As anyone who has read my blog in the past might know, I am an irregular viewer of the WB show, Smallville. Although I was a huge fan of it in its first season, subsequent efforts have left me wondering how a show that is consistently this retarded can stay on the air for as long as it has while other shows which show so much more promise get canned after 4 episodes or less (Kitchen Confidential and Love Monkey anyone?).
Still, being the comic geek that I am and the kind of person who, if convenient, will watch just about anything that's put in front of me, I continue to watch the show hoping above all hope that it gets better than it is.
And sometimes the show surprises me by firing off a real cracker of an episode, renewing my faith ever so briefly. This has happened about a half a dozen times so far (the big Christopher Reeve episode being a good example of that), but in the end, disappointment usually follows and I go and find something else to watch before eventually becoming bored enough to try, try again.
When I decided to do another Smallville post (running with that Superman theme again, there) I was pretty much just going to rant on how there hadn't been much improvement since my last entry on the subject and how I didn't have high hopes for the final half-dozen episodes based on what I'd been reading and seeing on the internet. But it was while watching the 14th episode of the show's fifth season ('Tomb') where I was given a clear reminder of what it is that probably keeps me watching despite all of the 'meh' episodes. It is the one aspect of the show that, over the course of five years has almost never disappointed me: Allison Mack.The character of Chloe Sullivan has pretty much been a favourite of mine from day one and I've always stood by the belief that, compared to the annoying and gaspy Lana, she is the more interesting character. I can understand the producers/writers wanting to create a love triangle, I can understand how fans want to see Clark and Lana get together. Like Angel and Buffy, they have that forever love. However, also like Angel and Buffy, they are horribly annoying whenever they are together and are, at heart, a bad match for each other. Considering the chemistry Mack has with her co-star, Tom Welling, it amazes me that the writers have yet to truly flirt with the idea of Clark and Chloe getting together. The fact that they've forced the Clark/Lana relationship to blossom then end then blossom again (and probably to end again, I've lost count by now) shows the shortsightedness of Millar and Gough and the writers. It's almost like they made some rules at the outset and are afraid to go places their actors and stories are taking them. That's never a good thing.
In this last episode (the last one that I watched, anyway), there was a strength and intensity to her performance that was further evidence that the writers should give her more to do. Mack has proven that, even at her most bizarre (and Smallville gives everyone a chance to do something truly odd), there's a quality that she can bring to the table that few of her co-stars display as prominently or as consistently. She is the audience's anchor in the show. Everyone else behaves like soap opera characters while Chloe has moved on and gotten her life in order.
CHLOE: What's that Clark? The brother of a meteor freak that you put away has kidnapped Lana (who has turned into a witch) while she was stealing secret alien ship blueprints from Lex who is obsessed with discovering your secret and is also secretly in love with Lana but doesn't want to lose her by destroying you?
Sure I'll help. But on my lunch break, OK? I'm kinda busy working full time at the Daily freakin' Planet here.
And on top of all that, she's just absolutely adorable. I mean, just look at that picture.
And with that, I'm off to bed. I've ranted enough for one morning.
mike
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