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"Smallville" Episode Guide

Smallville

Season 1

Many thanks to Peter T. McDermott for writing up each summary for this "Smallville" Episode Guide.

Episode Guide

This guide does not list airdates for repeat showings.

Episodes

  1. Pilot Episode - Summary
  2. Metamorphosis - Summary
  3. Hothead - Summary
  4. X-Ray - Summary
  5. Cool - Summary
  6. Hourglass - Summary
  7. Craving - Summary
  8. Jitters - Summary
  9. Rogue - Summary
  10. Shimmer - Summary
  11. Hug - Summary
  12. Leech - Summary
  13. Kinetic - Summary
  14. Zero - Summary
  15. Nicodemus - Summary
  16. Stray - Summary
  17. Reaper - Summary
  18. Drone - Summary
  19. Crush - Summary
  20. Obscura - Summary
  21. Tempest - Summary



Summaries

"Pilot Episode"

Written By: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Directed By: David Nutter
Producers: Aired in the U.S.A.: 10.16.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Jeremy Creek: Adrian McMorran
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Young Lana Lang: Jade Unterman
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Young Alexander "Lex" Luthor: Matthew Munn
Alexander "Lex" Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
In 1989 Smallville, Kansas is the "Creamed Corn Capitol" of the world with a population of 25,001. All that changes when a meteor shower rains down on the town in a destructive storm of death. In seconds, a little girl named Lana Lang sees her parent killed. People and property are laid waste as the town and surroundings are pummeled and ruined by the deadly shower. A millionaire industrialist named Lionel Luthor who's acquiring local farms, sees his timid son Lex near killed and left completely bald by a falling meteor's impact. A victim of a yearly high school football-hazing incident, tied like a scarecrow with a red "S" on his chest, is found comatose in a cornfield from the meteors. And a childless couple named Jonathan and Martha Kent are run off the road from a near-miss of what they think is a meteor. Leaving the wreck of their truck, instead what they find is a small boy and the remains of a spaceship!
Present Day has Smallville with a population of 45,000 and it's now known as the "Meteor Capitol" of the world. The young boy found by the Kents is named Clark and is a freshman at Smallville High who desperately wants to play for the football team. But his father refuses due to his "special" abilities which Jonathan feels would endanger the other boys. It seems Clark is stronger, faster, and harder to hurt then other boys his age. As a result of the argument with his Dad, Clark misses the school bus, but beats it to school by running at lightning speed through the cornfields on the way there! He meets his friends Chloe and Pete who wants Clark to help him expose the hazing "Scarecrow" incidents that occur annually on the high school "Crows" football team. Clark goes over to see his neighbor Lana Lang, but as he reaches her to speak he suddenly collapses in a heap! She helps him to his feet as her boyfriend Whitney, who's the quarterback on the Crows, arrives. Clark notices a small green stone that Lana wears in a necklace, and as Lana and Whitney leave he suddenly regains his strength. Back at school, the boy who we first saw hazed in 1989 and left comatose, is somehow in the school smashing a trophy case and muttering about revenge. Then we see Clark daydreaming of using his abilities to be a football hero and impress Lana. Later, he stands deep in thought on a bridge on the way home from school. Lex Luthor, who now runs the local fertilizer plants for his father, flies down the road in a Porsche towards Clark. A truck drops a bundle from its rear in front of Lex, and he swerves to miss it. But that swerve sends him careening directly into Clark on the bridge. And the Porsche, Lex, and Clark are smashed through the railing and hurl into the cold, deep waters below!
Lex is knocked out by the impact with the water. But Clark merely swims over to the car, peels the roof back like paper, and pulls Lex to the shore where he revives him. Lex knows that he hit Clark head-on, and something very strange is going on, but Clark plays it off as Lex mis-remembering the accident. That night, Lana gives Whitney her green necklace to wear in the big game for luck. She tells him that it's a part of the meteorite that killed her parents and it's time for it to bring good luck to someone. At an auto repair shop in town, an ex-football player from 1989 who participated in the hazing back then is visited by Jeremy, the boy he helped victimize. Jeremy has developed weird electrical powers from the meteor that nearly killed him, and uses them to blast his torturer with punishing bolts! Meanwhile, Clark arrives home to find a brand new pickup truck bought for him in gratitude by Lex. A truck his Father refuses to let him keep, telling Clark the money that paid for it is dirty, obtained by the Luthors through broken promises to local farmers. Then Jonathan relents and tells Clark the truth of his origins, and even shows him the ship he has hidden away all these years. The truth is too much for Clark to bear, and he runs off in a blast of super-speed as his father calls after him.
That night, Lana goes to visit her parent's graves, and meets Clark hiding there still upset from the news his father has given him. Without the necklace on her, Clark is able to get close to Lana, and they sit and quietly talk and get to know each other better. The next day, Clark visits Lex and tells him he cannot accept his gift, but he's grateful for the gesture. Lex tells Clark that his saving Lex in the accident was a second chance for him. He also tells Clark he wants them to be friends, and hopes nothing will interfere with that wish. The shock victims in town from Jeremy are up to three when Pete and Chloe decide to show Clark her "Wall of Weird" as she puts it. According to Chloe, the town has had a tremendous outburst of inexplicable phenomena ever since the day of the meteor shower. And Pete and Chloe think Jeremy's at fault in the electrical attacks, as he disappeared from his hospital bed after a huge storm awoke his powers. Clark sees an old magazine cover on Chloe's wall of Lana crying over her parent's death, and telling the pair "it's all my fault", he runs out of the room. But once outside, he's jumped by Whitney and his team buddies. Whitney is wearing Lana's necklace and it weakens Clark. He's told he's been elected to be this year's freshman class hazing victim, the Scarecrow. Whitney sees Clark looking at the necklace and puts it around Clark's neck to taunt him over Lana. The football toughs throw the weakened Clark in the back of Whitney's pickup and speed off with the helpless young man!
We next see Clark tied up in a field at night like a scarecrow, the green necklace keeping him too weak to escape, a red "S" for Scarecrow painted on his chest in ridicule. Then who walks up but Jeremy, the hazing victim from 1989. He tells Clark he's better off hanging in the field, as he intends to go to the Homecoming Dance and kill everyone he can. His mind has been twisted by the rampant power he's attained, and Clark begs him to no avail not to hurt his friends. Jeremy leaves, but is spotted coming out of the field by Lex who then finds Clark and frees him. The necklace falls off and Clark leaves Lex holding the necklace as speeds off to save his class members. He confronts Jeremy who finds that Clark's incredible speed prevents him from entering the school. Then he attacks Clark in a wild blaze of arcing electricity. But Clark is too strong and throws Jeremy off. Then Jeremy tries to use a nearby truck to ram Clark through a wall, and only succeeds in rupturing the water pipes in the wall. As he sees Clark is unhurt he tries to use his powers to attack while water pours around him. This results in a massive backlash of power that burns out Jeremy's powers and restores his mind to sanity. Later, as the football players leave the dance, they find that their pickups have been stacked on top of each other like pieces of firewood, a little payback from Clark before he left. As Clark later watches Whitney return Lana home in a slightly dented up truck, he daydreams of Lana and he sharing a last dance of the evening together. The dream is so vivid, he whispers a "Thank You" to Lana. And as she enters her front door, she turns towards where Clark stands. And as though she heard his quiet gratitude, she smiles softly towards him and quietly enters her home, leaving Clark with a beautiful smile to dream of.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Metamorphosis"

Written By: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Directed By: David Nutter
Producers: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10.23.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Greg Arkin: Chad E. Donella
Mrs. Arkin: Gabrielle Rose
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Alexander "Lex" Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Lana Lang enters her bedroom one evening to find a gift box left there anonymously. When the box is opened, out fly beautiful butterflies, some of which have green, glowing wings. Lana doesn't know she's also being videotaped by her secret admirer at that moment! When Greg Arkin gets home from taping Lana, he's confronted by his Mother who has found Greg's tape collection. She tells him that military academy is his next stop. Greg's bug collection numbers in the thousands. They're all over his room, including a jar of angry hornets that glow green like the butterflies. When Greg drives his collection to the country to free it before he's sent off by his mother, the jar with the hornets in it falls and breaks in the car. The swarm of angry insect attacks Greg, stinging him several times. He runs off the road into a telephone pole and the car's interior glows green as Greg's screams echo in the night. Later, his mother goes into his room looking for him unsuccessfully. She leaves the room without noticing her son who is up in the ceiling's shadows, stuck to the roof like a bug.
Clark wakes the next morning, and he's floating three feet over his bed! He crashes back down into his bed, even as his Mom's yelling at him for being late for the Farmer's Market. Later at the market, he meets Lana's boyfriend Whitney who wants Lana's necklace back from Clark. The same necklace he put on Clark's neck in last week's hazing incident where Whitney and his football cronies tied up Clark in a cornfield. Clark tells Whitney the necklace is still in the field as far as he knows. Meanwhile, Greg has asked Lana for help on a paper for school, and Whitney warns Greg to stay away from Lana. Lex Luthor has noticed all this while visiting the market, and he also notices Clark's affection for Lana. While driving home, Whitney's truck is ambushed by a crazed Greg who jumps on the roof from a nearby tree, and beats the cab with superhuman strength until Whitney crashes. As Greg flees, the Kents are also returning home and they come upon the crash scene with Whitney unconscious inside the now burning vehicle. Clark pulls Whitney out, and he drapes himself over his limp form. In the next second, the truck explodes enveloping Clark and Whitney in a huge ball of flame!
As the smoke clears, Jonathan Kent runs to Clark whose smoking form is still bent over Whitney. As he touches him, he jerks his hand back scalded from Clark's still red-hot form! But Clark rises unhurt, and he has shielded Whitney from any serious harm also. Later Lex visits Lana and tells her he thinks Clark is the better man for her. He also asks her where her missing necklace is, the one her boyfriend Whitney had. He leaves, but not before suggesting Lana ask Whitney where he was during the hazing incident. Mrs. Arkin comes home to find Greg's got the thermostat on 101 degrees in the house, and his room looks like a cocoon. Greg appears and tells his mother it's time for him to eat. She backs away, but he covers her body with a huge web that sprays from his mouth!
Lex and Clark meet and Lex purposely exposes Clark to Lana's necklace to observe the ill effects it causes him. He then places it in a small box he says is made of lead, and as Clark recovers he gives the boxed necklace to him. He tells Clark that he can win Lana away from Whitney if he takes the necklace to her. While Clark ponders this, Lana confronts Whitney and he admits he took part in the hazing over jealousy of Clark, and that he lost her necklace. Lana storms off hurt and disappointed, and runs into Greg who she had promised to help with schoolwork. She apologizes and tells Greg she must see Clark first, which angers Greg. She runs and meets Clark in his private spot with his telescope in the top of the barn his Pa made for him, called his "Fortress of Solitude". She tells Clark she knows what Whitney did to him, and that he lost her necklace. She apologizes for what happened to Clark, and tells him that his saving Whitney from the fiery crash shows his good heart. Later, Greg has molted like an insect and attacks Clark in the barn over Lana's attention to Clark. When Pa Kent intercedes, Greg knocks him off the rafters towards the blades on a reaper kept in the barn. Clark makes a super-speed jump and catch of his Father, while shielding his Father's body with his. When the pair rise they are both thankfully unhurt, and Greg is long gone!
Clark tells his parents he recognized Greg Arkin from school as the attacker. He also tells his Mom and Dad about Chloe's "Wall of Weird" she maintains about all the strange phenomena in the area since the meteor shower fell that accompanied Clark's spaceship to Earth. He knows he's not really responsible for everyone's woes, but he still feels tremendous guilt over his obvious connection to the event. Most of all he just wants to be like the other kids. Jonathan Kent assures his son that despite all the changes he's going through, their faith in each other will pull them through. And the fact that Clark feels so guilty is proof of his enduring humanity. Clark asks Chloe and Pete to help him look into Greg Arkin's strange behavior. Chloe correctly reasons Greg's devotion to bugs has obviously crossed over to emulation of the insects he loves. And that irradiated bugs would explain the extra-normal abilities Greg's displaying. They go to Greg's house and find all the evidence they need as the house is draped in cocoon fibers, and worse yet they find the body of Greg's Mom inside one. Videotape of Lana playing on the TV tells them that Greg has now entered his mating stage. Indeed, Greg appears at Lana's barn where he knocks out Whitney who has come to apologize to Lana. Then he grabs Lana telling her, "It's time for us!".
Clark arrives at the barn to find Whitney who tells him it was Greg and he took Lana. Clark tells Whitney to drive out to a treehouse Greg had as a child by the old Creekside Foundry. Whitney starts to apologize to Clark about the "Scarecrow" incident, but Clark is already at the treehouse in a burst of super-speed. He finds a cocooned Lana and starts to free her, but Greg attacks him sending them flying to the ground. Greg flees for the old foundry and Clark follows. But once inside, he is weakened by hundreds of green glowing stones left amongst the debris of the old mill. Greg attacks Clark throwing the weakened teen around the room, and hops around like a giant bug pursuing him. But one powerful blow sends Clark behind a giant section of metal that must be made of lead, as suddenly he feels his health and strength returning! He waits until Greg reaches his hiding spot and jumps out grabbing Greg and throwing him across the room into a steel column. As Greg goes to rise, he leans on and inadvertently throws a lever that releases a huge mass of old machinery overheard. Before he can move, Greg is flattened by the tons of discarded metal. But when Clark approaches the spot, all that's left is thousands of little bugs that skitter from the wreckage and out of the foundry! Clark goes to free Lana, but Whitney has already done so. And as Clark sees them leave, it seems as though Whitney will get the credit for saving Lana, and the couple look to be reconciled. Later that night, Clark takes the boxed necklace to return it to Lana. But he leaves the necklace on her front doorknob and retreats into the shadows as she comes out and discovers it. She is mystified at its return but very happy, as she feels it's a real connection to her deceased parents. And Clark sees by her happy smile, that resisting Lex's idea to take credit for it was indeed the right thing for him to do.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Hothead"

Written By: Greg Walker
Directed By: Greg Beeman
Producers: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10.30.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Coach Walt Arnold: Dan Lauria
Trevor Chapell: Jason Connery
Dominic/Luthor Accountant: David Paetkau
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Alexander "Lex" Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
As our story opens, the Smallville high football team has just won another victory under the guidance of beloved Coach Walt, the man who has led the team for 25 years now. The school even built him his own private sauna to relax in after games. But the rocks in the sauna have been mixed with green meteor rocks from the strike years ago, and coach has been unknowingly radiated over time by the green steam those rocks created. When Principal Kwan confronts the Coach about 7 players on the team who he has caught cheating on math tests, the coach's legendary temper kicks in. He insists the charges wait to be settled after the football season is over, but the principal refuses. The principal leaves the office and the Coach slams his hand down on his desk in anger. And the desk and its contents all suddenly burst into flames!
The next day Clark, Pete, and Chloe are walking into school discussing Chloe's series of articles in the school paper, The Smallville Torch. She sees football players coming out of the school and starts taking pictures for her articles about the emerging scandal. But one player spots her and throws a hard pass right at her head! A pass that Clark picks off one-handed with his extraordinary speed. He returns the ball to the player with a super-strength pass into the ruffian's gut that makes him regret his attack on Chloe. All this is seen by the Coach and he approaches Clark to recruit him for the team. Clark initially refuses, but then the Coach brings Lana and her quarterback boyfriend Whitney over to the conversation. He questions Clark's bravery and Clark buckles under the pressure in front of Lana and agrees to play. But when his Dad hears the news, he and Clark disagree. Jonathan feels that Clark's powers bring responsibility, but Clark feels he's being punished for having these abilities. He asks his Dad to trust him as no matter what, he's going to play. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor's father has sent accountants to his son's plant in Smallville to inform him that since profits are down, Lex must get rid of 20% of his workers in 24 hours. Lex flatly refuses and sends the accountants back to his father. Lana is also having troubles as she is disillusioned by the player's scandal. She and Whitney spat over her decision to quit the cheerleading squad, but her mind is made up despite Whitney and also her Aunt Nell's objections. Clark scrimmages for the first time the next day. He's disappointed that Lana isn't there to see him play, but he sees his Dad in the stands watching him and is encouraged. His first play, the defense runs over Clark mercilessly. But on the next play, he powers up and runs right through the defenders and leaps over the final blocker to make a touchdown. Everyone on the field is cheering for Clark, except his Dad who leaves when he sees Clark use his powers this way. The Principal now confronts Coach Walt telling him that a player has come forward and told him that it was the Coach himself who gave him the test answers and he has reported this to the board. But the Coach is an institution at the school, and alumni on the board have covered for him. The principal threatens to have the player come forward to publicly implicate the Coach and then leaves. The Coach watches him enter his car, and with a furrowed brow he concentrates until the principals car bursts into flames with him in it! Clark hears the principal's screams and runs to his burning vehicle. With tremendous strength, he tears the driver's side door off and pulls Principal Kwan from the metal inferno. Just as they get a few feet away the car explodes with shrapnel flying lethally, but Clark has saved the principal!
Clark and his parents talk more to Clark about him playing, with his Mom falling on Clark's side in this one. Ever since he was younger and his powers became more apparent, they've purposely isolated Clark from too much physical interaction in fear of his powers harming someone, and the fear that Clark would be taken from them. But Martha tells Jonathan that the time has come for Clark to make his own decisions, and for them to trust that he'll accept the consequences of his actions. That night the Coach calls a meeting on the field with the seven accused players. At that meeting he ferrets out Trevor Chappel as the student who spoke to Principal Kwan. The sprinklers are watering the field as he speaks, and as his anger grows they start spraying flames! The terrified players are cowed into silence by the Coach who doesn't know that Chloe has filmed the entire incident. The following day, Lex's Father Lionel barges in on him furious that he hasn't yet laid off the workers. His Father challenges Lex to a fencing duel to decide the outcome and Lex loses. His Father tells him to get rid of the workers by tomorrow and then he leaves. Chloe later meets Trevor at the pep rally but he refuses to go against the Coach. As he leaves the Coach jumps him and, grabbing his arm, burns him with his power to ensure Trevor's loyalty. The Coach follows Chloe back to the school paper's office where she starts to write up what she already knows. He concentrates, and her mouse, keyboard, and screen explode on fire. Jumping away Chloe attempts to flee, but the fire seems to almost follow her around the room! She runs to the window and calls for Clark whose sensitive ears hear her over the pep rally. Running at super-speed into the room, he startles the watching Coach which interrupts his concentration dousing the flames! He leaves as Clark comforts a terrified Chloe.
Chloe figures out the connections between the growing football cheating scandal and the attacks on her and Principal Kwan are all stemming from the Coach. She tells Clark they need Trevor to come forward or the Coach will likely get away with all that's happened. Later, Clark meets up with Lex at the Coffeehouse where Lana has started waitressing. Lex admires both of them for sticking to their respective positions against their elders where he feels he has caved in to his Father. With new resolve he leaves. Clark later seeks out Trevor to find him with the Coach's handprint burnt into his arm! He then goes and finds the Coach in his sauna and confronts him with all he knows. But the meteor rocks in the sauna weaken Clark, and the Coach knocks him down and then locks him in the sauna to die from the heat!
In the stands at the game to cheer him on are Clark's parents and Chloe. But not seeing Clark starts Chloe to worrying and she tells Jonathan Kent what she knows about the Coach's role in the scandal. They both go looking for Clark who is throwing rocks at the sauna door's window in an attempt to attract attention to his plight. Jonathan Kent finds his son and frees him just as the Coach enters the room and attacks him. But Clark has recovered and with a super-strength shove he sends the Coach flying! The Coach gets up and then he makes the room burn wild as the flames engulf Clark. But Clark simply walks through the inferno and tells the Coach it's all over and he must now surrender. In a final mad display of defiance the Coach screams with rage. But this time his flames rise to engulf and destroy the Coach himself, as Clark watches in horror. Clark's parents later tell him how proud they are of their son, and they do indeed trust him to make the right decisions in his life. They just have to learn to live with the same fears all parents have for their children. Next it's Lionel Luthor's turn as he again confronts Lex who has resolved the financial crisis at the plant by cutting expenses 20% instead of his workforce. He tells his Father not to worry, as he has no idea what Lex is capable of. His Father's wry look tells us the battle between the two is far from ended. That night Clark and Lana meet on the football field where he tells her he's quitting the team since Lana's not cheerleading anymore, and his real reason for playing is gone. Lana tells Clark she got fired from her waitress job, and they both seem to have paid well for their decisions of the last few days. The two realize they have learned important lessons about the results of their actions. And with a look at each other, they know that they're that much closer for having shared their experience with each other.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"X-Ray"

Written By: Mark Verheiden
Directed By: James Frawley
Producer: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11.06.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Rose Greer: Lizzy Caplan
Tina Greer: Beverly Bruer
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Roger Nixon: Tom O'Brien
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Lex Luthor walks into the Smallville Bank looking to withdraw all his money, but when the manager asks for a signature they don't match. Lex's response to this is to pull a gun and rob the bank! Fleeing the robbery, Lex runs smack into Clark whom he throws through a store window with unnatural strength. Suddenly Clark gets a tremendous headache and when he looks up, he sees right through Lex to his skeleton! A skeleton that not only looks strange in shape, but also has sections that are glowing green. Next we see young Tina Greer's mother finding her at home with bundles of stolen bank money. Tina shows her mother how she has gained the ability to change herself physically to resemble anyone. Disguised as Lex, she was the one who robbed the bank. Tina and her Mom argue over the robbery. A struggle results in Mrs. Greer slipping and falling down the stairs killing her. But Tina's reaction to all this is to simply start to clean up!
The next day the real Lex Luthor shows up at Clark's house to assure the Kents it wasn't he that robbed the bank as he has an airtight alibi. Later, Clark is in gym at school when another headache allows him to see into the girls locker room. Clark enjoys this singular experience as the healthy young male he is, wearing a wide grin the whole time. When his parents tell him this new ability is one he'll have to struggle to control, Clark is scared and worried that he'll never reach that point. Later, Tina Greer visits her friend Lana whom she idolizes. She muses that perhaps Lana's Aunt Nell will adopt her and she and Lana can become sisters. She tells Lana that she thinks Lana's life is perfect and wants one just like it. That afternoon, Clark and his Mom stop at Rose Greer's antique shop to pick up a chair she's having restored but Mrs. Greer can't find the piece. Clark leaves as his x-ray vision is acting up and he needs air. So he misses his Mom finding a bundle of the stolen bank money that Mrs. Greer, who is really Tina, covers for with a poor lie. And when Ma Kent leaves, we see Clark nearly run her down with her own pickup truck, with Martha barely escaping with her life!
The Kents compare notes and they realize that Tina has been doing all the impersonations in town. It seems that when she was young she suffered from a degenerative bone disease that mysteriously healed after the meteor shower when Clark arrived. Clark saw her abnormal skeleton when he first "x-rayed" her as Lex, and also saw the green areas that confirm meteor radiation at work. At home, Lana comes across her deceased Mother's diary and it seems she has much more in common with her Mother then she previously realized. And Lex finds trouble in a reporter from the Metropolis Inquisitor who is blackmailing him to cover up Lex's juvenile criminal record. Lana deals with the fact that her Mom was no "perfect" teen as she had thought, and then she seeks out the graduation speech her Mother gave to her class hoping to make one more connection with her past. Tina shows up at Lana's with a story that her Mom's leaving and a request for her to move in with Lana and her Aunt Nell. When Lana hesitates, sensing Tina's growing obsession with her, Tina runs off furious at Lana's refusal. Later, Clark makes his x-ray power work by concentration, and sees the rest of the stolen money in Tina's locker at school. And Tina is practicing Lana's signature to take over her life completely. When the police confront Rose Greer, in reality a "morphed" Tina, about the stolen money in Tina's locker it sends her into a panic. She changes into Lana and propositions Clark. But when Clark questions her, she responds by throwing him straight through a wall and down to the floor of his barn!
Clark easily recovers but Tina has already left. At the school paper's office, Lana seeks out Chloe's help in finding a copy of the speech her mother gave and Chloe promises to help all she can. And Lex meets his reporter for the payoff. But he turns the tables on his blackmailer by threatening to use all his power to eradicate the reporter's life and family. He tells him he will plant and kill stories in the Inquisitor for Lex as he sees fit. And Lex has a special job for him to do. A job investigating the accident that Clark saved him from when they met. An accident he has no rational explanation for when it comes to how he could have survived it. Tina meets Whitney while she is morphed as Lana and borrows his football jacket from him. As this happens, Clark and Pete go to Rose Greer's antique shop to investigate further. Clark uses his new incredible vision to look inside a cabinet in the shop where he sees Rose's body! The pair breaks into the shop and finds the sheets where Tina had practiced Lana's signature, and now they know that Tina plans to take over Lana's life. But it's too late as Tina, disguised as Lana's boyfriend Whitney, has met Lana at her parent's graves. She knocks out Lana, and rips the green meteor fragment necklace off of her to complete her life as Lana!
When Lana wakes, she is trapped inside a stone coffin in the graveyard! As she struggles to escape, Clark is met by Tina/Whitney and he's weakened by the necklace that Tina now has. Tina pummels Clark mercilessly with a crowbar, smashing him through gravestones in clouds of granite dust. But when she throws Whitney's jacket holding the necklace away to reveal her real form as Tina, Clark regains his power and goes on the offensive! He swats Tina away from him, and she is hurled into a tree knocking her out. After Clark frees Lana, it seems that Tina has suffered injuries that will prevent her from using her powers; her threat is ended. Chloe later meets with Lana to give her a tape she's acquired of her Mother's speech. And from this act of kindness the two young women begin to grow the bonds of friendship. That night when Clark sees Lana and Whitney kissing, he asks his mother what to do with a power that lets you see everything. Martha Kent wisely answers, "Learn to close your eyes". Later Lana finally gets to sit and listen to her Mother's speech on tape. As she listens to her Mom's voice from the past, tears glisten in her eyes. She cradles her green meteor necklace as she listens and learns of her Mother as a real live person. No longer a stranger she misses dearly from a time too long ago.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Cool"

Written By: Michael Green
Directed By: Jim Contner
Producers: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11.13.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Sean Kelvin: Michael Coristine
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
At a party near Crater Lake Pete, Chloe, and Clark have come looking for someone to meet. Sean Kelvin of the football team makes a pass at Chloe but then runs off without her when the team members break off to party next to the lake by themselves. When a thrown football pass lands out on the freshly frozen lake, Sean goes to retrieve it while the rest run back to the fire. That's why no one sees Sean break through the ice, struggle to escape, and finally sink to the lake's bottom! A bottom that glows oddly green with the radiation of the meteor that created the lake years ago in the massive meteor strike in Smallville. Hours later, the revelers have all departed with Sean never being missed. Suddenly Sean's frozen hand amazingly breaks the Lake's icy cover! He staggers to shore where a campfire was left burning and hovers over the fire shivering with blue frozen skin. Then, we see the heat waves off of the fire and coals literally absorbed into Sean and his skin returns to normal color! He smiles and starts to walk towards home.
As Clark readies for school, he listens while his parents discuss their financial problems with the farm. He tells them he'll do whatever it takes to help them keep their home and heads for school. At school Sean is seeing the nurse as he just cannot get warm. As the nurse takes his temperature, Sean absorbs heat from her just as he did the fire! He leaves with pink skin and the nurse is now the one who cannot get warm. Meanwhile, Lex is trying to convince the Kents to come to a dinner he's hosting to offer financial assistance to the local farmers in distress. An offer Jonathan Kent is adamant about refusing citing the Luthor's history in dealings with locals. Whitney has just broken a date with Lana, and Chloe convinces Clark to ask Lana for a date himself. When Lex tempts him with free theater tickets and a limousine ride to Metropolis for he and Lana, Clark cannot resist and asks Lana. To his amazement she says yes! Sean convinces a girl from school named Jenna to let him come over that night. When he arrives he is turning blue and tells Jenna he's sorry, but he must get warm or die. He grabs Jenna and painfully drains her of all her body heat, leaving her a standing frozen husk that he shoves to the ground with disdain. And the poor girl's body shatters like glass into a thousand icy fragments!
Sean has picked Chloe as his next victim and Clark suspects his motives as Sean has a "ladies man" reputation. And when the Kents show up for Lex's dinner for the locals, it turns out the dinner is really just for them alone. Lex wants Jonathan to believe that he merely wants to help them financially and assure Clark's future in gratitude for his saving Lex's life weeks ago in a car accident. As this happens, Clark and Lana are in the limousine on their date, and finding out they have a lot in common. Then Clark turns on the limo's TV and sees that Jenna's remains have been discovered, and the police are seeking Sean. He knows that Sean's seeing Chloe tonight, and orders the limo back to town telling Lana he'll return for her. He runs at super-speed for the school even as Sean is locking Chloe in the pool. Sean tells Chloe that he must freeze her as he did Jenna or he will die. She dives into the pool and swims to the other side to escape him. But he freezes the water trapping her and starts towards her. But Clark bursts into the room and smashes the ice freeing Chloe. When Sean attacks Clark, a super-strength blow tosses Sean aside. As Clark comforts Chloe, Sean escapes to seek badly needed heat elsewhere!
Clark and Chloe reason that Sean has become permanently hypothermic, and feeds on others heat like a vampire needs blood. In town, Whitney and Lana have met and they talk things out and Whitney drives Lana home. Sean has broken into a local power plant and is drinking heat like a sponge, causing a massive area blackout. Lex's generator keeps things running for him as he tells the Kents he can help make them both profitable and financially independent. Clark saved his life and Lex just wants to show gratitude to the Kent family, not take advantage of them. As Whitney and Lana head home, Sean appears in the road in front of them causing the truck to run off the road and crash. Whitney and Lana head for Lex's nearby house for refuge from Sean. Moments later Clark catches up to the ruined truck only to be ambushed by Sean. He grabs Clark drinking up energy and heat insanely now with no restraint. And he leaves Clark a frozen statue lying helpless on the ground as he heads for Lex's next!
Inside Lex's the lights dim and die as Sean drinks the generators heat energy. Back at Whitney's truck, Clark is slowly recuperating from Sean's attack. Jonathan and Martha start looking around Lex's to see what they can do, leaving Lex feeling more helpless then he's used to when normally dealing with people. Martha comes upon the frozen generator and unfortunately Sean also, who already needs more heat to survive. As he starts for Martha, Clark arrives and swats Sean away telling him he'll help him. But Sean is too far gone. Attacking Clark, he tells him he'll drink his heat energy then kill everyone there including Clark's mother. At this, Clark kicks out at Sean sending him flying through the air to land in a nearby pond. As Clark runs to the water's edge he sees Sean at the bottom of the water drawing the heat to him in waves of energy. But Sean needs so much heat now he freezes the lake solid with him in it, trapped forever like a fly in amber! Later Lex meets with Jonathan Kent to find he's gone ahead with a bank loan instead of Lex's offer. Lex tells him the offer stands and he still intends to prove his good intentions where the Kents are concerned. Later, Clark apologizes to Lana for leaving her while on their date. She tells him she and Whitney have reconciled and Clark asks Lana what she sees in Whitney. She says he's always there for her, and he makes her feel safe. As she turns and walk down the hall from Clark his expression tells it all. A determination to be there when needed and to make people safe has been born at that moment. A vow the young man will spend his whole life fulfilling.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Hourglass"

Written By: Doris Egan
Directed By: Chris Long
Producers: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11.20.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Cassandra Carver: Jackie Burroughs
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Old Harry Bollston/Volk: George Murdock
Young Harry Bollston/Volk: Eric Christian Olsen

Our Story:
Clark, Pete, and Lana are volunteering their time in companionship programs at the Smallville rest home. Lana visits Mr. Bollston who is wheelchair bound and the two go out near the pond for some air. A pond that has green glowing rocks scattered about its bottom. When Harry asks Lana to please go fetch his scarf, he uses the opportunity to sneak a cigarette. But when his lighter falls he reaches too far over and falls through the lights strung around the pond and into the water! Bolts of arcing electricity suddenly mix with a strange green hue in the water as Harry thrashes and tries to get up. But when he finally rises from the water, he is a young teen-age Harry, no longer an elderly man! Clark's charge is a woman named Cassandra who is blind but is reputed to be able to see a person's future. She asks Clark to touch her hand and they both suddenly see images flashing by too fast to comprehend. When they let go, Cassandra tells Clark she has seen that someone close to him will die very soon!
Meanwhile, Harry is back in his room going over old newspapers and he studies a list of names he's compiled. Lana and Clark learn that Harry was a pianist prodigy with a big future ahead of him when his teacher would not recommend Harry to a prestigious school. Harry snapped and felt his future was ruined and took revenge by murdering the tutor's son. And at that moment, young Harry is at the door of a grown son of one of the jurors who convicted him. He fakes his way into the house and strangles the man! Clark has gone back to see Cassandra who convinces him to try again. They join hands, and Clark suddenly finds himself kneeling amidst gravestones, all of which carry names of those he loves. He screams in fear and snapping out of the trance, he runs from the rest home at super-speed!
Clark tells his parent about the terrible vision and worries that he'll outlive everyone he loves. Lex hears about Cassandra and goes to visit her. But he wants her to tell him Clark's future as he considers him a mystery he must solve. When Cassandra explains she can only see Lex's future if they touch, he gets scared and refuses. Lana has gone to meet Clark at the high school paper's office and she comes across Chloe's "Wall of the Weird" that chronicles all the strange events in Smallville since the meteor shower years ago. A wall that carries a picture of Lana as a child grieving for her parents killed by one of the meteors. Since Clark arrived on Earth in that same shower he feels responsible and tries to console Lana, and the two teens grow closer as true friends. Clark, Chloe and Pete find out that a murder in town matches Harry's methods from years ago. They also find a picture of Harry as a youth and they realize that somehow he's gotten younger. Clark goes to Cassandra and this time they share a vision of people in every sort of disaster looking right at Clark for help. Cassandra tells Clark she knows about his special abilities and thinks it's his destiny to help people in trouble. She also tells him his secret is safe with her. When he revisits Harry's room, Clark finds a picture of a waitress he knows at the local coffee shop. He rushes to the shop just in time as Harry is trying to strangle the poor girl because she's the granddaughter of one of his jurors! Clark's speed is too much for Harry so he pushes the girl into the path of an oncoming truck. Clark dives over her just as the truck passes over them, sparks flying as it scrapes over Clark's invulnerable body. Clark gives chase and Harry tries to stab him with the blade shattering into a thousand pieces. In response, Clark tosses Harry onto a parked car; it's windows shattering with the impact. Harry is then taken to the hospital and placed under police guard.
Clark tells his parent that Cassandra knows his secret and Clark confesses he likes and trusts her, but Jonathan and Martha are skeptical. Lex has Clark visit and shows him the car that Clark pulled him out of in the accident weeks ago. Its roof has been ripped open and Lex obviously suspects, asking Clark if he knows how it happened. Clark knows he ripped it open and tries to play the accident off telling Lex what's important is what he does with the life he's regained. At the hospital, Harry has grown old again and tells authorities he's innocent which they cannot disprove, so Harry's returned to the rest home. When Clark and Lana walk around the pond at the home, Clark grows ill and notices the rocks in the pond. He confronts Harry telling him he knows what's happened and he'll be watching him. Chloe and Clark later find the list of jurors Harry's compiled and discover that Clark's grandfather Kent was on the jury. What they don't know is Harry has already duplicated the accident and has again regained his youth. He's now standing at the Kent's front door talking to Clark's mother, and is trying to bluff his way inside for more revenge and murder!
Martha suspects Harry and tries to call for help but Harry has cut the lines. Harry then breaks in and confronts Martha who fights Harry off and runs for her car, but Harry has already cut the tires. She runs into the barn and then crawls into the grain silo. Harry finds Martha in the silo and when he crawls in after her, she desperately pulls the release lever causing tons of grains to fall on the two! The pair fights to escape with Harry realizing too late that now they're both in danger of suffocating. With time running out the two vanish from sight under the grain that still pours in. Just then Jonathan and Clark both arrive at the same time at the house and Clark tells his Father what Harry's up to. Clark uses his x-ray vision and spots the two inside the silo and breaks in with his great strength. Father and Son now dig for their loved one's life while calling her name and fearing the worst. But Martha's head breaks the surface and coughing for breath, she tells the two she'll never leave them as long she can help it. They cling to her in quiet thanksgiving for her safety. But for Harry it has turned out differently. His youth again lost during the struggle in the silo, Harry is dead and had finally paid for his crimes both old and new. Later on, Lex relents and goes to see Cassandra to let her show him his future. They join hands and Lex sees himself now with a black gloved right hand, and he is in the White House as president! Next we see Lex walk into a beautiful field of flowers as far as the eye can see. But when he touches one of the flowers with that black-gloved hand, they all wither and die and Lex is smiling at the results. Then the heavens open, and it rains a downpour of blood on Lex, his hands upstretched to catch it. At this he snaps from the vision asking Cassandra if she saw what he did, but Cassandra has passed away. Lex runs from the rest home in horror at both Cassandra's death and the terrible vision of his future. When Clark arrives and finds Cassandra gone he sadly realizes how close they had grown, and that it was her own death she had foreseen all this time.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Craving"

Written By: Michael Green
Directed By: Philip Sgriccia
Producer: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11.27.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Dr. Steven Hamilton: Joe Morton
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Jodi Wilson: Amy Adams
Mr. Wilson: Malcom Stewart

Our Story:
Jodi Wilson is working in her Dad's greenhouse at Smallville Nursery where the soil they grow in is peppered with green glowing rocks. Jodi is basically unhappy and doesn't like herself as she's overweight. She resolves to go on a strict diet of vegetables which she is unaware is irradiating her body with the green energy. After Jodi plans to go to Lana Lang's birthday party that's being hosted by Lex Luthor, a bully in school taunts her with derisive comments. Jodi starts her diet and weighs herself one day to see she's 168 pounds. But suddenly her stomach starts undulating oddly and amazingly Jodi becomes physically thinner. She weighs herself again and now she weighs 139 pounds!
Lex's doctor is concerned about his health, citing elevated white corpuscle levels in his blood. But he assures Lex that all is well as he's noticed that many people in the area share this condition. Lana goes to the Kent's to pick up her produce order and overhears Clark talking about using his growing strength, but Clark plays the incident off. He asks Lana if he can escort her to the party as Whitney's trying out for Kansas State that day. She says yes cautioning him not to disappoint her as he did the last time they tried a date. Meanwhile Jodi's weight has dropped again and Clark, Pete, and Chloe notice and compliment Jodi but caution her about losing too much too fast. Jodi's Dad is worried too, and tells Jodi so but she's too happy as she's now 112 pounds and quite thin. But something's wrong as Jodi is constantly hungry and now begins binge eating to satisfy this insatiable hunger. While driving in a rainstorm Jodi hits a deer in the road damaging the truck and Jodi barley escapes injury. As she approaches the deer she becomes too hungry to resist, and suddenly dropping to her knees in front of the carcass, her mouth grows unnaturally large and Jodi then gorges herself on the deer!
Chloe reads of the accident in the paper and when unknown cause of death is cited for the deer she asks Clark to help her investigate. They go to the animal control lab and sneak into where the deer's carcass is being kept. There they find that all the fat's been sucked out of the poor animals body killing it! Lex comes to the high school paper's office to see Chloe as her Dad is his plant manager, and sees Chloe's "Wall of Weird" that chronicles Smallville's oddities since the meteor shower 12 years ago. He thinks Chloe is on to something and decides to look into it further. Jodi had grown thin and attractive but the unnatural hunger is controlling her now. She tempts the young man Dustin who bullied her earlier into the boiler room under the school stadium for a supposed liaison. But once there, she knocks Dustin down and starts sucking fat from him as he screams. His screams are heard by Clark who breaks into the room but Jodi has fled leaving behind an emaciated Dustin!
Lex visits Professor Hamilton who left Metropolis University in disgrace supposedly due to his theories about the meteor shower years ago being responsible for cellular change in anyone exposed to the radiation. He offers to fund the Professor's research but he refuses the offer with Lex keeping it open. Clark asks Lana what she wants for her birthday and she tells him about when her parents where still alive and took her to the drive-in movies and that's the last happy birthday she ever had. At school in the cafeteria Clark, Chloe, and Pete notice Jodi has her tray stacked with food and despite her new thin appearance is eating insanely. She tells them she's fine and Pete Ross asks her to the party and she agrees. Later that night before the party, Chloe and Clark find out Dustin's in a coma with all the fat torn from his body and the two figure out that Jodi's diet consists of irradiated vegetables and the effect it's had on her. At that moment Pete has come to pick up Jodi for the party when she gets one of her insatiable hunger attacks. She likes Pete and doesn't want to hurt him, so she runs from him back into her house. But Pete follows her into the house concerned for her, not realizing the great danger he's now in!
Pete finds Jodi inside and she begs him to leave as she likes him but she cannot control this terrible condition. He tries to take her to the hospital but Jodi knocks Pete out and crouching over him, her mouth gapes wide as she prepares to satisfy her hunger. But Clark arrives at super-speed and Jodi flees the house running into the green house in the nursery. As this happens, Lana is upset with Clark as he's missing her party and Lex assures her that Clark will somehow make it up to her. But Clark is looking in the greenhouse for Jodi, telling her he wants to help her as he knows what's happened to her. When he's weakened by the green meteor rocks in the soil, Jodi attacks Clark with a shovel pummeling him around the green house mercilessly. As she is about to stab the weakened Clark with the shovel she's holding she stops, realizing how far gone she is. In desperation to end this madness, she breaks the greenhouse heater's gas line and pushing the shovel into a light fixture she provides a spark. With that, the greenhouse explodes in a massive ball of flame throwing Jodi a hundred feet. When Clark and Pete revive they find and injured and comatose Jodi who now is unable to hurt anyone any longer. She is taken to Metropolis General Hospital to hopefully heal and be cured of her terrible affliction. Later that night Clark visits Lana and apologizes for missing her party. He takes her to his house where he's tacked a sheet on the side of the barn and shows her cartoons and a movie just like the drive-in she went to years ago with her parents. And her smile tells Clark he has given Lana the first happy birthday she's had in many years.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Jitters"

Written By: Cherie Bennett & Jeff Gottesfeld
Directed By: Michael Watkins
Producers: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 12.11.01

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Earl Jenkins: Tony Todd
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Gabe Sullivan: Robert Wisden

Our Story:
Jonathan and Martha Kent are celebrating their wedding anniversary with a day trip to Metropolis. And in Metropolis at that moment, Earl Jenkins sneaks into his estranged wife's apartment to see his baby son. Suddenly Earl begins to shake violently to the point where the baby's crib and room are shaking too. He runs from the apartment before his wife finds him. Heading to Luthor Corporation headquarters in Metropolis, he begs a janitor he used to work with to let him in the building. He tells him that Luthor Corp. ran experiments at a secret level three of the plant back in Smallville where he once worked that have afflicted him with terrible uncontrollable shaking. Suddenly he starts to shake incredibly fast and the young janitor is caught in Earl's arms during the terrible attack. When the seizure ends, Earl lies stunned and the janitor lies dead with a broken neck!
While Clark's parents are in Metropolis he plans a small party at his place while they're gone. A party that turns into a huge bash where furniture, dishes, glasses, and the house in general are being slowly and surely destroyed. Because of the noise level, Clark doesn't notice the phone ringing with his Mom on the other end worrying about him. He's also busy with Lana Lang and her boyfriend Whitney who claim they've found someone hiding up in the barn. When Clark investigates, he finds Earl hiding in the loft. It seems Earl worked on the Kent farm for years before taking the Luthor Corp. job as a janitor. He has returned to the Kents seeking their help as he trusts them implicitly. But when Clark approaches Earl he gets sick as though he's been exposed to the meteor fragments in the area that have always affected him this way. He has no time to ponder this as Earl suffers an attack which scares them all badly and they take him to the local hospital. Once there, he gets another attack that is so powerful, when Clark tried to grab Earl he is flung bodily through a glass door!
The next morning Clark gets back home in time to find it both abandoned and destroyed by the party. He uses super-speed however to clean up the mess in seconds. A display which his parents have watched in it's entirety as they came home early over his not answering the phone. Clark is being read the riot act by his parents for the unauthorized party when he relates the events with Earl to them. He also tells them of the sickness reaction he gets whenever he gets near Earl. Jonathan and Clark go to see Earl who tells them that when he worked at Luthor Corp. he would go to level three to clean it every night, and that they were spraying green mist fertilizer which supposedly caused fast growth on the corn there. But one night an explosion in that section sent Earl to the hospital with tiny green mineral fragments embedded under his skin. Three months later when the shakes started, Earl went to Luthor Corporation for help but now they deny level three ever existed. The Kents leave and Earl is being transferred when he gets another shaking attack which knocks out his guard who awakens to find Earl has vanished! The next day back in Smallville, Clark's class is taking a tour of Luthor Corporations operations as the plant manager is Clark's friend Chloe's dad. He leads them into the main control center where suddenly Earl breaks in and wielding a gun demands to be taken to Level Three to be cured of his terrible shaking!
When Lex arrives at the plant things are happening fast. The press is there in full swing and the parents of the students being held hostage want action. To make matters worse, his father arrives and challenges Lex's authority. He also denies the existence of any level three to Lex and Pa Kent while telling them that the local police S.W.A.T. team will handle everything. Inside, Earl has another violent shaking attack where he grabs a valve to steady himself and snaps it causing a methane gas leak. Lex decides to take matters into his own hands and enters the control room telling Earl that he'll take him to level three if he lets the hostages go and Earl agrees. When the students are led to safety Clark sneaks off to try and help when the fire doors all slam shut and lock due to the high gas levels sealing Lex, Clark, and Earl in the plant. Clark goes to where Earl described the entrance to Level three to only find a storeroom. But he uses his x-ray vision and spots an elevator door behind the wall. Clark has found the entrance to the mysterious level three!
Clark calls Earl on the plant intercom telling him that he's found the entrance. When Earl leaves the control room with Lex at gunpoint, Clark sneaks in and uses his great strength to close the methane valve by hand stopping the dangerous leaking gas. Meanwhile Earl and Lex have arrived at the previously hidden elevator. They enter and Earl pushes a button which lights with the number three and the elevator descends. When the doors open, they exit onto a catwalk high in the air of an empty cavernous room. Earl tells Lex that it was here that the green mist was sprayed on the corn below and where the accident took place, but it's all obviously been cleaned out. Clark then arrives behind them but at that moment Earl has his worst attack yet. This one causes the section of catwalk he and Lex are on to break loose and dangle high in the air. Clark climbs out on the section and crawling to the two men he grabs them and starts to pull them to safety. But the green particles in Earl's body affect him and he starts to sicken and lose strength. Clark marshals his waning strength in a final effort and pulls them clear when the entire catwalk gives way. He grabs the two men and jumps into the elevator door just as the entire walkway collapses to the floor far below. And the first thing Lex asks Clark is where he ever got that kind of strength, but Clark plays it off as an adrenaline reaction. When the trio get outside, Earl is taken to Metropolis hospital where he'll be treated for his affliction. Clark's mom and dad run to him and hug him in gratitude for his safety. And Lex watches the loving reception from Clark's parents as his father gives him a completely insincere hug and welcome for the sake of the cameras. The bitter expression on his face mirrors his growing hatred for his uncaring and opportunistic father.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Rogue"

Written By: Mark Verheiden
Directed By: David Carson
Producers: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 1.11.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Victoria Hardwick: Kelly Brook
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Principal Kwan: Hiro Kanagawa
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Sam Phelan: Cameron Dye
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Clark, Lana, and Whitney are all guests of Lex Luthors at a reception at the Metropolis Museum's Luthor Hall. There on exhibition is a beautiful armor breastplate owned by Alexander the Great that's emblazoned with a huge "S" in gold and adorned with thousands of priceless jewels. Lex is surprised when an old flame of his named Victoria Hardwick shows up to get reacquainted with him. Clark takes the opportunity to get some air outside and doesn't see a local police detective roughing up a perpetrator for information about an Internal Affairs investigation concerning the shady methods he employs. Suddenly a bus careens around a corner as we see the driver suffering some kind of attack. Clark sees it's headed for a vagrant and his dog sleeping on a nearby bench and super-speed runs over and puts his shoulder into the bus just before it hits the luckless pair. The bus's front end explodes in flame, glass, and metal as Clark's invulnerable body and his incredible strength stop it before anyone gets hurt. Clark's jacket gets demolished in the crash so he speeds off to avoid exposure. But it's too late as we see the corrupt cop come over to examine the bus as he just saw everything Clark did!
The next day Clark tells his parents what occurred. He worries his Father will reproach him for the public super-deed, but instead his Father tells him how proud his parents both are of him. This puts a mile-wide smile on Clark's face. Meanwhile Lex and his old flame Victoria are getting reacquainted at his mansion. Victoria is now an executive vice president of her father Sir Harry's international corporation. Sir Harry has sent Victoria as "incentive" for Lex to consider selling his shares of Luthor Corp. so Sir Harry can acquire the company. Meanwhile back at Smallville High, Chloe is having troubles as Principal Kwan has fired her as editor of the school paper due to all the unproven stories concerning the meteors that pepper the area. That day Lex gets a visit from the crooked cop who has traced Clark to Smallville. It seems that he once was the "go-to" guy in the Metropolis Police for Lex and his Father and buried a few secrets for Lex in his day. Lex denies even knowing Clark but the cop finds Clark and waits until he enters his barn and drops a generator on him! When Clark survives the experience, Phelan tells Clark he's going to help the crooked cop, or his amazing powers will be exposed to the world!
Clark tells his parents the next day what's happened and Jonathan Kent tells Clark he'll confront Phelan and for Clark to stay out of it. Lex visits Clark and tells him Phelan is looking for him and to beware as the corrupt policeman could be big trouble for Clark. Clark denies all but Lex is unconvinced. Jonathan meets with Phelan and warns him to leave his family alone while Clark does some online investigation into Phelan's checkered past as an officer. Lana has gone to Principal Kwan and convinced him to reopen the school paper, but with Lana replacing Chloe as editor. Chloe interprets this as a betrayal and tells her so while storming out of the room. Lex has turned the table on Victoria's offer by telling her that he and she should take over both Luthor Corp. and Sir Harry's company. Though a dangerous route for both, she still ponders the offer. Phelan sees Clark privately and pressures him into returning to Metropolis to break into a safe with Internal Affairs records about him. Clark calls the police on Phelan and just before they arrive, he drops the safe on top of Phelan's car and puts his records into Phelan's hands as the police arrive. Phelan tells Clark he'll regret this, but Clark has sped away at super-speed and is long gone!
The next day Smallville Police arrive at the Kent farm. It seems Metropolis Police have supplied a tip that there's a body in Jonathan's barn. They find the body of the man we saw Phelan strong-arming in the beginning of our story. And they also find the murder weapon under his truck seat. Clark's dad is taken away and Phelan's frame-up looks complete. Phelan confronts Clark and Clark must exercise all his self-control not to hurt or even kill the crooked policeman. He runs off to school and meets Lana there. They both observe how their actions were well intended, but both seem to have had their good intentions backfire on people they care about. Clark's Father is bailed out and he tells his Mom and Dad what he did to Phelan in Metropolis. Pa Kent tells Clark that by not telling them about Phelan recontacting Clark he has jeopardized them all, as lying never works in the end. That night Lex visits Clark offering his help with Phelan but Clark tells Lex he must handle this one alone. After he leaves Phelan returns and tells Clark he must now do his bidding to save his father. As Phelan leaves Lex is sitting in a secluded spot watching all this. He determines to help Clark whether he wants his help or not!
The next night Phelan and Clark are back in Metropolis at the museum. It seems the net is closing on Phelan and he has decided to leave town before he's caught. He now wants Clark to steal the breastplate of Alexander the Great for his retirement fund. What neither knows is that Lex is watching from across the street. Clark uses his great strength to break into the museum. Phelan has planted a phony bomb and called in the threat to distract the guards from what's occurring inside. When Lex sees the guards spilling out of the museum he walks over to the newspaper machine where Phelan has put the fake bomb. As the guards look on in fear, Lex calmly removes the box from the machine and opening it he sees a harmless alarm clock as the guards all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Clark is inside and Phelan watches in amazement as he tears the bars from the breastplate exhibit and smashes the glass easily. Phelan takes the plate and puts in a bag and tells him that from now on they're partners whether Clark likes it or not. Clark uses his x-ray vision and sees the guards gathered outside. He tells Phelan he'll never help him again and throws the bag with the breastplate straight through a window to land at the guard's feet! Clark tells Phelan his fingerprints are on the piece and he'll never talk his way out of this. He speeds off as the guards arrive catching the crooked policeman standing in front of the destroyed display. Phelan tries to shoot it out with the guards but they fire back wounding him mortally. Lex tries to get him to tell him what he had on Clark but Phelan refuses and dies. The next day all charges are dropped on Clark's dad as it comes out what Phelan had done to frame Jonathan Kent. And Principal Kwan agrees to reinstate Chloe as long as she only prints what she can prove factually. She and Lana reconcile with their friendship becoming stronger. And Lex that night sits watching the museum tapes of the incident in the museum. He sees something fly out of the room at inhuman speed. With a long stare at the blur of Clark leaving the museum, he grows ever closer to discovering the truth about Clark's abilities.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Shimmer"

Written By: Michel Green & Mark Verheiden
Directed By: D.J. Caruso
Produced By: Bob Hargrove
Aired in the U.S.A.: 1.29.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Amy: Azura Skye
High School Counselor: Jesse Hutch
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Victoria Hardwick: Kelly Brook
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jeff(Amy's Brother): Kett Turton
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Amy's Mom: Glynis Davies
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Lana Lang has volunteered for the local blood drive and asks Clark's help. Clark claims he has a "problem" with needles which thankfully Lana interprets as a fear of them, but he asks to help coordinate the drive. A young lady in school named Amy is the daughter of Lex Luthor's servants at his mansion. Her brother Jeff sees a boy named Troy making fun of her as "hired help" for the Luthors. Later in the locker room Troy is changing when he is assaulted by weights flying at him seemingly of their own accord! As Clark and Pete run into help Troy, we see the outline of a person in the locker room steam. An outline that disappears as though invisible! Later at the local coffee shop, the Beanery, Chloe and Clark notice Lana and her boyfriend Whitney having a spat and he determines that he's going to make a play for Lana once and for all. At Lex's mansion, Victoria Hardwick is talking to her father Sir Harry. She tells him she's still working on turning Lex against his Father, although both siblings really intend to betray both their parents eventually. The girl Amy we saw earlier comes in to serve drinks claiming her Mother is too busy to right now. Then she purposely spills the drinks all over Victoria in an obvious spiteful move. As she leaves and Victoria goes to clean up, we see Amy has stolen Lex's watch from him. When Clark arrives with Tulips Lex ordered for Victoria, they're mysteriously knocked to the ground although no one else is in the room. Clark helps Lex search for his watch as Lex explains it was a final gift from his mother before she died and is therefore priceless to him. Amy spots Victoria outside the door spying on Lex and tells her "You don't deserve him". Before Clark leaves they hear loud banging coming from Victoria's room and when he and Lex enter they see the room has been vandalized with spray paint warnings saying "Leave now!" although again, no one is in the room!
Lex claims he felt someone brush past him when they entered the room and Clark relates this to Chloe. Chloe warns Clark about crossing the line between friend and suitor when it comes to Lana. Back at Lex's, his Father appears warning him that Victoria is attempting to make him betray his own family, and if Lex does so he'll make the biggest mistake of his life. Amy again catches Victoria up to no good as she's gotten a hold of Lex's computer password and is poking about in his private files. She's very upset and her brother Jeff notices this. Back at Lana's, she and Clark are working on the blood drive and the two suddenly find themselves about to kiss when Lana's Aunt Nell interrupts them. Clark invites Lana to his loft tomorrow to watch the sunset from there and Lana agrees. Back at school, a counselor asks Whitney if he needs any help and he refuses. When Whitney's backpack falls, Clark notices a prescription bottle of obscure medicine that Whitney is carrying. He researches it on the internet and finds out it's heart medicine. He goes to Lex and tells him that like Amy he's seen Victoria spying on him and he's concerned. Lex tells him that he knows what Victoria's been up to and to him it's all just a game to play. At that moment, Victoria is upstairs taking a bath when suddenly she is pushed and held under the water by someone unseen! Clark is leaving and his acute hearing picks up Victoria's distress. He breaks into the room and pulls Victoria from the tub just in time. But the invisible assailant knocks Clark down as he's leaving the room, and then cuts himself on glass that broke when Clark tore through the door. The blood on the glass proves once and for all that the attacker is invisible but all too real!
Chloe and Clark are examining the blood on the glass and Chloe notices a green fluid that smells like roses on the glass. When she runs some on her fingers, her fingers become invisible, and when rubbed off her fingers reappear! With a blood type on the glass Chloe starts to check the records of all the blood donors in the recent drive for a match. Clark talks to Whitney and finds out his Dad has a heart condition and the future is very uncertain. Clark tells Whitney to confide in Lana as he can trust her. He tells Lex he won't take advantage of Whitney's problems to try and take Lana from him and Lex tells Clark he admires his scruples. When Amy approaches the pair, Clark's x-ray vision detects Lex's watch on Amy's wrist and he tells Lex after she leaves. They go to Lex's house and search her room and not only do they find Lex's watch, they find a small shrine to Lex in Amy's room. Lex informs Amy's Mom that it would be best if she and her family return to Metropolis where Lex will pay for any help that Amy requires.
Meanwhile it's Clark's big chance with Lana as she has come to see the sunset in his loft and the two seem about to kiss again when Clark tells her that Whitney needs her more then ever and she should talk to him right away. Lana agrees to do so and leaves. Back at Lex's mansion, Amy and her family leave with Amy apologizing for her behavior. After they pull away, Lex is knocked out by the invisible foe and dragged into his mansion!
Chloe finds Clark in the loft and tells him that even though they suspected Amy, the blood on the glass Clark found does not match her blood type. Then Clark notices that it does match her brother Jeff's blood type and they've been looking at the wrong person the whole time. Back at the mansion an invisible Jeff is berating Lex for his uncaring attitude to his sister and he's becoming more violent by the minute. He's tied Lex up and now he intends to kill him for the pain Lex had caused his sister. He knocks Lex out in anger just as Clark runs into the room at super-speed. He tells Clark he found strange green roses on the grounds and when he rubbed their rose oils on himself he became invisible. He then used the fantastic ability to harass Victoria in the hopes she'd leave Lex and Amy then could have him. He attacks Clark with an ancient mace which shatters into pieces on Clark's chin and then when that doesn't work he tries to strangle Clark to death. But Clark tosses him aside with his great strength and throws him into a nearby scaffold with paint on it. As he slides to the floor unconscious, we see his form appear under the spilled paint. Later he is taken away to be treated for his mental illness, with his secret of how he became invisible known only to he and Clark. That night Clark watches from his loft through his telescope as he sees Whitney finally confide in Lana about his Dad and the pair reconcile in each other's arms. And Clark lowers his head as he feels the pain of losing his chance with Lana. The pain that always comes with doing the right thing as Clark has done.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Hug"

Written By: Doris Egan
Directed By: Chris Long
Produced By: Bob Hargrove
Aired in the U.S.A.: 02.05.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Victoria Emerson: Kelly Brook
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Bob Rickman: Rick Peters
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Kyle Tippet: Gregory Sporleder
Dr. Toby: Rnelson Brown

Our Story:
The Center for environmental protection has called Bob Rickman into their office regarding Rickman Industries application for a plant in Smallville. It seems the agency has a long list of complaints regarding Rickman's polluting plants and local environmental lawbreaking record. The agent tells Rickman it has no intent of allowing his company to build another of his plants. But Mr. Rickman isn't bothered by any of this. He simply bids the agent a good day and offers his hand as though they were friends parting. The agent reluctantly shakes the hand and suddenly a green glow starts in Rickman's hand and is transferred into the C.E.P. agent with even his pupils glowing green! Rickman begins to speak to the agent and the next we see of him he is exiting the building with a signed permit for his new plant in Smallville. And the C.E.P. agent who at first vehemently refused and then signed the permit suddenly falls to his death on a taxi in front of the building!
Clark, Chloe, and Lana are all horseback riding in the woods where three surveyors where found hysterical with fear yet had no memory of their experience in the woods. When Chloe notices she lost her camera, Lana rides back to get it for her. Suddenly Lana's scream alerts the pair but Clark has Chloe watch the horses. He super-speed runs to Lana's side where her horse has thrown her and a man stands over Lana! Clark warns him off and it seems as though the man vanishes when Clark turns his attention to the now recovered Lana. But when they examine Chloe's camera footage they see the man is a local hermit sculptor named Kyle Tippet. The next day Clark relates this to his parents and Jonathan Kent resolves to go talk to Kyle and clear the air on his involvement. It seems Lana's Aunt Nell wants Clark to tell the police that Kyle attacked Lana when Clark tells of the footage on Chloe's camera which clearly shows Kyle merely checking Lana after her fall from the horse. Clark goes to see Kyle at his trailer himself, as he now feels personally involved.
At the Beanery, the local coffee shop, Lex Luthor meets Bob Rickman whom he lets know he doesn't like one bit. Rickman tells Luthor he intends to buy the Kent farm for the land he'll build his plant on and Lex tells him Mr. Kent will never sell. Before he leaves, Rickman touches Whitney on the hand as he passes him and Whitney follows Rickman out the door. At that moment Clark is talking to Kyle who explains that all he was doing was helping Lana and he wants to be left alone. Kyle won't trust anyone saying "Friends always betray you in the end". When Clark goes to the Beanery, Lana's boyfriend Whitney is swearing to get Kyle and the couple snubs Clark, as he seems to have taken Kyle's side. Lex warns Clark of Rickman's plans and Clark agrees his father would never sell.
At Kyle's trailer, he's visited by Rickman and they talk about how they both got the ability to coerce people merely by touching them. They were two friends who were unsuccessful salesmen until the meteor shower back in the eighties trapped them in their car and the meteors strange radiation worked on them. But Kyle feared the potential to abuse the power and Rickman realized that fear as he's used it for years to claw his way to the top of the corporate world. Kyle dares Rickman to shake his hand, but oddly Rickman refuses in obvious fear. After Kyle leaves, Kyle is entering his trailer when Whitney attacks him with a baseball bat nearly killing him! But Clark suddenly appears and the bat shatters on his chin right in front of Whitney and Kyle. Clark subdues Whitney who has no memory of the attack. And the police show up and arrest Kyle for attacking Whitney!
Rickman visits Pa Kent the next day at his barn and tries to get him to shake his hand despite Jonathan's obvious refusal to sell. But he's wearing gloves and it doesn't work. But Rickman fakes a twisted ankle and gets Pa to touch him bare handed. The green glow goes from his hand to his eyes, and the next thing you know Ma and Pa Kent are fighting over Jonathan having just sold the farm to Rickman! Clark goes to Lex for help and he pledges several of the best lawyers in the world to stopping the sale. Meanwhile Rickman has touched one of the local deputies guarding Kyle in jail and gets him to release Kyle. He then sends another he touched to shoot Kyle upon his escape. But again Clark is there for Kyle and he sees the Deputy fire at him. His super-reflexes see the bullet speeding for Kyle and he races it to him. He grabs Kyle away but he's still nicked by the bullet and needs help. He again goes to Lex who brings in "Dr. Toby", who practices his medicine under less then licit terms and he patches Kyle up.
When Clark returns home, Lana is waiting for him up in his loft in the barn. She tells Clark how she worries for her safety as Kyle's escaped and she wants to stay friends with Clark despite his defense of Kyle. Again Rickman meets Lex at the Beanery and swears he's giving up the fight for the Kent farm as Lex's lawyers have made it too tough to stay. He offers to shake hands and unfortunately but reluctantly Lex does so to seal the deal about the Kents. As he's leaving Clark arrives and Rickman shakes his hand but all he gets are crunched fingers from Clark's steely grip for a reaction. His odd power won't work on Clark. Clark and Chloe meet Kyle at his place and he tells them the truth about he and Rickman. When Kyle demonstrates by touching Chloe, she kisses Clark when Kyle says to show her true feelings! While she's in the trance, Kyle also tells Clark he knows he's special also as he saw the bat break on his chin. He tells Clark he'll keep his secret, but Clark shouldn't hide and be afraid to use his powers to help others as he hid all these years. Clark ponders this as we see Rickman give Lex an automatic weapon and tells him to kill Clark and Kyle, his only opposition!
Clark calls Lex and tells him that he and Kyle are at a local gas station and Kyle's ready to tell all about Rickman. Lex pulls up and tells the pair to get in the car while he gasses up. They do so and Lex proceeds to pour gas all over his car and set it afire with Clark and Kyle inside while locking the doors with his electronic remote! Clark kicks his way out of the car and super-speeds away in full view of Lex as the car explodes throwing he and Kyle down. Then Lex opens fire with the gun Rickman gave him as the pair runs inside the gas station. Lex follows then inside where he corners Kyle and threatens to shoot him. When Clark emerges to save Kyle, Lex opens fire shooting wildly at Clark. Even though he dodges most of the bullets with his incredible speed, many hit Clark and stagger him badly but the bullets actually bounce off him! Clark knocks out Lex who thankfully remembers none of it afterwards. And Kyle then confronts Rickman who finally enters the building when Lex's attack fails. They clasp hands and suddenly a shot rings out as a green glow enters Rickman's eyes for a change. A gun in his hand falls to the floor, as he has suddenly become his own final victim. Kyle pledges to use his power to help people as he exits the garage. The next day Lex informs Clark that Rickman's death has ended his threat to take their farm and Clark tells Lex he hopes they never fall out as Kyle and Rickman did. Lex assures Clark he believes that "Their friendship will be the stuff of legend". In a strange way neither could imagine, that indeed will be the case someday.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Leech"

Written By: Tim Schlattmann
Directed By: Greg Beeman
Produced By: Bob Hargrove
Aired in the U.S.A.: 02.12.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Victoria Hardwick: Kelly Brook
Sir Harry Hardwick: William Samples
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Roger Nixon: Tom O'Brien
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Eric Summers: Shawn Ashmore
Mr. Summers: Kevin McNulty
Mrs. Summers: P. Lynn Johnson

Our Story:
MR. Summers takes his class, including his son Eric, on a field trip to the woods that's cut short suddenly by an oncoming thunderstorm. When the class returns to the bus they notice Eric, whose father pressures him too much as one of his students, is not with them and Clark volunteers to go find him. He finds Eric standing on the railing of the local dam with a fatal fall awaiting one small slip. Clark calls to him, but lightning strikes nearby and causes Eric to tumble off the railing. Clark grabs Eric and suddenly lightning strikes Clark directly! Eric has green meteor rocks he's gathered from the trip on him and they combine with the lightning and his hand held by Clark. Green energy transfers from Clark to Eric in a wild display of pyrotechnics. And when the pair tumble safely back from the railing, Eric's jacket is smoldering from the intense heat of the lightning. And when Clark touches it to extinguish it, he pulls his hand away when he gets burnt for Clark has lost his invulnerability!
The next day Clark prepares for school when his father asks him to help move a truck he's gotten stuck in mud. But when Clark tries to push the truck he finds he not only has the strength of a normal person, but he also falls and bloodies his nose! His Mother and Father and Clark talk it over and reason that he's lost his powers, perhaps forever, and that scares all the Kent family. Eric is home having an argumentative breakfast with his parents when his Father tries to hit Eric. But Eric exhibits uncanny speed and strength and stops his Father easily, but frightens them all. When Clark sees Eric at gym he asks him if anything odd has happened to him and Eric lies for after Clark leaves we see him bench pressing 500lbs! Lana is upset to learn her Aunt Nell is selling her business with the old Talon Theater which is attached to her business.
Meanwhile Lex Luthor is visited by the reporter in his employ who is investigating the accident that Clark saved Lex from with his powers. He's had experts reconstruct the accident and it shows that Clark was hit by Lex going 60 miles an hour that day and he could not have survived yet did. But when Lex visits Clark working on his farm he has to help Clark lift a fence section he's installing. They argue about the accident with Clark denying he did anything other then save Lex that day and then Lex leaves.
Eric has started to talk to a girl at school named Molly despite the fact she's already dating a football player named Bret who doesn't appreciate Eric's advances. When a mugger grabs Chloe's laptop, Eric sees Molly and uses his powers to stop the mugger and impress her. When Clark tells his parents he's upset over losing his powers, they advise him to be himself and learn to enjoy his normalcy. When he plays basketball that day with Whitney and Pete, he does enjoy the experience and doesn't worry for once about hurting someone with his powers. Lex is meeting with Victoria's father Sir Harry Hardwick to discuss the takeover of Luthor Corp. with Lex's help. Sir Harry informs Lex that Victoria has stolen his research about Cadmus Labs and he's bought up all their stock giving him the profits he needs to start a hostile takeover of Luthor Corp without Lex.
Clark meets Lana in the old Talon Theater and she tells him she's upset at it's sale as her parents met there and she feels the traces of them are being erased over time. Clark tells her the only way to move into the future is to let go of her past and that leaves them both feeling better about their problems. But Eric's life isn't getting better as he uses his strength to threaten his Father and scare his Mom after they beg him to see a doctor about what's happening to him. He purposely asks Molly for a date to goad her boyfriend into a fight. Then he throws the boy around easily with his powers. When Bret hides under his pickup, Eric throws the truck like a toy destroying it. Clark tries to stop Eric telling him he'll regret it if he uses his strength to kill. But Eric's response is to throw Clark like a rag doll onto a car thirty feet away, and then flee when the students all cower in fear at him.
Although bruised badly Clark recovers and tells his parents what's happened. Lex visits Clark and sees his obvious pain from the injuries and doubts all he's learned about Clark so far. When Eric returns home, his parents call the police who come to arrest him. As this occurs Clark tells his parents that Eric is his responsibility and he must stop him, possibly with green meteor rocks which affect Clark adversely. His parents are afraid for him but proud of their son and tell him so. Lex has met again with Sir Harry and Victoria as Sir Harry has found out that Cadmus's stock is actually worthless and he's lost his fortune on the deal. Lex tells Sir Harry that Luthor Corp will now be acquiring Sir Harry's firm and Lex knew what he and Victoria were up to the whole time. He also tells Victoria she'll one day regret her betrayal of him.
Clark visits Lana and asks her to trust him and lend him her green meteor necklace and she agrees. He gently kisses her cheek and says goodbye as he feels he will not survive against Eric. He takes the lead box Lex gave him months ago and puts the necklace inside. When he gets to Eric's house his worst fears are realized as the house is utterly destroyed with police cars sticking from its roof and others overturned everywhere. His parents tell Clark Eric said he was going to go where he felt safe and Clark reasons that's the dam where he first got Clark's powers. When Clark gets to the dam Eric is standing on the same railing we saw him on earlier, but when Clark tries to talk him down Eric calmly jumps off the railing and falls several hundred feet to the ground!
Clark races to the ground but finds Eric is completely unhurt. Eric tells him that nothing on Earth can stop him but Clark tells him he will stop him. Eric swats Clark like a fly through the gate of a nearby transformer station. Then Eric rips a wire loose and intends to use the high voltage on Clark, his reason unseated by the strange powers he's got. But Clark takes out the necklace and as Eric and he grab each other, the night blazes brightly as the electrical current arcs through the pair once again with the green meteor energy transfer taking place. Clark's powers flow back into him as Eric collapses on the ground. He quickly returns the necklace to the lead box and calls an ambulance for Eric.
Ma and Pa Kent congratulate Clark on his bravery and are happy the powers don't cause problems for Clark as they did for Eric. He tells them the difference has always been the loving support they have given him over the years. Something Eric's father never tried to do. When Lex receives pictures of Victoria and his father in a tryst he then gets a call from his Father who has taken all the credit for the takeover of Sir Harry's firm. All this simply deepens Lex's resolve to one day unseat his Father from the head of Luthor Corp. as his final revenge. He then tells the reporter to never reveal the accident results to anyone as he's convinced by recent events that Clark is just a normal person. That night Clark returns the necklace to Lana and she senses the change in him although she doesn't know about his powers. As they part Clark feels the difference his powers make in him, and the walls that are built around him by them also.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Kinetic"

Written By: Philip Levens
Directed By: Robert Singer
Produced By: Bob Hargrove
Aired in the U.S.A.: 02.26.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Guest Star 1: David Lovgren
Guest Star 2: Kavan Smith
Guest Star 3: David Coles
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Nell Potter: Sarah-Jane Redmond
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Three teens are parked outside Lex's mansion donning ski masks in preparation for burglarizing the place. Inside the mansion, Lex is being interviewed by Chloe for the Torch, the school paper, with Clark along for the interview. When Lex is called away to a phone call Chloe starts snooping around the rooms. When Clark looks for her, the three young burglars gain access to Lex's vault by simply walking through the walls into the room! One burglar with no right arm above the elbow states they only have five minutes before their "phasing" ability wears off and they hurriedly grab as much money and jewels as they can. The leader spies a lone computer diskette and slips it into his pocket before they again walk right through the wall into the room where Clark is. One of them grabs Clark from behind and Clark spots a ornate green glowing tattoo on his arm. Suddenly Clark weakens and is thrown to the ground. But as the trio flees they also encounter Chloe returning to the interview room and in their haste one of them shoves her right out a nearby window. Chloe plummets to the ground and lies motionless just as Clark arrives at the window having finally regained his strength. But it's too late for Chloe as she is obviously badly injured!
Chloe is hospitalized with Lex and Clark visiting the next day. Clark is wracked by guilt over not saving Chloe and Lex tries to reassure him. Lex also tells Clark he reported nothing stolen by the thieves despite what they took. He also tells Clark that the police told him the Smallville Savings and Loan was the site of an attempted burglary by the gang who've struck a dozen times in recent weeks. Whitney and Lana meet before Whitney must go to work at his family's department store. Something is troubling Whitney but he won't tell Lana what it is. Clark is back home and his parents console him over Chloe's injuries by telling him he can't expect to save the whole world. He decides that he'll investigate the crime to help assuage his guilt. Meanwhile Lana has found out the buyer for her Aunt Nell's flower shop and the theater next door is none other then Lex Luthor!
When Pete Ross and Clark meet at the Smallville Savings and Loan that day, Clark uses his X-ray vision to look inside the bank vault, and sees the right arm of the burglar still inside the vault door! This explains why the attempted robbery had failed. The three burglars have returned to Lex's mansion and walk right through the walls to confront Lex. They've found his secret project plans on the diskette and tell Lex they're blackmailing him. When Lex turns around the three have already disappeared through the walls. Clark goes to Whitney's family store and when he asks what's wrong, Whitney confesses to Clark he's lost his football scholarship to college and his future is in doubt. Whitney also tells Clark he hasn't summoned up the nerve to tell Lana. Listening to all this nearby are two of the gang members. Clark spots one of them before he leaves by his green tattoo. Later that night, the trio picks up Whitney for a ride after work and taking advantage of his low state, they recruit him into their gang. They even give him a tattoo like they wear and they take him to a local traffic tunnel where they suddenly and inexplicably throw Whitney into the path of an oncoming truck. But as the truck reaches him, he simply phases through it while it continues through the tunnel. Whitney is now a full-fledged phasing burglar like his new friends! Chloe is recovering well in the hospital which raises Clark's spirits. She also tells Clark she too remembers the green tattoos the gang members all wore. Lex meanwhile meets with Lana who pleads with him not to tear down the movie theater as it's where her parents met. Lex tells Lana he's sorry, but this is business and the building will be razed for a parking garage. Clark goes to Whitney to warn him that he's fallen in with a bad crowd but Whitney rebuffs him angrily. When Lana visits Clark up in his barn loft, he tells her about Whitney's scholarship loss. Lana feels badly as she knows how much it meant to Whitney. She tells Clark about Lex's plans for the theater and he suggests she come up with a business proposal to convince Lex to save the building.
Later that night, the gang again picks up Whitney after work with another bottle of glowing green ink for another special tattoo. What they don't know is Clark is following them using his incredible speed. The gang meets up with Luthor in a local meat locker they lock him into before phasing inside it for a money exchange they've arranged. When Lex won't pay they threaten violence with Whitney objecting to their use of force. Suddenly Clark breaks the door open and calls to Whitney who stops in recognition despite his ski mask. Then before they run out of time, the four flee the room by again running through the walls right in front of Lex and Clark!
When the gang gets back to their hideout, they're furious because Whitney stopped them from hurting Lex. But because the tattoos are working less and less for them they need Whitney who just started the process. Lex and Clark talk about he being blackmailed and Lex tells Clark the project information is confidential but not illegal. He also tells Clark he intends to make the gang pay for their acts and that includes Whitney too. Clark visits Chloe who has figured out that the gang's tattoos are made using meteorite ink. Also, continued use will kill them as the tattoos speed up the metabolism to an incredible degree that the body can't take for long.
Whitney sees Lana and confesses his role in the gang and when Clark shows up the two team up to retrieve the disk before the gang can kill Lex. They go to the hideout and Clark's x-ray eyes find the diskette easily. But the gang walks into the room and demands the diskette which Clark crushes in response. In reprisal, the gang leader phases his hand into Clark's chest hurting him badly. Then he tells Whitney that it's his turn next!
Whitney is taken into the gangs garage where they put him beneath a junk car hoisted in the air on a chain. But Lex shows up and using a stun gun he knocks one of them out and then calls the police. Just as the chain is released and the car falls, Whitney grabs the gang leader who can no longer phase. Clark flashes in and grabs Whitney, but it's too late for the gang leader who cannot escape the falling vehicle. The police arrive and arrest the other two gang members who tell the police enough to clear Whitney. Then Lex tells the two he'll keep their phasing secret if they don't talk about any of his confidential information they might have seen. He also warns them he'll strike at them in jail to keep them honest if he must.
Later, Lana meets with Lex and proposes tax-free status for the theater as an historic landmark, with coffee shops and small businesses rounding out the mix. Lex likes what he sees and tells Lana that if she'll help run the project, he will agree not to tear the theater down. Lana agrees and at first is jubilant she has saved the building. But when Lex tells her this makes them partners, her expression changes to a worried look showing how that is a cause for real concern indeed.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Zero"

Story By: Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Teleplay By: Mark Verheiden
Directed By: Michael Katelman
Produced By: Bob Hargrove
Aired in the U.S.A.: 03.12.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Jude Boyce: Corin Nemec
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Max Kasage: Eric Breker
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Sam Phelan: Cameron Dye
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Lex Luthor is held captive somewhere suspended from the ceiling with chains in a straightjacket. We flashback in time to a Club Zero in Metropolis and Lex is escorting a young friend named Amanda who is getting married out for a good time before the wedding. Unfortunately they meet up with her fiancée who is out having a last fling with not one, but two young ladies at the same club. Amanda is upset and tells Jude the wedding is off and asks Lex to take her home. But Jude knows Lex set him up as Lex smiles at him and tells Jude he doesn't deserve Amanda. In anger he pulls a knife and lunging at Lex he wounds him in the shoulder! The club security man Max, who wears a diamond ring with his name on it, pulls a gun and Jude slashes wildly with the knife. It's not clear with all the lights and noise in the club, but we hear a shot ring out and Jude falls dead with a fatal wound! Back in the present Lex's unseen captor steps into the light demanding the truth of what happened that night back at the club. And Lex is shocked to see it's none other then Jude, the young man who was killed!
One week earlier in time, Clark and Chloe are discussing their new assignments of writing biographies about their classmates. Chloe is writing about Clark and tells him she's anxious to interview him but Clark delays her. Lana is very busy with the re-opening of the Talon, the theater she and Lex are partners in. A man comes in whom we know as Lex's future kidnapper and pretends to apply for a job at the theater, but when Lex pulls up he has left. The security man Max from Club Zero suddenly shows up and confronts Lex swearing he's being stalked by the dead Jude. But Lex scoffs at Max and sends the man away to hide out in Metropolis. He returns to the theater where Lana tells him of Jude applying for the job and Lex starts to worry. Then when he leaves he finds his car has been tampered with and a recording of the incident at Club Zero is playing loudly on his stereo!
Clark returns home to find Chloe interviewing his parents who are very nervous about her questions concerning Clark's adoption. He leaves to go meet Lana and Lex at the Talon and he wishes her luck with the opening. Lex has returned to meet a contractor who's giving Lex an estimate for work, and they find him knocked out in the back of the theater. The assailant left a package for Lex nearby with a Club Zero card in it. And in the package is the diamond ring wearing severed right hand of Max the club security man!
Lana now is worried over being partnered with Lex as he seems to make a lot of enemies. Chloe asks Pete Ross for information about Clark as a child and Pete tells her that Clark was always stronger then the other kids. Chloe finally asks Clark about his adoption and Clark tells her this is causing him a lot of pain as he wonders about his biological parents every day. Meanwhile Lex knows that the hand in the box belongs to Max the Club Zero security man and tells his guards to warn Amanda of what's happened. Lex thinks about that night at Club Zero as Jude lay dead and Sam Phelan, the Luthor's secret Metropolis police contact, had arrived. When Lex tells Phelan what happened, he sends Lex to a private doctor to have his wound seen to and he tells Lex to never contact Amanda in any way ever again. Then he arranges for a huge bribe for Max to shut him up about the incident. The Luthor's money is well spent as Sam Phelan successfully covers up the young man's death and Luthor's involvement.
Lex comes out of his daydream to see Jude himself standing there with a gun demanding to know the truth about that night. Clark arrives at Lex's and hearing the conversation speeds to the room, but Jude has disappeared again. When Clark asks Lex what's going on, Lex tells him to stay out of it.
Pa Kent tells Clark he's worried about Chloe's investigation of the adoption through Metropolis United Charities which only existed for six months. Though he doesn't say so directly he hints of something they had to do to adopt Clark and get him a birth certificate. The next morning Pa Kent knows something is wrong immediately, as he doesn't hear any of his cows in the pasture mooing. He and Clark run to the field to find them all dead, with Luthor Corp. barrels of toxic waste strewn everywhere that caused it!
Lex goes to the Kents that day and apologizes and promises to pay all damages. But an even bigger wedge has now been driven between Lex and Pa Kent. When the Kents walk away, the DEP representative walks over to Lex and its Jude with a taser in his hand. He zaps Lex into unconciousness and throws him in a truck and drives away. Clark looks for Lex later to tell him he's found out about Club Zero through his own search in old newspapers from Metropolis. He shares his findings with Chloe when she drops by to tell him she's done looking into his past as she cares too much about him to hurt him. When she looks over her photos for any of Clark, they both spot the dead man Jude next to Lex in a recent one.
What they don't know is Lex is dangling from a ceiling upside down at Jude's mercy at that moment. Clark looks up the address that Jude put on the application for Lana and finds it's legitimate. The two call the police and when they arrive at that address with Clark, they find the one-handed corpse of Max, the Club Zero man. Clark figures correctly that Lex is being held captive at the Talon Theater and dashes there at lightning speed. In the back of the theater at that moment it looks as though Jude is about to shoot Lex, but when the shot rings out it is Jude who falls dead! Someone in the background now throws all the lights on and it's the contractor who had been knocked out earlier at the theater by Jude. And he walks past Jude's corpse to tell Lex that it's finally time for the real truth!
It turns out the man is really Amanda's brother who wants revenge for her death. She always blamed herself for Jude's death and eventually committed suicide over it. He then tells Lex the dead man is really just a double for Jude he stumbled across one day and promised him a large share of Luthor blackmail money for his help posing as the dead man. He then sticks a gun in Lex's face and demands the truth about that night. Lex tells him that what really happened was that after he got stabbed, Max and Jude struggled over the gun and Max dropped it. Amanda then picked it up and it went off accidentally killing Jude. And that is why the poor girl killed herself in guilt over Jude's death.
The man goes wild at this news and using his gun he shoots the chain holding Lex and he falls to the floor. They are on the balcony and he picks up Lex's bound body in rage and hurls it over the railing! At that moment Clark speeds into the room and tossing a couch under Lex's falling body to catch it, he runs up to the balcony and knocks out the would-be murderer before the man even knows what happened.
Later that week the Talon Theater reopens for business and Clark and Lex meet where Lex tells Clark he took the fall for Amanda because she had been his friend. And Lex tells Clark he'll do anything to protect his friends. We then see Chloe back at her computer looking at the file about Clark's adoption she promised to forget about. But when the moment comes for her to delete the file, Chloe decides she will keep it instead. She still has questions about Clark, and her journalistic instincts just cannot let them go unanswered.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Nicodemus"

Story By: Greg Walker
Teleplay By: Michael Green
Directed By: James Marshall
Produced By: Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 03.19.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Dr. Hamilton: Joe Morton
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Principal Kwan: Hiro Kanagawa
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Pa Kent is driving to the farm when an employee of Luthor Corp starts ramming his truck's rear in an apparent case of road rage. The man is carrying a weird red and yellow flower in his truck and trying to get through to Lionel Luthor over his cell phone. His maddened spree ends when he runs off the road with the truck crashing badly and the man and the odd flower ejected from the cab. When Pa runs to the man to help him, the flower sprays Pa with powder causing him to sneeze in an allergic reaction.
The man is hospitalized and Lex is visited by Dr. Hamilton who works for Lex researching meteor effects on humans. It seems the man was helping him in the lab in his barn when he went on the rampage. Dr. Hamilton has been using long dormant seeds he irradiates with meteor energy and the seeds have sprouted these odd flowers. Back at the farm Pa Kent is acting strangely now himself. He's chasing Ma Kent around the house, goofing off from chores drinking beer, and ranting madly about how much he hates the Luthors. When Lex drops by to apologize for his employee's involvement, Pa nearly goes after Lex in anger. Ma Kent notices he's running a high temperature also.
Back at school Chloe's running a poll for the school paper on students deepest desires and Lana's is to climb a windmill tower on the towns edge and see the Metropolis skyline. Pete Ross tells Clark that Lionel Luthor ran his family out of business years ago and he resents Clark's friendship with Lex. Chloe is running out of patience with Clark's crush on Lana and tells him so. Pa Kent's condition worsens when a loan officer calls turning down his recent request for a loan. Pa gets a shotgun and drives like a maniac into town nearly running people down on his way to the bank. Clark sees him and stops him, but in the struggle the gun goes off right in Clark's chest!
Thankfully Clark is unharmed due to his powers, but the shock of the act is too much for Pa. His fever takes its toll and he collapses on the ground at Clark's feet. When he's hospitalized it's confirmed that Pa has the same symptoms as Lex's employee who is now in a coma! That night Chloe and Lana go to the site of the accident to hopefully find some clues. Chloe takes a picture of someone in the woods probing around while Lana finds the odd flower from the accident. And before she can stop it, it sprays her with the same powder and she starts sneezing just like Pa Kent did!
Lex visits Dr. Hamilton who tells him that in 1871 the flower was named the Nicodemus and 200 people died from its effects. Lex has Hamilton send one of the flowers to his researchers in Metropolis to look for a possible cure. Lana comes to school the next day dressed very provocatively and when Whitney won't agree to cut class with her; she breaks up with him! She finds Clark and comes on to him strongly luring him into the off-limits pool area where she starts to perform a strip tease on the diving board for him! Clark and Lana actually kiss when Lana runs out of the room. And Clark is left standing there to explain all this to Principal Kwan who just came in!
Chloe and Clark compare notes and see that all three people exhibited the same behavior. Her picture from the other night turns out to be of Dr. Hamilton out in the woods. Lana walks into the Talon Theater/Coffeehouse she runs for Lex and declares the place closed and all drinks are on the house. Lex tells her he doesn't think its funny and her response is to start to tempt him as she did Clark. He knows she's showing flower symptoms from what Hamilton told him and he tries to calm her down. But she gets furious with Lex and grabs his car keys off the counter and steals his car from out front. Driving like a lunatic past Clark in town she speeds away. Chloe sees Dr. Hamilton who is being completely uncooperative, but she notices the book on his desk about the Nicodemus flower and leaves.
Clark has used his amazing speed to follow Lana to the same tall windmill she mentioned in Chloe's poll. Climbing it she taunts Clark for never having the courage to admit to her how he really feels about her. Suddenly her fever overcomes her and she falls off the tower ladder toward the ground. Clark catches her safely with his great strength and she collapses in his arms just as his father did!
Lana is now in the hospital where Pa Kent has gone into a coma. Lex tells Clark he's got the finest Doctors available flying in and the guilt he feels over this is apparent on his face. Back at school, Pete, Clark, and Chloe find a copy of the book about the Nicodemus flower and all the details of the epidemic. Chloe ties its resurgence to Hamilton through a six-year-old article of his about irradiating dormant seeds with meteor radiation, a practice he's obviously perfected. She also tells Clark that she thinks Lex is involved with Hamilton but cannot prove it yet. Clark confronts Lex who denies having anything to do with the Doctor.
Chloe and Pete sneak into Hamilton's lab and Pete knocks one of the flowers over and it sprays him with the deadly powder. He immediately shows its effects and tries to kiss Chloe. When she resists him he grabs a gun Hamilton keeps in the lab and threatens her with it. He demands and takes her car keys and driving off madly he swears he's going to kill Lex Luthor! Clark and Ma are watching over Pa who is sicker and worse; Lex's employee has died proving Pa is next. She tells Clark how she and Pa first met at Metropolis University and how it was truly love at first sight. As Clark holds her, she cries on his shoulder begging for her husband's life. Clark for all his powers is helpless also and shares his Mother's pain.
At Hamilton's lab, Lex arrives to find the Doctor has discovered the cure for the flowers illness. But at that moment Pete Ross bursts into the room with the gun in his hand. He shoots at Hamilton wounding him and he drops the book with the cure into a nearby fireplace. As his only hope starts to burn in the flames, Pete turns the gun to use it on Lex. Lex calmly walks over to the fire and grabs the book with the antidote from the flames while Pete raves on threatening him.
Chloe has told Clark again that Lex is involved with Hamilton and what happened to Pete. He runs at great speed to Hamilton's lab where Pete is ranting about how Lex stole the friendship that he and Clark used to have before Lex came to town. Clark pretends to hate Lex also to mollify Pete and keep him from shooting him. Then Clark purposely pushes Lex too strongly into a nearby wall stunning him momentarily. Then turning at super-speed, he easily knocks the gun from Pete's hand. Pete is amazed at Clark's fantastic speed, but the flower's effects finally take over and he collapses. When Lex gets up and regains his senses he has missed what Clark did to stop Pete.
Lex has the antidote synthesized and given to Pa, Lana, and Pete who are all cured but have no memory of anything that occurred during their illness. Lex has Hamilton's lab equipment moved to his newly aquired Cadmus Lab outside Metropolis where he can control him and his work more closely. When Clark again asks Lex about any involvement with Hamilton, Lex lies to Clark denying any knowledge of the man or his work. His lies will someday return to haunt him.
And when Lana has recovered, Clark takes her out to the windmill where the two climb up and sit together enjoying the view of Metropolis. When Lana asks Clark if she did anything to embarrass herself while she was ill, Clark lies like the good friend he is and tells her she didn't do anything unusual at all. Because there are times when a lie between friends can serve a good purpose. And Clark has wisely recognized this as one of those times.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Stray"

Written By: Philip Levin
Directed By: Paul Shapiro
Produced By: Michael Green and Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 04.16.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Debra Gibson: Brandy Ledford
Jim Gibson: Jim Shield
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Ryan: Ryan Kelly
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
A young boy walks into a pawnshop to hock what he says is his Mother's necklace. After they agree on a price, the owner proceeds to open the combination safe. As he does, the boy stands as if he were listening carefully to something. He exits the shop and enters a van where a man named Jim insists he give him the combination to the safe which the boy named Ryan does as if the owner of the shop had spoken it aloud while opening the safe! Jim and his wife Debra don masks, load their guns, and enter the pawnshop where Jim shoots the owner dead never giving him a chance. Seeing this, Ryan jumps from the van and runs off as fast as he can. The pair exits the shop and see the boy fleeing. They chase him to an adjacent road where he's suddenly hit by an oncoming car! Who but Martha Kent comes out of the car of course very upset over the accident. Though Ryan insists he's all right, Martha tells him she's taking him to the hospital for a check-up. The two robbers witness the car pulling away just as they arrive, and Jim has managed to hear where they're headed!
Though badly bruised Ryan is thankfully okay after the doctors examine him, but Ryan insists he can't remember a thing. The doctors feel the amnesia will pass, but he may also be faking it to avoid some personal problem. Ryan has no parents of record, so he'll have to be turned over to juvenile authorities. Pa and Clark have joined Ma Kent at the hospital and when they hear of Ryan's plight, they ask for him to come home with them until things get settled. The authorities happily agree, as it'll be better for Ryan.
The next morning, Ryan makes everyone their favorite breakfast for each of them as a surprise, as if he'd known them for years. Ryan and Clark play a little ball and Ryan confesses he worries a lot, and likes to read his "Warrior Angel" comics because the hero is all he hopes for in his life. When Ryan tries to read Clark's mind, he finds he cannot read him like other people. But Jim has gone to the hospital and found where Ryan is staying and is on his way there at that moment! Lionel Luthor drops in on Lex to tell him that he's done such a great job in Smallville, that his father will now reward Lex with a position back in Metropolis at his side. Lex tells his Father he'll think it over.
Clark introduces Ryan to Chloe and he later tells Clark that Chloe wants Clark to take her to the prom and she's already bought a pink dress for it! Then they go to the Talon where Ryan meets Lex and Clark finds out that Lex is an old "Warrior Angel" fan as he thinks the idea of a strange visitor from another planet who becomes a hero on Earth is great. Lex asks Ryan to visit him but Ryan rudely refuses and when Lex leaves Ryan tells Clark that Lex is leaving for his Father in Metropolis. But Ryan suddenly mentally reads Jim in the room and turns around to see him standing there! He runs out the back door while Clark has his back turned. When Clark sees Ryan's gone, Lana tells him she saw a man chase him out back. Ryan has jumped into a nearby Dumpster and eluded Jim who leaves. But before Clark comes out, a garbage truck arrives and dumps the Dumpster with Ryan in it into its rear and starts to compress its load! Clark detects Ryan with his incredible hearing, and then uses his X-ray vision to see the boy about to be crushed. He speeds to the truck's rear and tears the hydraulic hoses off like tissue paper, leaving the truck's compressor powerless. Then he tears the steel truck open and reaches in saving Ryan just like a panel in Ryan's comics!
When Lex tells Clark about his Father's offer, Clark asks Lex if he'd told Ryan that and Lex says no raising Clark's suspicions about the boys abilities. When Ryan and Clark return to the Talon, Ryan warns Lana that a waitress is stealing from her and she should investigate. When Chloe finds Ryan's backpack at the accident scene, a picture of Ryan's deceased Mother is inside. She gives it to Clark who asks her about the pink dress she bought and she tells him it's true, confirming for Clark that Ryan can indeed actually read people's minds.
At the Kent ranch, the Gibsons see Ryan walking around but they don't get close enough for him to know they've found him. When Clark gets home, he finds Ryan under the secret cellar in the barn looking at the spaceship that brought Clark to Earth. He confesses he can read minds and just wanted to see the ship. He also tells Clark he knows all about him from reading his parents, but he cannot read Clark's mind. He tells Clark his secret is safe with Ryan and then he tells of how his Mother died and then his stepfather Jim got custody of him. He re-married and since then the couple have abused Ryan and used his abilities to run a crime spree across the state. Ryan runs to Clark's arms and pleads with him to protect him from the pair, as he needs a hero very badly.
The next day Debra Gibson shows up and tells Ryan she'll shoot the Kents if he doesn't cooperate with her. She shows fake ID and says she's from Child Services and she's there to pick up Ryan. When Ryan leaves with her, Ma and Pa are visibly upset. And when Clark gets home and finds he's missed the chance to say goodbye to Ryan, he's even more upset. Lex drops by and tells Clark he's headed for Metropolis for dinner and Clark tells Lex he hopes he stays in Smallville. When the limo pulls away, we see it's Jim Gibson driving it! Debra and Ryan meet up with the limo and Ryan is thrown in the back to read Lex's mind and obtain the password to his Trust Fund accounts. As this happens, Chloe is visiting Clark and telling him she's found out that Ryan's stepdad has a long criminal record. Then they find out Ryan's actually been taken by his stepparents as the real Child Services agent pulls up looking for Ryan!
In the limo, Ryan has given the password to Jim who then throws Lex out of the car in the middle of the road. Clark speeds up behind Lex and making sure Lex is okay, he asks him which way the car went. The limo has stopped at a nearby bowling alley where John tries the password to try and login to Lex's database on his portable laptop. But when it doesn't work, Ryan also tells Debra that John intends to kill her after he gets the money. She knows Ryan wouldn't lie and tries to run, but John shoots her dead just as Ryan predicted! Ryan runs to the bowling alley which has closed, but a janitor cleaning up comes through the door. Ryan runs past him into the alley fleeing Jim who shoots the janitor dead and steps through the door to do the same to Ryan!
Ryan runs behind the alleys hiding in the pin-setting mechanisms. Jim stalks him shooting at each alley successively with his shotgun, chasing the terrified boy to the end of the alleys. He sees Ryan and runs behind the alleys and pins Ryan down where he's about to kill him. Clark flashes into the room and using his amazing vision, he sees Jim about to shoot the helpless child. He picks up a bowling ball and throws it straight though the wall where it strikes Jim dead center in the chest throwing him backwards into the wall where he falls unconscious. Ryan again runs to Clark's arms, where Clark assures him he is now safe.
The next day they visit the Talon to find out that Lana has indeed caught the waitress stealing that Ryan warned her about and fired her. She also gives Ryan a kiss on the cheek in thanks. Ryan blushes and professes his love for Lana to Clark who tells him to "join the club". Lex meanwhile has refused his Father's offer to return to Metropolis, telling his Father that he knows how well he's doing and the only reason his Father wants him back is to keep his eye on Lex. He also tells his Father he will return to Metropolis someday, but on his terms and not his Father's.
Ryan's Aunt has been found and has come to the farm to take custody of him and take him to live with her in Edge City. Ryan reads her and discovers a loving, concerned woman, and his life will be better because of this from now on. Ryan thanks the Kents for all they did for him and he reassures them that Clark's secret will always be safe with him as he has secrets of his own to hide, as they know. Then Ryan tells Clark to beware of Lex as he has a lot of darkness in him that he hides. He also asks is he wants to know how Lana feels about him, but Clark tells Ryan he'd prefer to find out on his own. Then its time for Ryan to go and he and his Aunt leave. As they go, Clark finds himself crying for the loss of the little brother he had for so short a time.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Reaper"

Written By: Cameron Litvack
Directed By: Terrance O'Hara
Produced By: Michael Green and Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 04.23.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Mrs. Randall: Sheila Moore
Tyler Randall: Reynaldo Rosales
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Dominic Senatori: Jason Connery
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
A young man named Tyler who is estranged from his Mother has returned to Smallville to visit her on what appears to be her deathbed. He wears a bracelet on his wrist that contains a green meteor rock. His Mother is racked with pain and begs her son to put her out of her misery. Although at first horrified at the thought, he relents when his Mother tells of her unending pain and her honest wish to die for relief. He suffocates her and her heart monitor goes flat, but in response a nurse enters the room and seeing Tyler in the act she calls security. The guard comes in the room and a struggle ensues in which Tyler is thrown through a plate glass window and he plummets three stories to the ground and dies.
When the coroner examines the hapless man's body he finds the meteor rock has become imbedded in Tyler's wrist due to the impact of the fall. Suddenly Tyler's eyes shoot open and he grabs the coroner's bare arm. The man suddenly turns gray all over in color and then crumbles into dust in seconds! Tyler then calmly climbs off the autopsy table and leaves the room.
It's fishing season and Pa Kent is avidly preparing for his and Clark's annual fishing weekend together. But while he does, Ma and Clark are on their way to volunteer a few hours for the local charity "Mobile Meals" which delivers hot food to housebound seniors. Clark confesses to Ma that he's lost interest in fishing since getting older and really doesn't want to go on the trip this year. Ma tells Clark that the trip is something that Pa Kent looks forward to, but Clark still is reluctant about it.
They arrive at Mobile Meals and the manager Hank introduces them to the new volunteer for their rounds, the recently deceased Tyler. Tyler makes a point to wear gloves at all times so he won't destroy anyone accidentally. They head over to Mrs. Sykes who lives with her dog Pepper. Once there, Tyler is extremely attentive and listens closely as Mrs. Sykes says she likes white roses and that her pain is getting worse every day. They spend time with her and finally leave.
Lex Luthor's father has sent Dominic Senatori once again to harass Lex about irregularities that have been found in the finances of Lex's plant. Lex gives Dominic a gentle warning about truly being his father's son and tells him to tread lightly. Lex leaves and goes to the Talon coffee shop that Lana runs for him. He sees Clark who tells him about not wanting to go fishing with his Dad. Lex offers Clark and his dad skybox seats at Metropolis Stadium to see the Sharks play instead of fishing and Clark is pleased with the offer. Lex leaves and Clark notices Lana crying on the phone. He asks what's wrong and Lana tells him that her boyfriend Whitney's Dad has just had another heart attack! The two rush to the hospital where Mr. Whitney is recovering, but he is upset that Whitney hasn't come to see him yet.
When Clark gets home he finds out from Pa that Dominic stopped by and talked to him about the investigation Lex ran on the Kent family after Clark saved Lex in the accident where Lex's car plunged off the bridge. Then Clark mentions the football game Lex had offered and Pa gets upset and so does Clark. Clark blurts out that he's tired of being treated like a child and that he hates fishing anyway. Pa is hurt badly by Clark's comments and they part on strained terms.
Tyler stops back at Mrs. Sykes house and when he comes in he touches her dog Pepper with his bare hand crumbling it into dust. Then he gives Mrs. Sykes a white rose and again she tells him of her great pain and how she wants to end her life for relief. Tyler asks is that what she really wants and when she says yes he touches her crumbling her into dust.
The next day Ma Kent warns Clark that she doesn't want he and his father to drift apart like Pa and his dad did. At school, Chloe and Pete tell Clark about Mrs. Syke's death and how all that was found was dust so spontaneous combustion is being blamed. Lex visits Pa Kent and attempts to make peace between the two of them but Pa Kent is adamant against Lex. Clark runs into Whitney who tells him he's afraid of the frail sick man his father has become and how he had dreamt of his seeing Whitney throw his first pass with the Metropolis Sharks. Clark tells him to love his father as the man he is, not what Whitney wishes he were.
Chloe finds an article about the coroner who Tyler killed being found as a dust pile and she and Pete and Clark go to Mrs. Syke's house to investigate. They find the remains of Mrs. Sykes and Pepper, and when Clark sees the white rose by the bed he realizes it's Tyler who killed all the people found this way. Ma Kent meanwhile has arrived at Mobile Meals to deliver some produce and when Tyler accidentally touches her delivery barehanded, it withers into dust and Ma also deducts that Tyler killed Mrs. Sykes.
Hank appears and Ma tells him to call the sheriff about Tyler who grabs Hank in reflex to stop him. Hank crumbles into dust just as Clark speeds into the room. He grabs Tyler who touches Clark's cheek which starts to turn gray like Tyler's other victims only slower. Clark cries out in pain and strikes out at Tyler knocking him away. As his cheek returns to normal color, Clark and Ma look up to see Tyler has disappeared!
Pa and Clark talk and Clark relates how he x-rayed Tyler's heart and it's still; the man is indeed dead. The two remain stubborn about the fishing trip and there are still hurt feelings between them. Lex sees Clark at the Talon and tells him to forget the football offer, as he never meant to come between Clark and his Father. He tells Clark when his father dies kings will attend his funeral. And when Clark's father dies his friends will attend his.
Whitney and Lana meet and he tells her his fear of losing his parents like Lana and she tells him to make the most out of the time left. He leaves for the hospital and suddenly Tyler appears telling Lana he heard Whitney talk about his suffering father. He tells her he will go end Mr. Fordman's suffering once and for all and then he vanishes!
Lex meets with Dominic and tells him that he's no longer the rebellious son to his father, now he's competition. He also tells Dominic that in olden times a messenger who bought a king bad news was usually slain. Then Dominic passes out cold from the drugged drink that Lex has given him! Chloe, Clark, and Pete reason that painkillers mixed with the meteor rock in Tyler's system caused his revival from death. Chloe also tells Clark that Tyler's mother survived that day from his attempted mercy killing. Then Lana runs in and tells them of Tyler heading to the hospital to kill Mr. Fordman. Clark runs for the hospital to stop Tyler before it's too late, but Tyler is already in the room when Whitney arrives and he pushes Whitney into a sink knocking him out. Then he turns to end Mr. Fordman's suffering forever!
Clark speeds into the room and he struggles with Tyler to stop him from killing Whitney's dad. Then he calms Tyler down long enough to tell him his Mother is alive and he will take him to her which he does. Once there, Clark tells Tyler he hasn't the right to end lives as where there's life there's hope. Tyler agrees and tells Clark he was wrong to think it was other's suffering he was trying to end when all the time it was his own. He takes off his gloves and touches his palms together and crumbles into dust, his death now truly final.
Lex meets with his father to inform him that the next time he sends a lackey to bother Lex, he won't go home alive. He then opens his trunk to give his father Dominic who he tied up after drugging him. As Lex leaves, his father gives him a rare compliment of "well done". Later Lex, at Clark's request, has the entire Metropolis Shark's football team bought in so Whitney can throw a touchdown pass with them in front of his father. Whitney does so and then runs to the sidelines to embrace his happy father. And in the stands Clark and his father hug and apologize to each other. His father tells Clark it was never about fishing, just about spending time together. And in the stadium that night, two fathers and two sons find each other once again.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Drone"

Written By: Michael Green & Philip Levens
Directed By: Michael Katelman
Produced By: Michael Green and Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 04.30.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Guest Star: Shonda Farr
Guest Star: Marguerite Moreau
Guest Star: Chelan Simmons
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Principal Kwan: Hiro Kanagawa
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
It's school election time at Smallville High and so far the class president candidates include Paul Chan, a good student who's well thought of, Felice Chandler, a pretty and popular young lady, and Sasha, an intense and serious young lady. The candidates are already involved in a hot race and the winner is uncertain. After school, Paul works on his campaign planning his posters and platform. He goes to his bathroom to wash his face and hears an odd buzzing but he cannot pinpoint its source. As he bends over his sink to wash his face, suddenly thousands of bees erupt like a geyser from the drain and the room is so filled with bees we no longer see Paul, we just hear his screams as the insects swarm over the hapless student!
Paul is hospitalized with severe stinging and he is quite ill but will recover. As Clark rounds the hall in school he's shocked to see that Pete Ross has hung a banner declaring Clark a candidate for class president. Clark is angry at Pete's assumption that he'll run, but Pete begs Clark to do so and he'll be his campaign manager. Though reluctant, Clark doesn't say no to the idea. Lex runs across a pretty stranded motorist and offers to help her until he realizes she's a reporter after a story about him. Her name is Karen Castle and she's a staff reporter for the Metropolis Journal who offers to run a complimentary story if Lex will grant an interview, but he refuses her request.
Felice has decided to throw a monster party to help her chances at president which Sasha thinks is unfair as she's not socially popular. Clark asks his parents and they think its a good idea he run for the office. Clark visits the Talon for Lana's advice and he finds that business is suffering due to the Beanery's stiff competition as the other coffee shop in town. But Lana also thinks Clark would make a fine class president and Lex arrives and agrees also. When Clark asks why he's not helping Lana with the Talon, he explains he's an investor and its Lana's job to make the place profitable.
Clark decides to run for office and Chloe seems skeptical and then jealous when Lana shows her support for Clark. Sasha is very upset there's another candidate for competition and goes home to the garage in back of her house. Once inside, we see there are thousands upon thousands of bees swarming around a giant hive they've built there. Sasha yells at them to calm down as though she were speaking to noisy children and the bees all suddenly fall quiet! Then seeing Sasha is irritated, they all form into a giant image of her face to mollify her, which the fantastic display does!
Chloe tells Clark she's working on a story about the fact that all the bees all over the state are disappearing from beekeeper's hives. She also presses Clark to start on a platform instead of a popularity contest to win the election. Clark sneaks a peek at the next issue of the school paper and is upset to see Chloe is endorsing Paul Chan for president. Pete and Clark stop by the Talon with Lana still struggling to keep the business going. Lex stops in and gives Clark his campaign slogan of "The Man of Tomorrow!", and then tells Lana if she wants to win against the Beanery's competition she's going to have to get tough.
Sahsa confronts Felice telling her to drop out of the race as she's not a qualified contestant, just an overblown cheerleader. Felice refuses and Sasha reminds her she's been warned. Lex again gets a visit from Karen Castle and this time he agrees to let her write the article to get himself good publicity in Metropolis and to upset his father. When Principal Kwan gets stuck in the school parking lot behind Felice, he walks up to her door to see why she's not moving her car. She doesn't answer and he can't see her through her tinted windows so he opens her door. And Felice falls out of her car onto the ground covered in hundreds of stinging bees!
Felice survives her attack as Paul did, but she is in a coma from the intense stinging. Chloe and Clark compare notes and recall that Sasha was stung by a whole hive of bees last year and they begin to suspect her. Later in the halls, Sasha confronts Clark telling him to quit the race as he isn't serious about it and he tells her he's in the race to stay. He also tells her he thinks she's got something to do with all these attacks and she storms off. Clark visits Lana at the Talon and she confesses her dream is to restore the entire theater someday but now things look grim with business so bad. Then Clark and she hear an intense buzzing but can't find the source until Clark uses his X-ray vision to spot a swarm of bees invading the place through the ventilation shafts!
He shoves Lana into a phone booth as the bees burst into the room and then purposely walks calmly to the back room leading the pursuing bees inside with him and then he shuts the door. The bees are frenzied and turn to attack Clark when he quickly grabs the freon pipe from the nearby freezer's back and aims it at the bees like a garden hose. The freezing liquid instantly chills the entire room covering it with ice and killing all the bees with its low temperatures. Clark pinches the tube's end closed with his great strength and walks out of the room to comfort a terrified Lana.
Clark tells Lana about Chloe's not endorsing him and she tells him to support his friend's decision even if he doesn't agree with it. Clark goes to Sasha's garage to confront her and finds Chloe already there looking at the giant hive in the ceiling. He says he's sorry for getting mad at her about the endorsement and the two share a quiet moment together. Then Chloe recalls that Sasha's bee-stinging incident occurred in Shuster's Gorge that is riddled with meteor rocks which obviously affected Sasha. Now she's emitting a pheromone which has the bees following and obeying her, but so much as a change in her mood could create a different scent and the bees will attack Sasha also.
Lex meanwhile has found a draft of the story that the reporter is writing and it turns out to be a hatchet job set up by his father to make Lex look bad. The reporter tells Lex she's just doing her job and laughs at Lex and leaves. Sahsa goes to Clark's house and gives him a final warning to stay out of the race, and Clark accuses her of controlling the bee attacks. She doesn't bother to deny it and tells Clark she's not going to attack him this time, but his mother. And at that moment Ma Kent is in the field on a tractor plowing when she looks up to see a huge swarm of bees heading right for her!
Clark speeds out to the field and catches his mother just she's about to be overtaken by the swarm of killer bees. He speeds her into the safety of the storm cellar and then runs to Sasha's to stop her once and for all. Sasha arrives and once inside the garage she gets incensed at Clark's refusal to give in to her. Then the bees return banging at the windows and doors trying to get in. Sasha starts to panic and tells Clark the bees aren't obeying her anymore. They finally break into the room and head right for Clark and Sasha in a killer rage!
Clark throws Sasha to the floor and covers her body with his. Then he picks up a screwdriver and throws it with all his great strength at a nearby gas grills' propane tank just as the deadly bees reach he and Sasha. With a tremendous blast the garage explodes into a huge fireball demolishing the entire structure and instantly killing the bees. Clark rises to his feet, his clothes burnt and ruined and with a slightly singed but unharmed Sasha in his arms. After Sasha is taken away to answer for her crimes, he returns to school to find he has lost the election to the recovering Paul Chan. But Chloe says she's proud of him for not quitting the race and they decide to throw a losers party at the Talon. When they get there they find the place doing great business for a change. It seems Lana got tough and uncovered health violations at the Beanery that had been concealed. She told the local inspector and they found the Beanery unfit for serving food until they clean up. She celebrates her business savvy with Clark and Lex, but fusses a little over her hardball tactics.
Lex has one last meeting with Karen Castle telling her she can run the story if she wants as Lex won't try to stop her. Or she can walk into work Monday morning with a new job as a Managing Editor, a perk Lex has arranged if she wishes it. She wisely decides to join Lex's team and not run the story that will hurt him, but now run one that'll be a goodwill article praising him and making his father furious. And Clark and Lana meet at his barn so he can read her the campaign speech he wrote but never gave. He, Lex, and Lana have all learned to confront adversity however you must and never give in to despair. A lesson for life they will always carry, some for good and others for evil.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Crush"

Written By: Philip Levens, Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Directed By: James Marshall
Produced By: Michael Green and Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 05.07.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Justin Gaines: Adam Brody
Pam Jenkins: Donna Bullock
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Hiro Kanagawa: Principal Kwan
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
At the Metropolis Children's Hospital we see a young man named Justin who's recovering from a hit and run accident which has left his hands damaged badly. Dr. Wells, Justin's operating surgeon, enters to bid him goodbye as he is being released to return to Smallville. Justin bitterly declaims the doctor as the cause for his permanent disability, but the doctor denies it and leaves on an elevator with his date. An elevator that acts inexplicably by dropping several stories and then groaning as though it were being squeezed by a giant hand. It finally stops a few feet under a floor and his date safely climbs out. But when Dr. Wells tries to climb out, the elevator suddenly plummets to the bottom of the shaft severing the man's hands! And back in his room, Justin smiles as though he has just gotten his way with something.
It's career day at Smallville High and Chloe is anxious for internship at the famous Metropolis newspaper, the Daily Planet. But her joy is cut short as Clark forgot to sign the two of them up for a journalism conference they had planned on attending together. Saying he was working in a history project with Lana is not the thing to tell Chloe who storms off with hurt feelings. Clark doesn't understand her upset until Pete points out Chloe's very interested in Clark. He follows to apologize to her, but Justin has returned to Smallville High and he's asking Chloe to go have coffee with him at that moment, which Clark sees.
Lex is at his Mother's grave on the anniversary of her death when a women named Pam shows up and Lex gets angry at her presence and leaves. At the school paper's office, Clark is introduced to Justin who used to work on the paper as an artist until his accident. Justin tells Clark and Chloe the only thing he remembers about the accident is the letters DDI were on the car's liscense plate. Chloe tells her contact in the Division of Motor Vehicles the letters and he starts his search for the plate. Justin tells Clark he signed up for the conference and he and Chloe will be going together which bothers Clark. Before he goes, Justin drops some papers from his backpack and one is an issue of the Metropolis Inquisitor headlining poor Dr. Well's accident that Clark keeps.
When Lana drops by to order some of Ma Kent's pies for the Talon coffee shop she runs for Lex, Clark confesses he's confused about his feelings for Chloe and Lana tells him she's confused about feelings she's been having lately too. In his room at home, Justin tries vainly to draw a portrait of Chloe with his mangled fingers but it's no use. He throws the pencils down and then furrows his brow as though he were thinking deeply. And several pencils suddenly float in the air and over to the paper and begin to draw a beautiful picture of Chloe!
Justin walks up behind Clark the next day in the hall while Clark shows Pete the headline about Justin's doctor losing his hands. Justin tells Clark to stay out of his affairs and he also tells him he blew his chance with Chloe and now it's his turn with her. Lex gets a visit from Pam again and we find out she was the women his Mother had care for him during the years she suffered from the illness which eventually killed her. Pam was left a huge amount of Luthor Corp. stock after Lex's mother died and then she went away without a word to Lex hurting him badly. She explains to Lex that his father told her he'd disinherit Lex if she ever came in contact with him again. She asks Lex for forgiveness but he throws her out of his home.
Clark sees Whitney tell Lana he's got play tickets for them, but after he goes she tells Clark she's thinking about breaking up with Whitney. He tells her he regrets not going after her once before when she and Whitney broke up. The two part with their feelings running strong with all that's happening in their lives. Justin tells Chloe he recovered from the accident to come back to her as he has a huge crush on her. They kiss and then objects all over the room start floating around them as they kiss. When Chloe sees this happening, Justin tells her how he seemed to gain telekinesis powers as a result of losing the use of his hands. Clark enters the room to see them kissing again and he leaves embarrassed.
Chloe's DMV contact faxes her his find of the plate and the car it matches that hit Justin. But she's out of the room and doesn't see Justin take the paper and leave. He goes to Principal Kwan's house whose plate number matches the car that left Justin for dead that night. When he arrives home, Justin confronts him as his assailant in the accident which Principal Kwan denies but acts oddly about. Justin then uses his powers to slam the Principal against his garage door and hold him there. Then he uses his powers to start the car, put it in gear, and slam the helpless man straight through his garage door killing him!
The next day Lex is visiting Clark who tells him about his confused feelings about Chloe. He always thought Lana was the one for him and now he's honestly jealous of Justin and Chloe's growing relationship. Lex tells him unless he takes a chance and tries for either lady, he's doomed to be alone. Ma Kent comes in to tell about Principal Kwan's death and Clark goes to school to check on Chloe. When he arrives, Chloe is visibly upset and Clark tries to help her. He finds the fax record of the fax telling about Principal Kwan's car hitting Justin and Chloe is now sure it was Justin who killed him with his powers, but she doesn't tell Clark.
Lex's father visits and tells him that Pam never cared about him, she was just in it for the money. He also seems pleased when Lex tells his father he threw her out. But Lex is surprised to learn that Pam has cancer and is dying very soon. Clark visits Principal Kwan's garage in search of clues about the accident and he meets Danny, the Principal's son. The way the man acts gets Clark to press who was driving the car the night of the accident. Overcome with guilt and grief over his father's death, Danny confesses to Clark it was he who was the one driving that night and left Justin to die.
Chloe goes to Justin's house to meet him and finds disturbing art depicting the gruesome death of the Principal. Justin comes in and Chloe makes an excuse and leaves quickly to find Clark now that she's convinced of Justin's guilt. But after she leaves Justin notices his portfolio has been looked at and follows Chloe to Clark's. But Clark is at school and Chloe calls him from his barn where the doors all suddenly slam shut and the phone goes dead. And when Chloe turns around, Justin is standing there.
Justin immediately picks Chloe up with his power and throws her across the room like a doll. She gets up and runs for the door but he grabs her again and slams her into machinery hurting her leg. Despite her injury, she still gets up and runs but Justin knocks her out with a flying horseshoe. He levitates a chainsaw and starts it up and floats it towards the unconscious Chloe! But Clark speeds into the rooms and moving in front of Chloe, the chainsaw bursts into a hundred pieces when the spinning chain makes contact with Clark's chest. Clark tells Justin he killed the wrong man and Danny has already given himself up and confessed to the police at Clark's urging.
Justin's response is to throw Clark violently into the top wall of the barn with his amazing power. But Clark is standing behind Justin a second later, telling him he cannot win and to give himself up. Justin swats Clark like a fly again but this time Clark's response is to throw Justin into a nearby stairwell, knocking him out and ending his menace. He then goes to an awakening Chloe and the two happily embrace, the pair both grateful for each other's safety. Pam gets a visit in her hospital bed from Lex who expresses regret she left, as he needed her love badly at that time in his life. She tells him she always cared about him and she and his mother were always proud of him. When he says he might have become a better man had she been there, she tells him he turned out fine as his visit to her proves where his true heart lies.
Justin is committed to a psychiatric ward for treatment and hopefully one day he can rejoin society. Clark and Chloe are at the Talon and they plan on attending the journalism conference together after all. Lana hears this and gets upset and decides that she's going to tell Whitney it's time for a trial separation, but Whitney suddenly comes into the coffeshop in tears. His father has died from his heart condition and naturally Whitney's heart is broken. Lana cannot hurt him any further and doesn't tell him of her plans for their relationship. Mr. Fordman is laid to rest in a pouring rain, and as the funeral ends Whitney looks to Lana to accompany him to the limousine. She starts to and then turns to look at Clark. The two lock eyes in a gaze and in that moment Lana's look tells Clark she's trapped in the situation and must go with Whitney. And Clark's look tells Lana that he's suddenly realized that it is her he wants and not Chloe. And Chloe sees the two exchange looks and knows what's going on and her heart breaks also at losing Clark to Lana once again. Between the death of Whitney's father, and the torn hearts around the grave, there is too much sadness for too many reasons.

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Obscura"

Written By: Mark Verheiden & Michael Green
Directed By: Terrance O'Hara
Produced By: Michael Green and Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 05.14.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Guest Star: Aaron Douglas
Guest Star: Robert Wisden
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Professor Hamilton: Joe Morton
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Roger Nixon: Tom O'Brien
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Gabe Sullivan: Robert Wisden

Our Story:
Lana and Whitney go for a horseback ride but while riding they hear a huge explosion which turns out to be a gas pipeline junction point which has blown up and is burning. Emergency personnel arrive to try and stabilize the situation, but Whitney notices another junction behind them about to blow from building pressure. He runs to warn them and once they see the impending blast they run for cover. But Lana had stayed back and now she is in great danger so she runs at Whitney's pleas to do so. As she runs the gas finally lets loose with a tremendous explosion and Lana is caught by its concussive power. She is thrown to the ground mercilessly as the blast throws fire and smoke everywhere. When a Deputy Sheriff runs to see if she is all right, to his relief she seems only stunned but shaken badly by the blast. As he helps Lana to her feet and a waiting ambulance, neither of them notices the ground where all this occurred is peppered with green meteor rocks. Later at the hospital, Lana tells a visiting Clark and Chloe that she expects to be released shortly. When Chloe leaves early suddenly Lana is struck by a vision as though she were seeing through another person's eyes! And that person has just kidnapped Chloe in the hospital parking lot as she went to her car!
The next day finds Clark fretting over still not having asked Chloe to the spring formal dance at school. He heads for the Torch's office at school to work on the newspaper while Chloe is supposedly in Metropolis interviewing for her summer internship with the Daily Planet. Later at the farm, Lex drives up and presents Pa Kent with a very large check to pay for the damaged pastures and dead cows that resulted from a LexCorp chemical spill on Kent property. Pa reluctantly accepts both the check and Lex's hand in apology. At the Torch Lana shows up and relates the strange vision she had concerning Chloe. Clark promises to contact her father to confirm Chloe's safety.
Lex's contact on the Metropolis Inquisitor, Roger Nixon, shows up and tells Lex he's found a new mystery about the meteor shower in Smallville years ago. He claims a man saw something other then a meteor crash to earth that day, and he wants Lex to meet this man. Clark frets at home as Chloe's Dad is having trouble tracking her down. He heads for the Talon where even Lana advises him to ask Chloe to the dance soon. Then she sees through the other person's eyes again in another bizzare vision. This time she sees an odd masked man and hundreds of Teddy bears where Chloe is being held prisoner. Then she sees Chloe nearly escape only to be caught and drugged by her strange captor and then thrown in a coffin-like box!
Mr. Sullivan brings Sheriff's Deputies with him to question Lana's version of what happened to Chloe but they are openly skeptical of Lana's claims of a vision. That doubt lessens somewhat when Chloe's car is found abandoned in nearby woods however. As the search for Chloe intensifies, Lex meets the cropduster pilot who tells Lex and Nixon that he was nearly killed the day of the meteor shower by a spaceship that almost hit him on its way down. When he went to the site where it crashed a couple of hours later, there was no sign of the ship he saw. Lex is very leery of the man's story and leaves after accepting a map the man made of where the ship crashed.
Lana visits Clark in his loft in the barn where he's now openly worried as Chloe cannot be found anywhere. He tells Lana how he now realizes how much Chloe means to him and that the thought of never seeing her again is too much to bear. Lana reels at that moment from another vision through Chloe's captor's eyes. Now she sees the strange man drag the metal box with Chloe inside to a field outside Smallville with a windmill where he buries it. She tells Clark this and he speeds to the field and climbs the windmill tower using his x-ray vision to scan for the box. He finds it and sees Chloe struggling for air inside. He races to the spot and driving his hand into the ground, he uses his tremendous strength to literally pull the buried container right out of the ground. He wrenches the lid off and the pair embrace in tears as they tell each other how happy they are at Chloe's safety. Then Clark leads a battered Chloe away, as her mysterious captor watches unseen from nearby bushes!
Lana and Clark visit a recovering Chloe who is very grateful to Lana and Clark for her rescue. She remembers the bears where she was held but little else. When Lana leaves she has a momentary vision of the stalker seeing her at that moment! She spins around but the man hides around a corner from her. Roger Nixon has started to spy on the Kents against Lex's specific orders not to do so as he's convinced they're connected with the meteor shower mystery he's looking into. When Pa Kent sees Lex digging up the farm where Clark's ship crashed under the pretense of doing a survey, he gives Lex back his check and tells Clark that that very field is where he landed. And Professor Hamilton is there as Lex's permanent scientist he uses for investigations into meteors as he is considered an expert on them. The Professor finds an odd shaped piece of a mysterious metal he cannot identify and takes it away for research on it.
Whitney and Lana meet at the Talon where Whitney tells Lana of finding his father's medals from Vietnam and how he's tired and disillusioned with his future goal as a professional athlete. Seeing how much his father's bravery meant to men he saved has opened his eyes to what has real value in life. Lex visits Clark's loft and tells Clark what he's learned about the meteor shower anomalies and Clark worries about Lex closing in on the truth about him.
Clark and Chloe investigate Lana's accident with Whitney's help and determine that meteor rocks and the blast that day caused Lana to create a psychic link with someone who was there that day and that person is also the madman that kidnapped Chloe. They realize the first person who touched Lana is one of the Sheriff's Deputies and he must be the lunatic! Lana is met at that moment in the Talon by two of the Deputies who where there at the accident. And Clark's theory is confirmed when one deputy knocks his partner out in front of Lana. And when Lana gets a vision of that happening from his eyes, she knows the madman is the man in front of her!
Whitney and Clark arrive at the Talon to find the unconscious Deputy. He awakens and tells them that his partner has a part-time job working security at the fair. And that explains the teddy bears that Chloe and Lana both saw. The rogue cop meanwhile is explaining to Lana how originally he had intended to get a big promotion on the job by pretending to solve the Chloe kidnapping. Then when Clark saved her his plan was destroyed. So now he intends to rectify all this with solving the murder of Lana which he is about to commit and taking the credit for it! He raises his gun to kill poor Lana, when Clark arrives at super-speed. The Deputy fires his gun at Lana and Clark races the bullet to her and using his hand he ricochets it away harmlessly. Then the cop fires point-blank into Clark's chest with no effect other then the holes in Clark's shirt that he makes. He runs outside where Lana gets a final vision of the man shooting it out with his fellow officers, and his subsequent death from their guns.
Later on, Chloe drops by to see Clark and thank him for all he did, and Clark finally works up the nerve to ask her to the dance. Chloe gladly accepts and the two part in a very happy frame of mind. And back at Lex's, Professor Hamilton tells Lex that his examination of this odd metal shows there is nothing on Earth like it anywhere. And as Lex ponders the disc's seven-sided shape, we see Clark's ship sitting hidden under the barn at the Kent's farm. And in the ship's side is a small compartment in the exact shape of the disc Lex holds!

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".



"Tempest"

Written By: Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Directed By: Greg Beeman
Produced By: Michael Green and Robert Petroviscz
Aired in the U.S.A.: 05.21.02

Roles & Actors this episode:
Whitney Fordman: Eric Johnson
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Jonathan Kent: John Schneider
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Lana Lang: Kristen Kreuk
Lex Luthor: Michael Rosenbaum
Lionel Luthor: John Glover
Musical Guests: Remy Zero
Roger Nixon: Tom O'Brien
Pete Ross: Sam Jones III
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Gabe Sullivan: Robert Wisden

Our Story:
Lex's father flies in to give what he tells Lex is an inspirational speech for the employees of LuthorCorp's plant in Smallville that Lex has turned around and made profitable. He steps to the mike and does indeed start with a congratulatory note for the workers, and then shocks all 2500 of them by announcing that because of Lex's mismanagement, the plant will be closing down immediately! As Lionel Luthor boards his helicopter to leave he tells Lex that the time has come to leave Smallville and join him at his side once and for all in Metropolis!
Pete and Clark are worrying about what color tie to wear with their tuxes to the spring formal dance. But the levity is cut short when Chloe walks up and tells them that her dad, who was the plant manager, told her of the closing. Back at home, Clark finds Ma and Pa Kent discussing the ramifications for everyone with half the town now out of work. Pa Kent is bitter and blames Lex as does all the workers just as his Father planned, but Clark defends him citing the good work he did in the plant until now.
Whitney takes Lana on a surprise picnic to announce that he has enlisted in the Marines! Finding his Father's medals after his death has awakened him to what is important and he will leaving Saturday and will miss the dance with Lana. He asks her to please wait for him and Lana struggles for an answer.
Clark visits Lex and sees the eight-sided disc on Lex's desk that he has found and knows it belongs to his spaceship, but he pretends to ignore it as Lex places it in a box on his desk. Lex tells him of his father's plans to shame him into returning to Metropolis but Lex intends to fight the plant closure. When Clark meets Chloe at the Torch's office in school, Chloe tells Clark she'll be moving back to Metropolis so her dad can find work and the news hits Clark hard.
Lex meanwhile meets secretly with plant managers and workers to announce he's attempting a buyout of the plant and needs their help to make up funding. He tells them he'll make them part owners for their risk but they are leery of his plan. Clark sees Lana at the Talon and he tells her about Chloe leaving and how it's hurting him. Then it's Lana's turn as she tells Clark that Whitney's leaving and he asked her to wait. She tells Clark she honestly couldn't say yes at that moment which gives Clark a ray of hope for his chance with her.
He goes home and drives fence posts into the ground with one blow to work of his stress but he cannot get Chloe off his mind. He climbs into the truck to move down the fence line but when he starts it, it explodes with a huge blast and fireball which turns the truck into a flaming deathtrap! Clark calmly kicks the door off the truck and walks out with his clothes on fire. He strips off what's left of his charred clothing and stands there looking over the destroyed vehicle. But he doesn't realize that Roger Nixon, the reporter from the Metropolis Inquirer that Lex hired, has orchestrated the entire event and has been filming Clark the whole time!
Pa Kent thinks the blast was a leaky fuel line and fertilizer fumes that caused the accident. But he and Ma are both surprised when Clark tells then he barely felt any heat from the explosion, but he's not even bruised by flying shrapnel at all. They reason that as Clark gets older his powers are getting stronger also. Lex's father sees Lex who tells him of his intention of staging an employee buyout of the factory. Lionel Luthor then tells Lex that he has bought the Smallville Savings and Loan Company and he now holds the mortgages for all the worker's homes. If they go through with the buyout plan, the moment they miss a payment they'll be thrown out of their homes and Lex will be blamed for it all.
When Clark tells Chloe she worries he won't miss her, he responds by kissing her deeply removing her doubt. Then when he's at the Talon later, Roger Nixon approaches him wanting an interview which Clark refuses, but this makes him realize it was Nixon who caused the accident. Then Lex arrives and chases Nixon away from Clark who denies knowing why Nixon is interested in him. Clark tells Ma and Pa about Nixon and also that Lex has a part for his spaceship. But they don't realize that Nixon is listening to their every word through high-tech equipment at that moment!
He heads for Lex's and steals the disc from the box on his desk before he enters the room. Then he brags about how he's going to show Lex proof that night about Clark being very special. Proof that will make him famous. And if Lex interferes with his plans, he'll tell the Kents how it was Lex that started his investigation of them. That night as Clark gets ready for the dance. Lex arrives to talk to him. He tells Clark he values the fact there are no lies and deceits in their relationship, unlike he and his father's private war with each other. He also tells Clark he has a bad feeling about things that are coming, and he wants Clark to be careful as he wants to stay friends always.
Whitney and Lana meet at the school gym which has been decorated for the dance that night. He asks he for a last dance as they wont' be seeing each other again for a while. He tries to talk more about his and Lana's relationship, but Lana cuts him off telling him not to talk, just to dance.
Chloe picks up Clark for the dance and they both notice the wind is really blowing strong but they exchange corsages and head for the school. By the time they arrive the wind is blowing even harder and the dates are all bustling to get into the gym out of the weather. Roger Nixon sneaks up on the Kent farm while all this is happening. Whitney meets Clark as Lana goes to pick up his truck to take him to the bus station. While she is gone he tells Clark he needs his promise that Clark will watch after Lana for him while he's gone and Clark agrees. The two young men form a bond of friendship and then Lana arrives and she and Whitney drives away as the wind continues to howl.
When Whitney prepares to board the bus, Lana gives him her meteor necklace for luck and he promises to return it safely someday. They hug and he starts to get on the bus, but with a look back the two run to each other's arms and kiss. He tells Lana he loves her and he'll come back for her and then he finally gets on the bus and leaves, while Lana drives away in tears. Roger Nixon at that moment has broken into the storm cellar where Clark's spaceship is hidden and he is filming it with his camcorder. He spots the opening in the ship in the shape of the disc he stole from Lex and starts to take it out of his pocket.
Back at the gym, the young people are having a great time and Pete and Clark are in high spirits seeing how much their dates are enjoying themselves. He dances with Chloe slowly and they enjoy a quiet time together with smiles on their faces as the music plays. But outside as Lana drives home, the wind has become dangerous now, and suddenly debris strikes her windshield causing her to crash into a ditch. She climbs out of the truck and looks behind her in shock to see three tornadoes have formed and are heading right at her! She climbs back in the truck as the huge engines of destruction howl and churn straight for her!
The Kents head for their storm cellar as the twisters rage, and they find Nixon with his camera. He takes out the disc for the ship and it vibrates wildly and levitates itself right out of his hand and into its slot in the ship! Pa Kent and Nixon struggle for the camera as Nixon yells over the wind that he's going to tell the world about their son. He and Pa fight as Ma Kent sees the ship then start to glow and float in the air! Nixon breaks loose and runs out into the storm and Pa chases after him despite Ma Kent's pleas not to do so because of the tornadoes. Then as she stares in shock, the ship turns and rotates in the air towards her and then glows even more intensely as it starts to open at the top!
Back at the dance, Clark and Chloe are about to share a kiss when a teacher stops the music to announce the tornadoes to the south of town. Which Clark says aloud is where his home is, and also the bus station Lana was driving Whitney to. Before Chloe can answer his remark, she turns around and Clark has disappeared! Lex has found the disc is missing and knows it was Nixon as he swears revenge on the man. Just then his Father enters to tell him to stop fighting him as he doesn't consider Lex his enemy, just a son who needed training in the harsh world of business. He tells Lex he's beaten him already and it's time to concede defeat.
Lex's anger for his father reaches new heights just as the tornadoes strike his house. The windows blow in and the wall explodes inwards as a huge column falls trapping Lionel Luthor underneath it. Lex is stunned and bleeding from debris and rises to hear his father begging him to help him as the room continues to disintegrate from the twisters. The massive column holds him down as more debris rains down on him. He looks at Lex begging him for his help, and as Lex bleeds from his head wound he stands and stares at his pleading father without one shred of pity in his eyes. Lionel Luthor begs and screams for his son's help, but his son simply stands there staring at him. As the three twisters near Lana in the smashed truck, they unexpectedly fuse together to form one giant killer tornado. The huge force of nature plows through houses and barns tearing them to shreds as it heads right for the helpless Lana. Clark runs up to the site with his incredible speed in time to see the giant funnel cloud pick up Lana's truck like a toy as she screams his name in terror. He screams her name back as it throws the truck into its black swirling mass to disappear from sight. Clark runs for the tornado and Lana, and without a moment's hesitation he leaps headlong into the monster funnel cloud and disappears from sight as the beast howls onward!

EPISODE ENDS WITH THE WORDS: TO BE CONTINUED!

Read our review of this episode in the "Smallville: Episode Reviews".