Season 10 Recap Review
Season 10 (2010-2011)
Recap Review
Season Cast:
Tom Welling (Clark Kent)
Erica Durance (Lois Lane)
Justin Hartley (Oliver Queen/Green Arrow)
Cassidy Freedman (Tess Mercer)
Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan)
Special Guest Stars:
John Schiender (Jonathan Kent)
Annette O' Toole (Martha Kent)
John Glover (Lionel Luthor)
Callum Blue (General Zod/Major Zod)
As Brainac 5 takes Clark through a journey of his past, present and future, Clark has to face the constant guilt and blame he's taken on since his father's death, maybe even all his life. ;) It's not only negatively effecting his present but hindering him from the future he's always dreamed of. Thanks to Brainiac's insight time travel intervention and returning to Smallville High for his 5 year reunion to realize how much of difference he had made in people's lives even then, Clark is able to confidently let go of those fears and insecurities by focusing on the biggest threats he has to face yet. Clark throughout the season is at his finest, being more in charge and focused as a hero than ever before. But it's not also Clark taking charge of his superhero higher calling better than ever but in his personal life, by finally getting the gusts to tell Lois his secret in Isis. Speaking of Lois, this was also another season of highs for journalism's most undisputed reporter. Finding out Clark's secret by last season's end, Season 10's Lois' main arc is being established as Clark and one day Superman's primary confidante and partner in helping to be the best superhero he can be. As usual, Erica Durance delivers magic on set and gives Lois more depth than ever as well as the writers. She is shown time and time again to be Clark's greatest supporter and ally, even before Clark tells her the truth about him. But even after that, Lois demands Clark repeatedly not leave her out of the loop as while she maybe be in love with the world's greatest superhero, she can more than take care of herself as Clark needs to trust her more to be independent and make her own decisions despite where they might lead her.
There are too many great Lois moments to name, like her standing up to her father about her love for Clark in Ambush, her confronting Jor-El in the Fortress to help work out the rift between them in Abandoned, her being immediately able to tell when Clark ISN'T himself in both Luthor and Kent, her and Chloe leading the charge in getting enough supporters for the Blur and to overturn the VRA, hilariously helping Clark come up with his own disguise in Masquerade, even helping the Blur to maintain his iconography in Metropolis when Booster Gold arrives in....Booster. I'd say there were some moments of random inconsistencies and questionable plot developments for the character like Lois being so aggressive in finding Clark and needing to be apart of the team??? Yeah, Lois can be all hero supporter but a team member she doesn't! O_o Then there was her pulling out a gun on Tess in Dominion, which I understand her desperation to get the love of her life back and it did work luckily, but it's a moment where Lois lets her emotions get the best of her when she knows Clark is just sacrificing himself for the protection of Earth. Of course, Prophecy is a major turning point for her as on the eve of their wedding day, Jor-El gives her Clark's powers and after she uncharacteristically lets Toyman get the best of her to save Clark, she suddenly realizes that Clark is her greatest weakness and vice versa, which leads to her abruptly ending their engagement. But at the end of the day, Finale reminds us why these two are meant to be as soulmates and partners in times of crisis when the world is on the brink of extinction! Clark and Lois were the greatest aspect of the season with Clark finally pushing himself to not only become Metropolis' savior but the Earth's protector as he begins saving lives around the world. Then coming up with the classic glasses disguise and the way he must differentiate Clark Kent and Superman so the world can actually believe they're two different people! It's everything you could have asked for an is an exceptional journey that culminates in Clark's worldwide debut as Superman and Lois managing to get the biggest story of her career yet on Air Force One. :)
Next we have Oliver, who spends the beginning of the season trying to track down Chloe after she self sacrifices herself so Oliver can be freed from the Suicide Squad. It take Clark having to reassure Oliver that Chloe left for a reason and should trust in her. Too bad all Oliver gets from that is to reveal himself to the public! The fallout of course is almost tragic at first with people scrutinizing him for his double life as a vigilante but quickly, thanks to Clark supporting his decision and being by his side, Oliver stands by his choice in the face of the harsh media coverage. Oliver spends most of the season having to deal with his nighttime heroics being exposed and realizing his choice has endangered the other heroes when it comes to Watchtower. He also has to deal with accepting Tess as their new head of Watchtower in Chloe's absence and while it does annoying quickly with him constantly comparing her to Chloe, he comes around and trusts her for the betterment of the team. During the second half, Oliver unfortunately has to face his dark side (har har! :P) again when one of Darkseid's prophets, Desaad marks Oliver with the Omega symbol, making him an agent of Darkseid unknowingly at first. It isn't until Dominion when Zod confronts Oliver about his corruption that he decides to do something about it; leading into Prophecy where he forms an unlikely alliance with Kara to track down the Bow of Orion, seemingly the only weapon that can defeat Darkseid. It turns out to be a trap tho set by the prophets as Granny Goodness arrives to destroy the bow and force Oliver to serve them through the Omega symbol. Luckily, Clark is able to Superman the Omega symbol out of him and Oliver is free to help in aiding in stopping Darkseid's takeover of Earth. His last moments as a hero is someone how defeating Darkseid's prophets with his arrows......I am not kidding, which continues to undermine them as serious villains (more on that later!) but I guess him getting revenge on them was needed but Oliver single-handedly??? -_-
As for Tess, the final season was about the character's redemption as well as internal conflict with discovering that she is in fact a Luthor. Then there's her relationship with a young clown of Lex, Alexander, wanting to bring out the best of him and love him but Lex's inner nature being so strong that she has to give up on the boy. We get to see in episodes like Luthor and Beacon, Tess having to confront the father that abandoned here aka Lionel Luthor from another world who steals her company from her as well as tortures his daughter through emotional, even psychological abuse. Even more terrifying is how Clark Luthor (Clark's evil doppelganger from that mirror world) treats her when it comes to their father as well as an unforeseen twisted romantic bond. It's Tess discovering the true origins of her bloodline that fuel her to be the best Watchtower she can be for our heroes, especially Clark. Too bad in the end, she never got to see Clark take himself to the skies as Superman as the series finale sees her battling Lionel one last time and confronting Lex about why he treated her the way he has since meeting her. It was sad to see Tess' die but her last act was a reminder of how Clark inspired her to reform as well as protecting him by erasing Lex's memories. I can definitely say I enjoyed Tess the most here during the final 3 seasons as he place and motivation was finally clear, not to mention her getting to have fun with gang one last time in Fortune. I really loved her sudden closeness with Emil and that hilarious moment of them hooking up during the infamous drunk night. LOL As for briefly recurring fifth cast member, Chloe was only used sparely cause of Allison Mack's commitment to another project during the last season of the show. Chloe is the second most long term cast member since the very beginning of the show. For better or for worse, her last days as Clark's ally needed to be wrapped up and I'm glad it was done in a why where Chloe respectfully took a backseat and just let Clark be a superhero in all his glory. Honestly, while her relationship with Oliver bothered me, by season's end, they produced a child! OMG! I love how she found her calling in being both a journalist again by day and hero inspiring mentor to future heroes who want to show the world what they have. It made sense for her character and she ends up married to Oliver! Guess that's a happy ending for both of them!??? O_O
Being the final season, I remember showrunners Brian and Kelly saying "Season 10 is the kitchen sink!" And boy is it ever, especially when it comes to the various overarching storylines. You have Alexander growing into potentially a new, more sinister Lex, the VRA lead by Slade Wilson in making vigilantism obsolete so they can enlisted for the government, The Suicide Squad wanting to recruit heroes to fight against the country's anti-superhero agenda through explosive anarchy and of course, Darkseid arriving on Earth with him and his prophets corrupting humanity in preparation for his complete takeover. Not to mention, Lionel Luthor is brought back to be a major villain for the team as well! That is a lot of antagonists for Clark and his friends to face as the writers do their best to make sense of all of it. Darkseid and his prophets are of course, the major threat that's behind the world's sudden hatred and distrust of him that inspires the VRA as well as new villains like Slade Wilson to personal go after heroes in their war to discredit them, even kill them! But I have to say the VRA was no different than any other storyline dealing with superhero registering from Marvel's Civil War storyline in the comics as well as the Mutant Registration Act of the X-men comics. Sure it all being a lie to capture and kill superheroes makes sense as a twist but nothing is really done with the story besides that. The Suicide Squad are suppose to be the opposing faction against the VRA, even if they are also become new enemies for Clark and them by trying to rally more superheroes to their side to fight the government but by the incredibly terrible Collateral, Chloe has partnered with them and seized their actions to stop them from making things worse for Clark. It's really sad because I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Flagg and wished we got more from the Suicide Squad. Tho their mini-team up with young Justice League against the VRA in Collateral was so awesome but it's only a small moment of what could have been something MUCH greater.
Slade Wilson was passable and the only villain who seemed to have a major victory over the villains in his fight with Hawkman leading him to killing the Egyptian hero. But then Carter is always being reincarnated so.....O_o But even if the VRA arc/Suicide Squad didn't live up to their initial promising, they were once again, just a consequence of the REAL threat in Darkseid and his prophets corrupting humanity to lose hope, especially in their heroes. The Darkseid arc tho, unfortunately, was even a bigger disappointment than the VRA and Suicide Squad, especially when they had a lot of elements that worked despite the very restricted budget. The Unholy Trinity each had their individual introduction with Gordon Godfrey being chosen by Darkseid in Supergirl to be the voice to denounce and start the hatred against superheroes to keep them out of the minds and hearts of people. Then you have the truly inspired performance of Christian Willes as Granny Goodness who is so proudly evil and menacing in ways the set her up as such a terrifying threat (Even if the Female Furies were too disposable to be much of a threat for Clark alone) and then there's Desaad in Masquerade who binds and murders those who can't be corrupted by Darkseid while corrupting the others through the seven deadly sins. It really does work and Darkseid being this dark, overwhelming presence in the background made sure he was only shown a handful of times (if even that! O_o) as the mastermind of it all. But the writers don't do enough in making them the strongest threat yet for Clark at all. After their debut episodes, they are easily defeat and don't begin to show up until the final 2-3 episodes of the series. It's a shame as I wish the season, especially the second half spent more time showing how dangerous and unbeatable the Trinity was. Maybe instead of Kent, has an episode called Trinity where Darkseid forces his minions to regroup and come up with a dangerous plan that leaves Team Blur very crippled until the finale. Even in the series finale, the Unholy Trinity and Darkseid are treated like an inconvenience to the planet Apolokips hurdling toward Earth. Sigh.....:(
But one villain faction that was used to its full potential were the Luthors, mainly Lionel Luthor-2 and Alexander, Lex's manical clone. Thankfully, the writers bring out the best of the season with the Luthors as antagonist again with Earth 2 Lionel being more evil and crafty than ever, especially when taking young Alexander under his wing to bring the worst in him. ;) Both Beacon and Scion were very epic, solid episodes that made Lionel scarier as ever as the main villain and even Alexander was forced to be reckoned with before developing into Smallville's own version of Conner Kent aka Superboy. :) Of course, I can't talk about the Luthors without Michael Rosenbaum's triumphant return as Lex Luthor for the series finale. However his story ended here, he returns for yet another masterful performance and incredible last scene with Tom as both Clark and Lex officially accept their destinies as mortal enemies. :) But whatever I may have thought of the numerous villains this season, Season 10 still knocked it out of the park in bringing the show full circle for the most part. We has so many return cast members and special guests from Jonathan/Martha Kent, General Sam Lane, Kara, AC/Aquaman alongside his wife, Hawkman, Stargirl, etc. It was very nice for the last season to remind us of not only the significant differences between the Kents and the Luthors but having several emotionally powerful moments that establish those complex family dynamics of each. :) Not to mention, as unfortunately more episodic the last season was compared to Season 9's more cohesive and consistent narrative, the writers still manage to write some of the series' absolute best episodes: The emotionally promising premiere, Lazarus, possibly the greatest episode ever in the 200th episode Homecoming, the Suicide Squad arc episode with Clois relationship drama Ambush, Tess' discovery of her Luthor parentage in the haunting Abandoned, Clark's first trip to the mirror world in Luthor, the mid-season VRA conflict in Icarus, the heroism inspired Beacon, the glasses dawning the Clark Kent disguise in Masquerade, DC superheroes Booster Gold and Blue Beetle stopping by for Geoff John's last Smallville penned episode Booster, Zod's incredible return in Dominion and of course, the two part series finale that sees Clark finally becoming Superman with tights and flights on display! :)
"After nine years of Clark's life changing adventures from his modest small town heroics in Smallville to his world inspiring rise as Metropolis' mysterious hero as the Blur, the tenth and final season of Smallville does a mostly adequate job of setting up the biggest threat that Clark has to face yet even if most of the villains were rather disappointing and unfulfilled in how truly awesome they could have been. Even so, what worked for the season, worked VERY WELL in Clark's final steps into embracing his destiny, Lois being his secret keeper and greatest asset, The Luthor storyline being so well crafted and the various episodes that show the best of Smallville. It's no wonder fans across the world had been following this phenomenon series for a decade! Definitely worth the watch by being one of the better seasons of the show and not just because Clark finally becomes the world's finest symbol of hope but the Earth's definitive superhero as the Man of Steel for the ages! :)"
Final Season Verdict: B+
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