Smallville, Season One

 

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TV14

reviewed by Charity Bishop
 

Smallville, Kansas is a remarkable town where paranormal things happen. In the eighties they were hit by a massive meteor shower that polluted the area and left a little boy on the Kent's doorstep (Jonathan and Martha are played by John Schneider and Annette O'Toole). Eleven years later Clark Kent (Tom Welling) has slightly strange abnormalities. He's faster than a flash of lightning. He shows abnormal strength. He has X-ray vision. And, slowly he comes to realize, he's immune to death. Sticking his hand in a weed eater, being hit by a speeding car at sixty miles an hour, and even electrocution has no lingering effects. He's never bled a day in his life! Clark is literally out of this world!

All of this can be rather intimidating when you're in high school and have a crush on the girl next door. Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk) is pretty, popular, and dating one of the local football stars, Whitney (Eric Johnson). Clark is an excellent student but is dealing with complex issues. He's suddenly discovered the truth about his past, that his parents believe he came out of a space ship during the meteor shower. The green rocks that fell with the meteors all over Smallville cause in him temporary weakness, proving he is not completely immune to attack. Throughout the series Clark must learn to adjust to and refine his slowly appearing powers, deal with the desire to just be normal, accept his fate, and try to woo Lana without treading too far into Whitney's territory. He is also involved with helping his best friend Chloe (Allison Mack) build up her "Wall of Weird," proof of paranormal happenings around their quaint but dangerous little town, and building a friendship with the richest man in town, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum).

After a near-fatal car accident in which Lex plowed into Clark and sent them both tumbling off a local bridge, Lex has adopted the young man into his care. Twenty-one, bald as a billiard ball due to the meteor shower, and coming out of self-absorbed rebellion, Lex is attempting to redefine Smallville's view of his father's company. Constantly at odds with Lionel Luthor (John Glover), his force in Smallville is powerful but not unchallenged. He's also interested in learning the truth behind Clark's habit of saving people in peril. In the meantime, he must fight off corrupt investors, wealthy British aristocrats seeking to take over his company, and hostage situations... not to mention trying to convince Jonathan Kent that he has no ulterior motives in befriending his son. Throughout the series the characters develop and are redefined by their actions. Many of the morals are to be praised, whether Clark is learning that your future is not predestined but formed by choices, or Jonathan telling his son that power comes with responsibility. Clark is a decent hero with the right mindset. He never questions what is right, he merely takes action. He's not perfect but always makes the appropriate choice in the end.

While Lana deals with her parents' death, living with her aunt, and trying to find her purpose in life, Chloe grapples with her unpopularity, a secret crush on Clark, and insecurity. Lex has his father to contend with and a past not entirely free of scandal; often his "indiscretions" rise to haunt him. We're always being shown another layer to the characters, even if it's essentially a sci-fi drama with lots of whacky people running around. The first season follows a specific, predictable pattern until midway through (normal person goes evil because of kryptonite -- green meteor rocks -- and wrecks havoc on the town, thereby forcing Clark to come to the rescue), when everything changes. Villains become greater, Lex shows that he has a devious side, and life is emotionally complicated between Lana and Chloe's mutual love for Clark. He has his fair share of villains to choose from: ravenous, jealous, devious teenage girls, lightning-charged adults, a salesman who can persuade people to do whatever he wants merely with a touch of his hand, and a few downright mean scheming blackmailers. Ironically enough, the strongest episodes actually feature bad guys without super-human powers.

For the most part the show is worthwhile -- if slightly crazy -- viewing, but does have a few flaws. Mild profanity appears. Violence is prevalent throughout as people go through grotesque transformations and meet their often gruesome end. Dead bodies are seen; two instances involve a parent of the villain being killed and "stored" somewhere (one has been "dried" in a web, the other is disintegrating). Characters are attacked and threatened with all manner of fates and violence; there are numerous car crashes (one kills a badly computer-animated deer, which it's then implied a girl sucks dry of all body fat). Faces expand horrifically. Skin turns green. Victims pile up by being burned to death, frozen and shattered, and gunned down. Explosions take out buildings, cars, and city streets. Sensuality is mild but taints a few episodes. Clark discovers he can see through walls (X-Ray). The first place he focuses on is the girl's dressing room while Lana is changing clothes (underwear-clad girls are present, and we see Lana's bare back).

A girl is seen showering; the curtain obscures intimate details but does give us a hazy nude silhouette (Cool). She expects her boyfriend to join her, and is instead murdered. Another young woman behaves seductively so she can take revenge on a boy who called her fat prior to her kryptonite diet. One of Lex's old flames comes to stay at the mansion, and it's implied through dialogue that they've become intimate (she asks him if he's coming to bed, mentions sleeping with him, and says she'll draw them a bath). She is attacked in the bathtub; the camera avoids explicit nudity but comes close (Shimmer). Bikini-clad dancers wriggle in the background at a nightclub. A toxic flower encourages abnormal behavior in people. It makes Clark's father violent and verbally abusive (the term "screwed over" is used about eight times, along with "blown off"), and encourages sexual desires to rise to the surface. Jonathan becomes very affectionate with his wife. When Lana gets a whiff of the perfume she turns "soft-core" by stripping down to her lacy underwear in the school pool and inviting Clark to take a swim with her. She also comes on to Lex (Nocturne). The pilot episode has a naked child Clark, but the camera cleverly avoids anything explicit. 

A couple episodes deal with being telekinetic, telepathic, and able to see the future. An old woman in the nursing home can tell the future of everyone who touches her hand; she imparts these "visions" to Clark, and Lex (whose flash of future events is strangely disturbing and symbolic). The show is going to appeal to fans in the superhero genre used to dealing with shape-shifters, flame-throwing fiends, and the abnormal. X-Men fans will feel right at home (particularly in one episode, where "Iceman" from X-Man temporarily steals Clark's powers). More conservative viewers won't be impressed with the grotesque realism, but the rest of us can kick back and enjoy the teenage adventures of Superman.