Smallville: "Doomsday"--8th season finale-a fan's review?

     First, I'd like to say that I am a fan of the CW show, "Smallville": I have watched faithfully ever since my daughter's ex-boyfriend got me hooked on the show back at the tail end of the 3rd season.  However, after tonight's season finale, I am beginning to believe that I may not just drop everything for the show that at one time held my interest so keenly.  After catching up with seasons 1,2, and some of 3---and watching ever since, some might wonder why I would do such a thing.  Tonight's show isn't the only reason why I've found myself at odds with one of my favorite shows, yet it is a very big part of my reasoning.

     During the 8th season,  a few new faces were added to the cast of "Smallville": Cassidy Freeman as "Tess Mercer" (who replaced the departing Michael Rosenbaum, aka "Lex Luthor") and Sam Witwer as "Davis Bloome"/"Doomsday" (to take up any slack left from Kristin Kreuk's "Lana Lang", once she fulfilled her guest star arc mid-season).  This didn't bother me all too much, though at first I had a problem with accepting the "Tess Mercer" character in replacement of "Lex Luthor".  To me, "Tess Mercer" (Cassidy Freeman) has not been equally as evil as the character "Lex Luthor" (Michael Rosenbaum).  Though she has begun to ascend to an evil level by the end of the 8th season (and Cassidy Freeman did have huge shoes to fill on this one),  the ascension seems to be akin to a snail's crawl that has picked up it's pace to make it bareable.  And as a fan, to be fair, I did enjoy Michael Rosenbaum's "Lex"; of all the Superman incarnations, he was the best damn "Lex Luthor" that I've watched (including all of the Superman movies). But, the Tess Mercer character has been a bit disappointing, so, I was hoping the character of "Davis Bloome" a.k.a. "Doomsday" would make up for it.  Though Sam Witwer is believable in this duel role, and it was fairly easy to see he was more than just a paramedic in the storyline (especially once "Doomsday" started rearing his ugly face), I found myself disappointed even with this choice for the show; it was a total jump into the Superman mythology of D.C. Comics, yet, it strayed badly from the mythology (Doomsday isn't met head on until Clark Kent actually becomes Superman in the comic world ---and ends up killing him at one time).  As a fan, I was trying to let this slide, just to see if the new executive producers (Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer, Kelly Souders, and Brian Peterson) could play it all off well.  In this fan's mind, they were doing a so-so job with it---some of the stories made sense, some did not.  Tonight's season finale was worse than a so-so job;  it made me question whether I want to return in September as a die-hard fan of the show.

     The reason for this feeling: the executive producers, as well as the writers, have really screwed up the Superman mythology/comic book tales that everyone in America has followed for years.  Though the show "Smallville" has taken these leaps before (introducing Erica Durance as Lois Lane in the 4th season, for instance)---somehow, the mythology crashing they did tonight was kind of unsettling.  The particular mythology crashing which happened in tonight's episode was the death of Jimmy Olsen (anyone who knows mythology will remember Jimmy---he's Lois Lane's & Clark Kent's photography sidekick).  Nowhere that I know of does Jimmy Olsen die in the Superman mythology----at least not BEFORE Clark Kent realizes his true destiny (once he finally graduates to "Superman").  As a fan of the show and of the Superman mythology laid out in D.C. Comics, I'd have to say, this was a HUGE DISSERVICE to the mythology,  a mistake that is just really hard to swallow as a fan.

     After all the hype about the season finale, and after actually watching the episode, I find it APPALLING how the executive producers and writers of this show have taken so much liberty with the mythology.  But, that wasn't my only disappointment with the show tonight; another disappointment was the fact that before Jimmy Olsen died, he learned that Clark was the "red-blue blur" (as he's been called this past season), in essence, "Superman".  You know, I'm not really versed on all of the "Superman" mythology, but, again, through out the years of watching the various incarnations (including the classic "The Adventures Of Superman" starring George Reeves)---Jimmy Olsen doesn't ever show that he's even got a clue as to WHO may actually be Superman.  And this was also a bit jarring for this fan.

     Then, there is Lois.  During tonight's episode, Lois Lane (Erica Durance) first is contacted by the "red-blue blur" a.k.a Clark (Tom Welling) via a phone booth, to ask her if she would please publicize information contained in an envelope if something should happen to him.  When Lois states she thought he was invincible, he explains to Lois that he just may have been wrong on that whole invincible thing and this is a "just in case" meaure.  He then goes on to tell Lois that he believes in her as a reporter, and, believes she will tell his story truthfully if it comes down to that.  I enjoyed this part of the episode, thought really highly of the attempt to get Lois in on the action, since, being that this is now the end of season eight, it's about damn well time that these two characters Clark a.k.a red-blue blur a.k.a. Superman and Lois Lane start evolving into the love affair of the mythology.  In my belief as a fan of the show, they should have been pursuing this story line a little heavier during season eight.  Yet, tonight's cliffhanger has pretty much screwed with that idea as well.

     Later in this episode, Lois confronts the quasi-evil Tess Mercer, and, the two get into a physical altercation.  Lois finally gets a jump on Tess, and, Tess winds up unconscious on the floor.  As Tess falls, a ring falls from her (was it in her pocket? did she drop it out of her hand? that part is kind of fuzzy), and, Lois being a bit on the gullible side---picks up the ring.  There is a huge flash of light that envelopes the room, and----you guessed it, zap, Lois Lane is now off the radar screen for the rest of the episode.  WHAT?  After all the "please-tell-my-story-should-something-happen-to-me banter?????  Just where in the heck are they going with all of this??

    One of the disappointing aspects of tonight's episode was the fact that the writers and executive producers allowed the episode to be cluttered with 3-4 sub-plots, instead of the usual season tight-knit wrap up that as a Smallville fan, I've come to expect.   The episode was all over the place, trying to wrap up at least three-four different storyline arcs: the Chloe/Jimmy/Davis Bloome triangle; the Chloe/Davis Bloome/Doomsday sub-plot; the Tess Mercer/Clark Kent/the Traveler interactions.

     For example, during the episode tonight, Jimmy (after seeing Clark heal from a wound and finding out that he's the red-blu blur), confronts Chloe (Allison Mack) (who has seperated Davis Bloome from the beast Doomsday with black kryptonite rock) with the knowledge that he knows Clark's secret, and, now, he understands why Chloe was always so protective of Clark ---and is even more understanding why she became an accomplice of Davis Bloome's/Doomsday's murderous rampage.  As Jimmy explains his new knowledge (and Davis is seen lying hurt on the floor), Jimmy shows Chloe what his wedding gift to her was---an apartment at the highest elevation in Metropolis, so that he can "watch over her" and she can always see it from anywhere in Metropolis.  Chloe then begins to explain to Jimmy that  she was just trying to protect Clark from "Doomsday", but, did not mean to hurt Jimmy--that he's always been there for her, and they wind up kissing---as they kiss, Jimmy is attacked by Davis---speared with some kind of pipe.  With his dying breath, he saves Chloe from Davis' feelings of rage at the betrayal ("you were just going through the motions?" kind of thing), and kills Davis.   We then witness Chloe attending Jimmy's funeral and giving his little brother Jimmy's camera.    

   Trying to follow tonight's episode was pretty much an assault on a fan's senses---it was hard to follow, and, when the episode finally wrapped for the night, the only thing that truly made sense to me out of all of it was the last ten-fifteen minutes.  During the last ten-fifteen minutes, we see Chloe in her apartment, inspecting some of the carnage left behind from the Jimmy Olsen/Davis Bloome duel to the death scene, and, in walks Clark.  Chloe is happy to see that Clark has survived the huge explosion from ridding the world of Doomsday, yet, she is wondering why Clark is being a little stand-offish.  Clark then tells Chloe that at first, he thought that his father was trying to warn him about a powerful adversary, one he might not be able to defeat; when, all along, his father was trying to teach him that as long as he allows human emotions (which was instilled by the Kent's to protect his true alien identity) to rule his thinking, he will never truly be able to evolve into the hero that the world so desperately needs.  Clark then tells Chloe that he has to correct this the only way he knows how: he then tells Chloe goodbye, walking out the apartment door, without lookiing back.

     After watching this entire episode, this was the ONLY scene that I could, as a fan, understand.  In almost all of the previous seasons (after Jo-rel became involved, that is), Clark had always been warned by his father that exhibiting human emotions the way he did was going to slow down his evolvement to his "destiny".   So, this scene made total sense to me.

    As the episode ends, we see the Quasi-evil Tess walking into a room at the Luthor mansion, in search of the very bright light that has seeped through the mansion.  She looks through the window (I believe) and sees a person standing in the middle of this strange,  very bright light---which is also showing the sign of zod.  Hmmm.  Odd way to end a cliffhanger...since it's been covered before.....

     I don't know if I'm such a die-hard fan anymore; yet, I've got all summer to contemplate on whether I will watch once Smallville premieres in the fall.  I don't believe that the writers/executive producers of the show are doing the show as much justice as they could be; I also don't believe in totally disregarding the Superman mythology as blatantly as the writers & executive producers have done in this season wrap-up.  If it weren't for the actors (Tom Welling is superb as Clark Kent; Erica Durance is beyond superb as Lois Lane; Justin Hartley's portrayal of Green Arrow is unrivaled; and Allison Mack as tortured Chloe is always a treat), after tonight's episode, I'd just give up on Smallville.  However, the actors & actresses are now saving this show.  Let's see if the writers and the executive producers will follow their lead.

     Writers Note: After writing this review on the season finale, within a couple of days, there was an article on MSN.com interviewing Aaron Ashmore, the actor that portrayed Jimmy Olsen for the last three seasons of Smallville.  In the article, he explains that he wasn't the "REAL" Jimmy Olsen in regards to the "Superman" mythology.  However, even with this tidbit of information, I still feel that this year's season finale could have been written much better, with much more of a cliffhanger ending than it had.  It's also been confirmed by the CW that Smallville has now been moved to Friday nights. 

     Let's hope that the ninth season is a bit more fulfilling---especially if it winds up being the last season.