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And this may be shocking but...this is a spoiler-free post. Yes, I'm discussing SMallville's future, and it's spoiler-free. Please try to keep any comments the same. I'll do an addendum and warn as fast as I can if spoilers *do* make it into the comments, but I can only do my best.
***
From the beginning of season one (when I was actually curious as to whether the show would make it a year), I was pretty darn sure that Smallville would only be a four year show. And that was before I heard about any five-year plan.
Look at the layout of the show and the premise. Superman as a teenager. We've got four years of high school. Any expectations of the same cast members staying together throughout at least a year of college? Not gonna happen. It's not going to happen with the characters. Nor are they all going to stay in Smallville and laze about for a year and try and find themselves.
Logically, for a story at least somewhat steeped in reality (as much as a science fiction show can be), unless the story then becomes *just* Clark, it's going to end at the end of season four. Lana will be running from Smallville as soon as she can. She's already trying to get out. Pete is gone. I bet he'll go to Met U, but he was the only one who was logically going to stick with Clark the longest. Without him this season...well, there goes Clark's one really reliable friendship.
(Side note: Hmmmm, you know, Sam's leaving the show might actually be a genius move to get Clark to move on. Everyone moves on without him, so he is forced to make choices that he wouldn't have done without a push. Whereas Clark sometimes seems like the leader of that friendship group, the leader is often the one you can't live without, the glue. I still stick by my delusional idea that Pete was the glue, which makes for an interesting dynamic. How do they change without the glue? The group was sure falling apart at the end of last season.)
And besides the fact that Clark and Lex are obviously going to have a rift of some sort...Clark is going to *need* to get away from Lex, because part of growing up is making your own decisions. Jonathan changed in season 3 and the progression was made toward less trying to control Clark. Lex and Clark's involvement in each other's lives is a little *too* involved for two people who are so fiercely independent (or trying to assert that independence, as they both are). They're both too strong-willed. They're also vastly different while being nearly the same. They don't recognize each other's space. Lex, because he rarely has anyone he feels close to, so he tends to get overinvolved in the lives of those he *does* get close to. An example of someone who is happy with that is Lana. Clark doesn't want the overinvolvement though, because it's not safe. Clark is desperate to help his dear friends, but Lex doesn't want that help. That's because Lex is the giver, not the taker, in relationships. He's in control. Clark and Lex also don't understand each other's boundaries, because it's not *their* boundaries. Clark will get much better at recognizing this (Pete and his mother are good influences on that front). Lex will just slowly shut himself off more and more from people.
Okay, that got a little off target. Anyway.
My thoughts on the show ending after this season have nothing to do with a movie, nothing to do with spoilers for the coming season, nothing to do with contracts or the plans of two guys who share one name. It has to do with a natural story arc, what can be feasible for multiple characters with a divergent future, and what's feasible for the evolution of Clark Kent into Superman. Clark *has* to make a break and take the time away from everyone else to figure out who he is. The season enders for 2 and 3 have been about self-discovery. Him trying to figure out who he is. It's the theme of the show. Eventually he has to walk away from his parents for a while, his friends, his enemies, and especially from Jor-El (and I think that's a big reason for him to get out of Smallville), and take the time to make his *own* mind up. And it just feels right and logical and organic for it to be at the same time as when everyone leaves him and home (even though they're not really leaving him).
***
From the beginning of season one (when I was actually curious as to whether the show would make it a year), I was pretty darn sure that Smallville would only be a four year show. And that was before I heard about any five-year plan.
Look at the layout of the show and the premise. Superman as a teenager. We've got four years of high school. Any expectations of the same cast members staying together throughout at least a year of college? Not gonna happen. It's not going to happen with the characters. Nor are they all going to stay in Smallville and laze about for a year and try and find themselves.
Logically, for a story at least somewhat steeped in reality (as much as a science fiction show can be), unless the story then becomes *just* Clark, it's going to end at the end of season four. Lana will be running from Smallville as soon as she can. She's already trying to get out. Pete is gone. I bet he'll go to Met U, but he was the only one who was logically going to stick with Clark the longest. Without him this season...well, there goes Clark's one really reliable friendship.
(Side note: Hmmmm, you know, Sam's leaving the show might actually be a genius move to get Clark to move on. Everyone moves on without him, so he is forced to make choices that he wouldn't have done without a push. Whereas Clark sometimes seems like the leader of that friendship group, the leader is often the one you can't live without, the glue. I still stick by my delusional idea that Pete was the glue, which makes for an interesting dynamic. How do they change without the glue? The group was sure falling apart at the end of last season.)
And besides the fact that Clark and Lex are obviously going to have a rift of some sort...Clark is going to *need* to get away from Lex, because part of growing up is making your own decisions. Jonathan changed in season 3 and the progression was made toward less trying to control Clark. Lex and Clark's involvement in each other's lives is a little *too* involved for two people who are so fiercely independent (or trying to assert that independence, as they both are). They're both too strong-willed. They're also vastly different while being nearly the same. They don't recognize each other's space. Lex, because he rarely has anyone he feels close to, so he tends to get overinvolved in the lives of those he *does* get close to. An example of someone who is happy with that is Lana. Clark doesn't want the overinvolvement though, because it's not safe. Clark is desperate to help his dear friends, but Lex doesn't want that help. That's because Lex is the giver, not the taker, in relationships. He's in control. Clark and Lex also don't understand each other's boundaries, because it's not *their* boundaries. Clark will get much better at recognizing this (Pete and his mother are good influences on that front). Lex will just slowly shut himself off more and more from people.
Okay, that got a little off target. Anyway.
My thoughts on the show ending after this season have nothing to do with a movie, nothing to do with spoilers for the coming season, nothing to do with contracts or the plans of two guys who share one name. It has to do with a natural story arc, what can be feasible for multiple characters with a divergent future, and what's feasible for the evolution of Clark Kent into Superman. Clark *has* to make a break and take the time away from everyone else to figure out who he is. The season enders for 2 and 3 have been about self-discovery. Him trying to figure out who he is. It's the theme of the show. Eventually he has to walk away from his parents for a while, his friends, his enemies, and especially from Jor-El (and I think that's a big reason for him to get out of Smallville), and take the time to make his *own* mind up. And it just feels right and logical and organic for it to be at the same time as when everyone leaves him and home (even though they're not really leaving him).
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