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sdelmonteAt long last, the wait is over, and we learned the fates of Clark and the Winchesters on their respective shows, now part of the CW Network.
While I cannot object to a network that has two of the must-see shows on my list (Supernatural and Veronica Mars), I really, really don't like the oversized green graphics that intrude on the screen far too often during the story. I don't like the graphics even as part of the network ad campaign. But we watch the shows, not eh ads, right?
Spoilers ahead!
Smallville: As you may recall, I no longer watch this regularly. But I was curious as to how they got out of the outlandish cliffhangers we saw at the end of season five. For the most part, they really don't get out of them so much as ignore them. Martha and Lois amazingly survive a plane crash. LuthorCorp security saves Lionel and Chloe, after which the riots in Metropolis are barely mentioned again. Indeed, the entire collapse of the global infrastructure is referenced only once or twice, and it seems like everything is okay despite an alien computer virus shutting down everything for a night. This show continues to ignore its logic holes over and over.
That said, the one cliffhanger that is addressed well is the fate of Clark in the Phantom Zone. This version of the Zone is a desert wasteland, inhabited by criminals - some so bad they have been reduced to formless phantoms as punishment - but also by Jor-El's lab assistant, sent there to escape Krypton. Not much of it makes sense, but Clark learns of his father's dedication to saving Krpyton, his mother's dedication to Jor-El, and his father's assistant's dedication to the House of El. At long last, and despite evidence to the contrary, Jor-El gains some of the nobility we expect from him. And Tom Welling does a good job with the material.
And then comes the fight. Clark, freed from the Zone, versus Zod, in full control of Lex's body and with full Kryptonian powers. You want to know what was missing from Superman Returns? It was something like this, a battle between Superman and an equal. This fight lasted about four minutes, on a TV budget, and it looked great. Imagine what it could look like in a movie. Isntead, however, we get Luthor stabbing a powerless Supes. Brian Singer, I hope you are paying attention to Smallville, because I think they understand what to do with a Superman as much as you do.
The fight was also fun because Zod says The Line ("Kneel before Zod") and because at the end of the fight, when Clark drives the phantom Zod out of Lex, the image we see is that of Terence Stamp as Zod in the second Superman film. This is especially fun because Stamp has been the voice of Jor-El on the series.
Oh, and we meet the Smallville Jimmy Olsen, soon to be Chloe's boyfriend. I could complain that I hate the idea of Jimmy and Clark beoing the same age. But by now, it;'s clear that this show is not the classic comic at all. It's more like one of the Marvel Ultimate comics, following the legend but only to a point. Besides, Aaron Ashmore and Alison Mack have great chemistry, and he gets the modern day Jimmy's tone immediately.
On the whole, I am glad that some things still work here. If I have nothing else to do, I might watch, especially since this season promises the arrival of Oliver Queen and then the formation of the Smallville version of the JLA. My inner critic may not love things, but my inner fanboy is happy.
Supernatural: Last time we saw the Winchester family, a possessed trucker slammed his rig into the Impala, seriously injuring all three (and totalling the car). But at it turns out, only Dean is in mortal danger. In fact, he's dying. And so we watching Dean, having a out of body experience, see his father and brother argue, see his body in a bad way, and meet a Reaper. He's not happy about this, and isn't willing to go. And all the while, Sam and John are powerless to save him. Though at least Sam can sense him and talks to him. With a Ouija board.
However, John takes the only action he can and makes a deal with his devil, one with a huge cost.
I didn't see any of this coming. I figured either everyone would be okay, or everyone would be in trouble. I figured that we might even come back weeks later. Instead, we dive right back in and then find ourselves seeing things through Dean's eyes. It's a great idea, one that takes advantage of Jensen Ackles' increasing skill as an actor. There is tension, there is suspense, and there is insight. Ever wonder why there are angry spirits? The Reaper tells Dean that they are people who don't go when death calls. People like he could have been.
And then everything changes. John does his deal, Dean lives, John makes his peace with the boys and dies, the demon gets away with the gun. And in retelling it, I am not conveying any of the power these scenes have.
I am not one of those who think this is a brilliant TV show. I think its creqator, Eric Kripke,,might agree. It doesn't want to be Buffy or Lost. It just wants to tell horror stories. But every week it delivers, with good acting and strong scripts, and every week it gets better. A year ago, I would have never thought we would see an episode as good as this one on this show. And it's just the first week of anew season, with many interesting guest starts lined up, and with Ben Edlund on board as a producer.
Oh, and let's take a moment to salute TV's unluckiest actor, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Last spring, he was playing parts on both Supernatural and Grey's Anatomy. Both his characters are now dead. I thought for sure that once he died on Grey's, he'd be alive and well here. So much for that. I doubt he'll be out of work long, even if his ghost doesn't show up on Supernatural. But imagine how he felt when he read the script for this episode and saw he was getting another death scene.
Next week, time permitting, Veronica Mars and Lost.
While I cannot object to a network that has two of the must-see shows on my list (Supernatural and Veronica Mars), I really, really don't like the oversized green graphics that intrude on the screen far too often during the story. I don't like the graphics even as part of the network ad campaign. But we watch the shows, not eh ads, right?
Spoilers ahead!
Smallville: As you may recall, I no longer watch this regularly. But I was curious as to how they got out of the outlandish cliffhangers we saw at the end of season five. For the most part, they really don't get out of them so much as ignore them. Martha and Lois amazingly survive a plane crash. LuthorCorp security saves Lionel and Chloe, after which the riots in Metropolis are barely mentioned again. Indeed, the entire collapse of the global infrastructure is referenced only once or twice, and it seems like everything is okay despite an alien computer virus shutting down everything for a night. This show continues to ignore its logic holes over and over.
That said, the one cliffhanger that is addressed well is the fate of Clark in the Phantom Zone. This version of the Zone is a desert wasteland, inhabited by criminals - some so bad they have been reduced to formless phantoms as punishment - but also by Jor-El's lab assistant, sent there to escape Krypton. Not much of it makes sense, but Clark learns of his father's dedication to saving Krpyton, his mother's dedication to Jor-El, and his father's assistant's dedication to the House of El. At long last, and despite evidence to the contrary, Jor-El gains some of the nobility we expect from him. And Tom Welling does a good job with the material.
And then comes the fight. Clark, freed from the Zone, versus Zod, in full control of Lex's body and with full Kryptonian powers. You want to know what was missing from Superman Returns? It was something like this, a battle between Superman and an equal. This fight lasted about four minutes, on a TV budget, and it looked great. Imagine what it could look like in a movie. Isntead, however, we get Luthor stabbing a powerless Supes. Brian Singer, I hope you are paying attention to Smallville, because I think they understand what to do with a Superman as much as you do.
The fight was also fun because Zod says The Line ("Kneel before Zod") and because at the end of the fight, when Clark drives the phantom Zod out of Lex, the image we see is that of Terence Stamp as Zod in the second Superman film. This is especially fun because Stamp has been the voice of Jor-El on the series.
Oh, and we meet the Smallville Jimmy Olsen, soon to be Chloe's boyfriend. I could complain that I hate the idea of Jimmy and Clark beoing the same age. But by now, it;'s clear that this show is not the classic comic at all. It's more like one of the Marvel Ultimate comics, following the legend but only to a point. Besides, Aaron Ashmore and Alison Mack have great chemistry, and he gets the modern day Jimmy's tone immediately.
On the whole, I am glad that some things still work here. If I have nothing else to do, I might watch, especially since this season promises the arrival of Oliver Queen and then the formation of the Smallville version of the JLA. My inner critic may not love things, but my inner fanboy is happy.
Supernatural: Last time we saw the Winchester family, a possessed trucker slammed his rig into the Impala, seriously injuring all three (and totalling the car). But at it turns out, only Dean is in mortal danger. In fact, he's dying. And so we watching Dean, having a out of body experience, see his father and brother argue, see his body in a bad way, and meet a Reaper. He's not happy about this, and isn't willing to go. And all the while, Sam and John are powerless to save him. Though at least Sam can sense him and talks to him. With a Ouija board.
However, John takes the only action he can and makes a deal with his devil, one with a huge cost.
I didn't see any of this coming. I figured either everyone would be okay, or everyone would be in trouble. I figured that we might even come back weeks later. Instead, we dive right back in and then find ourselves seeing things through Dean's eyes. It's a great idea, one that takes advantage of Jensen Ackles' increasing skill as an actor. There is tension, there is suspense, and there is insight. Ever wonder why there are angry spirits? The Reaper tells Dean that they are people who don't go when death calls. People like he could have been.
And then everything changes. John does his deal, Dean lives, John makes his peace with the boys and dies, the demon gets away with the gun. And in retelling it, I am not conveying any of the power these scenes have.
I am not one of those who think this is a brilliant TV show. I think its creqator, Eric Kripke,,might agree. It doesn't want to be Buffy or Lost. It just wants to tell horror stories. But every week it delivers, with good acting and strong scripts, and every week it gets better. A year ago, I would have never thought we would see an episode as good as this one on this show. And it's just the first week of anew season, with many interesting guest starts lined up, and with Ben Edlund on board as a producer.
Oh, and let's take a moment to salute TV's unluckiest actor, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Last spring, he was playing parts on both Supernatural and Grey's Anatomy. Both his characters are now dead. I thought for sure that once he died on Grey's, he'd be alive and well here. So much for that. I doubt he'll be out of work long, even if his ghost doesn't show up on Supernatural. But imagine how he felt when he read the script for this episode and saw he was getting another death scene.
Next week, time permitting, Veronica Mars and Lost.
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(no subject)
Date: Sep. 30th, 2006 07:05 pm (UTC)JDM dies real good though *g*
I consider myself fairly particular about quality in my TV shows but sometimes something besides objective quality can make a show stick. There are other shows I watch technically much better than SPN. But none of them own me the way Kripke's characters do. It's a highly subjective thing.