'Smallville' still soars

In today’s TV landscape, shows get canceled so quickly it’s almost impossible for them to build up a solid fan base. So when a television show lasts seven seasons, it’s a pretty big deal. Even for a show like “Smallville,” which isn’t the most critically acclaimed or widely popular, it’s still cool.

But staying power isn’t everything. The seventh season of Clark Kent’s early years continued to deliver mixed results, basically like every other season of the show.

At times, year seven of our peek into Superman before he dawns the cape proved some of the best story lines in the show’s 152 episode run, but also some of the absolute worst.  

Throughout the year, Clark (Tom Welling) struggles with the arrival of his Kryptonian cousin Kara (Laura Vandervoort) while trying to finally settle down on the farm with his love Lana (Kristin Kreuk). Meanwhile, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) takes his final descent into darkness and uncovers tremendous secrets about the mysterious Veritas group.

Much like previous seasons, “Smallville” shined when Clark and Lex were the focus of the episodes, and not the relationship triangles featuring Lana. Even though he doesn’t get much credit, Tom Welling delivers solid performances, even when he’s handicapped by awful writing or when he has to play other versions of Clark, like Bizarro.

However, the lack of main plot threads throughout clearly divide the season. The first half focuses way too much on the boring Kara and Clark’s supposed domestic bliss with Lana.

Yet the season’s last seven episodes are possibly the best string of quality episodes in the show’s entire history. The Veritas plotline might be a tad convoluted, but it keeps the show fresh and wraps up loose threads from the previous years.

Sadly, the special features here are just as uneven as the episodes. There are commentaries on two episodes, but definitely not on any of the episodes that deserved them. The mini documentaries on Kara and Jimmy Olsen are solid, but not great.

“Smallville” might not be the most impressive show on television, but season seven did provide some great highlights. Now if only Clark would freaking fly already.