In its eight and a half odd seasons, Smallville has brought many faces from the comics to television, and its worked very well. From Perry White to Bart Allen, Bizzaro to Brianiac, characters good and evil have come to help or hinder Clark Kent in his quest to protect humanity. But one ongoing story line involves Kryptonians visiting Earth in the past, which has now lead to the arrival of Jor-El on Earth. I think his appearance detracts from the mythos of the show, instead of helping them.
There are a couple of caveats to his showing up. First, it’s a clone of Jor-El, created well before Clark was born, the destruction of Krypton, or even before Zod turned all kinds of evil. And I realize that Jor-El showing up is 100% tied to Zod being on Earth as well, a plot point I have really enjoyed. Finally, I get that there is always the Kryptonian computer with Jor-El’s sentience uploaded. Unfortunately, I don’t think Clark’s biological father should have ever physically showed up on earth.
Clark is an orphan of a dead planet, taken in by an incredible family, whom raised them as their own. But as great as the Kents were, they were always just stand-ins, who really can’t relate with Clark’s desire to know about his heritage. Meeting his father, even just momentarily, takes away from that isolation that, to an extent, defines who Clark Kent really is.
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Clacked by Ivey West
on Nov 09, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
“act that Erica Durance’s contract isn’t for the full count of episodes” — Really? Why not? So that’s why she hasn’t been around some.
I thought the conversation between Clark & Tess was awesome. The look in her eyes when he finally revealed to her that he was Kryptonian was like she found the greatest joy she could ever find in life. I too like the addition to the cast.
Awesome ep on Friday. I don’t really care that Jor-El showed up in physical form for the episode. & Yes, the Kandor scenes were f’n cool.
*POST AUTHOR*
Couldn’t say why, but its been that way since she joined the show. She’s never done all of the episodes for some reason.
I assume it’s a money thing. Also, she would have felt very much out of place on an arc-heavy episode like this one, which doesn’t have room for characters that must remain ignorant.
I think they handled the younger clone perfectly by having him learn the entire story from Chloe, and then having him die just as he saw his son in the flesh for the first time. If it was more than that, I would think your point might be valid. Then again, Smallville is so different from any other incarnation of the mythos that I still don’t think it would matter.
I am shocked by just how good “Kandor” was after a string of forgettable episodes. I really didn’t think this show had it in it any more.