While the show certainly had its ups and downs over its 10-season run, The WB/The CW's Smallville has received a significant amount of praise among DC fans for its contributions to the Superman mythos. Often regarded as the show's biggest success is its definitive portrayal of the Man of Steel's arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor. However, there are two other characters Smallville deserves just as much credit for: Jonathan and Martha Kent.
Played by Annette O'Toole and John Schneider, respectively, Smallville's Ma and Pa Kent are undeniably the definitive live-action versions of Superman's adoptive parents, capturing the essence of the characters in a way that surpassed what had been done before and has yet to be surpassed by anything released since.
Prior to Smallville's premiere in 2001, Ma and Pa Kent had been adapted into live-action on a number of occasions, with the most notable examples being the 1990s television show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and, of course, director Richard Donner's iconic 1978 Superman movie. There's absolutely nothing wrong with these versions. However, what sets Smallville's take on Jonathan and Martha apart is their age.
In most Superman adaptations -- and comic books for that matter -- the Kents are portrayed as rather elderly, giving off a grandparent-esque vibe more than anything else. In contrast, Smallville skewed them slightly younger, so as to accurately paint a picture of a middle-aged couple raising a teenage boy. As such, the show did a fantastic job at making them feel like a real family.
Smallville's Jonathan and Martha Kent were everything Superman's adoptive parents should be. Despite the fact that he came from another world and could lift a car with his bare hands, they loved him as their own, teaching him humility, the value of hard work and to always do the right thing. Clark responded in kind, doing his best to be a good son and help out around the family farm.
However, Clark also butted heads with his parents, as most teenagers do. They had their arguments, some minor in the grand scheme of things, and some that seriously tested their bond. But the Kents always overcame it through the love they had for one another. Like all parent-child relationships, theirs had its hard moments, but the key thing is that it was never toxic or exploitative. Sure, having a kid with super strength around made farming a lot easier, but Clark was never just a tool to Jonathan and Martha -- he was their son.
What's more, Smallville's depiction of Ma and Pa Kent is something DC's subsequent screen projects haven't really been able to top. Martha had a decent showing in 2006's Superman Returns, but Jonathan was absent from the film. Meanwhile, Martha's appearance in Titans Season 2 was merely a cameo. Finally, the Kents' most prominent live-action home since Smallville -- the DC Extended Universe -- has felt like a major step back for the characters.
Played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, respectively, Jonathan and Martha Kent made their DCEU debut in 2013's Man of Steel, with Lane subsequently reprising her role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Credit where it's due, both Costner and Lane give great performances. The way their characters are written, however, leaves quite a bit to be desired.
Man of Steel's Jonathan Kent in particular has received a lot of criticism, and it's not exactly hard to see why. While he certainly loves his son and knows on some level that he's destined for greatness, he is also extremely paranoid of Clark using his abilities, lest he garner unwanted attention or be taken away by the government. The argument could be made that this version of Jonathan is more realistic than any other, and to an extent, that's true. But much of the advice he gives Clark is antithetical to everything Pa Kent is supposed to be, making him come off as incredibly cold. By far the worst moment is when Jonathan strongly implies Clark should have let a group of children trapped in a sinking school bus die instead of using his powers to save them and potentially outing himself.
The perfect contrast to this can be found in the Smallville Season 1 episode "Rogue," which opens with Clark saving a sleeping homeless man from a runaway bus during a trip to Metropolis. When Jonathan learns of the incident, he is worried and maybe even slightly agitated at the prospect that Clark may have been seen. However, he is also proud of his son for doing the right thing and saving an innocent life, recognizing that as the most important takeaway.
In Smallville, the primary value Jonathan and Martha instilled in Clark was love. In Man of Steel, it was fear. Smallville's Jonathan and Martha were often accepting of the fact that Clark would one day leave Smallville behind to forge his own destiny, while Man of Steel's Jonathan was content with the idea of his son spending his entire life on the farm. Smallville also actually gave Martha quite a bit to do during its run. The DCEU's Martha was legitimately great in Man of Steel, providing Clark with some much-needed nurture, but essentially became a plot device in Batman v Superman. Criticize Smallville's decision to make Martha a senator all you like, but at least the show gave her agency in Jonathan's absence.
There's also the matter of Jonathan's Man of Steel death, when he lets himself be carried away by a tornado, rather than allow his son to save him in front of other people -- a moment that fails on multiple levels. The film is supposed to be different than what we've come to expect from Superman stories, but Pa Kent essentially telling his son to commit negligent patricide is way too out-of-character.
Furthermore, the point of Pa Kent's death is that it's supposed to be something not even Superman can prevent, teaching the hero the hard lesson that he can't always save everyone. Smallville clearly understood this, with Jonathan's death in the series coming via heart attack. Jonathan's Man of Steel death was supposed to teach Clark the same lesson. But it doesn't really work, because not only could Clark have easily saved his dad from the tornado, he could have possibly even saved him without anyone noticing his powers.
Smallville's Jonathan and Martha Kent always implored Clark to use caution when exercising his superpowers, but never asked him to actively repress who he was. They weren't so old that any genuine conflict with Clark felt off-limits, but their relationship wasn't needlessly mean-spirited. They were Clark's guardians, his mentors, his friends and occasionally his disciplinarians. But most importantly, they were his parents. And Smallville conveyed that fact in a unique way that hadn't really been done before, and certainly hasn't been replicated since.