Smallville: Doomsday recap and thoughts
So, “Doomsday” wrapped up “Smallville” season eight and did provide the promised body count, but perhaps not in the way most fans expected.
I’ve thought for a while that “Smallville” veers from pretty cool highs to pretty goofy lows, and this episode had a little bit of both, but veered more towards the “pretty goofy” end.
It starts out promisingly, with Clark and Cosmic Boy of the Legion. Then, Chloe and Davis talk about their modern lives falling in step with the Persephone myth. But then things get a little wackier.
Someone’s stolen the orb from Tess. Clark writes a goodbye letter as “The Red Blue Blur,” which I think is just so goofy. He’s got a secret identity, why isn’t he just Superman already? Arg! You’re setting up a love triangle between Clark, Lois, and “The Red Blue Blur”?
The line about Lois and Clark meeting in a phone booth was neat; again, just get with the mythos already. Stick some glasses on Kent and start calling the Red-Blue Blur “Superman” already.
The Tess-Lois smackdown was hot, as billed, and I’m pleased that the awesome Cassidy Freeman is coming back next season, as Tess wasn’t killed. At the conclusion of the fight, Lois grabs the Legion ring meant to send Doomsday to the future… so I assume that’s where Lois has now gone.
Clark wants to split the Kryptonian beast from Davis and trap it; the Justice League of Green Arrow, Black Canary and Impulse disagree and just want to get rid of them both.
So, GA Kryptonites Clark with an arrow so they can do it their way. But Chloe gets in the way and Black Kryptonites Davis, splitting him into the Kryptonian Beast and just the dude. The Justice League gets hammered by Doomsday, so, it’s a good thing Jimmy Olsen comes along to de-Kryptonite Clark and let him save the day. Jimmy now knows Clark’s secret. You’re this Super… guy, he says. Well, it’s closer than Red-Blue Blur, anyway.
Doomsday looks pretty cool, and the fight between him and Clark is briefly cool, but the big defeat being off-panel? Lame.
Jimmy takes Chloe and Davis to the apartment high above the city that was going to be Chloe’s wedding present. They profess their undying love for each other in front of Chloe’s not-quite-as-asleep-as-he-seemed boyfriend, so, Davis goes wacko and impales Jimmy. Way to pick ‘em, Chloe.
“There’s nothing left to redeem,” screams Davis, lunging at Chloe, so fortunately not-quite-dead-yet Jimmy manages to knock Davis over and impale him as well. Man, how did this apartment EVER pass safety standards?
At Jimmy’s funeral, Oliver sheds one single tear. He must think he’s in “Identity Crisis.” Chloe hands off Jimmy’s camera to Jimmy’s kid brother and says maybe someday this bow-tied kid will follow in his brother’s footsteps. Oh, and could you start going by “Jimmy,” too, so that continuity will make a lick more sense?
Clark meets up with Chloe at her apartment, which she now refers to as “The Watchtower,” which guarantees the JLA will be crashing often and eating her chips. Clark says he’s not human, he’s Kryptonian, and it’s his human side causing all his problems. So he’s outta here, man. No more emotions for him. And he does a cool little fade-to-invisibility thing that I didn’t realize was one of his powers. Overall seemed out-of-character, but I guess he did pretty much get Jimmy killed asking him to protect a psycho, so, there’s that.
Meanwhile, back at Tess’ place, there’s a ruckus in the front yard. It’s a naked dude standing in a big “Z.” Looks like Zod’s your villain for season 9. (You can tell because his sound effect says “Zod!”)
Again, more goofy than a great episode, but I’m still glad it’s coming back. Maybe we’ll get another Geoff Johns episode next season, for one, and, I still like the Lois and Clark interplay when they let it happen. And more Cassidy Freeman is definitely a good thing, as well. Also, if they’ve basically decided season 9 will be the last, can we please just set up the traditional Superman mythos by the end of it? Thanks.
Comments? Thoughts?
– Matt Price
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
I thought it was maybe the worst finale Smallville has ever done. Jimmy is really Henry thing was nutty as was the big Chimmy reunion. After the public humilation, abusive emails, and attempts at robbing her to get some cash, I really didn’t see a reconciliation coming. Which leads to Davis flipping right to crazed killer. Sorry show, you can’t have him offer to toss himself down an endless whole to save everyone five minutes before he turn hot blooded killer. Also cracks me up that while Davis kills Jimmy, he’s more upset that Chloe was doing it all for Clark. Jimmy,sorry you got shafted. Also the One minute “epic” fight was only epically lame. Then Clark comes back so full of his own pain that he is fine with cutting Chloe from his life when her cousin is missing/presumed dead, her ex-husband dead, the JL team taken off, and the only other friend she’s had (Davis)also dead. Way to be a hero Clark.
Hey I’m viewing your site with the cake browser and it looks pretty green, dpn’t know if this is your site or the browser. Anyway just giving you a heads up.
Good review! I can’t wait to see what happens to “Miss Lane” in season 9. I hope the show will focus more on Clark, and less on Chloe.