In which Technobabble and Time Travel finally earn their keep, though earned too little too late.

Two of the things that I love in life are comic books and bad television, which is why I'm still watching Smallville. I don't much care for Superman (too much of a boy scout), but the show is terrible (which means its essentially made for me). The show is full of things thats I hate (like bad writing), but its got things that make comic book shows perfect (like bad writing). I started watching it when I was in film school because I just so happened to live in Metropolis. I was always seeing and walking through the film sets... The library in Vancouver was used as the courthouse, the alley by my school was used for various illicit dealings, and my street was turned into Smallville's farmers market. I know extras on the show, could see where Lex Luthor lived in real life, and walked by where Green Arrow lived in less than real life.

The problem with Smallville is that it just wasn't good. I hate the Villain-Of-The-Week pattern of writing that seems to plague most sci-fi shows... It implies that the writers think their viewers are incapable keeping any story straight that isn't shown in a musical montage in the opening credits. I hate that sci-fi shows feel compelled to justify the strangeness by using Science. Don't get me wrong... I don't know the first thing about Science really, but I can tell a made-up word when I hear one. I don't care how many times you reverse the polarity of your flux capacitor using an ion grid, your differential magnometer is never going to get you enough oscillating overthrust. It just isn't!! The "science" is even worse on Smallville because of the added Alien Factor. The Alien Factor, when used correctly, can just smooth over any wacky pseudo-science problems a show might have. No one told Smallville this. Every time Krypton comes up any sort of plausibility (you'll notice I'm not even trying for believability) goes right out the window.

But despite the show being filled with so many things that I hate I continued to watch it. I kept struggling through season after season hoping it would get better. And it actually did. I know. I'm surprised too. The writing got better, the cast was shrunk (which was needed) and they show stopped trying to force the comic book physics and just did what they wanted to without explanation. And in the current season, they actually managed to pull off a time traveling episode that didn't make me want to punch someone in the neck. Its now a show that I am happy to watch as well as one that I wish would have more seasons to it... I just wish it didn't take ten years to get this way. TV is not a fine wine. It needs to be developed, but it shouldn't have to age to be good.