Random thoughts on the New Fall Season - September 28, 2008

Random thoughts: While "only" 10 million people watched the opening night of Heroes, the show runners clearly have hit the ground running. Its clear how they will manage to make some of our "heroes" into "villains" and without a clue as to where it will go. While we are bound to re-visit the future (the opener actually began there) I am sure we will have a cleanup episode from the recent past that should shed light on some of the story threads, especially "Nicky/Jessica/Tracy."

The DVR conflict on Monday night between Heroes, Two and 1/2 Men and Prison Break finally got me off the Prison Break main line. There is hope for me. ON the same note, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles at the earlier hour is a blessing.

While I am still not happy with "Sweets" as a regular on Bones, it was great to Dr. Addy again. More significantly, I am amazed at how well the writers have kept up the relationship between Bones and Booth. Their banter and chemistry is still spot on.

When is House going to get back to Chase and Cameron, who did not even appear in the last episode? Not only do these characters have nothing to do, but House has added a character?? (actor Michael Weston playing a detective hired to spy on Wilson. Since the rumor is that Hugh Laurie is about to get Kiefer Sutherland money, how can this show afford to go on?

Fringe looks like it is living up to its hype, but the fact that every one of their investigations connects up to Dr. Bishop's past, while most likely not a coincidence, will probably reach a point, ala Lost, where the twisty mythology starts to unravel.

And speaking of Fringe, has anyone noticed the number of The Wire alums that are scoring new shows. Lance Riddick on Fringe, Jamie Hector on Heroes, Amy Ryan on The Office and Tristan Wilds on 90210 (will not and never will watch it). I could have sworn on I also saw Clarke Peters (Lt. Freeman) on previews for Life on Mars.

Smallville and Grey's Anatomy seem to be back in stride. Smallville is transitioning Clark to Metropolis, while Grey's seems to be trying to soften up Yang and Hahn. They can't do anything with Meridith's constant self-absorption.

Bones Need Less Sweets

Having watched the two hour season premiere of Bones, one wonders if the producers have made a mistake by making Dr. Sweets a regular character. Last season, his role was as a counselor to Bones and Booth. Now, apparently he hangs with the lab geeks and gives out unwanted advice? He worked last season, including the unspoken element of him being suspected (by the fans) of being the killer B&B had been looking for all season (that turned out to be Dr. Addy, who was written out of the show. The writers need to find a better and more organic way to use him on a "regular" basis.

If the season a opener is any indication, having more Sweets is not good.

Prison Breaks Into Mission Impossible?

Watched the season premiere of Prison Break. Kick me! This show is so absurd! Not only does it not deal with a prison break (only its aftermath, if that) but now the boys are matched up together as some sort of well financed Mission Impossible Force working clandestine to bring down "The Company." While they have laid some ground rules as to why they would work with Mahone (a truce), none of the ex-cons owes anything to Bellick who suddenly has a personality transplant.

And while we probably do not know enough about their "boss", Homeland Security agent Don Self (Michael Rapaport), why he had to go way outside to create a secret force will never have a satisfactory explanation (if any). It also appears clear that at one point they will be in cahoots with arch enemy Gretchen.

At least T-Bag remains true to his character (even after having eaten some bad Mexican).

Superboy Needs a Facelift? - The Aging of Smallville (Part Three)

While the fan boys may quell at the next suggestion, the show also began to lose something of itself by the introduction of various future members of the Justice League of America. The first was Aquaman, who mysteriously appeared in landlocked Kansas (being filmed in Vancouver, Kansas often has majestic mountain ranges in the background) for an environmental crusade against Lex Luthor. The next introduction was recurring character Green Arrow, who in the comic books actually did not have as close an ineraction with Superman as say Batman.[1] There has also been an appearance one of a Flash incarnations (Impulse), and Cyborg, a character from the Teen Titans.

Due to the constraints of television, many of these characters are rendered somewhat pedestrian, and worse, are given too much to do when they appear. While many of the fans of Smallville loved the actual appearance of the first grouping of the Justice League (in an episode entitled Justice) the contrived nature of the episode made it less than thrilling.

There are other parts of the show which also make some moments of Smallville just another television show. The aforementioned Supergirl, who may have been the true shark jumping moment of this series, is just an example. The fact that Lex Luthor, who appears to be at least 21 years old at the time that the series begins is a close personal friend with a boy who is in 9th or 10th grade seems awfully odd in any universe. The fact that he then hangs out with the women of the group, Lana and Chloe in particular, adds to that bit of creepiness which never seems to be questioned by anyone during the course of the show.[2] The show also wastes the character of Pete Ross who unless he was part of the central storyline, which was rare, is treated like a second class citizen by his supposed best friend Clark whenever anybody else is in trouble. In fact, when Pete Ross is eventually leaves, it appears in large part because the character and the actor understood he outlived his usefulness.

In this upcoming Season 8 it appears that the writers and creators may have recognized the mistake of Supergirl, since she is no longer a regular character. The Eighth Season also will not include regular appearances by Lex Luthor as actor Michael Rosenbaum decided that he needed to move on. The same is true with Lana Lang, the character who perfectly fit the ideal that a Superman should be striving for in the early years of the show, but in the past few seasons is actually shown a side of her that the true Superman should not be able to accept. Indeed, a more organic departure could have been written based on Clark’s rejection of her after she showed a willingness, among other things, to allow her then husband (if you do not watch the show, don’t ask) Lex to die in a cave-in. She too will be missing in action in the upcoming season but apparently will appear in a few episodes at some point.

Other Season 8 news includes Green Arrow as a regular, other superheroes from the DC universe making appearances, and a move to make the Clark Kent of Smallville the Clark Kent of Metropolis.

The one question that the Village asks that has yet to be answered by this television series is how this particular version of Superboy will fit within, if at all, the overall universe of the Superman we all know. In particular, all of the characters in Smallville that will later appear in Metropolis (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and most particularly Lex Luthor), do not equate Clark Kent and Superman together. However, only an idiot (and at the least Lex Luthor is not one) would not be able to put together the Clark Kent of Smallville, who continually and consistently saves anything and anyone who needs help) with the Superman who will eventually appear in Metropolis. How the writers of the show intend to resolve this issue, or if they have no intention of resolving this issue, remain to be seen. The Village for one will be highly disappointed if some rational explanation does not become part of the story. That being said this Videot has seen many shows twist their mythology to the point of being unable to unravel (the X-Files comes to mind) and at this point remains skeptical that the resolution will make some sense.

This is even more concerning in light of recent rumors that 8^th and "final season" may not actually be the last season of Smallville. One excellent source for Smallville information, the podcast Starkville’s House of El (http://www.smallvillepodcast.com) indicates that the CW has not ruled out a 9^th Season. To continually extend this story may already have been fatal to any decent longevity and the creators should think long and hard before volunteering for the more seasons.

All that being said, guess whose DVR will be recording the season premiere of Smallville on September 18? Mine.

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[1] The Village’s theory is that Green Arrow's appearance was intended to be Batman's, which was of course tied up in a movie series which has turned Batman into DC and Warner Bros. greatest movie franchise). Green Arrow is in essence a Batman-esque character, i.e., a billionaire industrialist using his wealth to feign powers through equipment and costumes.

[2] Jonathan Kent questioning anything Lex Luthor does so that really doesn't count.

Superboy Needs a Facelift? - The Aging of Smallville (Part Two)

As the first season progresses, Clark discovers for the first time that he is from another planet, but without any knowledge as to why or where he is actually from. Jonathan Kent, portrayed as an all too human but good intentioned farmer by former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider, raises Clark to hide his powers and to not use them for personal gain. Lex Luthor, on the other hand, has been raised to take any advantage available to him and to go to any lengths in order to obtain wealth and opportunity. A chance meeting between the two, involving a car accident that should have killed both Clark and Lex, leads to their friendship, and to Lex and Lionel’s suspicions that Clark may be something other than an ordinary farm boy.

Tom Welling is a perfect Clark Kent for a new age, tall and good-looking, and capable of the mixture of comic touch and brooding necessary in a teenager who knows he has superpowers but cannot tell a soul. Michael Rosenbaum is (and with apologies to Gene Hackman) the best Lex Luthor ever made. This Lex is actually capable, at least early on, of becoming somebody decent, and is more often than not a sympathetic character. He simply needs the right role model in his life to show him that there is a better way. That role model is Clark Kent.

While nuanced at first but later actually said out loud by some of the characters, all Clark has to do is reveal to Lex Luthor that he has superpowers and is from another planet, i.e. trust Lex, and the Lex Luthor that we know he will become might never happen. Ironically it is Clark Kent, the future bastion of Truth (along with Justice and the American Way) who chooses to lie in order to hide his secret identity, while it is Lex who early in their relationship consistently confesses his sins to his new friend Clark, someone Lex considers the brother that he never had While Lex is headed toward fate in part because of the way he was parented, and in part because his DNA may force him to become the evil force in Metropolis, the bottom line appears to be that he is doomed because he can find no one, even his best friend Clark, who will trust him.

Clark's destiny is substantially more complex but for a completely different reason. To the uninitiated, Superman is who is because of his costume and his superpowers. This is actually not true. Superman is who he is because with his powers he could become a god and rule the earth. Instead, he chooses self sacrifice, and forsaking of a normal life, to save the world. (That the Superman story is a Judaic-Christian metaphor, both Moses and Jesus, has long been understood. Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns hit us over the head with the Jesus part.)

As previously indicated, the writers and creators were probably not of the belief that Clark would make it out of high school before the show was canceled. Because of this the show began to grow long in teeth somewhere around the introduction to Smallville of Lois Lane, and the vague and extremely short pass at college by all of the teenage characters. This was followed in quick succession by the appearance of Jimmy Olsen and, profoundly, with the introduction of Supergirl in the Seventh Season.
Part Three of this post will appear tomorrow.

Superboy Needs a Facelift? - The Aging of Smallville (Part One)

Since the new TV season seems to be upon us, it is time to reflect back on seven seasons of the CW’s (and a former WB’s) Smallville, essentially the adventures of Superman when he was a teenager.
The original concept of the show was a cross between the Superboy comic books (but no costume or flying) and oldest and newest Superman mythologies: Clark and Lex were friends in Smallville long before Lex became his evil adult self and Clark Kent donned tights and a cape to save the world as Superman. The show borrows heavily from the original concept: Lana Lang, Pete Ross (a character from the Superboy comic books who knew Clark's secret identity, unbeknownst to Clark), and of course Jonathan and Martha Kent. The additions to the mythology: the close personal friendship between Lex and Clark, high school newspaper reporter Chloe Sullivan, and the participation of Lex's father, Lionel Luthor, helps keep the story going and adds to and fleshes out what otherwise could have been a rather simplistic and moralistic story.
Additionally, the show's creator made a character out of Kryptonite. Known in the comic books as pieces of the planet Krypton, the pieces at least originally landed on Earth after first passing through various colored dust clouds, creating different variants with different properties that affected only Kryptonians: Green was deadly, Red temporarily mutated Superman, etc. On Smallville, the Kryptonite arrives in a meteor shower along with the spaceship carrying baby Kal-El. In the opening episode, we learn how the meteors and spaceship arrived on Earth, how the Kents find Clark (for the first time ever portrayed as youngish parents), that a metoer killed Lana’s parents, and that the same meteor shower robs Lex Luthor of his hair as a child.
The town is also transformed from the “Cream Corn Capital of the World,” to the “Meteor Rock Capital of the World,” Unlike the Kryptonite of the comic books, the "meteor rock" (Earth is unaware of the planet Krypton, as is Clark until Season Two) under the right set of circumstances acts as a mutagen to human beings. This allows for the creation of various enemies for Clark to fight (referred to by fans as “freaks of the week”) who because of the Green K influence, are not always easy to vanquish. In later storylines, “meteor rock” becomes a source for scientific study, for better or for worse. Red Kryptonite has no effect on humans, but removes Clark’s inhibitions (turning him into “Bad Clark.”
Throughout most of the series, Clark and Lex struggled to maintain a friendship despite the core tension between them: Lex knows that Clark has a secret and Clark, who wants to tell somebody, just can’t (or won’t). Another significant tension, rising from a nature versus nurture subtext, is Lex's belief that the ends justify the means as opposed to Clark's belief that they do not. The conceit of the show are that these tensions would lead them to become enemies and to their respective destinies. We can be somewhat confident that the writers of the series did not believe that the show would last through the seventh season, let alone eight (and possibly nine?), as the series does show some wear and tear, and has lead to a point where the series may not blend too gracefully with the Superman legend.
Part Two of this post will appear tomorrow.