Smallville finally returned after these hokey midseason breaks that networks have been forcing on us.
From a business angle I get it. From a viewers angle, I lose momentum in a developing story. Smallville “Disciple” had some stories that suffered from the midseason (2 month?) break. I forget how long the dang break was.
Oliver Queen is still dealing with internal emotional issues and the relationship with Clark and Lois could have used some dialog rehash rather than an episode recap up front.
In this premiere, Oliver Queen’s tutor, instructor or whomever you want to call him, showed up to right what is perceived as a wrong.
Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen in Smallville
Vordigan / The Dark Arrow, (Seen in vid snap above) played by Steve Bacic (Crash & Burn, The Guard, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, Stargate SG-1) is part of a secret society that Oliver studied from and their premise is no lovers, no allies and no disciples.
Lois, Chloe and Mia (Speedy). You do the math. I’m trying not to spoil too much.
That was the primary story, but Zod, played by the ever predictable Callum Blue, also had a part in this episode which included conversations with Lois and a tongue lashing from Clark.
(How am I doing with the no spoilers part? I’m trying.)
Despite being a “Midseason premiere,” it felt like just any other episode of Smallville and didn’t have a ton of punch nor did it drop any hints, unless I missed them, of the upcoming Smallville movie called Absolute Justice.
I think if a network is going to force 2 and 3 month midseason breaks on us, they should take it upon themselves to make the midseason premiere much more exciting.
Then again, with the movie right around the corner, this was just a distraction. The CW should have led off the midseason charge with Absolute Justice, considering how much more they’ve been marketing it than their own premiere.
But that’s just my take on the situation.
There is something else that has now become more of a distraction for me and that’s Callum Blue’s portrayal of Zod.
I’ve watched Blue as Zod, thinking it was an interesting characterization. But then I’ve seen him in the Sanctuary season finale, where he plays an evil millionaire named Edward Forsythe. He seemed the exact same.
If you’ve been reading my site enough, you know that what I feel distinguishes actors from actors is how different they can be across different roles. Unfortunately Blue has failed this test for me of late. Maybe I need to watch him in something else like Secret Diary of a Call Girl, The Tudors, Related or Dead Like Me.
For now, he’s more a distraction than a character dang it.
Otherwise, this episode of Smallville was just a stepping stone to the movie and just another episode. Not horrid, not fantastic, though it might have felt fantastic because we’ve missed it… they made sure we came off our high fairly quickly.
