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Ever wonder why the Smallville version of Jimmy Olsen is so different from the comic book version? Well, this episode has your answer…

Cosmic Boy comes back in time (again) to warn Clark that he changed history when he saved Chloe, and that Doomsday will kill him the next day, so he gives Clark another Legion ring to send Davis to the future. Clark decides to be Mr. Nice Guy and use black Kryptonite to separate Davis from Doomsday and asks the Justice League for help. But they use a Kryptonite dart to take him down so they can kill Davis before he changes again. Chloe separates Davis from Doomsday, who takes everyone down before they can kill him, while Jimmy saves Clark and learns his secret. Clark tracks down Doomsday and forces him underground as an explosion buries the creature a mile down. The rest of the JL disappears in the process. Chloe reunites with Jimmy but when she says she loves him, Davis fatally stabs Jimmy. Jimmy kills him in return. Meanwhile, Lois finds the ring and accidentally sends herself somewhere else in time. Clark gives up his human identity. And the Kryptonian orb erupts into General Zod.

If there’s one thing Smallville has consistently done well in its eight years on the air, it’s season finales. This was no exception. I really felt like I knew what was going to happen without even reading any spoilers, and I was way off. I had heard a main character was going to die, and suspected that it would either be Tess or Chloe (both of whom were created for the show), or Davis (whenever Clark finally got around to killing him). I knew it probably wouldn’t be Lois because we all know Clark ends up with her in the end, or Ollie, since Green Arrow is sure to become a major hero in his own right (and maybe even get his own show eventually). I never even considered Jimmy. He’s Superman’s pal, the cub reporter with the camera who followed Clark around and took orders from Lois. Or was he?

They’ve definitely taken some major liberties with the Superman mythos on this show, including making Pete Ross African-American, and introducing Lois, Zod, Supergirl, Perry White, and several members of the Justice League before Clark even becomes Supes. But there was always something really off about Jimmy Olsen being at least as old as Clark (maybe even older), not the geeky kid we were used to, and romancing (even marrying) Clark’s best friend. And now the new producers of the show have decided they didn’t like the way that went either, and killed him off.

But they also left themselves an out. At the funeral we find out his name was actually Henry James Olsen, and that he has a little red-headed, freckle-faced younger brother who received Jimmy’s camera from Chloe. We already know that Jimmy created a false backstory for himself to “fit in” the big city life of Metropolis, so anyone else want to bet he used his middle name (he preferred “James” himself) as part of that, and that his little brother is really the Jimmy who will end up as Superman’s pal?

I didn’t intend to spend most of my review discussing Jimmy, but the truth is, that was the real story here, and without it, there’s not much else to tell. After all that buildup, Clark defeated Doomsday in about twenty seconds (if you think he’s not coming back, I have a bridge for sale you might want to look at), and even with the cool special effects, the fight was less than spectacular. On the other hand, as short as Lois’ part was, the fact that she disappeared with the Legion ring was totally unexpected, as was the final cliffhanger, with the whole Kandor thing turning out to be Zod.

The best thing a show can do for me is keep me on my toes, and this episode came through with flying colors.

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