Having only seen the premier of season 7 (I prefer to wait on the TVD releases rather than watching them on TV) my exposure to these episodes was limited to a few clips of Clark’s domestic life in youtube postings on a bulletin board I frequent. The horrendous nature of these clips made me seriously doubt the quality of the season. “Maybe it’s just a couple of bad episodes” I thought. I’ve often been annoyed with things like Clark and Lana’s relationship rollercoaster while loving other aspects of the show. So I jumped on this new season despite my low expectations.

 

Now, maybe my lowered expectations had something to do with this, but I love this season. Well, most of it. It does have its issues, but so does every other season. This is a fun and exciting series that manages to reach out to geeks (maybe not so much the really elitist ones, though) as well as those who don’t necessarily enjoy comic books and superheroes. While some of the ideas, scenes, and dialogue aren’t written as well as I would like, the overall effect is one that will once again encourage me to come back for more.

 

One of my favorite things this season is the inclusion of more familiar names. Supergirl gets a lot of screentime, and I really enjoy her story and relations with Clark and Lex. Laura Vandervoort does a fine job with the role. Black Canary shows up. I’m not real familiar with her (couldn’t even remember her real name there for a while), but I’ve enjoyed stories of her relationship with Green Arrow and was excited to see that this may be a potential development in Smallville (though I've been subsequently disappointed since Ollie seems to get involved with every girl EXCEPT her).

 

Speaking of the emerald archer, he returns and has some great scenes with Lois. Bizarro, of course, is last season’s cliffhanger so he is back for the premier, but he’s used for more than just that. I absolutely love what they do with him later on. I really hope we haven’t seen the last of him. Brainiac returns much to my delight. Knowing of his return was a big encouragement to get the season despite the low expectations. Pete Ross comes back for an episode which is fun. Martian Manhunter makes several appearances, but he has depressingly little to do. Considering that they introduced him last season and carried him over I’m very surprised they never give him an episode in which to shine. Having personally spoken to Phil Morris and seen his enthusiasm for the character first hand I can't believe it would be difficult to work out a deal that involves more screentime for him.

 

This is a minor SPOILER, but unless you know absolutely NOTHING about this season or the ones after it then you already know about it anyway. Lana is not dead (you didn't REALLY think she was did you?). She returns and moves in with Clark. This does open the door for the awful domestic scenes I mentioned, but for the most part it’s a bearable plot because it is different. I got tired of the Clark – Lana rollercoaster, but now the nature of their relationship is more stable. She knows his secret, and they’re not doing the “I love you” – “I can’t stand you” – “We have to be honest with one another” – “Things are going to be different this time” yo-yo anymore. Not that there isn’t still tension between them. Lana has some dark secrets that make her completely different from the Lana of past seasons. I don’t know that this was really the best direction to take her character, but Kristen actually plays dark better than she does sweet and innocent. The point is, though, that they are in a real relationship finally, and while I would rather see Clark falling for Lois more at least he and Lana went in a new direction finally.

 

Clark’s mentor personality comes through strongly with Pete and Kara. It shows off his leadership but also his overbearing personality which is really a nice character flaw to give him. He has to struggle with wanting people to be more upright and pushing them so hard into it that he instead pushes them away. But while he is so mature in some ways he’s still very immature in others. His lack of ability to fly is brought up several times and actually becomes a bone of contention with Kara and him.

 

There is virtually nothing related to college in this season. This is really becoming more and more Metropolis rather than Smallville. A lot more happens at the Daily Planet. Chloe and Jimmy were already there, of course, but Jimmy starts becoming more and more the photographer we know he will be. Lois starts getting her relations with the Planet established which is great fun to see, and there are some major plot points revolving around the paper’s upper ranks.

 

Chloe has some great struggles with her newly discovered affliction. The development of this angle is excellent because of the emotional struggles it creates and how it becomes a major factor in a few different plots. It causes tension between her and Jimmy which plays out well especially when Kara comes into the picture. While Clark moves ever closer to superhero Lex moves closer to being villainous. He still retains some humanity. He even makes another attempt to straighten out his life, but even his good deeds feel steeped in darkness.

 

One aspect I don’t like so much is the idea of the Veritas group and their pledge to protect the “traveler.” This seems highly out of character for all of the people involved with one possible exception, nor does it seem consistent with actions we’ve seen from some of these people in the past. In other words if it felt like this were something the story had been building towards since the beginning it might be different, but instead it feels tacked on with a big, ugly seam at the juncture.

 

They would have been better off introducing new characters for the Veritas group. It would have been possible to make links to the currently involved people if the writers still wanted to bring them in. Perhaps the writers’ strike and subsequently shorter season limited what could be done with this particular subplot. Mostly, though, I think it has more to do with the ability to know the future. From the cave paintings to knowing of and even going out to meet the “traveler” there is too much knowing of the future with too little explanation of how it's possible. With all the information out there it's hard to swallow that certain people (Lex in particular) can't figure out what's going on with Clark.

 

Outside of the weak story arc, the writing wavers at times in other ways. This is nothing new. Every season has its downfalls, and nothing has been as bad as the forth season. One specific problem is that the dialogue feels too scripted. I think this happens more with Lana than anyone, but Kara has a few glaring moments of it as well.

 

Another problem is the computer animation. Smallville has never had the best CG. It can often feel unconvincing or even cartoony. The graphics have had plenty of convincing moments over the years and is certainly far better than it was at the beginning of the series. Season 7, however, has some painfully bad CG moments. Not all of it is atrocious, but some of it pulls me right out of the moment because it looks so unrealistic.