The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "Bizarro," the seventh-season opener for The CW's "Smallville."

The Superman legend continues to captivate as Bizarro and a lost daughter of Krypton emerge to shake up "Smallville's" seventh season.

Is this a TV show or feature film goodness? The chaos and multiple story threads bearing down on Clark Kent (Tom Welling) lead to an action-packed premier peppered with special effects. The movie-like vibe shines through, and the convergence of plots creates a level of excitement all good premiers need.

Season 6 climaxed with a series of explosive events. Let's take a quick tour of last season's cliffhanger, "Phantom."

Lex Luthor's (Michael Rosenbaum) Project Ares seeks to develop an army of super soldiers, but this obsession leads to a dangerous pursuit of a body-jumping Kryptonian wraith. Meanwhile, Lionel Luthor (John Glover) and the Martian Manhunter (Phil Morris), also known as J'onn J'onzz, are maneuvering to curtail the threat.

Unknown to Lex, Lois Lane (Erica Durance) is slowly gathering clues to his nefarious activities. Her investigation leads to Reeve's Dam, where she is stabbed by a security guard. Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), responding to Lois's cell phone call, arrives at the dam to find her near death. It's at this point Chloe learns her past exposures to Kyptonite bears consequences. Lois is healed by one of Chloe's tears. Unfortunately, the power now leaves Chloe near death.

Events grow far grimmer for Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk). She attempts to end her disastrous marriage to Lex and is apparently killed as her vehicle mysteriously explodes.

At the episode's conclusion, Clark finally clashes with the wraith at the dam. Following exposure to Kyptonite and a Kryptonian crystal, the creature fails to yield and instead shape changes into a clone of Clark. As this Clark duplicate flies upward, its skin grows white and angler, displaying the unmistakable look of one of Superman's most notorious comic-book villains, Bizarro.

Outside the dam, Lex arrives, but is faced with a serious setback as well. He is arrested by authorities for the murder of Lana.

The seventh season premier, "Bizarro," opens with Reeve's Dam rupturing in the wake of Clark and Bizarro's ongoing fight. Lex, handcuffed and trapped in the back of a police car, is swept underwater. As the water overtakes him he is rescued by a mysterious blonde girl. She wastes no time in Lex's presence though, flying up and away with staggering speed after depositing him on the shoreline.

With Bizarro now thrown clear of the dam, Clark returns, rescuing Lois and Chloe. At the hospital, doctors are perplexed by Chloe's unnatural vitals, but despite their best efforts, she dies. Naturally, it's not long before Chloe resurrects. She persistently avoids Clark's inquires regarding her newfound powers.

Meanwhile, Lionel is pulled from the river near the dam by an off-camera savior.

Following Lex's rescue, he is shaken to the core. "Why would she save me after all I've done?" he laments. Seeing this as a sign to embrace redemption, he surrenders to authorities rather than flee the country. However, Bizarro has other plans for Lex. The villain breaks Lex out of jail, pressuring him to surrender a supply a Lex Corps' Kryptonite. Though the rock is deadly to Clark, Bizarro grows stronger from each exposure.

Fortunately for Clark, Martian Manhunter is on hand to supply wisdom and assistance. Clark's greatest strength, the Earth's yellow sun, is Bizarro's Achilles heal. With that in mind, Clark once again confronts Bizarro, and banishes the villain to space.

By the episode's conclusion, Lex is back in jail, the mysterious super-powered girl is clearly ready to make her first major appearance, and Lana is revealed to be in hiding in Shanghai, China. We all knew she faked her death!

What Worked

As always, it's a treat to watch a good super-powered smackdown. Clark taking a nose dive into a boulder and Bizarro's cringe-inducing impaling into a power line tower are nice touches. With a Bizarro appearance, you expect no less.

We're also given a classic Superman moment when Clark displays the truly godlike nature of his powers, evaporating a massive flood of water with his heat vision. It may have pushed the show's budget restraints, but at least they tried.

Lastly, Laura Vandervoort as Kara Zor-El (Supergirl), Lex's mysterious saviour, is an enticing addition. They wasted no time in slipping her into the show's opening credits. Though I can't issue my final verdict since she has no speaking parts, her looks and bearing certainly mirror here comic counterpart. In fact, there were several points in the episode grounding Kara to her comic origin. Two stand out. Her arrival underwater is similar to DC's depiction, though the location was changed from Gotham Bay to Reeve's Dam. Instead of a messy encounter with Batman, we see her rescue Lex. The image of her hovering underwater like a heavenly emissary is certainly a nicely staged nod to the non-Kryptonian Matrix Supergirl, who eventually morphed into an angel.

What Didn't Work

Time for a geeky comic-book rant session! Bizarro burning down an electrical line worker with heat vision? Come on, why deprive us of those classic flame breath or ice vision powers? And leaving us with a Bizarro minus his backwards babble should land the show's writers with a lifetime sentence to Belle Reve.

On the serious side, I cannot produce any serious gripes for this episode. A brief close up of Martian Manhunter carrying Bizarro out of the atmosphere would have been helpful, but that is a minor quibble.

What does bother me gravitates toward the series itself. For one, Clark's Smallville years need to conclude. The early period of his employment at the Daily Planet and the rise of Superman are looming far too close now. Do the math. Move it along!

Secondly, the ongoing discussion regarding how long the series will continue irks me. The real story of Superman starts in Metropolis at about the same time as it does for all the other heroes that will stand at his side. How can you miss an opportunity to explore that? Whether they decide to rename the show "Metropolis" or produce a new series of DC programs, "Smallville's" producers need to embrace the cape(s) and take flight.

Final Thoughts

Season 7 is off to a slick start. Can the show's creative staff elevate the series higher? No doubt about it. I'm clearly a broken record on this subject, but the writers of "Smallville" are playing in a massive sandbox containing decades of epic DC universe stories. To fail to acknowledge that, or not deliver a captivating and evolving program, is just plain inexcusable. "Smallville" should be no less than a grand entry point to years, if not longer, of magical DC heroics.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Bizarro," the first episode of the seventh season of "Smallville," was written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, and directed by Michael Rohl. "Smallville" airs on The CW Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.