So we finally made it to season 10, the final season. Dear God, i forgot how nauseatingly liberal this season was! And during the reign of king barry nonetheless! i mean, this whole anti-vigilante, pro-maximum security thing are the hallmarks of a Clinton administration, and yet it’s being pushed as if it’s conservatives who are the ones behind it! Well, canada, you have no clue about how small, Midwestern towns truly are, and you don’t have a clue about how American politics work! But then again, you gave us justin bieber and fucking trudeau: congratulations, canada! Jon Snow knows more than you do!

On that note, I can speak with a surety that the fanboys who hate on the latter seasons in favor of the annoying, soap-opera, Lana-centric first four seasons are not doing so out of disgust for its liberal slant: Smallville was made by canadians, it was always influenced by liberalism. I cannot see anything instrinsically better in the first four seasons over the latter seasons. I mean, I’m pleased that the latter seasons threw in so much DC Comics lore into the story, from Geoff Johns’ saving the day with “Absolute Justice” to the Zatanna episodes and other stuff (oh, did you miss Black Adam’s dagger in the episode “Isis”?).

While i’m certain that i was unable to convince my brother that Callum Blue’s oversexualized Zod (he behaved in similar fashion to Oscar Isaac’s oversexualized Apocalypse from X-Men…Apocalypse) was better than commie bastard Michael Shannon’s specific Zod, he did get a kick out of Hawkman (who was immensely more capable than the version that appeared in Legends of Tomorrow – both him and Hawkgirl) talking smack to “soap opera” Green Arrow. Hey, Justin Hartley might have had more time on whatever soap opera he’s in right now, but at least he looks his co-stars in the eye when he’s talking to them. I will say this, Stephen Amell’s “I am the Green Arrow” reveal beat out the one in Smallville by a long shot.

While we’re comparing notes with Smallville and CW’s current run of DC Comics shows, let’s talk about…one of my least favorite characters in both universes, Cat Grant. In Supergirl, she’s presented as this tough-as-nails liberal mouthpiece who, despite being a feminazi, will ultimately defer to the opinions of Kara’s male co-workers over her own. Just another out-of-touch hypocrite, like Hillary Clinton. In Smallville, she is presented as a 40-years-younger version of Dolores Umbridge, complete with Hello Kitty paraphernalia. Also she is a conservative caricature: and not even a so-bad-it’s-good caricature that can be reclaimed, like Nick Offerman’s character from Parks and Recreation. I suppose this portrayal colored my view of Cat Grant with a nauseating shade of pink that Supergirl’s portrayal did nothing to change. I do have to wonder if the part about her son and her broken marriage are from the comics, since both appeared in both universes.

Then again, not all comparisons need be negative ones. Fem-Lex, aka. Tess Mercer, brought a delightful amount of true Americanism into a predominantly canadian show (inwardly, i squeal with delight every time i hear her correctly pronounce “about” or any word like “bag”). I also realized that she has the opposite arc of Lex Luthor: whereas we are introduced to Lex as a good man, fighting to get out from under the shadow of his past, and eventually succumbing to that darkness, Tess starts out as an antagonist, who is slowly turned into a helpful and eventually sympathetic character, fighting to get out from under the shadow of her past and the Luthor name. Nevertheless, like how they brought up Julian Luthor at least three times in the last few seasons, her reveal as a long-lost Luthor scion is an apparent soap opera trait.

Still on the subject of comparisons, Smallville’s Amanda Waller may have been closer to the proper weight of the character than Arrow’s Waller, but she was still too good looking. Also Smallville’s Rick Flag (aka. Dick Flag) was infinitely worse than the one from the Suicide Squad movie. And I had a laugh making fun of old man General Tullius Deathstroke on Smallville, especially since Smallville’s Slade is an evil military general who is imposing his repressive political regime in the name of higher and darker forces, exactly like Tullius in Skyrim.

Maybe it’s because we both played Soul Calibur IV and The Force Unleashed, where every time he gets hit he whines like a little b*tch, but my brother and I saw Sam Witier as Doomsday’s “human” side as lame and whiny and annoying beyond belief. Also we both agreed that it was cheap to bring in Jimmy Olsen, kill him off, then have his younger twin brother take up his mantle and name in the not-so-distant future (2017, when the show’s “future” happens, is now!).

But I digress. The latter seasons, for all their flaws, were still enjoyable. We got to see plenty of great superheroes onscreen, and, despite the show giving us the slip in that last episode, we got to see Clark finally accept his destiny as Superman. Despite all of Smallville’s many flaws, I think something that endeared this version of Superman to us was not merely because they made him “human” and “relatable” (i saw myself in his struggles with his father, especially in the conflict between his personal desires and his greater destiny), but because we kind of grew up with him. For better or worse, we had Clark Kent for a significant part of our lives (for me, it started around season 5 and continued until the very end).