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Thursday, 14 February 2008 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| As I’ve mentioned several times before, I have little to no knowledge of the DC Universe, so I am relatively immune to the nostalgia factor when it comes to “Smallville”. That gives me the chance to be more objective regarding the success or failure of a given character introduction. In the past, “Smallville” has mostly bungled the introduction of DC characters. The most obvious misstep this season has been the treatment of Supergirl, which has been tolerable at best.
Some introductions, however, have worked out in the end. Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter from the sixth season were well done, largely because the time was taken to develop the characters within the “Smallville” universe beyond the handful of distinctive features borrowed from the comic books. Most of the long-term villains work well when they are developed with a full set of motivations.
So the return of Green Arrow was a good thing, particularly in how it was used in counterpart with the troubles between Clark and Lana. Lois discovers, over the course of the episode, that Oliver Queen is leading a secret heroic life. Lois can’t deal with the thought of sharing Oliver with the world, and she also has a problem with the idea of living up to Oliver’s example. While this is obviously meant to be significant to Clark and Lois’ future, it is pertinent to the current situation.
Lana takes Clark to task for being hypocritical, and it’s about time. Clark has never been a particularly self-aware individual, and as egregious as Lana’s characterization has been over the course of the series, she’s always been the primary victim of his high-handed expectations of everyone else. It would be quite an unexpected and gratifying turn if the writers were to make Clark’s break with Lana a trigger for self-realization.
Less successful is the introduction of Black Canary. Like so many other one-episode appearances by DC characters, I had the feeling that a lot of her lines were designed to thrill the fanboys. Unfortunately, the members of the audience lacking such a detailed education had little left to enjoy. Black Canary was supposed to be a femme fatale in her leather and fishnets, but the costume design just didn’t work. The character was more attractive in her “everyday” look, which certainly wasn’t the intention of the production.
While I certainly found the return of Green Arrow to be worth the time, and the ongoing relationship woes for Clark and Lana give me hope for some actual character development, the focus on Black Canary left me cold. I would much rather see more of the discussion between Oliver and Clark on the best way to apply their talents.
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