Smallville

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Superman’s origin is, traditionally, rife with more corniness than a Wilfred Brimley oatmeal commercial. Discovered by a pair of decent, down-home farmers named John and Martha Kent, the young alien is christened Clark and grows up to fight for truth, justice, and the American way. So it’s really distracting that Smallville attempts to cram this white-bread origin tale into a typical WB teen drama formula.

From the overuse of hip pop songs (it seems like every edit in the first episode requires them to cue up another watered-down rock song from the likes of Third Eye Blind or Moby) to the unstable marriage of old-time Americana and modern sensibilities, Smallville is more like Superman’s Creek. The Kents are a young, attractive couple who miraculously never age? Jonathan Kent is played by Bo Duke himself, John Schneider? Lex Luthor drives in a Porsche while listening to U2? Not to mention the fact that, for the most part, we don’t care about Superman battling insecurity and pimples—we want him to don the PJs and save the world. Although the show does sport some decent special effects for TV, it begs the question, what’s next? Do we find out that Green Lantern failed English in high school? Or that Flash got cut from the track team? Or that Batman got a girl pregnant? Somebody stop them.

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