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"Smallville" fans continue to perplex me. It seems that the majority of "Smallville" fans consider what I and those with whom I watch the series have deemed the weakest seasons of the show to be the show's best years. Similarly, while I found the show's sixth season to be its best since Season One, most fans have ranked it among the series' worst. I'm not putting down those who think differently from me, but I have thoroughly evaluated each season and I cannot imagine what these viewers are seeing that I am not. There are those who are now dreading the next season and the season which may follow (creators Al Gough and Miles Millar have said that the show will run no longer than eight seasons). After Season Six, however, I am eagerly awaiting more of a show that has, after years of stumbling through piles and piles of mediocrity, finally reached its potential.
In Season Five, Clark Kent found himself without his most beloved "guiding light" when his father died. The feelings of loneliness grew as his relationship with Lex Luthor crumbled, rebuilt as a bitter rivalry, and Clark was forced to push the love of his life, Lana Lang, away. To make matters worse, Lana took refuge in Lex's open arms. By the end of the season, Clark had learned to deal with his grief and had a better sense of who he was, but he still had a long way to go before becoming the Man of Steel. In Season Six, Clark's destiny grows a lot nearer. Season Six revolves around Clark's discovery of who he is through two major storylines: 1) the tormented relationship between he and Lana Lang (which should have ended seasons ago and has now reached the point of absurdity), as well as Lana's potentially strong affections for Lex, and 2) Lex Luthor's rapid loss of morality and Clark's realization that he alone can stop him. There is a third major storyline as well, dealing with a number of alien ghosts which escape from the Phantom Zone in the season premiere; Clark must round them up before they wreak too much havoc.
There are a number of subplots too. The largest and most popular involves Oliver Queen, played by Justin Hartley, who was cast in the title role of "Smallville"'s failed spinoff "Aquaman." Queen is a young, attractive businessman who arrives in Metropolis with a dark secret: he is the Green Arrow (one of DC's most popular heroes), a hooded rogue who protects those who need protection. He is also a sort of Robin Hood - which is bad news for Clark, whose mother is now a full-fledged, popular politician. Queen also has a checkered past with Lex Luthor, which makes for one of the season's more interesting subplots. Others include Chloe's relationship with spunky young photographer Jimmy Olsen (played by Aaron Ashmore, whom I personally find extremely irking) and Lois Lane's beginnings in journalism.
I had a number of complaints about Season Five, and even a few seasons before that. The writing was foolish and predictable and the dialog was just trash. The acting was lackluster. The directing was virtually non-existent. The music was frankly turgid. The sixth season, however, corrects all of that. The writing is, for the most part, excellent. The season's story arcs were intricate and interesting, and more importantly, each individual episode was a blast, well-written and suspenseful. Thankfully, the writers finally focused a lot less on meteor freaks (in fact, they hardly crop up at all!) and a lot more on other foes, in this case the "Zoners" (those who have escaped from the Phantom Zone). The dialog picked up a lot as well, and felt a whole more natural and realistic than it did in previous seasons.
The acting improved as well. Tom Welling's Clark seemed rather oafish in the previous season, but in this season, he is Clark Kent once more: strong, brave, and noble. John Glover is as delectable as ever, and Michael Rosenbaum gets a much-deserved dose of unflinching evil. Erica Durance begins to show promise as Clark's future love - for example, "Crimson," a fan favorite episode in which Clark is exposed to red kryptonite after a kiss from Lois, who herself has been drugged with a love potion. Allison Mack is especially fun, and the writers have mercifully saved us from most of her godawful one-liners. Even Kristen Kreuk, whose character I couldn't stand in previous seasons, improves slightly.
The show picks up some wonderful style from its directors, something it was completely devoid of in Seasons Four and Five. A great example of this is "Wither," which features some stunning visuals. I don't know what happened to Mark Snow, but his music went from cringeworthy and stale to downright fantastic. His score is hip, creative, cool, and grandiose, exactly what it should be. I really enjoyed hearing the music in each episode - even when Snow's theme for the Green Arrow is a painfully obvious rehash of Danny Elfman's theme for Tim Burton's "Batman" movies.
As far as the episodes go, this season holds a variety of standouts. The season premiere, "Zod," is great. It's not as epic as the fifth season premiere, but it's very cool anyway. Though I still find the producers' failure to cast an actor as Zod downright despicable, Rosenbaum plays his possession of Lex very well. Hearing Rosenbaum deliver "Superman II"'s classic "Kneel before Zod!" is really a delight, and the splitting resemblance between the disembodied Zod and Terence Stamp in "Superman II" is sure to please fans of the films. "Sneeze" introduces a new power for Clark: super breath. "Justice" is a very fun episode and has been called the best episode of the series by many. I don't agree in that aspect, but it is very neat to see all the show's past superheroes gathered together. The inevitable "It's All In Your Head" episode comes in the form of "Labyrinth," surprisingly a very enjoyable episode (in a twisted sort of way). "Freak" puts forth the revelation that Chloe herself has some sort of meteor power and has become a meteor freak after being exposed to so much kryptonite. That's an interesting and tense episode. "Promise" is a painful, dramatic episode, but its successor, the super-violent "Fight Club"-inspired "Combat," is a real blast. It's probably one of the show's weaker episodes, but it's also one of its most fun. Personally, I loved it: seeing Clark dress up in leather and kick the s--- out a jacked-up wrestler, seeing Lois in tight red leather - grand fun to be sure.
"Nemesis" is one of the series' strongest episodes, in which Clark and Lex are trapped in an underground tunnel and forced to deal with their issues which each other. Kudos to the writers for thinking this one up. The dramatic confrontation between Welling and Rosenbaum, Clark and Lex, good and evil, is just superb. "Noir," unfortunately, is not. What seemed like a brilliant idea - play the show as though it were a film noir in the 1940s - is interesting, but little more than that, and the final product falls flat on its face. As always, the season goes out with a bang, a lot of them, with "Phantom," which leaves one character on his way to jail, three characters possibly dead, one superpower revealed, and introduces a character I have long awaited but thought I would never seen on "Smallville." It also featured a much-advertised "death" of a major character. I would like little more than to see that character actually be killed, but the fact that she's not is ridiculously clear.
At its finish, the sixth season of "Smallville" is a wonderful surprise. It's quite possibly the best season since the show's outstanding first, and it's the first season to truly reach its potential since the series' early years. I have no idea what happened between the end of Season Five and the premiere of Season Six, but everything that was so wrong with the show was drastically improved. Season Six is quality, comic-bookish, fun television, and although the second half of the season is rather lopsided ("Progeny," which features a guest appearance by Lynda Carter, is arguably the most dull episode of the entire show), it's a spectacular season. Clark has yet to fly, and the show hadn't really flown since the beginning of Season Three, but with Season Six "Smallville" soars as it, like its young hero, seemed destined to from the start.
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