big on smallville

Nikki and I just finished watching the first 5 episodes of Smallville, thanks to Jason, and are brand new fans of the show. We both found the show well-cast and well-written. It's no mean feat to be able to write a good stories about Superman before he became a legend without being held hostage by established canon AND the angst of those teenaged years AND still manage to be fresh and interesting. It felt like I was watching Ultimate Superman (in the manner of Marvel Comics' Ultimate Spiderman). The dialogue worked, the rationale behind many things, including Kryptonite, was sound and the acting was more than I expected. In fact, I found myself smitten by Kristin Kruek That's her above, in case you're blind), who plays Lana Lang with a delightful understated maturity while still coming off as a "realistic" American teenager. Besides, she's really hot. Lex Luthor was also handled quite differently from what we expected, building a surprising friendship with Clark - though we assume that something will happen to sour their relationship. After all, what is Superman without his archenemy? The antagonists of the episodes we viewed seemed taken from the roster of the Legion of Superheroes - Lightning Lad, Insect Queen, Chameleon Boy, Sun Boy and Polar Boy - which, of course, delighted the Legion fan in me. Though the series had nothing new to contribute to what has been written or pondered about the human condition (for fek's sake, it's just TV), we found it marvelously entertaining and wouldn't mind seeing more. Of Lana! This show, and Six Feet Under, are our current drama favorites.

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