Ten years in the making, the CW's Smallville finally comes to a close this weekend. Clark Kent (Tom Welling) realizes that to become the Superman the world needs him to be, he must embrace the past and both of his fathers, as well as what they have taught him. It is not a realization reached easily, but once discovered, his destiny is achieved hard and fast, in time to stop Darkseid from destroying the world. As Clark is doing this, Oliver (Justin Hartley) searches for Darkseid's minions, Lois (Erica Durance) tries to stop the government from making a horrible mistake, and Tess (Cassidy Freeman) squares off with Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) for the family legacy. And there's a wedding.
There can be much written about what is not in the "Finale" of Smallville (the other heroes in the Justice League, for example), but that would be counterproductive. The most important thing that has to happen in the series finale, as known since the show began, is Clark embracing his destiny once and for all, so of course, a very large part of the hour is about that. And that is done incredibly well, leaving nothing to complain about.
Since Clark must look to his fathers for who he is supposed to be, bringing back Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) seems a no brainer. While it is never clear how exactly Jonathan appears, it can be assumed that Clark thinking about him being there is represented by a visual image for television viewing audiences. Jonathan isn't a ghost, and he isn't resurrected. Clark can imagine the words his father would say to him in his head, and to make that more digestible to viewers, Smallville gives a physical man in place.
Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) also comes to town, a real, life person, to attend Clark's wedding to Lois. Having both of Clark's parents sit together in the front row is a nice treat, and a pleasing image. They are both a very big part of who he is, so it is appropriate to have them there for his special day. As such, she doesn't bring her boyfriend, who it would have been nice to have a cameo from, but it is understandable that he would not fit into this scene.
Article comments
1 - Justin from Biloxi
From the time Smallville aired the pilot I have been tuning in and enjoying this story unfold. The greatness of the story is that it ends when he become Superman. The road taken to this end was great and I will only feel sad next Friday when the show is no longer there. These characters were well managed, dynamic and the acting was supurb. I would love to see a series of full length features with these characters in the years to come. The End.
2 - greyheadedguy
I have been hoping for years that they would do some Tom Welling, Superman movies. As the conclusion of the series has come and gone, I agree, Fridays are going to be a little quiet and sad. Bring on the movies, but please do them right. Don't make a mockery of the series.
3 - befuddled
Yep, the whole Clark/Lois wediing resolution is the most monumentally unsatisfying and nonsensical part of the episode. As someone who is (was) a casual fan of "Smallville", but really doesn't care a whit about the comics mythos (which is something Smallville has historically not slavishly adhered to anyway) it is hard to see why they handled it the way they did. I am not a Clark/Lois "shipper" by any stretch, but the show spent the whole season building up to it. In fact, the fact that the Clark/Lois relationship was so essential to Clark becoming Superman as the season progressed was a really fresh and interesting take on the character. You could make a pretty good case that the wedding was the prime narrative force behind the whole season and it was a big focus of the promo campaign. So, if they had no intention of actually showing the wedding (either because they wanted to do something "different" creatively, or for internal DC/WB reasons) then they should have just skipped the engagement/wedding plot line completely. A huge amount of screen time throughout the season was spent--including half of the final episode of the whole series-on the wedding that could have gone towards other plot lines. So, when you get to the end of the series and they *still* aren't married, it Is a real "WTF?!!" moment that undoes much of the good in the episode and season. Seriously, Clark and Lois couldn't take 2 minutes in the parking lot after fixing Ollie to make it offcial? Or in seven years they couldn't find an hour to run to a courthouse? It's...just...so...stupid!
Based on the season arc, they should have had a successful Angsty-hijinks-wedding in an earlier episode so that we could have had two hours of angst-free (or at least less angsty) Clark becoming Superman in the final episode, with more time for the moments we didn't get (like Lois naming him Superman or the classic "Up, up in the sky!"). Or, if they wanted to keep the same narrative, just have Clark call her "Mrs. Kent" sotto voce in the future, since the show had already strongly implied they were married in the 2013 timeframe anyway. As it is, a monumentally unsatisfying conclusion and as a viewer, I feel like they wasted a lot of my time this season. I am morbidly curious about the inevitable producer postmortem interviews as they try to explain this befuddling and dumb decision.
4 - Phil
I'm gonna read the review but I find the fact that this review is layed out on 5 webpages annoying.
5 - Joanna
Jonathan's spirit was a little confusing for me. You had mentioned that he may have been a manifestation within Clarks own mind. But at the beginning, when he showed up at the farmhouse, Martha was looking right at him and her eyes widened; like she could see him. But did her eyes widen because of what Clark had just said or did she really see Jonathan? Clark could not see him yet because he had pushed him away. Then later at the wedding, Martha had an empty spot next to her and was smiling. Was she smiling at Jonathan's spirit? Or just smiling sadly because he couldn't be there? By that point, Clark accepted that he still needed to keep Smallville close to his heart and I believe he could see Jonathan, smiling at him. Lois couldn't see him though because she said, "Everything ok Smallville?" And he replied, "Everything's perfect."
To me, the 7 yr gap was just a way to catch them up to the rest of the mythos. Since Lois and Clark weren't married until they were in their 30s I believe? Or it was a way for "little" Jimmy Olsen to grow up into Aaron Ashmore. haha.
Anyway, I loved the finale and I was sad to see it go. I've been watching since day one. Haters are going to hate, but I don't care, this show was a huge part of my life and I will always love it.
Thank you for the review...
6 - Elle
I really liked the episode and I thought the Clark/Lois scenes at the door and walking down the aisle were probably some of the most emotional and beautiful in the entire series.
And yes, I really loved the scene between Clark and Lois in the future at the Daily Planet. It was very, very sexy. Liked him calling her "Ms. Lane." They like to do the role playing like that in the comics which I loved.
But yeah, it was frustrating that the show felt they needed to line up with the mythos and have them wait 7 years to get legally married. That was frustrating.
I guess though the point was that they DID take wedding vows in front of God and a minister and so they were married in every sense that mattered emotionally and it was just a matter of signing the papers. But yeah, I felt like they should have made them married in the flashforward.
7 - Nancy
Was Jimmy at the wedding? The camera kept focusing in on a guy seated right behind Jonathan and Martha. Pete (don't think so anyway) wasn't there, and it definitely wasn't Arthur Curry.
8 - handyguy
So tedious and pompous, although it was good to have Michael Rosenbaum back as Lex, briefly. The show has been on a downhill course for years, but this season has had a few clever episodes [like the 'It's a Wonderful Life'-inspired one]. This two-hour snoozefest about Destiny and Should-I-Leave-the-Past-Behind was the opposite of clever.
9 - Liane
Hey, just wanted to point out in reference to Chloe and Oliver, she had a ring on in the end. I think it is safe to say they are still married since they never alluded to her possibly being married to anyone else seven years in the future.
10 - Karsten
Greetings from Germany.. I've seen the finale but am I the only one who thought that it looks very similar to "Superman returns"?? This airplane issue.. being upon earth and looking down.. I was sad about the fact that the "finale of the finale" only had 15 minutes of the whole episode.. :( BUT these 15 minutes were really great! (although there was no shot of Tom Welling in the suit.. only some CGI puppets)
I am looking forward to see the main cast in a real Superman movie/series and hopefully it will also come to Germany :)