The Best, The Worst of Smallville

[Johnny]

Season 5 was good. Many people hate S4 too. While it had its fare share of craptasticness I would never go as far as to call it the worst. Worst season to me is probably S7. I liked Kara and the Bizarro eps were cool, Lara was great too but as a whole I find this season the most distasteful. Lana being a total hypocrite didn't help matters either. After blaming Clark for so long for keeping secrets, she did the same when she kidnapped Lionel and yet accused Clark of not trusting her more. That was the year when I literally wanted to grab through the screen and choke her out cuz her character pissed me off that bad.

[SV Fan]

I have 5 and 7 both close as my worst rated season. it's hard for me to think which one is worse since they both have a decent case to make.

In the case of S5, the big negatives for me was I hated the bigger storylines all throughout the season In the first half we have Clark all whiny because since he screwed up in Arrival somebody will die in his place(due to the events of Hidden) and in the second half he is whiny because he wonders what Lana is up to(to many scenes of Clark running to Chloe asking her about Lana). Season 5 to me had to be one of the most depressing Clark seasons of the series. Both those storylines interjected themselves to much into alot of episodes to drag them down and they were unavoidable(alot of times stuff I dislike will sort of be easy to avoid since it will be relegated to 1 or 2 scenes but Clark being depressed to many times was a running theme throughout an episode). A general rule of thumb for me is I usually find the first half of a season > second half for all seasons, but Season 5 is one of the few I think you could make an argument both halves were as equally as bad due to the bigger storylines dragging them down

On the flip side the negatives for S7 was it also had it's share of bad storylines plus it just felt like Clark's life was going nowhere and more then any other season it just felt like the show was stalling. While the worst stuff in S7 wasn't anywhere near S5's worst stuff in terms of how much I hated it, there was nothing stand out good in S7 either(which in the case of S5 there were at least a couple episodes I really enjoyed).

It's a case of what's worse

Alot of Terrible mixed with some Great (S5) or Not so good mixed with alot of Ok (S7). I probably would give a slight nod to S5 being better since stuff I love usually will have more a positive effect how I rate things then stuff I hate(ie terrible(S5) might be worse then bad(S7) but both get rated relatively equally when I factor it into how much i dislike a season as a whole)

[Webhead2006]

To me every season has there ups and downs. Now yes like most seasons 1-3 were solid pretty all around. Where as stuff in season 4 ie witch related stuff, and season 5 death of jonahthan and some other stuff were bad parts. But i too agree they were solid seasons. There is a bunch of episodes from those two seasons i liked alot.

[SV Fan]

Originally Posted by Webhead2006

Now yes like most seasons 1-3 were solid pretty all around.

I know I am probably a minority on this but I didn't care for Season 3. While miles ahead of S5+7, S3+6 sort of battle for 3rd and 4th worst seasons in my books. I know alot of people will point to the Luthors storyline as a big reason why the season was good(and I will admit it probably was the best season long plot of the series) but Lex was never the thing that sold me on the show and I thought S3 to a much lesser degree then S5 was another depressing Clark season(who had limited importance in the plot mentioned above). I always thought S3 and S5 were somewhat similar in regards to going to extreme lengths to create "drama" and that never was my cup of tea. S4 felt out of place sandwiched between both those seasons(although given how lowly both seasons rate on my list that is a good thing)

[Webhead2006]

And boy did smallville use drama right ......

[Muzzled Penguin]

Originally Posted by Johnny

Worst season to me is probably S7. I liked Kara and the Bizarro eps were cool, Lara was great too but as a whole I find this season the most distasteful. Lana being a total hypocrite didn't help matters either. After blaming Clark for so long for keeping secrets, she did the same when she kidnapped Lionel and yet accused Clark of not trusting her more. That was the year when I literally wanted to grab through the screen and choke her out cuz her character pissed me off that bad.

I agree with all of this. After Season 3, Lana just got really tiresome imo. I never really liked her character to begin with, or Kristen's acting skills for that matter, but you're right, Season 7 definitely brought me to the point where every time I saw her I just hoped and prayed that it would be the last time. But, that's not to say that when Lana left Clark for good after being pumped full of Kryptonite, that was a really sad scene... One of the saddest scenes in the series imo.

[Webhead2006]

For me i was ok with lana to end of season 2. Then from there on out she was just a waste of a character, always was put into the romantic situations with fotw/clark/lex/etc.... and the writers had no clue what to do with her. To me she should have stayed in paris at the end of season 3 and not have returned.

[Szetsilya]

Originally Posted by SV Fan

I
Season 5 to me had to be one of the most depressing Clark seasons of the series.

I could tolerate Clark in season 5, it was season 6 where I really started to hate him and think he was the most pathetic being on the planet. Not only for pining over Lana while she was banging Lex, but showing no shame in it and letting them both know they were getting to him. The man had no pride!

[SV Fan]

Originally Posted by Szetsilya

I could tolerate Clark in season 5, it was season 6 where I really started to hate him and think he was the most pathetic being on the planet. Not only for pining over Lana while she was banging Lex, but showing no shame in it and letting them both know they were getting to him. The man had no pride!

Season 6 was more like a soap opera then angst filled drama. The main reason I rate Season 6 better then 5 is because I found it much easier to separate the bad stuff from the good stuff, in Season 5 it was to intertwined with the overall storylines.

[chumchees]

Originally Posted by Muzzled Penguin

But, that's not to say that when Lana left Clark for good after being pumped full of Kryptonite, that was a really sad scene... One of the saddest scenes in the series imo.

That it probably the stupidest scene I have ever seen in any show, not just Smallville. Now that scene in season 7 where she was in her Brianiac coma, that was kind of sad. But the season 8 scene was just bad, I as shaking my head the whole time. Those two episodes were the worst of the entire series. Every character was portrayed horribly, even Lois, who wasn't there.

[Webhead2006]

Only good thing from the krypto lana ep was toyman.

[Johnny]

True that. The episode was one big pile of steaming ****. I'm glad they got Toyman right.

[Webhead2006]

Yup so even as bad as that episode was there was the good stuff about lex and toyman to watch in rewatching said episode.

[Szetsilya]

I did think that Kristin did some amazing acting in her last episode....was it called Requim?! Don't know why I can't remember. Tom....he has definitely done better and he looked really dumb stumbling up those stairs so he could kiss Lana one last time. But I give major props to Kristin for her acting in that scene. I don't know why Lana in the coma never affected me, perhaps because she had gotten on my nerves for the entire season.

[herolee10]

Above all else, I really wish that they had been more focused in ending the show in Season 10 than in trying to bring back as many characters as they could.

One of the things that I felt that made Season 9 the best in many recent season is that Season 9 felt as though it had a clear direction to go through, whereas with Season 10, it felt like they were trying to do everything they wanted do while having forgotten the main emphasis of the season's arc, which was to conclude Clark's transformation as Superman.

Darkseid's influence on humanity and his presence should have been more focused on instead of diving into things like the Alternate Reality. They really had potential with the whole Hero Registration thing.

If the show had been given a bigger budget in season 10, like the one that they had in earlier seasons which was said to be much higher, along with knowing on how to go about executing the season's main storyline, I think they could have given us something so much more better than what we originally got.

Hell, we may have gotten a Darkseid that would have interacted more with characters and that truly felt like a character in his own right; and if schedules had been permitted, I would have loved to have seen ONE JLA episode, where they could bring back most of the members to have a all out war with Darkseid's forces.

[Webhead2006]

I thought they handled clark's story well and the concept of the VRA and bringing the heroes into the public light i did like. I agree though they should have done more with darkseid and his minions. Granny should have been the overall arching villain with maybe dropping slade. Then if they really wanted to do more with darkseid they might has well just done that storyline folks mentioned before season ten started were darkseid and his minions possessed bodies. So then we would have had darkseid full time and wouldnt have to bother with the smoke monster deal.

[herolee10]

Originally Posted by Webhead2006

I thought they handled clark's story well and the concept of the VRA and bringing the heroes into the public light i did like. I agree though they should have done more with darkseid and his minions. Granny should have been the overall arching villain with maybe dropping slade. Then if they really wanted to do more with darkseid they might has well just done that storyline folks mentioned before season ten started were darkseid and his minions possessed bodies. So then we would have had darkseid full time and wouldnt have to bother with the smoke monster deal.

Personally, as mentioned above, I would have gotten rid of episodes dealing with the Alternate Reality; just say that Lionel was a evil clone created by Lex that was resurrected by Darkseid to do his will.

And I wish Clark's first encounter with Darkseid would have been as epic as his first encounter was with Zod in the present at the end of Pandora. Now that was a epic first encounter imho.

And yeah, Granny and Desaad (who was surprisingly good) should have made more appearances.

Instead of Toyman being the one to assemble all of the villains, it would have been great to see Desaad and Granny assembling the villains in order to counter the heroes towards the end of the series instead of just hinting at their eventual future battle.

[Webhead2006]

Ya i see your point that is why at least with darkseid they should have done that he possessed some person thing from the comics so then we didnt have to worry about trying to make a 7th monster form and then sure it would have been like clark/brianic, and clark/zod but then we could have had a real showdown with them.

[Szetsilya]

Darkseid should never have even appeared. The main villains of season 10 could have just been Granny, Desaad, or GG doing Darkseid's work. And the actual Darkseid would only be talked about but never be present because he was going to be a future villain for Superman to have to deal with. Instead to have a weak Clark be able to defeat him they made Darkseid weak as well. S10 was all over the map and it really seemed like nobody had any idea what they were doing.

[Webhead2006]

Wellbi agree granny/dessad and maybe kalibak was characters they should have been main threats. As for darkseid, if they wanted him full time they should have done that comics possesed plotline. Or just did a full on darkseid for like last two/three episodes. Here they could have repurposed the doomsday suit, which I sure was still in there storage unit at the time. And then had clark/him throw down. Another thing I would have liked is if they did plot like animated show did and have had clark mind wiped and turned evil by darkseid/granny. And then we could have had kara come back and turn clark back. Or the reverse kara was turned evil and clark had to turn her back. I still say the thought of vra was good, it was a plot that worked to bring the heroes into public eye and all.

[Johnny]

It was a proto-Darkseid version like Bryan Miller said. When people say what they should or shouldn't have done,they seem to forget the main reason we got half-ass versions of big villains is because CW cut the **** out of their budget. And I know that can't be the only excuse, cuz I do agree they could've done better things with both Darkseid and Doomsday storyline-wise. But I always believed the main reason we got weaker versions of villains is exactly because of lack of better resources. I hate with a passion what CW did to this show. BQM said Clark is in space in half of the comics' first volume while on the show they couldn't have afforded more than 4-5 seconds. I'm sure Supernatural suffers from the same. As far as S10 goes, it was good but it suffered from too many storylines they were trying to resolve simultaneously, a common problem in many tv shows.

[Webhead2006]

Oh i totally get budget was one of the main issues with the show. I was only pointing out a different way they could have gone about things and worked more within there strained budget they had.

[Szetsilya]

If you don't have the money to do something right then don't freakin do it at all. Budget is not an excuse imo. Movies can't even get the big stuff done right, case in point Phoenix in X-men 3, so why would those in charge of a tv show be crazy enough to think they could do what a movie studio can't. And after the fiasco that was Doomsday those in charge of Smallville should have already have known better than to even tackle Darkseid. I could give them a pass on Doomsday because they didn't know what a failure it would be, but when it comes to Darkseid they did know and yet they did it anyway.

[Webhead2006]

That is why I still say they should have just then the akoplois folks possed human host thing from a comics storyline. So they could have had x darkseid lacky/darkseid and kept within budget. And we then could have gotten a real fight with clark, like the brianiac fights/zod fight of season 9.

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by Szetsilya

If you don't have the money to do something right then don't freakin do it at all. Budget is not an excuse imo. Movies can't even get the big stuff done right, case in point Phoenix in X-men 3, so why would those in charge of a tv show be crazy enough to think they could do what a movie studio can't. And after the fiasco that was Doomsday those in charge of Smallville should have already have known better than to even tackle Darkseid. I could give them a pass on Doomsday because they didn't know what a failure it would be, but when it comes to Darkseid they did know and yet they did it anyway.

Ah I adore people who like to pass judgment on others and say what they should've or shouldn't have done as if they know how to do a tv show better than the people who work in the movie/tv industry for years. If you look at my post again, I did say I'm not making excuses for them and they probably could've given to us something more. Darkseid or Doomsday indeed are too much to handle for a show with their resources, but what were they supposed to do? Have meteor freaks for the rest of the series? No. It was ten years, we had to get some kind of version of the big guns and Darkseid fits that category better than anyone obviously. Say what you want about his form or lack of such but he was a bigger threat than anyone Clark ever faced before. Not because he was Darkseid and we were supposed to believe he's the biggest bad cuz we're familiar with the character, but because he was gonna crash Apokolips in Earth. No other villain ever tried doing something of this magnitude on Smallville, so in the end Darkseid proved to be an apocalyptic threat. I'm not going to be a stereotypical complaining comicbook fan and take a big fat turd on the show simply because a villain is shown in a different light, whether it was cuz of budgetary reasons or not. Think of it as an alternate universe version of Darkseid, nothing more cuz that's exactly what it was.