Saturday 11 December 2004

Pic of the day: Picture of the box.

Smallville season 2

Saturday morning. I trudge off to the post office, half an hour's walk from home, to get the package from Amazon.co.uk. Smallville, the complete second season! Finally it has arrived! Actually it didn't take all that long, but I guess time does flow a little slower for me than for most adults. Not that I've been bored or anything, there is always something. But it was nice to get the second season while I still had the first fresh in memory. (A luxury not available for those who watched it on TV, I admit, but they could always buy it afterwards too.)

So, what's my impression of the second season? This is all distant past to my readers, I suppose, although one can never know since my readers seem to range from Norway to Japan. Oh well, most of them probably come to watch the pictures anyway. But for the few curious souls, here's what I think.

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I was happy to see they kept the theme song, "Save Me". I love it. I was a bit surprised that the roll call at the start of each episode was using scenes from Season 1, but that's a minor detail. Looks to be the same cast. I've been told that the girls watch it for Rosenbaum(?), the guy who plays Lex Luthor. Perhaps bald young men is the next wave.

I was pleased to see that they toned down the strict "freak of the weak" approach that had most of season 1 in its iron grip. This season seems more character-driven, with a nicely flowing development on the friendship/romance front. You probably all can guess what I think about Clark and his insistence on following Lana like a puppy when he had a friend like Chloe. But that's they way teens are, I guess. Not that I ever was like that. I think. Anyway, the untangling of the love triangle is the skeleton on which this season hangs. There is also a rapid development in the whole alien angle, with the Kryptonian heritage, which I suppose could serve as focus for the male viewers (if there were any left by then).

I am totally adopting the expression "flawed race" to describe humans, as you may notice. I only regret I didn't come up with it.

Speaking of flaws, I resent the implication that serving in the US military is particularly dangerous. Even in the occupation army in Iraq and Afghanistan, the risk of violent death is not all that much higher than in the black neighborhoods in inner cities, where many of the soldiers come from. During normal peacekeeping operations, it is more on the level of commuting in Los Angeles. Indeed, during the last 20 years 9 out of 10 war casualties have been civilians, and more than half children. Being a soldier means you're the guy with the gun and the armored vehicle and the combat training. Being a civilian means you're on the other side of all those. Long gone are the days when large armies of young men clashed in battles out on deserted fields. Now, sniping and bombing in the city is the norm. Certainly Whitney should have been safer in Indonesia than in Smallville, where insane mutants prowl the streets along with mad scientists and hitmen for the various Luthor factions. (Of course, in Smallville Clark Kent might have saved him, but even with Clark around there's a lot of fatalities.)

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OK, that's it. I don't regret buying it, really. I don't think it will influence my own novel much. I'm writing it on a similar theme, but I don't think you would notice the connection without knowing. I may make a few Smallville references in my novel, since it is set in 2005 and most teens will have seen Smallville on TV. It will be totally throwaway though.