The final season of Smallville started off with such promise, seeming to have plotted a fantastic course to the end.

But even though there were parts of "Ambush" I loved, as a whole it left me with the feeling that the writers are trying to stall until they can kick Clark's final transformation into high gear.

It's not that the episode was bad.  It really wasn't.  The cat-ate-the-canary glances between Lois and Clark at the beginning were priceless, as was the hinted "question" Clark wanted to ask her father.  And even though the Vigilante Registration Act felt like a complete ripoff of the Mutant Registration Act from X-Men, it gave us a pretty cool sequence with Green Arrow and Clark taking down Flagg's truck, only to be foiled by a teleporter. 

We definitely need more Justice League team-ups like this before the series ends.

Oliver's make up moment with Tess was refreshing.  Thank you, Clark, for setting Ollie straight where Tess is concerned, because I'm really liking her in this new role as Watchtower.

I must say I admire her restraint because if I had to hear Ollie whine one more time about Chloe, he'd have ended up with a green arrow lodged in a particularly strategic location. Let's hope that's the last we'll hear about it; that is, of course, until Chloe actually makes her inevitable triumphant return.

Did we really need to have the General show up and contest Lois and Clark's relationship to get that Lois is fully committed to Clark?  I don't think so.  I already believe she's in it heart and soul, and felt the General's inquisition, and subsequent acquiescence, was banal and unnecessary.  Same for the exchanges between Lois and Lucy.  It all seemed like a big time waster.

We're already on episode seven and have barely scratched the surface with Darkseid, which bodes badly for the exploration of that storyline.  Given that in the last scene Rick Flagg declares war on the anti-vigilante movement, I get the distinct impression there is so much getting crammed into this final season, Darkseid is going to end up getting the shaft the way Doomsday did.

Yes, that is both a dig at how they watered down one of Clark's greatest foes, as well as the ridiculous way Clark disposed of him.

It's time to dispense with the tangents and get to the matter at hand: develop Darkseid the way he deserves to be in what little time we have left, and give him a proper showdown with Clark.  I don't want to see this get stuffed into the last one or two episodes of the season.  What a letdown that would be.  Especially when we still have to have one last final confrontation between Clark and his greatest enemy, Lex Luthor - whatever incarnation he may take.

What did you think about "Ambush" and the way this season is progressing as a whole?

Jeffrey Kirkpatrick is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.