Smallville season ender "Phantom" review - bizarre and fatal

This season-ender would possibly have passed by as “HUH? What was that?!” for me, had I not read the recap from TVBlend. I suggest you do as well, because I certainly understood more after reading that recap.

It was a great ending, lots of drama, some cool action, and plenty of cliffhangers for next season. But frankly, it was a weird, almost supernatural kind of episode.

First, there’s Lana. Hints are thrown everywhere that she’ll get killed somewhere in the episode. Even the trailer showed that. She challenged Lex about killing her as the only way to make her stay in their marriage. So she calls Lionel and tells him she’s leaving his son, her voice scared and frantic. The father-in-law almost catches up with her but too late, her SUV explodes once she closes the door. And of course one thinks Lex is capable of that evil. But when Clark confronts him, we realize Baldy couldn’t have killed his wife. So is Lana really dead? (she did win our poll) No, I don’t think so. I think she took that escape via the truck that conveniently passed by her SUV just before it went ka-boom. But we shall have to wait until next season.

Then there’s Chloe and Lois. What a way to go. Right when Chloe was crying over her cousin I told my husband, now here’s a drama that will bring you to tears. Chloe was good with the emoting! And then, WHHAAT?! Her tears fall on Lois’ face, a bright light covers them, Lois is brought back to life, and Chloe dies in her place. What kind of meteor freak is that? Chloe didn’t even know a thing. Did she really die, or is she now alive in Lois? That’s even more freaky. But knowing how much Chloe really loves Clark in this saga of Smallville, this maybe how Chloe lives on ‘eternally’, albeit now as Lois. But we shall have to wait until next season.

Finally there’s Clark, and then there’s Clark. I mean, there was Clark turning into clone-Clark via the being from Phantom zone. Who apparently can sense a Kriptonian’s blood, lighting-pass through Clark and get a “little” of his DNA and become him, “I’m you…only a little more bizarre.” This clone-Clark gets even stronger when dumped on with a green kriptonite and actually wins over the original. And then flies away with a metallic face. WHAAT?!

So if you’re like me, who hasn’t followed the comics religiously, read TV Blend. There’s a reference that clone-Clark is actually BIZARRO, a comic book character that is the exact opposite of Superman.

Now this is going to be a point of contention between fans of ‘Smallville’ who also follow the comics and those who simply enjoy the show. Looking at the situation it’s quite possible the creators didn’t think a true version of Bizarro would work on the show. Maybe they’re right, but how funny and cool would it be to have Bizarro on ‘Smallville?’ This appears to just be an evil Clark, not exactly the Bizarro we know from the comics. For those who don’t know, Bizarro is essentially the exact opposite of Superman. He’s not an evil being, he just does things that are the negative of what Superman would. So if Supes would save a life, Bizarro would end it. This manifests itself in many ways, including his crazy speech pattern. The Bizarro in the show appears to be a mixture of the different versions that have appeared in the comics, and at the same time a whole new entity. Maybe it’s just me, but this character seems to be a bit much. But man, if they do this right next season we could be in for some intriguing stuff. Let’s hope I’m wrong and the writers bring us a full on Bizarro for Clark to battle in season seven.

So there you go. Season Six of Smallville is over. There will be a lot of changes in season 7, since the gossip I read here and there tell us Clark will battle more ‘comic-book’ villains in the new year. I’m sure we will know of Chloe and Lana’s fates – the two people in Clark’s life who don’t appear in his adult version of Superman. Lois, well, she’ll probably most likely stay. Credits at the start of the show have Erica Durance’s name before Allison Mack, and I don’t know if that means anything, but months ago Erica was only a ‘featured’ actress.

Stay tuned.