Love and Monsters
I've got such a love/hate relationship with Smallville it's not even funny. More often than not I find myself dreading to watch the show, generally tossing it to the bottom of the pile when I have to decide what to watch for stuff I've downloaded. Still, there are times when that dread is wiped away and I've been very glad to have seen a certain episode. Those times are rare, but continually renew any faith I have in the show.
This week was one of those nuggets, with the viewers/fans finally able to see the burgeoning Justice Leage of America in action. Not all the players are in place yet (Wonder Woman, Batman, etc.) but we do have Green Arrow, Cyborg, Aquaman and The Flash so far (of note, one can easily see that Gough & Millar are again breaking DC canon by having the JLA started by these members). All had of course been featured separately in the past couple years, but this is the first time we get to see them in action as a group.
I honestly have no idea if there was a tacit notion early on in the minds of the show runners to have the series finish with JLA overtones, and I seriously doubt it, but it's nice to finally have the show seem to have purpose. So many episodes, especially early on, felt like throwaways with the Freak of the Week (FotW as kryptonsite.com would call them in years past); later on, they felt wasteful with all the soap opera elements at play. Sometimes, as I noted a couple months back, the waste is on a larger scale... I still feel the build-up in season 5 regarding Brainiac and Zod was a waste given how briskly the notions were discarded in the season 6 opener.
Given it's been nearly 3 months since the last of these 'nuggets' (counting, of course, the holiday season hiatus), it makes me sad to realize this may be the last good episode for a while. I fully anticipate the show going back to the drudgery until sweeps... meaning 3-4 poor episodes may yet come before anything good again airs. I do hope to be proven wrong, though.
EDIT: It seems I'm not the only one with the opinion of this week's episode ("Justice"). fiziko (I don't know him personally, but he too is from Edmonton) over at bureau42 has posted his remarks on the episode. Edited 22.01.2007
This week was one of those nuggets, with the viewers/fans finally able to see the burgeoning Justice Leage of America in action. Not all the players are in place yet (Wonder Woman, Batman, etc.) but we do have Green Arrow, Cyborg, Aquaman and The Flash so far (of note, one can easily see that Gough & Millar are again breaking DC canon by having the JLA started by these members). All had of course been featured separately in the past couple years, but this is the first time we get to see them in action as a group.
I honestly have no idea if there was a tacit notion early on in the minds of the show runners to have the series finish with JLA overtones, and I seriously doubt it, but it's nice to finally have the show seem to have purpose. So many episodes, especially early on, felt like throwaways with the Freak of the Week (FotW as kryptonsite.com would call them in years past); later on, they felt wasteful with all the soap opera elements at play. Sometimes, as I noted a couple months back, the waste is on a larger scale... I still feel the build-up in season 5 regarding Brainiac and Zod was a waste given how briskly the notions were discarded in the season 6 opener.
Given it's been nearly 3 months since the last of these 'nuggets' (counting, of course, the holiday season hiatus), it makes me sad to realize this may be the last good episode for a while. I fully anticipate the show going back to the drudgery until sweeps... meaning 3-4 poor episodes may yet come before anything good again airs. I do hope to be proven wrong, though.
EDIT: It seems I'm not the only one with the opinion of this week's episode ("Justice"). fiziko (I don't know him personally, but he too is from Edmonton) over at bureau42 has posted his remarks on the episode. Edited 22.01.2007
Labels: smallville
posted by chris burgess at 01:08
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