Smallville Overview Pt. 1

Tom Welling as Clark Kent

     I finished Smallville several months ago, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to do nine more season reviews. So I decided to do a general overview of the characters, as well as villians and the the beginnings of the Justice League. 

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Clark Kent // Superman

Tom Welling as Clark Kent from Seasons 2-10

     How far Clark Kent has come since season 1 x episode 1 when he tripped over his feet in front of Smallville High. Clark's slow progression from the boy he thought he was to the man he was destined to become was an extraordinary journey of heartbreak, happiness, joy, sorrow, love, loss, and finding the courage to love again. In Season 2, Clark finds out about his mysterious past from the reclusive genius, Virgil Swann (played by the late Christopher Reeve) who tells him that he is Kal-El from Krypton and from there his life takes an unexpected leap into the unknown. Aided by his loving parents and devoted friends, Clark's fights evil and inhumanity one day at a time and still manages to maintain a relatively normal life. 

Smallville Season 3

     For a good majority of the show, Clark's life is compromised by two people; beautiful, but broken Lana Lang and the enigmatic Lex Luthor. Time and again, Clark sacrifices himself over and over to prove his love for Lana and his loyalty to Lex, only to lose them to one another and then finds them again, but not how he had expected. Lana and Lex are two characters that push the limits of Clark's goodness and humanity; Lana is his strength, but his greatest weakness who he finally says goodbye to. Lex who was once his loyal friend becomes his most feared nemesis. 

Lois and Clark though the years

     In season 4, Clark meets beautiful, feisty Lois Lane. A 19 year old army brat and high school dropout who lives her life how she sees it. Lois and Clark don't hit it off when they first meet and spend most of their time bickering. Clark continues to pursue Lana, while Lois flies from one disastrous relationship to the the next. Finally, destiny puts them right across from one another while working as journalists for The Daily Planet. When Lana finally leaves Clark to pursue a greater destiny of her own, Clark finds himself in an unlikely love with the girl who harassed and annoyed him for so many years and fights for her heart with as much passion as he does for humanity's survival. 

Top: Jor-El and Lara El's last message for their son (Season 10)
Bottom: Jonathan Kent giving Clark his Superman suit (Season 10)

     In Season 3, Clark finds the Fortress of Solitude, as well as the presence of his biological father Jor-El, who may be physically dead, but is spiritually there in voice. Jor-El and Jonathan Kent become Clark's greatest mentors. but when Jonathan dies in Season 5, Clark finds himself pushed closer toward his father, who is cold, overbearing and never pleased with his son. As Clark grows and matures into the humanity's savior, Jor-El finds that his son is truly everything he had hoped and trained him to be. In the finale both father's return in the Fortress and present their beloved son with the the mantle of Earth's protection. Clark Kent finally becomes Superman, the greatest hero of Earth,  

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Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor: Money, Power, Fear

      Once a rich spoiled playboy of Metropolis, Lex's life becomes entangled with the life of Clark Kent. Lex's journey from a boy desperate for his father's love to a man planning the takeover of the world, consistently coincides with Clark's destiny. The first half of Smallville, Lex considers himself Clark's closest friend, but that doesn't deter him from prying into Clark's secret past. When Lex goes to far, Clark ends their friendship once and for all, and from Season 5 till the finale, Lex slowly becomes the enemy that he never thought he was born to be. 

Lex and Clark: Adversaries of lengend

     When Lex isn't dealing with Clark, he is fighting it out with his disapproving father, Lionel Luthor. Desperate to turn his son into himself, Lionel eventually ends up turning his son against him and when he realizes the power that Lex can wield, he can no longer control him. The best thing about Lex's character is the fact that he has the potential to do good, but overtime he feels overshadowed by Clark. His own father eventually chooses Clark over him and the girl he loves continues to harbors secret affections for Clark Kent. Overtime, the rejection and abandonment turns Lex completely away from any sense of good and he makes himself the monster he once tried so hard to fight. 

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Lana Lang

Lana Lang: Learn to be lonely

     So beautiful, but always so alone. Lana Lang came into the show as a sweet natured young girl trying to fill the emptiness of her heart. Time and again Lana tries to find a place to belong and a person to belong with. Always gifted with a generous personality, Lana tends to find love in all the wrong places or simply at the wrong time. When her boyfriend, Whitney, is killed in the Marines, Lana and Clark go into a never-ending on-again, off again relationship. Clark's secret, though, pushes Lana away every single time.

The Men of Lana's Life

    In Season 4, Lana finds a surprising look into her ancestors in France as well as embarking in a new relationship with handsome Jason Teague, who only uses her for his mother's selfish gain. In Season 5, Lana becomes closer to Lex Luthor, which overtimes turns into love; love never comes easy for a Luthor, and Lana finds herself in the Luthor world of lies and deceit. After escaping Lex and his father, Lana is safe in Clark's arms and a keeper of his secret.

     Except fate has other plans and beckons Lana forge her own destiny. In Season 8, Lana sacrifices herself for Clark and leaves him forever, but for the first time in her life, Lana finally knows that her purpose was not what her happy, but the happiness of the others around her, Lana Lang became a superhero.

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Lois Lane

Lois Lane: Destiny is closer than you think

     Lois Lane literally crashed into Smallville and was never the same again. The cousin of Clark's best friend, Chloe Sullivan, Lois finds Smallville to be boring and uneventful, and the residents even more so. Most especially, Clark Kent, whom she sees as annoying and aloof. No matter how many times Lois tries to leave Smallville, she is constantly brought back. Always searching for a purpose in her life, Lois believes she could never find it in Smallville, but the dinky town becomes her stepping stone to a greater purpose chosen for her.

       An army brat, who lost her mother at a young age and raised by a strict four star general, Lois Lane is hardly a shrinking violet. Her vibrant personality as well as her talents in self-defense, blackjack, and drinking makes her an unforgettable person. Where Lois has many talents, her most profound seems in finding herself in doomed relationships. All throughout the series, Lois Lane endures heartbreak after heartbreak, desperate to find someone who can understand her. With each heartbreak, Lois grows closer to Clark and their friendship ends up takes them from the fields of Smallville and to the streets of Metropolis. 

Lois and Clark in the series finale

     In a short amount of time, Lois becomes a star reporter at the Daily Planet and finds herself smack in the middle of the mysterious superheros that are coming out of the shadows. Especially, The Blur (Clark) whom Lois has growing feelings, but also finds herself falling in love with the once dorky, but now maturing Clark Kent, her partner. In Season 10, Clark reveals his secret to Lois that he has been the Blur the whole time and Lois herself can never be happier. Afterwards, Lois finds her purpose, not only as a journalist, but as a protector of Clark's identity and the woman meant to walk by his side. 

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     I'll have heroes and villians posted on sometime this week, but hopefully on Wednesday.