Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Monday, September 2, 2024

DVD/TV Series Review: Smallville Season 2

 


The 23-episode second season of Smallville aired during the 2002/2003 TV season. It picks up immediately after the events of the season one finale, with Clark obviously saving Lana from the tornado and then showing the aftermath of the tornado's damage and the threat to Clark from the reporter who found out his secret. Lana becomes suspicious of Clark and how he saved her but does not remember the exact details. After that, the show jumps forward in time a few months to the start of the new school year and continues on from there. In season two, there are some "freak of the week" episodes, but the majority of the season involves character-developing arcs that extend and intertwine throughout the season. Most of the cast is brought back, except Eric Johnson. The character of Whitney is mostly written out of the series, but Johnson does make an appearance during the season. The main "addition" to the cast is elevating John Glover (Lionel Luther) to a series regular. All of the characters get some amount of a story arc to give them depth, with Clark's arc being the largest. Clark's powers continue to develop, and his powers are less secret this season. As was the case in season one, there are several notable and recognizable guest stars, including Sean Ferris, Maggie Lawson, Martin Cummins, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Emanuelle Vaugier, Lizzy Caplan (reprising her season one role), Zachery Ty Bryan, and of course, the most notable, Christopher Reeve, who for many was their first Superman.

The DVD set is a six-disc set. The extras include deleted scenes for select episodes, a gag reel, two commentary tracks on the Red Kryptonite episode (one with the showrunners and one with Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristen Kreuk, and one of the writers), and a commentary track with the showrunners on the episode that Christopher Reeve appeared. There is also a feature on the Superman mythology and multiple short featurettes under the heading "The Chole Chronicles," which basically features Chole investigating/interviewing background characters.

Overall, the season is a solid follow-up to season one. All the actors are more seasoned and the show shifted slightly away from the weekly high-school drama. There is the obligatory love triangle story between Chole, Clark, and Lana, with the writers trying to stretch out getting any characters into an actual relationship as much as possible. Allison Mack continued to do a great job as Chole, which makes her post-Smallville life even crazier as she should have gone on to have a much longer career after the show ended. Sam Jones is given a bit more to do other than just being Clark's sidekick, and Jonathan and Martha are given more extensive storylines, which are independent of just raising Clark. Michael Rosenbaum continues to shine as a version of Lex, who is somewhere between a loyal friend who wants to be a good person and the evil mastermind he is destined to become. Ultimately, I would say that if you liked season one, you will likely like (or love) this season even more. If you were a bit lukewarm to season one, the second season improved on the first season enough that it is worth sticking with the show.

No comments: