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STUDIO: Warner Bros.
MSRP: $59.99
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 970 min.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Featurettes
• Commentaries
• Deleted Scenes
By the end of the third season of Smallville, I’d pretty much decided I nearly had enough. The departure from the freak-of-the-week formula was simply replaced with a different series of constant coincidences, and
The Show
When season three of Smallville ended, Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) had gone to study abroad in Paris, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) continued his fascination with the ancient caves, nosy Chloe (Alison Mack) was put in Witness Protection and blown up (yay!) for discovering the dark secrets of Lionel Luthor (John Glover), and Clark Kent (Tom Welling) was “possessed” by his true alien self Kal-El.
Season four continues to chart the evolution of the Teen Who Would Be Superman during his final year of high school. Clark is battling with his “programming” – he discovered (via messages from biological dad Jor-El, voiced with regal authority by Terence Stamp) that his mission on Earth is to rule through subjugation, an idea he’s not too keen on after growing up as the adopted son of swell parents Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider and Annette O’Toole). The season blasts off with a possessed Clark taking to the skies (the writers circumvent their no-fly mandate by having Clark later explain that it’s only Kal-El who knows how to fly) before crashing in a field with amnesia, where he’s discovered by the passing Lois Lane (Erica Durance), in town to investigate her cousin Chloe’s unsolved demise. But it’s not long before things return to status quo, or what passes for it in Smallville.
The glorious Ms. Kreuk demonstrates just how much she cares about all my letters expressing my true love.
This season tries to give Lana something more to do, and I’m not just talking about enigmatic new beau Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles, since graduated to WB’s spook-series Supernatural), who met her in Paris and followed her home to Smallville where he becomes the assistant coach of the high school football team. It turns out that Lana is a descendent of a witch named Isobel (as evidenced by the tattoo that mysteriously materializes on her delectable lower back), who’s also tied into the Kryptonian crystals coveted over the course of the season by the Luthors and Jason’s conniving mom Gevenieve (Jane Seymour) – the one who orchestrated her son’s new relationship from the start.
Hey, I don’t care if it says ‘The Lakers Were Here’.
As has become customary, the fourth season also throws a few bones to the comic fans with variations on characters from the 4-color pages, including a super-powered canine named Krypto, a jinx-triggering baddie named Myxzptlk, and an impossibly speedy pickpocket named Bart Allen (aka The Flash), the last of which makes for one of the most entertaining episodes of the season. With Pete no longer present as the Friend Who Knows Clark’s Secret, this responsibility has been transferred to the endlessly annoying Chloe (no, of course she’s not dead, dammit) who witnesses
Aside from nepotism, there are other advantages to having actor parents. Take Robert Patrick’s kid for example…
But for the most part, the writers keep dropping their bucket in the same shallow well and drawing up a single idea, which becomes abundantly clear when drinking the show in large quantities – literally more than half the season’s episodes feature some sort of body-jumping or mind-swapping or amnesia or possession.
My infamous Kreuk craving aside, I’d say the cast has grown more than comfortable in their roles even if they’re often just spinning their wheels. Welling seems to catch flak for his acting skills, but he nimbly shifts between the frequent personality changes, and imbues
It turned out Lois’ "investigative skills" were more thorough than Clark ever anticipated.
Smallville’s production values are always top-of-the-line for television – not quite feature film quality but echelons above, say, Mutant X (the latest meteor shower to rain on Smallville is a particular visual highlight). Unfortunately while this season has some memorable moments (lots of compromising positions for the female characters), it’s dragged down by Clark/Lana’s absurd unrequited love, the over-reliance on altered behavior, and the occasionally confounding attempts at creating a new mythology (magic, sacred caverns) while maintaining the vague intrinsic structure of the Superman legend (Kryptonite, supervillains, etc.) in a small-town high school setting complete with football games and prom and graduation. Still, I’ll toss in extra decimals for a pair of hotties like Kreuk and Durance.
6.9 out of 10
The Look
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen looks far superior than it ever could when bound by the restraints of fiberoptic cable, and the rich comic book colors practically leap from the screen in a single bound. Or at least at a remarkable sprint.
8.8 out of 10
Like I said… pretty good actress.
The Noise
It’s on a Dobly 2.0 audio option, but with the strength of the whooshing and zapping and exploding, you could easily be convinced otherwise. Or maybe you’ve just been possessed by one of the numerous recurring plotlines.
8.0 out of 10
The Goodies
Leading the treats is a trio of commentaries with an interesting mix of the talent, two of which appear on a couple of the season’s best episodes (which involve behavioral changes!). There’s also a pair of quickie 10-minute featurettes, one focusing on the character of Lois Lane with clips of her portrayal over history and interviews with the actresses who wore her pink panties (Teri Hatcher was apparently too busy with Desperate Housewives or getting more plastic surgery to participate), while the other looks at the creative process as the writers “break” a story. Sadly, they’re working out one of the season’s more bizarre episodes during the featurette, but it’s an intriguing glimpse at story development. Then there are a handful of deleted scenes, most of which seem to have been sliced for time constraints, including a nifty Lex dream sequence.
Another bonus in the package: the first episode of The Flash TV series from 1990, so we can probably finally expect that DVD set in the near future. Took his time.
5.7 out of 10
Sorry, tigerlips… hiding only makes me look harder.
The Artwork
8.0 out of 10
Overall: 7.0 out of 10