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Smallville Review--Zoe Dudas

One of the peak eras of television was from 2000-2010. During those times TV felt more alive with dramas, diverse genres, reality TV, comedies, and sci-fi. TV was thriving! I mean who isn’t a fan of a show from that time period? Classics from the era include The Office, Dexter, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, The Big Bang Theory, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Survivor; the list keeps going. Above all there is one favorite of mine that feeds my, “ooooh to be a teen in the 2000s…” dreams. That show is Smallville, developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. If you haven't heard of it, I advise that you to give it a watch.

Smallville is based on the DC Comics’ character Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (both famous fellow Clevelanders if you didn’t know). The series is a coming-of-age story about a young Clark Kent (played by Tom Welling) in a fictional town called Smallville in Kansas. It follows Clark’s teen years leading up to him becoming Superman. It all revolves around him developing his powers, relationships, and of course his destiny of becoming the hero we all love. 

The developers pitched their “no tights, no flights” rule to the president of Warners Brothers Television (the producer), which made the show focus more on what led Clark Kent to become Superman and the reality of his life on a farm with his adoptive parents. The Pilot episode was first broadcasted by the WB on October 16th, 2001, and was highly important since it came out weeks after 9/11. This episode drew a massive audience of 8.4 million viewers across the U.S. and set a record as the WB’s network's highest-rated pilot and most watched episode ever. During the national crisis of 9/11 people looked for more optimistic TV. This premiere had bits of hope with a comforting heroic narrative that others needed at the time.

The series consists of 10 seasons with a total of 216 episodes, ranging from 2001 to 2011. Each episode is about 45 minutes long with many guest stars like Christopher Reeves (who played Superman from 1978 to 1987) and Ian Somerhalder from The Vampire Diaries.

We all know how Superman (Clark Kent) came to earth: a meteor shower occured in a town in Kansas. A ship from his home planet Krypton crashed down to earth in Kansas where he was raised by his foster parents Martha and Jonathan Kent. So what does that give us…? Nothing! What happened after they found him? What did he do before becoming who we all know today? Well that's exactly what Smallville is about! As Clark goes through his teen years he must hide his abilities from his friends while locals get powers by kryptonite affected meteors that can also weaken Clark. Throughout the show we meet his many friends and family. These include Clark’s love interest Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), a classic girl next door. Surprisingly, Lois Lane (Clark’s REAL love interest) doesn’t appear until season 4. There's also Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), one of Clark’s confidantes and a journalist who works for the school’s newspaper The Torch (Fun fact: the creators of Superman, Siegel and Shuster, lived in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood where they were both part of their school’s newspaper, called The Glenville Torch). Then of course there’s the billionaire best friend of our main character, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). Lex isn’t the villain of this story, in fact he has an epic friendship with Clark. We also see Lex’s path to becoming his future self. However, our main antagonist is instead Lionel Luthor (John Glover), Lex’s manipulative father. 

I’ve been watching this show since the new Superman movie came out last July, and I’m still very much in love with it. Mostly because according to the director of the new Superman movie, James Gunn, he based a lot of things in the movie from Smallville. It honestly has everything you need in a 2000’s show. The fashion is probably the finest part, the music is amazing, and it has all the corny stuff that these shows need. The graphics/CGI are dated and I always laugh at how bad they are, but that’s part of what makes the show so good. What's also funny that sticks out to me is how half of the characters in the show have the initials L.L., such as Clark’s best friend and his lovers; it’s kind of weird?                 Anyways, the best part by far is just how long it goes on for. I seriously haven’t gotten tired of it, and it's been months! There are characters I like and dislike but so far Lex Luthor and Lana Lang are probably the best. Lana's fashion sense is so fleek I actually base half of my style off of her. Still, sometimes she annoys me, I just have to scream at the TV like, “Girl can’t you see Clark likes you?” She won’t stop friendzoning him, my gosh. Lex is my personal favorite though. He’s just such an amazingly complex character and his turn to the evil side is so satisfying, even his backstory is hauntingly beautiful! Everytime I watch it he always has to mention some historical figure and it goes beyond that. It makes me feel like I need to take notes or something, at least I’m somewhat learning, right?

Smallville is probably one of the top 2000s shows I’ve seen in a while and I wish people paid more attention to it. The story reads like a Shakespearean tragedy and Lex and Clark’s friendship reads like Brutus and Caesar. Even if you're not a fan of the superhero genre, I believe Smallville is for everyone since it's a classic coming-of-age tale (the best genre ever!). It's the type of show that makes you want to keep watching and wondering, “My gosh what's gonna happen next!?” I seriously recommend Smallville to everybody, especially if you're looking to find a 2000s show that will fit all of your needs.