Starting Small(ville)

[sesquipedaliatic]

5 Thoughts about Smallville, Season 1 eps 1-4

Not behind a cut because we're 10 season in. I feel confident that I'm the only person left who might be concerned about nitty gritty spoilers.

1. Michael Rosenbaum, you're playing a character who hits all my I-don't-enjoy-watching-you buttons. WHY DO I LIKE YOU SO MUCH? From what I've seen so far, Lex isn't the kind of bad guy I'm drawn to (Logan on Veronica Mars notwithstanding). And yet, like Logan, you're interesting, engaging, and have me wanting more of you. (Though I'm confused about your lack of hair, 'cause Baby Lex in the Cornfield was apparently shaved by the meteors. Not a burn on his body, but no hair on his head? No sense. No sense at all.) Also, how old is Lex? Is he out of high school already, or just Above Schooling, thanks to Daddy's money? I got the sense he was pretty much the same age as Clark, but I'm not entirely sure.

2. Ahahah dated soundtrack is dated. I'm looking forward to seeing the show age (as I do with anything than spans many years of filming). I'm also interested to see where the show goes around season 5, as I'm guessing we've got a year of high school per season? Given how time seems to be passing in the first few eps, at least. ETA: Nevermind. Looked at Wikipedia to check the original air date and inadvertently read about the change of direction in season 5. BAH unexpected spoilers.

3. Kryptonite. Can I just state for the record how much I adore the first few presentations of the Kryptonite and Clark's reactions to it? From Chloe's "Statistical fact: Clark can't get within 5 feet of Lana" to ALL the other ridiculous and wonderful moments surrounding that stupid necklace. I love that the show is being thoroughly unsubtle about Clark's reaction to the Kryptonite (because if there's one thing the general public knows about the Superman mythos, it's kryptonite) and I LOVE that TPTB have allowed Clark to figure out why he's super weak RIGHT AWAY. No angsting, no aimless wondering, no looking past the obvious. Which brings me to:

4. Smart characters who talk about things! I don't love lie-based plots, so the fact that Clark has MULTIPLE honest and frank discussions with his parents about his powers in the first few eps makes me a happy girl. I don't need everyone to know everything all the time, but when the narrative is driven by a set of lies, I get annoyed. But that's not happening here! Clark has people with whom he can be honest (admittedly, he talks to different people about different things, but that's as it should be).

5. And because this post is lacking in shallow thoughts: WHOA PRETTY. Even knowing the actors are far older than their characters, I feel a leeeeeetle bit skeezy pointing out how pretty they are. But WHOA PRETTY. I expect that component of the show only to improve from here (to only improve? That's a split infinitive but it sounds better. English is hard).

I've been debating between watching Smallville or Stargate: Universe and I've seen enough of SG:U to know that the stuff they're doing with sex and body swaping is making me WAY uncomfortable. So. Smallville it is and though they'll both give me Michael Shanks eventually, I'm guessing it's a meatier role on Smallville--yays!