Fall TV: Anticipating Smallville Season 7

Smallville's seventh season takes flight next Thursday and with the premiere the show will be introducing another classic piece of the Superman mythos to the show, Supergirl. Smallville has grown season by season from a Teen High School Drama that happens to include a young Superman to a story that touches philosophically on destiny and the consequences of the choices made. The show has been hit or miss, with it's good episodes and storylines being very very good and it's bad ones being quite terrible. This season's further leap into the classic Superman stories promises not only more for the Superman fanboys like myself but a chance to broaden the story-telling possibilities of a show that can get repetitive.
For the first four seasons of Smallville there were 4 reasons I liked watching the show. First, the show is about Superman and Superman's story is one I've always loved. I teared up when I first saw the preview for Superman Returns in the theater. Second, Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent. I have a weakness for redheads and for strong women. Annette O'Toole's Martha Kent is both. Third, John Glover as Lionel Luthor. They created Lionel for the show and I have to say he was really compelling as the villain in the shadows for those first 4 seasons. Also, I've been a fan of John Glover ever since the short-lived show "Brimstone" in which he played the devil. Fourth, Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor. Lex's struggle against his darker urges made for some great moments during the beginning of the series and he turned the corner and embraced those urges at about the right time. For me, Michael Rosenbaum is the best on screen Lex Luthor. Even Kevin Spacey, who was quite good, didn't beat Rosenbaum for me.
Unfortunately, after season four Martha Kent's role shrank more and more and Lionel Luthor lost his teeth, but we got Erica Durance as a solid Lois Lane and the show started diving more into the Superman Mythos than ever before. We got the fortress of solitude, we got the villainous Brainiac, the Phantom Zone, General Zod, Jimmy Olsen and in the season six finale Bizarro. They even started introducing other young versions of superheros in the show, like the Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, the Martian Manhunter, and the Green Arrow. The show is still pretty hit or miss with solid single episodes in the middle of season long arcs that seem to fluctuate between being very important and being a footnote depending on the week. Sometimes the show feels like it wants to dedicate itself to those season long arcs and sometimes it feels like it doesn't want to be anything more than a monster of the week series and that confusion hurts the show at times.
Season seven introduces Clark's cousin from Krypton, Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl. Kara will be played by Laura Vandervoort who looks a bit like Kara from the comics, though her outfit in the promotional images for the season looks more than a little silly. Rumors around season seven at this point are also promising a showdown with Bizarro in the premiere and more Martian Manhunter, at least for the beginning of the season as well as the welcome return of Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. There is also a rumor going around that Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the 1984 flop, will be making an appearance as Clark's mother Lara.
Season six ended with Chloe and Lana both probably dead, and Bizarro on the loose. There was also a little mystery surrounding Chloe and what her kryptonite induced superpower may be. All indications are that Chloe isn't really dead, which makes sense, she "died" at the end of season three and that didn't really take, and Lana is certainly coming back. We know Lana is coming back because, the blew up Chloe before and she wasn't really dead and Lana is a much better established character. Plus, who will they have for Clark to brood over this season if there's no Lana? Bizarro will probably be defeated rather anti-climactically just as Zod was in last season's season premiere and the other Kryptonian criminals were the year before. The thing to look forward to in the premiere is the appearance of Kara.
Kara represents a lot of interesting story potential for season seven. She's an alien like Clark but unlike Clark did not grow up among humanity and so has no real context for interacting with the people around her. Also unlike Clark she knows a lot about where the two of them are from and can offer insight into his heritage that there wasn't really a reliable vehicle for before. Kara could also offer a way to reinvigorate the show, which has a hard time making the fact that Clark has remained in Smallville all this time seem less and less believable with each passing season.
Smallville is not a great program but it has grown slowly but surely over the past seven years and when it embraces the mythos it's based on it always seems to do well. Season seven promises another leap into that mythos and may offer opportunities to improve the show overall.