I continue my Smallville journey. In the last post I indicated the show was starting to find a groove. In Season Eight, however, is a little dark, a little weird. Uncomfortable. Whenever the show gets too dark, I feel it doesn’t work as well.

1. Injustice Falls Short



In this season the Lex replacement / new Daily Planet Editor-in-Chief, Tess Mercer, gathers a group of misfit powers to be her own personal super team. In one episode we see her gather a misfit, but we don’t see the team until the end of the season … for a single episode. And there’s a convoluted explanation of what it is they are trying to do and a convoluted plot that accompanies it, where characters flip flop on their motivations.

By the end, I’m not really sure what they accomplished. Do they even need to be there?

2. The Doomsday/Chloe Stuff is Weird



One day I’ll have to try the whole, “Hey gurl, I think I love you. But also if you leave me I turn into a monster and kill people SO DON’T LEAVE ME.” It seems to work pretty well.

In this season, Doomsday appears. Only he’s not Doomsday all the time, most of the time he’s paramedic Davis Bloom, a guy with a mysterious past. As the season progresses, he draws closer to transforming into the Doomsday permanently. The only thing that seems to stop him is the presence of Chloe and it’s exactly as I describe above. It’s weird and a little uncomfortable.

3. Morality Wrestling



I haven’t read enough DC Comics to say this definitely, but I’m going to say it anyway — DC likes to wrestle with morality of killing villains. One of my favourite series about this is Kingdom Come. If you ever wanted to try a comic, this wouldn’t be a terrible start. It has some incredible art drawn by legendary comic artist, Alex Ross, who’s hyper-realistic style looks more like paintings than comic book art. Supposedly he does 10 pages a month and Kingdom Come is 232 pages. You do the math.

At multiple points this season they raise the question of killing someone for the greater good. I’m not sure why, though. Clark is never going to agree to killing anyone, he’s always going to find another way. And while other characters agree to kill for the greater good and we see them wrestle with the difficulty of their decisions, it’s unclear whether or not anyone changes their minds about where they stand.

Almost like a, “Hey, here’s something to argue about,” device. Maybe they’ll go somewhere with this eventually, but for this season it feels a bit like conflict for the sake of conflict.

4. Creeping Closer Superman



This season Clark starts working in the Daily Planet across from Lois, develops a kind of alter ego for his heroics, fights Doomsday, and uses his inside information at the Planet to help more people. Everything but the costume.

My understanding is that we never see Clark wear “the suit” on the show. It’s a great idea, taking Clark to the furthest point of Superman while never quite becoming him. It keeps the story rooted in a more human place and makes Clark my one of my favourite iterations of Superman of all time.

5. So Far From Season One



It’s a little weird looking at some of these characters now when you think about where they started. It was definitely the correct decision to make the characters age and grow over time, but maybe in a few places they went too far.

Lana started off as just a pretty love interest. Now she’s an ex-marine-trained, super-suit-wearing, conniving, egomaniacal, superhero (but possibly in an ends justify the means kind of way).

It’s a lot of change to absorb, especially if you missed some seasons along the way. No wonder it was a difficult show to drop and pick up again.

6. Dreary

There’s some drug addiction in here, troubled marriages, characters completely losing their way, and an uber creepy relationship between Chloe and Davis / Doomsday. Much like Season Six, Season Eight is a bit too dark. I think it’s a fair direction to go. Buffy Season Six, for example, was the darkest one and many of the actors and show creators felt it was their best.

From a show creator’s perspective, dark themes mean interesting and new directions for stories and characters, more interesting work. But I think from a viewer’s standpoint, there’s a wavelength where the show works best. Superman is about hope. An idea that lifts us, and helps us lift each other. That light pierces through Season Eight occasionally, and the season flutters here and there, but ultimately, it doesn’t soar.