SEASON 4 of SMALLVILLE is probably the first season where more negativity from the initial hardcore fans tends to creep in. Part of it may be b/c the "teen" vibe of the show started to show signs of diminishing as the cast was getting noticeably older, so there was a seeming "innocence lost" quality. Another reason may be the introduction of a famous new character that some fans think was brought in way too early (I don't!). The SEASON FOUR premiere, Episode 1-CRUSADE, introduced the iconic character Lois Lane (played with a refreshing combination of sex appeal, bravado, and underlying sweetness by newcomer Erica Durance). In SEASON 4, Lois is 18 years old and a soon-to-be college freshman at Metropolis University. She is the cousin of Chloe Sullivan (series regular Allison Mack) and comes to the show to find out who is behind Chloe's "death"; Chloe apparently died in a safehouse in the SEASON 3 finale COVENANT after agreeing to testify against Lionel Luthor (played with malicious glee by series regular John Glover), who spends the early part of SEASON 4 in prison. Lionel's son Lex Luthor (the brilliant Michael Rosenbaum) was working with Chloe to help bring his father down and with Lionel imprisoned, Lex gains control of all Luthor holdings.
In CRUSADE, Lois first meets amnesiac Clark (stalwart star Tom Welling), but in the form of his full Kryptonian self Kal-El in a cornfield; Clark was separated from himself with Black Kryptonite in COVENANT. Lois takes him to the hospital where she meets Martha Kent (beautiful Annette O'Toole), who is tending to a comatose Jonathan Kent (esteemed John Schneider), who was injured while trying to save Clark in COVENANT. Meanwhile, Lana Lang (series regular Kristin Kreuk) has moved to Paris and is involved with a new beau Jason Teague (new series regular hearthrob Jensen Ackles). Martha finds the Black K and manages to fuse Clark back to his complete self. The end of CRUSADE has the first genuine interaction between Clark and Lois and is a wonderful scene that foreshadows their intertwined destinies in the future. Clark invites Lois to stay at the Kent farm until they can find out what happened to Chloe.
The big pull of Season 4 is that SMALLVILLE dares to push itself into new territory and not stay it's traditional course. The Clark-Lex friendship begins to be sorely tested as we can see their paths diverging into enemy territory in future seasons; with Pete Ross gone, Chloe becomes closer friends with Clark and vows to stay supportive of him even with his secretive nature; and the Clark-Lana relationship is essentially null and void for virtually all of SEASON 4 (which is a bonus for me!) as Lana is completely embroiled in her own separate storyline (she's the descendant of a 16th-century witch named Isobella that is trying to resurrect herself in the present day) and with a new boyfriend. Clark is a much more interesting character WITHOUT Lana and SEASON 4 shows that!
Introducing Lois is a major key as she truly brings out a new side of Clark that was unexplored in Seasons 1,2,3. While only a recurring character in SEASON 4, Erica Durance manages to make the most of her limited screen time and the chemistry with Tom Welling is immediately there. No longer brooding and whining and worrying about Lana, in SEASON 4 most of Clark's dealings actually have little to do with her and we get to see him interact with others and see the possibilities of him becoming Superman one day.
Early SEASON 4 involves a lot of Clark and Lois working as a team to investigate the continuous mysterious goings on at Smallville High (I kind of think it as the teen adventures of Lois and Clark!). Lois finds out from her father General Sam Lane (guest star Michael Ironside) that she is lacking a few credits for admittance into college and he enrolls her at Smallville High. Ep 2-GONE gets the ball rolling on this infectiously fun pair as, while they're searching for Chloe (who turns out is still alive), Lois gets Clark into trouble with Ma and Pa Kent in a series of funny scenes. In Ep 3-FACADE, the dynamic duo investigate a former homely girl turned meteor freak who has gained instant beauty and popularity. Perhaps the best ep of the season is Ep 6-TRANSFERENCE, where Clark and Lionel inadvertently switch bodies and Tom Welling in particular is superb in playing the role of Lionel Luthor. Ep 12-PARIAH is a tragic one as Clark is reunited with meteor freak Alicia Baker, who has teleportation abilities and had tried to kill Lana in an earlier season and was recently released from Belle Reve mental institution; Clark and Alicia reconnect in this ep and the ending is very sad. Lois returns in Ep 13-RECRUIT, where Clark must help clear her of a murder charge of a fellow Met U student and she returns to the Kent farm after this ep. Ep 14-KRYPTO introduces us to Shelby, a dog that Clark and Lois found to be experimented on at one of Lex's plants. Ep 16-LUCY is a standout as we meet Lois' little sister Lucy Lane, who has gotten into trouble with a loan shark at her overseas boarding school and is hiding out in Smallville. The finale Ep 22-COMMENCEMENT is one of the best finales as Clark, Chloe, and Lana graduate from Smallville High (with Lois and the Kents attending), then another meteor shower hits Smallville (similar to the one when Clark arrived in his spaceship in the pilot).
SEASON 4 gets a lot of flack mostly because this is the first season where many viewers feel Lana Lang became a non-descript character, which I agree with to an extent. Her witch story seems disjointed from the rest of the subplots of the season, an excuse to give Kristen Kreuk her own storyline separate from Clark and Lex. I don't completely blame Kreuk for being given such a useless storyline and being written so badly and also the rest of Season 4 is so darn good that you can almost overlook the witch stuff. Although Ep 8-SPELL, in which Lana gets possessed by Isobella and she transforms Chloe and Lois into Isobella's 16th-century sidekicks, is one of the most entertaining eps of SEASON 4! In actuality, the Lana/Chloe/Lois interactions (what little there were) felt very genuine and it's nice that these past/present/future rivals for Clark's affection could actually co-exist as friends separate from Clark. Another negative, though, is the relationship of Lana and Jason! I didn't see any chemistry between Kreuk and Ackles and as much as I don't like seeing Clark tied down by Lana, Lana and Clark made a better couple in the earlier seasons than Lana/Jason in SEASON 4!
But the big key was bringing in Lois, a stroke of genius! I like how the show plays up the Clark-Lois relationship in te early years in a similar vein to the iconic one in the movies and comic books, but with their own twist. Tom Welling's Clark isn't exactly a dork or a pushover (except when it comes to Lana!), so that he actually retorts Erica Durance's Lois insults with his own and many times actually ends up topping her! They play off each other so well. In SEASON 4, they come across as a combination of feuding siblings, good friends, and exhibit great teamwork. We get a variety of emotions and interactions from them in SEASON 4 that I actually think some of the later seasons lack to an extent just because everything is so fresh and new between them in their first season together. It's like watching 2 people that on the surface don't seem to like each other, but down deep they complete each other so well!
SEASON 4 of SMALLVILLE starring Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Jensen Ackles, Allison Mack, John Glover, Annette O'Toole, John Schneider
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Reviews with images
MISSING BOOKLET, quality good! MIGHT beBOOTLEG
So far tested out a few disks and quality is good. I was disappointed it is supposed to be new but it is MISSING BOOKLET that has the episode titles and description like the NEW product would. Audio and disk menu works just fine. Case is good and sturdy unlike some other cases which break easily and then don’t hold the disk in place. Playback looks good on a wide screen TV, image does take up the whole screen. Over all it’s not bad. Product description does says “repackaged” which now I’m sure DOES NOT MEAN NEW and Based on various un packaging videos I have looked at on YouTube THE INSIDE COVER ART IS NOT THE ORIGINAL and all this leads me to believe BOOTLEG, fake copies which I don’t like. BECAUSE OF THIS SHADYNESS and claiming it’s new I would like to give the lowest rating, however Other than the shadyness, so far THE PRODUCT HAS WORKED
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Underrated season (gets 5 stars for Lois)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2007