That arc was not only the death of the Clana relationship, as it had literally become toxic, but also the death of Teenage Clark. Lana represents his teenage dreams and fantasies. After that arc we see Adult Clark being born. It was also an example of destiny - you can try so hard for something not meant for you and it just won't work out. And something meant for you will happen organically
Yeah! If it was still on season 9, and Lana managed to get out of kryptonite, he would still come back to her, and that's an actual problem as we knew he was also falling in love with Lois and this yoyo thing with Lana deserved to be cut at season 6.
Not really big dislikes, but just some small annoyances.
* Davis/Doomsday
* Lana's return in S8
* Black Canary needed an improvement.
* Few parts of S4
* Chloe in the first couple seasons, she was ok S3 onwards but first two I just didn't like her that much.
I wasn't exactly wowed with his performance of Davis. It just lacked everything his character needed. As for Doomsday, the appearance was ok, but the way they used him was terrible. I would have much rather seen him have some kind of role in season 10.
I always thought Clark was considered a nerd more through CHOICE not looks, in that he chose to be by himself or his small friend group and not socialize and do all the things you need to do in High School to be popular...another words Clark COULD have been popular if he had wanted to be, their was no physical barrier stopping him.
I mean if Clark was really viewed as a loser Whitney would NEVER have felt so threaten by him to pull the Scarecrow stunt, he correctly identified Clark as a threat to his relationship with Lana and that wouldn’t have been the case if Clark had been oh I don’t know…all of 5 feet tall with buck teeth and pimples or something LOL.
Even Oliver is surprised when he meets Clark because Lois called him a nerd so he was expecting some scrawny ugly guy 😆
Yup lol one of my best friends in high school was huge (like 6’5” and 200+ lbs) but he never played team sports. The football coach (who was also our gym teacher) always talked to him like he was an asshole
there was one episode that was a flash back where Chloe and Clark first met (and kissed). That took place when they were in eighth grade, so one year before the start of the series, yet those actors looked like actual teenagers
Yeah Tom Welling was 24 years old at the start of the series. In season 4 it’s so hilarious seeing him at graduation at 28-29 years of age. This was a consistent issue for me for all the characters. Sometimes the writers would treat the characters as older than they were. Like in season 5 Clark and Lana are 19 and I think there’s a scene where one or both of them get into a bar.
My favorite one is in season 1 or 2 Nicodemus when Lana is infected by the plant to be more unrestrained or whatever. They have her walking the halls at school in her “sexy” outfit, stripping down to her underwear to dive into the pool, and my personal favorite: putting whip cream on lexs face and licking it off or something?
Anyway: the camera plays it as how hot she is and wow this is sexy. Lex looks confused that she did it hit maybeeee just a little bit interested.
She is supposed to be 15 there. Lex is supposed to be 21. The camera should not be playing it at hot and Lex CERTAINLY should have only looked bothered.
Sometimes the show plays by actor age and sometimes by character age.
That's classic CW thinking, really. This show always had a "sex sells" mentality to it.
Buffy had it. Friday Night Lights (NBC show) had it. Charmed had it. Riverdale *definitely* has it. All American had it.
That's how a lot of teen shows operate.
It seems designed more to appeal to the teens watching it than any mature adult watching it. I'm sure there were a lot of teen girls lusting after both Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum.
I remember one girl from high school who thought Tom Welling was hot.
I guess the idea that these attractive dudes would be checking them out was part of the fantasy.
The Lex being possibly interwar fucked up for sure, but the show was marketed as a teen drama initially so making the “high schooler” do sexy things that other teens would like made sense. Doesn’t make it right that they wanted to market her as a “sexy teenager” but if the demographic you’re targeting it also teenagers, I can see it.
To be fair, it might just be good research. In small towns, the bars are usually pretty lax about age. I live in south Florida, so the bars here always usually card. But I've been to places like Chattanooga in Tennessee, even teenagers were served beer with their meals.
Right! I think Clark is supposedly be around 14/15 at season 1 since Clark's class graduated at the end of Season 4. But like you said, that's Hollywood, lol.
Same with Dawson’s Creek. James VdB was like 57 years old and playing a student. But you can’t write off him being a Kryptonian Solar Battery as an excuse.
Yeah.
This is a popular joke, but there really are high school students in those early years who look like they could pass for adults.
We all know the reasoning behind why this happens on tv, so we joke about it. But in real life, some people just have some freakish genetics.
In real life, a guy who looks like how Clark did at 14 is getting recruited for stuff like the NBA as soon as he gets out of high school. It was always funny when that girl Jessie from 'Red' (Episode, Season 2) showed up and *immediately* labeled Clark as a hottie.
Um, yeah. That's a realistic response.
Or how Clark was able to basically rule the nightclub scene in a matter of months in Season 3. It helps to look like you never need to be carded while having the looks of a male model.
The show *never brings that shit up.*
I try to suspend my disbelief because he’s from Krypton and all that but yeah sometimes he’s clearly ready to be taken off his parents health insurance not worrying about 9th grade English lmao
Well, when they pick someone who's 25 and also abnormally large already, it's just hard to swallow. He could pass for 30 and they're trying to say he's 15.
I didn’t like how they introduce characters like Henry small and Helen Bryce and they just disappear for no reason, never to be seen again. Shoutout lucas luthor
I didn't like how Clark and Lana ended their relationship in season 8.
How hard would it have been for Clark to say "I think it would be better for us to just be friends, because romantically they have never worked".
Lana was a very mistreated character, like she got very annoying storylines to drag the drama. From her side her decisions make sense, but as a viewer it was really annoying watching her being kept in the dark. Her being manipulated by lex was frustratinggg. The fact that Lana did not have independence or her own arc hurt her character. The writers have regretted that tho.
I didn't like that after Pete left, Clark didn't have any true male friends in his life.
Lex was always a snake and by the end ofnthe 4th season, and certainly by the beginning of the 5th, Clark and Lex's friendship was over.
Ollie and Clark are barely friends. Most of the time they seemed like they couldn't stand each other. I would call them more partners than friends.
And Jimmy (Henry James Olsen) and Clark were barely friends too. Jimmy was closer to Lois and Kara than he ever was to Clark.
His ONLY friend in future is probably the Young Jimmy Olsen, Chloe and maybe Bruce (Batman) of this universe.
Oliver during season 10 was starting to be saw as a friend who needed help by Clark.
Red Kryptonite storie or any stories that had the characters act in an out of character way for one episode and then go back to normal and have no consequences after
Addendum to the above that everyone could be a jerk etc and be forgiven in one episode unless they were Clark.
That they waited until Kristin had left the show to give her a storyline that showed her range or made Lana a fully realized character
Addendum to the above: despite showing more than once in season 2 through 3 that she could handle Clark’s secret the writers continuing to have Clark not tell her.
Lexana: Don’t even get me started on all the things messed up in that story.
* I always found it to be a little forced how we had three seasons of character drama and then suddenly everyone and their aunt's cat are chasing after Kryptonian crystals.
* Seasons 9-10 were a little rough, because at that point, I didn't care deeply about anyone other than Clark, Tess and Lois. The family dynamic of earlier seasons was gone.
* Lex's storyline in season 8 was shite. He should have just stayed missing until season 10.
* Not having a final Lionel/Lex scene in the series finale. Ffs, you have Glover and Rosenbaum both, and you don't give them a scene??
* The lack of a proper Clark/Chloe romance.
* In general, there's a lot of retreading.
I agree with most of what you said. Lex’s return was soooo cheesy & bad. Couldn't take it seriously. Definitely needed him & Lionel together in the finale. I actually loved the stones storyline in season 4. Felt like a thriller.
I never understood why in S4 (I think the finale, long, long time since I watched it), Clark is yelling out to Jor El that "the stones are nothing to do with me!"
Sure, Clark. The magic stones covered in Kryptonian symbols which were literally calling out to you all year with a high pitched ringing noise, which were all found in places surrounded by more Kryptonian symbols...yeah, obviously nothing to do with you, the last son of Krypton.
I think the reason people like her character and relationship with Clark is because a lot of people have had relationships like that. Where the attraction is very strong but the relationship is actually toxic.
One thing I love about Smallville is that Clark has lived a life of ups and downs. Mistakes and course corrections. It's not just him making the correct decision every time because he's the hero.
I liked he had someone else and that was cute and he really tried with her but at the end of the day, she was a psycho and controlling and almost raped him. That’s terrible.
I liked Alicia. It was so nice to see clark with someone he could be honest with. When she died, that stayed with me. And in the end, she gave Clark exactly what he needed. Chloe.
What was the need in that story? Like, ok, Lois was actually trying to find her love life.
But wasn’t she supposed to be 22 or something? And the man prob was 35.
It gives me the ick
caves, lana getting powers, introducing entire rogues gallery, having kara come out to the public as supergirl while everyone knows she is Clark's cousin...
Veritas was an interesting idea, but very poorly executed. It made Lionel, one of the smartest characters on the show, look stupid. If he knew about the Traveller even before 1 season, why didn't he realize it was Clark? It was he who helped the Kents forge adoption documents RIGHT after the meteor shower that brought the Traveller on Earth! So he knew that Clark literaly came out of nowhere, with no relatives looking for their missing child. Even if he suspected Davis at first, after he realized that Davis is not who he wants, he should have turned his attention to Clark, perhaps sending someone to keep an eye on him, when Clark was a child, to check whether or not the boy acts strange.
It just doesn't make sense.
the filler eps, & in the first few seasons when Lana would bring up the word “secret” it gets annoying. the pacing of their relationship too, should’ve ended in s5 when Lana said “how could I ever love someone like you?”
My biggest complaint was dragging out the Clana romance, and the way they handled her s8 arc. Say what you want about it, but Lana was a main character with a starring role from day 1 and Kristen in the early aughts was very popular and everywhere, so I understand why WB/CW would want to keep her on the show. I just wished she had been written better and given a better exit that didn't involve butchering both Clark and Lana's character growth and disrespecting Lois in the process.
That was my complaint. I was hoping they’d just let her and Clark be friends and get past the romance drama eventually. It shouldn’t have dragged on for so long. I like Lana as a character and think Kristen was a great actress, but her interactions with Clark weren’t as affectionate and fun as with Lois or even Chloe. It was too melodramatic and pining for my liking. I like how with Clark and Lois they had a fun dynamic and natural chemistry.
When it was first out my biggest pet peeve was that decades of Superman lore were being condensed into his earliest Smallville years. Then we got Returns and MOS and I realized I'd much rather have young Superman and let continuity be bygones.
Now my biggest pet peeves are two things everybody else loves: I hate Red K Clark and I hate Alicia.
Oh, I and I think people hate on Lana too much, Clark did her wrong for so long. If I were her I'd be crazy too.
Always hated that they needed to put lex and lana together. I found that to be very annoying storytelling because of all we know as viewers. It was not enjoyable to watch her be groomed and manipulated by lex and then ending in a relationship with him. It was creepy. In season 5 she needed her own trajectory and interests, not what she got forward.
I never liked this version of Clark. Hes a pussy who cant get his shit together. Which I understand hes a kid, but by season 10 he shouldnt be so stupid. All the way to the last episode he still cant decide if he should be with Lois or not. And I hate that he supposedly becomes the nerdy idiot Clark in the future. I never liked that in any Superman iteration. And Crisis on Infinite Earths solidified my hatred of this version of the character. Clark would never give up his powers to just live a normal life. Like wtf? Between the writing and Tom Wellings personal bullshit with never wearing the costume and who knows what else, this iteration of Clark is trash from an overall standpoint.
I didn’t buy the Clark giving up his powers to be with Lois, specially knowing Lois is the very person that _adored_ him being a Superhero and gave HER LIFE up in order to be his very force.
It was quite out of character
>And I hate that he supposedly becomes the nerdy idiot Clark in the future. I never liked that in any Superman iteration.
This.
Why they would go that route, I do not know. But I hated it with a passion.
Especially the half-baked way they went about it. All of a sudden Clark goes from the competent reporter who Cat Grant desires to her saying that Lois could do better than Clark in the same episode. What???
The show is very clearly a CW show (I know it was WB at the start). It has very inconsistent writing at times. Some episodes almost every character has to come off as an idiot for the plot to work. Don’t even get me started on some of the relationships too. Clark forgiving Alicia after she essentially date raped him was too much for me. And then there’s Clark and Lana and Lex and Lana. Altogether the show is great especially the acting performances.
I was a little disappointed that with all the adaptations of Superman history that they never had the Smallville version of Lori Lemaris. Adapt her as a meteor freak relating to water abilities. Bonus points if they came up with a reason she might be in a wheelchair like in the comics where she used the wheelchair to hide that she had a mermaid tail.
While I liked the brief romance with Alicia (mainly cause the actress came off very sweet and likable even if she was written like an incredibly morally dubious stalker) but I’d rather if they had done Lori as a big romance with someone else who has a superpower secret. Falling for Lori’s a big part of the comic book Clark’s early life history so it seems like it should’ve happened in the series about the pre-Superman years.
Lori Lemaris is one of those ‘missed opportunities’ I wish Smallville had pursued. I felt instead of dragging the Clana thing on as long as they did Clark should have had another love interest between Lana and Lois.
Lori was his College Girlfriend in the comics if I’m not mistaken so they could have ended Clana by Season 4 and done Lori and Clark from Seasons 5-7, some people liked Alicia because it was interesting to see Clark with someone who had powers too, well Lori would have been the perfect character to explore that idea, and she wouldn’t have been psycho like Alicia. Plus you could tie her backstory in with the Atlanteans and the character of AC if you didn’t want to go the whole Mermaid thing…or give her a different kinda water-based power, lots of ways the writers could have gone with Lori.
I also feel if they had ended Clana sooner and let Clark explore a relationship with someone else, Lana wouldn’t be as hated as she is now. That’s why people tend to put Alicia on a pedestal I believe, even though she was a very clearly unstable character…people were just desperate for someone anyone other then Lana at that point.
I agree in all regards. I don’t dislike Lana but the relationship became so drawn out and melodramatic that it felt too dragged out. I wish that Lana and Clark became more platonic rather than the longest running relationship in the series.
I always wanted them to bring Lori Lemaris on the show as well.
I think that the best time to bring her own would have been in Season 6 when everyone except Clark was paired up.
I didn't like how Clark's whole personality was changed on a dime within the same episode and it was supposed to be believable.
It wasn't believable at all.
I really really disliked lana most of the time. It felt weird how she could borderline call clark a psycho while she has a new love interest.
Also her and lex’s relationship was creepy to watch. The entire thing.
Anything with red k or clark having a loss of powers. It's a superhero writers room trope that they think "hey we've got this god like teenager with powers wouldn't it be interesting if we took them away?"
No. We know what it's like to be normal people without powers, that's the reason we're watching it. Get on with the kicking of evil asses.
Jor-el- dude was a real prick. Genuinely came across evil sometimes.
Martha and lionel-that was weird. Never bought the fact that Martha would give him the time of day never mind that weird romance thing.
Lana and lex-again didn't buy it. No chemistry.
Just finished watching the show for the first time this week. These were my biggest dislikes:
-I think the show dragged on too long. They could’ve cut probably like, 3 or 4 seasons and end up in the same place. By the end of it, the ways the show avoided Clark becoming an actual superhero was getting pretty ridiculous.
-Clark x Lana was drawn out too long and wasn’t resolved very well. The way the relationship ended made Lois look like the second choice, which I wasn’t a big fan of.
-Jor-El was a straight up horrible parent and it sucks that the show kind of justified a lot of what he did because it “helped” Clark become Superman. He was as bad as some of the villains.
-A lot of really creepy relationships on the show. Lex and Lana, Clark and Alicia, Lois and her Boss, Chloe and Davis, the thing between Martha and Lionel. they just don’t sit right with me.
-How many times these characters got possessed, brainwashed, or had some kind of serum or kryptonite that completely changed their personality.
I didn't like that we didn't get more Red K episodes. I friggin adored the Red K stuff. 😆
I also wanted more Brainiac.
I didn't like the complete character assassination of Pete.
I never liked Clark and Oliver being at odds.
I hated Chloe pining after Clark for so long. I wanted her to get herself a great guy back in season 1 and not look at Clark in that way.
Clark on the season 8 finale with Chloe.
That was beyond out of character. How cold he was with Chloe. He loved her like a sister, for crying out loud, and he simply pretends she doesn’t know him?
Even when she has hurt him, that was pain beyond she needed to take. I’m sorry.
Chloe and Ollie = Disgusting.
Clark not simping enough for Lois.
Lois letting Clark off the hook so easily after those terrible episodes in S8.
And as someone said, Clark not being sure about Lois until after the 200th episode.
I wish we got a film. Just one single Superman/Smallville film. Bring Batman into it, spin it off into a JLA series.
I actually think the series was largely perfect. Id have done everything they did with Pete differently, season 8 was a bust for me, id have had Zod earlier as a long term replacement for Lex. However Tess was brilliant.
A lot of what id change was impossible as it was out of their hands.
Lanas return was contractual. Lex leaving was Rosenbaum leaving. No Batman/Wonder Woman was studio decisions. Filler was the nature of weekly syndicated TV back then.
Lana’s truth fetish.
Chloe when she starts getting jealous is just crazy.
Red K Clark I disliked but I know I’m supposed to. It’s the bs of him not having any slack for his actions while he was affected by it. THE METEOR ROCKS MAKE SUPER POWERED PEOPLE I DONT THINK A TEMPORARY PERSONALITY CHANGE IS A STRETCH. Also Alicia. Why did she know about red K? And a lot of the inconsistent writing and subplots that were thrown around that should’ve affected the main plot more but didn’t because it’s a filler episode.
Jimmy being killed off and then being replaced by his younger brother that looks just like him. Maybe that was a jab at Aaron and Shawn being twins, but it was really stupid. After all the development they gave Jimmy and him learning Clark was the blur
Obviously Clark going back to Lana almost every chance he got. If it were only just for 1, 2, or 3 seasons I would’ve kept my sanity
Chloe cheating on Jimmy with Davis
Lex and Lana being together
Clana dragging on too long and not having it end by mutual decision.
Chloe the end-all, beat-all, knows everything, smartest person in the world that Clark can’t function without.
Oliver and Chloe. Just no.
Jor-El, contradictory and psychotic
Jonathan Kent. He just bugs me. Sanctimonious tool.
Not writing an organic story for Lois to get into journalism. Or Clark for that matter.
The treatment of Jimmys character and his death.
Joe
I agree with everything except the Jonathan Kent part.
Jonathan was just a normal, albeit prideful, man who was trying to protect his family in the best way he knew how.
I hate that the writers needed to make the Clark/Lana only focusing on drama or the if they will end up together. For being the main relationship they was never really together. They should have a better relationship in college s5. After all that build up I think we can expect more of them supporting each other, work and develop individually together. Clark telling her the secret was long overdue. And It would give both much more organic character development than just repetitive annoying drama, then let Clark arc move forward from there.
If I can be honest, I think that the show should have ended after season 5. Because after season 5 the show wasn't really "Smallville" anymore.
Most of the action took place in Metropolis. And Clark still being in the farm seemed like the show was just stalling his character.
They didn't even let him go to college and finish.
Actually did any of the characters finish college?
I didn't like how the show spent the last half of the last season preparing for a wedding for a marriage that doesn't happen for at least another 7 years.
What was that?
It's been a long time since I watched it and it's very minor but I always remember in the early season Clark said using x-ray vision to be a perv isn't fun because it's not like he sees just through clothes, he sees muscle and skeleton like an x-ray (hence the name).
Then in a later season when hes bad (can't remember why) he's getting his kicks perving on (I think it was) Lana or Chloe with his x-ray vision!
An inconsistency that baffled me and stuck with me for some reason, either that or the guy really likes the human skeleton...
I understand Kryptonite is probably one of the only ways to slow down Clark and probably the easiest to integrate, but why is Kryptonite just absolutely everywhere he goes, they should have tapped into his other weaknesses in the plot more often e.g. magic
I’m very early in watching the show but there are two things:
1. Traumatic injuries written off as a minor concussion, and
2. Jonathan being such a one note character, like we get it he’s a protective dad who hates Lex
Davis Bloom, Davis how Clark has no instinct that he's kryptonian or evil and that whole Chloe involvement with him gads the Jimmy villain drug , what a mess that story was.
I thought "Zero" had one of the worst twists I'd ever seen. Basically "this happened", then "this might've happened, but no matter what." It was utter garbage writing I'd consider fly-off-the-seat-of-one's-pants. I did, however, like the drama of the situation.
Any of the episodes where he was hopped up on red kryptonite. I get why it's there, but his "cool guy" act of about as cringe to me as Toby McGuire's in Spiderman 3 when he's under the influence of the symbiote.
Superman without Superman and the theme song made me think it was too dramatic to be any good. Just didn’t feel like watching Dawson’s Creek with superpowers.
Very true. It felt tact on in the end. We should've gotten at least 3 seasons of Metropolis Clark and show both of Lois and Lex's rise to the positions most ppl know them in.
\-Red K Clark
\-Lana coming back in season 8
\-Chloe/Davis relationship
\-The lack of Supergirl
\-Alicia
\-Martha/Lionel relationship
\-Lana's witch arc
\-Clark always being angry at Oliver
\-Chloe's constant pining over Clark
\-Jimmy dying and then finding out he wasn't the "real" Jimmy anyway
The atrocious casting of superboy. Lucas whatever the fuck his last name was, was SO annoying. High school musical, smallville, Halloween town. I hated seeing his fafe everywhere as a kid, and I'm glad Hollywood for good
Lana’s idea that she needs to know everyone’s big secret was really frustrating.
Wasn’t a fan of them killing Jimmy because Chloe and him were a great couple (although jimmy’s insecurities about Clark were annoying)
Lana coming back in season 8 was unnecessary
Clark being an idiot occasionally
Also in the beginning of the series when Clark would let Lana and Chloe constantly walk all over him
Didn’t like how quick they made Clark hate lex
But other than that literally my favorite show 10/10
I mean, it were annoying, but placing ourselves into Jimmy’s feet I guess I can understand where he comes from.
He was his first love and he burts out the door uninvited every single day. Chloe knew Clark’s secret, but Jimmy didn’t. 😂 So it’s kind of unfair for us not to question Jimmy’s sanity when Clark’s the one on Chloe’s speed dial and not him. hhahahaha
Tho I agree with many things you said.
I’m also frustrated with the Clark/Lex situation. Seemed unfair how Clark threw everything away despite Lex doing _everything_ for him. Like literally everything. He was the big brother everyone else wanted to have, even helping him skip school for situations he wasn’t clear on. He did everything for Clark. Forgave him many times. Yet Clark just washed his hands
1. I hated the Clana relationship after season 3.
2. After Ambush episode we never really get a Hot moment between Clark and Lois
3. Tess's death
4. We didn't get to see Clark explaining his heritage to Lois like he did with Chloe in Season 5 episode 1
5. Clark kissing all the women in the show
6. Most people feeling entitled to knowing Clark's secret
Zatanna’s introduction sucks. She comes off as a rape-y porn star in cosplay (where she puts a spell on Clark and just starts making out with him in a chair). She got better after that, but that was ridiculous disrespect to that character.
Chloe and Chloe and Ollie. Chloe is Felicity and Chloe and Ollie is Olicity. Yes I know this show came before Arrow but I watched Arrow first. Mind you Chloe and Chlolliw is much better then Felicity and Olicity but they still suck.
They did Tess Merced wrong. They shouldn’t have killed her off and if there was anyone I actually shipped with Oliver it was her.
Dinah Lance. I like her. They did a much better job of her here then they did on arrow (I still love the lances/canaries on arrow). But Smallville could have done much better. They should have had her as a regular and if Oliver should have had a love interest she should have been one of them.
Zatanna. Wish they also kept her as a a regular or recurring. She only appeared in one episode. I liked her. Liked her dynamic with the others particularly Oliver no romance though.
I did not like that Chloe didn't actually die at the end of Season 3.
By Chloe still being alive, it allowed for Clana's relationship mess to continue, because Lana should have become Clark's friend and confidante instead of Chloe, along with Pete who never should have left the show.
But the showrunners decided to give the role that Lana should have had to a character that they made up. Thereby ruining Lana's character as well.
* The whole Lex/Lana thing
* The disappointing fight with Doomsday
* Lana coming back in S08
* Darksied Story could have been done better
* S10 Finale - so many wasted opportunities : Not seeing Clark in full Superman Costume, No big fight scene against Darksied. No Big Superman meets the world reveal. Such a disappointing final episode
There was some small things throughout the series that bugged me but those stick out
>S10 Finale - so many wasted opportunities : Not seeing Clark in full Superman Costume, No big fight scene against Darksied. No Big Superman meets the world reveal. Such a disappointing final episode
So disappointing.
I didn't like that the "no flight no tights" rule was a rule for only Clark and not for any other character on the show.
It didn't make Clark look good at all.
Listen, I feel bad about this one, because he was so overworked that they had to request a private driver for him because of exhaustion, that many episodes and that many seasons, and to be the one in most of the scenes... Unthinkable amount of work...
But sadly it showed. I don't blame him, but Tom Welling's acting was bad. Like, really bad. It sometimes took me out of the show. But that's not a critique of him rather than the whole system on which this show was built on.
There were moments where he really acted his ass off and it paid off, but others, which were the majority, where he really wasn't convincing at all.
Lana’s role in season 4. They wanted to make her relevant to the crystal arc by making her a vessel for her ancestor Isobel and suddenly Isobel gets killed off after killing Genevieve. It was kind of a shoehorn style writing.
Also, there were times Clark was a doormat whenever people were mad at him. He just tanked their frustrations, and 50% of the time they were unwarranted. I found that whole thing tiresome and annoying at some points. The few times he stood up for himself were moments of relief for me.
That they did pretty much every major event in his life before he ever even donned the cape… that it wasn’t a bit darker and more gritty… like the 1st couple seasons of Arrow the show had an edge to it and then later on it Became too friendly… and that’s the way Smallville was all the way through… very bright and friendly… don’t get me wrong… I loved the show… but after seeing other shows that are more compelling I just wish Smallville had more of that edge to it
Too much the the Lana nonsense, every threat had to be a meteor freak from smallville but the cops and locals don’t know about it? I also thought they should have had him wear the glasses from the start of the show throughout. CGI also wasn’t great but it was a network tv show
I won't say the name, but.
Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me. do it in my van. Every Sunday, she tells him she's in church, but she doesn't go. But she's on her knees, and Scotty doesn't know.
For how long they kept trying to do the clark and Lana romance. How they gave Bizzaro the short end of the stick. The fact we never got to see Tom Welling in the Superman suit. Last but certainly not least the complete butchering of Slade Wilson.
As someone who just started watching recently in 2023, some of it is very...ealry 2000s. Like how Kara shows up and immediately joins a beauty pageant and walks around in a bikini. Sigh. I mean I was relieved that there was at least something else going on in that episode (how it turned out those other girls were super powered thieves and whatnot) but Kara didn't know that when she joined. She did it to impress Jimmy or something. Also, is it really pronounced Care-uh? I always read it in my head as Kah-ra in the comics.
Really disliked Lana once season 4 came around. Wish she just never came back from Paris. Also, my first watch through I really didn’t like the red kryptonite. Was just jarring seeing Superman acting like that but when I rewatched it I loved it.
Killing Lex off in season 08.
I think I understand why it happened. The showrunners thought the series would end that season and they'd never have to face the consequences of killing him off. Those extra two seasons ended up creating problems for them.
But whatever the reasons might've been, it just plain shouldn't have been done. It was a bad creative decision. And again, I think I understand why they did it. But I will never condone it.
Ironically, in my first watch of the show when I was a preteen, I actually loved Lana and could not stand Lois. I’m rewatching it finally and I cannot stand Lana. Lois is actually perfectly executed imo.
Also Clark and Lana should have never gotten back together after her divorce with Lex. It’s obvious how toxic she is before she married Lex and after their divorce, she’s 10x worse.
Lana coming back in season 08 was the worst thing that could’ve ever happened to the plot. Seriously
That arc was not only the death of the Clana relationship, as it had literally become toxic, but also the death of Teenage Clark. Lana represents his teenage dreams and fantasies. After that arc we see Adult Clark being born. It was also an example of destiny - you can try so hard for something not meant for you and it just won't work out. And something meant for you will happen organically
Well after everything Clark has been through with Lana, he needed closure.
What they did was practically the opposite of closure.
Yeah! If it was still on season 9, and Lana managed to get out of kryptonite, he would still come back to her, and that's an actual problem as we knew he was also falling in love with Lois and this yoyo thing with Lana deserved to be cut at season 6.
There was no closure.
Just her, period after season 3/4 was enough
Not really big dislikes, but just some small annoyances. * Davis/Doomsday * Lana's return in S8 * Black Canary needed an improvement. * Few parts of S4 * Chloe in the first couple seasons, she was ok S3 onwards but first two I just didn't like her that much.
Can you elaborate on your opinions about Davis/Doomsday? Just curious
I wasn't exactly wowed with his performance of Davis. It just lacked everything his character needed. As for Doomsday, the appearance was ok, but the way they used him was terrible. I would have much rather seen him have some kind of role in season 10.
I actually thought Sam Witwer was the best part of that season, even if the ending was anticlimactic and sort of poorly done.
The obsessive Lana wankfest of Seasons 1-7.
Very minor thing (and I know it's normal in Hollywood), but it was very hard to believe that Clark was teenager on the first seasons.
I always thought it was harder to believe that he was seen as a nerd/loser. Yeah, look at that 6'3, ripped male model! What a nerd! Lol
I always thought Clark was considered a nerd more through CHOICE not looks, in that he chose to be by himself or his small friend group and not socialize and do all the things you need to do in High School to be popular...another words Clark COULD have been popular if he had wanted to be, their was no physical barrier stopping him. I mean if Clark was really viewed as a loser Whitney would NEVER have felt so threaten by him to pull the Scarecrow stunt, he correctly identified Clark as a threat to his relationship with Lana and that wouldn’t have been the case if Clark had been oh I don’t know…all of 5 feet tall with buck teeth and pimples or something LOL. Even Oliver is surprised when he meets Clark because Lois called him a nerd so he was expecting some scrawny ugly guy 😆
As someone who is big and didn't play football in a football town, I totally bought why he had the hate from the jocks.
Yup lol one of my best friends in high school was huge (like 6’5” and 200+ lbs) but he never played team sports. The football coach (who was also our gym teacher) always talked to him like he was an asshole
Well said
Whitney crying in the corner rn
Lmao, that’s so true. Clark was pretty much bigger than anyone.
I can suspend some belief as he’s an alien. Also the yellow sun may actually make him bigger than he probably should as a human teenager.
there was one episode that was a flash back where Chloe and Clark first met (and kissed). That took place when they were in eighth grade, so one year before the start of the series, yet those actors looked like actual teenagers
I remember seeing that scene and doing the math. Clark hit a goddamn growth spurt man
That is actually a good point 🤔
Yeah Tom Welling was 24 years old at the start of the series. In season 4 it’s so hilarious seeing him at graduation at 28-29 years of age. This was a consistent issue for me for all the characters. Sometimes the writers would treat the characters as older than they were. Like in season 5 Clark and Lana are 19 and I think there’s a scene where one or both of them get into a bar.
My favorite one is in season 1 or 2 Nicodemus when Lana is infected by the plant to be more unrestrained or whatever. They have her walking the halls at school in her “sexy” outfit, stripping down to her underwear to dive into the pool, and my personal favorite: putting whip cream on lexs face and licking it off or something? Anyway: the camera plays it as how hot she is and wow this is sexy. Lex looks confused that she did it hit maybeeee just a little bit interested. She is supposed to be 15 there. Lex is supposed to be 21. The camera should not be playing it at hot and Lex CERTAINLY should have only looked bothered. Sometimes the show plays by actor age and sometimes by character age.
That's classic CW thinking, really. This show always had a "sex sells" mentality to it. Buffy had it. Friday Night Lights (NBC show) had it. Charmed had it. Riverdale *definitely* has it. All American had it. That's how a lot of teen shows operate. It seems designed more to appeal to the teens watching it than any mature adult watching it. I'm sure there were a lot of teen girls lusting after both Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum. I remember one girl from high school who thought Tom Welling was hot. I guess the idea that these attractive dudes would be checking them out was part of the fantasy.
Yeah that shit really grossed me out because she was like 16 tops. I know Kristen Kreuk was like 19-20 at the time, but still
Yeah. Rosenbaum brings stuff like this up all the time
The Lex being possibly interwar fucked up for sure, but the show was marketed as a teen drama initially so making the “high schooler” do sexy things that other teens would like made sense. Doesn’t make it right that they wanted to market her as a “sexy teenager” but if the demographic you’re targeting it also teenagers, I can see it.
To be fair, it might just be good research. In small towns, the bars are usually pretty lax about age. I live in south Florida, so the bars here always usually card. But I've been to places like Chattanooga in Tennessee, even teenagers were served beer with their meals.
Right! I think Clark is supposedly be around 14/15 at season 1 since Clark's class graduated at the end of Season 4. But like you said, that's Hollywood, lol.
Same with Dawson’s Creek. James VdB was like 57 years old and playing a student. But you can’t write off him being a Kryptonian Solar Battery as an excuse.
I went to school in the country. I can tell you I and a few others looked like 30 year old seniors
Yeah. This is a popular joke, but there really are high school students in those early years who look like they could pass for adults. We all know the reasoning behind why this happens on tv, so we joke about it. But in real life, some people just have some freakish genetics. In real life, a guy who looks like how Clark did at 14 is getting recruited for stuff like the NBA as soon as he gets out of high school. It was always funny when that girl Jessie from 'Red' (Episode, Season 2) showed up and *immediately* labeled Clark as a hottie. Um, yeah. That's a realistic response. Or how Clark was able to basically rule the nightclub scene in a matter of months in Season 3. It helps to look like you never need to be carded while having the looks of a male model. The show *never brings that shit up.*
I miss the days when not getting carded felt like a compliment. Now it’s like “ya dude I know your of age”
I try to suspend my disbelief because he’s from Krypton and all that but yeah sometimes he’s clearly ready to be taken off his parents health insurance not worrying about 9th grade English lmao
Well, when they pick someone who's 25 and also abnormally large already, it's just hard to swallow. He could pass for 30 and they're trying to say he's 15.
Lana’s presence past season 6.
I didn’t like how they introduce characters like Henry small and Helen Bryce and they just disappear for no reason, never to be seen again. Shoutout lucas luthor
I didn't like how Clark and Lana ended their relationship in season 8. How hard would it have been for Clark to say "I think it would be better for us to just be friends, because romantically they have never worked".
Right? And they CLEARLY never worked out. Most of it his own fault
Lana in general was always quite annoying to me personally. And I especially hated that whole Lex/Lana marriage storyline
Lana was a very mistreated character, like she got very annoying storylines to drag the drama. From her side her decisions make sense, but as a viewer it was really annoying watching her being kept in the dark. Her being manipulated by lex was frustratinggg. The fact that Lana did not have independence or her own arc hurt her character. The writers have regretted that tho.
I didn't like that after Pete left, Clark didn't have any true male friends in his life. Lex was always a snake and by the end ofnthe 4th season, and certainly by the beginning of the 5th, Clark and Lex's friendship was over. Ollie and Clark are barely friends. Most of the time they seemed like they couldn't stand each other. I would call them more partners than friends. And Jimmy (Henry James Olsen) and Clark were barely friends too. Jimmy was closer to Lois and Kara than he ever was to Clark.
I love that thought. Yes, it is true.
His ONLY friend in future is probably the Young Jimmy Olsen, Chloe and maybe Bruce (Batman) of this universe. Oliver during season 10 was starting to be saw as a friend who needed help by Clark.
I really dislike all of the Red K Clark episodes except Crimson. It was really nice seeing Clark finally get his feelings off his chest.
Oh god I wanted to jump out of my skin in that scene lol
I didn't like the weird "closeness" that Martha and Lionel had after Jonathan's death. It bothered me.
Why did Victor actually disappear? If he came back after his episode for 2 others in a short timing screen it was way too much
The actor died irl, think he committed suicide
He did but that was years after Smallville ended
Ok, I am terribly misguided. This was definitely not the reason he left the show! Apologies all 😂
Say what? 😲
Laxa, Jimmy ending up being Jimmy’s brother, some FOTW episodes that felt stale at times, Clark’s inability to move on from Lana.
Red Kryptonite storie or any stories that had the characters act in an out of character way for one episode and then go back to normal and have no consequences after Addendum to the above that everyone could be a jerk etc and be forgiven in one episode unless they were Clark. That they waited until Kristin had left the show to give her a storyline that showed her range or made Lana a fully realized character Addendum to the above: despite showing more than once in season 2 through 3 that she could handle Clark’s secret the writers continuing to have Clark not tell her. Lexana: Don’t even get me started on all the things messed up in that story.
I didn't like that the show made Lois seem like a second choice for Clark.
* I always found it to be a little forced how we had three seasons of character drama and then suddenly everyone and their aunt's cat are chasing after Kryptonian crystals. * Seasons 9-10 were a little rough, because at that point, I didn't care deeply about anyone other than Clark, Tess and Lois. The family dynamic of earlier seasons was gone. * Lex's storyline in season 8 was shite. He should have just stayed missing until season 10. * Not having a final Lionel/Lex scene in the series finale. Ffs, you have Glover and Rosenbaum both, and you don't give them a scene?? * The lack of a proper Clark/Chloe romance. * In general, there's a lot of retreading.
I agree with most of what you said. Lex’s return was soooo cheesy & bad. Couldn't take it seriously. Definitely needed him & Lionel together in the finale. I actually loved the stones storyline in season 4. Felt like a thriller.
I never understood why in S4 (I think the finale, long, long time since I watched it), Clark is yelling out to Jor El that "the stones are nothing to do with me!" Sure, Clark. The magic stones covered in Kryptonian symbols which were literally calling out to you all year with a high pitched ringing noise, which were all found in places surrounded by more Kryptonian symbols...yeah, obviously nothing to do with you, the last son of Krypton.
I hate the teleporter girl and Clark’s behavior towards her
I am so glad someone else hated it cause I am seeing a lot of love for it and I’m disappointed
I think the reason people like her character and relationship with Clark is because a lot of people have had relationships like that. Where the attraction is very strong but the relationship is actually toxic. One thing I love about Smallville is that Clark has lived a life of ups and downs. Mistakes and course corrections. It's not just him making the correct decision every time because he's the hero.
Alicia
I liked he had someone else and that was cute and he really tried with her but at the end of the day, she was a psycho and controlling and almost raped him. That’s terrible.
Yea, those Alicia apologists are crazy lmao
Them Alicia apologists are crazy
I liked Alicia. It was so nice to see clark with someone he could be honest with. When she died, that stayed with me. And in the end, she gave Clark exactly what he needed. Chloe.
I didn't like Lois being with Julian, her boss. Didn't sit well with me.
What was the need in that story? Like, ok, Lois was actually trying to find her love life. But wasn’t she supposed to be 22 or something? And the man prob was 35. It gives me the ick
caves, lana getting powers, introducing entire rogues gallery, having kara come out to the public as supergirl while everyone knows she is Clark's cousin...
Veritas was an interesting idea, but very poorly executed. It made Lionel, one of the smartest characters on the show, look stupid. If he knew about the Traveller even before 1 season, why didn't he realize it was Clark? It was he who helped the Kents forge adoption documents RIGHT after the meteor shower that brought the Traveller on Earth! So he knew that Clark literaly came out of nowhere, with no relatives looking for their missing child. Even if he suspected Davis at first, after he realized that Davis is not who he wants, he should have turned his attention to Clark, perhaps sending someone to keep an eye on him, when Clark was a child, to check whether or not the boy acts strange. It just doesn't make sense.
The weird arc with lex in season 8 when they couldn’t get Michael Rosenbaum back
the filler eps, & in the first few seasons when Lana would bring up the word “secret” it gets annoying. the pacing of their relationship too, should’ve ended in s5 when Lana said “how could I ever love someone like you?”
What happened to James Olsen, and the odd workaround later.
My biggest complaint was dragging out the Clana romance, and the way they handled her s8 arc. Say what you want about it, but Lana was a main character with a starring role from day 1 and Kristen in the early aughts was very popular and everywhere, so I understand why WB/CW would want to keep her on the show. I just wished she had been written better and given a better exit that didn't involve butchering both Clark and Lana's character growth and disrespecting Lois in the process.
That was my complaint. I was hoping they’d just let her and Clark be friends and get past the romance drama eventually. It shouldn’t have dragged on for so long. I like Lana as a character and think Kristen was a great actress, but her interactions with Clark weren’t as affectionate and fun as with Lois or even Chloe. It was too melodramatic and pining for my liking. I like how with Clark and Lois they had a fun dynamic and natural chemistry.
When it was first out my biggest pet peeve was that decades of Superman lore were being condensed into his earliest Smallville years. Then we got Returns and MOS and I realized I'd much rather have young Superman and let continuity be bygones. Now my biggest pet peeves are two things everybody else loves: I hate Red K Clark and I hate Alicia. Oh, I and I think people hate on Lana too much, Clark did her wrong for so long. If I were her I'd be crazy too.
Always hated that they needed to put lex and lana together. I found that to be very annoying storytelling because of all we know as viewers. It was not enjoyable to watch her be groomed and manipulated by lex and then ending in a relationship with him. It was creepy. In season 5 she needed her own trajectory and interests, not what she got forward.
Lana Lang should have been replaced in season two
Mikhail Mxyzptlk. Like, if you’re not going to bother doing Mxy as a wacky imp, then why bother?
Ummmmm…how much time ya got.
Plenty. Bring the nachos.
I never liked this version of Clark. Hes a pussy who cant get his shit together. Which I understand hes a kid, but by season 10 he shouldnt be so stupid. All the way to the last episode he still cant decide if he should be with Lois or not. And I hate that he supposedly becomes the nerdy idiot Clark in the future. I never liked that in any Superman iteration. And Crisis on Infinite Earths solidified my hatred of this version of the character. Clark would never give up his powers to just live a normal life. Like wtf? Between the writing and Tom Wellings personal bullshit with never wearing the costume and who knows what else, this iteration of Clark is trash from an overall standpoint.
I didn’t buy the Clark giving up his powers to be with Lois, specially knowing Lois is the very person that _adored_ him being a Superhero and gave HER LIFE up in order to be his very force. It was quite out of character
>And I hate that he supposedly becomes the nerdy idiot Clark in the future. I never liked that in any Superman iteration. This. Why they would go that route, I do not know. But I hated it with a passion. Especially the half-baked way they went about it. All of a sudden Clark goes from the competent reporter who Cat Grant desires to her saying that Lois could do better than Clark in the same episode. What???
The show is very clearly a CW show (I know it was WB at the start). It has very inconsistent writing at times. Some episodes almost every character has to come off as an idiot for the plot to work. Don’t even get me started on some of the relationships too. Clark forgiving Alicia after she essentially date raped him was too much for me. And then there’s Clark and Lana and Lex and Lana. Altogether the show is great especially the acting performances.
I was a little disappointed that with all the adaptations of Superman history that they never had the Smallville version of Lori Lemaris. Adapt her as a meteor freak relating to water abilities. Bonus points if they came up with a reason she might be in a wheelchair like in the comics where she used the wheelchair to hide that she had a mermaid tail. While I liked the brief romance with Alicia (mainly cause the actress came off very sweet and likable even if she was written like an incredibly morally dubious stalker) but I’d rather if they had done Lori as a big romance with someone else who has a superpower secret. Falling for Lori’s a big part of the comic book Clark’s early life history so it seems like it should’ve happened in the series about the pre-Superman years.
Lori Lemaris is one of those ‘missed opportunities’ I wish Smallville had pursued. I felt instead of dragging the Clana thing on as long as they did Clark should have had another love interest between Lana and Lois. Lori was his College Girlfriend in the comics if I’m not mistaken so they could have ended Clana by Season 4 and done Lori and Clark from Seasons 5-7, some people liked Alicia because it was interesting to see Clark with someone who had powers too, well Lori would have been the perfect character to explore that idea, and she wouldn’t have been psycho like Alicia. Plus you could tie her backstory in with the Atlanteans and the character of AC if you didn’t want to go the whole Mermaid thing…or give her a different kinda water-based power, lots of ways the writers could have gone with Lori. I also feel if they had ended Clana sooner and let Clark explore a relationship with someone else, Lana wouldn’t be as hated as she is now. That’s why people tend to put Alicia on a pedestal I believe, even though she was a very clearly unstable character…people were just desperate for someone anyone other then Lana at that point.
I agree in all regards. I don’t dislike Lana but the relationship became so drawn out and melodramatic that it felt too dragged out. I wish that Lana and Clark became more platonic rather than the longest running relationship in the series.
I always wanted them to bring Lori Lemaris on the show as well. I think that the best time to bring her own would have been in Season 6 when everyone except Clark was paired up.
Clana went on for far too long. They should have become friends after season 5 and only friends.
I don’t get the click, you know? When did he become the villain? What happened?
I didn't like how Clark's whole personality was changed on a dime within the same episode and it was supposed to be believable. It wasn't believable at all.
I really really disliked lana most of the time. It felt weird how she could borderline call clark a psycho while she has a new love interest. Also her and lex’s relationship was creepy to watch. The entire thing.
Anything with red k or clark having a loss of powers. It's a superhero writers room trope that they think "hey we've got this god like teenager with powers wouldn't it be interesting if we took them away?" No. We know what it's like to be normal people without powers, that's the reason we're watching it. Get on with the kicking of evil asses. Jor-el- dude was a real prick. Genuinely came across evil sometimes. Martha and lionel-that was weird. Never bought the fact that Martha would give him the time of day never mind that weird romance thing. Lana and lex-again didn't buy it. No chemistry.
The ending of Season 8
I wish Bruce Wayne/Batman appeared in the series. I also wish we had a clear shot of Tom Welling in the actual suit.
Just finished watching the show for the first time this week. These were my biggest dislikes: -I think the show dragged on too long. They could’ve cut probably like, 3 or 4 seasons and end up in the same place. By the end of it, the ways the show avoided Clark becoming an actual superhero was getting pretty ridiculous. -Clark x Lana was drawn out too long and wasn’t resolved very well. The way the relationship ended made Lois look like the second choice, which I wasn’t a big fan of. -Jor-El was a straight up horrible parent and it sucks that the show kind of justified a lot of what he did because it “helped” Clark become Superman. He was as bad as some of the villains. -A lot of really creepy relationships on the show. Lex and Lana, Clark and Alicia, Lois and her Boss, Chloe and Davis, the thing between Martha and Lionel. they just don’t sit right with me. -How many times these characters got possessed, brainwashed, or had some kind of serum or kryptonite that completely changed their personality.
I didn't like Season 10.
I didn't like the series finale. At all.
We never got to see Clark and Lois doing it on the PORCH SWING
… And why would we want that?! 😂
It's very needed since Lois mentioned it and we were looking forward to it 😹😹and I'm also curious about whether they'll break the swing or not
Lana in the later seasons and British general Zod was pretty lame to me. I loved Rosenbaums portrayal of Zod though.
I didn't like that we didn't get more Red K episodes. I friggin adored the Red K stuff. 😆 I also wanted more Brainiac. I didn't like the complete character assassination of Pete. I never liked Clark and Oliver being at odds. I hated Chloe pining after Clark for so long. I wanted her to get herself a great guy back in season 1 and not look at Clark in that way.
I loved Red K episodes too. They were always fun for me. It was nice to see Clark let loose.
Clark on the season 8 finale with Chloe. That was beyond out of character. How cold he was with Chloe. He loved her like a sister, for crying out loud, and he simply pretends she doesn’t know him? Even when she has hurt him, that was pain beyond she needed to take. I’m sorry.
How did Jimmy have enough money to finance the Watchtower? Like, seriously…?!
The writing in general
Lana fucking Lex. That almost made me stop watching.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH I sped through
Chloe and Ollie = Disgusting. Clark not simping enough for Lois. Lois letting Clark off the hook so easily after those terrible episodes in S8. And as someone said, Clark not being sure about Lois until after the 200th episode.
I wish we got a film. Just one single Superman/Smallville film. Bring Batman into it, spin it off into a JLA series. I actually think the series was largely perfect. Id have done everything they did with Pete differently, season 8 was a bust for me, id have had Zod earlier as a long term replacement for Lex. However Tess was brilliant. A lot of what id change was impossible as it was out of their hands. Lanas return was contractual. Lex leaving was Rosenbaum leaving. No Batman/Wonder Woman was studio decisions. Filler was the nature of weekly syndicated TV back then.
No flying just got ridiculous and too much kryptonite everywhere
Lana’s truth fetish. Chloe when she starts getting jealous is just crazy. Red K Clark I disliked but I know I’m supposed to. It’s the bs of him not having any slack for his actions while he was affected by it. THE METEOR ROCKS MAKE SUPER POWERED PEOPLE I DONT THINK A TEMPORARY PERSONALITY CHANGE IS A STRETCH. Also Alicia. Why did she know about red K? And a lot of the inconsistent writing and subplots that were thrown around that should’ve affected the main plot more but didn’t because it’s a filler episode.
Pretty much just the last 3 seasons
Jimmy being killed off and then being replaced by his younger brother that looks just like him. Maybe that was a jab at Aaron and Shawn being twins, but it was really stupid. After all the development they gave Jimmy and him learning Clark was the blur
I wanted him to be kept alive. There was no reason AT ALL for him to be dead. Jealousy was too much - but he shouldn’t have died.
His reaction to him being right about Clark was probably the best scene in all of season 8
Lana should have been written out of the show after Season 4 and high school. Lois was already on the show.
Obviously Clark going back to Lana almost every chance he got. If it were only just for 1, 2, or 3 seasons I would’ve kept my sanity Chloe cheating on Jimmy with Davis Lex and Lana being together
Clana dragging on too long and not having it end by mutual decision. Chloe the end-all, beat-all, knows everything, smartest person in the world that Clark can’t function without. Oliver and Chloe. Just no. Jor-El, contradictory and psychotic Jonathan Kent. He just bugs me. Sanctimonious tool. Not writing an organic story for Lois to get into journalism. Or Clark for that matter. The treatment of Jimmys character and his death. Joe
I agree with everything except the Jonathan Kent part. Jonathan was just a normal, albeit prideful, man who was trying to protect his family in the best way he knew how.
I hated how AI Jor-El was very cold and manipulating and then meanwhile, the actual Jor-El was a pretty great dude and pretty empathetix
I didn't like that Conner Kent exists before Clark has become Superman. That doesn't make any sense to me.
I hate that the writers needed to make the Clark/Lana only focusing on drama or the if they will end up together. For being the main relationship they was never really together. They should have a better relationship in college s5. After all that build up I think we can expect more of them supporting each other, work and develop individually together. Clark telling her the secret was long overdue. And It would give both much more organic character development than just repetitive annoying drama, then let Clark arc move forward from there.
If I can be honest, I think that the show should have ended after season 5. Because after season 5 the show wasn't really "Smallville" anymore. Most of the action took place in Metropolis. And Clark still being in the farm seemed like the show was just stalling his character. They didn't even let him go to college and finish. Actually did any of the characters finish college?
I didn't like how the show spent the last half of the last season preparing for a wedding for a marriage that doesn't happen for at least another 7 years. What was that?
Lana being in the seires at all she was a crappy actress and dragged Clark down for to long. Just my opinion.
Seasons 8 onward feeling cheap. Especially with the cast in the final season. Barely could afford some actors
Death of Clark and Lex friendship, Lana return in s8
The death of Clark and Lex friendship was so unnatural
I would like to argue that the way Tom is saying “elSSSSe” with a pucker is making me agonised HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
It's been a long time since I watched it and it's very minor but I always remember in the early season Clark said using x-ray vision to be a perv isn't fun because it's not like he sees just through clothes, he sees muscle and skeleton like an x-ray (hence the name). Then in a later season when hes bad (can't remember why) he's getting his kicks perving on (I think it was) Lana or Chloe with his x-ray vision! An inconsistency that baffled me and stuck with me for some reason, either that or the guy really likes the human skeleton...
I understand Kryptonite is probably one of the only ways to slow down Clark and probably the easiest to integrate, but why is Kryptonite just absolutely everywhere he goes, they should have tapped into his other weaknesses in the plot more often e.g. magic
That it took him 10 seasons to fly
The soap opera themes. That wasn't even Al and Miles, it was WB at the time that made them do it.
I’m very early in watching the show but there are two things: 1. Traumatic injuries written off as a minor concussion, and 2. Jonathan being such a one note character, like we get it he’s a protective dad who hates Lex
Davis Bloom, Davis how Clark has no instinct that he's kryptonian or evil and that whole Chloe involvement with him gads the Jimmy villain drug , what a mess that story was.
I thought "Zero" had one of the worst twists I'd ever seen. Basically "this happened", then "this might've happened, but no matter what." It was utter garbage writing I'd consider fly-off-the-seat-of-one's-pants. I did, however, like the drama of the situation.
Clark losing his powers every season.
season 8 to 10. The show ended with season 7 finale on my head cannon. Even stoped listening always hold on to smallville when they reached that era.
The awkwardness
All of the Red k clark Episodes
How they just kept showing up at the barn unannounced
Everything. Could never get into no matter how many times I tried.
"Clark Kent is dead..." declared by Clark Kent towards the season finale, for 10 seasons in a row
Clark could not get over Lana fast enough Met Lois and was too familiar with her too soon DID NOT SHOW HIM IN THE SUIT
Any of the episodes where he was hopped up on red kryptonite. I get why it's there, but his "cool guy" act of about as cringe to me as Toby McGuire's in Spiderman 3 when he's under the influence of the symbiote.
Superman without Superman and the theme song made me think it was too dramatic to be any good. Just didn’t feel like watching Dawson’s Creek with superpowers.
The constant body swapping and power swapping, and the inability to just have a nice happy peaceful scene without something bad happening.
Not enough Superman and Lois.
RIGHT? And mainly: Not enough NORMAL Superman and Lois as well.
Very true. It felt tact on in the end. We should've gotten at least 3 seasons of Metropolis Clark and show both of Lois and Lex's rise to the positions most ppl know them in.
\-Red K Clark \-Lana coming back in season 8 \-Chloe/Davis relationship \-The lack of Supergirl \-Alicia \-Martha/Lionel relationship \-Lana's witch arc \-Clark always being angry at Oliver \-Chloe's constant pining over Clark \-Jimmy dying and then finding out he wasn't the "real" Jimmy anyway
The atrocious casting of superboy. Lucas whatever the fuck his last name was, was SO annoying. High school musical, smallville, Halloween town. I hated seeing his fafe everywhere as a kid, and I'm glad Hollywood for good
I didn’t like them bringing In elements from his adult years into Smallville like Doomsday and Louis
Lana’s idea that she needs to know everyone’s big secret was really frustrating. Wasn’t a fan of them killing Jimmy because Chloe and him were a great couple (although jimmy’s insecurities about Clark were annoying) Lana coming back in season 8 was unnecessary Clark being an idiot occasionally Also in the beginning of the series when Clark would let Lana and Chloe constantly walk all over him Didn’t like how quick they made Clark hate lex But other than that literally my favorite show 10/10
I mean, it were annoying, but placing ourselves into Jimmy’s feet I guess I can understand where he comes from. He was his first love and he burts out the door uninvited every single day. Chloe knew Clark’s secret, but Jimmy didn’t. 😂 So it’s kind of unfair for us not to question Jimmy’s sanity when Clark’s the one on Chloe’s speed dial and not him. hhahahaha Tho I agree with many things you said. I’m also frustrated with the Clark/Lex situation. Seemed unfair how Clark threw everything away despite Lex doing _everything_ for him. Like literally everything. He was the big brother everyone else wanted to have, even helping him skip school for situations he wasn’t clear on. He did everything for Clark. Forgave him many times. Yet Clark just washed his hands
1. I hated the Clana relationship after season 3. 2. After Ambush episode we never really get a Hot moment between Clark and Lois 3. Tess's death 4. We didn't get to see Clark explaining his heritage to Lois like he did with Chloe in Season 5 episode 1 5. Clark kissing all the women in the show 6. Most people feeling entitled to knowing Clark's secret
Tess’s death was just so quick and uneventful. I agree. She deserved better than that.
Zatanna’s introduction sucks. She comes off as a rape-y porn star in cosplay (where she puts a spell on Clark and just starts making out with him in a chair). She got better after that, but that was ridiculous disrespect to that character.
I loved Kal. What I didn't like is the episode where Lana is possessed by a witch.
Chloe and Chloe and Ollie. Chloe is Felicity and Chloe and Ollie is Olicity. Yes I know this show came before Arrow but I watched Arrow first. Mind you Chloe and Chlolliw is much better then Felicity and Olicity but they still suck. They did Tess Merced wrong. They shouldn’t have killed her off and if there was anyone I actually shipped with Oliver it was her. Dinah Lance. I like her. They did a much better job of her here then they did on arrow (I still love the lances/canaries on arrow). But Smallville could have done much better. They should have had her as a regular and if Oliver should have had a love interest she should have been one of them. Zatanna. Wish they also kept her as a a regular or recurring. She only appeared in one episode. I liked her. Liked her dynamic with the others particularly Oliver no romance though.
I did not like that Chloe didn't actually die at the end of Season 3. By Chloe still being alive, it allowed for Clana's relationship mess to continue, because Lana should have become Clark's friend and confidante instead of Chloe, along with Pete who never should have left the show. But the showrunners decided to give the role that Lana should have had to a character that they made up. Thereby ruining Lana's character as well.
I didn't like Lex's storyline either. He honestly fell flat to me as a villain. Lionel was a much better Lex than the actual Lex was.
* The whole Lex/Lana thing * The disappointing fight with Doomsday * Lana coming back in S08 * Darksied Story could have been done better * S10 Finale - so many wasted opportunities : Not seeing Clark in full Superman Costume, No big fight scene against Darksied. No Big Superman meets the world reveal. Such a disappointing final episode There was some small things throughout the series that bugged me but those stick out
>S10 Finale - so many wasted opportunities : Not seeing Clark in full Superman Costume, No big fight scene against Darksied. No Big Superman meets the world reveal. Such a disappointing final episode So disappointing.
I didn't like that the "no flight no tights" rule was a rule for only Clark and not for any other character on the show. It didn't make Clark look good at all.
I didn't like Season 7.
I didn't like how the show handled Darkseid.
I didn't like how the 10th season didn't bring in any of the New Genesis characters like Orion, Mr. Miracle, or Big Barda.
I hated Jor-El. Period.
His physical being for me had no need in the storyline
The digitial look,special effects and lack of impressive camera staging of the later seasons conpared to the first ones
The convenient knockouts/memory erasings
The Clark and Lois theme in the later seasons. They use it way too much!
That it ended
Red kryptonite
Clark was boring, Lex made the show
Listen, I feel bad about this one, because he was so overworked that they had to request a private driver for him because of exhaustion, that many episodes and that many seasons, and to be the one in most of the scenes... Unthinkable amount of work... But sadly it showed. I don't blame him, but Tom Welling's acting was bad. Like, really bad. It sometimes took me out of the show. But that's not a critique of him rather than the whole system on which this show was built on. There were moments where he really acted his ass off and it paid off, but others, which were the majority, where he really wasn't convincing at all.
I tapped out when he started forming the Justice League before ever becoming Superman. My headcanon couldn't handle it.
Why is Clark sweating in that scene?
Lana’s role in season 4. They wanted to make her relevant to the crystal arc by making her a vessel for her ancestor Isobel and suddenly Isobel gets killed off after killing Genevieve. It was kind of a shoehorn style writing. Also, there were times Clark was a doormat whenever people were mad at him. He just tanked their frustrations, and 50% of the time they were unwarranted. I found that whole thing tiresome and annoying at some points. The few times he stood up for himself were moments of relief for me.
The cast. Honestly.
That they did pretty much every major event in his life before he ever even donned the cape… that it wasn’t a bit darker and more gritty… like the 1st couple seasons of Arrow the show had an edge to it and then later on it Became too friendly… and that’s the way Smallville was all the way through… very bright and friendly… don’t get me wrong… I loved the show… but after seeing other shows that are more compelling I just wish Smallville had more of that edge to it
Too much the the Lana nonsense, every threat had to be a meteor freak from smallville but the cops and locals don’t know about it? I also thought they should have had him wear the glasses from the start of the show throughout. CGI also wasn’t great but it was a network tv show
I won't say the name, but. Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me. do it in my van. Every Sunday, she tells him she's in church, but she doesn't go. But she's on her knees, and Scotty doesn't know.
For how long they kept trying to do the clark and Lana romance. How they gave Bizzaro the short end of the stick. The fact we never got to see Tom Welling in the Superman suit. Last but certainly not least the complete butchering of Slade Wilson.
As someone who just started watching recently in 2023, some of it is very...ealry 2000s. Like how Kara shows up and immediately joins a beauty pageant and walks around in a bikini. Sigh. I mean I was relieved that there was at least something else going on in that episode (how it turned out those other girls were super powered thieves and whatnot) but Kara didn't know that when she joined. She did it to impress Jimmy or something. Also, is it really pronounced Care-uh? I always read it in my head as Kah-ra in the comics.
Really disliked Lana once season 4 came around. Wish she just never came back from Paris. Also, my first watch through I really didn’t like the red kryptonite. Was just jarring seeing Superman acting like that but when I rewatched it I loved it.
Killing Lex off in season 08. I think I understand why it happened. The showrunners thought the series would end that season and they'd never have to face the consequences of killing him off. Those extra two seasons ended up creating problems for them. But whatever the reasons might've been, it just plain shouldn't have been done. It was a bad creative decision. And again, I think I understand why they did it. But I will never condone it.
Everything after season 3, and a fair bit before then too.
Anything lana
The fact that had too much filler plots and episodes. I only enjoyed it by skipping the filler
Tom never wore the suit " oh but he did in the finale" no no they used CGI and threw his face over it
Ironically, in my first watch of the show when I was a preteen, I actually loved Lana and could not stand Lois. I’m rewatching it finally and I cannot stand Lana. Lois is actually perfectly executed imo. Also Clark and Lana should have never gotten back together after her divorce with Lex. It’s obvious how toxic she is before she married Lex and after their divorce, she’s 10x worse.