DVD Talk review of 'Smallville - The Complete First Season'
 

I read Shannon Nutt's DVD review of Smallville - The Complete First Season at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=7695 and I'm wondering how many people agree with the review's assertion that the show got better late in Season One and in Season Two. I vaguely recall watching the first 5-6 episodes and not being particularly impressed by them.

Please note that I'm really interested only in the quality of the episodes. If the show itself isn't worth watching than the quality of whatever extras the set may have becomes irrelevant to me.

Re: DVD Talk review of 'Smallville - The Complete First Season'
 

I was definitely hooked once the series ditched the "freak of the week" angle and became more serialized. It doesn't even flirt with greatness, but watching an episode per day, you can't help but develop a craving for more. And the show's dumb in-jokes are funnier than people generally acknowledge (like when Clark is asked what he wants to do when he grows up, and he replies: "Anything, so long as it doesn't involve putting on a suit or doing a lot of flying.")

Bill C
filmfreakcentral.net

Season One certainly got better as it went along. I remember starting Season One (which I bought blind) and the first eight or nine episodes were all about in the same mold - kid is exposed to the meteorites and gains some sort of power - which got repetitious quick. After that, the episodes really got a lot better, as the plots/structure diversified. Season Two, however, is just incredible. Great stuff, all season long (imo).

It's probably no surprise that I disagree with the overall opinion of this review. This is an average set of episodes at best (there can't be more than a handful that aren't silly "freak of the week"s), and I'm not sure how it deserves 4/5 stars. However, over in TV Talk there are many who love the show in spite of this, so there's always that chance you'd be one of them too.

To the main content of your question, I do agree with the assertion that the show gets better as Season 1 progresses and is substantially better in Season 2. While the reviewer appears to think the show goes from good to great, I'd suggest it merely goes from poor to good, but either way, it is a sizeable change. My guess would be that if you found the early episodes intriguing but never got the chance to see the rest, then you should pick this up, because it certainly gets better. If you found those first episodes to be terrible, then it's probably not worth it. While it gets a lot better, it's still much of the same stuff, especially in Season 3. For as good as Season 2 was, that's how terrible Season 3 has been, and they've pretty much ruined all the momentum they built during that run. If not for the strong characterization of Lex and his father Lionel, I probably would have ditched this show long ago; and even then, it's really hard to see how I'll have any interest in Season 4.

I don't know if that's helpful to you, and I'm sure some around here really disagree with my opinion on this, but that's how I feel. If you do end up checking it out, be sure to come back and tell us what you think. Good luck.

das

Don't forget that every episode seemed to hinge on Superboy rescuing someone from a burning car. That is what caused me to give it up after a few episodes.

Season Two review should be up any second now. To chime in with the common opinion, Smallville got much better midway/late in Season One and worlds better in Season Two. Definitely worth looking intoa gain.

What he said.

This show is far from great, but I love the Superman mythos which makes this show of some interest to me. If you stick with it I think you will find some things to like. It's like popcorn, it's good while you have it but once it's gone you hardly miss it.

The interaction between Lex and Clark is fun as well (I'm no slasher, but even I can see they're in love).

I'm a huge Superman fan, so I love the show, but I've watched it with friends who aren't and they like it. I highly recommend Season 1 though, and the Season 2 DVD review has me wanting my pre-order of it from C.H. that much worse ;)

A friend of mine got me into Smallville. I borrowed Season 1 from him and enjoyed it. When he told me how much better Season 2 got I went ahead and bought Season 1....and ordered Season 2.

I sat down yesterday and watched almost all of the second season. I'm not too impressed. It's better than most of the crap on the air but it isn't a huge step up from the first season.

One of those series where I may actually buy only one season (well I'll reserve judgment on S4 and beyond): S2. As das said, S1 and S3 were significantly weaker than S2.

So S2 really is considered a better season?
I'm so screwed.

I finished the season last night and I'm pretty unimpressed. I enjoyed it but my friend really had me exciting some amazing stuff. I think I'll lower my expectations for the rest of the seasons and I'll probably enjoy them more.