The WB's Smallville returns for a fifth season tonight. I've distanced myself from the show over the years. I was already too old for a teen show when it premiered in 2001, but I didn't buy many of the storylines in the third or fourth seasons.
What interests me most is the interaction between mythic characters: Lex and Clark, Clark and Jonathan, Lex and Lionel, Lana and Clark, Lois and Clark. The writing has been mostly forgettable, but things may be shifting into high gear this season, as Smallville was originally envisioned to have a five-year run.
At the start of the season, Jor-El (voice of Terence Stamp) will strip Clark of powers, letting him son live as a mortal. Sound familiar? Actually, it could be an idea to build a season around. The main drawback has always been that the story of Superman has been told and retold many times over. Even if writers deviate wildly from it, they eventually have to come back to center. The sense that anything can happen—naturally present with original characters (Buffy Summers, Veronica Mars, Josiah Bartlett, Greg House, Alan Shore, Sam Beckett...)—is not there for Smallville.
UPDATE (9:00 PM ET): The season premiere hit all the right notes, hopefully setting the stage for a faster-paced season. I was glad to see Erica Durance in the opening credits. As I've mentioned, she is just the dose of reality the show needs. Having met Lois last season, it was kind of a letdown to see Clark go back to Lana, sacrificing a chance to train in the Fortress of Solitude to save Lana after a run in with disciples of Zod,
As a consequence, Clark's powers were drained, leaving him unaware that the real danger is not the disciples of Zod, but the shape-shifting Brainiac.
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