philistines they are. Rest assured, we have communicated.

Rob wrote:

Neal,

Smallville, it seems, is treating a lot of established comicbook characters like Darth Maul in Episode One.

Darth Maul was cool in many ways, but ultimately he was gone after only appearing in a few scenes in the film. It's a waste of potential, and that's what we have now with the show. (I've started to think they should've cut out Count Dooku and let Darth Maul stay and fill his role--so Anakin could kill him in Episode Three and have Qui-Gon's death as an impetus.)

I mean, Livewire's gone after two minutes? The Parasite had little in common with his counterpart in other media.

I suppose all the meteor freaks have desensitized the value of a character like Livewire. But even so...

Agreed. It was just using the names to hook us. Cheap.

Fortunately, Jimmy's subplot is stellar. It is 100% creative to have a character take some kind of substance that makes them act odd and a bold new idea for Smallville...oh wait. Wasn't that the idea behind the season six episode "Rage," along with about 40 others?

Yeah.

I have some hope for the finale. One would think it is statistically impossible for this year's finale to get a lower rating than last year's.

This is true, and fairly, it did not.

Still, I'm trying to think of things Smallville would have to do to warrant a negative number from you:

1) Clark becomes a rapist.
2) The show transforms into a spinoff of FRIENDS with the original cast of that series.
3) Lana comes back and becomes even more revered than the Virgin Mary is to Catholics. (Or was it like that already?) Clark leaves the series and doesn't come back, not before launching into a diatribe about how all comic book fans are losers who demand unattainable standards of quality.

4) Jimmy is revealed to not be Jimmy, but rather Henry James Olson.

I was going to add Clark deliberately kills a lot of people, but on some level he's done that already.

That too.

Are there any major ones I've missed?

Random conjectural question: if Clark appeared in the SUIT, but it was a Joel-Schumacher-inspired nipple costume, would that be a positive or negative step?

Depends on the context, as ever. But I'm guessing suck city.

Anyway, I look forward to the review (as always).

Thanks!

Shafi S wrote:

Hey Neal,

I recently watched Stiletto and Injustice, I skipped Beast. I should of skipped Injustice too. I typed three sentences just right now, and I just deleted them... I was just thinking that I can't come up with anymore insults for this show. I can't see this show succeed in my eyes anymore Neal, I know what I'm saying doesn't make any sense. Sometimes I want to write to you regarding the episode of the week, but I always have a blank head. I barely watch five episodes of this season, and three of them were good. I'm trying to write about something I no longer have a passion for... Smallville. I'm sorry to write about this, but I want to support Superman, not just in comics but in other mediums too. But its getting harder and harder.

That's why I'm changing the format. It's really past the point of no return.

The comics on the other hand haven't yet, Rucka is back and its holding my attention. I'm trying to get into Robinson, but I still feel like his run is little off. I'm not saying he is a bad writer, its just that I'm not clicking with.

Rucka's got me too. I think Robinson's coming into his own as well.

Also I wanted to ask you if you read The Flash rebirth. SPOILER...sorry if I ruin it for you, please forgive me, but Johns changed another characters back history. In my opinion not for the better, The second flash in my eyes was always the do the right thing all the time guy (which he still is) but he didn't have any past tragedies...that compel him to heroics.

As much as I love Johns and his original Flash run, Rebirth just doesn't have me yet. I just can't see a reason for Barry to return yet.

I love Batman and Spider-man, those conflicts define what they are as heroes, and I love Superman for not having them (technically) because his adoptive parents just raised him right and told him to do the right thing. The Flash was the same except he had both of his real parents telling him whats right and wrong. Now...his mother is murdered and his father is in jail...what??? Now we got another hero with emotional baggage. I know these characters are not real and just comic heroes...but what about a average person male or female just believing he or she should do the right thing without the past tragedies to define what they are. Its just me. Sorry for dragging the point.

No worries. Honestly, I'm not very familiar with Barry beyond his screaming death.

Well the finale is here...thanks for the reviews for this season Neal, I would have stopped watching if it wasn't for your reviews...I don't know if thats a good thing or not, just kidding. But anyway, thanks for reading and have a great summer. You deserve it.

Thanks. I think we share the same conflicted feelings. Hopefully I can keep you around for the new experiment.

Shafi

JB wrote:

Hey Neal-

I'm a new reader of your reviews, but I was drawn in by the recent ones and as a result went back and read (almost) all of the old ones that I'd missed. It seems we tend to see eye-to-eye on many issues, although I have significantly less of the background in Superman comics so I don't always notice when, for example, a character is acting differently than their comics-counterpart. First off, for what it's worth, I want to thank you for doing these reviews, as you've indicated that it has annoying, thankless times. Your work is something of an inspiration, especially since I once wanted to be an author.

Thanks! What stopped you?

In reviewing episodes, I notice that you've made very few errors along the way, and thus we come to the most recent episode, "Injustice." I'm pretty sure that Clark's S-shield was destroyed by Bizarro in "Phantom," and that the fortress is still black (thanks to Brainiac? It's not clear) and thus Jor-El is inaccessible (it seems? He's been pretty MIA lately, and you'd think he'd have something to say about his son bringing Davis over for a play-date). Further, you accuse Clark of being on board with killing Davis near the beginning, although it's made clear he was telling Oliver that in order to manipulate him with his murderous appetite. I don't know if you didn't go back to that later simply because it wasn't in your notes, or because you didn't notice, so that's why I noted it here. Forgive me if I misunderstood your sarcasm.

No, you're right. I just honestly haven't been captivated enough to see those details. I blame the show for that, not my memory, because all joking aside, I remember a lot of dumb crap.

I agree with mostly everything else though, and have for a while (with the exception of the glowing "Stiletto" review). It's sad to see how the characters have become/been unrecognizable: Oliver is a villainous jerk, Chloe's a deluded, desperate shell, Lois is Smallville's Lois, and Jimmy is a junkie. How very...Toyman.

Ex-ACT-ly.

In order to avoid rambling I'll stop here, as that's really all I had to say; thanks again! Looking forward to the season finale and associated review!

-JB

Thanks!

Bruce Kanin wrote:

Re: "Injustice"

Neal, there was so much wrong with this episode. I'm amazed that you had the heart to give it anything above zero. And at the end, when LuthorCorp Tess and the Kryptonian Crystal Lights put on their show...well, I thought I heard the word "Kandor", but wasn't sure. I could have rewound, but by then my brain was saying "rewind? you want to fast-forward outta here".

You did hear Kandor. And some other garbled thing.

Kandor. Are the Dumb Smallville Writers now bringing in random Superman terms just to make the audience think that they know Superman Lore and have a Master Plan?

That's it. You have nailed it.

If Kandor is anything but a Brainiac-shrunk Kryptonian city, I'll...I'll...I don't know...GRRRRR. Imagine, though, for a moment, that the Silver Age Kandor is brought to "Smallville"...Clark & Jimmy are shrunk and have an adventure there...and they have to don disguises as Nightwing & Flamebird...and...NAH!!!

You mean Henry James?

My prediction for the finale: Clark and Davis die after a massive battle. Chloe is too good an established character to die. Tess is the closest thing to Lex they have on the show (not that she's all that close). Plus, if she dies, they'll only have two female regulars. Ollie, Jimmy and Lois are safe for obvious reasons.

Lois will die next season, and will be revealed to have been Henry Lois Lane.

They'll loosely follow "The Death of Superman" saga by killing Clark and Doomsday, with Clark obviously returning from the dead.

Anyway, that's my take...now, take it away...

Regards,

Bruce

Tom Roberts wrote:

Dr. Emil Hamilton was in the "Nicodemus" episode, and played by the actor who was Henry on "Eureka." Now, "Injustice" has a "Battlestar" alumnus playing Dr. Emil. Is his first name Hamilton?

That was Stephen Hamilton, if I recall correctly, an homage but not the actual character, though it was supposed to be at the time.

I got the perfect ending for Kurt's Trinity: Superman let Busiek hook up to a Kryptonian auto-printer,then flew off to handle an earthquake in Tokyo. while Supes was gone, the Joker teleported in with the help of Warp and overdosed KB with Joker gas,causing the goofy run which is Trinity rather than the usually grand sagas we get from Kurt.

I think a better ending would be all of the fans ceasing to buy it, and issue 52 never being released thereby.

Bruce Kanin wrote (RE: Doomsday):

(WARNING - there is a "Star Trek" movie near-spoiler embedded in this, so beware! It is a general comment related to the movie.)

_OVERALL_

C-*. It had the potential to be better. In fact, initially I rated it a "B". But the Clark-Doomsday fight was too short and had a disappointing ending; Jimmy's death didn't feel right; and the ending with the Orb/Kandor/Zod...well...ugh.

_THE GOOD_