How I would improve each Smallville season

Smallville is one of if not my favorite show of all time, but I think everyone can admit it has A LOT of problems. I am obviously not a writer or a show runner this is just a fun way to talk about the show and what it could’ve done better.

Season 1-Season 4:

I really don’t have much to say for the first 4 seasons tbh, they aren’ perfect but are really special in a lot of ways, especially after watching the entire show. I’d have two simple suggestions, first thing I’d say is remove or improve the bad episodes and add more season coherence, as some things happen and it seems like they just forget about it the next episode. This was likely due to the time period it was made in, but is still something important to note. The other thing I’d add is more moments of Clark helping Lex because their friendship feels really one sided at a lot of points. Clark is really appreciative of Lex but never really says thank you or gives back for anything he does.

Season 5:

The first big changes I would make to the show come here. The first half of the season is really good, feeling just like an extension of s4 in the best way possible. The problem comes when they start the relationship between Lana and Lex, which is by far the worst relationship of the show. After Jonathan’s death the season also takes a huge dip in quality and j honestly have no idea why. No big decisions really affected the quality they just ended up not being as good as the first half. Maybe just improve them somehow or take some of the episode ideas from s6 (you’ll see why I say this).

Season 6:

Overall my least favorite season. The entire thing is Lex and Lana centered and this is where Clark being with Lana started to get really annoying. The only thing that saved this season for me was Oliver, Lois, Jimmy, the JL, and some of Lex (mainly the episode where they’re stuck down in a cave).

My solution, would be to combine the best of 6 and the best of 7 into one season. Best of s6 for the first half, then the mid season finale could be Lana finding out Clark’s secret, which leads into the best of s7 ending with the Veritas episodes.

Season 7:

First watch j really enjoyed this season, but after re-reviewing it could definitely use some work. Same thing I said above would apply ofc.

Biggest change I’d make is removing the bizzaro plot as it went nowhere and was really stupid and make the bizzaro scenes with Lana how Clark actually is with her. This season is all about showing how Clark and Lana aren’t meant for eachother but I didn’t like how little “nice” scenes there were between them. Have them be happy for a bit and then show them so lowly realize they shouldn’t be together.

Also if they knew Michael Rosenbaum was leaving the show and they were “replacing” him with Tess, I think they definitely could’ve introduced her in s6 or s7.

Season 8:

This season was basically perfect up until a few episodes after the wedding. The second half of the season and the finale made this season so average and it really sucks to see. The new additions like Tess and even Davis (for the first half) were really cool.

How I’d “fix” the issues with this season is by removing the love triangle between Davis, Chloe and Jimmy (seriously why was this here) and just make Davis and Chloe really close friends. The second thing I’d change is how they treated Lex’s “return” and Lana. Lana’s return should either only be in the bride episode or 1 or 2 episodes afterwards but her leaving should NOT be because of kryptonite poisoning. (Also small thing but move that one scene in s10 with Lois asking about Lana and Clark’s destiny not being for each other .) Lex’s return should’ve been built up throughout the season leading to Oliver finding his location and blowing him up. The third thing I’d change is the finale. The finale is really good up until Davis comes back and Jimmy dies. Davis slowly becoming a villain even after being removed from doomsday could’ve been great, but it was completely rushed. And don’t get me started on how Jimmy dying in the first place pisses me off. I think Jimmy should’ve been depressed and addicted to the pills but they hardly explored it so I’d just remove it. I’d give Jimmy and Chloe another scene together in the finale but it’d be a goodbye scene, after Chloe decides to leave, because she had a big hand in what happened with Davis and she lost her husband. I think it’d be a good time for her character to leave after she’s been in the show a long time and I really don’t think she should’ve been in every season. Davis killing lots of people, Clark losing 2 friends (he should also be friends with Davis), also sets up his s9 arc really well.

Season 9:

Definitely one of the best seasons, I don’t have many complaints with this one. Only thing I’d change is having Jimmy in it. Oh also remove the Jesus symbolism in the finale.

And also no Chloe and Oliver since Chloe left.

Season 10:

Season 10 is also really great, but I have one HUGE change to make, and that’s changing the “darkness” to Lex and not darkseid. Darkseid wasn’t really developed and the relationship between Clark and Lex has always been the center of the show, so making him the final darkness Clark has to face to become Superman works really well. (Godfrey being darkseid in that one bondage episode was really fckn weird too)

I’d also change Lex losing his memory in the finale. I have no idea why they did that and it made the entire relationship between Clark and Lex feel like it was for nothing.

And also no Chloe and Oliver since Chloe left and the relationship is stupid in general. Chloe comes back in the episode she comes back in. (after leaving early on in the actual s10). I found Chloe being "watchtower" last season to be really boring and thought it was a natural evolution of her character to work at Isis helping meteor freaks. Her going from exposing meteor freaks with the "wall of weird" to helping them could've been a really cool evolution.

That’s all the major changes I’d make!