Somebody Save Me From Falling in Love With Clark Kent! (Oooops, Too Late...)

I’m not usually a big fan of anything involving superheroes because I know wanton destruction is going to come with it. But I’ve never been able to resist Superman. Maybe it’s the fact that he can fly. (Man, am I jealous!) Maybe it’s his down-home charm and nerdiness when he’s Clark Kent. Maybe I can point the finger at Lois and Clark and the monstrous crush on Dean Cain that resulted. Maybe it has something to do with the great songs written about him (Superman and Superman’s Ghost) or my memories of my brother Nathan gleefully watching the cartoon, especially whenever he ducked into a phone booth declaring, “This looks like a job… FOR SUPERMAN!” But whatever the reason, the songs or the flight, Superman always has brought me delight. (Sorry. Dr. Seuss moment.) So when Nathan came home a couple months ago toting the first season of Smallville, I was more than happy to watch it with him. I’d caught snippets of a couple episodes before, but my experience with the show ended there, so I was in pretty new territory. Superman as a teenager? Works for me.

Of course, in Smallville, he’s not Superman yet. He’s just Clark Kent, a hard-working farm boy whose devoted adoptive parents have warned him not to let anyone know about his unusual abilities. Just why he’s so different isn’t clear to Clark until the second half of the pilot episode, at which point he is a lad of… fourteen? I don’t recall that they ever say for sure, but he’s a freshman, so that seems a good assumption. He’s awfully brawny for a 14-year-old, and I have to laugh when I compare him with Sam from Freaks and Geeks, the other high school drama I devoted myself to this year. Of course, he’s got super strength and all that, so I suppose it makes sense for him to look older than he should. But why is he driving? Are the laws different in Kansas? Am I just being nit-picky? At any rate, Tom Welling certainly looks the part of Clark, though at this point the trademark spectacles have not made their way into his ensemble. And instead of a business suit, Clark can always be seen sporting a flannel shirt, wholesome hick that he is.

At first, we know more about Clark’s past than he does, since in the first few moments of the pilot we witness the cataclysmic meteor shower. It’s an awfully chaotic way to start a series, but it’s an effective way to establish the setting and some of the key characters. We meet salt of the earth couple Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha Kent (Annette O’Toole), who desperately want a child but are unable to have one; toddler Lana Lang, who is staying with her smug aunt Nell for the day and, upon their return, witnesses the sudden death of her parents; emotionally distant billionaire Lionel Luthor (John Glover) and his son Lex, who loses his hair in the meteor shower. It’s a disastrous day for most, but for the Kents, the wish Martha makes on Lana’s fairy princess wand comes true when naked-as-a-jaybird young Clark toddles up to their overturned pick-up. “We didn’t choose you; you chose us,” they remind Clark on several later occasions. Along with Clark, they see the spaceship he came in, but Martha’s overwhelming maternal instincts override Jonathan’s practical objections. Clark is theirs for keeps.

Flash forward to high school, and Clark is tired of not being able to do normal teenager things. For fear of revealing his powers, he has to overcompensate, meaning his peers, even best pals plucky Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) and steadfast Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), regard him as a clumsy geek. This is especially apparent when he is in the vicinity of Lana (Kristin Kreuk), the lovely next-door neighbor he’s pined for most of his life. “Statistical fact,” Chloe notes. “Clark Kent can’t get within five feet of Lana Lang without turning into a total freak show.” But is his Lana-induced clutziness all the result of unrequited love, or could it have something to do with the polished meteor rock necklace she always wears as a reminder of her parents? At any rate, if Clark’s affections escape Lana’s notice, his regard is painfully obvious to her boyfriend, football star Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson), who determines to make life difficult for Our Young Hero. Meanwhile, in spite of his parents’ warnings, Clark goes into heroic mode when a reckless Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) plows into him with his Porsche, sending both hurtling off the bridge. Surprised to find himself unscathed, he rescues an unconscious Lex and drags him to shore, an act that ignites the young corporate giant’s fiercely protective friendship coupled with his ultimately poisonous curiosity.

I’ve not watched the WB with much regularity, but I’m familiar enough to know that this show is fairly typical of that channel’s teenage melodramas so popular with its core demographic. Clark must face all sorts of high school traumas, the most pervasive of which is being at the center of a love triangle. He only has eyes for Lana, who has barely noticed him up to this point and is attached at the hip to Whitney, and is oblivious to the fact that Chloe’s feelings for him have blossomed into something deeper than friendship. Throughout the first season, Clark establishes a friendship with Lana, who also befriends Chloe, largely unaware at first of Chloe’s disappointment that the object of Clark’s desire suddenly seems potentially within reach.

Having some familiarity with unrequited affection myself, my sympathies have been with Chloe from the beginning. She reminds me of Les Miserables’ Eponine, who realizes her longstanding devotion to the revolutionary Marius is largely one-sided when he falls for the lustrous Cosette. That isn’t to say Clark doesn’t care for her; in fact, virtually every time he has a chance to get especially close to Lana, he blows it by rushing off to rescue Chloe from the freaky villain du jour. But just as often, he blows off Chloe to save Lana. (Moral one: Being close to Clark is directly proportionate to being close to danger. Good thing he’s always there to save the day. Moral two: Clark is relentlessly victimized by terrible timing. If something is about to go right in his life, you’d better believe that’s when the next villain will strike.)

Chloe is the editor of high school periodical The Torch, and her dedication to unraveling the mysteries of this small town is unwavering, as evidenced by her Wall of Weird, which is overflowing with stories of strange local happenings. She’s a key asset to Clark when he’s chasing down rabble-rousers, but her investigative prowess angers him when she tries to unlock his secrets. Although her friendship is sincere and mostly unshakeable, she has a sarcastic streak that gets her into trouble sometimes, and her tendency toward bitterness sometimes causes her to push Clark away. Maddeningly, as much as I empathize with Chloe, I can’t wholeheartedly root for her ending up with Clark because Lana is so darn sweet. This sort of thing is much easier when the one with the pretty face is a jerk. Truth be told, Lana is generally more generous, considerate and forgiving than Chloe, though she shares Chloe’s frustration that Clark has so many secrets. He gets into so much trouble with both of them that one wonders whether he might just be better off letting them in on his not-so-little secret.

Perpetually good-natured Pete has known Clark the longest. Their relationship is less complicated, but Pete suffers from the green-eyed monster as well when his best friend begins spending more and more time at the Luthor mansion. Though he rarely expresses his frustration, it becomes apparent at times that he feels their friendship has suffered as a result of all Clark’s hob-nobbing with the man whose father was responsible for the Ross family’s financial ruination. Lex seems to have pure intentions, but Pete isn’t the only one who doesn’t entirely trust him. If Jonathan had anything to say about it, his son would never associate with Lex at all. This aspect of the series is the most frustrating for me, because I really want to believe that Lex will leave his sordid adolescence and his father’s cold business practices behind him, that he will become an exemplary citizen and a lifelong friend to Clark, but I know that’s not how the story ends. This is the problematic thing about prequels…

Although he has his occasional moments of rebellion, Clark is an extremely family-oriented young man who rarely loses sight of the fact that he has been blessed with an upbringing that has allowed him to curtail his powers and use them for noble purposes. Jonathan is driven by the fear that Clark’s abilities will be exposed and he’ll spend the rest of his life locked in a lab somewhere. He desperately loves the young man he calls his son, but his volatile personality sometimes drives a wedge between them. Jonathan’s temper causes strife, particularly when it’s directed at the Luthors or at Clark for engaging in an activity he deems too dangerous. Theirs is a pretty solid relationship, but Clark is really a Mama’s Boy at heart. Saintly Martha, who gave up a lucrative professional life in Metropolis for the man she loved, never shows anything but concern and adoration in her interactions with Clark. If it weren’t for her insistence, after all, Clark would not have become a Kent. On some level, perhaps he knows that, making his bond with his adoptive mother especially tight.

Aside from the ongoing dynamic amongst these characters, the first season of Smallville concerns itself mainly with the dramatic effect the meteor shower had on the town. Almost every episode introduces a new character who has been altered by contact with the meteor rocks, whose proper name - Kryptonite - is not yet known. What is known, after the first episode, is that the substance in these rocks weakens Clark, sapping him of his superhuman strength and rendering him limp and virtually useless. Clark’s only rival throughout the season is Whitney, and after an initial show of extremely poor sportsmanship, he mellows out and develops a friendship with Clark, albeit an uneasy one. Still, it’s hard to be too hard on the guy when his father spends half the season on his death bed. Clark’s main concern is these people whom power has corrupted. Most develop abilities in keeping with their personality: fire-starting for an overzealous football coach, body fat-sucking for an insecure overweight girl, rejuvenation for an elderly murderer, telekinesis for an artist who lost his drawing abilities in a car crash, the command of a swarm of bees for an also-ran obsessed with becoming class president. (This last was as horrifying to me as all the others combined…)

As he takes on these small-time trouble-makers, Clark develops and hones new abilities, including X-ray vision but not flying - at least not yet. Most episodes include at least one reference to established Superman mythology, generally inserted into casual conversation as a wink at the audience. For instance, Pete notes that Clark’s “not the flying type,” Chloe says that “Clark Kent, investigative reporter” has a nice ring to it, and Clark adopts as his class presidential campaign slogan “truth, justice and the American way.” I enjoy these little jokes. What I’m not so crazy about is the fact that in most episodes, several people wind up dead. Moreover, most of the events in any given episode have little bearing on the rest of the season or the series as a whole. You could watch most of the first season out of order, and it really wouldn’t matter very much. The one-note villain thing is very formulaic, and after a while I started to think that the real oddballs in Smallville are the ones who haven’t developed any unusual powers. Occasionally an episode breaks the pattern by showing the affected person in a largely sympathetic light or by concerning itself with a character not directly impacted by the meteor rocks. The most compelling of these is Ryan James (Ryan Kelley), a pre-teen mind reader who flees his exploitative guardians and finds refuge with the Kents and a hero in brotherly Clark.

I’m on the third season now, and the first season is much more simplistic and light-hearted than those that follow. I can only assume this progression continues. While the fairly predictable course of each episode becomes a bit tiresome and silly, the recurring characters are compelling enough to keep viewers riveted throughout the 21 episodes. While the show occasionally peppers itself with contemporary references - some of which feel a bit dated even five years later - for the most part, this addition to the Superman mythology should hold up well over time, even if its inventiveness may cause some discrepancy with earlier incarnations. I must applaud the theme song, whose passionate cry of “Somebody saaaaaaaaaave me!!!!” provides the perfect adrenaline rush to put me in the proper mindset for watching the show. By the end of each episode, my only plea for rescue is from the addictiveness of this show, and I’m enjoying it so much that not even Clark himself could whisk me away from it.

Pilot
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five

Poems:
His Friendship
A Luthor is a Lion
A Father's Love
Metamorphosis
Martha
Destiny
Jonathan
This Moment

Parodies:
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Save Me
Harrigan
Rhymes and Reasons
Leaves That Are Green
Kathy's Song
Silver Bells
A Most Peculiar Man