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Show:		7.0
Picture:		8.0
Sound:		7.0
Extras:		5.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Allison Mack • Glen Winter • Kevin G. Fair • Mairzee Almas • Michael Rohl • Rick Rosenthal
Writer(s):	Kelly Souders, Darren Swimmer, Todd Slavkin, Caroline Dries, Don Whitehead, Al Septien, Bryan Q. Miller
Starring:	Aaron Ashmore • Allison Mack • Cassidy Freeman • Erica Durance • Justin Hartley • Sam Witwer • Tom Welling
Genre:	Action • Comic Book • Drama • Television
Website:	http://www.cwtv.com/shows/smallville?frompromo=television_moreshows_tv_smallville
Release Date:	August 25, 2009

List Price:	Blu-ray - $51.49
Amazon:

Eight seasons. It took eight seasons for Smallville to finally reach the universally accepted Superman paradigm: Clark Kent works at the Daily Planet as a reporter, and skips out to save the world every now and then. When the show first started, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me Smallville would follow Clark through high school, then college and finally to his premiere days as Metropolis’ own man of steel. To the preceding seasons’ credit, there was a lot of Superman mythos to build up and reinterpret – and it did an admirable job in that. Now, we’re finally in the big city and Clark is moonlighting as the “red-blue blur”. The best part? Seeing full-blown Superman glory is just a season away.

The events of season eight follow on the heels of quite a few major story arcs. Brainiac has seemingly been expelled from their lives, but Krypton’s most tenacious computer program might have left a few gifts behind for Chloe (Allison Mack), who finds herself the inheritor of a new ability and the manager of the Isis Foundation. The Isis Foundation might give Chloe a professional focus, but her romantic life gets tangled when Davis Bloome (Sam Witwer), an EMT, begins to drive a wedge between her and her fiancé Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore). Traditionally the “frenemy” relationship between Clark (Tom Welling) and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) proved a major driving force behind the story of the seasons before this one, but now it officially takes the bench as a new villain rises from the most unexpected of places. Not every episode in the season traces the new villain’s storyline, leaving space for classic villains (and villainesses) like Maxima, Faora (the wife of General Zod) and the morally ambiguous Zatanna.

Season eight is very Chloe-centric in its overall direction – but in such a way that isn’t as boring as it might have been in past seasons. For once, Chloe has more to do with everything than she ever did before. Her husband-to-be Jimmy makes it his personal goal to discover the identity of the “red-blue blur” (Clark) and may be the only one who knows the identity of the creature causing so much trouble in Metropolis. Meanwhile, Chloe’s new friend Davis begins to experience changes leading him to commit violence acts he doesn’t quite understand.

***SPOILER***

To review this season and not discuss its take on the Doomsday character would be to neglect one of the season’s biggest make-or-break points. Over the years Doomsday’s origin has changed numerous times in the various Superman comic series and, like this series is wont to do, Smallville decided to find a new way to introduce the character that stayed true to the character while giving it a spin relevant to everything that’s come before. Tying Doomsday back to Krypton certainly helps tie it all back into the Luthor soap opera, but it requires a little bit of rewriting – but it’s not too severe as to be outrageous. Witwer was a good choice for the role; the whole Jekyll and Hyde angle for the character lets Witwer show off a good range, making for an enjoyable and satisfying story.

***SPOILER END***

Allison Mack has always carried herself well, and this time she outshines Tom Welling whose viability to play Superman in a movie is very much in question for me. Everyone else seems to have grown as the series progressed, but Welling seems unchanged after all these seasons. You’d think having your Kryptonian half (Bizarro, in the Smallville-verse) go AWOL, you’d change a little. The easy winners in the casting remain Erica Durance (Lois Lane) and Justin Hartley (Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow) who give the show 90% of its comedic edge.

The show’s special effects still look slightly campy, but seeing them in Blu-ray comes as a double-edged sword. On one hand the show has astounding depth and the attention to detail in sets and lighting chosen for certain episodes look utterly fantastic. On the other hand, those aforementioned special effects stick out like a sore thumb. The show has matured in tone and style with every season; so it should come as no surprise that season eight looks the best of them all thus far.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

Well, if you skipped the spoiler section, you may as well skip this too if you want to go in with no idea of the season’s main villain. So stop now. You were warned. One of the two featurettes is a look at Allison Mack’s effort in directing an episode from season eight (“Power”); she talks about the hardships, the perks, etc. Tom Welling also directed an episode from the series, but there’s no featurette for it – oh well. The second featurette, here’s that spoiler, is about the season’s exploration and portrayal of Doomsday, one of Superman’s most notorious villains. Considering Doomsday is the topic of the season, it’s an interesting little piece.

In plain blunt speak, season eight puts the past two seasons to shame. Who would have thought that the departure of Millar, Gough, Rosenbaum and Kreuk would actually lead to a better season? Well it did.