Betterville

Some people catch up on shows on DVD years after they begin. In the last few months I've been doing so with The Sopranos, and I'm three episodes away from finishing the fifth season and catching up with the rest of the planet. I haven't spoken too much about it to people who've seen it already, because while after awhile I discerned a pattern in death, I still didn't want anyone to spoil who gets wacked when and by whom. No matter when a person sees a show, if he or she wants to avoid spoilers, it's important that people respect that. Following this code of honor, and knowing for certain that Jerry waits a season to watch Smallville with his son on DVD and that other readers may do the same, I'm writing this paragraph to allow SPOILER SPACE. Now, on to a key redeeming note in last night's episode.

The show has alternately wowed and disappointed me over the last four seasons. Sometimes the hints of things to come, nods to Clark Kent's future as a superhero, thrill the comic geek in me. Other times the show goes on a tangent in which his girlfriend's Kryptonian tattoo allows her witch ancestor to possess, or townspeople accept the fact that anyone who touches a green rock in conjunction with some other event will end up with powers. Last season especially had a promising beginning and an even more exciting ending, but the middle part was a schizophrenic disjointed ride through irrelevant subplots and undefined character relationships. From week to week the way the cast interacted seemed to fluctuate with different writers. This is a show about the early years of SUPERMAN. We know the destination; the journey is supposed to be the hook. Instead, knowing where it must eventually lead is the only thread holding my attention.

One of my biggest problems with the show has been the fact that, somewhere around the second season, Clark's adoptive parents reveal the spaceship they found him in and he finds a message from his biological father Jor-El telling him to rule the humans. Clark believes that he was sent to conquer the Earth, and wonders what kind of race he came from. At first, this seemed an obvious misconception to anyone familiar with the character, knowing that his father in fact was a great scientist, who sent him from their exploding planet to save his only son's life. Yet, as the show went on every time he encountered his father, a disembodied voice in Kryptonian artifacts and a cavern beneath Kansas, Jor-El seemed more and more evil. He abducts Clark to train him. He nearly kills Clark's adoptive father. And this season, when Clark nearly dies himself, Jor-El revives him but tells him someone he loves will die as a result. The one theory I've held on to through all this is, because Terrence Stamp supplied the voice of Jor-El, perhaps it wasn't Clark's father behaving out of character at all. Perhaps Stamp was reprising his role as the evil General Zod from Superman II. Of course he's not the only actor from the original films to appear on Smallville, since both Margot Kidder and the late Christopher Reeve have been on, and Annette O'Toole is a series regular. My theory would salvage of lot of the problems I had with the show, but it didn't have much weight.

This brings me to last night's episode. James Marsters has been playing Clark's college professor this season, secretly from Krypton himself. Last week he revealed himself to Clark, demonstrating the same super abilities. Last night, when Clark's mother fell ill to a mysterious ailment, he begged Marsters' character to tell him more about Jor-El, believing his biological father to be responsible. As Marsters spun his tale, I could sense a plan to the entire SERIES, even if in reality it was an afterthought or nod to the fans. He told Clark that Jor-El was a vicious conqueror, that he destroyed Krypton and banished the hero of the people, the one man who could stop him, General Zod. Before he was imprisoned, Zod devised a black crystal that could destroy Jor-El's creations, in this case the Fortress of Solitude up north where his memories reside. Not knowing that Marsters was in fact the evil machine Brainiac, he takes him to the Fortress and plunges the black crystal into the heart of it. As the place crumbles around them, Brainiac whips out some Kryptonite as Clark staggers and realizes, too late, he'd been lied to. Jor-El wasn't the evil despot on Krypton; everything Brainiac told him about his father was in fact about Zod. As Clark lay weak, Brainiac stepped forth as a portal opened and a familiar square carrying General Zod flew at them.

Of course, I'm not going to spoil the WHOLE episode on the off chance anyone who didn't want to know foolishly read beyond the first paragraph. As it is, I've revealed quite a bit. This plot turn, the possibility that Jor-El is NOT evil but that Zod is entering the picture, redeems a LOT for me. As I said, the show has alternately wowed and disappointed me over the last four seasons. Now in the fifth season, it's wowing me again. It's too bad there are so many disappointing subplots and disconnected episodes going off on tangents from a really good story, but I guess if they only showed the great episodes there would only be two seasons. Still, it was very exciting last night.

Even MORE exciting was that on one of the commercial breaks, they debuted the teaser trailer for Superman Returns. Jerry, who doesn't know the definition of “teaser trailer”, complained to us earlier today that, “it didn't show ANYTHING. It was just a montage with a voiceover.” Watch and decide for yourselves. I for one am greatly anticipating this movie now. It's easily going to be better than the better episodes of Smallville.