Smallville Series Finale – What Happened?

“When you believe in someone, it’s not for a minute, or just for now. It’s forever.”

That’s it folks, the end of an era has come and gone. Smallville is over. What did we get in the jam packed 2-hour series finale you ask? Exactly what I, er, we, wanted. The episode starts off seven years in the future, with Chloe reading her son a DC “Smallville” comic showing our dear Clark in the middle of the cornfield at the Kent Farm. Off the bat, we know Chloe is still married to Oliver, and they have their happy ending. Nice touch at the end – a toy bow and arrow set in the boy’s bedroom.
We think we are seeing a wedding right away, however with both Lois and Clark getting cold feet we have to wait – Lois thinks she will stop Clark from helping people, then Clark in turn thinks Lois is part of the past he needs to let go of. They get over it in a touching scene where they read each other’s vows and say they will meet each other at the chapel. Once there, we get an uh-oh moment where Lois, prepared to walk down the aisle by herself, doesn’t see her groom at the altar. A sheer moment of bridal terror and, surprise! Clark takes her hand, in a nod to his promise of earlier to her. “You’re not in my way, Lois. You’re by my side”. Our super couple walk hand in hand down the aisle. Yes – I was tearing up, leave me alone. That’s what TV does to me.

Le sigh, this wedding won’t go off as planned though. There are other plans in motion, namely Oliver being brainwashed to serve The Darkness. Granny Goodness, Dasaad and Zod give Ollie a gold kryptonite wedding band to switch in order to kill “the Bringer of Light”. Luckily, before it gets on Clark’s finger, Chloe realizes that it is not the normal band and stops Clark from losing his powers forever. Clark and Oliver fight, with Clark getting Oliver to renounce The Darkness and become his normal self. Ollie goes to the three baddies in full Green Arrow garb, and arrows those jerks to hell.

Oh, did I mention Apokilips is barreling towards Earth and the only person who knows it is Tess Mercer? Yeah. She is trying to get to everyone, but cell phones kind of don’t work when you have a giant planetary ball of fire in orbit. Tess gets kidnapped by Lionel, who wants to use her heart to bring clone Lex back to life. She is able to get free, but not before shooting Lionel. Lucky him, Darkseid comes to make a deal – his soul for Lex’s life. Darkseid rips out Lionel’s heart, and now we have a villain resurrected folks.

The main theme of this finale for Clark was moving forward without letting go of the past. He was trying to bury everything that made him human. Krypton made him Super, but Smallville made him Man. After going through a Superman music-filled montage of moments that make him realize his destiny thanks to Jor-El, Clark then receives his new outfit from Jonathan Kent and we get an up-up and away scene – Clark defeats Darkseid, flying right through The Darkness. Satisfying enough for those waiting for him to fly I guess. I would rather it had been in the suit and not holding it, but I will take what I can get. The addition of the timeless Superman music was fantastic – and something I had been waiting for.

Ever a man for timing, Clark comes to save Tess, but meets his dear friend Lex instead. Anyone who has missed Michael Rosenbaum was surely happy to see him again. When Clark says his name, Lex replies, “You still say it the same way – astonishment, mixed with a hint of dread, yet…with a hopeful finish.” Gotta love him. They chat, Lex calls him Kal-El, and Clark leaves him with one thought – “I am sorry I couldn’t save you”. Well, he tried. Lex is just too good at being bad. Now on to Tess – she comes to see her brother in the LuthorCorp office. They go back and forth with sibling banter, and the end result is “Brother of the Year” Lex stabbing her through the torso, telling his sister that he was actually saving her from becoming him. Ever the smart one, Tess’ dying act is touching Lex and smearing a neurotoxin on his face. She is able to preserve Clark’s identity since the toxin erases all of Lex’s memories. Another nice montage of Lex moments and we are left with a Luthor who has no idea that Clark Kent is Superman. Whew!

Newly Super, Clark manages to steady Air Force 1, which Lois is on (she had used reporter credentials to get the President not to nuke Apokilips), and hurls the potential disaster back into the solar system. It was pretty cool to see him flying in the atmosphere in the blue and red.

It was the last few minutes of this finale that I really loved. We are back at the Daily Planet, seven years later, and Lois is going over photos with Jimmy Olsen (brother of the previously deceased) while we hear new Editor-in-Chief Perry White yell “great Caesar’s Ghost Lois! Stories don’t write themselves!” Nice. We see a TV that shows Lex Luthor is the new President of the United States. Then, fumbly, bumbly Clark bumps into Lois on the stairs, and he shows their original wedding bands. She asks if he is ready, to which he answers, “I’ve been ready for seven years.” Yay! But, before you know it, there is a story breaking, and Clark must go save the day. He runs to the roof, where we see what we have waited for. Tom Welling bursting out of the door, taking off his glasses, unbuttoning his shirt and revealing the “S” costume – a lovely homage to the iconic shots of Christopher Reeve doing the same. It took my breath away. A perfect ending.

Ten years – did it pay off for you? I honestly didn’t care about how the plot was wrapped, I just was so eager to see where they would add touches of super. (PS, forgive me for the over-use of the word “super”. Super, super.) Hit the comments and if you missed it, catch it on Thursday, May 19, when The CW airs an encore.