DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Smallville - The Complete Fourth Season
By Patrick Luce
Sep 14, 2005, 18:02 GMT

With the addition of new cast members and other nods to comic book history, Smallville – The Complete Fourth Season continues the story of a young Clark Kent on his way to becoming the superhero icon Superman.

The six-disc DVD set collects all 22 episodes of the fourth season and introduces Lois Lane to the show.

It also has other nods to comic book history with appearances by a speedster kid, who has various identities including Wally West and Barry Allen, a young Mr. Mxyzptlk and even Krypto - Superman’s pet dog.

The set, which covers Kent’s senior year, sees Clark trying to collect the three elemental stones which he hopes will explain his purpose on the planet, and sees his friend Lex Luther begin his turn to a darker side.

Clark also has to continue to deal with the many women in his life. Clark’s love for Lana continues to be complicated by his feelings for Chloe, who learns his secret this season, and the new arrival of her cousin, Lois Lane - who Clark has a flirting kind of love/hate relationship similar to what develops later in life.

Clark also begins a short lived career on the football team, but decides to quit the team when he realizes that it would be harder to hide his powers.

Even thought it has become a bit formulaic by the fourth season, Smallville continues to be entertaining, and maintains its good mix of comedy with action that has made it a hit on television.

With the possession of Lana by a 16th century witch, the fourth season is a bit darker than past seasons of the show, but the writers never go overboard or forsake the family feel to Smallville.

John Glover, who plays Lex’s evil dad Lionel Luther, continues to steal a lot of the scenes that he is in, and is extremely good in the episode where he and Clark switch bodies.

Clark flies in Season Four as he searches for the elemental stones

Glover does great job of mimicking the “innocent wide eyed” look that is often on Clark’s face, and you can’t help but laugh when he calls Annette O’Toole mom.<!--page-->

Clark continues to deal with the women in his life in season four

The only downside to the set is that there isn’t really a jumping on point for new fans to figure out what happened in past seasons. The series starts with Lana in Paris, and with the introduction of Lois Lane.

Since the other seasons have also been released on DVD this isn’t a big problem, but might keep someone from enjoying the season as much as they could if they had the basic background of what happened in Season Three.

The DVD set comes loaded with several special features including Behind Closed Doors – a look inside the show’s writers room; a great documentary called Being Lois Lane that features interviews with the various actresses that have played the role; and commentary on three episodes; and unaired scenes.

Glover steals the show almost every time he is on screen

Although most shows start to run out of steam by the fourth season, Smallville continues to entertain and explore the early days of Superman. The DVD set is perfect for any fan of the show, and won’t disappoint.

Smallville – The Complete Fourth Season is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an Oct. 10 release. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.