Product: Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season (2009)
Rating: 5.0
A new mythology for Earth's greatest super-hero!
Having watched this series faithfully since it began over 10 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised when they announced following Season 8 that Tom Welling had signed a contract to star and help produce Smallville for another 2 seasons. While the eighth season had its high points such as Geoff John's excellent "Legion" episode, they seemed off-balance without Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) and some of the episodes were less than memorable. So while I rejoiced that the show had been given a "new lease on life" I wondered, "What will they do next?"I needn't have worried: Season 9 exceeded all expectations and then some. For the first time since its early years, Smallville was breaking new ground: challenging and dramatic episodes coupled with the first major rewrite of the Superman canon since the 1940's. Smallville was always at its best when it was pushing the envelope, challenging our assumptions about this "strange visitor from another planet" and what he really might be capable of, so what better way than to bring an entire Kryptonian city to Earth and force "Kal-El" to deal with them on his own terms?From the very beginnings of the Superman character to the classic 1978 Richard Donner film, Krypton had always been portrayed as a doomed paradise, its destruction a Greek tragedy of cosmic proportions. In the season-9 story arc we are shown a very different story: a planet of gifted people at war with themselves, their advanced civilization threatened by overreaching pride and arrogance, teetering on the edge of annihilation. This theme had been hinted at as far back as Season 2 when the Virgil Swann character (Christopher Reeve) was first introduced to help fill in the back-story of Clark's true origins, and served as the basis for several ground-breaking episodes in Seasons 3 thru 5, including the run-up to Pa Kent's untimely death and the revelation that squeaky-clean Clark Kent really did have a dark side, and a rather nasty one at that.The younger Major Zod (Callum Blue) proved the perfect foil for our still-struggling young superhero; their battle in this season's finale is quite possibly the high point of the entire series, a well-earned payoff for the ambitious storyline that kept both tension and anticipation high, each episode building to this stunning climax. At the same time, the series paid homage to the great heroes of comics past by pairing the nascent Justice League (Clark, Chloe, Oliver, Martian Manhunter) with the "grizzled veterans" of their recent past, the Justice Society of America. Another Geoff John episode which became a two-hour TV movie, this finely-crafted tribute story challenges our young "super-friends" to embrace the true meaning of teamwork, loyalty and sacrifice. In particular, Michael Shanks (Stargate) as "Hawkman" proved a very popular and enduring character, appearing in several subsequent episodes, continuing to serve as a mentor for Clark and eventually sacrificing his own life to save Lois Lane (Erica Durance) in Season 10.The overall tone was darker throughout the Season-9 episodes than in previous seasons, and some reviewers have cited this as a drawback. I respectfully disagree. The kids from Smallville High have long since grown up and are facing adult problems, struggling to pull their lives together. For me this grounded all the major characters in a more believable reality that allowed for truly dramatic episodes as opposed to the overwrought melodrama that sometimes over-powered these characters in seasons past. Another high point was the recurring theme that everyone has both good and bad within them, as demonstrated by Zod, Oliver, and particularly John Corbin ("Metallo", played by Brian Austin Green) when he confessed his love to Lois Lane. Erica Durance, who will remain the definitive "Lois" for many years to come, gave one of her finest performances in that scene, showing great empathy and honesty when she responded simply: "In a different lifetime, things might have been different."The Blu-Ray edition has some quirks that I found annoying, particularly in the episode menu-bar that is far less responsive than it should be. Aside from that, the hi-def quality of the shows is outstanding, as is the cinematography in nearly every episode. If you own no other season of Smallville, this is the one you must have. I guarantee you hours of enjoyment, some truly enjoyable moments and more than a few tears./wwc/