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Smallville: The Cheese and Triumph of Clark Kent

By , and | June 21st, 2013
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This past week brought the meteoric arrival of “Man of Steel,” the latest relaunch of the Superman mythology. People can’t help comparing it to Richard Donner’s Superman or Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, but is everyone forgetting about perhaps the most magical of all “adaptations?” A story that introduced Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, Lana Lang and a litany of other alliterative names to a new generation and a new audience? That audience was on the CW, and that show was “Smallville.”

Three of our writers sat down recently to look back on the show to discuss the ins and outs of it, including searing topics like “was it good?” and “was that really Amy Adams in a fat suit?” Don’t press that dial folks, and don’t pop your Red “K” yet. It’s Smallville time.

Note: this was started before “Man of Steel” came out and finished after everyone had seen it.

David: Gentlemen, it’s an important week for comic fans. We’re here for yet another return of Superman to movies or TV in the form of Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel.” It’s getting pretty damn solid reviews (note to readers: we started this before any of us saw the movie) and the buzz is so sky high that Warner Bros. have already greenlit a sequel.

For all his popularity though, Superman is a guy who has struggled to capture a big audience outside of comics like Iron Man or Batman have. In fact, you could make a pretty damn good argument that the WB/CW’s “Smallville” might have been the most successful iteration of him since the first Christopher Reeve movie, and that’s what we’re here to talk about. So I’m curious. You were both “Smallville” watchers. Was it a love/hate relationship, or were you just full of love for it, and why?

Brian: College awoke a lot of things in me, friends, but none as strong as my love of comics, and by default, Superman. The show started my sophomore year in college and, from jump street, I was hooked.

Granted, I was hooked in a “I know this is cheesy and dumb but I sort of love it anyway” sort of way. But yeah, those first few seasons I greatly enjoyed.

Brandon: For me it was all love all the time when I first came across it. When the show started we didn’t actually have the WB in Alaska and so I actually, I hate to admit, had to find the episodes on Morpheus and Kazaa and programs like that. I loved that show. It came out at the perfect time for me. I was an awkward kid in high school who just wanted some loving. I felt I could relate to Tom Welling’s Clark Kent. Add to it the off the wall kryptonite infected freak of the week formula the show started with and I was super sold.

After season 5 though things became a little more love/frustration as some of the cast moved on and things started to really get extremely out of hand. It got to a point where it was a pretty obvious departure from the start of the show. It would have been less jarring had they renamed it Metropolis at that point. But this all came later and didn’t stop me from tuning in every single week.

David: I was late to the party, unlike you guys. I started watching I think in Season Three, and I had bought the DVD sets one glorious Black Friday, and boy was I hooked. Like Brian, I always fundamentally understood what I was reading was at least a little dumb, but the combination of the very recognizable Superman aspects with the positively swoonworthy soap opera story beats made this something I couldn’t resist. It was a little so bad it was good, but early on, it was undeniably entertaining.

I did stop watching though, as the story had a tendency of repeating itself a little too much and the characters sometimes behaved in such an asinine fashion I couldn’t enjoy them anymore. But for a time, what a show.

I have to ask, as I know we’re all hugely different in how we enjoy things: what was your favorite part of the show? What made it stand out as an actual, honest-to-god enjoyable bit of Superman programming?

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Brandon: For me it was actually the chemistry amongst the actors and actresses. Those initial season especially showed a lot of great chemistry between them all. I think that is why the show kind of fell apart later as people like Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk left and a little later John Glover and John Schneider. As more of the initial cast fell away so did that chemistry. Then it became a game of how much of the Superman mythos can we cram in without it really being anything like the comic version but instead really Smallvilleized if you will.

David: Yeah, I think once John Schneider left the wheels really started to fall off. Pa Kent was a big part of the show, and once he rolled out, it felt like they were perpetually upping the ante on how crazy they could make the show. A low point for me was when Clark first got on “Red K.” First off, they called it “Red K,” which I thought was hilariously stupid, but they also made it something they brought out of their back pocket whenever they felt like making the show a little more nuts.

Red K Clark

Interestingly enough, I developed a theory related to Smallville about my friend acting differently depending on what type of Keystone he was drinking. He also acted craziest when he was on “Red K,” aka the red can of Keystone, aka Keystone Premium.

Brandon: I LOVED Red K Clark! He was such a badass!

The Keystone thing is hilarious.

Brian: Oh, Red K. I almost forgot about that wonderful plot device. My friends used to call Mountain Dew Code Red “Red K,” because we’re amazing.

Brian: The chemistry was fantastic early on – it can be incredibly hard to find a balance when it comes to these characters for a few reasons. First of all, it is clear who winds up “friends” in the end, and therefore, you need to trick the audience into believing that Clark and Lex really could be BFFs (AEAEAE) or that Lana and Clark end up together, or else the series just feels flat.

To me, the Kents were the heart and soul of the show, and seeing their love for Clark was not only the best depiction of that family ever on screen, it was also the reason that everything else on the show could get as contrived as it did; because there was a real heart to it.

The Kents

David: I think that’s one thing in particular the show got right: the Kents. Both Jonathan and Martha were both well handled, and their relationship with Clark was absolutely the heart and soul of the show as you said Brian. Everything got ridiculous from time to time, but those three made the show work as improbable as it often was.

I mentioned my least favorite thing, but I have to say my favorite part of the show was none other than Chloe Sullivan. Hoo boy I loved her! She was a non-canon character, but man, I enjoyed the hell out of her and always rooted for her to end up with Clark. As you said Brian, there was no way that was actually going to happen, but I wanted that!

Chloe Sullivan

Of course, eventually that left her in a place where they basically couldn’t do anything useful with her and she floundered, but in those first few seasons I was alllll aboard the Chloe train. For you gents, what were the parts that left the most to be desired, besides the ridiculous Red K that I didn’t like and Brandon LOVED?

Brandon: The least desirable stuff for me didn’t come until later and it mostly was the ham-fisted inclusion of things like Braniac and Bizarro which I had high hopes for but really came off as way too much of a knockoff version than a homage. Although I did enjoy Kara and the way she was handled. It didn’t hurt that she was incredibly hot.

The one thing that I really really really hated was Clark’s costumes when he became the Blur. The black trench coat look was awful but didn’t even come close to touching the horribleness of that awful red leather coat with the branded S on it. What the fuck was that?! Horrible.

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David: The sad thing is, that sounds so horrible I feel like there’s a 20% chance you made that up. I think that was a common thing on the show for me. Some of the things they did in it made me think “holy crap, what were they thinking?” The amount of times Lex became friends and not friends and friends and not friends with Clark in the show by itself drove me insane, but there were some parts where my jaw was dropped by the stupidity of it.

So when you say the later stuff was worse, I have to say you are blowing my mind with that statement.

Brian: Once the show lost its mission statement – what happened before Clark became Superman? – and became something else – Superman’s adventures before he took the name Superman – the show started to lose me. This has been pointed out many times before, but on Smallville we had DOOMSDAY before we had SUPERMAN. After a few seasons, it became clear that the goal of the show wasn’t to show how Clark became Superman, it was to do Superman stories without using that word.

Before we get too far away from Chloe though, I’ve got to ask: as heterosexual men of a certain age, were you guys crushing on Lana or Chloe early on?

Lana Lang

Brandon I was crushing hard on Lana. I thought she was amazing. I appreciated Chloe but didn’t really fall in love with her until a few seasons later when I was in college and appreciated her more.

Brian: I was a Lana boy as well, but not that Chloe was unattractive. Later on, once Lana left, Chloe was my boo. That is, until, Lois came along.

Sorry, got a little distracted thinking about all the ladies of Smallville. Where were we?

Brandon Having said that I liked Lois more than all of them when it came down to it. She was a perfect Lois. Strong, opinionated and by no means Clark’s girl. If anything he was her guy. She was slightly intimidating and very gorgeous. I was and still am smitten.

David: See, I just didn’t get Lana. You could make the argument she was superficially more attractive (I thought Chloe was, personally), but she was adventurous, a little badass and super mischievous. How can you not support that? Lana…she just always felt more like an empty idealized figure to me more than someone who was actually awesome.

Yes, I was thinking too much about the qualities of these characters, but whatever! Chloe ruled! And she was a writer!

Brandon: The Torch and the Wall of Weird was another set of things I really loved about that show. The little things like that were lost along the way.

David: Totally. Chloe was Clark’s girl Friday. They were simpatico. Lana was some girl that lived nearby. Chloe 1,432 > Lana 0!

Brian: The affairs of the heart cannot be swayed with your bullshit, Harper.

David: My bullshit is the best bullshit, and Chloe is/was the best!

Brandon: What about the music of the show? What did you think of it? There was a seriously pop infused soundtrack to the show that really was a major part of what made the show what it was as well. So integral that they had the Talon Mix soundtracks that came out. There was some really horrible music throughout the shows run but some of it worked to frame the show for what it was and would have change the landscape had it not been in there for me. For example the first episode would not have been the same without the Lifehouse track that ended the episode. That song was the perfect song for that moment and I will always enjoy that damn song because of it.

Lifehouse, live at Smallville High!

Brian: The theme song, no matter how on the nose, to me was a perfect way to start the show. I think the choices of music within each episode were typical of the WB/CW mentality, which is to use their shows as music videos in a time when MTV was drastically limiting their playing of actual videos. Certain songs, like the one you just mentioned, worked well, but overall, they felt shoehorned in.

Continued below

Brandon: Oh, I loved the intro from Remy Zero. It was the perfect song for that show and I always watched the intro and sang along. 10 seasons and I never ever skipped the opening. The last episode’s opening was a heartbreak because in that moment I knew it was over.

David: Please take a moment to watch the open with that theme song.

Here is my guiltiest admission I will ever have in public: there was one scene where they used an Avril Lavigne song AND IT MADE ME LIKE THE SONG. Oh god! The horror! Why do I admit these things?!

Brandon: There were a lot of songs and artists I disliked that I actually really enjoyed in the context of the show. Lot’s of shameful guilty pleasures were produced by this show in my life.

David: Like the rest of the show, its soundtrack brought shame to our houses.

Let’s talk sidekicks: who did you prefer, Pete “REMIX” Ross or Jimmy “Iceman” Olsen? Personally, I thought they were both mostly wastes of space, but I’d take Pete because he reminds me of the golden days of Smallville High.

David: Also, I’d like to point out that “REMIX” is not a racial statement. It’s stating that they changed up the fundamental nature of that character.

Pete Ross

Brian: I like the idea of a Pete Ross character, and I have no problem with Pete being black – what I have a problem with is how the lazy characterization of Pete led to him simply being a damsel in distress for Clark to save – which was especially ridiculous, given the fact that he didn’t need anyone else to save, he needed a bro, bros.

Brandon I thought it was a reference to the episode where returned later in the show as a DJ or something like that in an episode that was, I kid you not, built around being a commercial for a real life gum product. Proof.

I really have a hard time choosing though. I actually enjoyed both. Until the reveal that Jimmy wasn’t the real Jimmy. Which was incredibly odd. For me my favorite “sidekick” was Ollie. I thought he was a great counterpoint to Clark in the later years.

Brian: I’m pretty sure I checked out pre-Jimmy Olsen, so tell me, how wasn’t he the real Jimmy?

David: Yeah, that’s my immediate question, besides how hilarious is it that I was accidentally sort of right about Pete Ross being nicknamed “REMIX” because he showed up as a DJ later on.

Brandon Ok get ready for some crazy…

So Jimmy was introduced and over time he and Chloe fell in love which led to them marrying and then even divorcing because she had feelings for Doomsday. Yes, this happened. You see Doomsday was killing people by night when he lost control and by day was a paramedic going by the name Davis Bloome. Well Jimmy figured out Davis was Doomsday after Doomsday almost killed Jimmy on Chloe and his wedding night. Problem is Chloe didn’t believe him, which I think was because at the time she was slightly possessed by Braniac, and this led to friction and them separating.

During the time following this Jimmy got hooked on pain meds and then Ollie gave him a job and helped him turn it around. UNTIL….Davis actually killed him in a very heart wrenching ending where he used his last dying breath to tell Chloe he still loved her. Then at his funeral it was revealed that his real name was actually Henry James Olsen with the implication that he was not actually THE Jimmy Olsen.

Move forward in time and during the finale the actor who played Jimmy, Aaron Ashmore, appeared again in a future cut scene taking place in 2018 where he plays a character named James Bartholomew, which comic fans know is a nod to James Batholomew Olsen. (deep breath)

So some of that wasn’t needed but with that kind of Smallville you need ALL of the crazy that goes into making it.

David: You made that up.

Brandon: I wish I had because then I could get a writers credit.

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Brian: That is sort of the beauty of the show; I don’t know if there was any Silver Age comic that needlessly complex, and this shit was watched by millions of people a week for TEN YEARS. God Bless America!

David: I love that literally anything could happen in that show and it would not surprise me. I love that Chloe eventually fell in love with DOOMSDAY. DOOMSDAY!!!

This is a perfect time to discuss freaks of the week. Did any of them stand out for being particularly awesome and/or lame? I’ll probably get some haterade for this, because it was an episode that featured Lois kicking ass and lots of hot ladies, but that vampire episode, I think it was called “Thirst,” was so ridiculous I couldn’t handle it. All it needed was some “Red K” to make it reach the next level.

Brian: There is one sentence that trumps them all:

Fat Amy Adams eating people.

NEXT!

Amy was as surprised as David

David: OH MY GOD. GAME OVER MAN. GAME OVER.

Brandon: There were a lot of gems and guest appearances but Brian kind of nails that one.

David: Not going to lie guys, I never knew that was her. I just remembered her as one unreal dumb villain. That is spectacular.

Brandon: While on the topic of guest stars. The list really is incredible. Here is a good source so you can see what I’m talking about.

Of all the guest appearances the best were the ones of former Superman actors and actresses. Most notable being Christopher Reeves obviously.

Brian: That episode was so emotional for an old nerd like me. It seemed like Reeves was passing the torch over to Welling, and added legitimacy to the show.

While we’re on the topic of Welling, how did you guys enjoy his portrayal of Clark Kent?

Brandon: I know this is blasphemous but for me Smallville is the most I have ever enjoyed Superman. I really liked what he did and still wish they had done a Superman movie based around the characters of the show. Instead of doing the last 5 seasons they should have jumped to the future and had Lex vs Superman. On one hand I don’t think it would have been a box office smash but it couldn’t have bottomed out either. I mean so many people watched that show. It has a built in audience.

David: I wouldn’t say this was the most I ever enjoyed Superman – there are plenty of awesome comics out there, I hear – but Tom Welling was really solid as Clark. The dude isn’t much of an actor, but he has a certain charm to him that really fit the role. Granted, he’s been in basically nothing since, so, you know, that probably indicates his level of talent, but he undeniably fit the character both in the super sense and in the normal sense. What about you guys? Were you Welling fans? Did you scream like girls whenever he showed up in his red coat?

Brandon: I was and am a Welling fan. I think he was the best Clark for my money still to this date. I did not scream for good reasons when he put on the red coat though. The show never really should have got to that point. The original idea was no cape and no flight. While we didn’t necessarily get all of that prior to the last episode, we encroached on the idea too much once the focus shifted to Metropolis.

David: Wait, what red coat are you talking about? I mean the one he always wore on the show. Like…all of the time. This red coat. Did he get another red coat? Did my joke strangely backfire into a real plot point?

Brian: He was a capable Clark, but a sub-par hero which, as Brandon said, worked within the original context of the show. But once he became, for all intents and purposes, Superman without flying, he was a wishy-washy, whiny hero. Again, that’s more of a critique of the writing than the acting, but I don’t think Welling helped himself too much during the tail end of the run.

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Brandon He eventually started wearing this awful thing.

David: Wow. Apparently he was also replaced by a much less attractive actor.

That’s horrible though. Why would they think that was a good idea? That was like…X-Men leather times Schumacher Batman! Bad news bears right there.

Now that we’re on the other side of “Man of Steel,” I’m curious: do you guys prefer the cheese and good nature of Smallville or the darker, more intense feel to “Man of Steel?”

Brandon: I think there is room for both. I think it’s apples and oranges for me personally. It’d be like asking which is better between the Nolan movies and the ’66 Batman. They are both awesome and both cover ground on a diverse character.

David: Definitely, I agree with that, and that fits into my view of comic movies and TV shows anyways. Each of them are basically their own Elseworlds stories, and they can do what they do and stand on their own two legs. All I care is whether or not they capture the spirit of the character fairly well, and I think they both do a reasonably good job of that.

Brian: That’s a somewhat unfair question – Man of Steel is a good film with a dark tone, and Smallville is a bad show with a more wholesome tone – although, I will point out, later seasons were anything but not dark.

David: Brian, what kind of hard hitting journalist would I be if I didn’t try to compare apples to flying machines?


David Harper

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Brandon Burpee

Burpee loves Superheroes, Alaskan IPA, 90's X-Men and is often one more beer away from a quotable.

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Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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