DVD Review: Smallville Season 8

It’s Superman versus Doomsday in Season 8 of Smallville, which has its DVD and Blu-ray release today.

It’s rare these days for a TV show to have eight seasons of longevity (much less a sci-fi show) and this past season of Smallville is probably the one that didn’t seem possible. How could the show go on given that it lost its two best villains (and actors) after Season 7? Yup, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) and Lionel Luthor (John Glover) are not present for this set of 22 episodes and the show did struggle to get its footing without them serving as menaces in Clark’s world.

Looking to find his own identity, Clark Kent (Tom Welling) takes a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet, where he now shares a desk with the fiesty Lois Lane (Erica Durance). But, of course, Clark continues his battle for justice in Metropolis and quickly becomes known as an unseen superhero called the Red-Blue blur.  Little does he know that his nemesis (and uber villain replacement), Doomsday was also sent to Earth to kill him and has inhabited the body of paramedic Davis Bloome.

Including Doomsday, we get to see some new characters emerge to fill the void left by the aforementioned departing Smallville greats. Cassidy Freeman makes her debut as Tess Mercer, the ruthless acting CEO of LutherCorp who was appointed by the now-missing Lex. Oliver Queen / Green Arrow gets some hefty screen time and we are treated to a reappearance of members of the Justice League. Of course, favorite Chloe Sullivan is integral to the story and Jimmy Olson also becomes a very important character throughout.

Just like any season of Smallville, Season 8 has it’s share of hot and cold streaks. You’ll get some really amazing and consecutive episodes split up by some ugly ducks that are there as unsatisfying filler (you know, like Lois posing as a vigilante named Stiletto). But what really derailed things in the middle of the season was the inclusion on Lana Lang as Clark’s love interest in several episodes. Her presence was just another pointless trip around the old “will they/won’t they” block and, in fact, it flat out interrupted some steam the show had been building since the first on screen display of the monster version Doomsday.  Oh, and the fact that Ms. Lang now has her own superhero powers really makes those episodes extra painful.

But the eighth season regains its traction later on and it’s back to classic Smallville. Aside from some convenient rehashing of facts surrounding Clark and Doomsday’s arrival to Earth, the last several episodes represent one of the strongest season endings the show has seen since Season 5 when Zod possessed Lex and Clark was sent to the Phantom Zone.

The DVD Release comes with some unaired scenes, commentary on 2 episodes and a behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses on Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan) and her experience directing an episode on the show.

If you can deal with a slow start and some unnecessary episodes, then Smallville Season 8 is worth it by the end. Even more, it’s a lead in to what’s looking like a great ninth season.