Smallville Review – “Apocalypse”

The 150th episode of Smallville aired this week. Assuming the strike didn’t reduce the normal 22 episode order, that leaves us with four episodes to the entire season.

Cast

Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristen Kreuk as Lana Lang
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olson
Laura Vandervoort as Kara
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
John Glover as Lionel Luthor

Written by Turi Meyer and Al Septien
Directed by Tom Welling

Original Airdate

Apocalypse originally aired on Thursday, May 1, 2008.

Synopsis

Clark gets a chance to see what the world would be like if he wasn’t in it. Viewers get some actual forward momentum in the “love interest” aspect of the series.

High Point

Yes, there seems to finally be a budding love interest between Clark and Lois.

Low Point

The cliche that was needed to kick it all off.

The Review

The originality tanks early on, when we get the typical “It’s A Wonderful Life” deal to instigate it all. This doesn’t feel fresh until, oddly enough, it starts to show us the elements we’ve seen in virtually every incarnation of the Superman story. It would have been a problem to move us this far along in season three, but now, it feels long overdue. I give it 3 out of 6.

The effects are few, but are very well done. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story was predictable in structure, though not in detail. (For example, I could predict that the first few friends he checked in on would be fine, but the last would be in trouble due to Lex, though I didn’t know which friend the last would be.) I give it 4 out of 6.

The acting was done well enough from all involved. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response was pretty strong through the second half, though the first half was somewhat weak. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production was done fairly well. There were no moments when the execution really blew my doors off, but neither were there any noticable problems. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, this will either turn out to be a landmark due to an actual direction change, or a frustrating tease as everything reverts back to the way it used to be. I sincerely hope for the former. I give it 4 out of 6.

In total, Apocalypse receives 30 out of 42.

13 replies on “Smallville Review – “Apocalypse””

  1. My low point
    Kara kept her powers on Krypton, but Clark lost his? Wha? I thought all Kryptonians had no powers on their homeworld.

    • Re: My low point

      Kara kept her powers on Krypton, but Clark lost his? Wha? I thought all Kryptonians had no powers on their homeworld.

      It didn’t seem to me that she had her powers there – the only one who seemed to be strong was Brainiac.

      • Re: My low point
        Tell that to the giant Kryptonian Concrete™ block she squished Braniac with.

        • Re: My low point

          Tell that to the giant Kryptonian Concrete™ block she squished Braniac with.

          Perfectly do-able by a person with normal strength. Adrenaline does wonders for making heavy items seem not quite so heavy.

          • Re: My low point

            Perfectly do-able by a person with normal strength. Adrenaline does wonders for making heavy items seem not quite so heavy.

            She also seemed to be straining a lot on that one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Brainiac gave her some sort of boost as well, since he brought her along to help. She wouldn’t be fully powered, as she might then be able to challenge Brainiac, but she may have been stronger than the typical Kryptonian in a manner that opens them up to reveal further side effects of such tampering…

            • Re: My low point

              She also seemed to be straining a lot on that one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Brainiac gave her some sort of boost as well, since he brought her along to help. She wouldn’t be fully powered, as she might then be able to challenge Brainiac, but she may have been stronger than the typical Kryptonian in a manner that opens them up to reveal further side effects of such tampering…

              My wife mentioned this as well (the fact she seemed to be super powered) and my answer was, we don’t know what a typical Kryptonian’s natural strength is. They may well be quite a lot stronger than the average Earthling is, in their natural environment. Maybe Krypton is a more massive plannet, and thus the beings from there are naturally stronger. Of course, Kara on Earth would have been able to juggle 10 of those blocks without breaking a sweat.

  2. Seemed a little empty…
    I’m confused – wouldn’t Kal-El’s parents be there when he was being sent to earth? Did Brainiac kill them before they could launch the pod?

    Also, the effect of Krypton blowing up – was that new? It really felt like it had a "1980’s" special effects feel.

    • Re: Seemed a little empty…
      I think it was an homage to the explosion seen in the first Superman movie. It was done with some modern effects, but it looked almost exactly like that one.

      • Re: Seemed a little empty…

        I think it was an homage to the explosion seen in the first Superman movie. It was done with some modern effects, but it looked almost exactly like that one.

        It looked like the actual effect to me, though I didn’t go find the movie to compare.

        • Re: Seemed a little empty…
          I’m going from memory, myself, but it looked like they may have used their new Krypton + star effects, and combined it with the old explosion shot.

  3. Episodes left

    Assuming the strike didn’t reduce the normal 22 episode order, that leaves us with four episodes to the entire season.

    There are only 2 episodes left (20 episodes total for the season).

  4. (cruel?) irony
    Am I the only one who thought it was both hilarious and sad that they chose a plot device nearly as old as the Superman character itself to show us what this show should have been?

  5. Big problem
    Hey, I know this is a comic book world, but…

    Isn’t Lex a little young to be President? Getting that bit of the Constitution changed would seem to be a tall order.

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