Michael Corvin

Let me preface this with: this is not a thread about giving up on the show, or should I continue to watch, we already have a couple of those threads. I haven't finished the season, so no spoilers either please.

I've been churning through the DVD sets with my wife since December. First time watcher. We just started season four last week. Watched 10 so far. The first 3-4 were good, then it takes a drastic turn. EVERY episode seems to feature someone half naked, naked, bathing, dry humping or having sex. I'm a guy so normally I don't have any qualms about this type thing, but after watching three full seasons one after another of a somewhat wholesome family-ish show, it sticks out like you wouldn't believe. Not to mention it is quite redundant when it is EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. They've also tossed in the word "bitch" a few times which was also unusual and out of place. Every episode seems to feature some new character trying to get into Clark's pants on top of the usual Lana, Chloe & Lois infatuations.

Couple this bizarre turn with lackluster stories that come off as a B X-Files knockoffs and it just has me wondering why? Different writers? Out of ideas? Trying to compete with the OC?

Lex & Lionel went from the most intriguing characters to a meandering side plot. Jonathan is a broken record - Luthors suck, don't play football, yada, yada, yada. The eternal Lana/Clark debacle that never goes anywhere. Seems like the only characters that have gone anywhere are Martha & Chloe.

Then came the single worst episode that hits you in the face like a brick, "Spell," the whole Lana tatoo nonsense. They could have gone somewhere cool with the Kryptonian tatoo, but instead relegate it to a knockoff of a horrible movie from the 90's? It makes the Fast & the Furious Pete episode look like Emmy material. Sheesh.

I've read on the forum that it took a dive in S4, but I am open minded so like I said, I will watch them all because I'm still interested, but what happed between 3 & 4 that caused so much turmoil in the quality of the show? Can it be pinpointed to a particular event?

gimmepilotwings

I agree that S4 was one of its worst, but I do not think that it is as bad as you see it. I thought the Lana tattoo thing was pretty cool personally.

DGibFen

I think between trying to tie up the stone plotline, saddling Lana with that plotline (which Kristen Kruck(sp?) couldn't handle very well), and the whole over-the-top sex theme that was mentioned above were the killing points of S4. I think the writers tried to turn the series into something more similar to the likes of One Tree Hill and the such, instead of focusing on the overall goal at hand - the eventual growth and the many experiences of Clark Kent, and how those play into his becoming Superman.

S5 made a good attempt back towards that goal, but the sloppy writing did not help.

Doughboy

Season 4 was horrible. Maybe 6 or 7 decent episodes, and only a handful that I'd consider really good. What infuriated me aside from the sh-tty writing was how they undid virtually every major story development in the final 1/3 of Season 3(a stretch of the show that I really enjoyed).

And don't get me started on Lana's "Charmed" storyline, the total waste of John Glover, and the superfluousness of Lois Lane.

I have yet to watch Season 5(which I heard was an improvement over the dreck of the previous year), and I'm having a hard time motivating myself to do so.

otmetrud

Man, reading this thread makes me SO happy that I gave up on this show after the frustration and anger I had watching S3.

pinata242

Smallville seasons should only consist of 2 episodes: premiere and finale. Everything in the middle is useless. Out of 24 episodes, you probably could tell the exact same story, with the exact same character progressions in 8. I'm going to DVR every episode of season 6 but will only watch those that my Superman-obsessed friend says are essential.

LivingINClip

Wanna know what happened?

Someone smoked a lot of crack and decided that to make a good show they needed Lana to have a magical witch tattoo. Yeah, it sucked and most of season five isn't that much better.

Michael Corvin

I'm not sold on Durance quite yet. Almost. She is spunky, likable and has great chemistry with Welling(he plays great off of her) but the acting just isn't there. It is weird, she gives Lois all these great traits and chemistry which would make you think she nailed the role, but something about her performance isn't right. She just seems a bit "off" to me. Possibly too forced? I'm not sure, I haven't quite put my finger on it yet, but she is getting better the more episodes she is in.

DiGibFen - that is what it feels like to me. Maybe the ratings weren't as good as some of the other teen shows at the time, so they pumped up the sexiness/sleaze/high school factor to compete, which to me is not working, and by the sounds of it, didn't end up working for anyone else either.

Interesting to see me coming into the season a year late to the party with an open mind leaves me with the same reaction as most everyone else - and with the same exact gripes. The little things are what makes it still worthwhile. The appearance of was cool even if he was a dipshit klepto punk, Chloe sleeping with . Even the interactions between Welling & Rosenbaum are still worthwhile even if they have been reduced to a high school grudge-type relationship. Also sad to see the Dr. Swann go, for obvious reasons. That was a good plotline that I would have loved to seen fleshed out more.

I think season 2 was the pinnacle, 3 was almost as good, just a hair below season 2.

clckworang

Yeah, I don't think I made it through season 3 either before finally dropping the show.

Patman

Well, season 4 was the senior year season, things get a little more out of control as more adult-like situations present themselves. That being said, I still haven't bought season 4 on DVD (had the previous 3 seasons on DVD), but Is suspect I'll pick it up once I find it for around $20.

treszoks

Season 4 was bad, season 5 I liked much better.

chess

I mostly liked season 5 too.

...but I stopped watching the broadcast after the Lana/witch thing and the appearance of Lois.

Lara Means

This show has turned dreadful. Season 4 was horrible and Season 5 was almost as bad.

Deadpool

I read on some site...can't remember...that stated season 4 was when the show took a drop in ratings. The new 'sex sells' story telling was the blame. Wish I could find it...anyway.

I thought season 4 was OK. I felt bad for poor Jason. He had no defined role really. Lois kinda grows on you, Chole is great, miss Pete...and somewhere around the last 4 episodes of season 4 is when I started wishing for Lana's death.

Draven

I dumped the show about 5-7 episodes into Season 4, but caught the finale and enjoyed it, so I watched all of this season and enjoyed that too. Sure, it still has it's crappy moments, but overall it was an interesting story and I didn't mind sticking with it.

Baron Of Hell

I use to follow it unitl they flooded the torrent sites with a bunch of fakes. It wasn't worth the trouble. I might netflix it though once series ends.

SuperBatMan

Season Five was nowhere near as bad as Season Four.

Arrival
Mortal
Hidden
Splinter
Solitude
Lexmas
Void
Mercy
Oracle

All good episodes. Still only 9 out of 21, but much better than Season Four, which had four or five maybe.

Rocketdog2000

I'd say you're on the right track there, and also that they assumed the main audience - particularly teens - were getting older themselves, and confronting these same issues. And since that crowd also seems to be into shows like The O.C. and One Tree Hill, where this stuff is more prevelant, the PTB controlling the show felt the need to compete a bit more in that area, too.

And on the other hand, with the rest of the writing for the show definitely seeing a dip in quality, they needed to have something to get people to continue to tune into the show every week. And nothing sells quite as well as sex, nudity & adult situations. Just a shame they had to go that route.

riley_dude

I think the creators (Miller and Gough?) were dedicating most of their time with Aquaman all season which could be the reason with the lackluster season. What really made me angry was the way they copped out on some of the plot developments in the 100th episode which I won't go into here.

Yep. If they were all as good as the Kal El storys.

Michael Corvin

Well, we finished season 4 last night and much to my surpise the rest of the season wasn't as abysmal as everyone made it out to be. In fact I think it turned around towards the end. Since I am done there will be spoilers ahead for those that haven't viewed it yet.

A few highlights:
- Lionel comes back from his bad guy hiatus
- Lex becomes a bit darker
- Chloe's ever expanding role as Clark's closest friend(especially her knowing his secret)

Basically all the characters came out of their slump by the end of the season. Even the stones storyline wasn't completely terrible. Yes the witch bit, Jason & mom were the absolute low points of the show making episodes 5-15 the bottom of the barrel. But the story behind the stones and where they fall by the end of the season was entertaining enough. The stand-alone/freak of the week episodes were on par with previous seasons. Some good, some bad. So no issues there. So other than the mid-season slump (witch plot) the season was worth watching. Still, based on that slump/retarded storyline, season four sits as the worst season so far in my book.

Now as for the original question, "what happened?" It is almost as if mid-way through the season they realized what a mess they made and tried to just wrap everything up and clean up the mess they made.

BTW, what a finale. Can't wait to start season 5.

gimmepilotwings

Thanks Michael. I'm glad that you came around. S4 finale may be the best of them all so far. I also cannot wait to start S5 and I am currently rewatching from S1 a few episodes a week to prepare.

Michael Corvin

I watched the first two episodes of five last night. As usual the first episode knocks your socks off concluding the finale, then episode two is, basically, back to business as usual. i.e. freak of the week, but with a twist. A couple of the characters do grow quite a bit in the second episode but who knows how long that will last, and like all things Smallville, all is forgotten.

Michael Corvin

Just for the sake of responding to my own thread, I just watched the 100th episode of Smallville last night, putting me halfway through season 5 already.

Wow what an improvement Season 5 has been. Honestly there has only been one true stinker so far.
It was very out of place, almost as if they were short an idea and pulled from the season 4 scrap pile. At least there was some Chloe development to offset the complete idiocy of the episode. And Kristin in leather isn't a bad thing.

The guest spot in Exposed (ep.6),
was a long time coming, but done brilliantly. The geek-factor was high and brought a smile to my face. Loved every minute of it. It was almost a foreshadowing moment for the
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Impossible to discuss the 100th without giant spoiler tags, I added some for the big stuff, but there may still be some tiny bits left un-spoilered. Consider yourself warned.
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Now, the 100th was intersting. i.e. the groundhog day-ish cock tease of Jor-El's punishment. It started out with a bang with Like all things Smallville, I was already prepared for said characters to forget everything by the end of the show(which of course essentially happened), so that leaves the BIG moment I'm sure the episode was marketed on. I was actually surprised, I had another character pegged for the "punishment." I think it will make for some great character building on Clark. Like I said above

Now the big question is I'm doubtful it will be revealed by the end of the season but it would be nice. How much does Lionel know about Clark?

So there you go, my season 4 gripe thread is now a "working my way through season 5" thread. We are at the halfway point. It's going to suck watching season 6 on a week-to-week basis.

SuperBatMan

Your answers about Lionel and Clark are answered later in the season.

Be warned though, after 'Reckoning', and IMO starting with that episode, season 5 takes a major nosedive in terms of quality. It was almost like everybody started thinking 'Alright, we got 100 episodes, we can be syndicated now, we can half ass from now on.' There's still two or three good episodes, with a decent one or two, but the first half of season five completely blows away the second half.

Cartload

I had tried to watch Smallville on a few occassions and tried again with Season 5. It was far from my favorite show, but I liked that it was finally going somewhere. Then this episode aired and THEY THREW IT ALL AWAY! Once again Clark proved that he was a total pussy when it came to Lana. Idiot. He needs to snap out of it and realize that he belongs with Chloe anyways.