Be sure to read my review on Smallville season 1. Like the premier of season 2 this review is a continuation of what has come before. In many ways this second season is more of the same, but for the most part it’s all been improved. I thought I MIGHT like the show (which is why I got season one, of course!), but I was surprised at how much I got into it. I had not initially intended on buying season 2 immediately, but seeing Clark run into that tornado gave me the itch to see the rest of the story. I didn’t last for half a week before I was making a special trip to the store to get this season. I was then impressed enough with 2 to continue with the series.

 

Overall the writing is tighter this season. There are certainly still weak spots, but there is less of the meteor freak/Kryptonite formula. Clark faces challenges other than the green rocks (or unusual methods of using them) and has a wider array of villains.

 

When we left Clark he had chosen to pursue Chloe over Lana. This season he turns away from her to pursue Lana full force. In fact, even his friendship with Chloe is tenuous. The relationships in general have more ups and downs. Sure, any good dramatic series needs some fluctuations, but this is way up and way down over and over. There is some manner of segue in between, but one of the weakest points in the writing is how they deal with severe problems. Lana hates Clark for what he does in one episode, is moderately mad in the following, and is all but falling head over heels for him in the next only to repeat the cycle again. It seems like half the episodes have people saying “we need to be honest with each other” with a nod and a wink to Clark's secret side.

 

Amidst this Clark finds a woman he’s convinced is his destiny only to lose her and be convinced again Lana is it. That would have been more interesting if they had drawn out the other relationship longer.

 

Lex really seemed like a truly good guy last season. He begins showing a darker side now although he still struggles to be good. He and Clark also have some clashes that don’t have a strong enough reconciliation to justify how friendly they act later on - a weakness but serving to show that they remain friends despite disagreements.

 

The mystery of the caves begins this season. Ancient Native American caves depict a prophetic legend that we know as the future of Superman. While it’s an interesting concept and provides openings for numerous plot points that extend beyond this one season I don’t recall the origins of it ever being explained to my satisfaction which casts a negative light when going back to watch the early seasons again.

 

Jor El’s time on Earth is revealed later on, but it doesn’t date back to the supposed age of the caves. Who else is going to set something up for Clark? To my knowledge Kryptonians are not revealed as being soothsayers making their preparations that far ahead difficult to swallow. Even if the true explanation is that it wasn't prepared at all, its purpose remains shrouded and therefore unsatisfying.

 

Speaking of Jor El, Clark meets his father, in a manner of speaking, this season. The mystery of his true intentions begins. This does ultimately come to a satisfactory conclusion, but I don’t recall the line about Clark’s predicted future of being "ruler" of the "third rock" ever being fully explained.

 

I guess the bottom line is that not everything set up in this season pays off as well as it should. The stories are by and large quite good, though. One of the best moments of the series is Christopher Reeve getting the honor of revealing to Clark the first bit of information about his Kryptonian origins.

 

Ryan returns for an outstanding episode, Clark develops heat vision which has some nice visuals to go with it (and, no, I’m not referring only to the sultry woman that initially sets off this power), Pete finds out about Clark and becomes his partner in crime (so to speak), and the concept of different types of Kryptonite is introduced although using the red variety to change his personality 3 times in one season (with more to come) is overuse in my opinion.

 

There are some other overused concepts. With the farm in constant financial trouble I can’t imagine how the Kents manage to pay for all their trucks and hospital visits. Maybe the writers could have mentioned that as the source of the financial problems. These elements are treated like they never happened one episode to the next.

 

So, yeah, Shakespeare this series is not, but the super-heroic adventures are a lot of fun. Watch Clark outrun and catch bullets, rip off doors, and scope out what’s going on behind closed doors. To make this even better the special effects are improved a pretty good bit from the earlier season. That’s not to say it’s on par with a high budget movie, but most of it is believable which can't always be said about this show.

 

I love Mark Snow’s music especially when he mixes in the familiar Superman themes. The pop songs elicit the same complaint as before, though. Popular songs are used more for the marketing aspects than anything. Sometimes this is fine, but I hate when there is someone singing beneath the dialogue. They also seem to favor bad remakes of songs that I like. They ruined “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”

 

The show has a lot of teen angst, and though I know we’re watching Clark’s teen years I sometimes wish the stories would get away from the high school more. I prefer the corporate dealings with the Luthors, but I suppose that just me getting old just like preferring Blue Oyster Cult to whatever band TRIED to sing a more contemporary version of their song.

 

John Schneider, Annette O’Toole, and John Glover continue to be excellent as they always were although I think Annette has a few moments that aren’t quite as strong. Michael Rosenbaum is still the best of the younger actors. Tom Welling has improved and is quite good. Lana wouldn’t get a second look from me if Chloe were that infatuated with me; I really like the character and Allison Mack’s portrayal. Kristin Kreuk is still the weakest having a narrow range of believable emotions, but she has also improved. Guests and extras are on the whole better than last season but still vary some. Christopher Reeve being iconic goes without saying.