Is the clone bit a sign that Smallville has officially jumped the shark?

[Iolanthe]

I can't believe that TPTB are throwing in a clone story ("Clona"). Now, I know they have established in a previous season (forget the episode, but it's with Lana's childhood friend Emily, the episode where Emily has super-speed, and you see Clark running in the rain and the drops are suspended in midair, a pretty cool special effect there) that Luthorcorp has once again pushed the frontiers of current medical technology and has developed a method for cloning humans. So, technically, within the Smallville continuity, cloning is old hat. (Although one wonders why, if this is the case, you never hear of it elsewhere.)

But...but...but...this just reminds me of the infamous "Lois and Clark" clone / replacement Lois story arc, something generally conceded to have made that series jump the shark.

And tonight, on watching this episode, for some reason I could suspend my disbelief, and buy into Clark having a Kryptonian cousin, who has (of course) super-powers here on Earth, and that she has a spaceship, and that she's been in suspended animation for 18 years. Somehow I could just stomach this better than Lana being cloned.

When "clone" was mentioned, it was groan and roll-my-eyes time. For some reason, when a Superman series gets a clone arc, it's "jump the shark" time.

[SecretzNLyz15]

The clone is dead. That's it. The real Lana comes back next ep.

[Minela]

Yeah, but it was a two second storyline. No biggie. It's not the frogg eating clone from LnC.

[Crispin Glover]

No Iolanthe this scene is one of many before it that have shown "Smallville" "jumping the shark." I think it all started with Lana being possessed by your ancestor witch Isobel in Season 4.

Another big "jumping the shark" moment was when Zod possessed Lex instead of TPTB making a bold move and having Dean Cain play Zod.

Also, the amount of people who know Clarks secret or have found out and forgotten.

Finally, the body and mind shifting between characters over the years.

[Shardz]

i thought it was a good use of the clone stuff. it wasnt overused.

comic book deaths are always surrounded by clones, impostors, or shapeshifters. it allows them to cliffhang between comic book numbers or episodes. it allows them to come back with the same continuity and virtually any unchanged plotlines

[paolinki25]

Originally posted by Minela
Yeah, but it was a two second storyline.

And this is exactly the problem. If it's not even going to be explored, then why writing it? It just makes for a bad story to bring Lana back. Plain and simple.

The clones storyline could have been a great way to show more of Lex's character and his mad scientist experiments or something. Not just a stupid way of bringing Lana back.

[TampaVille]

Well, I don't read spoilers so I don't know if I'm correct in this assumption. I do not think the clone storyline is a way to "bring Lana back." I suspect this was the plan all along (ie, since the Season 6 finale). In other words, I don't think she was ever "gone," so she can't be "brought back." I think it was just a cliffhanger/resolution combo that we can accept and move past.

It doesn't constute jumping the shark, mostly because it a) wasn't important and b) was well established within SV continuity.

You are very correct that clones are pretty bad form in these kinds of series, and "the clone episode" usually is a pretty good place to point to the downturning of a show. But SV has had clone storylines for quite some time now, and they were never really out of nowhere. Lana's friend had two episodes (the one where she was a young girl, and the other when she was the same age as the rest of the scooby gang). Lex has been cloning Lois's Marine friend. They've established for years that LuthorCorp has access to cloning technology. With Lex at the helm and his obvious infatuation with Lana... I don't think it's too much to accept.

BUT, this is also a pretty subjective thread! It probably depends upon the viewer. For some, this really would constitute jumping the shark. For me though, it's pretty acceptible.

[chantal]

To me, it seemed like a logical progression. Well, in comic book reality. Lionel's scientists were working on cloning when he had the liver disease (Accelerate). Then Lex takes over the research and when he starts getting hold of alien DNA he combines it with his cloning process to make his super army. I understood Lex to mean that Wes, the prototype, would be cloned.

About the Lana clone, maybe he was remembering Lana dying in "Lexmas," and he literally wanted to stockpile spare parts! (Maybe he has a clone of himself stashed somewhere.) I can't think of any other reasonably sane reason. I don't think he wanted a backup Lana in case the real one left. He doesn't seem like the type to want a Stepford Lana.

[JLA]

I think usage of the term "jumping the shark" has officially jumped the shark.

[demongene]

Adding supergirl as a season regular,seems riskey to me.

[Ginkasa]

The thing that makes it a "jump the shark" moment (although I believe this happened long ago) was the fact that it had little to no foreshadowing (Lex mentioned a project something in the season finale, but it could have been anything) and there's no reason given. Did he want a replacement Lana in case something awful happened to her? Did he want the clone to be a more complacent and loving Lana if the real Lana ever went against him?

It doesn't say, either last season or in this season. And the fact that it was so quickly pulled out of a hat to magically explain how Lana could be alive (as if anyone really thought she was dead) seems to me to just be TPTB's way to put Lana "at risk" in the season finale and bring her back in time to have the endless love triangle continue on.

[hansioux]

Originally posted by JLA
I think usage of the term "jumping the shark" has officially jumped the shark.

yeah, for smallville. just to show how many times the fans feel that way.

[aqgalaxy]

Originally posted by JLA
I think usage of the term "jumping the shark" has officially jumped the shark.

Yeah I agree... I remember reading a article about Smallville jumping the shark it was because of the ending of Lab... when Clark said "I still love her" in terms of Lana. They kept on saying with Justice making Clark seemed heroic made it seem the Show can last longer without jumping but that like in Lab hurled Smallville in the air, and promise made it crash land over that damn shark...

[litew8]

.
.
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<< Look at my avatar.
<< No way they've jumped anything. They're just getting started.

[TheANIMAL (marcus)]

Well some of you are being unreasonable, i've only counted 216 "smallville has jumped the shark threads", so far. Jumping the shark hasn't jumped the shark just yet. Its got at least another 1000 in it.

[MidgardDragon]

*yawn* People have been claiming Smallville jumped the shark for pretty much every Season but Season 1. Can we all just get over this annoying catchphrase. When they put Clark on water skis and have him jump a shark, then we can say the show "jumped the shark". Until then the phrase is just another part of the over-negativity that our society seems to be going through right now.

[TheANIMAL (marcus)]

Smallville is leapfrogging the dolphin.

[heretic]

Where did "jump the shark" come from?

[MidgardDragon]

Happy Days -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

It was literal then. Fonzie actually jumped over a shark.

[Welling_is_pretty]

For me the whole clones thing=The Clone Saga from Spider-man and all the truly evil memories that brings up! *shivers*

I don't think that the Clone thing made Smallville jump the shark but it did shove the shows toe in the water and there are waterskis sitting very close by. I am only grateful that it turned out that Lana killed her clone and not the other way around, cause that really would have leaned toward jumping the shark.

[last man of krypton]

Originally posted by Welling_is_pretty
For me the whole clones thing=The Clone Saga from Spider-man and all the truly evil memories that brings up! *shivers*


Hey, I loved that storyline! (I even hope Clark will say, "I really - really hate clones!") :p

I don't mind that Lana had a clone, the only thing that bugged me was that she was so casual about it. You'd think there might've been a bit of shock or something about it, but no, she was quite happy to even blow it up...

[Welling_is_pretty]

Originally posted by last man of krypton
Hey, I loved that storyline! (I even hope Clark will say, "I really - really hate clones!") :p

I don't mind that Lana had a clone, the only thing that bugged me was that she was so casual about it. You'd think there might've been a bit of shock or something about it, but no, she was quite happy to even blow it up...
to each their own, hon! But you have to be one of the few people I do know who didn't universally hate the Spider-Clone saga. But it would be cute to have Clark say that line!

What got me was how casual she was about killing her clone! She was all "oh yeah and I put my clone in there and blew the truck up. No big."

What?

[SaberBlade]

I think the thing that made the Lois & Clark clone story so stupid was that it involved frogs.

However I think what made Clona so ridiculous was the fact that Lana either escaped through some secret passage (so they'd be ripping off Chloe) or it was some sort of clone. It was such a lame choice that it a clone may have seemed like genius when it was possibly the worst choice.

There was no reason for a clone to exist in the first place, unless Lex wanted to fulfill some weird sex dream he had.