What I’m Watching: Smallville (Season Finale)

Smallville: Season 9, Episode 21 “Salvation” (F)

What a miserable excuse for a finale this is. This season didn’t start out so badly, so how did it get awful so quickly? At the beginning of the season, there was a vision of a future where the Kandorians had enslaved the human races. Now, in the finale, we get an introduction of the way things are supposed to be in traditional Superman folklore, where Lois is a hotshot reporter at the Daily Planet and a still-alive Lex Luthor is running for President, thanks to a Dr. Fate-inspired vision. It feels a lot like cheating since this show has taken such a different path and screwed things up so royally, and it’s now beyond repair. With the news that Lois might be leaving and Zod gone through the portal, who will be the major foil for Clark next season? Seeing the Superman logo reflected in Clark’s eye is a tease, since that’s not likely to happen on this show, especially not anytime soon. The wealth of young superheroes featured in the Watchtower teleconference didn’t create any exciting battle scenes with the Kandorians, and instead just served up the usual terrible dialogue that’s now expected on this show. The denouement of the Kandorian plotline was quite a letdown, since pretty much nothing happens except that the characters use their ears. The “to be continued” ending seems cheap also. I’m not completely well-versed in my Superman mythology, but unless this is the time where Clark gets splintered into multiple personalities like Superman Red and Superman Blue, he’ll be fine when he lands on the ground. Why, oh why, does there have to be a tenth season? There were a few good moments this season, but overall, yikes. At least the news today is that the tenth season will be the last, and then we'll finally be done with the young Clark Kent.

Season grade: D-
Season MVP: Callum Blue as Zod