Untitled.

It's definitely keeping my interest...but Bree is suddenly annoying as all fuck? So that's disappointing.

She's probably the same as she was in the first book, but I think that's the problem. The stakes are much higher and she's had next to no character development. I'm at the halfway point of the book and so far it's been full of her rushing into danger when she knows she barely has any combat training and can't control her powers, constantly not listening to the people who are literally trying to help her and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Like girl, you are not the only one at risk. Assuming all of the information given so far about Legendborn history is true, if Bree dies, the world will literally be left vulnerable to all manner of demons, who will wreak havoc unchecked???

With that being said I find myself frequently going off on Bree in my own head. The inner rants usually sound something like, "Why can't you ever be quiet? Why can't you follow instructions? Why are you not assessing situations before reacting? You're not the only one who wants to rescue Nick. Why are you giving so much lip and resistance to the few people left that you know you can actually trust when they're just trying to protect you? And WHY are you acting like you don't need to be protected when you've almost been killed multiple times since you (technically) became king???"

I hope the second half of the book sees her grow a little more self awareness. She can't just keep fucking up and then feeling sorry afterwards. An actual war is ongoing. Lives are at stake and remorse doesn't bring people back from the dead.

But since this is my very first post about this series...let me be very clear:

Even though I'm actively beefing with the protagonist in my head, I'm still glad I discovered this series. Growing up loving Fantasy books meant growing up reading epic Caucasian tales of wonder that sprinkled in characters of color as afterthoughts. A supernatural adventure with a black girl as the lead is just something I never got to have as a kid. Aside from the premise just being interesting, there's a really refreshing amount of diversity. Not just in race, but in sexual orientation—and the inclusion of queer characters is also something I didn't get to see a lot of growing up. I'm rooting for this series to see even more success and visibility. Shout out to the author, Tracy Deonn. She deserves the world.

But Bree? Sister, please. Let's get it together!

*ahem*

Season 4 was...??? Here's the thing though: I started off liking it. Prior to that season, I guess you could say they'd established a working format where every episode featured a new meteor infected superhuman (or in the words of Chloe, a "meteor freak") creating unrest in Smallville, which would then lead to Clark hunting them down and dealing with the situation in some way or the other. I was getting tired of that, so it was a refreshing change of pace to see an ongoing arc take center stage. But actually working my way through the season was a journey that ended with me harboring less than positive thoughts.

I mean...the magical stones of Kryptonian origin scattered across the globe? There was a flashback episode in the third season that featured a youthful Jor-El frolicking around Smallville and falling in love with an ancestor of Lana's (shocker) that made me realize it was asinine of me to assume Clark was the first Kryptonian to ever set foot on earth. But even if I entertain the idea that some other alien from Krypton made the pilgrimage to Earth umpteen years ago and left behind those glorified paperweights...it's still not adding up for me.

Maybe I misinterpreted something here, but I feel like there were multiple moments throughout the season insisting (or insinuating) that it was Clark's "destiny" to locate all three stones and bring them together. But hear me out: if Lana Lang has a sorceress ancestor from the 1600s that not only knew of the existence of the stones, but was actively searching for them at the time, we can assume that these stones have been on Earth since at least the 17th century—which is well before Clark was born (NB: I don't know much about Kryptonian aging so this is an educated guess I made. In the flashback episode that shows Jor-El's time in Smallville, Jor-El evidently hadn't yet formed a relationship with Clark's mother...which means that Clark wouldn't have been born yet...and the events of this episode clearly take place much later than the 17th century). How could it specifically be Clark's destiny to find the stones if their arrival on Earth predated his existence?

And then the wild goose chase that takes place throughout the season as everybody and their mother (literally) attempts to find these stones? Clark? Lex? Lionel? Jason, Lana and Jason's mother? And last but not least, the Countess...because how could anyone ever forget the side storyline where Lana gets POSSESSED by the spirit of her ancestor, Countess Isobel Thoreaux, and is now sharing her body with a witch from the 17th century???

Then, when Clark finally manages to get his hands on all three of the stones and unite them...they fuse into a gem that teleports him to the Arctic (?) and after Clark chucks it as far as I assume his alien strength will allow him to throw, it collides with a mountain...the mountain gets decimated and in its place sprouts the famed Fortress of Solitude. (Side bar: Comic enthusiasts please let me know...is that how it really happens in the source material? Does the Fortress of Solitude really just...grow like a plant?)

So ALL of that...that entire arc...all the insanity behind trying to find these stones that allegedly promised so much power once reunited...all of it was just a way to introduce Superman's Fortress of Solitude? Somehow, an icy fortress of Kryptonian knowledge never crossed my mind as the reward for all of that effort. In retrospect, I suppose a hub containing a plethora of advanced alien knowledge could be both powerful and dangerous if used correctly...but it just felt really anticlimactic.

Anyway. The absolute best thing to come out of season 4 was the introduction of Lois Lane. I love the approach to her character. I like that she's got spunk and can defend herself. The whole damsel in distress shtick is a trope that gets old with me quickly. It's done with Lana often. Even after Lana picked up martial arts, it's like sometimes she forgets to use it or something? But I digress. I like that Lois kicks ass and never seems to doubt her own ability (in fact, one could argue that she overestimates her ability from time to time). I love that she's witty and snarky, yet suffers from discomfort triggered foot-in-mouth syndrome. I like that the person the audience knows she will eventually become isn't who she is right off the bat. It allows for her character to be developed over time. A passionate journalist who's in love with Clark Kent pretty much sums up my knowledge about this character. But when she's introduced to the show, she and Clark clash immediately and she has zero interest in journalism. As far as the love interest thing goes, they already did that "love at first sight" stuff with Lana. It's nice to not have to see it again. Having Clark and Lois go from basically hating each other to forming a reluctant friendship (which everyone knows will eventually end in them falling in love) is both refreshing and entertaining for me. Now mind you, my knowledge of the comics is restricted to a few random Golden Age issues, so for all I know this could've just been the result of the writers staying true to the current (at the time) source material...but regardless, I liked it. However, the build up to the start of her career at the Daily Planet was handled...oddly.

Since her first season on the show, Lois Lane has made it clear every chance she's gotten that journalism is not her thing. And since then, I've been waiting patiently to see what it is that eventually changes her mind. Because surely, if solving the mystery of her own cousin's "murder" wasn't enough to make her consider a future in investigative reporting, whatever finally does the trick will be monumental, right?

Wrong.

Lois makes the life changing decision to completely change her career path after almost being struck by an airborne barn door. And that's...the entire story. It's also a little ridiculous to see a bona fide reporter position at the Daily Planet just fall into her lap when Chloe, a character established from day one as having journalistic ambitions and actual writing talent is starting from the bottom and answering phones. I hate when main characters get things handed to them just because. I wanted to see Lois fall in love with it and really work for it. But this is cute too I guess?

Seasons 5-10 are the seasons I've really been looking forward to, because my basic knowledge about Superman says he's meant to live in Metropolis. So I've been waiting to get past the characters' high school years because I hoped that I'd get to see some maturation as far as Clark's character development and that I might get to see the life-changing move from Smallville to Metropolis, where Clark will spend his adult years.

He hasn't moved yet, but following the death of his father, he seems to be thinking a lot more about the consequences of his actions (CRAZY that his father dropping dead is what it took for him to start doing this...was accidentally killing your mother's child not a good enough incentive? Like hello? The lights are on...but is anybody actually home?).

But let's switch gears for a moment here and touch on Ms. Lang. So far, one of my biggest takeaways as I work my way through this series is that Lana-centric episodes and storylines are typically...not great. From the storyline of her discovering that she has a living biological father—a development that ends with him being written out of the show in the span of a few episodes—to the episode where the writers decided to basically make her a suicidal (?) junkie, writing where she's concerned is more often than not pretty questionable. I mean, did we need to turn her into a vampire?

Then of course there's the ongoing Clana saga. Jason dies in season 4 and following news of his death, Lana jumps straight into a relationship with Clark and it's weird. Granted, she and Jason broke up prior to his death...but as I recall, she also broke up with Whitney before he died and yet she still underwent a period of mourning upon finding out that Whitney had passed away...which is a normal reaction to finding out that someone you used to be in love with is now dead. This time around, no such mourning period is had. She just goes full speed ahead into a relationship with Clark. But of course, it doesn't work out (again) because Lana wants a partnership with full trust and transparency and Clark is still inventing every excuse in the book as to why he "can't" tell Lana that he's a crime fighting alien.

So they break up.

...And then you blink and Lana has romantic feelings for Lex.

Don't get me wrong...I like the idea of Lex coveting everything about Clark's life...from the stable family unit down to the fierce love and undying loyalty he's managed to get from Lana Lang. It adds to the incentive for his descent into villainy. But his feelings for Lana have come across as one-sided for a long period of time. The reciprocation on Lana's end feels very sudden.

Next thing you know, Lana moves out of the dorm room she shares with Chloe at Met U (and possibly also drops out of college altogether because I can't remember the last time she attended a class or mentioned anything academic related) and into Lex's mansion????? Then to add insult to injury, despite the fact that lying is the ultimate deal breaker for Lana and caused the demise of her relationships with both Jason and Clark...Lex is a pathological liar and no matter how many red flags Lana sees that confirm this, she just doubles down on sticking beside him. When she confides to him that she's seen a spaceship and witnessed an alien attack, he has his company sieze the ship for research purposes, then proceeds to try to gaslight her into thinking she imagined the entire encounter. She finds out he lied and forgives him? He has cameras set up in her bedroom without her knowledge. She finds out, makes him "promise" to remove them and then just...continues living there? She has strong reasons to believe he has a secret level in LuthorCorp where he imprisons and unlawfully experiments on meteor infected Belle Reve patients that were supposed to have been discharged. He of course, lies about having any knowledge of this and not only does she not show any sign of wanting to investigate this further...she announces that even if it were true, she'd be cool with it (a complete dismissal of her character's moral compass)??? Mind you, throughout all of this she's still trying to find out Clark's secret. Nevermind the fact that they broke up and she's now living with a whole other man who lies like it's his day job. Somehow, it's CLARK'S secrets that she needs to uncover the most.

But despite how neutral I am to Lana Lang and how uninvested I've been in almost every single Lana storyline featured in seasons 1-6...they finally got me with the pregnancy-marriage storyline. Between that and the level 33.1 storyline, I feel like a turning point was reached. Season 6 marked the first point that I saw Lex as a villain. Here I was thinking Lex had merely paid off a doctor to lie about her being pregnant (which would've also been awful, just to be clear)...imagine my shock when I found out she'd also been drugged. There is absolutely no coming back from drugging your wife to simulate pregnancy, going through the motions of preparing for the arrival of a baby that you know damn well is NOT in her uterus and then taking her off of the drugs so that her body can experience the sensation of a miscarriage. And adding kidnapping and torture to the mix certainly doesn't help his case.

In the midst of that nightmare storyline, I found myself rooting for Lana for the first time since...ever really. I've been exhausted by Clark and Lana's back and forth dynamic for multiple seasons...but her finding out Clark's secret and then staying in that hellish marriage to protect him actually made me start to wish they could get a happy ending and work out? Which is pointless because I know they never will. And remembering that little detail makes me think maybe the writers spent a little bit too much time on Lana. There's only like 4 seasons left. They should've found a way to wrap up their story sooner and focus more on Lois. It's way too late in the game for the transparent, loving relationship that Clark and Lana are finally getting. It creates too much investment in a pairing that was never meant to last.

Lastly, I've reached the point where I'm starting to recognize people more often (either because I know the character or I recognize the actor playing the role) and it's exciting. For one, the celebrity guest appearances? Bow Wow playing a villain and being introduced by "Fresh Azimiz" playing in the background? Lucas Grabeel playing a young Lex? Eva Marcille and Christina Milian??? And then of course, there are all the episodes featuring guest appearances from the future members of the Justice League. Those have been serious series highlights for me. The Arthur Curry (AC) appearances were my favorite simply because I'm always amused to see the same actors bouncing from one superhero series to the next (sometimes even crossing franchises). I guess when AC bid Smallville adieu he changed his name to Hank Hall and became a Titan? 😂

My other complaint is the lack of consistency as far as quality. Of course, the MCU also has it's fair share of average and downright bad films. But that franchise has been around longer and has a higher quantity of films, so the amount of films that rank from good to great outnumbers the amount of films that rank from average to bad (imo). In comparison, the DCEU only has twelve films. So far I've watched ten...and out of those, I can only name four of them that I thoroughly enjoyed and have little to no complaints about (Wonder Woman, Shazam, Birds of Prey and Aquaman). The rest are "meh" at best (i.e. not awful, but not good enough to entertain a rewatch) and an absolute trainwreck at worst. It kind of makes me excited that the Snyder era ended before I started watching.

James Gunn seems like a promising pick to lead the DCEU's new direction. I love what he's done with the Guardians of the Galaxy films and I heard that The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker are both excellent (haven't yet seen them because I'm trying to watch in order of release date...even though I saw Suicide Squad and Black Adam while they were in theaters, so technically I already started out of order).

I'm wondering if I should have watched Shazam first for more context (what exactly is Eternium)? Although I feel like I shouldn't have had to, since it wasn't a sequel and DC doesn't connect like the MCU?

It felt badly written (the rushed origin story narration in the beginning? The way the film just thrusts you into a scene where a bunch of randoms are searching for the crown from the flashback because for some reason if the colonizers get it all hell would break loose? Why didn't the king from the flashback get resurrected as Sabbac if death while wearing the crown was all it took to trigger that? The unnecessary forced attempts at romantic tension between Cyclone and Atom Smasher? The fact that Black Adam evidently caused some sort of harm to the kid with the skateboard...but as they carry his body away he literally looks unscathed? Much like some movies in the MCU, this movie could've benefited from a reduction in comedic moments). Also, there were excessive amounts of slow motion scenes and Skateboard Kid was a horrendous actor.

While this last thing didn't affect me because I either never even watched the trailer or simply didn't remember it...I'm seeing folks saying that the plot twist at the end (Teth Adam being the father in the flashback and not the son) was literally in the movie trailer...which seems like a poor decision for storytelling purposes. And idk man...perhaps Cavill's return as Superman should've been a guarantee before penning mid-credit scenes teasing the audience about how he'd be back?

...As always, I have some thoughts.

In no particular order:

I find myself actively SCRAMBLING to mute the episode every time the intro starts. It's so displeasing to the ear. 🥲Somebody save me fr, because girl what is this?

A boy aiming a telescope at his neighbor's house so he can spy on the girl that he's attracted to is not a good way to set the stage for a ship at ALL. Super creepy.

Jonathan Kent is insufferable. He was awful to Lex for a long period of time and has a really annoying "my way or the highway" type of energy. You're not always right, my guy.

...What are the ages here? I can make an educated guess about the Smallville High students given their year in school...but what is the age gap between them and Lex Luthor? My understanding is that he's already graduated university prior to the first season...so I'm guessing roughly eight years? So why was it appropriate to write a scene in S1 where a fourteen year old Lana attempts to seduce Lex? And why does no one find it odd that Lex becomes besties with a kid who only just barely hit adolescence?

The will-they-won't-they dynamic between Clark and Lana got old in season 2. In season 3 they actually did get together...but it lasted for all of two seconds and now we're back to mutual pining? Let this be the last season. Please. I beg.

Clark is actually wildly unintelligent...? For someone trying to stay under the radar, he makes a habit of being present at crime scenes, seemingly appearing out of thin air when it's most convenient (super speed) and is constantly at the Kawatche caves?

Baby...these damn caves. Let's get into it. The writing on the walls translating to Clark Kent somehow being the "savior" to a tribe of Native American people is the epitome of a white savior plot if I've ever seen one.

I see a lot of potential for Chloe's character (there's something I can't help but appreciate about a talented journalist character doggedly pursuing the truth) but she either has no concept of boundaries or doesn't respect them, which I find very distasteful.

The sheer amount of characters infatuated and/or obsessed with Lana Lang is ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, she's very pretty and kindhearted. But we're really going to do this every few episodes of every season?

They created a new sheriff character for absolutely no reason. Sheriff Adams was introduced as though she was going to be a new hurdle in the Kent's lives (by actually doing proper police work...imagine that), yet she doesn't contribute to the storyline at all...?

Was Henry Small a necessary addition? I assumed that the discovery of Lana's biological father both being alive and wanting to know her would change her life significantly. But instead his new wife pops up blaming the demise of her marriage on Lana (? You were busy secretly filing for divorce when you should've been scheduling appointments for couple's counseling? How is that on Lana?) and effectively guilts Lana into pushing away the only immediate family member she has left on Earth. I felt like my time was a bit wasted there.

Clark has every right to choose what he does or doesn't want to disclose about his personal life, but there's a lot of lying and gaslighting he ends up having to do to hide his secret. Despite this, he seems to demand a level of transparency from Lex that he himself is unwilling to give.

At some point I started noticing that the majority of Clark's scenes at home are of him in the barn. It's giving the network gave them a budget for a bedroom or a barn and they chose the barn. 😂

Is the running gag of S.T.A.R. Labs having shitty security in any way inspired by Smallville? Because the way people are able to just waltz into places that should be secured and not easily accessible (including but not limited to: Lex's mansion, LuthorCorp, the literal hospital, etc) is concerning...

Is it me or do people in Smallville keep scoffing at the idea of supernatural abilities despite the fact that people with said supernatural abilities keep popping up in town and more often than not, causing a scene and getting arrested?

Pete planting a kiss on Chloe and revealing that he was in love with her was both VERY unnecessary and completely out of nowhere.

Speaking of Pete, it feels like the writers don't know what to do with him. I know he's Clark's best friend...but is he? It was established via dialogue that Clark's close with Chloe and Pete and that the latter has been his best friend since grade school...but it seems like the majority of development has been placed on Lex, Lana and Clark's relationships with the both of them. Chloe's able to snag some storylines and development here and there because she had a crush on Clark and she's got that whole "nosy reporter" thing going for her, but Pete? Sometimes it feels like Pete is just...there. Even with knowing Clark's secret, he's not as involved in the plots as I thought he would be.

Chloe's been a poor friend to Clark a handful of times, but she's not the only one. In the last quarter of the first season, Clark finds out that Chloe has a crush on him and out of nowhere begins this storyline of Clark feeling conflicted because of his long established romantic feelings for Lana and his previously non-existent romantic feelings for Chloe. Lana isn't available (I believe because of Whitney if memory serves me correctly) so he settles for Chloe as a consolation prize, despite the fact that he has not shown even the slightest inkling of being attracted to her even once the entire season. After their relationship crashed and burned in the span of five minutes (because Lana was always his first choice) I realized that we have barely seen the two of them connect as friends. The majority of time Clark spends with Chloe is out of necessity. When he needs to use her, her resources or her connections, is when he makes himself available to her. It's been addressed since I noticed it, but the dynamic hasn't changed much. They're both guilty of being shitty friends.

I'm unclear on what exactly the effects are of Red Kryptonite. It's my understanding that it removes Clark's inhibitions, but removing someone's inhibitions and changing their personality at the core are two different things. It literally turns him into an asshole.

Clark's worst moment so far was definitely allowing Lex to be hauled off to an asylum knowing full well that Lex wasn't having a psychotic break and was actually being drugged by Lionel.

Are we 100% sure that Lionel's government name isn't Lucifer?

I know that Lex Luthor is supposed to be a villain, but bro? If my own father and best friend did me like how they did Lex in episodes 8 and 9 of season 3, I'd turn on everyone too.

Before I forget, now is a good time to mention that in episode 8, there's a scene where a crazed, paranoid Lex yeets Lana through a stable door for having the audacity to pour him some chamomile tea for his nerves. The resulting crash landing startles the horse inside so badly that it promptly tramples on Lana's back. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge that the scenes that followed of Lana's recovery placed basically all of the emphasis on her left leg. Now to be fair, I did notice that said leg was bent at an unnatural angle after she got stomped out. But the horse was literally doing an Irish folk dance on her SPINE?

I try not to get attached because I know Lex is destined to become a villain...but I find myself rooting for him. Why can't he ever have nice things? 😩

That being said, the moment I realized Lex's life would be a nonstop series of unfortunate events was in S2E2, where a woman with seduction powers manipulates Lex into marrying her sans prenup, all the while planning to off him and abscond with his fortune. But when the plan to gun Lex down is unsuccessful, she shatters a nearby bottle of alcohol on his back and LIGHTS HIM ON FUCKING FIRE. I cannot make this up (and I won't lie, I laughed at first because what the entire fuck). For a character that usually seduces men to do her dirty work, she lit Lex's ass up like the 4th of July with no hesitation whatsoever. 🥴

...Granted, Faran was actively being harassed by a serial killer, so maybe sis was too stressed to do too much with her hair. But she wasn't too stressed to bust out that straightener on a regular basis. With all the unrealistic shit that happened in this show, I don't think I'm asking for a lot. 🤷🏿‍♀️

After all the preaching and social commentary made throughout this series about grooming and sexual assault, the writers decide to throw in a happy little Easter egg for the fans of the original PLL...the couple adopting Imogen's baby are Aria and Ezra.

I kind of appreciate it though. I'm not crazy about classic horror films or anything, but this style is a creative choice that completely sets this spinoff apart from the original series and its previously failed spinoffs. There are still some questionable things here and there (e.g. what are the odds that all those women had daughters at the same time? You got dressed and walked into the ballet room for practice and didn't notice there was a whole razor blade in your shoe until you sat down? Why is Imogen asking for an abortion when her belly is the size of a beach ball?), but I've come to accept that that's a given with most fictional shows...especially when the show in question is a teen drama.