“I’ll appreciate some of you a lot more once I get this 12-foot-high electrical fence built around my house. Ha ha.”
So it looks like Michael Rosenbaum is returning to Smallville to reprise his role as Lex Luthor for the series finale.
Well, good…while the Lex/Clark conflict did wear out its welcome sometime in season 3, it would have been disappointing to have the series conclude without some “closure” (as such, given this is the beginning of the lifelong Superman vs. Luthor enmity) to this particular relationship which drove so much of the series. I realize they could have had another actor portraying Luthor, but it wouldn’t have been the same, really. I mean, the guy I talk about here, or someone like him, would have been okay, but…yeah, it’ll be nice to have Rosenbaum back. The handful of times he was allowed to be a full-on scenery-chewing villain were fun, and gave the show a bit of spark that it was missing.
Of course, being Smallville, I fear they’ll find a way to louse this up somehow, but we’ll see soon enough, I suppose. Still hoping for at least some screen time for Clark finally as Superman, but there’s still the possibility of Tom Welling in the red-‘n’-blues just for the final closing shot. Boy, wouldn’t that just honk some people off.
Speaking of people and the honking-off thereof, I did like this quote from the linked article:
“I appreciate all of their passion, their relentlessness, and even their threats. Ha ha.”
That’s one sarcastic “ha ha” at the end there. You know the dude was getting some serious better-turn-these-over-to-the-police emails from the crazier fans, especially after it had recently been reported he wasn’t coming back to the show.
So anyway, Smallville: usually fun, generally dopey, but it’s mostly been entertaining, and the actors are appealing, and I’ll actually miss the show once it’s gone, I imagine. Well, I won’t miss that season with the magic tattoos. What was up with that?
I’ve been watching it since the beginning, and I still can’t quite pin down why I enjoy it. I know which episodes I like and which ones I don’t, but why exactly? No clue. The most recent episode, with the return of three original cast members, really got me worked up. I don’t know, but I’ll be there ’til the end. Hard to believe I was around 15 when it started. I’ll definitely miss it.
How exactly does one set up Superman’s career when frigging everyone, most especially including Lex Luthor, will know perfectly well who he is?
Jacob: You see, the last scene of the series will both answer your concern AND make Mike happy. Clark will make a list of all the people who knows his secret identity (yeah…it’s quite the list). He then dons his Superman costume, flies around the world and smacks each of those people on the head giving them retrograde amnesia. The smack is perfectly formulated only to remove their memories of Clark Kent/Superman. This solution is perfectly safe since we’ve seen characters on Smallville get whacked on the head multiple times without any ill-effects.
Watching Smallville for a decade has been a lot of like reading a comic over the same time period. It has high and low periods but averages out to a relaxing mediocrity, just good enough that you’ll give in and stick it out.
I have to say, I’ve mostly liked this season. It’s had some flaws – the influence of Darkseid in the hero debate has been wildly inconsistent, for one thing.
I was more irritated with the absence of the show’s best character, Chloe, and the absence of its best actress, Allison Mack. But now she’s back doing what she does best: being smiley-sweet and making morally questionable decisions in the course of kicking ass for the good guys.
You gotta feel for Rosenbaum, some of those Smallville fans are raging nutters (just read the comments at that link). Still, I’m glad he’s coming back, and I hope they threw a lot of money at him to reprise the role.
I’m not much of a Superman fan, so the initial appeal of Smallville for me was the comedy value in the broody, barely-disguised sexual tension between Clark and Lex during the course of Rosenbaum’s run. Just kiss, already! So I’m hoping some of that magic reappears in the finale.
As far as this season goes, the whole Darkseid-Fox News-Marvel’s Civil War story arc is a hopelessly ham-handed grab for “relevancy”. And I wince every time the writers go to the “you have a destiny”/Christ-parallel well (which seems to be, oh, about five times in every episode). But it’s fascinating to watch as they systematically undo the Smallville series premises and usher in the Superman status quo.
And one thing that I consider a radical interpretation of the Superman mythos that I think the writers not only did reasonably well but also feels utterly right, is the idea of Lois being totally integral to Clark’s assuming the mantle. That without Lois, he could not become Superman. It’s worked remarkably well in being the story engine of this season. And Erica Durance has proven to be the best on-screen Lois thus far–not necessarily because of any scary talent on her part (she does a decent job), but due to Lois being given a shade of depth more than the one-dimensional role she usually is.
I posted this on a Facebook page regarding Michael Rosenbaum not returning as Lex Luthor (at the time had noted he was focusing on his writing):
“What the hell, Michael Rosenbaum? What are you doing that’s so important? Writing? 90% of writing is staring at the screen trying to think of another word for ‘monkeybutt’ and 10% is actually writing the word ‘monkeybutt’ because you can’t think of a better word and you have a deadline.
“Give up some of that 90% time for a 15 second cameo in the last minute of Smallville. You don’t have any dialogue, just glower menacingly as Superman (finally, Superman!) flies over the Metropolis skyline. Hell, you don’t even need a skull cap; I’m sure they’ll let you wear a hat.
“C’mon, don’t be a..a…help, I need another word for ‘monkeybutt’…”
I was being nice compared to some of the character assassinations going out there in internet land.
A number of possibilities present themselves:
1) Michael knew he was coming back and the producers knew he was coming back but the whole “he’s not coming back” was to generate publicity.
2) Michael wanted to come back but knew the producers really wanted him which puts him in the cat bird seat to set whatever terms he thinks he can
get, even something as simple as “extra mango on the fruit plate in his dressing room.”
3) Micheal wanted to come back but as he has done jack squat since leaving Smallville, the producers think they have the upper hand and were the ones playing hard ball. (“No mango, no fruit tray of any kind in fact and your dressing room is a supply closet.”)
4) Michael’s not really a dick head, he just underestimated how much people still care about the show. Once he realized people really, REALLY wanted him back as Luthor, it was “Oh, people are really upset over this? I didn’t think about that. Well, sure, I’ll come back. Sorry for any trouble.”
Still, it is annoying when a long running show reaches its end or an anniversary special or something and a former star has “better” things to do. The absence is telling and I think the actor in question always regrets the decision to not return. (Ex: Tom Baker later said he regretted not coming back for “The Five Doctors” for Doctor Who’s 20th Anniversary.)
Glad this is all settled. Now Clark better be in the super suit by show’s end!
So what you’re saying, and correct me if I’m wrong, but…Smallville is still on the air?
But I kid. I watched in the very beginning, found it almost immediately too much monster-of-the-week mashed with Kal-El’s Creek and quit. Then, for whatever reason, I got really into season 3…and lost interest almost immediately with season 4. (That’s when Lana’s witchcraft and Lois Lane were first introduced, right?) That it has since continued on for ten seasons just astounds me, really. I always felt like it took a really simple, archetypal superhero story and cluttered it up beyond belief. The goal often seemed to be, let’s take the most iconic superhero ever and render him all but unrecognizable.
But, hey, glad some folks have enjoyed it.
Similar to Fred’s experience… I saw one first season episode and was not impressed. Somebody got me to watch a season 2 episode, and I found it much improved. So I started watching and continued for several years.
Yes, season 4 is where the real stink started again. Though it was also when Erica Durance showed up. So that helped keep me interested.
I finally gave up a few years ago, and started again this season as a friend said he was really enjoying the show. It’s been moderately entertaining, though the last couple of episodes really sucked. I still like a lot of the cast, though.