I'm going to admit right off the bat that I'm a comic book junkie. I have enjoyed reading comics featuring Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and basically anyone of that ilk since I was about ten years old. For twenty years my obsession has come and gone and evolved in many ways, but no matter how tired I am of anything I'll always make time for something that brings me back to my roots; hence my appreciation for Smallville.

At first I was a little weary about the concept for the series which brings Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman back to his teenage years. The series took liberties with the established mythos and sought to reinvent the hero for a new generation. In many ways it's a move that pays off well, but over the course of the show's seasons there have been many missteps that have made Superfans cringe. Messed up canon aside, Smallville is a unique entry into the world of comic book heroes despite the fact that it's more Dawson's Creek at times than anything that would make comic lovers cheer.

Over the course of the first six seasons Smallville went through a lot of changes as it told the tale of a young Clark Kent becoming a man and learning to control his powers. It would simply take too long to go into all of the details regarding what has transpired over six years of the program, but sufficed to say, by the seventh season Clark is getting ever-closer to putting on the blue tights and making a name for himself other than mild-mannered farm boy. It's really a shame that's one angle the creators of the show promised fans that they wouldn't explore because it really shoehorns the series into a niche that has overstayed its welcome.

After seven years of running around saving people, the world, and those he holds dear, Clark has revealed so much of himself to people that it's just plain silly. His "secret" doesn't have that tight of a lid on it and he can frequently be found appearing and disappearing in large crowds of people and breaking the news to people that, yes, he's from another planet. Chloe knows all about him, Lana figured it out, Lionel is a close advisor, Lois is clueless, and Lex looks more the fool considering that despite all of his resources he can't come up with Clark's real identity. It's an aspect of the series that has grown tired over the years and thankfully the seventh season focuses on other aspects of Clark's life so there are still plenty of adventures to be had.

At the end of the sixth season Lana was thought to be dead by everyone, but as it turns out she faked her own death in order to slip away from Lex's evil clutches. In all honesty I was kind of happy the writers went down this path. Lana's involvement in the show really had grown tiresome over the years to the point that her character became something of a joke. Without her to tie Clark down Smallville had potential to become something different; unfortunately this doesn't happen. Lana makes a miraculous (ridiculous) comeback in an effort to get back at Lex for all the wrongdoings he has brought to the world.

Lana slips back into Smallville and the mechanics of the show way too easily, but her character sticks out like a sore thumb here. With Lana back in the picture, it's time to prepare once again for some terrible Clark pining over Lana storylines. Their relationship is such a joke and it's kind of funny because the quality of the show improves greatly when they aren't on the screen together. This aspect aside, Lana is carrying some skeletons in her closet and she seems unwilling to live a normal life as long as Lex is still breathing. This plot develops over the course of this season, but it only gets more and more ridiculous as it goes on and she tries to come clean with Clark.

Another thing going on this season is the introduction of Kara-El who is Clark's Kryptonian cousin. She was sent to Earth to find him, but was frozen beneath the dam where Lex was conducting his 33.1 experiments and building a super army. Kara's character brings out some fun moments with Clark as the writers explore how he relates to her. Jor-El warns Clark that Kara brings bad tidings, but some things are revealed during the season which shows otherwise. Unfortunately Kara is stricken with the amnesia bug during the course of this year and joins the ranks of Clark, Lex, Lana, and Chloe as characters in Smallville who have lost their memory. It's rather an annoying and cheap plot device that the writers just keep regurgitating at the drop of a hat.

During this season other plotlines that surface involve Chloe and Jimmy's relationship (which is almost as annoying as Clark and Lana's), Lex's cloning of his dead brother, Chloe's transformation into a meteor freak, and the revival of Brainiac. In all honesty most of these storylines aren't that bad, but the way the show uses them is rather disjointed. In between arc episodes you'll find monster of the week bits scattered throughout. These throw off the pacing of the series and keep it from feeling as fluid as it should have. I thought this was a trend that the show had outgrown a couple of seasons ago but alas it seems as though I was mistaken.

Last year's season also brought about the promise of some DC Universe action. This is another weak point in the seventh season because the show simply doesn't capitalize on that. Green Arrow is brought back for minimal use and makes Chloe his sidekick, Black Canary is introduced, Kara brings about the Supergirl element, Martian Manhunter drops in from time to time, and the show even explores the Bizarro Superman angle a tad. There are several highlights in between that will make DC fans go "ooo", but sadly apart from those fleeting moments you're going to be getting a lot of Lana and Clark and wasted potential.

Smallville is presented on DVD like its other seasons were and comes with the expected 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The video quality is good overall, but it's not really anything spectacular to write home about. Colors are well-saturated and the contrast is very good for this release, most details are sharp, and the print is otherwise clean and crisp. Sadly there is quite a lot of grain in the image here and just about every scene is lightly peppered. This has been a fault on previous seasons as well and while this presentation is still much better than the broadcast of the show it's definitely not as fine a transfer as it could have been. All around this is a good looking some with nice highlights, but don't expect a flawless experience.

The audio for Smallville's seventh season comes in the form of 5.1 Dolby Digital English. With a nice blend of music, dialogue, and sound effects the show finds a welcome home on the soundstage with its 384 kbps track. The sound is clearly defined and there is no distortion to mar the presentation. The balance of audio is fine as well with the rear channels getting some nice use in comparison to the front channels. Unfortunately the experience isn't quite as engrossing as it could have been and it's only marginally above average.

Like the previous seasons of Smallville, the seventh comes with a decent smattering of bonus content to explore. While the wealth of material is kept on the final disc in the set there are two audio commentaries that make their way into episodes.

"Persona" features an audio commentary with John Glover, Ken Horton, and Todd Slavkin, while "Siren" offers a commentary with Justine Hartley, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Kelly Souders, and Brian Peterson. In the case of both commentaries there is a very good mix of banter and information as each person brings a unique view to the episode and series. If you're anything like me then you'll appreciate hearing about what it's like behind the scenes of the show and what kind of things go on. Also scattered throughout the season are deleted scenes for episodes "Kara", "Fierce", "Cure", "Action", "Wrath", "Gemini", "Persona", "Siren", "Fracture", "Hero", "Traveler", "Veritas", "Descent", "Sleeper", and "Arctic". For the most part these are very weak inclusions and didn't really hold weight in terms of enjoyment of each episode, but a few are interesting enough.

"Supergirl: The Last Daughter of Krypton" (17:48) examines the character of Supergirl with some of the people involved in writing for the character in the comics and on the show. There's quite a bit of insight into what made the character who she is and some discussion about how Supergirl has evolved over the years. I've always felt that she brought an interesting dynamic to the Superman mythology and actually looked upon her arrival on Smallville as a good thing.

"Jimmy on Jimmy" (23:16) was similar to the Supergirl feature, but it was more of a roundtable discussion four actors who have all portrayed Jimmy Olsen. It was a lot of fun as it explored their different experiences though it's not exactly as riveting or informative as the other character feature. "Smallville Legends: Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton" (21:23) is a rather lame flash cartoon depicting some of what happened on Krypton prior to Kara's arrival on Earth. We saw something similar to this on Birds of Prey's release and unfortunately it was just about as interesting; that is to say, not really. Rounding out things is a digital comic book of sorts with depicts a Smallville-like adventure.

Smallville is a prime example of a show that does things right, but also fails in many regards. The series started out with a high level of energy and over the course of the years its light has definitely started to dim. Tired plotlines, exhausted clichés, and a lack of realizing its true potential have been the things that have kept Smallville droning on for a while now. If the seventh season is any indication it's time for the series to pull the plug while it's kind of ahead. This season isn't a complete wash, but it's just about as close as you're going to get to it. Maybe the eighth season will revitalize the franchise? Until then consider this season a rental unless you've enjoyed the past six years and want to fill up more space on your DVD shelf.

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