15 | December | 2025

We’ve finally come to the end of season 8 of Smallville: Superman the Early Years – Doomsday. Sadly for the blog, this is also the last episode I’ve got recorded.

The Previously On lasts over a minute for this, so there’s going to be lots of returning characters from earlier. Like Cosmic Boy from the 30th Century Legion of Super Heroes. He tells Clark that in their future, Clark is dead, and it’s tomorrow he will die. He gives Clark a Legion Flight Ring and tells him to put it on Davis to send him to the future. But Clark still thinks his plan to split Davis into Human and Kryptonian halves is his destiny.

Tess Mercer discovers that the safe containing the Orb has been blown open, and the Orb is missing. Stranger still, monitoring suggests the safe was blown open from the inside.

Clark writes a goodbye letter to Metropolis from the Red-Blue Blur.

Lois interrupts him, angry that he’s not out looking for Chloe. He doesn’t show her what he’s writing, and leaves quickly. Then he phones her up, disguising his voice as the Red Blue Blur, and asks her if she’ll publish a letter for him. “Can I count on you to publish that letter if anything happens to me?” “”Goodbye”? What do you mean, “goodbye”?” “Sometimes we can’t outrun our destiny.” “But I thought you were invincible.” “So did I.”

Clark talks to Dinah and Bart, about his plan to deal with Doomsday. He’s going to bury Doomsday underneath a Luthorcorp Geothermal energy project, but only after Bart uses Black Kryptonite to split him into Human and Kryptonian halves. Oliver arrives and tells Clark it’s too dangerous. Clark tells Dinah and Bart that Oliver killed Lex. It’s all getting very fractious within the group. Oliver tells him “You’ve never wanted to admit it… but there is a darker side to humanity.”

Jimmy breaks into Tess’s office, and finds Lois already there. He’s brought a decryption key to get into her computer, and they locate where Davis is.

Jimmy leaves to get to Chloe, while Lois looks at other videos on the computer. She finds one of Tess’s guards being beaten up and talking about the Orb. “‘Tess. Lex already tried to ‘break down the technology of that orb.” “Lex knew that orb wasn’t from this Earth. It called to me. There’s life inside it that can’t be released until the Traveller kills the beast.” “What you’re unleashing… it could be the end of the world.”

Clark gets notified of Chloe’s location, but he hears something happening to them, and when he gets there, they’re gone. Dinah and Bart are there. Clark asks them what’s going on. “Sorry Clark, we couldn’t risk losing you.” Then a Kryptonite arrow hits him. Oliver says “Don’t worry, Clark. It won’t kill you. This is to get your ego out of the way so we can do what needs to be done.”

Tess confronts Lois about the Orb, thinking that she’s somehow got it. They have a big fight, which always seems weird. Lois knocks Tess out, but then she notices the Legion Flight Ring that was on Clark’s desk and knocked over during the fight. She picks it up and disappears.

Chloe and Davis have been taken to the Geothermal Energy plant, where their plan is still to bury him miles under the Earth. Davis Tells Chloe that it’s too late, and she can’t stop the beast any longer. Davis starts doing the red-eye thing and beasting out, so Chloe grabs the Black Kryptonite and slams it in his chest to split him.

Jimmy arrives at where Chloe was located, and frees Clark from the Kryptonite arrow, finally learning Clark’s secret. “You took a bullet and the next day, you were fine. I mean, it’s like you’re some kind of super… guy.”

Clark has to fight Doomsday and he takes a pounding.

He launches himself and grabs Doomsday, taking them high in the air.

They land in the geothermal plant, and all the explosions go off. We don’t see what actually happens to either of them.

Jimmy brings Chloe and Davis somewhere safe. She asks what it is and he tells her “It’s your wedding present… ..or was. I was gonna give it to you after the reception, but…” “My wedding present?” “It needs some work, I know, but… so did we. I just… saw us here, you know? Starting our life together… taking something that the rest of the world had forgotten about and… making it ours. You can see all of Metropolis from here. From anywhere in the city, you can spot this place. I thought that, no matter where you were, you could look up… ..and you could see our home… could see me watching over you.”

“I know about Clark.” “What? What exactly do you know?” “The “what?” I saw him… and I saw what he can do, who he is… ..and now I see all kinds of things. I see what you have sacrificed for him… for everyone, really.” “That’s the reason I went with Davis, to protect Clark. That’s the only reason.” “It all makes sense now. But the way I see it, you are as much of a hero as he’s ever been. What you’ve gone through… what you’ve risked.” “And what I’ve lost. I’ve lost so much. The only thing I really miss is you.” “Well, now you’ve found me again.” “I’m so sorry I left, Jimmy, but I promise I never left you.”

They kiss. Then there’s the sound of flesh tearing. Chloe backs away and sees that Davis has rammed a pipe through Jimmy’s stomach. Yes, as I’d assumed from the beginning, Davis is just an abusive man, and that had nothing to do with the raging bony Kryptonian monster he could turn into – that was just a bonus for this terrible terrible man, as he then goes on to demonstrate by whining. “So… this whole time that you were with me… it was for Clark?” “Davis, just put that down.” “How could you do this? I loved you. You’re the only one who ever loved me. Why? Why?!” “I thought I did… OK? But, really, what I wanted to do was save you.” “Save me? There is nothing left to save!” I quite like that they’re quoting the theme song in among all this horrible darkness.

He raises the pipe and starts advancing on Chloe, but Jimmy somehow has got up and grabs Davis, pushing him into something spiky, which is the right and proper death for a villain like him.

Jimmy dies in Chloe’s arms. Yes, you read that right. They just KILLED JIMMY FUCKING OLSEN. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. HE HAD HIS OWN COMIC! And they’ve killed him. And, despite me definitely having watched the whole of Smallville at the time, I didn’t remember this at all. I clearly blocked it all out because of the trauma.

There’s a funeral. I wonder if it’s deliberate that this show doesn’t tend to have funerals in the rain, like most other films and shows? Because Jonathan Kent’s funeral in Superman The Movie is in bright sunshine as well, so I like to think that’s a tradition. I bet Zack Snyder to make it rain.

I was holding it together reasonably well at this point, possibly because I was still processing the shock, but then we see Jimmy’s parents, and his little brother walking away from the casket, and Chloe talks to his brother. She gives him Jimmy’s camera. “He would have wanted you to have it.” “Thanks.” “Who knows, maybe someday you’ll follow in his footsteps.” And this broke me, because obviously they were pointing at this younger brother being the Jimmy Olsen that adult Clark knew. And the priest gave Jimmy’s name as “Henry James Olsen” so maybe they both have the same middle name, and this one takes it up in honour of his brother. And now I’m crying again.

Clark watched the funeral from a distance but didn’t talk to anyone, and he returns to Jimmy’s building, where Chloe is relieved to see he was still alive. “Just before Dinah pressed the button, I… ..I don’t know… ..I got out before the blast, but not fast enough to save anyone else.” They also talk about Lois being missing.

Clark is taking all of this badly. “I’m the reason Jimmy’s dead. Oliver was right… ..I put humanity on a pedestal. It wasn’t a Kryptonian beast that killed Jimmy… it was a human.” “I was standing right here, Clark… ..I know full well who killed Jimmy.” “This place, Chloe… just get rid of it. Just walk away and don’t look back.” “You don’t get it. Clark, Jimmy is here. He’s watching over me. He knew me so well, he knew this place would be perfect. Jimmy wanted to know that no matter where I was in the city, I could look up here and see this beacon… ..the watchtower.”

But Clark can’t get over his failure. “it’s my human side. It’s the side that gets attached. The side that makes decisions based on emotions. That’s my enemy. And Davis proved that to me.” “So, because of some psychopath, you’re gonna cut the rest of us out of your life? Clark… human emotion is what made you the hero that you are today.” “They’re what’s stopping me from being the hero I could be. It’s what the world needs now.” “What are you saying?” “Clark Kent is dead. Goodbye, Chloe.”

Then, as if that’s not depressing enough, there’s a coda at the Luthor mansion. There’s pink glowing happening, and she finds the source in the garden as the Orb glows, flashes brightly and there’s a naked man standing there, with a voice saying “Zod”.

Media Centre Description: Drama series following the teenage years of future Superman Clark Kent.

Recorded from E4 on Tuesday 9th June 2009 20:58

The last recording today starts with the end of the news and weather.

There’s a trail for Royal Ascot.

And one for a new drama, Occupation starring James Nesbit.

Then it’s a movie, M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water.

Paul Giamatti plays Cleveland Heep, who’s the janitor for an apartment block who we meet introducing a new tenant to the block, thus letting us meet some of the ‘characters’ who live there.

One night, he sees someone in the pool, and trying to see who they are, he falls in, and almost drowns. But he wakes up, back in his house, on his bed, and there’s a strange young girl sitting there watching him. She introduces herself as Story, and tells him she’s from The Blue World.

He finds that one of the residents, Mrs Choi (helpfully translated by her granddaughter) has heard of the Blue World as a fairy story she heard when she was little, and that Story must be a ‘Narf’ or a Sea Nymph. Unfortunately, since I’ve watched my share of Pinky and the Brain, I can’t really take the name ‘Narf’ seriously.

Jeffrey Wright plays a man who likes doing crosswords.

His son is played by Noah Gray-Cabey, before he was Micah in Heroes.

Director M Night Syamalan himself plays a writer, whom Story tells will write a book so important it will inspire a young man to run for President and will change the world. Downside is he will die relatively young. Quite a role for the writer-director to give himself.

You can spot Jared Harris, on the left behind the Director, who plays one of a group of men who just sit around and chat about nothing.

But the funniest character is Bob Balaban, playing a movie critic, and who literally has dialogue which describes his position in the plot. “This is like a moment from a horror movie. It is precisely the moment where the mutation or beast will attempt to kill an unlikable side character. But in stories where there has been no prior cursing, nudity, killing, or death, such as in a family film, the unlikable character will narrowly escape his encounter and be referenced again later in the story, having learned valuable lessons. He may even be given a humorous moment to allow the audience to feel good about. This is where I turn to run. You will leap for me, I will shut the door, and you will land a fraction of a second too late.” This is not what happens, and he’s mauled to by the creature who is stalking Story, which is called a Scrunt.

This is such an odd film. I think I quite enjoyed it when I just let the story go where it wanted, but I can also see why so many people thought it was awful.

Media Centre Description: Fantasy drama. An apartment block janitor discovers a magical woman in the swimming pool, who tells him that she has come from a children’s fairytale and needs his help to return home. But something dangerous lurks in the woods as the story begins to take over the lives of the characters…

Recorded from BBC ONE on Tuesday 9th June 2009 22:33

BBC Genome: BBC ONE Tuesday 9th June 2009 22:35

Here’s the Smallville ad breaks.