So in case you missed my season 1 review, the basic pitch here is "Superman's origin story through the lens of high school drama". This sets it apart from the more recent crop of DC superhero shows not because of the frequent doses of romantic angst - trust me, Smallville has nothing on Arrow, on that front - but because it places the lead characters in a position of reduced power within society. Even if Clark Kent can bend steel with his bare hands, he's still just a teenager in the eyes of most of the people he knows, and they treat him as such.
Smallville ran for 10 years, so presumably they are eventually going to need to deal with how Clark and the others adjust to adulthood, but we aren't there in this season.
On an episode by episode basis this is more or less much of a muchness with season one. Clark has to deal with some powered threat (most of which are still caused by kryptonite) while also trying to sort out his love-life and find his place in the world. There are a couple of stinkers ("Prodigal" makes no sense, and "Precipice" is just painful), but on the whole they're generally serviceable enough.
Perhaps more importantly for the show's longevity, this season also starts to build out some longer running story elements. Clark's friendship with Lex Luthor experiences its first cracks, for instance, and we start to learn more about why Clark was sent to Earth - which may include a purpose that is quite at odds with Clark's own egalitarian, helpful ethos. I'm quite interested to see how some of those elements will play out in the coming seasons.
Smallville isn't always a home run kind of show, but it manages to get a few runs on the scoreboard each season, so I will be back for another innings soon enough.
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