In going through all my notes from the Smallville press roundtables at Comic-Con 2010, I decided for fun to Google how many series in the history of TV hit 200 episodes. After all, in its tenth and final season, Smallville’s 200th episode is the fourth one this year. Not counting shows like Saturday Night Live or 60 Minutes or reality shows like WWE Raw (okay pseudo reality), when Smallville reaches that milestone it will be in company with only 76 other shows. When it completes its run in May 2011, that number dwindles to 53 shows.
“Keep going down this path and I’ll start crying,” said Executive Producer Kelly Souders when I brought up Smallville’s final season to her. She has been with the show since the second season when she started as a writer. “I’m a little bit misty today. It’s very strange. But it’s really an amazing experience though.”
Executive Producer Brian Peterson, who also started at the same time as Kelly Souders, was a bit less emotional but every bit as sentimental. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s our family. The people in Vancouver, Tom, they’re all our family. It’s going to be really, really emotional. We want to go out at the top after ten so I’ll deal with it when it comes. It’s going to be a tough one.”
Cassidy Freeman, who plays Tess Mercer, had the most entertaining answer, probably since she only joined the cast two seasons ago. “I was getting really emotional at the panel. I was like ‘ten years.’ I mean I’ve been here for two. ‘Ten years!’ (fake wipes a tear from her eye). I can’t imagine how they feel. But I’m very thankful.”
By the end of this season Smallville will have earned the title of most episodes ever by a Sci-Fi series. Despite the sentiments though, we were all there to talk about what’s happening in season ten. Sure, we know Clark Kent becomes Superman, but what has to happen in the final 22 episodes to get to that point?
Surprise guest John Schneider, whose mere presence let us know that Jonathan Kent will be coming back this season, knew what role his character is supposed to play. “I think that Jonathan Kent is back because he is the only force, the only person in Clark Kent’s life that can tell him it’s okay to be Superman. That this is in fact 'the destiny we talked about when you were a child. We’ve always talked about you’re here for something, you’re here for a reason, you’ve got this very specific set of skills, and you are part of what’s right in the world. One of these days you’ll know how to use that out among the people. It’s your destiny son.'”
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