Season 4

[stonesofknowledge]

Hey all. anyone else out there think season 4 of Smallville gets such a bad rap? seems like it gets underated by everyone. maybe because it came straight after season 3, where most people felt the darker storylines made the show more interesting, but I for one found season 3 a bit too dark.
Season 4 was such a breath of fresh air, with Lois' introduction adding more humour and fun, and the show becoming more like a fantasy series, what with the stones and the ancient Egyptian/Mayan/Chinese mythologies etc. I know a lot of people disliked the witchcraft element, but I found it to be a great, fun element to throw into the mix with the existing alien mythology. Having Clark's alien superpowers having to contend with ancient Earth magic, a totally new and unfamiliar challenge for him, spiced things up a bit I thought. I actually liked the fact that the exact nature of Isobel's connection to Krypton and how the symbols boosted her magic was left ambiguous. (anyone note the 'El' at the end of her name by the way? lol) Sometimes its more fun to come to your own theories and conclusions. Plus the season contained possibly my favourite episode of all (besides 'Promise'), 'Sacred'.
We also got two other recurring villains besides the Luthors (Isobel and Genevieve), which is surely preferable to one-off freaks of the week who are often never seen again. I thought the conflict and history between Genevieve and the Luthors in particular made things more interesting in terms of the stones and who would get them in the end.
Oh, and other subplots like Alicia getting more character development and Chloe finding out Clark's secret (most of it) were also welcome. Lionel's transformation to a good person also added new layers to his character, especially since the question of whether he's good or evil has remained ambiguous ever since. Finally, for anyone who didnt get the stone storyline, surely the payoff in 'Comencement', when it was finally revealed what they were supposed to become, was a brilliant season ending.
What does everyone else think? any other season 4 fans out there? (i do like the other seasons by the way, 4 just happens to be my favourite)

[RedKalEL]

THANK YOU! I agree

[Dr. Walden]

I found the underlying storyline of the Luthors and Teagues and Lana to be very interesting. It also had four of the greatest episodes of all time, IMO, in Transference, Sacred, Onyx and Commencement.

I'd have to disagree on two things you said though. I don't like Lois's character or the fact that they introduced her. Also, I'm meh on the Alicia thing because Unsafe was such a overdramatic, relationship-focused and stupid episode.

However, the reason season 4 bothers me (and I'm sure many others) is Clark's storylines. He doesn't even have one all season except for football. He's occasionally involved with the stones, but not often enough. Instead he gets stuck with some of the worst plots ever (Facade, Devoted, Recruit, Krypto, Lucy, Ageless, Forever).

[stonesofknowledge]

Yes, you have a point about Clark's lack of storylines.
However, I think in terms of Clark being left out of the stories, he gets far worse treatment in the first half of season 6, which is often more concerned with Lex/Lana

[Dr. Walden]

Oh definitely in agreement there. I put season 6 above season 4 solely for the second half, which I loved. The first 9 of season six, excluding Zod, was definitely my least favorite stretch of episodes.

[LovelyLora]

I agree with a lot of what you said!

Season 3 was great and although I don't have a problem with darker story lines, I do enjoy the lighter side of Smallville from time to time. And as an Anti-Lana person I quite liked her as a witch. And I absolutely love Lois on the show.

And yes I think Onyx and Transference were some of the great episodes. And of course I love seeing Clark and Lex still friends. And no Lexana! :)

[ginnyfan]

I enjoyed season 4. I thought the witch thing was silly but... there have been worse things. I loved Lois and Clark doing a little bit of investigating together. There was flight in the premiere. Clark/Alicia was fun and interesting. I liked Chloe finding out Clark's secret. Genevieve/Luthor face offs were fun. Jason and Lana together was a refreshing change. There are lots of things I enjoyed about Season 4.
Some of the best episodes of the series are contained in Season 4.

[GuardianAngel]

^That's eaxctly why I loved season 4 (apart from the first Alicia episode which pissed me off). New characters were introduced, others showed new side of their personality and the show got a nice refreshing change.
I liked season 3 but, as a Clana fan at the time, I got pissed off towards the end, especially when I realised Lex's true intentions towards Lana (which came to surface after Clark ditched her in season 5 and the Lexana drama of season 6).
Season 4 signed a departure from the usual meteor-freak-of-the-week episode to more dangerous villains and Clark's future. The quest for the three crystals and the creation of FOS at the end of Commencement signed a rupture and the beginning of a new stage in Clark's journey. (it's a pity he seems to have forgotten everything in the past few episodes of season 7...).
I also liked the fact that Clark got to play football but realised he couldn't continue with it. He took some rather tough decisions in season 4 and became more of an adult (again, the last episodes of season 7 are a huge disappointment from this point of view).

[MarieJATW]

season 4 was definitely my favorite because we got more of a break from all that clana crap! also i loved that chloe found out clark's secret. she needed to! also there was a lot more humor in season 4. it was a bit lighter and far easier to enjoy, in my opinion.


plus, i'm a jensen ackles addict....

[cksidekick]

I dont know that season 4 is my favorite, but i do embrace most things about it that people seem to reject....it was a season of taking chances...by the writers i mean....

and the success of season 4 is why all the chances they took in season 5 turned out so GREAT...season 4 showed the writers and everyone else involved that they could actualy open up their imaginations and write season 5 the way they did...

the only draw back to it all, is that when we got to season 6, they had to slow things down a bit...seasons 4 and 5 covered just a bit too much ground a bit too fast...but that is the price you pay for 2 great back to back seasons...with all that character development...

[ClarkyBoy14]

I liked it, but I like all the seasons.

It had a couple of my favorites like "Blank" and "Commencement."

[moviefan2k4]

My main beefs with Season 4 were the witch storyline (due to personal convictions), and the much more prevalent sex quotient, when compared to the first 3 years. This was toned down some for Season 5, but then we had the Lexana and Oliver / Lois crap in Season 6, and a few moments in Season 7 as well.

I think the series needs to focus much more on the story at hand (Krypton, Clark's destiny, Kara's motives, etc.), rather than upping the sexual stuff every time they feel like it. It's both unnecessary and unfitting, in my opinion.

[xrayvision]

Nothing against those here who like season 4, but I just can't get myself to like that one.

I think they had a chance to do great things that season and that they really messed up big time. There are things I liked and things I couldn't stand.

Liked:
-Clark's Kal-El side being unleashed
-Black-k's effects
-Evil Lex in Onyx (entire episode was great_
-Transference (everything about the episode)
-The stones
-Minimal Clark-Lana interaction
-Jason Teague
-Spirit
-Blank
-Scare
-Forever
-Commencement

Couldn't stand:
-The witch plot & Lana's forced involvement in the stones plot (seriously, what the hell were they thinking?!!!?)
-The overabundance of fillers
-Lois Lane (though she's a good character now, she was worthless back then and her introduction should have been delayed 1 season)
-Lack of Clark's storyline (football--c'mon, that was resolved in Hothead)
-Lack of action/Clark's powers due to forced scenes between Clark & Lois to make the shippers happy
-Ageless
-Krypto
-Recruit
-Unsafe
-Spell
-Sacred (this episode would have been great without Lana in China and with Lionel there instead)
-The lack of the stones in the season (Crusade, Transference, Spell, Sacred, and Commencement were pretty much it)
-The failure to follow up and show Lex becoming more evil (seemed a bit sudden for Lex to act like he did in Commencement)
-Lack of Clark-Lex scenes
-The rush into the stones plot and failure to pace the discovery of the stones by Lex, Lionel, etc
-The forceful introduction of black-k by Bridgette Crosby (should have been accidental like red-k was)
-The ruining of Jason Teague (same as what they did with Adam)
-The failure to continue showing that Lex becomes more like Lionel the more he tries to go against him (as Clark told him very late in season 3--however this is what they're now doing with Lana--a shame when Lex is the main villian and his development was crap)
-Gone
-Facade
-Lucy
-Lack of Pete (something that still bothers me)
-Clark first becoming a BDA starting season 4

[moviefan2k4]

Well, the Season 4 companion book (written by K-Site webmaster Craig Byrne) states that Jason Teague's story arc was actually planned from the beginning.

[msleggie]

I enjoyed season 4, that's one of the very few season's I actually like every episode.

[xrayvision]

Originally posted by moviefan2k4
Well, the Season 4 companion book (written by K-Site webmaster Craig Byrne) states that Jason Teague's story arc was actually planned from the beginning.

It didn't make sense. Why would he meet with his mom to talk about Lana in private when he was evil from the start and wanted to use her for the stones?

Also, who paid off the guards in China (Sacred)? Lex told the guys to get information out of him but not to hurt him. Then the guy tells him that there are people with more money than him. Would it be Genevieve Teague (would she have tortured Jason)? Maybe he was dedicated to getting the stones so much that he wanted himself tortured for show (so Lex wouldn't think he was involved). I don't think it was Lionel, since Lionel didn't have money at that time and seemed to be reformed. I'm still confused at who Lionel was looking out for. I think he was looking out for Clark at that time and using his MB ways to get the stones for him. I think Onyx woke him up to what was really inside Lex. Lionel lied to Lex about the Water stone in Commencement, the one he poisoned Genevieve for. He was also going to rat Lana out to the cops for the Air stone. Was he really doing that for himself, or for Clark?

I wish the stones would have been the dominant storyline that season and would not have been relegated to such few episodes. The buildup of the legend of the stones should have taken longer. This was one reason why Crusade was such a disappointment. Besides the flight and limited Kal-El scenes, the episode was horrible IMO.

[stonesofknowledge]

Jason didnt plan to use Lana from the start. He was aware of Isobel and the stones from childhood, but didnt realise Lana was Isobel's descendant until after she had been possesed in the church in 'Crusade' (see the scene in 'Krypto' where he demands answers from Genevieve). He had genuinely drifted apart from his mother at the start of the season, but went back to her towards the end - see what he says to Lana in 'Blank' when she more or less finishes with him about how she was the only thing keeping him from going down a dark path etc. , and Lionel's comment in 'Forever' about Jason not being able to do without Genevieve's 'maternal warmth' (as usual always geting the best and most twisted lines lol). So it was only really at the end of the season that he really fell back into line with his mother, helping her torture the Luthors, and taking the Kents hostage etc.

I admit the mystery of who paid off the Chinese guards could have been better cleared up, as could the Kryptonite guarding the stones. I just assume it was Genevieve (Lionel really was good at that point, even if it becomes more ambiguous after 'Onyx'). Presumably hers and Jason's reationship was so warped that he didnt hold this against her.
And as for the Kryptonite, i guess the revelation that there are evil Kryptonians out there like Zod who might steal the stones for themselves kind of vaguely answers that question without any need for a more obvious explanation. Presumably Jor-El banked on Clark being resourceful enough to get around these failsafes. Probably not that satisfactory an explanation for everyone, but its the best i can come up with lol

[xrayvision]

It wasn't Jor-El who put the stones there---instead it was the first Kryptonian who came to Earth (the stones were around back when Isobel was alive...way before Jor-El).

I just think the season fell short as a whole. There were too many fillers. And the witch plot was horrible. Instead they could have made Lana get some counseling from a psychiatrist who also works at Belle Reve and get her to start interning at Belle Reve to help people just like this doctor would have helped her. This would have been a decent way of keeping her in the storylines without witches.

And the failure to go further in depth into 33.1 was another bad spot. That was another way they could have gradually shown Lex's darkside rather than just pouring it on out of nowhere in Sacred, Blank & Commencement where it really started showing out of nowhere.

I really wanted to see Lex doing all kinds of immoral things to get the stones, something we only saw in Sacred & Commencement. Someone said that the stones plot was originally supposed to be like an Indiana Jones story, and that would have been great if it would have been done.

If the 15th episode of this season is the final one of the series, then it will make season 4 and a lot of season 6 seem so much more of a waste (the show ending before Clark & Lex were properly brought to their destines without being lightswitched would be a shame).

[stonesofknowledge]

Yeah, i know it wasnt Jor-El who put the stones on Earth, but he did send Clark to Earth to find them (he said so in 'Commencement'), so he would have known about the Kryptonite guarding them- thats what i meant about him banking on Clark being resourceful

[GuardianAngel]

Actually the kryptonite guarding that chamber in China didn't make sense. It was pointed out on several occasions that Kryptonians weren't aware of the effects of green K on Earth - which is obvious because why should they have brought rocks from their homeworld to Earth when they visited our planet?
Furthermore, green K appeared on Earth as a consequence of the explosion of Krypton so there wasn't any kryptonite on Earth before then. The secret chamber in China was sealed centuries ago when Krypton was still a planet, so how did the green K get in that mask (or whatever it was) in the chamber?

I don't think Jor-el was expecting Clark to be resourceful. He sent him on the mission to find and unite the stones as Kal-El, not Clark. The first stone was found by Kal-el before Martha used the black kryptonite to free Clark, so we don't really know what sort of programming Jor-el put in Kal-el's mind during those weeks when he was in the caves to find the stones.

[stonesofknowledge]

honestly speaking, there are some story gaps i just ignore. tbh, even though there are definitely plotholes, i think the writers do make an effort, and its more a case of them just missing things rather than laziness. 'Sacred' is a good example of this. There was good continuity with Isobel using a cloth to hold the Air stone after the Fire element burned her, but at the same time, it was never explained how she was able to come back without her spellbook, which she needed for her powers in 'Spell'.
hard to be perfect I suppose lol

[GuardianAngel]

Well, she came back because the tattoo was still on Lana's back. The spellbook was necessary to perform some magic, but she could also remember other spells.
There are some gaps in the general storyline of season 4, but all in all I enjoyed it. It brought some fresh air and introduced season 5 and a new stage of Clark's life.

[xrayvision]

Originally posted by GuardianAngel
Actually the kryptonite guarding that chamber in China didn't make sense. It was pointed out on several occasions that Kryptonians weren't aware of the effects of green K on Earth - which is obvious because why should they have brought rocks from their homeworld to Earth when they visited our planet?
Furthermore, green K appeared on Earth as a consequence of the explosion of Krypton so there wasn't any kryptonite on Earth before then. The secret chamber in China was sealed centuries ago when Krypton was still a planet, so how did the green K get in that mask (or whatever it was) in the chamber?

I don't think Jor-el was expecting Clark to be resourceful. He sent him on the mission to find and unite the stones as Kal-El, not Clark. The first stone was found by Kal-el before Martha used the black kryptonite to free Clark, so we don't really know what sort of programming Jor-el put in Kal-el's mind during those weeks when he was in the caves to find the stones.

Actually, in the Smallville mythos, there was kryptonite on Earth before Krypton's destruction. In thw official storyline, Kyla told Clark in Skinwalker that the original Kryptonian who arrived and told them about Naman brought green rocks with him. I even heard that in the unofficial storyline in Justice & Doom, that the duchess who was Genevieve Teague's ancestor was contacted by Zod using jewel kryptonite (I think this is a weak story since jewel-k is supposed to communicate through the PZ void but not communicate back to people of the past).

I explained this in my fanfics, though it's not official either. In Krypton (episode 7.03) I explained that the first Kryptonian on Earth (Kem-El in my SV mythos) had a device that could see the future (like in that movie Paycheck) and knew about Clark, Lex, Jor-El, etc. He was able to see events on Earth and saw Lex's DNA while focusing his device on Lex (when he saw Lex looking at his own DNA wondering how the meteor rocks affected him). This is the reasoning I gave on how he programmed the Starblade to react to Lex and how the legend of Naman came to be. I also wrote it that because he knew Jor-El would reprogram Clark, Kem-El & his son extracted kryptonite from the core of Krypton (as did the families who created the Fire & Water stones) and brought them in special containers on Earth when they hid the Air stone after creating it (the Fire & Water families did the same when they hid the fire & water stones). And they did this because they knew Clark would be re-programmed and the way he would get the stones is by turning the kryptonite to black-k, bringing his Clark persona back. Since there were 3 stones, he would go from Kal-El (after being reprogrammed by Jor-El) to Clark to Kal-El and back to Clark. He didn't look at Clark's future long enough to find out that Martha would use black-k on him much earlier. This was my explanation. If you ask me, we are long overdue on information regarding who the first Kryptonian on Earth was and how he knew the future and how the stones were created.

As for the programming Jor-El put, I think it was to secure the stones at any cost. We saw Kal-El nearly killing Lex by ripping the door off the plane just for the stone--something Clark would never do. Kal-El wasn't evil, instead he was just like Jor-El in believing that a human could be sacrificed for the sake of the world (ends justify the means). This is what Jor-El told Clark in Arrival when he wanted to save Chloe. Kal-El would have let her die there (though, he was already trained in those 3 months in the cave). I really want to see them split like Lex did but for an entire season and for Clark to learn what he needs to so he can defeat Kal-El and become the hero he is supposed to be and not have the monkey that is Kal-El and Jor-El's forced destiny on his back anymore.

[Odysseus]

I thought certain elements of Season 4 were really good, and others were horrible.

What I liked:

-Lois Lane. Her introduction brought a lot of freshness and humor to the show. Like in "Gone" when Clark and Lana were having their usual silent moony-eyed staring contest and Lois made fun of it. That part actually made me laugh out loud.

-The refocus on Smallville High: It was Clark's, Chloe's, and Lana's senior year of high school, so I'm glad we got to see more of the high school before they graduated. Season 1 had a lot of high school stuff, which I enjoyed, and then seasons 2 and 3 had almost none. During those two seasons I actually kind of missed the high school, so it was fun seeing it brought back into the plot. They actually did deal with an interesting high school issue in "Facade" with everyone in high school putting on a mask. It actually did deal with a real issue faced by members of the show's core audience (teenagers and young adults)

-The football plot: At first I thought I wouldn't like it, but it actually turned out to be handled surprisingly well. I liked how in the end, Clark was adult enough to decide it wasn't fair to the other players (or safe) for someone with his abilities to be playing.

-Crusade, Facade, Devoted, Run, Transference, Sacred, Onyx, and Commencement are some of my all-time favorite episodes.

-Funny episodes: I know a lot of people hated "Spell" and "Spirit" but I actually thought they were hilarious, and showed a lighter side to the show.

What I HATED:

-LANA!: I absolutely HATED how AlMiles tried to shoehorn her into the Kryptonian plot by making her this mystical tie to the stones. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I thought Isobel was a fun character (more entertaining than Lana anyway), but the Lana/Witch/Tatoo plot really proved that TPTB are willing to do ANYTHING to try to make Lana seem more important than she actually is.

-Filler episodes: Lucy, Krypto, Ageless, and Forever will go down in history (at least in my opinion) as four of the worst episodes ever.

-Dragging on the Stones: by mid-season the whole stones plot was just annoying. It was good for the first half of the season, then they just made it boring. It literally turned into a half-season-long stalemate of who-knows-what-about-the-stones-and-Isobel. Every few episodes we'd have to watch yet another round of secret deals between the characters that led nowhere.



So all in all, Season 4 had a lot of things that dragged it down, but also a lot of redeeming qualities. I guess to the writers' credit, at least it shows that they were willing to take some creative risks.

[babyluthor]

I'm with you. I loved season 4. It might be my favorite season. There were just so many good episodes in season 4.

[skully]

People seem to forget that the stones were integral to the formation of the FoS, therefore the stone arc was never going to be resolved until the S4 Finale/S5 Premiere. Personally I didn't mind the witch/stones arc. I thought it gave KK a much needed opportunity to stretch away from the dreaded pink princess persona that she'd become entombed in.

For me Season 4 was probably the most uneven season of all. It had absolute classic episodes like Run, Transference, Onyx, Spirit, Blank, Commencement and even Crusade. But this was weighed down by some of the worst episodes of the series in Gone, Facade, Devoted (possibly the worst three episode stretch in the whole series), Krypto, Lucy, Ageless and Forever. Having said that, I happily watch them all over again, because every episode of SV has some redeeming features.

[Kryptonian Savior]

Yeah I think season 4 is underrated too & #5 used to be my favorite but that's easily topped by season 7.

[Dr. Walden]

For how much people diss Ageless, I have trouble calling it the worst ever because of the Lionel-Genevieve scene. I wonder if people forget that because it's one of the best scenes ever and it slightly redeems an otherwise horrible episode.

[red_cape_7]

they went a little off the deep end w/ the witches story but it was just good fun! (check out the commentary w/ ED, KK, and AM; it's hilarious! they talk about how fun it was to do all the crazy witch stuff)

season 4 was a little off the beaten path but we got some great episodes out of it. nothing beats transference, hot jensen ackles, chole finding out, and dr. quinn.

[xrayvision]

I really don't like Crusade. I thought the stones arc was explored way too fast. They should have slowed the progression of that arc down and dedicate the majority of the episodes that season to it, not just 5-6 episodes. Besides the flight, Crusade was pretty much garbage. We should have gotten a shot of what Jor-El was doing to Clark in the cave and they should have shown him explaining the stones to Kal-El. Lex & Lionel shouldn't have known about them until something that Kal-El did exposed the existence of the stones to them. Instead they jumped right into it without any proper buildup & made this huge thing about them when no mention of them was given before season 4. They could have done great things with the stones, but they really blew it.

[skully]

That's a fair call on Crusade xray. I have to admit that I found the episode very hard to follow the very first time I saw it, particularly Lex in Egypt and Lana in Paris. Still, it all came together. A bit like Heroes, they do the whole "three months ago" thing half way through the season, then everything makes sense.

[xrayvision]

I just think the stones plot started out all wrong in Crusade. The plot in that episode started out in the wrong direction, got Lana involved by creating that stupid witch possession and dove right into it without any development of the stones & their history. The human characters like Lionel, Lex, and Jason were not developed to gain knowledge of the stones on screen. Instead, they were all said to have known about these stones all along when characters like Lex & Lionel were never shown looking for them in the past. Instead of developing all of this during the season and keeping the plot alive throughout the season, the way it was introduced in Crusade caused the stones plot to be developed in spurts throughout the season and have nothing but fillers between the episodes that were centered around the stones.

There were some episodes that didn't involve the stones but were really good, like Run, Scare, Onyx, and Spirit, but the majority of them were horrible. And as much as I like Run, previous seasons didn't have to bring in other heroes to put up a good storyline. Since then, they had to rely more on other heroes to fill in gaps in the storylines of the seasons. This was really annoying in season 6 when Ollie in the episodes he was in made Clark seem like a minor guest star.