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Overview
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Smallville is a small town in Kansas that just so happened to be the place where a little four year old boy named Kal-El landed in his spaceship. It was around this exact time that meteors from his destroyed homeworld rained down on the unsuspecting populace of this quiet town. Taken in and raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent the season revolves around the teenage Clark's attempts to deal with highschool life whilst his powers and abilities grow each day.
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Characters
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Tom Welling has the rather large task of being a young Superman and surprisingly seems very comfortable in the role. Its a different time in Superman's life and Clark Kent isn't merely a disguise its who he is. On the farm he doesn't have to hide and you see Clark at ease, elsewhere he has to constantly hid his abilities often isolating hs friends. If the show didn't find an actor worthy to fill the lead role it would have obviously fell to pieces. Welling however is one of the best and most consistant actors in 'Smallville'.

Other notable roles include the love intrest for Clark Kent himself Lana Lang (Kristen Kruek) who of course happens to be a cheerleader and well pretty hot to be honest. She's a decent actress to be fair not just eye candy. Clarks two parents providing the ever sage advice and sound reason are one Jonathan & Martha Kent ( John Schneider & Annette O'Toole). Two pillars of strength that provide not only help the audience relate to Clark's alien origins but also provide some great performances.
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Strengths & Weaknesses
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The shows received a lot of acclaim for its visual effects and rightly so. Achieving what they have on a tight budget is extremely commendable and more so when you think of the time constraints that also factor. As such 'Smallville' might not have been possible on this scale a few years ago simply due to the large amount of effects work required. Watching the action scenes unfold is often a visual treat especially with superpowers in the equation.

However at the same time it delivers too many one off villains and monsters. These encounters are usually resolved by the end of the show and the future superman takes on another 'meteor freak' the next week. Long running enemies and story archs are definitely something lacking from this first series. Its not unforgivable mind you, as most of these villains are interesting and diverse. But some weaker episodes had a very similar premise like 'Cool' & 'Craving' which were both about a freak absorbing (thus killing) things from people. The season gets better as it moves along however and mostly any episode featuring Clark gaining a new power is very enjoyable.

'Hothead' - 7/10
Clark's tired of hiding behind his natural talents and wants to play football like everyone else. Jonathon Kent fears he could not only expose himself but seriously hurt someone. However his coach has been altered by meteor rocks granting him pyrokinesis and he begins injuring those in his way.

'Cool' - 6/10
Sean Kelvin ends up falling through the a frozen lake and is 'saved' by the effects of meteor rocks. Emerging with the unstoppable desire to drain heat by any means he kills his girlfriend (shattering her frozen body in the process) and then targets Chloe as his next victim.

'Craving' - 6/10
Jodi is obsessed with her weight, tormented by people at school with only a few real friends she takes on a new diet. The incredible weight loss from meteor enhanced vegetables comes at a price and she must feed on humans to cope with the unnatural loss of weight.

'Nicodemus' - 7/10
In one of Luthercorp's secret experiments a scientist Dr. Hamilton has used meteor rocks to resurrect an extinct flower capable of spraying toxic darts into unknowing victims. Those infected lose all inhibitions and among its victims are Clarks close friends.

'Reaper' - 6/10
Whilst attempting to aid his mother in suicide Tyler Randall accidentally falls to his death imbedding a piece of meteor rock in his wrist. Reanimated in the morgue he discovers he turns anyone he touches to ashes and sets about easing the suffering of those he deems worthy.

'Crush' - 7/10
Justin Gaines, a once keen artist, was involved in a hit and run incident damaging his drawing hand in the process. Discovering he has the gift of telekinesis he seeks to use his power to exact revenge on the parties responsible.