The 20-episode seventh season of Smallville aired during the 2007/2008 TV season and was the start of the show hanging on too long. The season was mostly good but definitely had its ups and downs. There were some "freak of the week" episodes here and there, but mostly, the season involved multiple intertwined storylines that spanned throughout the season, the biggest being Project Veritas, which was a group consisting of The Queens, Lionel Luthor, Virgil Swan, and the Teagues, all of whom knew that an alien was being sent to earth and set up a secret society to keep him safe. Of course, this all created numerous plot holes from the prior seasons, but it was a way to set Lex and Clark on a collision course. The other big storyline was Lana trying to get revenge on Lex after having faked her death and trying to pin the murder on him.
There would be more cast turnover this year, with Annette O'Toole leaving the series as a series regular at the end of Season 6. Her character became a federal senator and moved to Washington, DC. Aaron Ashmore was promoted to a series regular as Jimmy Olson, Justin Hartley continued as a recurring character playing Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, James Marsters recurred in his role as Brainiac, and Phil Morris recurred as Martian Manhunter. The big addition to the cast was Laura Vandervoort, playing Kara Zor-El, otherwise known as Clark's cousin Supergirl. This would also be the final season for both Michael Rosenbaum and Kristen Kreuk as well as showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. This season's notable guest stars included Dean Cain (the last live-action Superman/Clark Kent before Tom Welling), Christina Milian, Mark McClure (who played Jimmy Olson in the original movies), Sam Jones reprising his role as Pete, Aaron Douglas (of Battlestar Galactica playing a different role than his role in season 1), and Helen Slater, who was the first to play Supergirl in live action in the early 1980s movie. And, in keeping with the show's tradition, this year's visiting band was One Republic.
The Blu-Ray set is a six-disc set. The series continues to look and sound great in HD. The extras include commentary tracks on a couple of episodes, deleted scenes for most episodes, an animated feature on Supergirl, very similar to the one on Green Arrow in the extras for season 6, and a roundtable discussion with some of the different actors who played Jimmy Olson, including Aaron Ashmore, Mark McClure, Sam Huntington (who played Jimmy in the 2006 movie Superman Returns), and Jack Larson. Basically, all the actors who played Jimmy in live-action except for Michael Landes and Justin Whalin, who played Jimmy on Lois and Clark.
Overall, the season was good, with some great moments. But this was really the first season that it felt like the show was hanging on too long. It helped that some of the storylines got wrapped up, and the show definitely was set up to go in a new direction after the events of the season finale. The writing and acting were very good with both Michael Rosenbaum and Allison Mack shining in their portrayals of Lex and Chloe, respectively. I always thought Mack would go on to be a star after Smallville and definitely would not have pegged her for joining a cult. The show had really changed from the early seasons by this point, so if you were a die-hard fan of the first couple of seasons I cannot guarantee that you would like this one as much. But, generally, I would say if you have liked the show up to this point, you will probably like it this season.
There would be more cast turnover this year, with Annette O'Toole leaving the series as a series regular at the end of Season 6. Her character became a federal senator and moved to Washington, DC. Aaron Ashmore was promoted to a series regular as Jimmy Olson, Justin Hartley continued as a recurring character playing Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, James Marsters recurred in his role as Brainiac, and Phil Morris recurred as Martian Manhunter. The big addition to the cast was Laura Vandervoort, playing Kara Zor-El, otherwise known as Clark's cousin Supergirl. This would also be the final season for both Michael Rosenbaum and Kristen Kreuk as well as showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. This season's notable guest stars included Dean Cain (the last live-action Superman/Clark Kent before Tom Welling), Christina Milian, Mark McClure (who played Jimmy Olson in the original movies), Sam Jones reprising his role as Pete, Aaron Douglas (of Battlestar Galactica playing a different role than his role in season 1), and Helen Slater, who was the first to play Supergirl in live action in the early 1980s movie. And, in keeping with the show's tradition, this year's visiting band was One Republic.
The Blu-Ray set is a six-disc set. The series continues to look and sound great in HD. The extras include commentary tracks on a couple of episodes, deleted scenes for most episodes, an animated feature on Supergirl, very similar to the one on Green Arrow in the extras for season 6, and a roundtable discussion with some of the different actors who played Jimmy Olson, including Aaron Ashmore, Mark McClure, Sam Huntington (who played Jimmy in the 2006 movie Superman Returns), and Jack Larson. Basically, all the actors who played Jimmy in live-action except for Michael Landes and Justin Whalin, who played Jimmy on Lois and Clark.
Overall, the season was good, with some great moments. But this was really the first season that it felt like the show was hanging on too long. It helped that some of the storylines got wrapped up, and the show definitely was set up to go in a new direction after the events of the season finale. The writing and acting were very good with both Michael Rosenbaum and Allison Mack shining in their portrayals of Lex and Chloe, respectively. I always thought Mack would go on to be a star after Smallville and definitely would not have pegged her for joining a cult. The show had really changed from the early seasons by this point, so if you were a die-hard fan of the first couple of seasons I cannot guarantee that you would like this one as much. But, generally, I would say if you have liked the show up to this point, you will probably like it this season.
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