What is the most unrealistic element to Smallville?

[wai8905]

Bringing this back 5 years later because there are so many unbelievable things in Smallville For me, it's mostly how oblivious everyone is. Like, really none of Clark's friends can figure it out on their own that he has powers? C'mon guys. And then when Chloe finds out and she's so obvious about knowing (especially at the ended of Blank, when she tells Clark he trusted her when he had amnesia), Clark's just as oblivious as all his friends.
Also yes to Lana being caucasian on the show haha and how come all her female ancestors look just like her??

[TheSecretVampire]

The fact that it took Lex Luthor 7 years to uncover Clark's powers. You would think with all the times that Clark used his powers in the mansion in prior years, that Lex would've discovered them on all of the countless cameras he has....the guy has cameras everywhere in there and not one caught Clark just once using his powers? I find that unrealistic.

[xrayvision]

That so many freaks would be packed into one town and no two freaks pick the same week in which to unleash their evil.

Hahahaha, that option made me laugh after I clicked on this thread again. Been years since I last viewed this thread.

[ss5mmyers]

That those red K rings didn't cause any effects on anyone besides Clark. Every other variant did something to humans.

[Bally]

With the whole Kryptonite-affecting-humans thing, even though the writers didn't make it wholly clear, I choose to look at it as something having its properties altered after going through a process. Kryptonite in its raw form didn't have any effect on humans (I guess save for what the initial meteor shower brought upon the town and some of its residents) but in all the cases I can think of where humans were affected, the Kryptonite they'd been exposed to had been processed in some way.

[jon-el87]

That those red K rings didn't cause any effects on anyone besides Clark. Every other variant did something to humans.

Actually, it did (see "Crimson"). Probably just wasn't much story potential to it, for them to do it more than once.

[jon-el87]

But, yes, the fact that the government hasn't come to Smallville,

They addressed this in "Lara": the government did come to Smallville. However, Lionel kept them away from Clark and got the authorities out of town.

and the fact that kryptonite can do so much to the human genom is pretty out-there too.

Not really. Many times, the Kryptonite don't act alone. Take the guy in "Hourglass", for example. He fell into a pond, with Kryptonite in it and was electructed. However, that's not factoring in the fish in the pond. Possible presence of bacteria in the water (and the water itself) and whatever meds the guy was on. Furthermore, in "Hero", Clark says that Kryptonite warps your reality. Maybe it's not just mentally, but the radiation green K emits, actually warps the reality of people exposed to it. The guy in "Hourglass" wished that he was young again. So, he became young again. Chloe ("Phantom") came across her dead cousin and wished that she could bring her back to life. So, she developed an ability to heal.

Then there's possible genetic differences between people. Not to mention, in "Absolute Justice", Black Canary is said to have been born with a metagene (the thing that grants people superhuman abilities in the comics). This establishes that existence of such a gene. So, does green K mutate people or does the radiation merely trigger a dormant gene, already present, in the person's DNA?

What about how Clark never goes back to the highschool to stop the younger freaks. Did the freaks just end when Clark left highschool (especially after there was another meteor shower)?

In seasons 3 and 4 there really weren't that many villainous MFs at Smallville High. Season 3: Jake Pollen ("Extinction"), Seth Nelson ("Magnetic"), Alicia Baker ("Obsession") Season 4: Tim Westcott ("Pariah"), Dawn Stiles ("Spirit") and Brendan Nash ("Forever"). I'm excluding Abigail Fine, as she wasn't a villain. And Mikhail Mxyzptlk, as he wasn't a meteor freak, nor from Smallville. Which leaves us with two guys, who were obsessed with Lana (after season 4, she isn't at Smallville High anymore, so students being obsessed with Lana Lang would no longer be a problem at the school). Alicia was obsessed with Clark (see comment about the guys obsessed with Lana, only replace her name with "Clark"). Dawn Stiles was a narcissist, obsessed with becoming prom queen (what are the odds that another girl, like that, acquired superhuman abilities?). Brendan Nash was scared of facing life after high school (meaning it's a situation, that could only happen, if a meteor freak didn't get into college and didn't just relax and think "you know, I could re-apply next year"). Which leaves us with Tim Westcott. He had warped ideas, given to him, by his dad (not because he was meteor infected). A situation like Westcott could only happen again, if someone was raised in the same enviroment and gained metahuman abilities.

Looking at seasons 3 and 4, we're left with very few meteor freak villains, among the student body of Smallville High. Three of which can't happen again, as their motivation is no longer at the school. And three of which represent a combination of factors, unlikely to happen again.

At the end of the day, simply being meteor infected, doesn't make you a bad person. They addressed this in "Extinction". Jonathan points out that there can be plenty of meteor freaks, living perfectly normal lives, maybe even using their powers to help others. The latter would also present the possibility that, after Clark's left, a benevolent meteor freak takes over and helps the kids at the school. The idea that all meteor freaks are ticking time bombs comes from Chloe (we met plenty of benevolent meteor freaks. It's just harder to construct a story around them). Which in no way is a bigoted view, from someone who kept hunting them down. Registering them, keeping tabs on them. Either all meteor freaks are bad or Chloe's a bad person, who is persecuting a minority group.

how someone stated that smallville and metropolis have a 3 hour drive inbetween... meanwhile they seem to get to a place faster than clark sometimes. take hypnotic for example. unless clark and simone were "preparing" to make out for 3 hours (it looked like they just started when she arrived)... lana was still in her dorm when he called. how can she get there so fast to see them? hm...

In "Truth" and "Abyss", the drive between Smallville and Metropolis is said to be 2-3 hours. The key word is "drive". They never showed how the characters commuted, most of the times it wasn't addressed. A few times, they did say that they did drive (ex. Jimmy and Clark in "Identity"). In "Idol", Lois mentions a monorail and complaints that it took two hours to get to Metropolis, with it down. In "Precipice", Smallville was shown to have a train station. So, presumably, a lot of the times, the characters are actually going public transport like trains and monorails to get between Smallville and Metropolis. If it's a high-speed rail, the trip can be cut down to under one hour.