Season 10 of Smallville just started! We got our resident Facebook Fan, and Smallville expert, Douglas Appich, to write up a run down on what has gone on over the last 10 years. If you’re like a lot of us, me included, you haven’t been keeping up. But, this is the 10th and final season of Smallville, so it’s important to let you know what exactly you’ve been missing out on, like Supergirl, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg and Lois Lane. Also, Clark flies and gets his costume this year.
Smallville: Ten Years To See Clark Fly – by Douglas Appich
The first season of Smallville begins with Clark in high school. At this point, he does not know that he is an alien and his powers are just beginning to develop. However, Clark begins to realize that something is not normal about him when a billionaire heir named Lex Luthor hits him with a car at 60 miles per hour and sends both himself and Clark flying off a bridge.
Clark is not only unhurt from the accident, but he is also able to save an unconscious Lex from drowning. It is at this point that Clark begins to question his parents, Jonathan and Martha, as to how he was able to get hit at 60 miles per hour and not feel a thing. It is at this point that Jonathan tells Clark that he is from another planet, and that he came to Earth in a meteor shower. Clark does not believe him at first, but then Jonathan shows him the spaceship.
It is at this point that Clark realizes he has super strength and speed, as well as X-ray vision. However, Clark faces a problem: during the meteor shower that he came to Earth in, many human beings were infected with green Kryptonite. This green Kryptonite gave many of them specialized powers such as the ability to turn into insects, the ability shape-shift, the ability to hypnotize people, and more. However, this same Kryptonite has made these humans insane, and thus many of them use their powers for nefarious purposes.
As a result, Clark spends pretty much the entire season trying to stop these “meteor freaks” from hurting others. After stopping meteor freak after meteor freak, the season ends on a cliffhanger as a twister hits Smallville with Clark and all of his friends stuck in Smallville as it hits. Can Clark use his newfound powers to save his friends and family from being hurt?
The cast of season 1, other than Clark:
Lana Lang - Kristin Kreuk
Lana Lang (played by Kristin Kreuk): Clark’s high school friend that he has a crush on pretty much the entire season. However, she is dating high school jock Whitney Fordham, so she doesn’t return his feelings. The season ends with her character trapped in the heart of the twister and her boyfriend Whitney going to war after his Dad dies, where he is eventually killed. Lex and Lionel Luthor (played by John Glover and Michael Rosenbaum): Lionel is in charge of a billion dollar corporation called Luthorcorp and Lex is his son. However, Lex resents his father for the way he was raised and the way Lionel rules Luthorcorp with an iron fist.
Lex and Lionel Luthor Michael Rosenbaum and John Glover
It should also be noted that Lex is bald due to being hit by a meteor during the same meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth. Lex becomes friends with Clark after Clark saves his life. However, Clark does not realize that Lex is secretly doing research on Clark in an attempt to figure out how Clark was able to survive the accident on the bridge. The season ends with the both the Luthor’s trapped in the Luthor mansion during the twister. Lex has the power to save his father from the twister, but will he?
Chloe, Pete - Allison Mack and Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan (played by Allison Mack): Another one of Clark’s friends from Smallville High who runs the school newspaper. She has a crush on Clark, but he never really returns her feelings.
Jonathan and Martha Kent - John Schneider and Annette O’Toole
Pete Ross (played by Sam Jones III): Clark’s best friend from Smallville High. He has a crush on Chloe, but she doesn’t return his feelings. Jonathan and Martha Kent (played by John Schneider and Annette O’Toole): Clark’s parents who raised him after he came to Earth in a meteor shower. The season ends with Jonathan trapped in the storm cellar during the twister alongside a reporter who discovered Clark’s secret. Jonathan will stop at nothing to protect Clark’s secret, but will he go so far as to kill the reporter who knows Clark’s secret?
Season 2,
The second season begins where the first season left off with the twister terrorizing Smallville. Clark saves Lana from the heart of the twister and Lex saves his father. Jonathan decides not to kill the reporter who finds out Clark’s secret, but the reporter turns around and tries to kill Jonathan. However, Lex ends up shooting and killing the reporter to save Jonathan. Little does Jonathan and Clark know that Lex secretly hired the reporter to do research on Clark because he is still trying to figure out how Clark survived the car accident during the first season. For the rest of the season, we see Clark trying to stop more meteor freaks. However, this season is different from the first season in the sense that we get to see a lot more of Clark’s mythology.
Red Kryptonite Ring
In the second episode, Clark discovers his heat vision as he almost accidentally burns his entire school down. He also discovers Red Kryptonite, which lowers Clark’s inhibitions and turns him into a jerk, making him hurt everyone he cares about. Also in this season, Clark discovers Indian cave paintings.
These paintings state that an Intergalactic Traveler will come to Earth and save the entire planet from evil. Clark wonders if these paintings are talking about him. Unbeknownst to Clark, a scientist named Virgil Swann had been studying these paintings for many years and knew all about the planet Krypton. Clark finds Swann and learns all about the planet where he comes from; he also finds out that his real name is Kal-El.
In addition, Clark finds that he is able to speak to the spirit of his dead father from Krypton named Jor-El in the caves where the paintings are. Jor-El tells him he has a great destiny, and zaps Clark with some kind of energy that teaches Clark the Kryptonian language. However, Clark thinks Jor-El wants to train Clark to take over the planet Earth instead of save it. Thus, he destroys the spaceship he arrived to Earth in that’s still locked in the bard, thinking that it will also destroy Jor-El’s spirit.
Bad Clark
However, the space ship creates a huge explosion when Clark eviscerates it, and the explosion sends Jonathan and Martha Kent’s car (who are coming home to the barn) careening out of control. Martha, who is actually pregnant, ends up losing her baby. Deciding that it’s too dangerous for humans to be around him, an upset Clark puts on a red kryptonite ring, gets on a motorcycle, and leaves Smallville… forever?
The cast of season 2
Clark: Clark meets Dr. Swan/Christopher Reeve.
Whitney - Dead Ex
Lana Lang: Now that Whitney has been killed in the war, Lana is no longer attached to anyone in this season. Clark tries to stay away from Lana as he thinks it’s too soon for Lana to be involved with anyone after Whitney. Plus, Clark feels that Lana being with him will only hurt her since he is not human. However, towards the end of the season, they end up having a relationship anyway as Clark can no longer resist his feelings. This relationship doesn’t last long, however, as Clark leaves Lana after he accidentally hurts his mother and causes her to have a miscarriage. The season ends with a confused Lana watching Clark drive away from her in a motorcycle, telling her he can never be with her.
LuthorCorp
Lex and Lionel Luthor: Lionel is in charge of a billion dollar corporation called Luthorcorp and Lex is his son. However, Lex resents his father for the way he was raised and the way Lionel rules Luthorcorp with an iron fist. Lex becomes friends with Clark after Clark saves his life.
During this season, the relationship between the two Luthor’s is a lot more complicated. Lex continues to resent his father, especially after he discovers that Lionel had another son from another relationship named Lucas. Lex also gets married twice during this season: once to a “meteor freak” named Desiree Atkins who has the power to manipulate people with sexual pheromones, which is the way she is able to control Lex in a attempt to take his money. Clark stops her.The second time is to a woman named Dr. Helen Bryce. The season ends with Lex going off on his honeymoon with Helen.
Chloe Sullivan: Another one of Clark’s friends from Smallville High who runs the school newspaper. This season, Chloe’s attraction to Clark turns into an obsession, which causes lots of tension between Lana and hurts their friendship. Eventually, Chloe gives up on Clark when she comes to give him a love letter while he is sick in bed. A dazed and confused Clark calls her “Lana”. This upsets Chloe, and she leaves.However, this also helps her to realize her and Clark are not meant to be together.
Pete Ross: Clark’s best friend from Smallville High. He has a crush on Chloe, but she doesn’t return his feelings. This season, Pete finds out Clark’s secret after he discovers his space ship in the barn. Clark comes clean with Pete and tells him everything. Pete becomes the first friend to learn Clark’s secret.
Jonathan and Martha Kent: Clark’s parents who raised him after he came to Earth in a meteor shower. This season, Martha goes to work for Lionel Luthor, which causes tension between Jonathan and Martha. This tension is relieved, however, when Martha quits her job and discovers she is pregnant despite the fact that she was told she could never have children. Somehow, Clark’s spaceship emitted an energy that cured whatever was keeping her from becoming pregnant. The baby is miscarried, however, when Jonathan loses control of the truck after Clark causes an explosion.
Christopher Reeve - Virgil Swann
My Analysis: This is how the series should have started! This season was far superior than the first, and finally dealt with the Superman mythos. We got to see a glimpse of Jor-El, red kryptonite, heat vision, and more this season. We also got to see a gust-appearance from Christopher Reeve as Virgil Swann. This was definitely one of the best seasons, and I people knew to Smallville buy this season first as it is far better than the first.
Season 3
Season 3 picks up several months after the last season left off. Clark has now been away from Smallville for a couple of months, and he is living in a penthouse in Metropolis. Due to the fact that the red kryptonite makes him evil and apathetic, Clark has now taken to committing crime.
He is now known as one of Metropolis’ most notorious criminals, and no one can stop him due to his powers. He eventually comes home after the red kryptonite is destroyed. The rest of the season mostly revolves around the battle between Lex and Lionel Luthor over control of Luthorcorp.
Lex has discovered that Lionel murdered his parents and Lex’s grandparents in an attempt to get insurance money so he could start Luthorcorp. 
After learning this knowledge, Lex attempts to expose his father. However, Lionel drugs Lex and convinces everyone that he is insane and needs medical attention. He then takes Lex to a mental hospital where he is given electroshock therapy in order to make him forget about his grandparents’ murder. However, Lex later recovers his memory with help from Clark and Chloe, and Lionel is sent to prison.
In order to get revenge, Lionel reveals to Clark that Lex has been pretending to be Clark’s friend in order to do research on Clark in an attempt to discover how he was able to survive the car accident during season 1. Clark then tells Lex that their “friendship is over”. Later, during the season finale, Jor-El’s spirit tries to regain contact with Clark, claiming that it is time for Clark to “fufill his destiny”. Clark refuses at first, but Jor-El tells him that he will kill Jonathan if Clark does not come with him. He then reluctantly enters a portal that Jor-El opens for him. The season ends with Clark lying naked in a dark void on top of a giant shape of an “S”.
The cast of season 3
Clark: Wearing the red Kryptonite ring, Clark battles his father Jonathan.
Lana Lang: Lana and Clark attempt to pick up where they left off during season 2 but, after Lana is seriously injured trying to help Lex fight his father, Lana decides that being around Clark is too dangerous. She spends most of the season away from him, and they both try to date other people. Clark dates a psychotic meteor freak that tries to kill everyone close to him, and Lana tries to date a psychotic zombie who has risen from the dead due to an experimental drug. So needless to say, “dating other people” isn’t really working out. 
Lex and Lionel Luthor: This season, Lex has discovered that Lionel murdered his parents and Lex’s grandparents in an attempt to get insurance money so he could start Luthorcorp.
After learning this knowledge, Lex attempts to expose his father. However, Lionel drugs Lex and convinces everyone that he is insane and needs medical attention. He then takes Lex to a mental hospital where he is given electroshock therapy in order to make him forget about his grandparents’ murder. 
However, Lex later recovers his memory with help from Clark and Chloe, and Lionel is sent to prison. In order to get revenge, Lionel reveals to Clark that Lex has been pretending to be Clark’s friend in order to do research on Clark in an attempt to discover how he was able to survive the car accident during season 1. This season ends with Lex taking control of LuthorCorp while an enraged Lionel sits in prison plotting revenge.
Chloe Sullivan: Another one of Clark’s friends from Smallville High who runs the school newspaper. This season, Lionel Luthor tells Chloe that he will give her a column at the Daily Planet if she does research on Clark Kent and finds out whether or not he is really a mild-mannered farm boy.
Still jealous over Lana and Clark hooking up in season 2, Chloe agrees. However, she later regrets her decision, and tells Lionel to shove it. Lionel then gets Chloe fired from the Daily Planet and gets her father fired from his job at LuthorCorp. As revenge, Chloe uncovers evidence that Lionel murdered his parents, which she turns over to Lex, which he turns over to the authorities, which helps get him sentenced to prison..
Pete Ross: Clark’s best friend from Smallville High. He has a crush on Chloe, but she doesn’t return his feelings. This season, tired of living in Clark’s shadow and having to keep his secret all the time, Pete decides to leave Smallville with his mother.
Jonathan and Martha Kent: Clark’s parents who raised him after he came to Earth in a meteor shower. This season, Jonathan goes to Jor-El for help in getting Clark to return home from Metropolis. Jor-El tells Jonathan that if he helps Jonathan get Clark back, then Jonathan must return Clark to Jor-El when “the time is right”. Jonathan agrees, and Jor-El gives him super powers like Clark, which he uses to destroy the red kryptonite that is controlling Clark in Metropolis.
As a result of receiving powers, Jonathan now has a bad heart and begins to have periodic heart attacks. My Analysis: Even better than season 2. Many fans agree that this is the best season of Smallville. The decision to focus less on Clark and more on the battle between Lionel and Lex this season is a decision that works well for the show. We begin to see how Lex becomes evil and how his thirst for power started. Also, we got see Clark discover his superhuman hearing for the first time. This is definitely one of the prime seasons of the show!
Season 4
Just like the beginning of season 3 started off several months after season 2 ended, season 4 starts off several months after season 3 ended. Jonathan is in the hospital after having another heart attack and has been there for months. Clark re-emerges from wherever his father sent him calling himself “Kal-El” and not remembering anything about his human identity, Clark Kent; he also knows how to fly, which is something Clark Kent couldn’t do. 
This “Kal-El” person is looking for several mystical stones, which coincidentally Lex Luthor is also trying to obtain. Unable to figure out why Clark is acting like this and thinking he is turning evil, Martha discovers something called “black kryptonite” which she is able to use to separate the two personalities of Clark Kent and Kal-El. Clark then destroys the Kal-El identity. Clark soon discovers that the reason Jor-El turned him to Kal-El and sent him out after these stones is because, when put together, the stones contain an infinite amount of Kryptonian knowledge.
If humans discover these stones before Clark does, then Jor-El states that a horrible disaster will occur on Earth. Sure enough, Clark does not listen to his father and several humans find the stones instead of Clark. As a result, another meteor shower hits Smallville and threatens to destroy the Earth. Even though the meteor shower has begun and Clark can’t stop it, he is still able to retrieve the stones from the humans. The season ends with the stones teleporting Clark into the middle of Antarctica as the stones come together to form a shield with an “S” in the middle. Also, Clark and the gang finally graduate high school!
The cast of season 4
Jason Teague
Lana Lang: This season, Lana has met a new man named Jason Teague, who she dates almost the entire season. However, sensing something is wrong with Jason, she breaks up with him and Lana and Clark are together again. However, Lana’s character becomes complicated as she is possessed by a witch (who happens to be one of Lana’s ancestors from several hundred centuries ago) that wants the Kryptonian stones. The witch is eventually exorcised from Lana’s body when she can’t get the stones.
Jason Teague (played by Jensen Ackles): Jason is Lana’s boyfriend that she meets in Paris over the summer. They have a good relationship for a little while, but eventually Lana discovers that the only reason Jason is dating Lana is because his mother, Geniveve, wants to use the witch living inside Lana to get the stones. They break up, and Jason is killed after he tries to retrieve the stones for his mother.
Lionel Luthor Still In Prison
Lex and Lionel Luthor: After being imprisoned by his son Lex, Lionel makes several attempts to try and kill him. However, he soon discovers religion in prison, and becomes a changed man after an old friend pulls strings to have Lionel released from prison. Lex, however, begins to become more and more evil this season, as he is now head of LuthorCorp. We begin to see that power is starting to corrupt Lex, and we begin to see that he is using LuthorCorp to conduct evil experiments.
Chloe Sullivan: This season is a big season for Chloe as she becomes the second of Clark’s friends to learn his secret after she watches him catch a car. However, she doesn’t tell Clark that she knows because she does not want to burden him. She also goes into hiding when Lionel Luthor tries to put a hit on her life due to the fact that she uncovered evidence last season that put him in prison. She emerges from hiding, however, when Lionel changes his ways.
Lois Lane
Lois Lane (played by Erica Durance): This season, we are finally introduced to Lois Lane! We learn that she is Chloe’s cousin who comes to Smallville at the beginning of the season when Chloe is missing. After coming to Smallville, however, she likes it and decides to stay for a little while. She even lives in Jonathan and Martha’s house with Clark for a time, but Clark and Lois don’t get along very well this season.
Jonathan and Martha Kent: This season, Martha is managing a coffee shop and Jonathan is still having trouble with his heart.
Kid Flash/Impulse
New Justice League Character: Kid Flash/Impulse – Bart Allen is a superhuman teen with the power of super speed. He eventually becomes a member of Oliver Queen’s team of pro-active heroes under the codename: Impulse. Bart wore a red hoodie, and was constantly seen with his red-lightning bolted backpack.
Later on, when he returns in Justice he had curly brown hair and his facial features matured. When we see him in Doomsday he wore a red and yellow combination and had shorter hair than in Justice. As Impulse, Bart wears red jeans, a red belt, and a red hoodie with a lightning bolt logo on the back. He also wears a cuff around each wrist.
My Analysis: Not the best season. It involved a vapid and confusing plot involving stones, and lame supporting characters like Jason Teague. Lana becomes a witch this season, and this sub-plot is absolutely ridiculous and does not fit in with the main storyline at all.
It also featured some of the worst villains in Smallville history, such as “Scabby Abby”, a meteor freak that needs to suck the life out of people in order to keep herself from having bad acne. LAME!!!! However, this season was not all bad as we got to see the first Smallville appearances of Lois Lane and Bart Allen, a.k.a. Kid Flash/Impulse! Overall, not the worst season, but it definitely was not the best. It was very inconsistent.
Season 5
This season picks up exactly where the last season left off as we see Clark in the arctic. The stones form together to make a shield with an “S” in the middle, and the shield magically leaves Clark hand and flies away. It then lands in the snow, and we see a giant ice fortress suddenly emerge in the middle of the arctic! Jor-El’s spirit is in the fortress and he tells Clark that this is his “Fortress of Solitude” where he will come to train and learn the ways of his Kryptonian heritage so that he can fulfill his destiny as Earth’s protector.
Fortress of Solitude - Inside
Clark tells Jor-El that he will come to the Fortress of Solitude regularly to train, but ends up neglecting his training due to problems in his personal life. Angry that Clark is disobeying him again, Jor-El takes Clark’s powers away. However, due to the fact that he loses his powers, Clark soon ends up getting killed by a gunshot wound when he tries to stop a deranged teenager from starting a war. Jor-El brings Clark back, but tells him that someone close to him will have to die in order to balance out the scales of fate.
Death of Jonathan Kent
Sure enough, Clark’s father Jonathan ends up dying of a heart attack later in the season, and Clark blames himself for causing his father’s death. After his death, Clark drops out of college but not before befriending a college professor named Milton Fine, a.k.a. Brainiac.
However, Clark soon learns that Brainiac is an evil machine created by Kryptonians and that he is using Clark in an attempt to bring the spirit of his evil creator, General Zod, to Earth.
General Zod - Callum Blue (appears in later seasons)
Zod’s spirit is trapped in the Phantom Zone, a prison that Jor-El created to house dangerous intergalactic criminals.. Clark stops him, but Brainiac still finds a way to open the Phantom Zome and bring Zod to Earth. He uses Lex Luthor as a vessel by allowing the spirit of Zod to inhabit Luthor’s body.
As a result, Zod unleashes chaos all over the planet Earth. The season ends with black outs, earthquakes, explosions, and more occur all over the globe in an event that the media soon dubs “Dark Thursday”. Will Clark be able to stop Lex/Zod, or is the planet doomed?
Zod-Lex
The cast of season 5
Lana Lang: This season, Lana and Clark are still dating. However, Clark soon breaks up with her after his father dies when he decides that he doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of him. As a result, Lana begins to date Lex. The season ends with Lex/Zod capturing Lana in order to impregnate Lana and create a heir of Zod.
Lex and Lionel Luthor: After Clark is shot, the spirit of Jor-El inhabits Lionel, and Lionel becomes an emissary of Jor-El. As an emissary, Lionel discovers Clark’s secret and from time to time assists him from stopping disasters. We also begin to see more of Lex’s evil experiments, and realize that he has fully turned evil. His experiments involve killing aquatic wild life, experimenting on super powered beings, and more. He also begins to feel a jealousy/hatred for Clark, and eventually dates Lana to spite him.
Lois Lane
Chloe Sullivan: Chloe finally reveals to Clark that she discovered his secret last season. This brings their friendship closer, and Chloe uses her hacking skills to assist Clark in retrieving information and providing intelligence as he continues on his adventures. She also lands a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet.
Lois Lane: Lois is still living with the Kents, and she serves as Jonathan’s PR manager as he runs for senator. Her and Clark still hate each other. Jonathan and Martha Kent: Jonathan decides to run as a senator this season. However, because Jor-El brought Clark back to life, Jonathan dies shortly after his election victory in order to balance the scales of fate. As a result, Martha ends up becoming the senator of Kansas instead.
Aquaman - Arthur Curry - Justin Hartley
New Justice League Character: Aquaman – Arthur “A.C.” Curry (played by Justin Hartley) lives in a beachside community in the Florida Keys who learns about his powers and destiny as the Prince of Atlantis. A.C. rescues a subconscious Lois when she and Clark are swimming at Crater Lake. Later, he attempts to break into the LuthorCorp Marine Center in an attempt to destroy marine weapon, called Leviathan but ends up getting captured. Clark breaks into the lab and saves A.C. Together they destroy the weapon, thereby ruining the deal Lex has been brokering with the miliatry.
My Analysis: Although there were some lame plot devices this season (i.e. Lana falling in love with Lex), it is still one of the better seasons of the series. We got to see the first Smallville appearances of Aquaman, Cyborg Brainiac, Zod, and the Fortress of Solitude. The episode where Jonathan dies is heartwarming and beautiful. This season is a must-have for any Superman fan.
… continued with Smallville: A 10 year Review Part II
Tags: Smallville
Review, brilliant, although Justin Hartley played Aqua man in the series not in Samllville Alan Ritchson played him in Smallville
Lynn, I’m not sure what you mean. I never said that Justin Hartley played Aqua Man in Smallville. Justin Hartley played Green Arrow in Smallville, and that is correctly stated in the blog.