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Jor-El finally shows up on Smallville—wait, was that it?
A couple of weeks ago, Clark and Lois finally kissed on Smallville, an event I've been waiting for since Lois became a character on the series. While I was expecting a Clois follow-up last Friday on "Kandor," instead Jor-El popped up and I learned loads of stuff about the Kandorian clones, the orb and Jor-El and Zod once upon a time being best buds.
Beyond that, an event nearly as important as the Clois kiss happened when Clark finally got to meet Jor-El in the flesh—a cloned Jor-El, but Jor-El none the less.
[Spoilers ahead!]
There's only one big problem. Clark's pop literally died in his arms moments into that face-to-face, and that just sucks.
I'm enjoying this season, which is no small task for a series that's in its ninth season. In fact, overall the producers have been doing a really good job, and much of "Kandor" offered some cool Zod and Jor-El history (and yes, purists, it's not entirely consistent with mythology or Tom Welling [Clark] playing a young Jor-El seasons ago).
However, really, Smallville producers! You decide to kill off Jor-El after three lines of dialogue with Clark—really?! Seriously?!
While I have some annoyance regarding the missing Lois, I don't have an issue with the talented Julian Sands playing Jor-El, despite the fact that the equally talented Terence Stamp has been the voice of Jor-El through much of the series. I'm not sure why Stamp wasn't given the oh-so-short, one-episode role (his age, perhaps?), but Sands did a good job as Jor-El.
I don't even have an issue with the producers deciding to kill off Jor-El, which naturally pits Clark and Zod against each other. But couldn't Clark have gotten a couple minutes with his dad? This long-awaited and unexpected meeting could have been played out in such a great way, with Jor-El meeting the son he never knew he had and Clark finally meeting the man in person, and not some disembodied voice in the "ice crystal palace thingie," as Oliver Queen calls it.
So really, producers! What's that about? To have the big scene with Jor-El and Chloe and not Clark just makes no sense at all. You set us up and then boom! Talk about an unsatisfying letdown, with just three blasted lines of dialogue. When they finally meet, Clark asks Jor-El who wounded him, and he says he doesn't know. Then dad says, "Kal-El, I'm so proud of you, so proud—Save Zod."
Yes, the Krypton stuff was great, but the Earth stuff with Clark zooming around trying to find Jor-El was all buildup and no payoff. The show has a 22-episode season. Why not bring Sands back for a second episode and play this out with the father and son connecting AND then kill the dad? Really, producers, if it's about money, let us know. We viewers could have taken up a collection so you'd be able to afford to bring Sands back for another episode. Or maybe cut the Chloe scene (not that Chloe shouldn't get plenty of screen time) and the silliness about her not being able to get hold of Clark because for some reason he's flying on Oliver's jet. Then give Clark a couple moments to connect with his pop.
Apparently I'm not the only one with Jor-El issues. The Web's all a-twitter about "Kandor," from the wonderful Krypton scenes and mythology to the agony and ecstasy of killing off Jor-El.
- "Clark is reunited with his Kryptonian father just in time for the old man to die in his arms. And just where is that ring that can turn back time and FIX everything?" asked SourceEnergy.
- "The story of Clark and Jor-El was a lot less satisfying than the Krypton scenes," said S-Shield. "It really just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that Jor-El and Clark spent their whole time wrapped up in Tess and Zod's little chess game, which was really what this whole episode was about (whole season for that matter). "
- cxtasy said that Sands played "the role well enough that I wish they had kept him in the cast for a couple more episodes."
- icevader asked: "Did Clark's only scene with Jor-El really have to be a death scene? Though I must say, it's one of the rare few times I have almost shed tears on this show (the death of Clark's other father figure, Jonathan, being the other memorable one). And of course it's set up Clark's future enmity for the Kandorians as he'll try to exact vengeance for his father's death."
- "The flashbacks looked fantastic! Everything from the blue-screen wizardry, to the very cool, ominous courtroom scenes with Jor-El, they were some of the best moments of the episode. Unfortunately, I wasn't so invested in the character of Jor-El, as very little time is given to really flesh him out. I realize that Jor-El will never be Clark's actual father figure, Pa Kent will always fit that title, but, again, having Clark's first scene with his actual father a death scene felt like another cheap ring-round," said MovieMark.
Despite my annoyance at the Jor-El death scene, the final final ending was good, with Zod witnessing Clark use his x-ray vision and knowing who the Blur really is. And yes, there's a mystery regarding who actually killed Jor-El (my money's on Tess). And we know from last episode that Clark and Lois have some unfinished business. All that sets us up with the promise of some fine episode arcs in our future. Friday we even get to see DC's Wonder Twins in action trying to help out the Blur and making a mess of it. And it looks like Lois will be back for the fallout of her kiss with Clark, while Clark deals with losing his pop all over again.
However, producers, next time you set us up, pay if off! For nine seasons Clark has longed to know more about Jor-El, beyond the Fortress of Solitude voice that he at times has had issues with. And for nine seasons, we wanted Clark to meet his father—the man who sent him to Earth and did everything he could to make sure his son would survive the destruction of their planet. By cheating us out of a true meeting with Clark and Jor-El, you cheated yourselves and us out of some serious drama, and I'm not one bit happy about it. You can and should have done better.
How did you feel about "Kandor" and the death of Jor-El?
By M at 12:28 PM ON 11/13/09
Was very disappointing to have Jor-el die so quickly.
By Paul at 12:29 PM ON 11/13/09
I liked the episode. You can easily make the case for more Jor-el, but I didn't mind losing him at the end. Granted, three lines of dialogue between Clark and Jor-el was skimping ridiculously. This season has been good. Can't wait for the Justice Society in January.
By AlohaMark at 12:40 PM ON 11/13/09
It was nice to see thing spice up a bit and I feel that it was well done. There is more about who killed Jor-El and my money is on Zod not the redhead. Doomsday is still on earth and Zod my use him, or Clark may use him to get them all out of the way.
By sticman at 12:54 PM ON 11/13/09
wasnt Doomsday sent to the future? or something like that.
By CrankyBear at 1:16 PM ON 11/13/09
I too was disappointed in the ending. Not just because of the lack of time between Clark and Jor-El, but because this is by far one of the most tragic events in Clark's life. That being said, it's supposed to push Welling into his most grief-ridden situation yet. Sure, Welling scrunched up his face a little more than usual, but let's face it - he's a more wooden actor than Hayden Christiansen. Yes, Christiansen is a horrible actor, but you can at least sense he's TRYING to exhibit emotion. There are times where I just yell at the screen "Welling! You're supposed to be sad/angry/surprised! ACT like it!"
By silverrose at 1:26 PM ON 11/13/09
Jor-El was a clone right. maybe anouther clone will appear or anouther clone was the one killed. funny thing about clones,,you never really know how many or which is which
By Anrkist at 1:43 PM ON 11/13/09
I am Jor-El, Master of Scheduling!
By Kyle Nin at 1:45 PM ON 11/13/09
"Wasn't Doomsday sent to the future? Or something like that."
No. Clark buried him deep underground.
By Knight805 at 1:47 PM ON 11/13/09
I agree that the Clark-Jor-El connection didn't last longer than a few lines, but there is still a possibility of using Terrence Stamp as a 20 years later version of Jor-El. Remember this Jor-El was before he even thought of having a son. And they did tie in with the story of "Relic" where Jor-El went to earth as a punishment.
By Bluesman at 1:51 PM ON 11/13/09
Are they going to address the "Bottled City of Kandor" that was the subject of so many issues in the comic books?
By me at 1:55 PM ON 11/13/09
I didn't have a problem with it. It was a device to move the story along. It was a touching scene.
By DHenry at 2:07 PM ON 11/13/09
I liked the brevity; it upped the tragicness.
Also, my current theory is that Tess possesses the katra (see Star Trek II and III) of Lex Luthor and it will eventually be reunited with a cloned body of Lex.
By Smiley at 2:39 PM ON 11/13/09
So many possible great stories have now been squandered by bringing Jor-El back from the dead and killing him off again in the same episode. I'm not surprised - Smallville's creative team still refuses to allow Clark to fly (it's downright embarassing watching the future Superman hitching a ride on one of Oliver Queen's jets). If they truly want to get another season out of Smallville, they've got to put Tom in the tights, otherwise, I'm just going to lose interest in this "Blur" crap.
BTW, does anybody else think that photo at the top of the page looks like Jor-El's up to no good with somebody's sex-toy?
By Kibasan at 2:41 PM ON 11/13/09
Maybe the voice in the Fortress is not actually Jor El but in fact the older General Zob. Seems unlikely that Jor El would tell his son to forgoe relationships with humans as he seems such an emotional being himself. Maybe the could have an Episode where Sands voice is unlocked in the fortress to replace Stamp and start giving Clark proper advice on becoming Superman.
By jolinar at 2:55 PM ON 11/13/09
What about Kara? She's from Kandor, as is her father Zor-El & her mother (idk her mom's name). Will the CW bring Kara back to fight against Zod & his minions this season?
By Paul at 3:54 PM ON 11/13/09
@jolinar: Kara's mother's name is Allura.
Hope we see Kara again.
By GreanJeans at 4:05 PM ON 11/13/09
@jolinar
Kara is playing and alien visitor from another planet over on another network in "V".
By gorehound696 at 4:13 PM ON 11/13/09
i thought it was good that he died quickly instead of a "happy" type hollywood thing.his quick death only adds to the heat that clark must be feeling and will only strengthen him in the end.
By David Dvorkin at 4:22 PM ON 11/13/09
It was a bit anticlimactic, but I don't think I'd want more of Sands. He was once a promising actor, but it's painful to watch him now.
A bigger problem with this season, for me, is the ghastly overacting and lack of physical presence of Callum Blue. I'd like to see the show get rid of Zod quickly.
By AngryJonny at 4:36 PM ON 11/13/09
Actually, I think Callum Blue has been doing a terrific job as Zod.
And Clark is NOT supposed to be flying yet! Superman didn't start flying until he was well into his twenties after he completed his training with Jor-El in the fortress (unless you're talking very old school pre-Crisis Superboy comics).
(All this complaining about Captcha. Am I the only one who NEVER has a problem with it?)
By kev74 at 5:16 PM ON 11/13/09
I thought the girl on V looked familiar, couldn't remember where I saw her!
By EJP at 5:17 PM ON 11/13/09
I know there's a comic book tradition of Kal-El and Jor_El reuniting then being ripped apart again...but they usually do get more time before the (sniff) end.
I am disappointed that Julian Sands was only in one episode, but at least we got some good backstory.
Since this is the comics, I live in hope that one day we may see Kal-El, Jor-El and Lara briefly reunited (hopefully for more than 30 sec).
By Mike at 6:04 PM ON 11/13/09
Actually I did not care for the whole Jor-El meets up with Kal-El story at all. The also had Kal's mother,Lara(Helen Slater),time travel & we saw her although she & Kal never met. The tragedy has always been the deaths of Clark's parents,as well as his homeworld. His parents showing up dilutes it all.
By Dave at 6:26 PM ON 11/13/09
What I'm wondering is how Jor-El used blue kryptonite on Krypton to sabotage the orb. I thought all types of kryptonite were only effective on Earth.
By Darkstrad at 9:14 PM ON 11/13/09
Thank you dave, I thought I was the only one to notice that glaring inconstintcy
By xfiler93 at 9:41 PM ON 11/13/09
Julian Sands is excellent, but jeez..gone after one ep? Very disappointing.
By diesel at 11:24 AM ON 11/14/09
Great show. Last night's episode with the Wonder Twins was fantastic. They really are kicking it up a notch this season.
Really looking forward to Justice Society. I want them to keep Michael Shanks as Hawkman and do a Justice League spin off next season.
They could have the Justice League fighting off Doomsday who breaks out for underground in the series premier. Superman would only guest star at the beginnning while season 10 of Smallville is under way.
The Justice League show should have more action. They can rotate heroes to keep the show interesting, keep costs down and work on character development.
Smallville is definitely up there with Stargate SG1 as one the best Sci Fi shows made. That's SG1 made 10 seasons despite changing magor actors / characters and why Smallville will do the same.
By Cyrus at 1:02 PM ON 11/14/09
i think i'm more disappointed in the term "Clois". uggh...stop that right now.
By Sonoir at 1:03 PM ON 11/14/09
Come on! Stop this blabla blog entries on this site! This was a great news site. I want to get informed by facts, not read somebodies opinion. A step down in journalism...
By azsinz at 3:49 PM ON 11/14/09
hey i missed the wondertwins episode
and the cw doesnt post smallville online
anyone know here to see it at?
By Jim D at 11:47 PM ON 11/14/09
"with Zod witnessing Clark use his x-ray vision"
Zod saw Clark use his heat vision.
By MItchrapp at 3:02 PM ON 11/15/09
stopped watching around season 4 or 5 or whatever season had Lana pregnant with Lex's evil monster-child-thing-whatisit???
yeah that was enough for me.
By lindyxmjh at 4:54 PM ON 11/15/09
I don't really understand why people want Clark to be depressed for the rest of his life because the Jor-El clone died. He was after all just the clone, the voice in the fortress is just a recording: The real Jor-El died on Krypton when it exploded, and Clark is never going to be able to meet him and get to know him. Besides the keyword to all of this is "clone". There's probably another Jor-El clone somewhere...
Also people need to read up on their Superman mythos before making baseless claims. Especially you AngryJonny, no matter how many times the origin has been redone and retold, one fact remains the same: Superman was able to fly by the age of 18 before he leaves Smallville. Only in the original movie universe does Clark walk to the fortress, get training from Jor-El, and then be able to fly.
And all though Smallville takes a few pointers from Superman: The Movie (sunstone crystals and Jor-El's Superman can't love Lois or any one human over another BS movie plot thing), Smallville has clearly shown that Kryptonians can fly whether they had special training or not.
Also Dave, I think it's only ever been established that Green Kryptonite didn't exist on Krypton, since Green K is just radioactive pieces of the planet's surface that came to Earth as meteorites. The other oddball Kryptonites (Red, Blue, Gold, Black, etc.) most likely were irradiated differently, possibly by scientists like Jor-El who studied the planet, and therefore already existed on Krypton before the explosion.
By doomsday101 at 7:23 PM ON 11/15/09
hey ass clowns!! how come only a few of us realize jor-el was a clone? here is a spoiler...so is zod!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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doomsday101:
hey ass clowns!! how come only a few of us realize jor-el was a clone? here is a spoiler...so is zod!!!!!!!!!!!!!...More »