Smallville: Season 8

Season 8 of Smallville saw a lot of upheaval and change for the show, the largest being in the cast turnover with original series regulars Michael Rosenbaum and Kristen Kreuk leaving the show (although Kreuk returns about halfway through the season in a recurring role to tie up her storyline). John Glover also left the show after Lionel was killed off at the end of Season 7, and Laura Vandervoort was bumped down to a guest-starring role after Kara was trapped in the Phantom Zone. The big addition to the cast this year was Sam Witwer, who plays Davis Bloom, an EMT at the medical center who figures into the story arc of the season more and more over the course of the 22 episodes.The season picks up 4 weeks after the events of the season 7 finale with Lex having confronted Clark in the fortress. We find out that Lex and Clark are missing, with the members of the Justice League (with Justin Hartley now upped to series regular) searching for Clark and the new acting CEO of Luthorcorp Tess Mercer (played by Cassidy Freeman) looking for Lex. We find out that Jor-el took away Clark's powers and destroyed the fortress so Lex could not control him. Needless to say, Clark is found and Lex remains a shadowy figure in the background for most of the season. I will not go into too much detail to avoid spoiling the season for the handful of people reading this who may not have seen it yet, but there is definitely a big bad that threatens everyone, and we get to see Smallville's take on the Legion of Superheros and the Suicide Squad (although the show calls them the injustice league). There are fewer notable guest stars this season than in prior seasons, although fans of the current Flash series will recognize Jessica Parker Kennedy, who played Barry and Iris' daughter Nora West Allen, and Tori Spelling reprised her role as Linda Lake in one of the episodes toward the middle of the season.For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great in the HD format. The extras are much like the prior seasons. Deleted scenes for most episodes, commentary tracks on a couple of episodes, a feature on the season's big bad, a feature on Alison Mack's directorial debut, and a feature on the Legion. As was the case with the season 6 and 7 Blu-Ray sets, there is not an episode menu screen that will allow you to choose which episodes you want to watch. All the episodes play in a play all mode when the disc loads, and then the extras menu loads once all the episodes play (or you hit the disc menu button). But, you can pick up where you left off even if you stop in the middle of an episode and turn your player off.Overall, the season is very good. It really ties up all the storylines from the Smallville setting and moves the story primarily to Metropolis. There are a handful of scenes at the Kent Farm and the Luthor Mansion, but most of the action takes place in the city. The acting and writing are both very good this season, with Cassidy Freeman doing an outstanding job in the role of Tess Mercer. The character was definitely a "replacement" for Lex, but the writers did a good job not making the character a carbon copy of Lex, and she did not try to emulate Rosenbaum's performance. While I still think at this point the show was getting a bit long in the tooth, and any of the seasons from 7-10 could have ended the show, I think the direction that the show went in this season gave it a bit of new life. Erica Durance really expanded her role as Lois, including an episode where she had to play Chole in Lois's body, and nailed it. Allison Mack was also great (again) in her role as Chole. She has been a standout really in every season, and everyone in the commentary tracks and bonus featurettes went out of their way to praise her acting and her work directing the episode she directed this season that it makes her post-Smallville life choices all the more baffling.Overall, I would say that if you liked the prior seasons you will probably like this one unless Lex or Lionel Luthor were your favorite characters. I do think the show suffered a bit without Michael Rosenbaum as Lex, but the show pulled off his absence about as well as possible. The show continued to develop even the original characters and did a good job working the new characters into the story. On the whole, I think season 8 was a much stronger season than seasons 6 and 7 and is definitely worth checking out.

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At the beginning of the season Clark is missing and Oliver, Dinah and A.C. look for him where Oliver finds him in Russia without his powers. A new character Tess Mercer is introduced in the Arctic where the fortress went down and she is looking for Lex. Chloe is in a secret building in Montana for people with meteor powers and she is used to find Green Arrow, Black Canary and Aquaman. When Green Arrow comes to rescue is team members he is used to shoot Clark and the Martian Manhunter takes Clark to the sun to recharge him but loses his powers because the sun has the opposite affect on him then on Clark. Clark accepts Lois' advice to join the Daily Planet and on his first day meets Tess when he rescues her from a bus that blew up. Davis Bloome is introduced as a medic who shows up when tragedy strikes. Davis learns that Clark is Kryptonian. Jimmy and Chloe get engaged. Lois and Clark become close just as Lana comes back for the wedding of Jimmy and Chloe. Davis is against the marriage and tries to stop it. He crashes the reception and Jimmy is severely hurt. Lana gets a power suit that makes her invulnerable to Kryptonite because of it Clark and Lana are unable to stay together. Clark gets to meet the Legion and they give him a ring that he uses when Linda Lake tries to leak is secret. He tells Lois about himself and finds out that the secret is better kept from the public so he uses the ring to go back and stop Linda from sharing his secret. Tess keeps trying to get Clark to reveal himself to her. By the end of the season Chloe is with Davis unable to go anywhere until Clark takes him up to the fortress but Davis turns on everyone resulting in Chloe losing Jimmy who learns about Clark's secret just before. Lois and Tess fight and Lois disappears when she touches the Legion ring. Clark is so upset that he just walks away from everyone and states that Clark Kent is dead. This is a great addition to the Smallville collection.

As a fan of Smallville since day one and as a fan of Superman since 1959, I am pleased that Tom Welling is Clark Kent. However, he deserves to be not only the small screens Clark Kent but also the big screens "Superman". For some reason Warner Brothers can't seem to see that Tom Welling can say more with his facial expressions than most actors say with their whole acting abilities. You actually feel his surprise, joy, pain and loneliness by just looking into his eyes.This series is wonderful. They have played with the DC comic line but mostly in good ways. If they would have been completely in line with the comics, Lana would marry Pete Ross. Clark's parents would have been much older. Clark would be flying instead of running at super-speed. He would have telescopic vision. The Fortress of Solitude would be in the side of an ice-berg and he would have to open the door with a giant golden key. The Martian Man-Hunter would be green. There would be many more differences. I admit that the majority of changes are done well.Season eight is a good season with some story changing additions, especially with the two who die at the end of the season. Neither follow the comic book, at least in the way one died and the fact that the other died at all. I enjoyed this season as I have every season and I will buy this season on Blu-Ray to add to my collection. I only wish that the CW Network would broadcast their shows in HD in our area. The only way we can watch it in High Def is to buy the Blu-Ray DVD or wait for it to come to HD Net.If you like the Superman Story then buy this season. I am sure you will enjoy it. I'm afraid that with CW moving Smallville to Friday night this coming season that it will be the "KISS OF DEATH" to the series. It will be sad to see the show end and it will be sadly missed once it is gone. Thanks to all the great actors of SMALLVILLE and keep up the good work as long as they keep you on the air. Lt. Robert T. Jeffcoat, Sr.