DISCLAIMER: I do not own Smallville. Smallville is the property of The CW Television Network. No profit is being made in the making of this review, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Topic: Smallville Episode Review

Reviewed Episode: 8x22 "Doomsday"

Reviewer: Dark Onyx

Dedication: This chapter, and every chapter that follows, is dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Olsen. Rest in Peace. We will miss you.

"THE SMALLVILLE SEASON EIGHT FINALE - DOOMSDAY. 8x22"

You know…I have been a fan of Smallville for about six years now. Ever since I accidentally stumbled upon an episode one night when my mother was out of the house (I cannot for the life of me remember where she was or what she was doing), I have been addicted to the series - almost to the point of obsession. The highlight of every Thursday evening since that day was Smallville. No matter what, it brightened up my day, and gave me something to look forward to during the week. Smallville back then was a show that could literally do no wrong, and I prided myself highly for being one of the most dedicated, if not THE most dedicated fan there ever was. I loved - no, excuse my misuse of words - I love Smallville. Smallville is the story of a young Clark Kent, who in every episode takes one step closer to embracing his destiny, finding out who he is and what stands for, coming to terms with his alien origins and learning to accept the powers and responsibility that comes with them, and most of all, it is the journey to become Superman. That is what this show is about. That is the heart and soul of this show.

Each season had its own respective flaws (such as Season One's Freaks of the Week (FOTW)), as well as its triumphs. Each Season tried its hardest to come closer and closer to the Superman mythology, and the most recent season, Season Eight, has been the most far-reaching. The only villain to ever kill Superman, Doomsday, was brought onto the show by the four new Executive Producers (Todd Slavkin, Kelly Sounders, Darren Swimmer and Brian Peterson), who have tried through several episodes to line up Smallville with the original mythos as established by the comics. Doomsday. The Legion of Superheroes. The Daily Planet. Season Eight, as I said, has been the most far-reaching in trying to establish Clark Kent's eventual destiny. Each season had its own respective flaws. Let me show you this one's.

REVIEW

This episode was bad. I really don't know what else to say: this was probably the worst Season Finale in Smallville history, and I'll tell you exactly why as best as I can.

Don't get me wrong! This episode did have its good points and awesome moments, but unfortunately, they did not come close to outweighing the truckload's worth of crap this episode reeked of. I find that to be a shame.

Rokk Krinn, also known as Cosmic Boy, returns to the present to warn Clark about his upcoming battle with Doomsday. It is revealed that in the future, BrainIAC is gone, and world is safe. But there's just one problem: Clark's dead.

Now, here's the deal: apparently, Doomsday kills Clark because of his connection to a certain Miss Chloe Sullivan. When Clark chose to spare Chloe's life in "Legion" with the help of the Legion of Superheroes (thereby severing all traces of BrainIAC in her mind) he also saved her connection to Davis Bloome (aka Doomsday), which makes him (Doomsday) invincible, as she was the one who tried to kill him with Kryptonite, and also stopped Clark from sending both the Ultimate Destroyer and his psychotic alter ego to the Shadow Realm. …err, I mean the Phantom Zone.

This connection is, to my knowledge, never fully explained; most fans had assumed that the reason for this "connection" was because of BrainIAC's presence in Chloe's mind since his attack on her in the Season Seven Season Fianle "Arctic," but this has proven to be false as of this Season's "Eternal".

But still, I think I could buy it. I mean, yes, this sort of connection, which is heavily implied to exist somewhere in Chloe's mind but was somehow never detected by Imra (Saturn Girl) when she probed Chloe's mind to rid her of any and all traces of BrainIAC (which obviously would have forced her to sweep every corner of Chloe's brain) in Legion, doesn't make any sort of sense whatsoever, but it's…passable. It doesn't really make much sense, but it's passable.

What I think they're trying to say is this: Chloe's "kinship" (snort) with Davis, something he somehow reciprocates even though he knows almost nothing about her, compelled him to come to her to ask her to help him kill himself and allow him to become immune to Kryptonite. Her so-called "bond" with him also forced her to take action and stop Clark from sending Davis to the Zone, and also convincing him to never attempt to do so again. In short, every single death that happens in this episode (after "Eternal," really) is completely and totally Chloe's fault.

Now, let's get be clear: I DO NOT HATE CHLOE SULLIVAN. Quite the contrary; I am just stating a fact. Chloe refused to allow Clark to send both sides of Doomsday (who in some ways are equally dangerous) into the Zone to protect the world. Chloe (doing the stupidest thing that in TV history for absolutely no reason, something that also resulted in the death of two people near the end of the episode) separated Doomsday and Davis. Chloe helped Davis attempt suicide and douse him in liquid Kryptonite. Chloe is smokin' hot. Chloe and me will have some fun time in the pool at King's Dominion after my graduation. Chloe -

…Ahem. Sorry.

Anyway, Rokk continues to say that tomorrow is, without a doubt, the day that Clark dies. Yeah…no. That…that failed. Usually, in TV, when something like that is said, and the viewers know that it cannot or just plain will not happen, a resolution to this statement is made to explain what happened differently that avoided said characters' eventual fate.

There. Was. Nothing.

I kid you not. No, seriously. Clark just survives. Krinn clearly tells the viewers that nothing in the world can stop Doomsday from killing him, but Clark clearly survives and no sort of explanation is even hinted at.

"But D.O.! Maybe Clark changed his plan from what it originally was in the Legion's time!"

Yes, maybe. But how could the Legion (or any of us, for that matter) possibly know that? If Clark actually had died in this Finale, he would have just been another fatality to the world. Clark, to the world at large, is no one special. No one would have written down any of his plans to destroy Doomsday, and Chloe, Bart, Oliver and the rest of the Justice League would have taken his secret with them to the grave.

The Smallville Wiki tells us that since Chloe separated Davis and Doomsday with Black Kryptonite, that changed the future and spared Clark's physical life (since Clark Kent metaphorically died.). That makes no sense, because if Doomsday was split from Davis, he would be nothing more than a mindless monster, and would have proceeded to kick the crap out of Boy Blue with no hesitation or fear of transforming back.

So this means that the Producers (Kelly and Brian) just built up arbitrary tension and didn't even have the decency to explain why what was supposed to happen, didn't happen. Actually, this episode lacked decency, which is something I never thought I'd say about an episode of Smallville, no matter how terrible. In fact, this episode was just blatantly disrespectful. But we'll get to that later.

The scene was rushed, and the opening credits seemed like they were just forced in as an "OK, I'm bored with this, let's move on," sort of thing. It did have its cool moments, though. Rokk's five seconds of flying (hell even his landing!) were very cool to watch, and I enjoyed every second of it. Mr. Kennedy's acting was also top-notch. Clark himself in this scene was acting very Superman-ly, and I totally bought that he would indeed rise above all adversity and destroy Doomsday. Mr. Welling is such a terrific actor.

The Chloe-Davis ship scene bored me. Great acting by Mr. Witwer and Miss Mack, but the fact is, it was just ship. Chloe is acting totally two-faced in this scene by leading Davis to believe she wants to start a life with him, but then later tells Jimmy she wants nothing of the sort. And she's Superman's best friend? I'm shocked.

The Orb is missing. It was an interesting scene, and a good idea, I'll give them that, even though the "exciting conclusion to the mystery" was a bit anti-climactic, and the fight that occurred because of it was unnecessary and ridiculous. But at least that fight was more epic than the one between Clark and Doomsday. In the beginning of the scene Tess is requesting information from her lackey on Chloe and Davis' current location, and he responds by saying that his people (well, her people, really) are tracing them by the radiation left on Davis after he (as Doomsday) attacked Neutron. Not bad. They paid attention to continuity at the very least. Although, this still doesn't answer the question of how the Hell either of them found out that Chloe and Davis were on the run together. But I digress. Great acting on Miss Freeman's part though, especially when she slams the briefcase down in anger.

"One of the most quintessential Clark-Lois moments"? Hardly. A phone call. Wow.

Now to be fair, I don't watch the show for ships; they just aren't very important to me. I watch this how to see how Clark will eventually become Superman, and the Davis-Chloe-Jimmy, Lex-Lana-Clark, Pete-Martha-Jonathan, Shelby-Lois-Tess, Lex-Clark-Lionel ships are just something I'm forced to tolerate. Despite that, I am mildly interested in seeing Lois and Clark's feelings come into fruition, as it was heavily implied that there would be signs of that this Season. Not really; she falls out of love with Clark (after falling in love with him quite randomly) and then falls in love with…Clark? Whoops, sorry. I meant, the "Red-Blur Blur". A man she hasn't even seen, yet clearly adores.

"But he saved her life, D.O.!"

Yeah, he did; how many times before this Season? As Clark?

And by the way, I don't think Lois is cut out to be an investigative reporter. She turns around for a cup of coffee, hears the phone ring, turns around again (all in the space of about 5 seconds) and Clark is missing. She picks up the phone…and the Red-Blue Blur is on the other line. …really Lois? Clark was less than seven feet away from her, so she would have been able to hear his chair squeak when he got up, hear his footsteps when he went, and would have easily been able to see him walking away from her; but instead, he's just suddenly gone. Wow. Keep it up, Lois; you'll have that Pulitzer in no time.

So after talking for a little bit, Clark zooms by Lois and gives her a printed copy…of a letter he didn't even print. One could argue that he printed it before Lois walked in on him, but he was obviously still typing it up when she got there (he was even doing it while she was talking to him), and he closed the document (without even saving it) before Lois could get a peek. That's just sloppy writing, and it really pulls you out of the story. But the scene did have one redeeming quality:

"How do you feel about phone booths?"

Clark, currently in a phone booth, looks around it with a slightly bemused expression on his face. "They're fine," he said, a bit hesitantly.

Classic.

The next scene features the return of Bart ("Impulse", "Flash") and Dinah ("Black Canary"). Umm…why are they here? They were hardly present in this episode, and even when they were, they were pretty much useless; only Bart used his superpower, and even then, it was only to do something Clark could just as easily done himself. According to Bart, he retrieved the schematics of the Geothermal LuthorCorp. facility. That's all well and good, but…why didn't Clark just do it himself?

"Oh, D.O., pay attention! He was obviously thinking of a way to find Chloe and Davis!"

Nope, sorry kids. He wasn't doing anything of the sort. If he couldn't have traced Davis and Chloe down when they left together in "Beast" (which didn't make any sense how he couldn't then and still doesn't make any sense now. Clark himself said in "Infamous" that he could run faster than the speed of sound; how long do you think it would've taken him to find two people, especially when he has super-hearing?) then he can't do it now two episodes later, no matter how obvious it is that he can. That means, little dudes, that he is allowing Chloe to be with a man who can kill even him, whom many think has the strength and power of a God. If that's not friendship, then I don't know what is.

The plan Clark came up with is…good, I guess, when you look at what they're trying to do. It shows that Smallville is at least attempting to line up with the Superman mythology by burying Doomsday thousands of feet underground. You see, in the comics, Doomsday was first introduced as simply a mindless monster who clawed his way out of the Earth with no explanation as to how he got there. It seems as though Smallville is trying to mimic that in their own way, and I must say, I think that that's a good thing; at least they're trying.

Also in this scene, Clark shows his genius-level intellect by…giving Bart Allen the Black Kryptonite to use against Doomsday.

Say it with me: WHAT?!

Why the heck would Clark Kent, Kryptonian, The Man of Steel, who can actually kill Doomsday, if only for a short period of time, give one of the most important pieces to his plan to Bart Allen, HUMAN, whose only power is super-friggin'-speed?! In the episode "Bride" Doomsday crashed Chloe and Jimmy's wedding, and could only be seen for the most part as a fast-moving black blur. Clark saw him as such, and attempted to fight him. Clark, if Doomsday can also travel at super-speed…why give Bart the Kryptonite? That was irresponsible, and it was just an excuse to squeeze Bart into a few more scenes and establish Chloe's lack of common sense. I am honestly taken aback by Clark's poor lack of judgment.

What would have been a better solution? Do it yourself, ya big dumb alien!!

(Sigh) Why is the Justice League even here?

And here comes Oliver Queen. The Green Arrow. CEO of Queen Industries. The man who murdered Lex Luthor. The guy who somehow snuck up on Clark even though he has super-hearing and the stairs are made of wood. There's nothing that I need to say about him; I'm sure you can already sense my disgust on where the Producers have taken this character.

"You're not one of us anymore."

Never have I heard truer words spoken.

"D.O.! Obviously he didn't actually kill Lex! He's part of the eventual Superman mythology, duh!"

So is Jimmy Olsen.

And even if he didn't kill Lex, the fact is that he attempted, knowing full well what he was doing and having absolutely no logical motivation whatsoever, to kill a man in cold-blood. And that is not what Green Arrow does.

"Lionel killed his parents!"

So why did ge try to kill Lex? I know, I know, in Smallville the "sins of the father must be paid for by the son," but...his character motivation makes no sense. Oliver has long since come to terms with his parents' deaths, and when he learns that their deaths were staged by a man who's already dead, he quits being the Green Arrow, starts drinking and partying excessively, and goes off on a murderous vendetta? That. Does. Not. Make. Sense. I take this next phrase from the best Smallville reviewer in the world, Neal Bailey:

SOAP OPERA BULL SH*T!

You may find Neal's reviews at the Superman Homepage. PM or e-mail me for details.

So again, Oliver shows up and rants to Clark about the darker side of humanity.

Because he hasn't already shown him that by attempting to murder a man.

The slow motion that they used for Oliver's exit seemed a little unnecessary, but it looked cool. And, just to be clear, no matter how much I may make fun of a character, this DOES NOT, unless I say so, mean that I dislike the actor or actress that plays him/her. Mr. Hartley is an amazing actor, and I really admire his performance as Oliver Queen, despite the fact that I hate where his character has gone.

Hey, Jim-!

(Blinks)…hello, Henry.

They're kidding, right? This is the job Oliver thinks Jimmy is qualified for?

I think we can ALL agree that that is totally ridiculous!

He gave Tess one article titled "Meet Davis Bloome" and suddenly Oliver thinks that Jimmy can break into the Daily Planet undetected, make it all the way to Tess's office (also undetected), avoid and probably fight off the armed security and possibly reporters that are likely to be there, and steal files from Tess's computer without her ever knowing any better? Jimmy Olsen? The photographer?

Oh, I'm sorry; that's his little brother.

And for that matter, why would Tess keep all of that valuable information, especially the video of her torturing a man…ON HER DAMN DAILY PLANET COMPUTER? IS SHE THAT DUMB?

Even I have to admit, this scene was hilarious; it was nice to see some light tones in a Season that was admittedly dark. I had no idea how much I missed the Jimmy-Lois banter until this episode, and it makes me all the more sad to realize that it is something I will never see again. But I do have to compliment Jimmy; he looks surprisingly tidy for someone overcoming a drug addiction.

The Executive Producers made Jimmy Olsen into a drug addict for only about two episodes or so and then they pass it all off in one as if it's so easy to quit drugs just by the power of your own will and getting a good job, No, Smallville, I don't think so. This, guys, is what I mean by "disrespectful".

Anyway, the video Lois saw after Jimmy left for Edge City was chilling, yet some of it didn't make sense.

"There's life inside it that can't be released until the Traveler kills the Beast."

Tell me: in real life, would any of you buy that bullcrap? I didn't think so. And Lex chose her to run LuthorCorp. ...no wonder he's "THE GREATEST CRIMINAL MASTERMIND THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!"

In the next scene, Clark is in the Daily Planet, apparently at the same time as Jimmy and Lois. How the Hell could he not hear them?! And for that matter, how could he not see or hear Jimmy sneaking in or out of the Daily Planet building?! He has super-hearing and x-ray-!

Ah, forget it.

Clark then uses the aforementioned super-hearing power to track down Chloe, Davis, Bart, Dinah and Oliver, proving my hypothesis that he could have done this at anytime before, but just chose not to. And then Clark speeds to their location as fast as he can!…changing into his traditional red jacket and blue shirt combo on the way.

(Blinks)

(Blinks twice)

(Blinks three times)

Um, okay. I mean, the special effect looked cool and all, but it didn't really seem necessary. I did laugh though; it was funny, and kinda iconic. I liked it.

One thing I find questionable: how the Hell could three humans capture and knock out Doomsday without getting any injuries whatsoever? And why didn't Doomsday emerge right then and there and kick their asses? Doomsday's always popping up in times of stress for Davis; why not then? He WAS being attacked.

So Clark sped there at super-speed and…Chloe and Davis weren't there? And Oliver and Dinah and Bart were? The timing is very messed up; Jimmy found out where Bloomesday and Chloe were before Clark, yes, but only a few seconds before, and after Jimmy figured it out, he most likely contacted Oliver, who obviously then contacted Dinah and Bart. I find it very unlikely to think that anyone except Bart could get there before Clark could, subdue Doomsday (something Clark would very likely hear) and Chloe in a matter of seconds, place the both of them in a secure location that is located on the outskirts of Metropolis, then have Dinah send Clark a message, then have Oliver hide conveniently behind where Clark was going to stop. Not even Bart is that fast. And I also find it very hard to believe that all three Justice Leaguers were in Edge City at the exact same moment Jimmy found out where Chloe and Davis were; does that make sense? But I suppose they could have hidden them away...but judging by the look of where they all are, it's very unlikely that anyone could hide anywhere.

So Clark gets there, is understandably confused, and Dinah says: "Sorry, Clark, we couldn't risk losing you."

What?

Last time I checked, Clark was more powerful than all three of them combined; why would they need to worry about losing him, if in just one punch, Doomsday could sever their heads from the rest of their bodies? That line was just stupid, and I'm surprised they put it in the script, despite myself. So, yeah, they worry about losing him (I assume they meant that they didn't want him to die), so the solution they come up with is to…shoot him in the back with a Kryptonite dart.

Okay, I may be reading too much into this, but should that dart even have been able to penetrate his skin unless the tip was laced with liquid Kryptonite? If that was the case, then the Kryptonite logically would have then been released into his bloodstream, and he would have been dead in a few minutes if not seconds. If it was not, then I don't think it should have even broke his skin; a better solution would have been to place enough Kryptonite near his body; not enough too kill him, but enough to make him unable to move, and far enough so that he'd never reach it but near enough so that it could still affect him. Of course, Kryptonite makes his blood start to boil, so he'd have died anyway. And why didn't he just catch the dart and throw it away from his person? We all heard the noise as Oliver fired the dart in his direction; all he had to do was turn around and dodge it. Or just look behind him, since you can't sneak up on a guy with super-hearing, or catch him off guard if he has super-speed.

And even then, look at the way Welling falls to the ground after Oliver shoots him with the Kryptonite dart: at that angle, the dart should have either pierced deeper into his skin (releasing more Kryptonite into his system and killing him faster), or fallen out; in fact, I think it did fall out, but it was edited when Clark rolled over and the dart was put back in by whoever.

Wow. The Justice League are the biggest asses on TV. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Next scene: the Tess-Lois fight. It was, in my opinion, much more epic than Clark and Doomsday's battle. And at least the the latter two's fight was a fight that had a reason to happen; Lois and Tess's was completely spontaneous and irrational.

Sometimes on Smallville, characters take miraculous leaps of logic that they couldn't possibly have come to when faced with the evidence they have. I can accept those, because they help move the plot along. This was one of those times, and even though it was a bit unnecessary, it did actually further the plot, so I guess I have to accept it.

Miraculous leap of logic, courtesy of Tess Mercer: Lois watched a video of me torturing a man on my computer. Therefore, (Insert Incredibly Stereotypical Redneck Accent Here) she took that Orb!

(looks out into the audience, and sees several looks of incredulity) Yeah, I know.

So at the end of the fight, Lois knocks Tess out and sees Clark's Legion ring; here's a little situational humour for all of you. You figure out where your cousin is after two weeks of believing that a serial killer kidnapped her and is supposedly holding her hostage in a place you now know is Edge City. You fight your boss, and after she gets knocked unconsious after the both of you fall off of a desk, you see a ring right in front of your face. What do you do?

A) Screw the ring! I need to go rescue Chloe!

B) Steal it! What has Clark ever done for me?

C) Pick up the ring and look at it; Chloe can wait. She's just with a man who's reportedly murdered dozens of people!

D) Save money on your car insurance by switching to Geico.

If you picked C you're ready for Toontown.

So, Lois picks up the ring and teleports away. Why? In "Legion", the Legion of Superheroes told Clark that he had to focus on the year 3009 to activate the ring's time-traveling powers; I doubt the year 3009 was on Lois's mind after almost getting her ass kicked by her boss. But I suppose it is possible that you simply had to focus on the ring itself to activate its powers, so whatevs…

The Justice Leaguers, Davis and Chloe are now in the LuthorCorp. Geothermal Facility, which as I said before is located just outside Metropolis. Once again, the timing doesn't make any sense, only this time, it involves only Clark: he really should have been dead by the time Jimmy arrived to rescue him. I mean, for goodness sake: Kryptonite makes his blood boil!

Moving on, Chloe awakens to find the Justice League standing over Davis's somehow unconscious body, with only his wrists bound. And he's still alive. Why is that? And how come Chloe isn't herself bound, when she'd obviously try and stop them if she woke up to see them trying to kill him?

So, eventually Davis wakes up…and now Doomsday chooses to break free. When nothing is really happening. He's not in any danger at the moment.

Davis is about to change into Doomsday and murder them all, and Chloe then finds the solution. Running to Davis quickly, she shoves the Black Kryptonite into his chest, separating Doomsday and Davis-…

…what?…what?!

Say it with me, please: WHAT THE F*&$%&*%$$%^&*(*&^%$$%^&*CK?!

WHAT MIRACULOUS LEAP OF LOGIC CONVINCED CHLOE TO SEPARATE DOOMSDAY FROM DAVIS! INSTEAD OF TRYING TO CALM HIM DOWN, SOMETHING THAT SHE KNOWS SHE CAN DO, SHE SEPARATES THE TWO AND ALLOWS DOOMSDAY TO BE COMPLETELY F*CKING FREE! THAT, KIDDIES, IS. NOT. INTELLIGENT!! THAT IS SIMPLE DUMBASSERY! AND FROM THIS MOMENT ON, EVERY DEATH THAT OCCURS IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY HER FAULT!! IF THE PRODUCERS HAD CONSIDERED DOOMSDAY'S REPUTATION AS A RUTHLESS, MINDLESS AND BASICALLY ALL-POWERFUL KILLER, WHEN CHLOE SEPARATED DOOMSDAY FROM DAVIS, SHE WOULD HAVE "DOOMED" (heh) EVERYONE IN THAT F*CKING FACILITY!

(Calms down) I'm sorry. Let me make this clear one more time: I don't hate Chloe. I just hate the stupid decisions that Chloe has made this entire Season, which has, like it or not, led to the deaths of Jimmy Olsen, Davis Bloome, and, metaphorically, Clark Kent.

So, now that Doomsday and Davis are separated, Doomsday is now free to be the Ultimate Destroyer, with no mind, no conscience, no mercy and no camouflage. And the first thing he does after looking his good half in the face is…

…run.

I kid you not. He runs away to Metropolis. To cause havoc and kill people. Something he could have - and logically should have - started back at the Facility. He didn't touch anyone, he just ran. That is out-of-character for ANY Doomsday I have ever seen.

So Jimmy goes to Edge City, presumably to separate Chloe and Doomsday. I don't understand why he thinks he can do that, but it helps move the plot along, so I'll roll with it. He looks for Chloe, steps around an old car, and finds Clark…still alive.

So Jimmy pulls out the dart, notices that it stops glowing when held away a short distance from Clark's body, sees Clark slowly start to gather himself and then holds the dart back up to his face.

Oh, Jimmy, what're we gonna do with you?

But he has no idea what Kryptonite does to him, so it's semi-excusable.

So Jimmy sees Clark heal and comes up with a truly realistic response.

"You're some kind of Super…. …. …guy!"

I'm not kidding. I really do find that realistic, and also very amusing.

Clark finally admits to being the Red-Blue Blur, and compliments Jimmy on putting all the pieces together. Er, no, not really; he didn't do much of anything. All he did was walk into Clark's house, see a picture of him in a red shirt and blue jeans, and automatically assumed that he was the Red-Blue Blur. There's no intelligence there, and Jimmy Olsen is far from stupid.

This scene could've been exciting if Jimmy wasn't the last person in the Opening Credits to find out Clark's secret (Lois discovered his secret back in Season Four, and again this Season, but had her memory wiped on both occasions).

"Jimmy, do you trust me?"

"Always…C.K."

Jimmy Olsen is Superman's pal.

And when Clark super-speeds away from him, Jimmy's reaction is priceless.

"So, cool."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Clark speeds to the Geothermal Facility and finds everyone knocked out. Why are Oliver and Chloe and Davis knocked out? I can understand why Dinah and Bart were out for the count (because before Davis was separated from Doomsday, he knocked them away from him in a fit rage) but Davis, Oliver and Chloe have no excuse to be.

Clark hears Doomsday's rampage in Metropolis, arrives in time to catch a car, and save a little girl from being killed by Doomsday. It would've been a sweet moment if Doomsday hadn't lifted Clark away from the girl and proceeded to beat the ever-loving crap out of him right before her eyes.

The fight sucked. It simply sucked. I know the Producers have a small budget, and that's fine, but they put so much hype into a fight that wasn't even as long as the one between Lois and Tess. I read the interviews; they said that the fight was going to be "HUGE". That was not what we got, and I feel cheated out of something that could very well been one of the best moments in TV history. I mean, really, it wasn't even a fight; Doomsday kicked Clark's ass, Clark tackled him into the Facility, and the JLA blew it up. Clark never even fought back.

Remember Season Six's Combat? Remember how awesome the fight between Clark and Titan was, even though some of it was hidden behind smoke and lights? Why couldn't they have just done that here?

In the next scene, Jimmy brings Chloe and a still-unconscious Davis to his wedding present - the "Watchtower". I think Davis would have woken up at some earlier point, if not by the sound of the explosion, then just by natural means. Anyway, the Watchtower looks like the Clocktower from the canceled Birds of Prey TV series a while back; neat.

Jimmy…kinda got caught up in the moment. He has no way of knowing if Chloe actually knew Clark's secret, and he told Chloe about his knowledge without being completely sure. If Chloe had not known about Clark being the Red-Blue Blur or about Clark's powers, he would have betrayed Clark's trust by telling someone a secret that was not his to tell. But it's forgivable; Jimmy likely used his head in assuming that if anyone knew Clark's secret, it'd be his best friend. But still, he could've been more subtle in telling her that he knew her best friend's secret.

Chloe…she is so two-faced. She tells everyone that she went with Davis to protect Clark. But to protect him from what? If she had allowed Clark to send Davis to the Phantom Zone, he would have eliminated a threat to his existence. She even told Davis that she was doing it because she cared for him. Like it or not, she saved Davis.

"But D.O.! That's why she killed him with Kryptonite! To protect Clark!"

Perhaps; but when he came back, she lied to everyone and allowed him to live with her; she protected him. She did not warn Clark, her closest friend; she kept it all under wraps.

This scene, predictably, leads to the reconciliation between Chloe and Jimmy, who are apparently in love with each other all over again. Their making up is illogical; Chloe seems to always put other people's opinions before Jimmy's, and he recognized this; that's why he divorced her. Chloe is not completely at fault either, because Jimmy is the jealous type, and he does tend to make things more than they actually are. This scene started out beautifully, but it ended predictably.

Davis woke up and saw the two embracing, and in a fit of very uncharacteristic rage, he stabbed Jimmy through the stomach with a pole. He attempted to kill Chloe, but Jimmy, using the last of his stength, impaled Davis onto a spike. He killed him. And that's were I got pissed.

Jimmy Olsen's last act…was to kill another human being? Are you serious?! This is how Aaron Ashmore, a Smallvile regular since Season Six, is to depart this show? As a killer?!

That is disrespectful; it is disrespectful to anyone who is a fan of Jimmy Olsen, and even more so to all of the work Aaron Ashmore put into his performance as a Series Regular of 3 years.

At the funeral scene, Jimmy's name is revealed to actually be "Henry James Olsen". That, to me, is the pinnacle of disrespect. The producers killed off one of the most recognized and adored comic book characters in all the Superman mythology, and they don't even have the guts to admit to what they've done? That is NOT Smallville. That is pure and utter disrespect. Not only to Mr. Ashmore and Jimmy himself, but also to every fan out there who loved Jimmy Olsen and were able to see past the "he should be younger than Lois and Clark!" issue.

"But D.O.! Weren't you just whining about how the Producers are screwing up DC Mythology?!"

Yes, yes I was. Because that's what they're doing. The issue of Jimmy Olsen being the same age as Lois Lane and Clark Kent, or even him knowing what Clark looks like before he has glasses could be easily removed by a number of options that the Producers were too blind to realize.

Instead, they just took a big crap all over the mythology.

(Grins) Never mind. They fixed it. Guess what they did, gang? The producers knew that we'd all be feeling down, so you know what they did? They gave Jimmy a little brother! He's exactly the age Jimmy should be now, and has no knowledge of Lois Lane or Clark Kent! So if he does become a photographer, he'll be exactly where Jimmy should have been in the first -

Yeah, crap. It's not hard to assume that Jimmy's "middle name" could be his little brother's first name (in fact, it's the same with one of my best friends and his older brother; his big bro's first name is his middle name and vice-versa), no, but it just seems cheap to me. Suffice to say, I didn't like it.

And don't even get me started on how much I think they screwed up Davis Bloome…

(Raises an eyebrow) Jimmy's mother is there. Didn't he tell Chloe in "Committed" that he never met his mother before? Now, one could also assume that Jimmy's father simply remarried or something, but since (also stated by Jimmy in "Committed") he is an alcholic, that doesn't seem likely. And…if Jimmy's father really is an alcholic…why did he leave his kid brother with him instead of taking care of him himself?

Of course, it might not have been Jimmy's parents, but they could've at least referenced that in dialogue. Ah, well.

Chloe gives Jimmy's little brother his camera. Even though I'm not really fond of the plot device, it was a really touching moment. The kid's a good actor, and I honestly bought his grief when he said "Thanks,". He sounded really choked up and heartbroken, and one could also sense a feeling of loss radiating from him. Great acting on his part. It was the only part (besides Clark's "looking-from-the-distance" cameo) of the scene I enjoyed.

The next scene is probably my favorite out of the whole episode, not because it establishes the future Superman and Justice League mythos with the introduction of the Watchtower, or because of Clark's announcement of how he is going to embrace his destiny (because it's something we've never heard before) but because of how symbolic it is. In this scene, Clark visits Chloe at her new home in the Watchtower and tells her his plans of abandoning his humanity and embracing his destiny. According to him, Davis's killing Jimmy was what caused him to finally see the darker side of humanity. He realized that he put too much faith into the good of humanity (which is why he opted to split Doomsday and bury him underground, instead of simply sending Davis to the Phantom Zone or sending Davis himself underground), and that is his greatest weakness. To protect the world, Clark came to the realization that he had to completely abandon his humanity and his human emotions and embrace his Kryptonian personality Kal-El. In short:

"Clark Kent is dead."

That single line saved this episode and it gave me chills.

I know that some fans think that this is the same formula Smallville has been using for years now: one step forward, then two steps back. I disagree with that. What I think some people need to remember about Smallville is that it the story of Clark Kent's journey into becoming Superman; and a jurney does take time. The journey to becoming who you are, no matter who you may be, is just that: a journey. And on a journey, you do slip up, you do make mistakes, and sometimes, you come at a crossroads and you take the wrong path. Clark is at a point in his life right now where everything he thought was important, is suddenly revealed to not be. He did make a mistake, and he is going to pay for it, but in the end, that is why people, including me, including my good friend GamingGuy 84, and the millions of Smallville fans out there, continue to watch this show, because we know that in the end, our guy will pull through, he will overcome, and he will - be - SUPERMAN. Great, great acting on behalf of Mr. Welling and Miss Mack. The only problem I had with this scene was Clark's fade-out as he walked out of the Watchtower. It seemed over-the-top and out of place on a show like Smallville, and it took me out of the show, even if just for a moment.

The last scene takes place at the Luthor Mansion, where the Orb for some odd reason comes back to the very same place it apparently escaped from, and released General Zod right outside of Tess's window. Yeah, the Producers weren't fooling anyone, and I hope they don't think they have anyone clinging onto the edge of their seats trying to figure out who that guy was. It was General Zod, in all of his naked glory. Of course, some will probably deny this since General Zod was stripped of his body when he was banished into the Phantom Zone, but there really isn't really isn't any other logical person it could be.

Well, folks, that about wraps it up. Like I said earlier, this episode was full of crap. Because of this episode's extremely out-of-character moments, numerous inconsistencies, ruination of several characters whom I've come to love, blatant stupidity and just for wasting forty minutes of my very valuable time, I give the Season Eight Season Finale "Doomsday" a 2.5 out of 5. Let's hope next the season will be better, but with Kelly and Brain behind the wheel, I'm not holding my breath.

END NOTE BY DARK OYX

(Whistles as I look over my work) Not bad, not bad. I think I've said all that I've needed to say on this Finale. However, I want to take the time in this end note to make sure you guys understand something.

I love Smallville. I honestly and truly do. No matter how much I criticize the Producers, no matter how much I unmercifuly make fun of the show's various inconsistencies and flaws, and no matter how much I hate what this show has done, or in some cases hasn't done, I will always tune in every week to see what's next. Smallville despite its many flaws will always to me be the best show that ever has aired, or ever will air on television, and I will always pride myself on being one of the Smallville generation. Guys, if any of you are new to Smallville, no matter what I've just said, I encourage you 100% to watch at least one episode. Flaws or no flaws, it honestly does try to be creative and original, and for the most part it succeeds. I'm not leaving this show now, not because of one episode; if I could survive Lana Lang gaining superpowers on par with that of Superman's, then I can survive this. Goodbye Smallville fans, I will see you in September; goodbye fans of The Reign of Shadows, I will see you sooner than you think. God bless all of you, and I hope to see you all again.

FUN FACT: When I was a kid, you know, around five or sx years old, I used to put on my litle school sweater and run around my school playground with it like it was a cape, pretending that I could fly. Ah. The joys of youth! Later everyone!