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"Smallville" Episode Guide

Season 9

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

Savior - Summary
Metallo - Summary
Rabid - Summary
Echo - Summary
Roulette - Summary
Crossfire - Summary
Kandor - Summary
Idol - Summary
Pandora - Summary
Disciple - Summary
Absolute Justice (Society) - Summary
Absolute Justice (Legend) - Summary
Warrior - Summary
Persuasion - Summary
Conspiracy - Summary
Escape - Summary
Checkmate - Summary
Upgrade - Summary
Charade - Summary
Sacrifice - Summary
Hostage - Summary
Salvation - Summary

Summaries

"Savior"

Written By: Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders
Directed By: Kevin G. Fair
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 9/25/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Adrian Holme
Co-Starring: Fiona: Sharon Taylor
Co-Starring: Voice of Jor-El: Terence Stamp
Co-Starring: Alia: Monique Ganderton
Co-Starring: Dr. Emil Hamilton: Alessandro Juliani
Co-Starring: John Corben/Metallo: Brian Austin Green
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
It's night in Metropolis and our story takes us to the Watchtower, a tall building in the city that has a view over the entire town and where Chloe now lives. She's arguing on the phone with a woman telling her that she's been unable to locate her cousin Lois Lane for three weeks now. The woman hangs up on Chloe who's alarmed when someone arrives in the elevator and she picks up a nearby pistol and racking a round into its chamber, she walks over to the balcony railing and looks downwards. She's relieved to see it's Doctor Emil Hamilton who has been helpful in the past dealing with matters of science and he tells Chloe that the Green Arrow, Impulse, and the Black Canary have all vanished since their bad judgment inadvertently caused the death of Jimmy Olsen. Chloe insists that her crusade to help others shouldn't end just because some people have quit the fight. As they talk an elevated train speeds into the city and suddenly from the sky a bolt of purple lightning arcs down and pierces one of the train cars and when it vanishes Lois Lane is on her hands and knees in the middle of the aisle. She has a bandage on her left hand and a Legion flight ring on her right which we know caused her to vanish three weeks ago. Then another bolt strikes the car and this one damages the wheels causing them to start to lose their grip on the track. From this bolt also comes a woman clad in black with a mask kneeling at the car's door. She rises and strides towards Lois attacking her and Lois fights back as only she can. As they struggle, both cars finally break free from the track and hurtle sideways down the track and finally off the trestle and towards the city streets!
Lois is thrown to the front window of the car and is knocked out while her attacker is thrown the opposite way in the car. But just before the train cars strike the ground, Clark speeds up and grabs the cars before they crash! He is dressed all in black with a faded white "S" crest on his chest and a long black coat covers him from shoulder to ankle. He gazes at Lois in the window and his features soften for a moment and he almost smiles as he lowers the cars and speeds away just as Lois awakens. She exits the car and then the "S" in a pentagram symbol is burned into the side of a building with Clark's heat vision. She gazes longingly at the skies as the camera speeds to the top of a building where Clark stands vigil over his adopted city, his long coat flapping in the breeze. Later Clark is at the Fortress of Solitude standing in the middle of a whirling hologram filled with information written in Kryptonian. Clark's thoughts turn to Lois for a moment and his father Jor-El stops the program telling his son Kal-El that he is distracted from his training lessons. Clark responds he's done everything asked of him and he wants to know why he still cannot fly and his father says he has the power but it's a matter of him not believing he can fly which keeps him grounded. Clark insists he's given up all his ties to human beings in his life and refuses to turn back now from his training.
Chloe enters the hospital to find Lois in a room and Lois tells her the last thing she remembers was her fight with Tess Mercer and then she woke up in the train car being attacked by the strange woman. Chloe tells Lois that the red-blue blur, Clark's name that Metropolis' people gave him, saved her from Doomsday and Lois tells her that he also saved the train she was on and he's been talking to her secretly which hurts Chloe's feeling to learn as Clark hasn't spoken to her in weeks. Lois thinks no time has passed and she wants to get to the phone booth she arranged for the blur to call her on at midnight. Chloe starts to tell Lois she's been gone for three weeks but Lois tells her cousin to get her a sedative and Chloe leaves. Then Lois grabs her clothes from the chair and runs from the hospital to make her appointment from three weeks ago. She runs to the phone booth but she doesn't know she's late and she talks to the night sky aloud, wondering where her hero is. Next we see Clark standing in the crown of the Statue of Liberty and he throws out his arms and falls from the fabled statue trying to fly but not succeeding. Then the vision fades and we see it was a holographic test for Clark and he tells Jor-El to end the mental trials portion of his training. Jor-El tells his son he already knows what's blocking his training efforts and Clark admits aloud that he must go say goodbye to Lois.
At the Luthor mansion, a dark haired man dressed in fatigues enters the den to find another man and a woman, also dressed in military fatigues, waiting for him. He tells the two that he hasn't found any more of their people and they tell the man that Tess Mercer has still not spoken to them. They tell the man they still don't know how they got there and they want to know why they haven't gained super-powers under our planet's yellow sun. The man takes his jacket off and we see he's wearing a dog tag with a stylized "Z" on it and he tells the woman "Kneel before Zod!", but then the other man strikes him knocking him down! Lois has returned to the train car for clues and she finds the woman's mask even as she unsuccessfully tries to call Oliver Queen, who is also the Green Arrow. Then a man appears at the car door and Lois assumes he's a policeman and she tries to leave but he stops her. He asks her name and when she tells him she's Lois Lane he asks where she's been for three weeks. Lois picks up a discarded newspaper and sees the date is September 25th, 2009 confirming her loss of time and memory. The man then asks her how a seven ton sky-train flew from its tracks with nobody getting hurt and Lois says it must be a miracle. But the man sees Clark's family "S" crest embedded in the car door's glass and says he thinks it was the blur who saved the train. He says he thinks the blur is a vigilante who can't resist leaving his "S" marked all over town, but then they're interrupted by a patrolman who enters the car.
The man grabs Lois kissing her and the patrolman thinks they're just lovers hiding out and makes them leave. But before she goes, Lois rams her foot down on top of the man's shoe painfully showing him she's strictly off limits to him. Chloe enters the Watchtower to find Emil Hamilton has been spending Oliver Queen's money to give her wall to wall monitor screens explaining that Chloe's desire to help others has inspired him to help. They start work at once with Chloe showing Dr. Hamilton the Legion flight ring Lois left behind in her hospital room. She says she thinks her cousin Lois traveled to the future during her recent absence and Dr. Hamilton shows Chloe on her new cutting edge computer that he's recorded two recent trans-chronal anomalies at the site of the train crash. Dr. Hamilton opines that not only Lois, but also her attacker appeared in our time from the future. And at that moment the woman Dr. Hamilton is referring to is using her newly acquired heat vision to burn a poster on a telephone pole that had information regarding Lois' disappearance! A badly beaten Tess Mercer awakens in her bedroom to find the man we saw earlier being struck doing pushups. He introduces himself as Major Zod and says his people have lost faith in his leadership. He tells Tess he hopes to find out how he and his people got there but Tess obviously didn't talk despite being beaten.
Tess tells Zod his is not the voice she heard speaking to her from the Kryptonian orb that spoke of a place called Kandor. Zod shows surprise at that news and Tess tells him not to expect her to help him find out his missing facts as she was told someone from the orb would come and save the planet from destruction. She tells Zod she now knows he's clueless as to how he and his people got there and why they still haven't gained powers on our world and that will cause his followers to desert him and he had better work with her. She tries to get the drop on Zod from behind and he easily slams her to the floor by the throat telling Tess he won't hesitate to kill her. Chloe goes to the Watchtower roof and meets Clark who tells her he must give up his human contacts to stay objective in his decisions and to maximize his training with Jor-El. But Chloe counters with how Clark keeps coming back to Lois for contact and when he says he just came back to say goodbye to her she shows him the Legion ring telling him of Lois' trip to the future and her return with an assassin after her. Lois tracks down Oliver fighting in an underground fight club and pretending to be a girl who carries the round number card she tells him to stop the drunken brawling as she needs a hero right now. She tells him about her assassin from the future when suddenly the outer wall of the place explodes inward and we see the woman from the future has knocked it in. She starts to flare her eyes with heat vision and Oliver screams for everyone to get down when Clark appears behind the woman who tells him she used danger to Lois to smoke him out.
Clark grabs her and super-speeds from the room leaving behind his flaming "S" symbol to mark his being there and he arrives back in Kansas at the Kent farm in seconds hurling the woman through the barn roof to crash on the dirt floor. She rises telling Clark he betrayed "them" in the future and she swings at Clark who spots his father's watch on her wrist and grabs it from her. He stills wears the watch and he sees the date is set one year into the future. She tells Clark he himself gave her the watch and then she drops a piece of blue kryptonite on the floor between them. She says that they are both from Krypton and now the blue kryptonite has sapped their powers. She draws a sword telling Clark that this will be her best chance at defeating and killing him before he can destroy their world. Then she rushes Clark slashing skillfully with her sword as Clark struggles to stay clear of her blade. He grabs a nearby pipe but she evens cuts that in half and then he grabs her throat as their powers are slowly returning but she knocks him down and only a swift upward kick from Clark saves himself an impaling. She flips over onto her feet with her powers also returning and hurls a saw blade at Clark who gets a cut cheek while just barely avoiding the improvised weapon. She swings her blade now with a desperate abandon and one of her slices cuts a chain holding an engine block and the tackle lets loose ramming the engine block into her propelling her through a wall. When Clark reaches her side he sees she's been accidentally impaled with her own blade and he cradles her as she caresses his cheek and dies telling Clark she's "so sorry."
Back at the now deserted fight club Lois tends to Oliver's cuts and bruises as she tells him that his rich spoiled playboy routine is merely a front he hides behind to keep from his true calling to be helpful to others as the Green Arrow. Oliver insists he really is just a spoiled drunken fool and Lois says he may be right and that the blur may be the real hero she needs. Oliver's expression speaks volumes as the shame conveyed in Lois' words reddens his face and make him lower his gaze. Back at the Luthor mansion Tess and Zod are put on trial by the dozens of Kryptonians gathered there and Tess denies knowing the Major or the location of the hundreds of Kryptonians unaccounted for. She tells them that if its answers they seek then she suggests they ask Zod. Then the woman soldier tells Zod the last thing they all remember is their blood being taken just before the battle for Kandor. Zod tells them that the fact they are all there means that Krypton has been destroyed. When the woman accuses Zod of betraying them he rises and grabbing one man by the throat he throws him in his chair and tells them his record of service and personal sacrifice is greater then anyone's there. He tells them as their leader he won't cower in the mansion as they've been doing for weeks but he intends to seek out and find every Kryptonian refugee on the planet and he will die in that quest if necessary.
One solider rises from his chair and kneels on his right knee while crossing his right arm in a fist over his chest to his left shoulder, and then one by one all the Kryptonians kneel to Zod, their newly avowed leader. And then we see that one of the woman soldiers kneeling is the same woman who has just died in Clark's arms. Clark returns to his barn after burying the woman to find Chloe there and he tells her he has one year to try and stop the destruction of the world at his hands if what the dead Kryptonian woman said was true. Chloe then asks Clark to use the Legion flight ring to travel back in time to prevent Jimmy's death and Clark tells her he refuses to tamper with destiny. Clark angrily reminds Chloe that he's not a god and the last time he tried to rewrite history his adopted father died. Chloe tells Clark through her tears that Clark has truly embraced his Kryptonian side as she feels there's very little human left about him and she leaves. Tess returns to her den in the mansion to see that Zod and his followers have all disappeared, but her security man says their video security tapes they had of Zod and his soldiers has all been erased and she reminds the man they're dealing with an advanced society that would have little trouble circumventing human technology. Lois is at her desk trying to log into the Planet's computer with no luck when the man she saw earlier shows up as her new desk mate sitting in Clark's old spot and she tells him not to get used to the desk. He says his name is John Corben and he spent time in the trenches of Afghanistan as a field correspondent for the Daily Planet and has just returned to the states.
He leaves and then Clark calls Lois as the blur using his voice modulator to disguise his voice and he tells her he can't leave as he's should because of her and he hopes she can keep their relationship private which Lois promises to do. That night Lois starts to fall asleep when she has a sudden flashback of her trip to the future. She sees a caped man with a "Z" on his chest, her and someone she can't make out in a passionate embrace, and finally a vision of she and Clark kissing that's interrupted by the sight of her being attacked by the woman on the train, only this time she's swinging a sword and when that happens Lois bolts awake in a sweat wondering just what the jumble of images she just saw could possibly mean.

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

"Metallo"

Written By: Don Whitehead & Holly Henderson
Directed By: Mairzee Almas
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10/2/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Dr. Emil Hamilton: Alessandro Juliani
Co-Starring: John Corben/Metallo: Brian Austin Green
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Lois Lane enters the Kent farmhouse to find no sign of Clark and the furniture is covered in dust but the family dog Shelby is there and someone has been feeding her. Her cell phone rings and to her irritation it's John Corben, her fellow reporter at the Daily Planet who's just returned from overseas. He's at a crime scene where three perpetrators are wrapped in the store's metal gate like a present for the police. He tells Lois that the "S" the blur uses to mark his presence has been burned into a window and he still thinks the blur is a dangerous super powered vigilante who has another side he intends to expose. He hangs up his phone and looks at a picture of a young lady he carries in his wallet, but a gust of wind blows the picture into the street. John Corben steps into the street to retrieve the picture and right in front of a truck that's blowing its horn at him. He is smashed off picture and next we see broken snatches of John Corben who is now bloodied and mangled as he lay dying in his own blood. His consciousness goes in and out and he seems to hear machinery sounds and he sees brief glimpses of bright light. Finally he bolts awake and he's now on a cot in a room in a warehouse that looks to have been hastily prepared as a field operating room with walls of plastic sheets. He looks around and calls but no one else is there and his chest and left arm are both covered in bandages that have ran red with his own blood. He struggles up from the cot and pulls first the IV from his arm and then he takes the arm bandage off and is shocked to see his elbow and arm are now a mix of geared machinery and tubes going in and out of him.
He looks as if a mad surgeon has tried to repair him and he painfully steps through the plastic sheeting and finds a dingy mirror and he slowly removes the huge bandage covering his chest looking at his reflection as he does so. Suddenly a green glow washes over him and we see that a fist sized piece of Kryptonite sits in the center of his chest held by a circular harness that has metal tubes fanning out around it that penetrate Corben's skin and look like the hands on a bizarre clock. John Corben stands in shock and pain looking at the distorted half human thing he has become, and he has no idea who did this to him or why. Next we see Clark standing vigil atop the Daily Planet building in his new black outfit with the pale white "S" on it and his long black coat billowing in the wind. He uses his super-hearing to listen in on thousands of conversations in the city and then finally he hears a police call of a robbery and he super-speeds towards the crime. While he does so, Lois sleeps in the apartment over the Talon coffee shop where her cousin Chloe lives and she again has flashes of her recent three weeks she spent in the future. She sees a man putting dog tags on a kneeling woman and then flashes of she and Clark in an intimate embrace. Clark's dog Shelby licks her face waking her and Lois spends a moment shaking off the weird dreams and then Chloe enters asking Lois why Shelby is over her place. Chloe says she was worried Shelby was alone and Chloe covers for Clark telling Lois she's been feeding Shelby while Clark is still away visiting relatives.
Los confesses to Chloe that she's been talking to the blur privately and she feels she might be the only person he can turn to and that hurts Chloe who had worked with Clark for years but not for a while now. Later Clark speeds up to his farmhouse in Smallville and finds Shelby and Chloe inside and Chloe warns Clark that Lois is looking for him and he pledges to be more careful. Then Chloe tells Clark she knows that he and Lois have been talking and he hasn't told his father Jor-El of this human contact as he's supposed to still be in training. Chloe angrily tells Clark that too much has been sacrificed so he could become the hero the world needs and she tells him to get back to training before someone else gets hurt and she stalks out of the house. John Corben ends up in Metropolis General's emergency room and Dr. Emil Hamilton, who secretly works with Chloe, tells Corben that his heart has been removed and the machinery with the meteor rock is what's keeping him alive. Corben loses it at that news and he shoves a nearby orderly with his now bionic arm and the man flies fifteen feet through the air and he crashes right through a glass barrier demolishing it. Then Corben shoves Dr. Hamilton who flies down the aisle crashing into a table stunning him and he rises with fear on his face from his encounter with this maddened cyborg! Lois enters Lex Luthor's mansion to find Tess Mercer and she tells Tess she remembers nothing after she was knocked out during their fight. Tess tells her she was also knocked out and when she came to Lois was gone and Tess also tells Lois she's fired from the Planet. Lois warns Tess doing that will only make her go to the tabloid paper The Inquistor with the story about Tess' connection to an alien invasion. Tess claims Lois could never prove anything but Lois reminds her she would garner unwanted attention and she leaves telling Tess she will see her at work.
After Lois leaves a young man named Stuart enters the room telling Tess he's found a spot where some missing Kryptonians of Major Zod's have been in Metropolis. Clark speeds into the hospital startling Dr. Hamilton who then tells Clark what's been done to John Corben and He says that the meteor rock is making him stronger but boosting his adrenaline to the point where he will eventually become homicidal. He also shows Clark a Daily Planet keychain Corben left at the hospital and Clark rightly deduces Corben works for the paper. Before he leaves to search for Corben Clark asks Dr. Hamilton for a favor we don't get to hear. At that moment Corben is entering a building where he's put articles about the blur stuck up on a chain link gate and as his new Kryptonite heart beats louder and louder he swears on the girl in the picture he calls "Becca", that he will use his new power not only to expose the blur but to kill him! Lois is back at her desk at the Daily Planet when her editor tells her since Corben isn't there to cover it, she should pick up the story about the rampaging patient at the hospital. Then Clark call her as the blur using his voice modulating phone and tells her that a superhuman cyborg who works at the paper left his Daily Planet keys behind and Lois swears to find the lost key's owner. But Clark says for her to just observe and not engage the madman as he is far too dangerous and at that statement Lois teases the blur about caring for her and he tells Lois he'll call her at "their" phone booth at seven O'clock.
Lois hangs up and immediately does what she promised she wouldn't; she starts asking fellow employees if she can borrow their keys to see if they're the robotic man. Lois returns to her desk where we see Chloe entering commands at the console concerning spy ware and she tells Lois she was just checking her mail. She then asks Lois to lunch and Lois tells her she's busy on a case working with the blur as a sort of sidekick and Chloe tells her it's too dangerous but Lois insists that the blur needs her help and she sees Chloe off on the elevator. Stuart has led Tess to where Corben was operated on and Tess says that this must have been the work of Zod's people as the technology was beyond Lex's scientists. She tells Stuart that the Kryptonians are probably still monitoring the cyborg and that means Zod and his people are now one step closer to getting the super-powers they should have already gained under our yellow sun. Lois returns to her desk again to this time finding Corben sitting across from her. He is acting very strangely and he asks Lois if he can borrow her keys to enter the archive room for more information about the blur. She realizes that Corben is the cyborg and gives him her keys telling him she'll get them back tomorrow and she walks from the rooms maintaining her composure despite her discovery. She runs to the phone booth and sure enough Clark calls as the blur and she tells him what she's found out about Corben and Clark tells her he should never endangered her this way. As they talk, a green glow fills the phone booth as Corben is standing right outside looking at Lois. Clark hears a strangled moan over the phone and he speeds to the booth to only find green glowing liquid smeared inside it, and he knows that Corben has taken Lois hostage!
Clark super-speeds to Chloe at the Watchtower telling her what's happened and hoping Chloe can track the madman for him. Chloe admonishes Clark for knowing that Lois' curiosity wouldn't allow her to take a passive role and Clark admits his mistake saying he must prevent Lois from being harmed and Chloe sees from his expression that Clark loves Lois more then maybe even he knows. Chloe finds a video Corben sent to his sister while he covered the war in Afghanistan and he tells her to be careful in the big city. Chloe then shows Clark an article telling of the murder of Rebecca Corben, John's sister, three months ago and she tells Clark that Corben has just bought the building where his sister died and that's likely where he'll find Lois. She warns Clark he cannot approach Corben but Clark shows her his favor from Dr. Hamilton, an EMP grenade which will blast a 50 yard wide swath of electro magnetic energy which will shut down any machinery in its path. Chloe wonders if that'll work on Kryptonite and Clark says he hopes so even as he speeds from the room towards Lois. At that moment Corben is confronting Lois saying she talks to the blur so she should know who he is but Lois says she doesn't. Lois asks why Corben's chest is glowing and he rips off his jacket and shirt to reveal his macabre new heart and now Lois is genuinely scared as she sees first hand what he's become. Lois grabs a pipe to defend herself but Corben swats her across the room knocking her out and a second later with a whoosh Clark speeds into the room telling Corben to "Get away from her!" Corben turns and sees the blur in person and he walks towards Clark as his green heart beats faster and faster and glows brighter and brighter!
Clark tells him he doesn't want a fight and Corben tells Clark how three months ago when he saved a careening bus filled with prison inmates, one escaped who later killed his sister. As his heart beats faster and the deadly rock in his chest glows brighter, Corben now rants at Clark declaiming him saying he has no right to interfere with human's destinies as he lives apart from our world and can't know the high cost of losing a loved one. From behind his back Clark activates the EMP grenade and throws it across the floor towards Corben who watches it roll by him and then it explodes in blue waves of energy that sweep over everything in the room. Light bulbs explode across the room and when the blue wave hits Corben his systems explode in wild voltage as he screams in pain and then falls to the ground like a machine that's been suddenly turned off. Clark rushes to Lois' side but then green energy washes over him and he collapses in pain as Corben arises and strides towards Lois telling Clark now he'll know what its feels like to lose someone you love. Clark then remembers lead will stop Kryptonite and he rips a panel out of the floor marked lead and super-heats its center with his heat vision, his eyes glowing like tiny suns. He super-speeds past Corben slamming the molten hot panel onto his chest as he passes by him, the hot metal searing to the human robot's chest!
Corben turns to Clark telling him it's ironic that a simple stone can take the mighty blur down and he rips off the lead from his chest even as Clark warns him not to. The molten lead has melted into the core mechanism holding the Kryptonite, and when Corben rips the panel away from his chest he sees he's now holding his bizarre new heart in his hand. He looks at Clark and collapses on the floor as his gears wind down and he stops with his head down at a strange angle, his inner mechanisms no longer with any power like a watch with a dead battery. Clark runs to Lois and as he strokes her brow his affection is obvious and then Lois's eyes flutter and she wakes up. She looks across the room and sees Clark in his blur outfit but his face in shadow and says she can't believe she's finally met him then she asks, "Please, can I see your face?" Clark takes a step towards Lois and then for a few very long seconds he thinks of the ramifications of the act and with a whoosh he super-speeds from the room leaving a very disappointed Lois in his wake. At the Watchtower Clark gazes out of the huge circular window at Metropolis and he tells Chloe the view Jimmy had left them really puts things in perspective for him. He realizes he can't let life interfere with his training, but he cannot protect life without knowing how to live it too. He says he cannot say goodbye to everyone and Chloe says he means Lois and he worries that he cannot reconcile both heritages. Chloe tells him he needs his human side to live in our world and find a way within his other life. She also tells Clark to beware Tess as Lois's memories of her trip to the future is why she found spy ware on Lois' terminal earlier and that is information best kept from the acting CEO of Luthorcorp.
The next day at the Daily Planet Lois is sitting at her desk when Clark enters behind her and when she hears his voice she gets up and runs into his arms telling him how glad she is he's back. Then she gets embarrassed at her actions and backs away for a second and Clark leans towards her and whispers, "I missed you too Lois." Then he sits at his desk and asks what Lois has been up to and she launches into a Lois style version of her experience helping the blur capture a cyborg and as she talks Clark cannot suppress a big grin as she happily regales him with her latest adventure. At the Luthor mansion an aide shows Tess Corben's core device and tells her that he's simply a machine that's gone off-line and can be restarted and the man then leaves as Stuart enters the room. He tells Tess he's tracked down sighting of hundreds of Kryptonian symbols that may mean bloodlines of individuals that all appeared around the world the night Zod appeared. Tess rightly figures the symbols to likely be family crests and then Stuart shows her one that appears to be the blur's familiar "S" and when they zoom in on the picture, they see a naked man lying prone at it's center. The appearances worldwide of Kryptonian symbols and beings appears to more and more portend an inevitable collision course with the human race!

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

"Rabid"

Written By: Jordan Hawley
Directed By: Michael Rohl
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10/9/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Dr. Coats: Cameron Bancroft
Dr Emil Hamilton: Alessandro Juliani
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Major Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Clark awakens in the Watchtower to find it empty and he's got a puncture wound in his left elbow and he spots a needle on a nearby table which he sweeps off it with a brush of his hand. His cell phone vibrates and he crosses the room to pick it up and he sees this message: I LOST HER-Queen, Oliver. He staggers out onto the streets of Metropolis which are eerily empty of any human beings. Cars are abandoned everywhere and Clark listens carefully with his super-hearing to hear voices faraway shouting in confusion. He goes to the Daily Planet and entering his place of work he finds it destroyed as if a mob had demolished it. He sees Lois standing across the room in front of a running copy machine and he nears her. He asks if she is all right and then Lois turns towards him and we're shocked to see a Lois transformed into some kind of hideous zombie with black ichor drooling from her distorted, ruined mouth. Then she literally hisses at Clark and launches herself at him in a murderous rage! Now we travel back in time 12 hours and see Clark at his desk in the Planet and he's listening to his police scanner and a radio broadcasting news when Lois enters the newsroom.
Checking her schedule Lois sees she has nothing to do and suddenly a five alarm fire is spotted and Clark makes the excuse of getting Lois coffee and he gets back seconds later and handing Lois her coffee she tells him that the blur has already put the fire out. She talks about how great the blur is and that she hopes to actually see his face one day. Then the computer beeps that a motorcycle chase is underway and Clark blows on Lois' coffee to purposely cool it off and she sips it and tells Clark she's going to heat it up and he speeds from the room. Dressed in his all black action attire Clark races to the scene and sees the motorcyclist speeding towards him on a bright red powerful Ducati motorcycle. Clark pushes a nearby truck into the cyclist's path and he pulls over and gets off the bike and Clark is surprised to see it's Oliver Queen. He tells Oliver that he knows his giving up being the Green Arrow since Jimmy's death is a direct result of him not listening to Oliver and getting rid of Davis Bloome is what he should have done. Oliver tells Clark he's a mere mortal unlike him and he then derides Clark for wearing an "S" on his chest and Clark insists he's trying to give people hope and not give up like Oliver has. Oliver tells Clark he's trying to be everyone's savior but he doesn't believe Clark can save us all and he speeds away on his motorcycle as the arriving police then chase after him.
Tess Mercer's aide reports to her in her den at the Luthor mansion as she's going over the Kryptonian symbols and people that have appeared all over the globe. He tells her 12 ex-Navy SEALS they hired to hunt the Kryptonians down have disappeared without even sending out an SOS, and Tess reminds him that as time passes the aliens in our midst will blend into our society and won't ever be found. They hear shouts and gunshots in the hallway and they check it out with Tess' man leading, gun drawn. They find a dead guard in the hall whose face has been torn at as if by an animal. Then the electricity dies and the man looks further down the hall by the window and finding nothing he tells Tess it's all right. But at that a huge guard plunges through the window at him looking for all the world like a diseased, hideous, undead madman. The ghoul flails at Tess' aide and Tess runs back into her study frantically trying to dial her phone for help but nothing's working. Then she turns to be faced by the undead creature who growls at her like an animal and grabs her by the throat. Tess grabs a nearby bottle of liquor and smashes the zombie over the head and he goes down and she runs for the door. But another crazed beast runs into the room and with a swipe of his arm Tess is hurled across the room to smash through a glass table! Gamely she rises and grabbing a samurai sword she slashes at one creature expertly from his head to his rotten toes. He falls as if pole axed but the other zombie grabs her from behind biting at her neck and she thrusts straight backwards through her opponent and turning dispatches him with a lethal throat cut. He finally falls and we see the horror on Tess' face as she finally has a moment to think about the last few terrible minutes!
Clark and Lois enter the hospital to talk to Tess and they overhear a Doctor saying some sort of virus is causing the effects on their patient and they walk into Tess' room. Lois asks her a question but when Tess rolls over to face them, she's now a snarling diseased maniac that throws Lois into the wall with a thrust of her arm. Clark holds the raging Tess down while a Doctor injects her causing her to pass out and Clark worries what all this means. He goes to see Chloe and Dr. Hamilton at the Watchtower and shows them a vial of Tess' blood and then Chloe shows them the security video taken at the Luthor mansion. When they see raging undead men running around Dr. Hamilton says that this is classic viral rage and Clark says a specialist from the disease control center is at the hospital and Clark asks him if he gets motion sickness. When he says no, Dr. Hamilton is sped in seconds to the hospital leaving him amused at the short but singular trip. A Dr. Coats tells him the disease is spreading and it's likely airborne and that Tess was brought to the hospital not from her mansion, but after arriving at work and having a "seizure". Clark's listening with his super-hearing and now he fears for Lois' safety at the Daily Planet. At that moment Lois enters a deserted newsroom with the power blinking on and off and spotting a co-worker with his head down on his desk, she nears him calling his name.
Randall's head rises from his desk and with a ghoulish growl he leaps at Lois with black drool dripping from his mouth. She first avoids him by running but then a woman zombie appears and Lois grabs a fire extinguisher and flails at her opponents knocking them away from her just as Clark appears. They run for the exits fighting the undead at every step with Clark having to be careful Lois doesn't see him use his incredible strength. But one of the zombies bites Lois as they fight and then Clark uses all his power quickly making a pile of zombies and seeing Lois' wound he picks her up and runs out of the building. Oliver is having a fling with a policewoman he bought back to his office in Luthorcorp and the woman discovers a camera hidden on Oliver's belt buckle. She angrily leaves and Oliver could care less and he's now taking pills to stay awake for days on end, but he reasons that only Tess would be spying on him like this. Dr. Hamilton shows Chloe that the virus is spreading fast and he says that the virus makes the victim sleep so it can germinate. He also says that only by mimicking the virus' enzyme can they concoct an antidote. He says he only saw this enzyme once before and it was in Davis Bloome, which makes Chloe think that the virus enzyme is Kryptonian. At the Planet Lois tells Clark since she's met the blur she feels connected to something in life and she doesn't want to be alone anymore. Clark's phone vibrates and Chloe needs him at the Watchtower so he tells Lois they have to leave and suddenly a zombie comes crashing through the door.
Oliver enters cocking the twelve gauge shotgun he used on the zombie and Clark tells him the virus is dormant until the victim sleeps and in a few hours Lois says that all of the city will wake up zombies. Clark puts them on an elevator telling Oliver to keep Lois awake no matter what and he speeds towards the Watchtower after they leave. Dr. Hamilton is told by Clark he's the same alien race as Davis Bloome was and they use a needle dipped in liquid Kryptonite to draw Clark's blood into a vial. Then he and Chloe leave to prepare the antidote and use Oliver's jet to disperse the cure into the air over the city. Now Clark wakes up from the liquid Kryptonite that rendered him unconscious and we're back at the beginning of our story where Clark finds out Oliver has lost Lois. In the jet Dr. Hamilton has seeded the clouds over Metropolis and then they spray the antidote into the air figuring that when it rains the virus will be defeated by the cure being not only in the falling rain but by entering into the city's water supply. He tells Chloe he knows she's the one who has been spying on Oliver and his friends and Chloe says she's watching over then to protect them from the world that needs them badly and the pair agrees to try and help the heroes together. As they do this, zombie Lois is knocking Clark straight out of the newsroom onto the streets where she pursues him. He holds her in a bear grip as she thrashes wildly in his arms and then the storm breaks and the healing rain begins to blanket the city. Lois slowly returns to normal and the two almost kiss each other in relief but they instead just cradle each other in their arms as the former zombies around them awaken from their long nightmare.
Later Clark finds Oliver drinking in an alley and he asks him if there's anything left of the man he knew and Oliver says he doesn't think there is. He tells Clark he's taken a hard look at himself and he finally knows who he is and Clark tells him he must now do what he should and Oliver thanks Clark sincerely for his help. Clark leaves and Oliver takes his Green Arrow outfit out of his bag and pouring his remaining liquor on it, Oliver then sets it afire and watches his old life fade in the flames. We can only wonder if this means the Green Arrow is also dead and gone along with Oliver's old life. Lois enters the Kent farmhouse and tells Clark she saw the side of him that's a hero and they touch for a minute and she tells Clark to keep his secrets for now as he needs the mystery to make him more attractive. As she leaves the house she suddenly gets another flashback of her recent trip to the future. She sees herself and someone embracing, a woman kneeling to accept dog tags around her neck, and finally she sees Oliver digging a grave and her cousin Chloe lying nearby as if the grave were meant for her. The man we thought was Dr. Coats enters a deserted building and meets Major Zod who tells him he has risked their exposure to humanity by releasing the alien virus into the city. Coats tells Zod that he used the virus to find Jor-El who is in the city and using the powers they also should have gained under our yellow sun. Coats gives Zod a vial of Clark's blood and tells him he can use it to track Jor-El, making it apparent they don't know they're dealing with the son of Jor-El. Zod declares Jor-El a traitor by using the powers from the yellow sun only for himself and then he tells Coats to kneel saying it takes a certain kind of man to step outside his station. Coats kneels in the Kryptonian martial salute on one knee with right hand curled to the chest and Zod takes a short sword from behind him and he beheads Coats with one savage slice. As the body lies before him, the Kryptonian soldier Zod raises his head to the sun beaming in from a window above and he seems to quietly exult in the kill he just made.

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

"Echo"

Written By: Bryan Q. Miller
Directed By: Wayne Rose
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10/16/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Voice of Jor-El: Terence Stamp
Winslow Schott/Toyman: Chris Gauthier
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
A madman is holding hostages in a dress factory in Metropolis' garment district and he's seated in the factory in a chair with TNT strapped to his waist. Clark speeds onto the scene just as Metropolis' Finest arrives, and then he super-speeds in and out of the factory room whisking hostages to safety in mere seconds. He tells the madman who's wearing a cracked dolls head not to bother setting off the dynamite and he tears it off the man and then sends him flying with a wave of his arm. But when the would-be terrorist lands the dolls head flies off and Clark sees he's just super-smacked a hostage and the dolls head is now counting down the seconds until detonation! Clark crouches down clutching the explosives to his invulnerable chest and the blast erupts from there to take the factory outer wall out and it sends the policeman outside flying through the air from the blast concussion. Clark is reeling from the explosion and his hearing is gone as a result of the blast. But seconds later as personnel rush the building he hears a cacophony of voices as if everyone were talking to him at once. He then changes back into his everyday clothing and exiting the phone booth he runs into Lois who's rushed to the scene. She trips and before she can fall Clark grabs her in his arms and when she feels his rock hard arm she thinks, "Hello sailor!", but Clark hears the thought as if it were spoken to him! Then when he asks her what she said, Lois says for him to get his hearing checked but when she turns and walks away he "hears" her think, "Hot stuff!", so Clark now knows he's not imagining it, he's hearing people's thoughts!
The next day at the Daily Planet Clark's hearing a lot of thoughts but then he singles in on Lois who's second guessing her attire that day. She laments not getting to interview the blur for her story and Clark says the hostage's being saved is all that really counts. He also tells Lois he's found the company that owns the factory is Queen Industries but Oliver doesn't seem to notice and then he hears Lois think, "If Oliver's sober enough to care". Clark meets with Chloe who says she really doesn't think you can catch ESP but she'll look into it and then Clark concentrates and hears thoughts from people all around him on the street to the point of distraction. Next we see the Fortress of Solitude far in the frozen North where Jor-El tells Clark he's been given this ability temporarily to help him to better understand why people behave the way they do. In this way he will be better able to protect them so Jor-El has arranged this as a tool for Clark to use in his training. At Metropolis General Hospital Clark and Lois are questioning hostages from the incident and Clark hears a woman's fears over deportation and he gets her to talk by telling her they're not INS. Then when a man exaggerates everything he tells Lois in the hopes of publicity, Clark tells the man not to lie and that gets a more accurate answer. As they leave Clark "hears" Lois has nothing to do that night so he asks her out for a bite to eat and maybe a Monster Truck Rally which gets Lois' yes.
Oliver Queen, once the Green Arrow, walks into a Mexican bar filled with gun toting men and partying women and he immediately grabs two ladies and orders drinks all around. When a local tough tries to pick a fight, Tess Mercer breaks it up when she enters firing her machine pistol in the air and the joint clears out fast then. She confronts Oliver as he continues guzzling liquor and tells him she's there to get his complete attention. Chloe returns to her apartment to find Lois getting ready to go out on her date with Clark and she worries that Clark is using his new ability for more personal pursuits. Clark listens to the man's thoughts who wore the dolls mask and he learns that the real villain is Winslow Schott, the Toyman who has a vendetta against Oliver Queen. And at that moment the Toyman is reading his bombing headlines and giggling at the chance to strike fear into people with children's toys! Tess has come to tell Oliver that Queen Industries is failing fast and she asks him why he's punishing himself this way but Oliver won't open up to her. Tess tells him to forgo the self pity long enough to come to Metropolis and address the shareholders and then he can get falling down drunk after that if he wants. Chloe sees Clark telling him she doesn't like him using his new ability to score with Lois and he insists that's not his intent. He tells her about Toyman being back in town and Chloe reminds Clark that Schott wants revenge after Oliver framed him for Lex Luthor's murder. Chloe tells Clark that Oliver's addressing the shareholders at a gala at the Ace of Clubs nightspot and Clark tells Chloe to stay at the Watchtower in case they need to head off Schott.
Clark's heading into the nightclub when Lois arrives telling him that the date to draw her away from the Oliver Queen appearance wasn't a clever enough ruse to pull her off the story. Clark says this story is his headline and he hears Lois think to herself that she knew better then to get attached and all men eventually leave her. She leaves Clark to his headline with him upset over her thinking he's trying to scoop her when he's really protecting her. Clark listens to the people in the room's thoughts and they're all in great fear of the fate of their investments in Queen Industries and then Tess comes out and introduces Oliver. He steps to the podium and his teleprompter screen starts with a standard CEO speech and then it starts to spell out for Oliver to use the earpiece so he puts it in his ear and he hears Winslow Schott telling him he's standing on a weight pressure sensitive plate attached to a bomb that will kill everyone there if he doesn't say exactly what Winslow tells him to. And at that exact moment Clark loses his ability to read thoughts and now the danger level for the people in the room just got even higher. Oliver starts using Winslow's words and he's telling the people he's spent his life throwing away seconds chances and he's now gagging on the silver spoon that was always shoved down his throat. Clark sees Oliver's expression as he says he's a thief, a coward, and just before he admits he murdered Lex Luthor, Clark uses his x-ray vision to find the bomb under Oliver's feet.
He calls Chloe telling her they've got to get everyone out of the building at once and just before Schott makes Oliver admit he killed Lex Luthor, Chloe hacks into the building's security system setting off an alarm and everyone in the room exits quickly. Clark spots Winslow standing in the room and he grabs him holding him over the balcony's ledge telling him he knows that Winslow wouldn't die in the room with Oliver; he'd want to live to dance on his grave. He says he knows that the pressure plate is a fake as Oliver would never let innocent people die and the bomb is on a timer just like the one at the dress factory. Then Clark's eyes glow first yellow, then bright red as he uses his heat vision to melt the face of the robot of Winslow Schott he's realized he's holding. The robot with the bomb's timer melts into useless slag at the same second that Oliver looks down and then purposely steps off the plate and then is very surprised to find he's not dead. Clark asks him how he knew the plate was a fake and Oliver tells him he didn't know it was. When he stepped off the plate he knew everyone except Clark had left and Clark is shocked to realize that Oliver had decided at that moment to die. Later Clark tells Oliver that Schott has been caught and returned to jail and he says he's sorry for not being there for him and he's neglected Oliver and he hopes he'll still let him help. Oliver tells Clark his parents died when he was five years old and his whole life has been really the leftovers of their life. Oliver Queen, playboy, or the Green Arrow are just masks he's used to hide the fact that nothing in his life is really his.
Clark assures Oliver that even if he's given up on himself, Clark won't ever give up on him and Oliver is grateful for Clark's words. After Clark leaves Oliver thinks he sees Lex Luthor's face reflected in the window and when he throws his glass at the image it changes into his face and Oliver's fear of what he might become has now been revealed. Winslow Schott sits in a room yelling for his lawyer but it's Tess Mercer who enters the room and she calmly shoots him in the knee while telling him to leave Oliver alone, pretty please. Then she tells Winslow he's going to solitary for a while and while he's there she wants him to examine his new toy. She takes out of her metal briefcase what we know to be the kryptonite fueled power cylinder that gave the cyborg Metallo his strength and very life. It was conceived by Major Zod and his fellow Kryptonians in their research to gain super powers under our yellow sun. Tess tells Schott it's a meteor rock powered heart and she wants him to tell her exactly how it works. The next day at the Daily Planet Clark asks Lois for her help in finishing the story as he missed the deadline and needs her help to write it. She gives it a fast edit and then Clark apologizes saying he's sorry he let her down last night. Then he asks how he might get a second chance at a date with her and Lois tells him the next time there's a slow news day. Clark promises to get it right next time and the two now just look into each other's eyes as their hearts grow closer every day.

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

"Roulette"

Written By: Genevieve Sparling
Directed By: Kevin G. Fair
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10/23/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Roulette: Steph Song
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
It's a troubled Oliver Queen who leans on the roulette table watching the ball spin round and round and it takes all his money and his car also. But Oliver doesn't care about money or himself for that matter since he killed Lex Luthor and fell out of favor with Clark who told him he wasn't one of them anymore, meaning heroes who try and make the world a better place and respect the value of life. A beautiful woman with exotic tattoos on her body wearing a red dress approaches Oliver saying she can see he's a man down on his luck but she tells him she has a game that she thinks he'd like to play. She pushes three upside down cups around until she stops and tells Oliver to pick one and he does so and the cup reveals a pill. The woman tells Oliver he needn't do this but he says he has nothing to lose and swallows the pill and then she leads him away from the casino floor to the street where he staggers and falls to the ground. As his consciousness fades the woman stands over him smiling and after a while Oliver awakens to find himself buried alive in a coffin and he gropes around and finds a flashlight. He turns the flashlight on and painted on the roof of the coffin are the words, "Game Over", and for Oliver that would now seem to mean the game of life!
Clark enters the Kent farmhouse with his all black action attire soiled and damaged and he sees Lois ten feet away folding laundry so he super-speeds into a more normal change of clothes before she can turn around and greet him. Lois insists they both watch movies while she does her laundry but then Clark hears a cry for help and saying he's going for popcorn he speeds to the scene where a woman struggles in her car with a would be carjacker. Suddenly the thief is ripped from the car straight through the rear window and moments later he is smashed into the car's roof denting it in and leaving the woman he attacked in confused relief. Clark speeds back to the Kent household and brings popcorn to the coach where he and Lois watch the movie while Clark stews at this enforced inactivity. Back in his coffin Oliver beats the wooden lid trying to find a way out and he uses the lanyard ring on the flashlight to fashion a pin with which he pushes the lid's hinge pins out freeing himself. He springs from the coffin into a nondescript room and now we see he's been dressed in an all white suit but with no socks or shoes and he stands gasping in relief over his freedom. Then he hears a muffled yelling from what he sees to be another coffin in the room and he slowly approaches it. He brushes off the dust from the coffin's nameplate and is surprised to see it says Alexander Luthor and breaking the lock he opens the box to find speakers inside it and now a man's voice laughs at him. The man tells Oliver that if he had learned the safe word he could have ended the game he's now playing at any moment.
Then the man asks Oliver if he's had rabies shots and then a growling dog crashes through the window and Oliver takes off jumping through the same window and he runs to a nearby car and jumps into it moments before the dog reaches it. Then Oliver hears a truck's horn blaring as it nears him and he tries to open the car doors but they're all locked. He looks up in time to see the truck about to crash into him and he jumps down on the floorboard as the vehicle strikes his to the sound of rending metal and breaking glass! Lois and Clark are still trying to watch the movie with Clark leaving for emergencies and telling Lois he's getting more snacks. Clark asks is anything's wrong and Lois confesses she's upset over it being Oliver's birthday and she can't reach him. Clark suggests they go visit him and find out what's going on and at that moment Oliver's waking up facedown in a muddy puddle. He rises to see the car he had been in sitting in is now smashed on a pair of railroad tracks. He goes to a nearby public phone and tries to call Chloe saying he needs help but the woman in the casino comes on the phone telling him it won't be that easy. She hangs up and Oliver notices on the bottom of his left wrist is now a red tattoo which spells out "Roulette". Oliver returns to the casino where the woman tells him that his would be killers are in the room and then two men attack them with the woman in red using impressive martial arts skills. She knocks her man down as Oliver does his and they run from the casino as she tells Oliver to trust his instincts.
He stops them after they exit asking her what's going on and she says her name is Victoria and unknown clients hire her to get rid of their enemies with a deadly game. She asks Oliver who has he hurt so badly they'd want to see him destroyed and Oliver admits he's usually only hurt those who care about him so he won't worry about how he'll let them down later. Then gunshots ring out and the pair flees as bullets smack into nearby car windows as they run. But then a shot hits Victoria and as she collapses she begs Oliver to let her die so she can be free and with that Metropolis Police pull up with guns drawn. Oliver tries to tell them they have the wrong man but the cop's response is to draw his taser pistol and use it to shock Oliver into unconsciousness! Clark and Lois have searched everywhere without finding Oliver and when they enter his apartment Lois logs onto his computer and she sees Oliver's been watching security footage of when the Toyman tired to blow him up last week. Then when she sees Oliver purposely step off the platform she realizes he was intending to kill himself at that moment. Then she sees Clark enter the room with Oliver and she turns on Clark berating him for not telling her about Oliver's death wish. She stalks from the room and Clark notices a cocktail napkin saying Roulette on it and hopefully he's found a clue to Oliver's whereabouts.
The police questioning Oliver get a surprise when an F.B.I. man enters the room and gives Oliver some shoes telling him he'll be released shortly. He says he knows about the game and usually the victims have their funds drained while being kept distracted by the game. The man produces a laptop and tells Oliver to log in and check his accounts and he does so finding his money intact. Then the man leaves and as Oliver watches the screen he sees his accounts being drained until nothing is left. Oliver pounds on the door and then fog pours forth from the vents and then Oliver is shocked to see the walls explode and Clark standing there saying he heard Oliver's shouting while checking out Roulette. He asks Oliver what's going on and Oliver looks at his depleted fortune onscreen and he tells Clark that for him it's game over! Clark and Oliver go to the Watchtower where Chloe discovers that Roulette is the woman named Victoria Sinclair and she robs high powered people of their wealth. At first Oliver asks Chloe for his Green Arrow gear but she and Clark remind him that hunting for vengeance never works so Oliver says he'll let his lawyers fight this battle for him and he doesn't need Clark or Chloe's help. Chloe shows Clark the video of Oliver the night Toyman tried to kill him and they spot the Kryptonian woman assassin that attacked Lois when she returned from the future and Clark mentions he buried the woman on the farm after she accidentally died fighting Clark.
Naturally Clark wants to know how she could have been alive to be at the event Oliver nearly died at and he tells Chloe he's heading to the Fortress of Solitude to speak with his father Jor-El. Lois has tracked down Oliver's car and then Roulette appears telling Lois that Oliver gave her the car as a gift. Lois tries to stop her from leaving which breaks out into a fight between the two women which is evenly matched until Roulette pulls a gun on Lois saying she makes her own luck. Oliver enters Roulette's casino to see the woman in red sitting at the bar with her back to him. He points a gun at her back and then wrestles with his conscience and deciding not to pull the trigger he steps closer to the woman. Then he's shocked to see the woman is Lois dressed in Roulette's dress and Roulette appears behind him with a gun telling him she's disappointed he didn't kill and then she makes Oliver throw his gun down. Shooting at him, the woman can't hit the fast diving Oliver and then he reaches his gun and comes up with it in hand. But Roulette now holds Lois at gunpoint telling Oliver she's doused the place in gasoline then she shoots at Oliver as she pushes Lois to the ground and runs away. But an explosion in the room she entered now causes Roulette to call for help and Oliver runs to try and free her as she's been trapped under a collapsed ceiling beam. She asks why Oliver would help her after she ruined him and he tells her he couldn't live with himself if he let her die.
With that the woman stands free of the wreckage and at the click of a button all the flames in the room go out and the smoke is drawn away through ventilators and we realize this has just been another part of Roulette's game. She tells Oliver he was the one who he had destroyed and she says she's been told Oliver is a hero who tried to bury that part of him and now it's time for him to resurrect the hero. Oliver stands looking at himself in the mirrored walls and his expression tells us that even he is surprised that the hero within him still lives. Oliver goes to Chloe telling her he now realizes this was all and elaborate scheme launched by her to help him regain himself. Chloe says Lois entering the field was a wild card she couldn't count on and Clark didn't know about the plot as he could never be deceitful enough to pull it off. Oliver thanks Chloe for her saving not only himself but the hero within him and he goes home where Lois enters confronting him with the fact he tried to die that night when Toyman attacked. He tells Lois he's sorry for dragging her into his life and his fight with his demons but he let pride, fear, and regret control him to the point where he forgot any good that was left in his life. Lois tells Oliver she'll always be there for him and then she takes out a couple of six packs for a classic beer pong game. The two friends stop for a moment and looking into each other's eyes they savor the fact that life is good when you have good friends to help you live it.
Chloe enters the Watchtower where Clark tells her that Jor-El said the woman's name is Alia and the tattoo she's seen wearing in the security video is her family crest. Jor-El also said there may be many more Kandorians and Chloe uses the computer to search for Kryptonian crest symbols. She sees hundreds of crests appear all over the globe and finally she and Clark realize the great scope of their problem. Chloe tells Clark that Oliver's back and maybe the woman running the scam on him gave him the perspective he needed. Later that night we see Oliver standing in his full Green Arrow suit on a gargoyle atop a building where Clark speeds to join him. Oliver tells Clark he looks ridiculous in his black action attire and he says Clark needs a tailor with a better sense of color and the two friends laugh to hear Oliver joking once again. Oliver says Clark's been working hard to take care of the world and now the Green Arrow is there to help him. The two stand watching over their city as Clark says he thinks they'll need all the help they can get in the days ahead and now we know that these two will always be on the front battle lines for all of us.

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

"Crossfire"

Written By: Holly Henderson & Don Whitehead
Directed By: Michael Rohl
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 10/30/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Mia/Speedy: Elise Gatien
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Major Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Lois Lane is auditioning for a TV anchor job on the show Good Morning Metropolis as newsprint is becoming less popular and she's asked Clark to play her co-host. In between takes the pair starts to verbally spar with each other and the producer tells them they've both got the job. Clark says he's just doing Lois a favor and he's not interested but the producer says both of them or neither of them and Clark's expression tells us he's been cornered into this whether he likes it or not. Chloe stops in later at the Daily Planet and Clark tells her that he and Lois have been hired as a team and their first story will be about online dating. Chloe tells Clark that Tess Mercer has tightened security to the point where she thinks Tess is gathering Kandorians, Kryptonians who somehow have survived Krypton's destruction. They have been arriving on our planet and as Clark's had no luck she tells him to concentrate on his job at the Planet and she'll use the Watchtower's computers to try and find out what Tess is up to. Clark tells Lois he's filled out his dating profile for the online dating story and he sees Lois is exaggerating about herself and she says it's just to get a more exciting date for the story.
Next we see an underground fight club where a young brunette has just beaten her opponent and then a thug named Rick grabs the woman and he and his gang takes her outside to collect on debts the young woman named Mia owes him. Watching them leave is Oliver Queen who recently readopted his role as the Green Arrow and he follows the group outside. He gets in his car and purposely picks up Mia who's been forced back into prostitution by Rick and letting her drive he immediately nicknames her Speedy as she's very fast behind the wheel. Oliver tells Mia she's got talent as a fighter and he offers to train her to become a better fighter and to maybe get off the streets with his help. Mia is skeptical but she doesn't say no as she hits the gas and the pair fly into the night. At the Luthor mansion Tess is instructing her aide Stuart to hold off whomever is trying to break through their security and then she enters the den where she speaks to stockholders showing them her proposed solar tower which she says will be realized with technologies offered by a company called R.A.O. Industries. Tess says the tower will be the planet's most efficient creator of clean power and the crowd applauds her. Joining in the applause and stepping from the crowd is the man we know to be called Major Zod and he is the Kandorian's leader. He announces he is now the chairman and C.E.O. of R.A.O. and the crowd applauds him. Zod says that the tower will change our world in harnessing the sun's power and he says Tess Mercer is their savior.
Clark's first online date is being taped and Lois keeps talking to Clark through his earpiece when a stunning blonde named Catherine shows up and Lois immediately dislikes her and she tells Clark he's now dating Mother Teresa in six inch heels. Back at the mansion Zod tells Tess he wants her help in finding the person known as the Blur as he considers him a traitor. Tess says she helped the Kandorians escape the orb they were trapped in to help save humanity and Zod leaves telling Tess' guard in the hall to make Tess tell him where the Blur is or kill her and the Kandorian disguised as one of Tess' guards says he will. Lois visits Oliver asking for tips to help her in one-upping Clark with her blind date but they're interrupted when Mia enters wearing only a towel and despite Oliver's insistence they were merely sparring, Lois leaves thinking Oliver's back to his old tricks again. Meanwhile Chloe and Stuart are battling digitally as Chloe keeps breaking Tess' computer's firewalls and Stuart keeps blocking her access. Mia has just been caught trying to steal a watch from Oliver and he tells her he'll pay off her debt to Rick and then maybe she can be free and do something with her life she can be proud of. He gives her clothes he had bought for her and the keys to a car telling her he needs her to drop him off somewhere and Mia can't believe Oliver's generosity doesn't come with a hidden price but still she stays.
Lois is about to tape her blind date and now it's her turn to squirm as Clark talks to her through her earpiece and when Oliver walks in saying he's paid her date off and he's there to help her get ratings Clark is less then happy. Mia has taken the car Oliver gave her to Rick to pay off her debt and Rick tells her he'll not only never let her go, but he wants to know where she dropped Oliver off so he can rob the very wealthy Oliver Queen. Oliver tells Lois that he's still in love with her and at that she takes out her earpiece and takes him out to the balcony where she gently tells him she loves him only as a friend and when Oliver guesses that it's Clark she likes he politely ends their date and exits the building. Lois follows him telling him she meant it when she said she was his friend and then she notices Mia waiting for Oliver and he offers to introduce them to each other. When he walks up to the car Mia says she's sorry and a moment later Rick knocks out Oliver from behind and then takes Lois hostage at gunpoint! Clark's producer tells him she has high hopes for the two of them and Clark looks at the standup of he and Lois the studio had made up and he wistfully says he had high hopes for the two of them also. Rick has Oliver dragged to his car and when Lois resists he turns on Lois about to shoot her and that's when Mia finally acts kicking the gun out of Rick's hands and grabbing it as it falls. But Rick calls her bluff walking up to her and taking the gun away saying he knew she didn't have the nerve to kill.
He knocks Mia out but Oliver has awakened and now he and Lois attack the gang giving a good account of themselves and they run for safety with Rick giving chase with his gun firing at them. Clark's about to leave the studio when his super hearing picks up the struggle over the earpiece Lois dropped and with the word "Lois" on his lips he speeds off to save her. Rick finally corners Oliver and Lois and his rage takes over and he fires point blank at them as Oliver tries to shelter Lois from the sure death that's coming. But moments before the bullets strike the two, Clark arrives in his black blur outfit blocking the bullets and melting the ones Rick's still firing with his heat vision until Rick's gun explodes in his hand. One last bullet flies towards Oliver's head and Clark catches it with his fingertips a millimeter away from Oliver's eye. He stares into Oliver's eyes for a moment and then he speeds to a nearby rooftop where he sees Lois and Oliver embrace. At the Luthor mansion Major Zod's man enters the den telling Tess that Zod says she must tell him where the blur is or she will die. Clark enters the Watchtower to find Chloe in her digital duel with Stuart and she tells Clark that Stuart is so good at what he does that she thinks they should recruit him to their team. Clark tells Chloe how happy Oliver looked with Lois and Chloe tells him enough of the self sacrificing routine, he should asks himself what he wants for a change and that gives Clark pause.
Zod sits sipping coffee at an outdoor café and he closes his eyes and basks his face for a moment in the sun's rays and when he opens them there is an envelope on the table. He opens it to find the dogtags with a Kryptonian crest on them and there's blood on the tags and these are the ones that once hung from the neck of his soldier that was supposed to get information about the Blur from Tess. He looks across the street and Tess is standing there and she raises her own cup of coffee to him in a salute of sorts. Then Tess disappears as a vehicle obscures her from his view for a moment and the twitching muscles on his face show he is angry and finally now realizing the foe he has made in Tess. Chloe meets with Stuart in an alley and she shows him the information she's obtained about him and he looks at her with an ever greater respect then before. She holds out her hand and he takes it in a firm handshake and who knows where this will lead them both to in the future. Mia is back on the mean streets when Oliver pulls up and with a nod of his head he beckons and she answers by getting in his car and smiling at him. Another alliance has now been made and it will be interesting to see just where this one goes in the future too. At the Daily Planet Clark enters to hear Lois tell him the blonde from his date has gotten the job as the Good Morning Metropolis anchor and she starts talking about what a mistake the whole thing was when Clark quiets her with a kiss that both join in on and their feelings for each other are at last out in the open. We know that these two have finally found each other and the future now seems a lot brighter for them, and in turn for all of us.

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

"Kandor"

Written By: Turi Meyer & Al Septien
Directed By: Jeannot Szwarc
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11/06/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Adrian Holmes
Co-Starring: Sharon Taylor
Co-Starring: Monique Ganderton
Co-Starring: Jor-El: Julian Sands
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
It is twenty years before the destruction of the planet Krypton, and on the Kandorian border war is being waged. Even as the battle rages there are medical technicians taking blood samples from the soldiers and scans being taken of their family crests. Major Zod objects to the samples being taken while civil war group Black Zero threatens all of Krypton. Jor-El suddenly appears telling Zod he will not let this project continue and when the technician cites it is the Council's will that it does continue, Zod backs Jor-El refusing to give his blood which is the last sample to be taken. Zod warns Jor-El of the ramifications of defying the Council and then suddenly a great unnatural hush falls on the battlefield. Jor-El and Zod look up out of the trench they're in and to their horror they see Kandor disappear in a giant mushroom cloud blast and as Zod laments the death of his wife and son, Jor-El yanks him back down in the ditch as the blast wave from the explosion roars over their heads. It is now present day and Zod is addressing his Kandorian troops recalling the last days of Kandor and he tells them that their memories end when their blood samples where taken. But he says that the traitor Jor-El came with them in the Orb and somehow he has stolen the abilities they all should have gained under our yellow sun. Worse he flaunts his powers all over Metropolis leaving his family crest burnt at the scenes of his deeds he performs as the Blur, the nickname given him by the press. Zod swear that Jor-El will pay for his treachery, and then they will get their powers and walk our Earth as Gods!
Clark speeds into the Watchtower to tell Chloe he finally kissed Lois and she left town, and Chloe deflates Clark's ego a tad by telling him that's Lois' stock answer to any display of intimacy. Chloe says her Luthorcorp mole has provided information that Tess Mercer has teams actively scouring the globe for Kandorians and he needs to check out where the information points to in the Turkish desert. Clark reminds Chloe he still can't fly and she suggests he use Oliver's jet to get there and at first he refuses until Oliver walks in offering the ride himself and Clark bows to the inevitable. Tess is meeting Zod at that moment at the site of a Blur event with the huge "S" burnt in a wall. He gives her the dog tags of his man she killed, and Tess tells Zod it was necessary for her to prove she should be taken more seriously. When Zod tells her of Jor-El acting as the Blur, he says that if she helps them find him she will rule at his side as an equal and even more intimately. Tess tells Zod she already has a team searching for Jor-El and will report to him the moment he's found. Clark and Oliver arrive at the coordinates in the desert and Clark's x-ray vision spots a pattern under the flat desert plain they stand upon. He blows the sand away with a mighty blast of his lungs and sees his own family crest, a giant "S" where the Kandorian refugee arrived on Earth. He finds dog tags in the sand with the family "S" crest on one side, and on the other side is the name Jor-El and Clark tells Oliver his father is somehow alive on our planet. And ironically at that moment his father Jor-El is stepping from a ride he caught in a truck and then he walks through the gate of the Kent family farm!
Chloe steps into the Kent household living room to meet Jor-El and she's amazed he is standing in front of her. When she talks about his having a son that he sent to Earth to save, then she must tell Jor-El that Krypton was destroyed and Jor-El mourns his wife Lara who he says wasn't part of the experiment that bought he and the Kandorians to Earth. Jor-El tells Chloe the Kandorians she's searching for are battle trained and hardened and led by a great military mind in Zod, who he says was once the best friend he ever had. Now we are back on Krypton and Jor-El stands in judgment by the Council for calling off the experiment they ordered. Jor-El argues that he created the technology for replacement organs for medical use and not to clone Kryptonian warriors who would be resurrected on Earth with great powers and then possibly doom its future. But the council insists that with the blood samples in the orb Krypton's future will and must survive to live again. The floating images of the Council's member's heads gaze down at Jor-El and state that he is guilty of treason against his race and therefore must die. But Zod interrupts the proceedings saying that Jor-El's life has been dedicated to saving and preserving life and he feels that makes Jor-El the truest hero he has ever known. The Council is swayed due to their respect of Zod's martial record and they say Jor-El may live, but his and Zod's DNA must be taken and the Orb completed so Krypton's two greatest heroes will live on to ensure that Krypton does also. Jor-El thanks Zod for his reprieve and Zod tells Jor-El to remember the debt he now owes him.
Jor-El says neither he nor his son would live today if Zod hadn't intervened and Chloe then tells Jor-El the many unpleasant things she knows about Zod since his days with Jor-El back on Krypton. Clark and Oliver are jetting back home and Clark's upset with Jor-El in the Fortress for not telling him he would be on Earth as a living man. He says part of him doesn't want to meet him if he'll be disappointed in him, and Oliver says that he also lost his parents as a child. He says he'd give anything to be able to hug his father one more time and that makes Clark pause in thought. Jor-El tells Chloe he worries that Clark grew up alone away from his people and she tells him the Kents were wonderful parents who gave Clark a good life. Jor-El tells Chloe of his father sending him to Earth when he was younger and how his meeting a Hiram Kent who he admired probably influenced him to send his son to Smallville. He says he came to Smallville simply out of old memories of the time he spent there and he worries that he may have played a part in Zod becoming a tyrant. Suddenly Jor-El hears something and he knocks Chloe out with a nerve pinch and runs downstairs in the barn to confront a tactical team of Tess Mercer's men. He takes out two of them before a third man brings him down with a taser, and now Tess Mercer holds Clark's father hostage!
Jor-El awakens in the wine cellar of the Luthor mansion where Tess tells him she has let Zod go on mistakenly thinking he is the Blur and she has kept Zod from knowing Kal-El even exists. She hands Jor-El a black shirt with the same pale "S" on it that Clark wears as the Blur and she tells him that he must make a sacrifice to save his son and then Jor-El nods in agreement. Clark awakens Chloe to find out his father was there and that Zod has also come to Earth and now the concern for his father is written on Clark's face. Zod confronts Tess asking if Jor-El has been found yet and she says she's getting closer and then Zod tells her he has passionate feelings about her but Tess says theirs is strictly a business partnership. Zod exits the den telling Tess while they talked he had his soldiers take Jor-El from the cellar and though Tess acts upset, after Zod leaves she smiles as her plans seem to be going well. Clark follows Chloe into the Watchtower upset at her as he's just found out she had cameras installed in the Kent house after he left the last time. She shows Clark footage where Jor-El purposely knocks out Chloe and then runs down to confront Tess' men leading them away from Chloe. Oliver and Chloe try to convince Clark not to confront Tess head on but with a whoosh and a blast of air Clark super-speeds away from them to face Tess. At that moment Jor-El is being thrown to the floor in a warehouse where he is met by none other then his "old friend" Zod. Zod reminds Jor-El of that day back on Krypton where we see Clark's father complete building the orb but not before he takes a blue crystal and bathes the Orb in its light. Then Zod brings the scientist a lock of his dead son's hair and Zod begs Jor-El to use it to allow him to hold his living son in his arms once more. But Jor-El refuses telling Zod he is sorry but he feels he doesn't have the right to clone life as the council has forced him to do. Zod turns on his old friend telling him he is now as dead as his son and we see the moment where Zod's heart took perhaps it's darkest turn.
In the present Zod stands over Jor-El beating him with his fists and Jor-El tells Zod he used Blue Kryptonite to take away his powers just as he used it to corrupt the Orb so none of them would ever be able to rule over humans as gods. He says that the people they were cloned from went on to live for years and that Zod attempted a military coup which ended up destroying the planet Krypton. He insists that now they have a second chance to live better lives as Kryptonians amongst humans, not above them. Zod realizes that Jor-El's trying to protect someone who came to Earth after Krypton's destruction and although Jor-El denies it, Zod has figured out he's protecting his son. He tells his soldiers to release Jor-El and then follow him back to find the person of the house of El who has powers on our world, and then they'll force him to give them powers. Clark enters the Luthor mansion den picking Tess up by the throat demanding to know where his father is. She gasps out that she's waited for Clark to admit his alien heritage and that she had tracking gear put into Jor-El's clothes. Clark's now even angrier over Tess using his father for bait and he sits Tess down at her laptop demanding she find Jor-El now! She tells Clark his father is at the Kent farm and he speeds to the spot only to find a beaten and bloody Jor-El who collapses in his arms saying he doesn't know who did this to him. Then with his last breaths he tells Kal-El he is proud of him and he wants him to save Zod, and then he dies as Clark holds his dead father's body in his arms crying over his loss.
Later Clark tells Oliver his regret over not being able to learn about his father face to face and when Oliver says he'll help Clark however he can. Clark says he'll need his help to find his father's murderer and bring him to justice. Then we see Clark standing over Jor-El's grave where he uses his heat-vision to burn the family crest "S" into the headstone as he tells his father he can't save Zod as he becomes something terrible after his time as Jor-El's friend. And Zod is watching Clark as he speaks to his father but when Clark looks up Zod is gone. And now Jor-El's greatest enemy has learned the friend who betrayed him left behind a son, the very thing he feels Jor-El denied to him.

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

"Idol"

Written By: Anne Cofell Saunders
Directed By: Glen Winter
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11/13/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Anita Torrance
Co-Starring: Dylan Neal
Co-Starring: Jayna: Allison Scagliotti
Co-Starring: Zan: David Gallagher
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
We open seeing Clark lying on a bed and then we see a naked Lois wrap herself in a sheet and rise to greet the dawn. They're in a derelict building watching the sun rise through a shattered opening in the structure. Clark laments he wishes they had more time and the two embrace and kiss with pain in their eyes as if some terrible fate awaits them. And as the camera turns and their view becomes ours, we see they're watching a red, angry sun rise over what's little is left of Metropolis! Then we see Lois sitting at her desk and this was another flashback of her trip to the future which left her with memory gaps upon her return. Clark asks Lois what's got her thinking so deeply and Lois tells Clark the two week backlog of research she created when she left has now got her buried. Clark asks if their recent kiss was her reason for leaving and a red faced Lois shoots back that Clark wasn't the only thing on her mind. Then a delivery man walks up to Lois asking if she'll sign for the package he has on the loading dock and Lois signs his form. Then she and Clark go to the dock to find Lois has signed for a huge wooden crate with a big red bow on it. Lois pries off the lid and they're shocked to see several men trussed up along with big bundles of drugs which cover them like confectioner's sugar. Lois tears off the tape on a man's mouth and he tells her they're all undercover cops and their attempted drug sting went bad. Lois and Clark wonder who could have screwed up so badly and they hear people in the street yelling. They walk out on the dock to see the building next door is now emblazoned with Clark's family crest of the "S". That's the sign of his alter-ego the Blur as the natives have dubbed him and now the people believe the Blur has made his first big mistake!
As they return to their desks Lois wonders how the Blur could do this and Clark insists it's not the Blur's style. But the Editor tells Lois he wants her to write the feature on the Blur's mishap and he doesn't care that Lois doesn't want the story. He says that the failed drug bust has kept crime boss Adrian Pope out of jail and he wants it written. Clark tells Lois she could make the article fair-minded and she reminds Clark that that would entail the Blur ever calling her again. Then she tells Clark she's off on a secret interview which actually is Lois' first session with a therapist who asks Lois about her recent dreams. Lois admits she's dreaming about sex with Clark but the therapist reminds her she's also preoccupied with her "Mystery man" who disappointed her the last time she opened her heart. As if on cue Lois's phone rings and she sees it's the Blur and she purposely kills the call saying the Blur is old news. The Doctor tells Lois to stop concentrating on the mystery man and start looking at Clark, who's right in front of her. Clark is with Chloe at the Watchtower and he tells her that he needs Lois' help with her article to clear the Blur. Chloe reminds Clark that someone has used his "S" family crest to pose as him and she says they're using the Blur identity on web sites. She tells Clark there are 5 saves that she knows the imposter has performed and Clark says he must go to the streets to catch whoever it is. A diamond thief is in a limo with stolen diamonds and he tells his driver to go to a nearby power plant. But as they arrive suddenly a cougar jumps on the hood snarling at them. The driver guns the car but then a sheet of ice appears under the vehicle and it slides through a fence and crashes near the transformers. The cougar changes into a young lady named Jayna and the ice flows up off the ground and turns into a young man named Zan. They congratulate themselves and then the young man jumps on the car and paints Clark's "S" symbol on it as Jayna takes pictures of the scene. But then the transformers the car struck start to collapse and they fall trapping the car's unconscious occupants. The twins both stare at the mess they've made and then the power disruption quickly hits the city section by section until the entire town is plunged into darkness!
Emergency crews arrive on the scene as well as Clark and Lois and she points out District Attorney Ray Sacks who's talking to news reporters about the danger he feels the Blur has become to the city. Lois tells Clark that Sacks is crooked as they come and she hopes to prove it too. Clark tells Lois he thinks something about the incident points to someone other than the Blur and he asks if the Blur has tried to talk to her. Lois says she wouldn't answer the Blur's latest call as she can't forgive the fact the Blur stopped calling her weeks ago. Lois runs off to interview a witness and Clark hears a strange monkey chatter sound coming from underneath nearby wreckage. Using his great strength he lifts the debris and finds Jayna's phone she used to take the pictures with and at last Clark has a lead to the Blur imposter. The twins are at their hideout wondering if they're cut out to be heroes when Zan's phone rings and when he sees it's Jayna's phone calling they decide to leave. They both make a fist and as they touch their fists together they say "Powers, activate"" but then Clark speeds into the room in his black Blur attire and puts his hand in between the two twin's fists and the energy backlash knocks the two young people out. They awaken in the Watchtower and they look around wondering where they are and how they got there. Zan's sure it was the Blur and he thinks this place is his lair and he says the extreme high tech equipment proves it. He starts to tweet their find when Chloe steps from the shadows welcoming them to the Watchtower and she warns them to never blog or tell anything they see there or Chloe will use her expertise to wipe everything connected to them from the web forever.
Chloe says she's helping the Blur by watching them and that though they want to help, all they've done is damage the Blur's reputation. She says they must be more discreet trying to help with their powers and learn to wait for the moment they're truly needed and the two young people smile at what they hope is their chance to redeem the Blur. As the power returns to the city Lois' phone rings and seeing it's the Blur she answers it. She tells the Blur that getting the power back isn't enough to erase his current mishaps and Clark, speaking through his voice modulator phone, tells Lois the misdeeds were simply two misguided fans he doesn't want to see the D.A. get his hands on. Lois tells him that he'll need some kind of proof of his innocence and Clark says everyone deserves a second chance and that starts a tirade from Lois about lack of respect. Back at the Watchtower Chloe's got her hands full keeping Zan away from equipment that traces cell phones and he accidentally taps into Clark's phone disrupting the voice modulation. And when Clark says she will simply have to trust him Lois hears the words in Clark's real voice and whispering "Smallville" to herself we realize she now knows the Blur's real identity! Clark opens the front door at the Kent farm to find Lois holding his paper and she tells Clark she told the Blur's side of the story and she finally got a call from him. Then she tells Clark they should start carpooling together so they can get to know each other better. Clark responds that she tells him her underwear color daily so he can't imagine what more there is to know. Lois says she awoke this morning seeing things much clearer and then they see D.A. Sacks on TV. He's telling the reporters he won't stand for the Blur's vigilante actions and he wants the Blur to reveal himself at a press conference he's holding that afternoon and Clark tells Lois that the busy news day will prevent any carpooling today. Lois visits her therapist telling her she thinks Clark and her mystery caller are the same person and the Doctor says she thinks Lois might be trying to force that conclusion too much. Lois says she can't imagine how Clark's maintained an alter ego all this time and she says he wants to help him. Then her eyes brighten with an idea to help the Blur and she runs from the room leaving a bewildered Doctor behind. Clark meets Chloe on the street and she says the twins are back at the Watchtower dismantling the Blur's blog. Clark tells Chloe he won't let the D.A. use his family crest as his scapegoat after all the work he's done to make the "S" a symbol of hope. But Chloe insists that Clark is his father's true legacy and not the crest and sacrificing his personal identity will not honor his father. As they talk a ladybug crawls up a nearby plant and the ladybug seems to glow with the same energy we saw Jayna and Zan use earlier.
The press conference start with a large crowd present and D.A. Sacks says the Blur should come to the podium and work with law enforcement and not hide from his mistakes. Clark leans towards the podium as if to step forward but Lois pushes her way onto the stage and commandeering the microphone she says she knows the Blur and has looked into his heart and she think he must stay clear of politics to stay a true hero. He's a symbol of hope and a light in the darkness they all need and he'll lose that if exposed. The crowd starts to cheers Lois' words and that squashes any chance of D.A. Sacks trying to get elected Mayor by using the Blur. Lois heads back to the Daily Planet where she finds a single red rose on her desk and a note saying, "Thank you. Meet me on the roof". She takes a deep breath and then heads for the roof and opening the door she's shocked to see D.A. Sacks waiting for her. He says her words have revealed her close knowledge of the Blur and she must tell him the Blur's identity. Lois refuses saying that Sack's connections to organized crime will soon be exposed with her article on it. Sacks sneers at Lois telling her the next headline will instead read, "The Blur murders Lois Lane!", and he points to the "S" crest he's had painted on the Planet's roof. He says now the world knows she knows who the Blur really is and he'll use his position to make people doubt the Blur but Lois still says it'll never happen. She runs for the door but two thugs come through it and scoop Lois up with their arms and they head for the ledge. With no hesitation they throw Lois bodily off the roof and the D.A. orders them to leave with him. The camera peeks over the edge as they go and we see Lois dangling precariously from a flagpole a few feet down with certain death waiting for her if she loses her grip!
Clark enters the newsroom to people rushing outside telling him to join them and bring his camera. He exits to the street and looking up he sees Lois' predicament and he hears her shouts for help and with the word "Lois" on his lips he whooshes away at super-speed. Reaching the roof's edge he climbs down to a ledge and tells Lois to reach for his hand. She's too far away though so he climbs further down to a tiny ledge of a building cornice. Lois strains to reach Clark as he strains to reach her but then her hand slips away and now she's only holding on with her other hand! The glowing ladybug we saw earlier quickly flies into the Watchtower turning into Jayna who tells Zan what's happening but she worries about their promise to Chloe to interfere no further. But Zan reminds her Chloe also told them that sometimes the hero must be saved from himself and they join their fists together while saying, "Powers, activate". Clark begs Lois to hold on and she tells him to let her go as she knows he's been living two lives and he can't reveal himself to all the cameras below. Clark sees a mysterious cloud appear under Lois and he tells her it's going to be all right. Lois tells Clark that she always knew he was a true hero and then she purposely lets go of the flagpole. As she disappears into the mist of the cloud Clark is already speeding to the ground but somehow Lois is borne aloft almost floating in the cloud which gently deposits her on the sidewalk. Then we see D.A. Sacks climb into his limo ordering the driver to leave and he looks up to see he's sharing his ride with a snarling Pit Bull which leaps for him growling with fangs bared.
Clark finds Lois safe and she hugs him thanking him for saving her but Clark insists he just got there via the elevator. Lois remarks that even now Clark won't trust her and then a nearby phone booth's phone rings and Lois runs to answer it. The Blur's on the line and he tells Lois to be more careful the next time she takes on the D.A. and he hopes he's made up for not calling her. Lois hangs up the phone in confusion which is Clark's reaction also when she tells him that was the Blur on the phone. Jayna and Zan are celebrating their save in the Watchtower when Clark enters dressed in his black Blur attire. He thanks them for what they did but reminds them he put his shield out there as a symbol to inspire people to become their own heroes. He says the Blur doesn't need any more fans; he needs people to find their own way to help each other. They should aspire to be heroes but should never forget that it will involve life and death decisions and they must be cautious how and when they act. He says they must try and never make a mistake when the world is watching them and then he speeds from the room leaving the twins struck with wonder. Lois is back with her therapist who says she's amazed to learn Lois's mysterious caller is the Blur and Lois is mortified to think she had convinced herself Clark and the Blur were the same man, and it was probably nothing more than a phone glitch. With tears in her eyes Lois says the Blur's voice still stirred her when she heard it but her thoughts keep returning to Clark, who climbed out on the tiny ledge to try and save her despite his fear. Clark enters the Watchtower to show Clark the new "S" crest mugs that vendors are now selling along with t-shirts and key chains. She tells Clark to keep the twins in mind if he ever again needs help and she says that D.A. Sacks is now on his way to jail courtesy of the Wonder Twins. Chloe shows Clark how she used a computer program to simulate his voice when the Blur called Lois and that she used building security cameras to know when to make her call as the Blur.
Clark frets that Chloe's invading his personal life and Chloe tells him that she got Lois off his trail this time, but he's going to need a better disguise if he intends to fool Lois in the future. He returns to the Daily Planet and shows Lois his glasses he says he needs for his nearsightedness. Lois tries them on herself and proclaims the glasses classic Clark Kent and puts them in his shirt pocket. Lois tells Clark she's embarrassed she thought he was the Blur and that she tends to project hero complexes onto her men expecting too much from them. Clark says he's flattered she thought he had a hero in him and Lois says he should consider contact lenses but she promises not to call him four eyes too often. She starts to leave and then she turns telling Clark she wants him to be clear on one thing though. She kicks a file box in front of Clark and then stands on it locking him in a passionate kiss which he gladly joins in on. But then several flashes of the red sun dystopian future of Metropolis she visited cascade through her mind's eye and Lois convulses and goes limp in Clark's arms as he calls her name and his face shows his fear over what's befallen Lois now.

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

"Pandora"

Written By: Andrew Landis & Julia Swift
Directed By: Morgan Beggs
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 11/20/09

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Dr. Emil Hamilton: Alessandro Juliani
Co-Starring: Monique Ganderton
Co-Starring: Adrian Holmes
Co-Starring: Sharon Taylor
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Clark enters Oliver Queen's office at Luthorcorp and Oliver tells him he's got the best Doctors available being flown in to examine the comatose Lois. But Oliver is shocked when Clark tells him Lois was kidnapped from the hospital as he stepped out of her room for a minute. Oliver says that Dr. Emil Hamilton, Chloe's science expert in the Watchtower, requested a copy of Lois' file and that makes the two men suspect Chloe might be behind the abduction. As they speak two men are dragging an unconscious Lois down a hallway and into a room where Tess Mercer waits with her technical wizard named Stuart. Lois is strapped on a gurney with sensors hooked up to her head, and Tess tells Stuart that the therapists files she stole show Lois has been having visions of the future. Stuart says the visions might be repressed memories of Lois' supposed trip into the future and Tess says the machine will show Lois' thoughts on a monitor. The screen lights up and we see a jumble of images until Tess has Stuart freeze a scene and she sees the solar tower designed by Zod and now Tess is convinced Lois went to the future. Then Lois memories start again and we see Lois when she was fighting Tess at the Daily Planet and how after Tess knocked her out Lois awakened to an empty newsroom. But the newsroom is deserted and Lois finds dust covering everything so it's apparent no one has been there for a while.
She exits the building while noticing the Legion ring with its signature "L" is still on her finger. Lois is shocked to see Metropolis is now an empty city with no one in sight and tremendous damage everywhere as though a great war had been fought there. And then she sees the sun is red instead of yellow and then she turns to see what we know to be Zod's solar tower and one of his soldiers from Kandor flies down from the tower to confront her. He tells her humans aren't allowed there and Lois tells the man that the red-blue blur will stop them. The man laughs saying the Blur not only can't stop them under a red sun, but the Blur is dead and he points to Clark's black "S" crest shirt hanging from a nearby pole shredded into rags! Tess has had Stuart hook her up to the machine Lois is connected to in the hope that she can learn how Zod's tower will, as he said, change the world. She sees Lois awaken in the Kent farm barn where she has become one of a group of humans held captive there. Then a man is dragged outside the barn by the same Kryptonian woman who followed Lois back to our past and hunted her. The woman says stealing will not be tolerated and she punishes the man by burning Zod's "Z" crest into his back with her heat vision.
The woman turns on Lois who says she's just looking for food and the woman asks what she has to trade. Clark walks up to her and offers her his father's wristwatch in trade and the woman accepts the watch and leaves. Clark and Lois hug each other in relief and Clark says he thought Lois had died when she disappeared and Lois thinks she's dreaming and Clark assures her this is real. He says that the beings that have captured them are part of an alien invasion of Earth. Lois says Tess spoke of an orb containing aliens and Clark says he thinks Tess helped them with their plans. He says after Lois was gone he left his friends behind after unsuccessfully trying to fight the alien's leader called Zod. He says his choices were bad ones and a lot of people died as a result of his decisions and he doesn't know if Chloe is among the dead. Clark says Lois vanished a year ago and she says she was fighting Tess at the Planet just before she woke up and she thinks a ring she wore must have something to do with it. Clark says that's a Legion ring and Lois must protect it all costs. The man who confronted Lois in the city appears telling Lois Zod wants to see her and as she's dragged away Clark can only helplessly watch while calling her name.
Clark speeds into the Watchtower and accuses Chloe of abducting Lois and Chloe tells Clark this is Tess' play. Tess had been obsessed with finding out what Lois knows of the future and she's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress syndrome. Every time she remembers more her body relives the trauma she suffered and her heart won't be able to take much more of it. Stuart has stabilized the system monitoring Lois and Tess and now Lois relives her visit to the Luthor mansion which Zod now uses as his headquarters. She meets Zod who now calls himself a general and he wants to know who snuck her into the forbidden zone where she was found. Zod takes the Legion ring from Lois' pocket asking what it is, but Lois tells Zod her father is a general too and he never got her to admit anything when she was young and this time won't be different. Zod tells Lois he'll never allow the resistance to take down his tower and then Lois is shocked when Tess enters the den. She tells Tess she's a traitor and she smacks Tess to make her point. But Tess says she is the planet's savior and she helped Zod to save our world from its own inhabitants. Zod says he knows Lois had talked to Clark Kent who he had hoped to enlist in their cause but Tess says it's time for them to admit Clark will never see the good they're trying to do. Zod tells Lois that she and Clark are useless to him alive so he will have them both executed in the morning as an example to all not to fight against him!
Next we see Zod stand before Tess who kneels before him and he endows upon her the honor of being a soldier in his army by presenting her with Kryptonian dog tags that all his minions wear. Then he moves back to the den where Lois sees Clark has been bought and Zod tells Clark he wanted him to join him but now he must die. Zod unsheathes a samurai sword and just as he's about to behead Clark, resistance fighters crash into the room firing crossbow bolts tipped with Kryptonite killing several guards and finally Zod flees before they can use the deadly arrows on him. The short but furious fight ends and the resistance fighters approach Clark and Lois who is relieved to see that Oliver Queen led the raid, but her cousin Chloe is there too as this is her resistance movement. Then Oliver spots Tess who has been struck by one of the bolts fired and he cradles his former love in his arms as she tells him she truly felt she could save the Earth through Zod. Tess dies with Oliver crying over her as Chloe nears him saying she had the shot at Tess and she felt she had to take it. Later, under a swollen red sun Oliver buries Tess while Lois watches him throw a clump of the scorched earth over her former boss. When the first shovelful of dirt covers Tess' face, back in the present she bolts up awake in the lab telling Stuart that Chloe kills her in the future. She tells Stuart the memories Lois has are too dangerous and she instructs him to use the machine to erase Lois' memories. Stuart says that may kill Lois but Tess says do what I say and for a moment it seems as though Stuart will obey her but then he turns on Tess refusing to hurt Lois. Tess' response is to calmly shoot Stuart in the back with a gun and then head for the machine console. But Clark speeds into the room and Tess says it was all Stuart's idea even as Clark shoves her aside. But the mass amounts of Kryptonite in the room weaken him and as he falls he grabs the brain sensor and it pierces his now vulnerable skin and he falls to the floor joining Lois in her memories.
The resistance returns to their headquarters with Lois and Clark and Lois tells them she arrived there via the Legion ring which transported her through time. Clark says they must attack Zod and retrieve the ring so Lois can return to the past and warn them of Zod's plans, but Chloe and Oliver are skeptical as they say Clark left them to fight on his own after he thought Lois died. Clark says he was wrong to leave and if they can shut down the tower he's their best chance to retrieve the ring when the sun becomes yellow again. Chloe says she hid the Watchtower from Zod by powering it down before they rose to power and if she can return there and boot the computers then she can put a virus into Zod's tower which processes the red sun rays back to Zod and his people giving them their power. Lois wonders how Clark under a yellow sun makes for victory and Clark says he and Zod have history together. Later at his room Clark tells Lois that when he thought her dead he left as Oliver and Chloe constantly reminded him of Lois and he couldn't take the pain and that's when he and Chloe fell out as friends. Clark says he died when Lois was gone and Lois reminds him that they're there together now and they all may die tomorrow. The two embrace and then make love and in the morning Lois arises wrapping herself in a sheet and the pair laments what little time they've had together, and that is what we saw Lois remembering when she first returned to our time. As the two dream, Emil Hamilton stands over Clark telling Chloe he must remove them from the device Tess hooked them up to. Chloe says an ambulance is arriving for the wounded Stuart and he may survive, but if Clark doesn't learn all Lois learned many more may die and Emil lets the dream memories continue.
Now we see Chloe, Oliver, and Lois enter the Watchtower while Clark waits for the sun to turn yellow and lead the attack to retrieve the Legion ring from Zod. Chloe gets through Zod's firewalls and releases the virus which may save them all and then Oliver and Lois leave with Oliver giving Lois a knife with a Kryptonite blade to use against the Kandorians. They wait outside for Chloe who runs from the building to be met by the Kandorian woman assassin that chased Lois into the past. The woman impales Chloe with her sword and then she flees at super-speed as Oliver nears them aiming his meteor rock arrow at her. Lois weeps over Chloe as she dies and Oliver tells her the best chance for vengeance against Chloe's killer lies in them getting the ring back from Zod. Lois runs for the tower as Oliver lifts his bow and aims it at the hundreds of super-powered Kandorians flying right for him as he makes his last stand. Zod drags Clark through the streets telling him if they hadn't resisted him Metropolis wouldn't now be destroyed but Clark says humanity will never stop fighting him. Lois arrives and throws the Kryptonite blade to Clark but Zod steps on Clark's hand crushing it and stopping him from using the knife. Then Zod bids Clark goodbye and kicks him straight through two plate glass windows and he crashes to the ground mortally wounded. Then Zod turns on Lois and grabs her by the neck about to kill her when the virus finally shuts down his solar tower and the sun returns to yellow as the skies clear. Clark stands upright with his wounds healed and he tells Zod his reign of terror is over. He takes the ring from Zod telling him he's sending Lois back to the past to stop his evil plan and Zod insists it was all Clark's fault for not joining him and doing whatever was necessary to make out planet a paradise. Clark says he never gave humanity a chance and Zod says Clark's become weak from embracing humanity and he takes the Kryptonite knife and plunges it into Clark. Clark throws Zod aside as Lois runs to him and he tells her to wear the ring and they will see each other again someday. He puts the ring on Lois and the assassin woman appears grabbing Lois' hand just as she transports back in time and now we see them arrive on the elevated train together which is where our story began this year.
Clark then awakens in the lab where Emil tells him he's isolated the memories that were hurting Lois and now she should have no memory of the future. The next day at the Daily Planet Clark tells Lois he's very happy she's back and he's stronger when she's around. Then he asks where they're going as a couple and Lois says they should take it slow with dates at first, one of which will assuredly be a Monster Truck Rally. The couple walks into the elevator glad to be with each other and then Lois takes Clark's hand in hers and the doors close on a much happier couple. Later Clark goes to the Watchtower where he tells Chloe and Oliver that he thinks when his father told him to save Zod he meant save Zod from himself. He wants to try befriending Zod as he's seen the terrible results that came from treating Zod as an enemy and Oliver and Chloe are very skeptical of this strategy. Zod is meeting in a place with his soldiers telling them the tower must be built at all costs. He starts to assign soldiers tasks to accomplish this when Clark speeds into the room in a blast of air saying he understood Zod was looking for him. Zod tells his soldiers "he has come", and then he orders them to kneel before Kal-El which they all do except Zod. The two men stare at each other and as they do we can only hope that this new tactic by Clark won't doom us all.

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

"Disciple"

Written By: Jordan Hawley
Directed By: Mairzee Almas
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 1/29/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Sharon Taylor
Co-Starring: Dark Archer: Steve Bacic
Co-Starring: Mia/Speedy: Elise Gatien
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Clark and Lois exit a Daily Planet fund raising dinner and Lois remarks this was their first public date so now all their fellow employees know they're an item. But she worries how Oliver left as soon as they arrived and Clark reminds her how Oliver's overcome greater obstacles in his life. Then the two kiss and Clark wants more but Lois insists they wait and do this right and then Clark's super-hearing picks up a cry for help and he dashes off promising to call Lois tomorrow. But when Lois enters her car she finds it won't start and the battery's dead so she pops the hood. But then an arrow thunks into the car right next to her and she turns and sees what looks like Oliver in his Green Arrow garb silhouetted against the moon on a roof top. She yells at him but then he cocks another arrow and this one is aimed right at her and she turns and runs for her life down the street. But the archer's aim is unerring and Lois is shot straight through her left shoulder and she collapses in the street with blood pouring from her wound and down the arrow that's impaled her!
Oliver Queen sits in a room meditating when suddenly he snaps to full awareness as a ninja clad attacker jumps him. They spar for a moment until Oliver pins the attacker down choking then with their own weapon until she screams his name and he backs off in shock realizing its Mia, the girl he nicknamed Speedy, and he's almost killed her. Mia reminds him she invited him here for him to train her and she decided to try his skill but she never expected lethal force from him. Then his phone rings and its Chloe with bad news for Oliver from his reaction. Next we see Clark speeding onto his family farm and into the living room to find General Zod the Kandorian leader of the Kryptonian city's soldiers who have been cloned and found themselves on our planet. But Jor-El, Clark's father, foresaw the danger and contaminated their DNAs so that they need a red sun to gain super powers and not a yellow one. With Clark the only super powered Kryptonian on our world; he stands on the thin line between Zod's plans for domination of the human race and safety. Zod reminds Clark he and his fellow Kryptonians bowed down in loyalty to Clark fully expecting him to get them the same powers he has but Clark insists he has no idea how to do that, and any plans they may have to turn Earth into another Krypton he will stop.
Zod insists they need their powers in case the humans discover aliens among them and he says human brutality is rampant but Clark responds that he will protect them. Zod says he knows Clark thinks he was the one who killed the clone of his father that Clark buried secretly weeks ago, but Zod pleads for Clark to trust him. Then Clark's phone rings and he gets the call about Lois' injuries and he speeds from the house as Zod watches him go. Clark enters Lois' room to find her with her left arm in a sling and he blames himself for leaving her last night. But Lois tells him a bad alternator isn't his fault and then she shocks Clark when she tells him her attacker was dressed like Green Arrow! At that moment Oliver stands outside Lois' room and he starts to walk away when he meets Chloe. She tells Oliver Lois' attacker was dressed like him and when she shows him the x-rays of Lois' wound he says this is the work of a master archer as the shot was meant purposely to disable and not to kill. Then she shows him the pictures of the arrow and Oliver's eyes grow larger at the sight of the bolt.
Oliver returns to his office at Luthorcorp where he opens a secret safe and inside is a cloth with a symbol on it and wrapped in the cloth are arrows that are twins to the one that wounded Lois. He holds it in his hand and whispers the name "Vordigan" to himself and now we see a man wrapping himself for combat and picking out arrows that are exactly like the ones Oliver has. He dresses in an outfit very similar to Oliver's Green Arrow garb except this archer has a scarred face and a dark beard and an even darker costume. As he raises his hood and cloaks his face he seems like an evil reflection of Oliver's Green Arrow persona and somehow he is tied to something terrible in Oliver's past! Lois is sitting in her hospital room working one-armed on her laptop when General Zod walks in with flowers for her. He says he's an old friend of Clark's and he was giving blood and decided to check in on her. Lois says she'd definitely remember the name Zod but she still doesn't know him but he says he knows all about her as Clark talks about her constantly. Zod tells Lois that when she recovers they must talk and he'll tell her all about the real Clark Kent. And when Lois says his own parents don't even know the real Clark Kent Zod chuckles mentioning Clark is adopted.
Zod gives Lois a charm he says they were selling in the hospital and is has what we recognize as some Kryptonian letter or symbol. He leans over Lois and with a serpent's smile he tells Lois she should tell Clark for him that he's a lucky man. Lois smiles back at the grin of Zod and he leaves and she returns to her work not realizing the incredible danger she's just been placed in. Mia enters Oliver's penthouse to find him studying every surveillance photo he can find of himself for the last two days and then she spots where Lois was shot in one of the photos. Oliver tells Mia he was mistaken to ever think he could mentor her and there are a lot of things she doesn't know about him. Mia objects but Oliver orders her to leave and as she does we can see on his face he's simply scared she may be the next target he draws the Dark Archer to. Chloe's working at the Watchtower when alarms blare and she sees the drawing of an archer of old on her monitor before all power is lost. She walks across the room and then she sees what looks like the Green Arrow silhouetted against the huge circular window. The figure draws an arrow and Chloe turns and runs but is struck down with a grazing wound to her left arm. The archer approaches her to make his kill when the elevator arrives and the man flees using a crossbow with a retracting spool to exit the room via the ceiling just as Oliver would. Clark enters the room and he rushes to her side and she tells him it seems that their resident archer has gone bad!
It's night in Metropolis and Mia walks down an empty street and hearing someone behind her she whirls around in a defensive stance to see Vordigan who tells her that Oliver has a greater destiny to fulfill and she's going to help make that happen! At the Watchtower Clark's bandaging Chloe's arm wound as she tells him she thinks Oliver's sanity has slipped and he's capable of what's happened so far. Clark disagrees and then Chloe tells how she manipulated Oliver during the "Roulette" affair to snap him back to the side of the angels. Clark's furious that Chloe's interfered directly in Oliver's life and he speeds off to find his friend and the truth. As he goes Chloe hears one of her monitors beep with a screen message that her search for data has found something. Oliver exits the warehouse he uses for training and finds Lois waiting for him and he tells her someone from his past has shot her to hurt him. Lois asks why her out of all the women he's had and he says because she's the only one that he ever cared about. Lois tells Oliver that Chloe was wounded too so why her, and Oliver's eyes widen again as he recites an ancient vow of "No Lovers, no allies, and no disciples". He says "Mia", aloud as he look at Lois realizing his pupil Mia is now the primary target for this rouge archer.
Clark enters Oliver's warehouse and with his x-ray vision he finds the arrows wrapped in a cloth bearing the mysterious symbol. Chloe then enters and tells Clark that her research has found something and she hopes she's wrong about Oliver but then Clark shows her the arrows he's found and Chloe recognizes the symbol on the cloth. She says it belongs to an ancient secret Celtic society made up of Master Archer's and their apprentices. She shows Clark her portable PC's screen where it describes the 13th Century sect that protected coastal towns from raids when the local lord couldn't or wouldn't defend his vassals. She says Oliver may have joined the society that swears off lovers, allies, and disciples, and now the vows he took have come back to haunt them all. Chloe mentions Oliver disappeared for a year after he returned from his experience of being marooned where he was forced to become an archer to stay alive. Clark says his skills far surpass even that experience and Oliver must have gone to this society to hone his archery to the high level it is now. Clark rightly reasons that the mad archer they're dealing with is from Arthur's past to settle some kind of score. At that moment Oliver bursts into his training facility yelling Mia's name but all he finds is a message painted on the wall in blood red colors that says, "When the student is ready, the Master appears".
Vordigan leads a hooded and tied-up Mia through a hedge maze as he tells her that he taught Green Arrow everything he knows and Mia is surprised to learn Oliver's alter-ego. He tells Mia she is merely bait and he pulls the hood off her head as he vanishes leaving Mia alone amidst the giant maze. The camera rises high above the maze until we see it's a giant reproduction of the Celtic Archer's secret society symbol we've seen. Oliver walks down the maze path until Vordigan confronts him by shooting his longbow right out of his hands and he quickly rearms himself with his hand crossbow. Vordigan says it's time for Oliver to fulfill the vows he took and Oliver says Vordigan was like a father to him and he will not kill him. Vordigan says his skills are waning and he was recently badly wounded and their creed dictates the apprentice will kill his master so he may leave this world while he is still respected. Oliver says he learned a lot from Vordigan but when he saw the truth of their society he had to leave. Vordigan sneers at that thought telling Oliver he left simply because the thrill of the hunt was too intoxicating to him and he feared he was as dark as Vordigan. He says he'll hunt Mia down and when Oliver sees her dead body the dark archer in him will rise up and strike him down. They grapple for a moment and Vordigan takes an arrow and rams it through Oliver's left hand pinning him to a tree and as he struggles to free himself his former master goes to kill Mia!
At the Watchtower Clark speeds into the room telling Chloe he can find no trace of Oliver. She says her research has found that a millionaire had an ancient altar believed used by the sect rebuilt in Coast City and then she uses the computers to enter satellites above the city to search further. Clark tells Chloe he's worried she's losing herself in this virtual world of the Watchtower but Chloe insists all is fine. Chloe finds the maze and Clark recognizes the symbol it forms belongs to the Society of Archers and Chloe focuses in on the maze using the satellite until they see Mia in the picture. Chloe reminds Clark of the society's vow of no lovers, allies, or disciples and says that Mia is now the next target after Lois and herself. Clark speeds off for Coast City hoping to save the young girl threatened by Oliver's past! Mia runs through the maze while Vordigan tracks her as he would a deer he was hunting. He hears a twig snapped by Mia and heads for the sound and he finds her but the young girl kicks him away buying herself a few seconds. Oliver rounds the corner to see Mia running towards him as Vordigan cocks three arrows at once in his bow and fires them straight for Mia! He stands in between Mia and the oncoming arrows and sure death and Clark speeds onto the scene wearing his all black "Blur" outfit. He puts his back in front of the arrows that all shatter harmlessly against his steel skin. As he does that, Oliver fires his hand crossbow and the bolt plunges into Vordigan who falls like a stone to the ground.
Oliver turns and tells Clark that Vordigan was wrong when he said his dark archer side would rise up and consume him. He nudges Vordigan who moans and Oliver says he inflicted the same wound as Vordigan used on Lois, one meant to disable and not to kill. The very same shot his former master taught him to make if he had to. The next night Clark meets up with Lois at the Ace of Clubs nightspot and when she tells him about his "friend" Zod giving her the flowers and bracelet Clark tells Lois that getting together with Zod is a bad idea. Lois laughs telling Clark none of his secrets could be worthy of any headlines and he laughs it off but Clark is visibly shaken by Zod approaching Lois. Lois sees Oliver who smiles a little bit and then he watches wistfully as Lois and Clark leave together. He returns to his training camp where he finds Mia working a pair of escrima sticks on a training dummy and he asks her to continue to train with him and she's delighted at the prospect. Oliver says he's worried that Vordigan was right about him and he won't be able to keep the dark side of himself suppressed. But Mia says it doesn't matter who the teacher is, it matters what we do with the knowledge they gives us and at that thought Oliver smiles for the first time in a while.
Clark confronts Zod giving him back the necklace he gave Lois telling him she is strictly off limits to him. Zod claims the necklace with the symbol of their Kryptonian god Rao was a harmless gesture with no ill will from him. Clark says he understands the message Zod was sending and Zod sneers at him saying he hasn't even trusted Lois with the truth about himself. Clark leans in to Zod quietly telling him this kind of behavior is why he won't help Zod and his soldiers get super-powers like his. Clark tells Zod not to act like he hasn't some secret agenda, and he says softly "If you go near Lois again, I will destroy you all". He speeds away and Zod is met by his female Lieutenant who he tells that Clark didn't recognize the symbol and they will now find the book of Rao that Jor-El left on Earth. He says they'll use it to finish their red sun solar tower and then Clark will either be just another soldier in his army, or another prisoner in his stockade!

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

"Absolute Justice"

Written By: Geoff Johns
Directed By: Glen Winter & Tom Welling
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 2/5/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Dr. Emil Hamilton: Alessandro Juliani
Co-Starring: Icicle: Wesley Macinnes
Co-Starring: Sylvester Pemberton/Starman: Jim Sheild
Co-Starring: Carter Hall/Hawkman: Michael Shanks
Co-Starring: Inza Nelson: Erica Carroll
Co-Starring: Kent Nelson/Dr. Fate: Brent Stait
Co-Starring: Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl: Britt Irvin
Co-Starring: John Jones/Martian Manhunter: Phil Morris
Co-Starring: Wesley Dodds/Sandman: Ken Lawson
Co-Starring: Amanda Waller: Pam Grier
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
Chloe is calling Clark leaving him a message that she feels the heroes she's helping in the Watchtower should start organizing as the danger level they're dealing with calls for it. Suddenly her cell phone goes dead followed by all power dying on the block. She looks up and sees a man on a rooftop and he's holding a staff that glows with a brilliant golden light and seeing that Chloe takes off running. The man flies and lands in front of Chloe and he's long haired and middle-aged and wearing a blue tunic with white stars on it. He says his name is Sylvester Pemberton and like Chloe, he's trying to assemble a team of heroes. Chloe plays it dumb but he tells her he knows she's the one called Watchtower and technology has made it impossible for her to hide from him. He claims he's a friend but then Chloe says it's getting colder and sure enough snow and frigid air roil around the alley and Pemberton bodily picks up Chloe and tosses her into a dumpster closing its lid telling her to stay down. She lies in the trash seeing brilliant flashes of golden and blue light and hearing the grunt of people fighting each other. Then spears made of ice start puncturing the dumpster and now Chloe's not only terrified she's dodging about in the trash for her life! The fight continues with the voice of Pemberton crying out in effort and pain. Then with a few final flashes of blue the wind subsides and all becomes deadly quiet. She climbs from the ice covered dumpster and walks over to where Sylvester Pemberton lays gasping his last breaths as his chest is punctured several times and bleeding badly. He tells Chloe if they have come after him they will come after her people too and he gasps out part of a word of "Check.." and dies leaving Chloe calling for help that can now only arrive too late for the murdered man!
Clark rushes to the emergency room to find Chloe is slightly frostbitten but otherwise all right. Clark apologizes for not contacting her for a while now and Chloe understands the many demands on Clark's time. She mentions the Kryptonian city of Kandor and its recent refugees arriving on Earth and Clark states they will have to learn to live new lives here. The pair sees a Doctor and a Policeman examining Pemberton's star spangled tunic and Chloe says other then the man's name she knows nothing about him. But she walks up to the officer holding the tunic and Pemberton's cell phone and while she speaks to the man Chloe uses her own phone to clone the dead man's numbers into her phone. Then they see a young blonde girl in her mid-teens crying out in shock and pain as she's informed of Sylvester Pemberton's death. Clark goes over to her asking if he can help and she says her friend has been killed and she doesn't know what to do so Clark asks if she wants to sit for a moment. Then she spots his press pass and she says that the papers have already harmed her friend in life and still they come after him in death. She storms away and Clark tells Chloe that the girl knew Pemberton and Chloe says his last phone call lasted thirty minutes with a man named Wesley Dodds. She says this is a job for Clark Kent due to the uniform the man was wearing and all the wild things she saw in the alley and she asks Clark to seek out Dodds.
At that moment the man named Dodds sits in his disheveled apartment surrounded by coffee pots and alarm clocks and empty coffee cups everywhere. We notice a trench coat, a gas mask, and a strange thick barreled gun all draped over a chair and as Dodds sleeps he dreams of the battle in the alley. The dreamer sees Pemberton using his golden energy lance against a much younger opponent with snow white skin and his white hair worn in a punk style short Mohawk. The man fires blast of frigid air at Pemberton who wards them off with his lance but then the man shoots icicles with deadly points from his hands and finally Pemberton falls screaming as his icy opponent laughs. Then Dodds snaps awake and drinks a coffee he was holding as alarm clocks ring and buzz around him. He dons the trench coat and gas mask and holding his strange gun he looks at himself in the mirror but then he sees the icy killer is standing in his apartment and the man says he knows Dodds dreamt about him killing Pemberton. He says it's time for the Sandman to get a good night's sleep once and for all and we see the lenses on Dodd's mask freeze up and finally shatter from the deadly cold! Oliver Queen arrives at the Watchtower where Chloe tells him they need standardized alerts for their team members and Oliver notes how Chloe's been watching all the team member's personal e-mails and all aspects of their lives. Chloe shows Oliver that she's found that Pemberton had a long criminal record and a young girl named Courtney Whitmore was the girl we saw Clark talking to and she's been out of school for months.
Chloe tells Oliver she needs his Green Arrow persona to steal the staff she saw Pemberton wielding in his battle and which is now in police custody. Clark enters Wesley Dodd's messy apartment to find the hapless man dead on the floor still wearing his gas mask and with his hand he's painted the letters JSA in his own blood on an overturned table. Chloe goes to the morgue where Dr. Hamilton examines Dodd's body telling her there was residual ice mixed with human DNA in the wounds. It seems a meta-human with cold powers is selectively killing very singular people almost for sheer vengeance. Chloe leaves to join Clark at the Daily Planet to look through old records for any hint of what JSA means. In a room with no furniture and a floor covered in black and white tiles making it almost appear to be a giant game board, the icy killer sits sorting photos of his dead victims and his victims to be. He selects Courtney Whitmore as his next prey and the camera pans up to the wall which is painted with a knight's piece from a chessboard in the middle of what looks to be a circular target. Someone has a greater agenda with these deaths and the ice killer seems to merely be their weapon of choice. In the Planet's old paper archives Clark finds that Dodds and Pemberton were working with a dozen other people on some sort of team.
Chloe finds an old newsreel and they see the team being systematically arrested and rushed to trial for charges unbefitting the people they were. Chloe sees Pemberton led away by police and then they see Dodd's at a riot cradling the body of a young innocent girl caught in the violence. They see a short powerful looking man named Al Pratt who was a physics professor arrested that day defending Dodds. Next Chloe recognizes Ted Grant who was once the Heavyweight champion of the world but is now dragged from his gym by police. Next we see a man named Jay Garrick who is a research scientist being arrested while a detective holds a silver helmet with wings that looks like the one that fabled Hermes the messenger of the gods wore. Next comes Alan Scott the CEO of a broadcasting company and he stands behind bars wearing an odd lantern shaped ring on his left hand. Last we see an older woman named Abagail Hunkel as she's dragged from a diner where she cooked. Clark says they all were framed but all kept trying to take the blame to protect each other and their loyalty to each other seems unquestionable for a so called criminal gang. Chloe tells Clark he must next warn a man named Carter Hall that her cloned phone numbers show was called by Pemberton often before his demise. They see the very man named Hall on the newsreel literally punching the camera in front of his face and Chloe wonders aloud at what kind of team could this have been?
Clark enters Hall's ostentatious brownstone building which inside looks for all the world like a museum with ancient artifacts everywhere yet all is covered in sheets and years of dust. Carter Hall appears behind Clark telling him the museum is closed and Clark tries to shake the middle-aged unshaven man's hand but he just shrugs at Clark. Clark tells him of Pemberton and Dodds being murdered and then Clark spots another man sitting on a bench with a bowling ball bag in his lap talking quietly but incessantly about the Sandman doesn't dream anymore and Mr. Terrific isn't so terrific now. He says his name is Dr. Kent Nelson but the Doctor isn't in anymore and Hall says his friend is very sick. Nelson rattles on about the Hourman's out of time and the Atom's been split and he tells his bowling bag to stop whispering. At that Clark uses his x-ray vision to look inside the bowling ball bag and inside is a golden helmet with a crown ridge running over it from front to rear. Then Clark is shocked to see the helmet turn and seemingly look right at him! Hall tells Clark he never answered any call from Pemberton and he tells Clark the talk is over and Clark politely leaves. Kent Nelson says maybe they can help and Hall leaves the room saying they must protect only each other as they always have.
Oliver calls Chloe telling her that Pemberton's staff has gone missing but then he looks up to see Courtney Whitmore walking down the street with it as casually as she can. He catches up to her telling her about the murders and he says he needs her help. She turns on him wielding the staff but suddenly Kent Nelson appears saying to Courtney, "We help ourselves", and then he grabs the rod and it activates with blinding golden light and when Oliver's vision returns the pair has vanished! Chloe joins Oliver and they find Pemberton's old Studebaker with its "STAR" license plate in a parking lot and it seems the man had been living in his car before his death. Oliver notes the metal face of the glove box says "Star Rocket Racer" on it and he finds a journal with information on the entire Watchtower team so that means Courtney could know of them also. Courtney and Kent Nelson are talking to Carter Hall who has taken the staff from her and he points out Nelson's bewildered state and tells her to forget what's happened and go home. She says the Star Spangled Kid and the Sandman are dead and he was their leader so why isn't he doing something? She doesn't want to ask the Watchtower team for help and Hall sneers at that saying they're just kids playing hero and they certainly aren't a team.
She says Carter refused Pemberton's call for help and then she stops him cold when she asks him, "What would Shayera have done?" Clark meets Chloe who tells him that Pemberton had been watching them for a while and then she shows him a photo of a criminal once known as the Icicle who had powers like the ones used in the murders. She says the man is in the Metropolis General Hospital Psych ward after being badly injured years ago. Carter Hall leads Courtney and Kent Nelson into a room that's been closed for years. He tells Nelson they need the Doctor and the man says he doesn't remember what his life was like before Dr. Fate. He once had a wife named Inza and a family but it seems that they fled in fear of what he had become. Carter tells him he still has them as family and the timid man opens the bag he carries and places the golden helmet on his head. Energy flies around his form as the man who a moment ago appeared like a homeless person now stands in a blue costume with yellow boots, gloves, and cape. He speaks with confidence and his eyes sparkle inside the golden helmet of Fate as he looks at Carter and says "Greetings Hawkman". Carter opens a wall panel and we see a golden hawk-billed helmet, and a brass metal breastplate with straps across it and a Hawk's head in black sits in a red circle at the center of the armor. But most remarkable are the giant feathered wings on the armor's back that spread out across the wall with their huge wing span like some dark angel's. He picks up the spiked mace and gripping it firmly he grins a predatory smile and says, "It's time to go hunting".
Clark and Chloe enter the hospital to find the Icicle has been in a coma all this time and when they see strange lights coming from the room they enter to see Dr. Fate with his hand over the Icicle's head with eldritch energies passing from Fate's hand to the man's head. Clark grabs Fate demanding to know what he's doing and Dr. Fate has a vision of a billowing red cape with a yellow colored "S" in its center that matches Clark's Kryptonian family crest. He tells Clark he is of great value and he tells Chloe she walks the same path he does. When Clark asks who he is he raises his right hand and a yellow ankh, a cross with a loop at the top, flashes towards Clark and he and Dr. Fate vanish from the room leaving a bewildered Chloe behind! She returns to the Watchtower and calls Oliver who is trailing Courtney in his Green Arrow guise. He says she's wearing a modern variation of Pemberton's uniform and also a mask and he jumps down to find out why she's in a dark alley in Suicide Slum at night. But then an icy blast knocks Green Arrow down and the young ice killer appears and grows an ice spear in his hand and Courtney activates the staff she now carries saying her name is Stargirl and the two fight like demons! They leap around and over each other firing their golden and blue-ice weapons as they spar. Finally their weapons meet head to head and the energy builds until a giant feedback occurs knocking both away from each other.
Courtney rises reaching for her fallen weapon but her opponent is faster and he fires ice knives from his hands at her at point-blank range! But an arrow shatters the weapons and the new Icicle disappears in that moment as Courtney tells Green Arrow "he" promised her first shot at Sylvester's killer. Oliver asks who "he" is but in the blink of an eye he's swept off the ground and rocketed through the night by a winged figure. Chloe calls over her phone to Oliver and a moment later the huge circular window in the Watchtower shatters as Green Arrow is thrown bodily through it as Chloe leaps for safety. The two struggle to their feet to see Hawkman hovering at the window and he tells them to stay the hell out of their business and next time he won't ask so nicely. He turns and rockets across the sky in front of the moon like the ancient winged predator of his namesake! Chloe dresses Oliver's cuts as he remarks this mystery team is very good at what they do and he hopes Hawkman hasn't captured Clark. Chloe frets how a retired super-villain team is mopping them up and maybe her idea of tighter teamwork with her heroes is a forlorn hope. Oliver shows Chloe an ancient shuriken he took from Hawkman while he carried him and Chloe says a museum is their enemy's lair. Oliver suggests they get some reinforcements and start throwing their rival team's members through some windows, and the first call they make is to Detective John Jones secretly the Martian Manhunter.
Clark awakens in the secluded unused room Carter Hall and his team entered earlier and he gets up and starts exploring. He uncovers a display case and sees hand gloves that say Wildcat on them and next to them is a Green Lantern in the shape of an old railroad lamp, and a green mask and a green ring that matches the lantern's shape. Then he spots the silver Hermes helmet with golden wings on it and another case holds a belt that says "Fair Play" in large letters on it and now an Hourglass filled with sand that has a strap on it as if for wearing it like a necklace. Next a ancient Roman sword and a shuriken with a sign saying they are Hawkman's weapons and in one small final case a smaller woman's version of Hawkman's mask and a mace like his but smaller. And the mask has a horrible crack running from the right forehead down across the eye to the mouth as if some terrible and certainly fatal blow fell there. He walks to the sheet covered table and stripping the cover off we see a giant eagle crested shield logo in the center of the table that has the bold letters JSA in the middle and words that follow the edge of the circular table that say, "Justice Society Of America". He strides to the wall and strips the sheet from a wide painting that hangs there and he is greeted by the sight of a bevy of colorfully costumed characters. He first notices Hawkman seated at the center of the painting and next to him sits the woman known as Hawkgirl and to the right sits a hooded figure wearing an hourglass around his neck. Now a man wearing a black mask with a yellow crescent moon on its brow and two more on his red tunic beneath a green cape.
Then a blonde woman dressed in a domino mask wearing leather and a winsome look and next to her sits a man in a red hood and shirt under a green over-shirt that has the letters "Fair Play" emblazoned on it. On the painting's left sits a much younger Star Spangled Kid with a huge grin under his star covered uniform and next to him sits a huge man dressed as a black cat flexing his big hands together. Now a short man with a blue hood and cape and leather arm gauntlets and next to him sits an earlier incarnation of the Sandman wearing his gas mask but also a fedora and a purple cloak over a green suit. He spots Dr. Fate who bought him there next to a man wearing a green mask and purple cape and on his red shirted chest is the Green Lantern Clark saw. On Hawkman's right sits the man wearing the Hermes helmet and he has on a scarlet shirt with a yellow lightning bolt that runs from his right side waist across to his left shoulder. And to that figure's right sits a mysterious man in a green hooded cloak with blank eyes and the man is as white as any ghost ever seen in a haunted house. Clark remembers the newsreel he saw and he realizes the people he saw arrested are in the painting in front of him dressed as their costumed alter-egos. Hawkman swoops down and lands in front of Clark saying that Dr. Fate says he's a big deal but he doesn't see it. Then Dr. Fate steps from the shadows to state that Clark is unlike the others and then Stargirl steps out holding the Star staff and she says Dr. Fate's words prove Clark can be trusted. She says Sylvester Pemberton was trying to assemble a new Justice Society comprised of surviving members and the heirs to their roles as in Courtney's case. But Hawkman objects saying it will never work and this new generation will make the same mistakes they did and he tells Clark his lack of knowledge about them shows how unprepared his team really is. Clark says that despite their differences none of them are villains and at that a Green Arrow lands in the chest of Hawkman's chest in the painting. Oliver tells Clark how Hawkman threw him through a window and Hawkman says he hopes he didn't make Oliver cry. Oliver offers a second go around with him and Oliver rushes at Hawkman who literally sweeps Oliver off the ground and onto the table with his mace poised to strike and Green Arrow has his hand crossbow pointed at Hawkman's throat even as he lands and laughs at their respective readiness. Then John Jones walks into the room wearing a green shirt with a red X on his chest made from the double shoulder holstered guns he's wearing under his coat and he asks if it's too late to say they come in peace?
Hawkman insists that the matter lies in their team's hands and he wants to find justice for his murdered comrades and then fade away again but Clark hopes they won't do that. John Jones says they're stepping into this matter whether the Justice Society likes it or not. He says he stayed on Earth even when he could leave because of the human race's capacity for hope and Clark says they're not leaving until the murderer is brought to justice. Lois Lane walks into the Daily Planet to find Clark's not there and then she receives a package with a black and white checker pattern on its side. Inside are the files about the Justice Society and their trumped up records they were framed with and a note that says, "The Truth Will Set You Free". But then Tess Mercer walks up behind Lois saying the package is actually for her but Lois shows her the label with her name on it and Tess walks away. The young Icicle visits the comatose older Icicle calling him father and he says the Justice Society stole the only family he had and now he intends to destroy their family. Back at the Justice Society's brownstone headquarters Carter Hall talks about how his group cleaned the streets of crime decades ago and the Justice Department insisted they work for them and they refused. So the government tore them away from their families and branded them criminals and they fought back until they were overwhelmed by the forces against them.
Clark says he never surrendered but Hall snaps back he hasn't even started to battle crime seriously and he has no idea what he's coming up against. But Courtney says that "Ted, Jay, and Alan" are out there with a dozen Society members they can rally to their cause again. Clark tells Carter he knows the man still cares as he's kept their meeting place intact all this time and Carter says this will be strictly a temporary alliance. Chloe then walks in saying she has two leads for finding Icicle with the first being his hospital visits to his father, and the second being that he must refuel his powers at a source of liquid nitrogen. She asks to use their computer to find the liquid nitrogen depot and is amused to see their computer is decades old and runs with punch-hole cards. Tess Mercer walks into her Daily Planet office and is immediately apprehensive and her suspicions prove true when she sees that a pawn chess piece has been left on her desk! Chloe and Courtney go to the Watchtower to use its more modern equipment and the young girl marvels at the breadth of technology they have. But she also notices there are no pictures or tables to sit and eat at and she tells Chloe how the brownstone was the Justice Society's member's second home with their families even meeting there for holidays. Chloe asks Courtney how she got started in this business and she says her stepfather Pat was the Star Spangled Kid's sidekick "Stripesy" and she laughs softly at hearing his codename to this day.
She found Sylvester's gear and put it on for a joke but once when she actually saved someone she was hooked on being a hero after that. She tells Chloe that her team should try and get together at times when there isn't a problem and that the Watchtower needs to become a little more family friendly then its current "nuclear war room" decor. Chloe says that Courtney's not really blood related to any hero but Courtney answers that family is about much more then bloodlines and at that Chloe smiles slightly and ponders the young heroine's words. Oliver phones in saying that he and his wingman await action and Chloe says she arranged a false message about the elder Icicle worsening and that should draw the young killer there. Oliver signs off complaining how he hates the waiting part of the job and Hawkman shoots back that Oliver loves talking though and he wishes he'd just shut up. Oliver asks why they were teamed together and Hawkman says he specifically requested it to keep Oliver in line. Oliver asks the question why has Icicle struck back to avenge his father's injuries after all this time and for once Carter Hall doesn't have a snappy comeback. Clark has stayed behind at the brownstone where Dr. Fate tells him he is the very hope that John Jones spoke of. He says he sees everyone's fate except his own and he has seen that Clark will lead this generation of heroes just as Hawkman led his and that gives him belief for a better tomorrow.
Clark says he met members of the Legion of Superheroes who hinted at his destiny and Dr. Fate tells him he will be the start of a new age of heroes, a silver age where new heroes meet the new challenges. And when Clark shows himself to humanity he will embody that hope as the symbol of it and he will even eventually defeat his ultimate enemy Lex Luthor and at that Clark says Lex is dead but Fate speaks on. When people look up into the sky Clark will represent all hope and he will help everyone to embrace it. Then Clark hears Lois at the front door and he says she shouldn't be there but Dr. Fate insists that Lois is the "Key". He gestures and the golden ankh appears opening the door admitting Lois Lane and Clark super-speeds from view as she enters. She is shocked to meet Dr. Fate who tells her that Carter Hall is out at the moment and she says she knows he was part of a group of heroes who were railroaded by the government and she guesses he's one of them. Dr. Fate says he sees her fate and he says, "You are the one he will need, and he is the one you will need", and that puzzles Lois. He says he speaks of "The Savior. The one who will save us all. The Sentient Power", and he gestures with his hand and Lois finds herself standing outside the brownstone's front door once again! Back in the halls of the mysterious organization that is playing host to Icicle, a tall attractive black woman enters his room telling him he's taking his assignment too personally.
He snarls back at the woman named Agent Waller that the only reason he took the job when she got him out of the Juvenile justice system was to avenge his brain-dead father. He surrounds the woman with his power threatening to choke her with his icy touch but she says she grew up in Chicago and isn't bothered by the cold and the angry young man backs off for a change. He cites the several people he killed for her who might have even been innocents and she owes him for that. She responds that this is strictly business and frankly should have been finished up years ago and is a black mark on Checkmate's record. He sneers insisting she let him finish it and she walks out in quiet assent with both parties openly using the other for their own agendas. Clark calls Chloe who tells him Fate and John are staked out at the Nitrogen Depot while Green Arrow and Hawkman are at the hospital. Clark enters the Planet as he talks wondering to Chloe who has entangled Lois in this affair purposely but then he spots Tess Mercer snooping through Lois' desk and he ends the phone call. He confronts Tess who willingly gives him the JSA files she was stealing and tells him with his secrets she's surprised Clark has a nosy girlfriend like Lois and that brings Clark up short. As she leaves she tells Clark that Lois is in way over her head in this affair and she intends to stay out of it herself. Lois enters the building to find Clark who's very interested in the story she's working on.
She says that she's been put on the story by an anonymous source and she's found out about an actual team of early super-heroes who were smeared by our own government and she even met one and liked his outfit frankly. She also found out that a high placed agency of some sort arranged for the Icicle's son's release to them and Carter Hall was the one who originally injured the young man's father. The son has inherited the powers of his father and is clearly out for vengeance and the other enemies this team once fought have all been spirited away with their records also by the same agency and Clark remarks that someone's collecting them. At the nitrogen depot Dr. Fate tells John that his being an alien intrigues him as he saw the qualities in Clark that the helmet of Nabu revealed to him. He also knows that John sacrificed his powers to save Clark realizing his importance to humanity. Fate says that seeing everyone's destinies eventually overwhelmed him and he asks John about his family and the last Martian says he had a wife and a daughter and Fate remarks they both miss their families. Then Dr. Fate says they are in danger and he and John find two dead employees on the floor and John says they're too late and missed their enemy. But then Fate says today John is not destined to die and he gestures and a golden ankh propels John away knocking him out and as he flies through the air we see John's form momentarily change to an all green skinned being with a large extended head with deep red eyes and then back to human as he falls to the ground.
At that moment Dr. Fate is impaled from behind with an ice spear that protrudes from his chest smeared with his own blood as Icicle mocks him for being outdated. Then the young psychopath spots the helmet of Nabu fallen from Kent Nelson's head and inside it he sees arcane energies swirling about and he hears voices whispering to him and he smiles at his find. Now this mad young killer possesses the helmet of Nabu and he has just become an even greater menace then before! At the hospital Courtney and Clark listen as Dr. Hamilton explains that the unconscious John Jones is undergoing some sort of incubation that he cannot even guess at the end result of. Courtney says part of her hopes Hawkman does find Icicle first and exact his brand of justice but his crossing the line so often after they were hounded only made the line harder to find. Clark urges her to make the thing right again as she is the new generation of heroes and she will keep Sylvester alive as long as she honors his legacy as he literally passed the torch to her from his generation when he died. Back at the Planet Lois discovers more files about the mystery men in the archives room and then Agent Waller appears behind Lois telling her she's giving Lois the files as her reputation for uncovering the truth is well known. She says he works for an organization that hides truth and then she hands Lois a cell phone telling her she'll be in touch with her then she leaves as quietly as she came.
In the hospital Icicle enters his father's room telling him the helmet he now has will allow him to finally finish off the Justice Society. He tells his father goodbye and says he loves him even as he turns off his father's life support and watches him die. He dons the Helmet of Nabu and golden energy fills the room as the Icicle screams at the visions he sees. Now evil commands the helmet of Dr. Fate and that could be the deadliest menace either team has ever faced! Back at the JSA brownstone Oliver tells Hawkman it's obvious that Hawkgirl's death is what started the team's unraveling more than Hawkman's behavior. Carter tells Oliver Shayera was his wife and they were originally born over a thousand years ago. An old enemy cursed them and they were made to live over and over again only to lose their love as they had to watch each other die and leave the other behind lifetime after lifetime. Carter says the sooner he dies the sooner he can be with his beloved again and Oliver says he's never had a love close to that kind. Carter snaps at him that's why he always acts like a jackass; to hide how important people are to him and Oliver can't argue that point. But he does tell Carter that even after his wife died he must have decided to go on living if only to help his shattered friend Kent Nelson. He tells Hawkman that now his team along with Courtney is out there counting on him and it's time to think of them and not himself. And now the two men's eyes finally meet in total agreement with each other and Oliver hands Carter his mace as battle is surely all that will follow now.
Hawkman flies into the Watchtower dropping Green Arrow to the floor as hard as he can without actually hurting him and the two trade snappy repartees' until Stargirl and Clark dressed in his Blur attire enter. Hawkman says from now on they fight together and at that moment Icicle teleports into the room wearing the Helmet of Nabu and he uses Fate's power to hold Chloe in an eldritch choke hold in the air and then dropping her unconscious as Stargirl rushes to her side. Clark gestures and Green Arrow moves as Hawkman takes to the air and then the last son of Krypton's eyes glow red as beams of heat vision streak at the Icicle burning into the helmet he wears. As Clark attacks Green Arrow hits him with a flying shaft from his bow just as Stargirl fires her staff and Hawkman's mace rings the helmet like a bell and Icicle staggers for a moment under this multiple assault! Then he fires back with mystic energy which sends them all flying away from him and he starts to fire an energy bolt to kill Stargirl who stands her ground in grim defiance of her imminent death. But suddenly John Jones streaks into the room knocking Icicle away from Courtney and the madman remarks he thought he'd killed him earlier. John says he's Mar's last survivor for a good reason and then they all surround the Icicle who senses the end is near. Hawkman steps forward with a grin that spells trouble and he uses his mace to knock out Icicle and the helmet of Fate flies from the criminal's head into the air to be caught firmly in Carter's hand. As he gazes at his old friend's helmet in sorrow Clark tells him he's sorry he lost his friend and Carter says he's sorry too.
Back at the JSA brownstone Carter hangs up his helmet as he tells Clark he notices he does this work because it's right, not for fame or vengeance of any kind. And he says he hates to admit it but Clark's team was better then he thought they'd be; even Green Arrow. But Clark says they'll never be as good as the JSA is but they are his best friends. Carter answers that Clark must learn to trust them and remember they're people too and will make mistakes but to keep on trying. He tells Clark when he finally breaks the chains holding him down to Earth, he will then soar higher than anyone has before him. Clark asks if Hawkman's retiring and Carter says no, that Courtney's contacting old members or their children or protege's and he hopes to teach the next generation a few things. Stargirl walks in saying she's already learning and with a rare smile on his face Carter says that "The Justice Society lives again". Courtney asks Clark what his team is called and Clark ponders for a moment and says, "A work in progress." Chloe is cleaning up in the Watchtower when John super-speeds into the room saying that Dr. Fate restored his powers as his dying act and now someone worthy will be drawn to the helmet to become the next Dr. Fate according to Hawkman. Jonn' says he will continue as a police detective and also use his powers as needed then he warns Chloe her sanity could be in danger from too much information coming in as Dr. Fate was by his helmet. He urges her that he says this as now she and Clark and Oliver comprise his family and he cares very much for them. Then Oliver comes in saying he just showed up to see if anybody wanted some dinner and the two take Oliver up on the idea. As they leave and Chloe closes the doors she seems to think that getting out of the nest now and then isn't a bad idea.
At the Daily Planet Lois crows about her front page headline story expose' about the Justice Society's railroading and Clark tells her he's glad she reminded the world about these heroes and he hopes to see more of them now. She tells Clark that Dr. Fate told her about her destiny and at that Clark perks up asking just what her fate is. She says he babbled something about a savior/sentient power and they'd be there for each other. With a grin Clark asks if Lois believes in fate and she says yes, the kind you make for yourself and Clark smiles again at that answer. In a locked room kept very warm the organization called Checkmate keeps an irate Icicle, and when Agent Waller walks in he begs for another chance to finish his mission and kill the JSA. Agent Waller says he's done all she wanted as he got the JSA back into action and back in the public eye in a favorable light. She says that they and the next generation of heroes that follow them will comprise the army she will need for the coming apocalypse. The she tells Icicle welcome to the Suicide Squad and to make her point she calmly takes out a pistol and shoots him! She exits the room and says "Hello Agent Mercer" and we see Tess is indeed a member of this shadow group and then she says they have a lot to catch up on and as they walk away we see the Checkmate Logo with the Knight in its center and this is a group we will hopefully learn more about!

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

"Warrior"

Written By: Bryan Q. Miller
Directed By: Allison Mack
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 02/14/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Owen Best
Co-Starring: Stephen Swift/Warrior Angel: Carlo Marks
Co-Starring: Zatanna: Serinda Swan
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack

Our Story:
It's the Metropolis Comic Convention and the floor is filled with fans and costumes galore. One young man practically runs through the show taking in all the great merchandise and people on view. But he stops in awe when he sees a Warrior Angel display and in a locked case resides the famous unread issue #1! The dealer tells him he couldn't open it even though he too wants to know the origin story inside and he unlocks the case and gently wipes the plastic covering the rarest of issues. But then a fan nearby knocks over one of his displays and the dealer is distracted and the comic book in front of the boy proves too great a temptation and he grabs it and runs across the convention center floor! He runs into a person dressed as a storm trooper from Star Wars and he quickly apologizes and takes off again. The storm trooper then runs into Chloe who laughs out loud when she sees it's Lois Lane dressed as part of her "embedded journalist" job for today at the convention. Lois admits she likes a good story but she's having serious problems relating to all the fantasy fans she sees. She also says she is having a problem moving forward in her relationship with Clark as all her relationships ultimately failed on her in the past. Chloe tells Lois to calm down and then Lois tells her she needs to get out more and meet a guy herself and Chloe grins at that. Lois runs off to make a call as the little boy runs into a locker room and sitting down he opens the comic and reads. "With Angel's Might" is the Warrior Angel's battle cry he learns but then he's surprised to learn that the Warrior Angel is actually a young boy like himself who gains his powers and becomes an adult hero after saying the battle cry. Then the comic he's reading begins to glow and wild golden energies cascade from the book and wash over not just the boy but ultimately they spill out onto the convention floor. One of the mystic bolts strikes a chain holding a model of Saturn and the huge model falls about to crush Chloe who crouches in fear. But amazingly, a real live hero dressed as the Warrior Angel rushes up and catches the globe asking Chloe is she's all right as fans go wild with pictures being taken of real life superhero action!
Clark in his Blur attire is just finishing up catching some crooks when Lois calls him asking him to drop by her apartment and pick up a costume for her. Clark spots one crook he missed and picking up a can from the garbage he throws it a hundred feet with unerring accuracy to knock the man out. Then he speeds to Lois' closet and grabs the costume and speeds for the convention just as Chloe finds the young hero who saved her changing into street clothes in the locker room. He acts and speaks like a comic character and introduces himself as Stephen Swift and Chloe tells him she's in the business of helping super heroes. They decide to go get some coffee together as Clark strides across the convention floor to give Lois her costume. He tells her he doesn't think that fancy colors make a hero and Lois explains how a costume helps you to see life in a more magical way and she says that Clark and Chloe are two people who could use a little fantasy in their lives. Then Zatanna the magician walks up in her trademark tuxedo and fishnet stockings and tells Lois she needs to borrow Clark. Zatanna tells Clark that her father originally cursed the stolen comic book years ago and she needs his help in the matter. Then Lois comes out dressed as a Warrior Amazon Princess and tells Clark they can both work on the story from their own angle and she marches off with a bare-chested man dressed as a roman soldier. Stephen Swift tells Chloe he was an orphan sent to live with his Aunt in the city and when he was caught in a chemical fire he somehow gained his abilities.
As the two talk we can see they are both very taken with each other but Chloe can't help noticing the incredible naiveté Stephen displays. He sounds almost like a child would sound as he tells her he's amazed that she knows actual super heroes. Then Stephen hears a boy being bullied and he changes into Warrior Angel and gives one of the bullies a super-wedgie with a mighty yank of the young tough's underwear. He then makes him apologize to the bullied lad who thanks him as he leaves and then he and Chloe continue to beam at each other. Zatanna and Clark have found the locker room where Stephen read the comic and Clark spot's the comic under a box with his x-ray vision which greatly impresses his magical partner. Clark says he doesn't understand the heroic ideal the fans clamor for with costumes and capes and he just wants to do what he feels is right. Zatanna tells Clark he's lucky to have Lois and Clark admits he's purposely keeping her at arm's length per his last relationship debacle. Zatanna tells Clark to try a little fantasy and she casts a spell with candles appearing all around them and then she casts another spell and Clark's blue eyes glow for a moment and he grabs Zatanna in a passionate embrace and the two kiss with abandon! But Clark bolts out of the spell telling Zatanna he can't do this and the magical temptress thinks that's too bad and Clark is feeling rather sweaty at the moment.
Clark enters the Daily Planet newspaper to find Oliver Queen, secretly the Green Arrow, leaving and telling Clark he's bulletproof but not Lois-proof and he leaves with a grin. Lois mentions Zatanna's dress styling and Clark assures her she needn't be jealous and Lois assures Clark that's not the case. She says that if Clark did anything wrong with Zatanna she's sure he'd tell her and now Clark is sweating as he wants to tell Lois of the kiss but Lois doesn't give him the chance. She tells him the comic book thief's Aunt reported her pre-teen nephew Alec Abrams missing and then she shows Clark security video of the boy taking the comic. She then shows the file the Planet already had on the boy as he's been writing to the Blur via the paper since the hero first appeared. Clark reads one letter that says the boy wishes he could be a real hero like the Blur and maybe then he could stop the bullies that bother him and maybe he could have saved his parent's lives. Clark says the boy needs someone to understand his world very badly and Lois nods in agreement. At that moment Stephen Swift/Alec Abrams is playing with Chloe's video game so much that Chloe asks him if this is why he wanted to see her place. Stephen doesn't understand and cites the fact they're having fun but Chloe now really senses the anomaly of Stephen's adult body that in word and actions displays juvenile simplicity.
But he gets Chloe to play the game for a moment and then she asks about his powers and he says super strength, hearing, and speed, and then he starts to float and he cries out in glee that he can fly and tells Chloe she must fly with him. They stand on the fire escape and hand in hand step off and then fall for a moment before they streak through the city skies holding on to each other as they cross the face of the moon like an image in a comic panel. Clark is complaining to Zatanna he kissed her under "magical duress", and with a smile the beautiful magician says that people in their line of work need fantasy and breaks from what they do but Clark insists heroes don't take days off. Chloe enters the Watchtower to find them arguing and she says she's just had the nicest night she's had in a long time. But Clark tells her that years ago when the publisher stole the idea for the Warrior Angel character from a friend of Zatanna's father, the mage put a curse on the comic hoping to teach the thieving man a lesson. But until the young boy opened the comic after stealing it no one else ever had and so the boy was the one that the curse affected instead. Chloe rushes off realizing that Stephen Swift is really a missing child and Zatanna shows Clark the comic's outcome. It seems that the Warrior Angel is betrayed and then becomes a super villain called Devilicus, and when Stephen feels any betrayal he is cursed to become that agent of evil!
Chloe has met up with Stephen and she tells him she knows the truth about him and that she wants Zatanna to cast a spell returning him to normal. Alec says his life until now has been one of being bullied everyday and he won't go back to that and no one can make him. Then the curse takes hold of him and he changes into a villain with chalk-like skin and dark red veins running under the surface and his costume and hair are all black now. He tells Chloe with a sneer that no one will ever be able to bully him again and now the danger of the curse becomes fully realized! The computers in the Watchtower find Alec's face in the security video from the convention and Clark sees that Chloe was the new hero's first save. Zatanna says that finding out her hero was 12 years old must have shaken her badly and Clark says that knowing Chloe she will try and fix the problem herself. Zatanna says her counter-spell is ready and now Clark must rescue Chloe from her one-time hero. Clark turns and ripping his shirt open we see his family's Kryptonian "S" shield on his chest and he vanishes in a burst of super-speed to save his friend and a good boy who has gone astray! Atop a building in Metropolis Devilicus tells Chloe to tell him where Zatanna is so he can stop her and Chloe tells Alec that a hero wouldn't do these things and Alec's parents wouldn't want this for their son. But that only angers the young boy turned villain more but Zatanna is casting her counter-spell in a huge Pentagram she made in the Watchtower. As she incants the mystic words Alec's super-sensitive ears cannot drown out the words she speaks and he's surrounded in a red-hued Pentagram that appears around him on the building top.
As he screams in pain the mystic energies blow Chloe right off the roof and she falls towards the street at terminal velocity until Clark swoops up under her and then they land on the roof to find a very dazed and confused 12 year old boy waiting. With tears in his eyes Alec hugs Chloe telling her it was all just an accident and now Chloe's crying for she has lost a lot this day too. Clark tells the boy everything will be all right but the pain in Chloe's tear-streaked face makes us wonder if that's true for her also. Later at the Kent farm Alec tells Clark this was the first time in his life he felt like a bully and Clark says that nobody starts out to be the bad guy. He says the true test of a hero is not letting all the sadness and loneliness get to you. And the next time Alec meets a bully he should remember there's good in even him and it's a hero's job to save him and a hero's work is never done. Alec shows Clark a drawing he made of him before he knew what the Red-Blue Blur looked like and Clark sees a royal blue jumpsuit with red shorts and cape and on the chest is a pentagram with the letters RBB in it for red-blue blur. Alec remarks he likes the "S" on the chest better and with a gentle smile Clark says he does too.
Clark takes Alec to the Daily Planet where he and his Aunt are happily reunited and Zatanna remarks she likes teaming up with Clark and hopes they do more of it. Clark sees Lois across the room has become hopelessly entangled in her phone's long cord and he tells Zatanna his fantasy lies elsewhere. She tells Clark to make sure Lois knows how lucky she is and the lady magician leaves as Clark goes to rescue Lois from the phone cord. He finally confesses to Lois that he and Zatanna kissed but it was an accident and it will never happen again and that their relationship is challenging to him. Lois shocks Clark saying she's known something was up all along by the way he was acting and she's not exactly happy herself about being insecure in their relationship. She grabs an intern walking by and gives him a big kiss and then shoves him away telling Clark he should remember the look on his face the next time a sexy woman friend wants a kiss. Clark says he will finish his apology now and he shows Lois tickets for the costume ball that's held after the convention and Lois says he hates costumes. Clark says that's true but he wants to try and open his mind more to fantasy and his dream is to do it with her. Lois tells Clark that's a good apology and dragging him off she says she gets to pick out his costume.
Chloe enters the Watchtower to find Oliver shooting practice arrows and he can see she's had a rough day. He invites her to join him in a drink and a little target practice and Chloe says she can't remember the last time she had any fun. Oliver tells her sometimes the fun is standing right in front of you and you can't see it. They look into each other's eyes and Chloe rises from the couch taking the bow and pulling the arrow notched in the drawstring back all the way. She asks Oliver when to let go and he stands close to her touching her fingers with his saying to let go between the heartbeats. The moment freezes for an instant and then the arrow flies from the bow straight into the camera, and only time will tell if the arrow was shot by Chloe, or by Cupid.

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

"Persuasion"

Written By: Anne Cofell Saunders
Directed By: Christopher Petry
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 2/19/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Alia: Monique Ganderton
Co-Starring: Faora: Sharon Taylor
Co-Starring: Dr. Emil Hamilton: Alessandro Juliani
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Lois is spying over a construction fence in Metropolis by way of standing on Clark's shoulders to ascertain that Union rules are being broken by R.A.O. Industries on the work site of the solar power towers being built. Lois falls from her perch but Clark catches her and Lois says she saw that high tech equipment is being installed day and night. Clark knows that Zod is building the towers they're spying on and he suggests to Lois they forget the story and go out for Valentine's Day dinner. Lois tells Clark she thinks Valentine's Day is just another way for people to sell cards, candies, and the like and she's never believed in it personally. Clark encourages her to try and get in the spirit so she walks up to a street vendor and takes a sample bit of candy. The woman is dressed like some sort of princess and she blows a handful of glittering dust over Clark and Lois. As it covers them we see sparkling bits of glowing green and that means Kryptonite, and then we see Clark's eyes sparkle especially blue and then he runs to catch up to Lois with a grin on his face. They enter the Daily Planet and Clark tells Lois he wants a more traditional relationship with her and when he says that Lois' eyes sparkle blue just like Clark's! A man walks up telling them that R.A.O. Industries is opening the solar tower in 48 hours and he needs their expose' at once. Clark begs off Valentine's Day with Lois citing the need for the story to be told and she says whatever is best for his career sweetie. Clark rushes off and Lois tells the man that a traditional woman should be home in the kitchen cooking for her man so effectively immediately she quits!
Clark arrives at the Watchtower to pick up documentation for the Kryptonian refugees from the city of Kandor who he's helping find new lives here on Earth. Chloe knows that in a possible future one of those Kandorians kills her so Clark appreciates her helping them even with the threat of the solar tower that will give the Kandorians super-powers but rob Clark of his. She reminds Clark that one of the Kandorians killed the clone of his father Jor-El and they should be put into the Phantom Zone before they overthrow our world! Clark says he'll prevent that and then he says in a harsh tone that he just wants Chloe to watch his back for him. When he says it his eyes get that blue-diamond sparkle and so do Chloe's eyes so now this new power of Clark's has touched two of the most important women in his life. Before Clark leaves Chloe says to him in an almost monotone voice that she will protect him no matter what it takes. Outside the R.A.O. Inc. solar tower project Clark meets Alia and Faora, two Kandorian refugees, and he hands the women their new identity papers. The women are grateful but when Clark presses them on the identity of Jor-El's killer Faora warns him the justice he seeks could ignite a war between Zod's followers and the Kandorians loyal to Clark's leadership.
Clark enters the Kent farmhouse to find Lois dressed like a 50's housewife and she's even taking a fresh baked pie from the oven. She tells Clark she's moved in, but of course she'll stay in the guest room until they get engaged and hearing that gets Clark's full attention. Lois cooks Clark a severely overdone pot roast and tells him she's quit her job to be his ball and chain. Clark says reporting's her life and Lois says now Clark is her whole life and Clark's not exactly comfortable with the "new" Lois and her marital attitude. He suddenly recalls an investigation back at the office he must look into and as he goes Lois says she wants him to make an honest woman out of her! Tess Mercer's enjoying a bubble bath when Zod walks in telling her she's backed the wrong man in Kal-El as the solar tower is near completion and he will then be in charge. He picks up her champagne glass and draining it says her satellite links are holding things up and he'll just use the fingerprints he just got from the glass he holds to steal her access. Zod goes on to say he's displeased that Kal-El's finding new Earth lives for Kandorians and despite Tess' insistence that Clark is their savior, when he gets the towers on-line and gains super-powers he may not be merciful at all.
Chloe walks into the Kent kitchen to find Lois scrubbing it with a toothbrush and when Lois tells her she's moved in Chloe insists she move back out at once. This devolves into an old fashioned cat fight as the ladies argue which of them is best for Clark and Chloe ends up telling Lois that Clark will discover that underneath her bravado she's just a scared little girl who should leave Clark as that's best for him. She storms out leaving Lois a sadder more confused woman then she was when she came in. Clark decides to catch up with the street vendor who sprayed them with the dust earlier and the woman says she gets the dust from a quarry in Smallville so now Clark knows that Kryptonite's involved in this fiasco. He gets a 911 call from Lois and rushing back to the farm he finds Lois sitting in the barn loft crying in front of a mirror. She says she's pathetic and Clark would be better off without her. Despite Clark trying to calm her Lois goes into full emotional meltdown saying Chloe was right and she's going to ruin them someday anyhow so now she must leave Clark forever as that's best. Clark tells Lois that she can't leave and he promises to love her forever and now Lois snuggles into Clark's chest. She says now she can move out of the guest room as it looks official for them and now Clark is the one who is totally flustered.
He runs to the Watchtower where he finds Dr. Hamilton running around as Chloe's locked the computer systems and Clark tells him he wants him to calm down. His new power makes Dr. Hamilton the coolest scientist around who only wants to go get a brew and nuclear meltdown's not his problem dude. Clark tells him he thinks a new form of Kryptonite's involved and Hamilton tells him that persuasion is a handy ability to have with the ladies. Dr. Hamilton tells him to relax and use the ability for something Clark wants for himself and gazing at his father's dog tags in his hand he says there is something he wants and with that he speeds from the room. At the farm Lois is talking to Clark's mother telling her she's grateful she can wear Ma Kent's wedding gown and in fact she's wearing it right now! Lois starts calling her friends and then her father telling him about her impending nuptials as she dances around the Kent household in her wedding regalia. Clark meets Zod using his new power to make Zod tell him whether or not he killed his father and Zod says it wasn't him. He says that Tess Mercer was the only one who could have done it and the Kryptonian way says she must die for justice to be realized. Clark says he will not kill and Zod tells him he himself tortured his father badly and still Jor-El would not betray his son and hearing that Clark snatches Zod up in his hands. Clark admits to Zod there are times he wants to be a killer like he is and then Clark staggers and his eyes glow bright blue and he speeds away leaving a pleased Zod behind him.
Tess enters her office in the Planet to find Chloe amazed at her discovery that Tess has been piggybacking her video feeds. She shows Tess a computer drive containing what she says is the "Ebola" virus of computers. Tess tells her dismantling her computers will only endanger Clark and the satellites are finally linked to the solar tower and in 18 hours the atmosphere turns red and Zod gains super powers. Tess says they must work together and help Clark to rule over the Kandorians and Chloe back-fists Tess in response and pulls a gun on her! She starts to plug the virus into the system when Tess kicks her gun from her hand and the two women fight madly with each trying to reach the gun first. They smash the room and it's furniture to pieces as they punch each other and use anything in the room they can grab to pummel the other. But Tess gets the gun and is about to kill Chloe when Clark speeds through the room snatching her up so fast that to Chloe Tess simply disappears in a blast of air. Clark takes her outside and throws her across a parking lot telling her he's there to collect for his father's life. Clark blasts his heat-vision around them making a fiery circle wall of flames and Tess insists she just wants to help Clark to lead the Kandorians. But Clark tells her how the tower will steal his powers and Tess still pleads with Clark that she didn't know that would happen.
Clark tells Tess he'll save the world but not with her in it and his eyes blaze with deadly heat when Chloe appears holding green Kryptonite and as her eyes blaze blue so do Clark's and his reason finally returns as all the effects of his new power fades. Alia has met with Zod and she confesses to him that it was she who killed Jor-El as she felt he would have seen them destroyed. She hands Zod a gun she holds and says that justice must be served and she kneels in front of him as he seems to ponder the deed but then he simply shoots her and satisfies Kryptonian law. Later at the Kent farm Clark explains to Ma Kent on the phone that the engagement is off and he hangs up saying Ma said Lois can borrow "it" whenever she wants, meaning her wedding gown. Lois claims not to know what Ma meant and then Clark says her father left a message. Lois tells him that she feels much better now and she will have to learn what they have together means more than Valentine celebrations. She says that all that's happened was great but too fast for her and Clark agrees they must stick to their plan and take it slow in their relationship.
Clark says he just wants them to stay honest with each other and at that Lois asks him if he would trust her with any big secrets he may have. She worries that her mouth and nature may someday drive Clark away and he insists he's not that easy to get rid of and they hug each other. Lois smiles at the thought of Clark sticking with her and Clark's expression says he's getting more and more uncomfortable lying about himself to Lois. Later Clark in his Blur attire attends a solemn funeral for Alia as her brow is marked with her Kryptonian crest and then her body is burned in a funeral pyre. The flames rise high and Alia vanishes from our view and if the Norse legends are true then this night she rides with the Valkyries in Valhalla. Clark confronts Zod asking how Alia died and he tells Clark that he learned she killed his father and as Clark wasn't willing to kill he had to slay his own soldier to get justice for him. He warns Clark as he walks away saying that in a few days Clark will see what real justice is and then he will have to choose between his Kryptonian heritage and his Earthly one.
At the Watchtower Chloe tells Clark that she couldn't allow him to kill Tess as he is the symbol of hope for the world that she will never allow to be compromised. They study a hologram image of the solar tower and Chloe says that with Alia's death now the future has already been changed but Clark looks at the hologram and says there's only one way to be sure. Next we see him atop a building across from the imposing double solar tower as his black coat whips in the wind. He stares at the tower and then twin beams of incredible energy leap from his eyes and strike the tower rocking it with explosions and fires. Even as Zod stands below and announces to the press that in the morning when the sun strikes the towers a new age will begin he hears the blasts and they all look up to see the towers exploding. Zod's face sinks in despair and he looks up towards Clark who gazes down with a hard expression. Clark has used his powers to destroy the biggest threat he felt Zod presented and he has changed the future forever now. But what will happen now is uncharted ground and Clark may regret what this new future brings!

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

"Conspiracy"

Written By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Directed By: Turi Meyer
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 2/26/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Sharon Taylor
Co-Starring: Crystal Lowe
Co-Starring: JR Bourne
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
It's night time in front of the Daily Planet where we see Clark meet Faora, a woman Kandorian refugee from the Kryptonian city now here on Earth with General Zod and many other of his soldiers. She reads bitterly the headline of the Solar towers being destroyed while Clark cautions her about meeting him there. He tells her to keep her Kryptonian family crest dog tags inside her shirt and to stay calm and she responds since the towers were destroyed no Kandorian feels safe. Then she and Clark walk up to a nearby book store where Faora greets her younger sister Vala whom Clark has just found for her. They express their gratitude for the reunion and when Clark hears sirens they let him rush off to help. Faora leaves her sister but not before cautioning her not to become enamored of Kal-El as he already has chosen an earthly lover, but the girl's look says she hopes otherwise. Vala reenters the shop and closing up she hears the front door bell ring so she says they're closing but looking around she sees no one there. She continues to close up but turning she's confronted by a man wearing a bizarre gas mask and he grabs her and sprays her face full of gas from a nozzle in his sleeve. She awakens sometime later to find herself in a large plastic bag hanging on what looks like an old industrial assembly line and she's in a room surrounded by other Kandorians held captive just as she is!
The next day at the Daily Planet finds Lois getting a call from Amanda Waller of the secret government agency Checkmate on the cell phone Waller left Lois. But Clark walks up so she puts the phone back in her drawer and the two suddenly get starry eyed as Lois says they're not seeing enough of each other and Clark suggests a table for two at the romantic café just across the street. But Faora comes in and Clark tells Lois this is part of an assignment he must finish and Lois gives him a rain check. Clark is angry Faora has returned to the Daily Planet but she says she did so to circumvent Zod who doesn't trust Clark and that her sister Vala has been kidnapped. Oliver Queen, secretly the Green Arrow, enters a room in his penthouse to find Tess Mercer who's upset over the loss of the solar towers and Oliver says he thinks there's better ways to go green. He says the towers were bleeding Luthorcorp dry and she responds that a division of his Queen Industries is being embezzled of funds and she wants him to find the theft's cause and stop it at once then she leaves. Oliver scans the papers Tess has handed him and something he recognizes on the invoices puts a worried look on his face. Clark enters the book store where Vala was last seen to find an angry Zod who tells him he's kept the police out of the matter and cleaned up the scene so now Clark can go save some more humans instead of Kandorians. He says that Clark's policy of making the Kandorians assimilate has separated him from his people and he thinks Clark's purposely driving a wedge between him and his soldiers. He says two more Kandorians have gone missing in the same way and he points out how the abductor leaves behind a spray painted Kryptonian family crest matching the one he finds on each captive's dog tags.
Zod says that they're being hunted and since Clark destroyed the tower they can't get their powers to defend themselves so all this blood is on Clark's hands. Clark defends the "accident" cover story about the towers falling and he says he did what was best for everyone. He tells Zod he shouldn't try and foment rebellion with the Kandorians over the matter as now Zod can't be sure who is with him or who is following Clark's leadership and with that Zod walks out. Vala's strange captor uses the room's overhead line to haul the bag holding his captive face to face with his gas-masked features. He takes off his mask and he tells her that ever since he found aliens on our planet that he had since thought gone from here, he's started capturing them to gain the proof he needs to convince the world they're here to colonize the planet and must be exterminated. He walks around some plastic sheeting and Vala sees a dismembered Kandorian's arm that still bears the crest of the deceased's family and as the man starts cutting up the remains of the body all the poor young woman can do is scream in terror! Oliver enters Chloe's apartment and at first Chloe's happy to see him as they've been developing a personal relationship. But he turns up the music Chloe's listening to and whispers to her that Tess is probably listening and he's angry Chloe's been stealing money from Queen Industries.
Chloe says she's borrowing the money and buying insurance for the entire planet with it and she never would use Oliver for his money like other women have. Faora is met by Clark who asks what the connection is between Vala and the other two captives and she says they are all cybernetic engineers who were running tests that would hopefully gain powers for the Kandorians. She goes on to say she thinks that the tests are why they were captured because those tests they were running were on human beings! Lois walks into the cafÈ she had hoped to go to with Clark and she orders wine and tries not to notice all the couples around her. Then the man capturing Kandorians appears and introduces himself as Dr. Bernard Chisholm and he says he has a very important story he thinks she should write. She begs off but he insists that aliens are living amongst us and he's written her dozens of time at the paper so she thinks he's insane and tries to leave. But he says he has three aliens under lock and key and if she helps him defend the human race by writing the story he'll prove all his claims. Lois feigns having to go outside to get a phone signal and she tries calling 911 but Dr. Chisholm comes up from behind and pulls a gun on her saying he's drafting her into his war with the aliens! Next we see Dr. Chisholm has Lois chained to a table in his makeshift lab in the abandoned building and he's wants her to write the story as he shows her a blood sample he says is from an alien and the extensive notes and research he's done so far.
Lois says she's willing to write the story but no one will believe it and then he slides a curtain aside to show Vala dangling in a bag and he says he's got body parts to send to medical experts and now he intends to cryogenically freeze Vala to keep as proof. He starts the machinery up to freeze the hapless young girl and Lois is now sure the man is insane. She tells him to stop and he then takes off his wool cap showing Lois what the aliens did to him. His entire skull is shaven and has been cut into precise gridlines and it looks as if surgery has been conducted by madmen who hacked away whole portions of the man's brains in the process leaving him horribly disfigured as though he were from a horror film. He says he clearly remembers dying of a heart attack and being at peace but the aliens somehow revived him and he shows her green glowing pointed probes he said they implanted in his skull. He says whatever they did to him made it impossible for him to stop thinking wild thoughts and the invasion has begun and he intends to stop it! Clark and Faora go to the hospital as she tells him they had been stealing cadavers from there for their experiments and Clark tells her it's morally wrong and Zod should have never allowed it.
She says Zod didn't know about the experiments and he doesn't know Zod as she does and that he once saved her life in battle despite being badly wounded rescuing her. Clark asks what about his father Jor-El being killed and Faora says that Zod had considered Jor-El one of his truest friends and Clark admits he never thought about that side of Zod. At that moment Zod is walking down the stairs into the Daily Planet bullpen and as he descends he bumps into a couple of employees stealing one's ID and the other's pad and pen like a seasoned pickpocket. He takes off his coat and he picks up some black horn-rimmed glasses off a desk and dons them and with the pilfered ID and notepad his disguise is complete. He walks up to an employee and speaking in a convincing accent he fawns over the young lady with flattery and tells her he's working on an alien paranoia story. He convinces her to get him the dead letter Crank file where he discovers the many letters Chisholm had sent to Lois hoping to expose an alien invasion. Letters complete with the good Doctor's return address on the envelope so now Zod knows exactly where to find his missing soldiers and their tormentor! As that happens, Oliver has been led by Chloe to a storage trailer and when he opens it he sees an arsenal that literally glows green from all the Kryptonite in the trailer and then he spots weapons fashioned from the incandescent remains of Krypton!
Chloe explains this is where all the money has been spent and she doesn't intend to rely on Clark's judgment in handling the Kandorians to stop another "Doomsday" level event from occurring. Every ID she's supplied the Kandorians with has a tracking chip inside and she knows all their whereabouts. And as they talk and leave the trailer we see someone watching them from the shadows and he's taking pictures of everything we've seen. Lois is shocked when Zod enters the room and he starts to free Lois saying he's with the FBI and they've been tracking Chisholm. She says only one captive's still alive and while Lois uncuffs herself Zod throws the plastic curtain aside to see frightened Vala suspended in the plastic bag. He starts to shut down the machine freezing Vala when the mad doctor enters the room and shoots Zod who slowly collapses on the floor. He turns the gun on Lois and tells her to keep writing and then he strides back out of the room leaving Zod dying in a pool of his own blood! Lois runs over to Zod and slaps him awake and rips her shirt off telling him to hold the garment down with pressure. He asks why she's helping him and she says because it's what Clark would do and she won't leave until his FBI backup arrives to help them. He says that no backup is coming and she must save Vala and then the two of them must flee before Chisholm returns!
Clark takes Faora with him to the hospital where he confronts a Doctor saying he knows about the cadaver thefts and he just wants to know if all the bodies were recovered. The man shows Clark the file of the one person unfound and Clark's shocked to see it's John Corben, the man Kandorian scientists installed a Kryptonite heart into as a potential source for their hopes of gaining super powers. The man says the only person who would know more is a Dr. Chisholm who was forced into medical leave for psychiatric reasons. The man says no one knows who took the bodies and they must leave so Clark pressures him with his possibly making up a quote from him to use in his story. Then the Doctor says that Chisholm said that he caught the body snatchers one night in the morgue which gave him a fatal heart attack. Chisholm insisted that they were aliens who revived him and experimented on his brain and he gives Clark the man's contact information in exchange for anonymity which Clark promises. In the selfsame Doctor's improvised lab Chisholm enters to find Vala shivering in her slowly freezing bag and Lois is gone and then she flies from the shadows doing her level best to knock him out. She knocks him down but as she tries to free Vala the man rises and blindsides her with a hard punch knocking her out. The Doctor sees Zod is wearing alien dog tags and his paranoia goes off the scale and he dons his gas mask while he picks up the electric saw he dissected Kandorians with.
He tells Zod the invasion stops there and he brings the whirring blade down towards the helpless Zod when Clark whooshes into the room at super-speed knocking the man away. But the man springs up and wielding the saw he runs for Clark and Zod when his blade catches in the wires overhead he has hastily installed for his experiments. The voltage wracks the man's body until the lenses in his mask shatter and he falls dead to the floor hopefully finding the rest he wanted so badly granted by his own errant hand. Clark frees Vala and lays her on a cot by a heater and then he rushes to Zod's side but Zod tells Clark he'll finally be rid of him and he can't save him then he dies as Clark helplessly watches! But Clark runs and grabs one of the Kryptonite probes and he jams it into his palm causing blood to run down his fist which he holds over Zod's wound. A single drop of his blood hits Zod's wound and there is an instant genetic reaction as Zod's wound glows and then heals and then Zod gasps a deep inward breath and sits up alive. Zod then stands in shock at finding himself not only alive but completely healed and Clark tells him welcome back. The next day Chloe is watching as the man who spied on her and Oliver takes Tess Mercer to the trailer where Chloe's arsenal was but an angry Tess finds only an empty trailer. As Tess storms off Oliver slips up behind Chloe telling her he had anticipated Tess's move and had the arsenal hidden.
He says he agrees about wanting to avoid another Doomsday affair and he will reveal the weapons new hiding place when and if they are needed. When Chloe asks if he's going to tell Clark everything he says absolutely, and then a second later he adds when it's necessary for Clark to know. Lois enters the Planet and she calls a laboratory saying she needs a blood sample analyzed and she produces from her pocketbook the very sample Dr. Chisholm had shown her claiming it was proof positive about aliens on Earth. She goes to her desk hiding the sample in her drawer as Clark asks why she's back so soon and she says that the girl who was freed from freezing has disappeared without a trace. Then she says that the FBI insists they have no one called Zod in their employ and Clark covers for Zod insisting that's just how they protect their deep cover agents and Lois remarks she thinks Zod is a hero. She senses Clark is hiding something about Zod but he says he'll tell her if she'll show him what she hid in her desk drawer so that makes Lois drop the matter. Clark gets a text on his phone from Zod asking him to come to the roof and he leaves citing an ongoing investigation. Lois looks at the cell phone Waller gave her and there's a text message from her thanking Lois for the blood sample. And inside the box Lois hid is a pawn chess piece so now Lois is fully embroiled with the coming danger Waller's agency Checkmate predicts.
Clark meets Zod on the roof where Zod asks after Lois and Clark thanks him for saving her but Zod says she also saved him. He asks how Clark knew his blood would heal him and Clark says he didn't know and their shared Kryptonian heritage might be responsible. Zod tells Clark he is a changed man because Clark saved him and he groans in pain as he speaks telling Clark he's still healing and not made of steel like Clark is. He says that Clark saving him has made him a better man as he realizes that Clark wants to protect the Kandorians as he's claimed from the start. Clark responds that the two of them will work together to make Earth the Kandorian's new home and then at the sound of a siren Clark speeds away to help. After he's gone Zod straightens up now showing no pain whatsoever and he walks to the building's edge and mounts a parapet with his arms stretched wide. He holds his face up to the setting sun as if drinking in its warmth and as it bathes him in its glow he falls from the height with no fear on his face. After falling hundreds of feet to what looks like a certain death he suddenly raises his arms and with a small sonic boom he bursts into flight and streaks across the skies of Metropolis. What a now fully powered Zod will do is something Chloe and Oliver feared and Clark thought he was proved wrong about and now is something we'll discover very soon as Zod has finally gained the powers he craved so badly!

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

"Escape"

Written By: Genevieve Sparling
Directed By: Kevin G. Fair
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 4/2/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Siobhan McDougal/Silver Banshee: Odessa Rae
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story: Chloe is driving down the road using her laptop and giving Clark alerts over her cell phone as to crimes or disasters taking place in Metropolis. Clark speedily handles all crises and tells Chloe that he and Lois are taking a weekend sabbatical. Clark enters The Daily Planet newspaper and tells Lois they're headed to a countryside Bed & Breakfast called the McDougal Inn. Next we see a red-headed lass welcoming a couple to the Inn and to our surprise it's not Clark and Lois but Oliver Queen and Chloe! Major Zod from the Kryptonian city of Kandor has gained super powers from a drop of Clark's blood and he flies across the city landing on the Daily Planet roof. He uses his super-hearing and listens as people all over the city praise the Blur, which is Clark's current hero identity. He gets a text message on his cell phone which says, "We need to meet.", and that makes Zod grimace.
Clark and Lois find out that their room has sprung a leak and with no rooms in the inn left Clark offers to try and fix the leak. As Lois picks up her bags she scrapes against a painting of a Scottish clansman scarring the figures cheek but she doesn't notice the painting magically heal itself.
The red haired lady says the man was her great-great Uncle Bevan and he is infamous for robbing his sister Siobhan of her birthright and then having her slain. Legend says Siobhan returned to life but was cursed with having to kill any men she encountered. A couple in the place are necking when a spirit leaves the painting and enters the young lady who leads the young man to their room. Lois enters their room to find the place in kit shape as Clark used his powers to fix the leak and clean the place. The couple nervously gets in to bed together when suddenly an eerie scream fills the air and we see the possessed woman is outside dragging the badly shriveled body of her lover away! Couples are gathered on the front porch and the red haired innkeeper assures everyone it was merely wolves howling in the nearby woods and everyone heads back for their rooms. Clark and Lois head for theirs when they get a surprise by running into Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan standing in front of them in matching bathrobes. The couples sit together for breakfast the next day and Lois drags Chloe outside to get the story on Oliver and her. Chloe insists they're not a couple while inside Clark cautions Oliver to be careful not to hurt Chloe. At the loft in the Kent farm's barn Zod meets with Tess Mercer who sent him the text message.
Tess calmly takes out a gun and shoots Zod who easily catches the bullet and she says she thought he had gained his powers and decided to try killing him to prove it. Zod lifts Tess in the air by the neck and tells her she must die to keep his secret and she takes out a small container with Kryptonite causing Zod to collapse on the floor. She insists she will never be pushed around in any relationship again and when she closes the container she and Zod passionately embrace as truly two of a kind. Back at the inn Chloe and Oliver enter their room where Ollie gives her a gift and Chloe gets upset insisting gifts will only deepen the relationship they've both said will not happen. She leaves the room telling him that when she returns she wants to start over again as just friends... with benefits. Chloe walks into the woods amidst rain, thunder, and lightning and she thinks she spots a hooded figure standing in the distance but when she reaches the place there's nothing. But then she stumbles upon the desiccated corpse of the hapless male lover and then the woman possessed appears and with a touch of her hand the white skulled face of the spirit takes over Chloe!
The possessed Chloe walks in on Clark in the shower intending to join him when Lois enters dressed as a sexy Highlander. Clark tries to explain but Lois is about to storm out when she hands Chloe a bottle and the spirit jumps to her now. Chloe awakens in the shower room with she and Clark in towels and now she gets upset and storms out too leaving Clark hopelessly confused. The possessed Lois finds Oliver looking for Chloe and she and takes him out to the woods promising to lead him to her. Chloe and Clark get dressed and go looking for the now missing Oliver and Lois and she says she was walking in the woods and then she awoke in the shower room. She takes Clark to the spot where we saw her meet the first possessed woman and they find the dead man. In talking they realize that a murderous spirit is abroad using women as her vessel and she must be stopped before she kills again. And as they speak the possessed Lois is throwing Oliver around like a rag doll telling him she's about to kill him and he sees the skull face appear on Lois' and knows he is in deadly peril from a killer ghost!
Clark and Chloe talk to the innkeeper who says that Siobhan dies and was reborn as the Silver Banshee who has great strength and can kill any man who hears her wail. He spots another painting of Siobhan under Bevan's portrait and they figure out that it's the portal to our world for the murdered woman's spirit to enter through. Oliver's still getting thrown around and Clark arrives as the Banshee turns into her true form as a Scottish accented woman covered in black and white rages with a skull like face to match and long frazzled hair also streaked through with black and white. She turns her scream on Clark who charges ahead with his heat vision blazing against her wail until the power stalemate causes a blast that sends Clark and the Silver Banshee reeling. At the inn Chloe has found that that the painting must be burned to close the doorway from the underworld and she throws it into the fireplace just as the banshee rises to kill Clark with a final cry. But as her power emanates from her it suddenly bursts into flames which flare back to consume her and she vanishes with a scream leaving behind only a smoldering pile of ashes!
Zod and Tess lie in bed and she won't tell him what she used on him that robbed him of his strength and powers earlier. She insists they're on the same side and he says he needs proof in the form of what she has that can stop a powered Kryptonian. He can fly unlike Clark but he cannot grasp why the people love the "Blur" so slavishly and he needs the ability to stop him. Oliver tells Chloe his intended gift for her was merely a souvenir spoon and he says he'll be more careful of boundaries in the future. He asks if Chloe still loves Clark and she says that ended long ago as he simply couldn't recognize her love for him. Then she asks Oliver about Lois and he says that they both bear the mark of scars from wounds that have thankfully healed and the two kiss and resolve to begin again. Back at her apartment Lois and Clark start kissing when her phone rings and she answers and the voice on the other end is the "Blur" and he asks Lois to finds some information on Tess Mercer and it's a matter of life or death that she can't tell anyone about. She looks at Clark and promises that she'll stay secretive from everyone and as she hangs up we see she has been talking to Zod using a voice modulator to impersonate the Blur!

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

"Checkmate"

Written By: John Chisholm
Directed By: Tim Scanlan
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 3/5/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Jonathan Lloyd Walker
Co-Starring: John Jones/Martian Manhunter: Phil Morris
Co-Starring: Amanda Waller: Pam Grier
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
At a castle that sits atop a mountain in a far away remote range sits Amanda Waller, the woman we've come to know is heading up the covert government organization called Checkmate. She walks to a chess board and takes her white rook and tops a black king and then uses the rook to knock over her own white pawn. Then we see Tess Mercer entering her office at the Daily Planet and spotting that a chess piece has been moved from its spot on the board to her desk she takes out a gun with silencer and also a hypo gun and slides down a safety chute onto the street where she's now wearing a wig to disguise herself. Nonetheless she's spotted and followed and then attacked by a man and woman agent whom she successfully fights off. Green Arrow, secretly Oliver Queen, spots the fracas and follows saving Tess just as it appears she's surrendered but after saving her Tess turns on Oliver using the Hypo gun on him as the agents she was supposedly fighting join her to take Oliver into the custody of Checkmate!
Clark enters the Watchtower where Chloe tells him that every electronic monitoring device in the city has been shut down and Oliver was lost just before that occurred. Then the monitors come back online and they see John Jones, secretly the Martian Manhunter, at the place where Oliver was last seen by Chloe. Clark speeds to the spot asking John what he knows and spotting some kind of bugging device inside John's coat he again asks him what he knows. John sighs saying Clark shouldn't have looked at what he's hiding and in a streak of red he flies away into the city. Inside the truck carrying Green Arrow, Tess is about to unmask him when Amanda Waller appears on a monitor dismissing her. Then electricity arcs through the chair into Green Arrow who is bound in it and he is startled awake to see Amanda Waller on a monitor screen telling him he's been recruited by his country and it's time for him to fight for his nation. She signs off as Oliver frees himself from his handcuffs and then blows the truck's rear door off with concealed explosives he carries in his gauntlets and he rides the metal door like a surfboard down the road and leaps off it into the night!
One of the men who took Green Arrow captive is intercepted by John Jones who demands the location of Checkmate's headquarters, the Castle. But the man suddenly falls dying on the ground from poison spewing from his mouth and John places his palm over the man's head scanning his mind until he finds the Castle's location even as the hapless agent dies. Tess is met by Agent Waller who says between Tess letting Green Arrow escape and her lack of protocol over the years she had better get fully committed to Checkmate or she will be retired permanently. Oliver returns to the Watchtower where he mentions Checkmate and Chloe says that was the organization that went after the Justice Society in the 70s. Then they see footage of John meeting Agent Lott and then find out he's dead and Clark speeds off to investigate. Chloe goes to question Icicle who Checkmate obviously used recently to attack Justice Society members while Oliver stays behind to attend a Luthorcorp shareholders meeting with Tess. He talks to Tess before the meeting and when she uses a line Agent Lott spoke to the Green Arrow and he responds with the same line he used in front of Tess as The Green Arrow she realizes that Oliver Queen is secretly the Emerald Archer!
Clark finds a chess piece among Agent Lott's belongings and recognizing it he speeds to Tess' office in the Daily Planet where he finds it is indeed the one piece missing from her chess board. At the Castle John Jones confronts Agent Waller who says she knows John's already working for someone high in power and then she says that the sample of Clark's blood she has proves there is a real threat of alien invasion and her country will defend itself. Though John insists Earth isn't in danger Agent Waller presses a button trapping him in a cage of fire which is his only weakness! At the hospital Chloe is led to the archives by the Doctor in charge of transferring Icicle but we see him grab a chess piece so we know a Checkmate agent is closing in on Chloe. Tess takes Oliver aside confronting him about being the Green Arrow which he admits but then Clark speeds into the room demanding answers from Tess. She refuses so he speeds her to the tip of a ledge on the Watchtower asking her once more about Checkmate and she says that she joined Checkmate after Lex's investigation files on Clark convinced her that aliens were going to invade. She swears she didn't ever tell the White Queen, Agent Amanda Waller, anything about Clark or the Kandorians and that someone called Watchtower was Checkmate's actual target. And we see Tess is correct as at that moment Chloe is being dragged into a room in the Castle under gag and gun!
Clark speeds into the Castle even as Tess tries to convince Oliver he can't win as someone named Watchtower has been taken hostage by Checkmate. Clark demands Chloe's release but Agent Waller first wants Watchtower's central database containing all the hidden heroes' identities. She says either that or she kills Chloe but as they speak John Jones escapes destroying the sample of Clark's blood and then alarms blare and Waller flees the room. Then Clark concentrates and using his super hearing and vision he finds the room where Chloe is and in a dazzling display of power and speed he breaks the doors in, incapacitates the agents, and catches the bullet fired from the agent's gun in his hand before it can strike Chloe proving he is indeed faster than a speeding bullet. With a sigh of relief from both, the two gaze at each other for one peaceful moment of gratitude and then Clark speeds them safely away from the Castle. Later at the Watchtower Clark apologizes for not realizing Chloe's true worth as she is the core that formed the heroes initially and Chloe worries that now Checkmate has seen their faces and will pursue them. But at that moment John Jones has entered Agent Waller's room and he uses his telepathic abilities to erase all her memories of Chloe, Clark, Watchtower, everything that could endanger the heroes.
Oliver meets Tess at a sidewalk cafe where she begs him for forgiveness and his help eluding Checkmate but Oliver refuses saying is she ever comes near he or his friends again he'll expose every dirty secret he knows about her. Then Oliver meets Chloe and she says she liked being in the field and he says it scared him badly with her being in danger and they walk away holding hands; their lives intertwining more and more each day. John Jones comes to Clark's barn loft on the farm telling him he simply wanted to protect the team from Checkmate which he has done for now. But Clark thinks danger from the Kandorians could become a reality and John says that choosing sides isn't always black and white. Agent Waller tells her man that the old operation has ceased to exist as a new player has entered the game calling for a whole new game and she sweeps a red pawn off the chess board to make her point.

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

"Upgrade"

Written By: Andrew Landis & Julia Swift
Directed By: Michael Rohl
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 4/16/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: John Corben/Metallo: Brian Austin Green
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
In a Luthorcorp lab a scientist admires the self-sustaining artificial heart they've created for what the man keeps calling an "upgrade" to some unnamed patient. Spying on all this in a lab coat and glasses is Lois Lane and when she hears the Doctor say the upgrade is completed she knows the patient behind the curtain across the lab is what she has come to see. But a security man stops Lois spotting her fake ID and the Doctor announces the upgrade has been compromised and Lois is dragged away by the guard. But then the Doctor sees his patient has disappeared and he sounds an alarm with flashing lights and people running everywhere. Lois fights back and gets the guard down with some well placed kicking but then Lois sees a leaking gas canister about to explode from the lab burner it has fallen by. She turns and runs for her life as the explosive blast of flames chases her out the door and slams her bodily into the elevator shaft wall and Lois falls from our sight to certain doom. But at the shaft's bottom we see an eerie glowing green light and from the shadows steps John Corben with his newly upgraded Kryptonite heart and he has just saved Lois' life!
Lois awakens in her apartment with Clark kissing her and she wonders how she got there so Clark says she's been gone for a week so what's happening? Lois says a tip went bad and she reached a dead end then her phone buzzes and she asks Clark to come back later. On the phone is Zod using a voice modulator to impersonate Clark's "Blur" persona which the people and media of the city have dubbed him. She tells Zod where the lab is and that Tess Mercer's running experiments involving green and red meteor rocks and he even takes claim for Lois's save when she mentions it. She hangs up and runs to catch up with Clark but she sees the basement door open and goes down there and finds a very sick John Corben lying in the furnace room! He shows Lois his upgrade was a computer chip they installed at the base of his neck which would control his every action, but Lois foiled the job and he escaped before they finished. He says he never meant for Lois to see him but he collapsed as his heart is about to stop if he doesn't get meteor rock to refuel it. Lois is furious when John tells her what Tess' scientists have done to him and she puts him in her car to head for help. Clark has had Chloe secretly put a GPS unit in Lois' keychain and it's showing that Clark is standing right above where Lois was last night for two hours. He finds and enters the ruined lab filled with eerie red mist and inhaling it his eyes glow bright red for a second and then fade to normal again, but now Clark is infected by Red Kryptonite and that's more trouble on the horizon!
Chloe enters the Watchtower to find and angry Clark who says his research from Lois' work led him to discover stockpiles of Kryptonite scattered all over the country. He says he intends to make Tess pay for this but Chloe stops him when she says those stockpiles belong to her and Oliver. Clark immediately accuses Chloe and Oliver of betraying him and when Chloe says it was for a very possible war with the Kandorian Kryptonians he swats her to the floor and says the war has started and he will finish it. Then he uses his heat vision to burn his family "S" crest into a Watchtower wall and with an evil grin he speeds out of the room! John Corben is in a trailer in the city stocked with Kryptonite and he finds a liquid form and injects into himself and his green Kryptonite heart glows bright as his strength returns. Clark speeds up to the trailer when John smashes its doors open and the two glare at each other with Clark weakening but clearly still ready to fight. But twin red beams flare down from above and the trailer explodes is tremendous blast and then Clark stands strong again as Zod flies up landing in front of him. The two actually smile wryly at each other and then Zod speeds away leaving an amused Clark wondering over this latest development.
Lois finds the wreckage of the trailer and she also finds John Corben hiding nearby still alive despite Zod's attack. Chloe enters Tess' ruined lab to find Tess herself and she sees the Red Kryptonite and tells Tess how it makes Clark aggressive and selfish and Tess says that's no problem to her as her experiment with John Corben is for her protection against all Kryptonians. Chloe tells her she'll out the Kandorians presence on Earth and Tess' role in hiding them plus reveal her whereabouts to the government agency Checkmate which would like to find Tess very badly right now. She says they can help each other in this matter and Tess reluctantly agrees as yet another strange alliance is forged. Clark finds Zod who tells him he gained his powers when Clark saved him with a drop of his blood weeks ago. He says tonight he saved Clark against Corben and that should prove that Clark should side with Zod. He asks Clark's help to find and destroy the Kryptonite arsenals his so called friends have built to kill him and he and Clark are now the only two beings on the planet who can truly understand each other's struggles between their desires and their powers. Clark offers his hand to Zod who takes it as the two smile tiger's smiles at each other!
John and Lois board a bus heading for an army base in South Dakota where her father General Lane has a doctor waiting to help John. He sees a woman struggling to get her luggage into the rack but when he helps her she slips a green disk onto the back of his neck where his input upgrade was installed. It immediately commands him to return to base and John and the woman exit the vehicle with Lois being cut off by another of Tess' agents and injected with a needle which knocks her out and she's left on the bus as John and the agents walk away. Zod and Clark walk away from the last destroyed Kryptonite stockpile with Zod enjoying Clark's sudden enthusiasm for the work. Clark reminds Zod that a betrayal from a friend is the best lesson for the future and Zod says his newfound alliance has come from the perspective he's gained from Zod finally being his equal. Clark says maybe he should start to enjoy himself and they speed to the top of the Space Needle in Seattle where they stand atop the structure like future kings overlooking their new domain. When Zod says while he may have fought with Clark's father Jor-El, they were still friends who respected each other. Clark offers to take Zod to a place where he can talk to his old friend and then he uses his super lungs to freeze the falling rain giving Seattle a surprise blizzard!
Tess and Chloe have found out about the sudden blizzard in Seattle and Chloe uses satellites to catch the image of Zod and Clark standing atop the space needle, then John Corben passively walks into the room and stands there waiting for orders from a now very pleased Tess.Clark takes Zod to his Fortress of Solitude where he tells Zod, "welcome home, brother", and the two bask in their alliance as they stand amidst their native ancient architecture here on Earth. Clark puts a crystal into his control console but nothing is working and he decides to destroy it but Zod reminds him that his father left the book of Rao, the Kryptonian sun god, on the planet somewhere and with that book's knowledge and the fortresses' technology there would be no limits to what they can achieve and Clark likes that idea. Tess sees Chloe tracking Corben and she asks her where Chloe sent him and she drops the GPS signal on purpose telling Tess "on a hunch". Using the disc from Clark's spaceship she has sent John to the Fortress where he's ordered to attack the two and they split up on opposite sides freezing Corben in a block of ice from their mutual super breaths. But his heart glows bright and with explosive force Corben breaks from the icy tomb stunning the two Kryptonians.
Corben reaches to his neck as the battle has caused his control chip to fall off and he nears Clark finally in his own right mind again and he says a friend sent him to save Clark and taking out a jagged Kryptonite shard he stabs Clark freeing him of the Red Kryptonite influence. Then he walks over to the Fortress console and gently places Clark's spaceship disc on it and then disappears in a flash of light. Clark rises recovering already with his mind now restored and he glances over to see Zod is long gone and he knows what dangerous information Zod now possesses! Lois is walking down a city street when John Corben catches up to her telling her he has her to thank for his chance at some kind of better life now; the first time since his accident which made his life so horribly wrong and he must also thank the Blur for his help in disappearing. Lois gives John the new red glowing artificial heart Tess scientists made for him saying it's just a small token of thanks and John asks if he could ever have a chance with Lois. She tells John he's a good man but she has found someone who is it for her and she wishes him luck and the two part as friends. Zod enters his hideout to find Tess with the picture of Clark and Zod atop the Space Needle. She tells him they have a pre-existing agreement and while trying to work with Clark, he ultimately doesn't have Zod and her goals in mind. The two kiss passionately kiss then Tess shows Zod a surveillance photo of some of his Kandorian soldiers fomenting a revolt in the ranks looking to name Clark as their new leader so Zod again fully sees more danger then ever from Kal-El.
Clark enters the Watchtower to find Chloe trying to clean his "S" crest off the wall and he apologizes to her for his actions. He confesses that not just the Red Kryptonite but a part of him needed to be closer to Zod to try and find someone he can relate to as a brother as Chloe and Lois do to each other as family members. He also says the possible future he saw had Chloe's Kryptonite arsenal being critically important in putting down Zod's war. Next we see Zod standing in the Fortress of Solitude with a dozen or so of his still faithful followers. He takes out a lead-sheathed Kryptonite dagger and cut his hand draining blood into a crystal goblet. He tells them they will gain the powers that are their birthright, and then the traitors will pay for their sins as anyone else who tries to defy them now!

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

"Charade"

Written By: Holly Henderson & Don Whitehead
Directed By: Brian Peterson
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 4/23/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Raymond Sacks: Gil Bellows
Co-Starring: Franklin Stern: Blu Mankuma
Co-Starring: Dylan Neal
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Corrupt D.A. Raymond Sacks has been released from jail and a welcome home party is thrown and while there he meets a young man with something the man supposedly has bought him for a million dollar reward. Then with a drum roll the cake bursts open to reveal a very sexily dressed lady with rabbit ears, and her name is Lois Lane. She blows Sacks a kiss and then is shocked to see Clark standing there and he calls her name out loud so Lois walks up and throws Clark a knockout punch as cameras record the event. Next we see the pair sitting in their editor's office at the Daily Planet showing them the picture has made front page news and he's telling them a reporter reports the news and doesn't become the news. He asks them is this debacle is the result of a personal spat between them as they're dating and Clark says that they try not to let their personal lives interfere with their professional ones. The editor assures them their trying days are over because they are both immediately fired!
24 hours earlier we see Lois meeting Chloe on a city street and they go to lunch where Lois tells Chloe tonight she intends to tell Clark that she loves him and that she doesn't want them to have anymore secrets between them so that way there'll be nothing that can ever come between them. Chloe meets Clark at the Kent farmhouse and tells him that revealing himself to Lois right now would not be wise and he says he just wants to learn what she's been keeping from him. Then he says if Lois is open with him her trust should be honored and he should then possibly trust her with his secrets. Entering the Daily Planet Lois and Clark meet on the elevator and Clark asks for a sneak preview of tonight and the two kiss until they reach the newsroom floor. They walk into the room and meet their new editor and his name is Franklin Stern. He tells them he knows they're emotionally involved but doesn't care and their next assignment is to investigate ex-DA Raymond Sacks and whoever brings the story in first will keep their job and the other will lose theirs. Tess enters Oliver Queen's office in Luthorcorp to find Chloe there and she has just checked some Swiss bank accounts before Tess came in. Tess reminds Chloe that she and Oliver may be an item but she is still CEO of the company.
Tess tells Chloe she thinks she should learn that the Kandorians are there as allies and not a threat and Tess' relationship with Zod proves that. Chloe says she doubts Zod will assimilate into Earth life ever and she had better watch out as Zod and his soldiers are the last beings left on Earth she hasn't yet betrayed. Clark says that Maxwell Lord is throwing a party for Sacks tonight and he also thinks if they get a big enough story it will save both their jobs and Lois thinks they'll get quicker results splitting up so off she goes. She calls the Blur on her cell phone and leaves him a message saying she's got to protect Clark from harm in this case so she needs his help to bring in the story on Sack's release. Clark sees Chloe telling her he needs to put Sacks away at once to protect Lois and Chloe says the man is offering a million dollars for a clear picture of the Blur. Chloe finds out that Sacks likes to visit of all places a joint called Tony's Pizza. At that moment Sacks is leaving Tony's but he's met at his limo by Lois who says she wants a quote about who got him out of jail. Sacks tells his bodyguard to kill Lois and watches as she's backed into an alley at gunpoint.
But the Blur arrives disabling the gunman and Sacks flees in his limo as Lois thanks the Blur for all the work she's done with him these past weeks. Clark is alarmed to learn he's being impersonated as the Blur and he speeds away to change back into his Clark attire to act on this news. After he leaves the man we saw bring Sacks the Blur picture emerges from the shadows exclaiming his acquisition of a million dollar picture and he pushes Lois aside and runs off. Lois start to call the Blur when Clark arrives asking Lois if she's calling the Blur and he says she doesn't know who the Blur might be. Lois says she doesn't want to know who the Blur really is as then his enemies would attack her in reprisal as she's close to the man. Clark tells Chloe what he's learned and they trace Lois's call to the Blur and hear her say that a man obtained a picture of the Blur and intends to sell it Sacks at the party tonight and the Blur must act now. Now we've caught up in time to the party where we see Lois spot the cake outside the club and she immediately sees her chance to enter the party as only Lois can. The cake pops, Lois emerges, Clark gets punched, and Lois uses her momentum to knock the camera out of the hands of the would-be millionaire and she smashes it irreparably to bits then she and Clark flee the club. Sacks has the young man taken hostage in lieu of the photo and we see a man in shadows on the balcony watching all this and the man wears a pocket handkerchief adorned with a black King rook chess piece.
Clark and Lois clear out their desks and then argue over the Blur who Lois says brings out a whole new and unattractive side of Clark and she stalks off only to be kidnapped by Sacks's gunman! Next we see a strange type of circular equipment on a floor and in the slots of the arms of the circle like the hands of a clock lie human beings. One of these persons is the hapless man who lost his photo of the Blur and another is Lois Lane and the man with the black King chess piece handkerchief stands over Lois staring at her! Next we see Sacks handed a chess piece as his invitation into the organization run by the Black King Maxwell Lord. He explains that each person in the slots of the machine has memories of the Blur and he's using his meta-human powers of mind control to extract the information from their brains. The machine has a hologram in its center and a three dimensional image of the Blur is already starting to form there. Lord says his powers as a meta-human have taught him how dangerous powered people are and unlike the White Queen, Amanda Waller of Checkmate, he intends to destroy all the meta-humans to preserve what he considers the rule of law according to Lord.
Chloe has found surveillance footage of Lois being kidnapped and they know that Sacks and several other violent offenders have been released by the Governor who received huge campaign donation from a certain Maxwell Lord who threw Sacks his party. Clark tells Chloe that if Maxwell Lord wants the Blur so badly that's exactly who he'll get and in a burst of air he super-speeds to save Lois and meet Lord. Clark speeds into the room where Sacks is telling someone on the phone how he's just gotten into Lord's inner circle when Clark body slams the man aside knocking him out. He picks up the Black King chess piece that Lord gave Sacks and crushes it while saying, "Checkmate", then speeds away in another burst of air. As he enters the lab he sees Lord standing with his hands over Lois with blue energy passing between his hand and Lois' brow and he warns Clark that he takes another step he'll burn Lois' brain into a cinder. He tells Clark that Lois is resisting his power with her own mind and he says that she must love him to protect him so even in her mind. Clark sees Lord now using both hands for full power and the image of him in the hologram begins to finalize into his features. He leaps up with great speed and smashes straight through the hologram chamber wrecking the machine freeing its victims.
But when he looks up Maxwell Lord is long gone as Lois sits up in the machine and she sees the Blur standing behind her in a window reflection and she says she now understands that she can never know who he really is if he is to protect those he cares about. Clark's hand gently squeezes her shoulder and she holds his hand for a moment before telling him to go which he does vanishing in a flash. Then she allows herself to cry and tears stream down her cheek as we see just how much she really does care for the Blur. Maxwell Lord exits his brownstone only to be kidnapped at gunpoint and thrown into a limo where he sees a woman in the shadows dressed in red and he says now he knows it's true that a Red Queen exists and the limo drives away with the Black King and the Red Queen. At the Kent farmhouse barn loft Chloe find Clark and she says she traced the fake Blur calls to Lois back to R.A.O. Industries so it was Zod impersonating the Blur with Lois. Clark says that the dual identity life stinks and Chloe reminds him that anyone with a voice modulator could still fool Lois pretending to be the Blur calling her. Clark says he knows now what he must do and we see a phone booth in Metropolis with its phone ringing and Lois picks up the call due to a note Clark secretly left her.
The Blur says that their relationship has placed her life at risk and they must never speak again but Lois insists this is the most important part of her life. He says that if anyone calls her claiming to be the Blur she must now trust then and he'll always watch over her, then they both say goodbye and their hearts ache over this development. Lois goes to meet Clark for their dinner together and Lois confesses she's been helping the Blur secretly and Clark hopes it was just the reporter in her that drew her to the Blur. She says the Blur no longer wants her in his life and he says he's standing in front of her and he wants her in his life. She says she wished he were more duty bound like the Blur and he says he does understand a sense of duty to others but the real question is whether or not Clark can fill the void the Blur has left in her heart and she doesn't answer as the screen fades black.

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

"Sacrifice"

Teleplay By: Justin Hartley & Walter Wong & Bryan Q. Miller
Story By: Justin Hartley & Walter Wong
Directed By: Kevin G. Fair
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 4/30/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Sharon Taylor
Co-Starring: Crystal Lowe
Co-Starring: Adrian Holmes
Co-Starring: Jonathan Lloyd Walker
Co-Starring: Pam Grier
Co-Starring: Ryan McDonell
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
Chloe stops late one night one night for a last minute cup of coffee before she enters the Watchtower. After entering the tower however she notices an alert saying the Kandorian file has been accessed which immediately puts her on her guard. Then she's surprised from behind by Tess Mercer holding a gun on her. Tess explains she guessed Chloe's identity as Watchtower from a slip Oliver made and she broke in. Chloe bluffs Tess that the gun she took from a drawer is unloaded and that causes Tess to hesitate enough for Chloe to start a fight with her. But in the struggle the gun goes off and the Watchtower's security system immediately locks all doors and windows and now Tess aims the gun at Chloe telling her she wants out, but the system is now in complete security lockdown and they're trapped! At Luthorcorp Oliver is met by Clark who tells Oliver he needs his help finding the Kandorians but he wants Chloe kept on the sidelines to keep her from harm. He tells Oliver of Zod gaining powers and his going after Lois while impersonating Clark as the Blur. He explains he must broker a peace with Zod and Oliver must restrain himself as he wants to build a family with the refugee Kryptonians who do want to make a life here on Earth. Oliver agrees but he reminds Clark that he already has a family in the friends they've all made with each other.
Tess futilely empties the gun into the metal shuttered windows while telling Chloe she used a DNA cloak as she's collected many samples of Chloe's DNA from their multiple encounters. Chloe explains the system is designed to trap intruders and they are in mortal peril as they will soon run out of air! Then Chloe says there's some hidden transmitter that actually activated the alert and Tess denies she's done anything but try to destroy Chloe's Kandorian file and that could mean Checkmate is the culprit in this event. And sure enough next we see Agent Waller, the Black Queen of Checkmate, being told by her Agent Campbell that the location of the Watchtower should be known by dawn. Chloe tells Tess that Checkmate may have downloaded all her information in just a few seconds. Chloe finds the scanner is a sub-dermal device inside Tess' body and Tess says it's a nanotech device that works on the host's biorhythms to track Checkmate agents. Chloe tries to cut the device out but it actually burrows deeper into Tess' body as she tells Chloe now the device cannot be removed and Checkmate is closing in on them!
Clark meets with a group of Kandorians led by Zod's ex-lieutenant named Faora and she tells Clark they have left Zod as they weren't being allowed to adopt Earth lives. But now these people intend to reunite with Zod so Clark tells her he must show her something before she reconciles with Zod. As the Green Arrow, Oliver breaks into the Luthor mansion looking for leads to the Kandorians and he is found there by Zod. Zod tells him that Checkmate intends to hunt the Kandorians to their death and he asks the Green Arrow to join him as he once was a victim of Checkmate too. Oliver refuses and he aims his crossbow at Zod and fires with icy calm as Zod rushes towards him at super-speed. Oliver is bodily slammed by Zod into the wall dropping him like a stone but Zod looks down to see that Oliver has shot him with a Kryptonite bolt and now both men fall to the floor! With two minutes of air left Tess tells Chloe that both their paths in life have served to isolate them from people and Tess confesses that she is jealous of Chloe as she has won Oliver's heart. Chloe realizes she can take a tank of nitrogen that's used to cool the computer system from the wall and have Tess shoot it as it strikes the metal shutters making them brittle. Chloe says but if she does that then the entire Watchtower system will be destroyed and Tess reminds her the alternative is certain death for them. Chloe tosses the tank and Tess's aim is accurate and the shutters freeze when covered in the nitrogen then they take a table and shatter the doors and run to freedom as Watchtower dies!
As soon as they exit the Watchtower Agent Campbell picks up the bio-tracker inside Tess and he instructs his agents to close in on Tess and Chloe and shoot to kill! Clark has shown Faora Jor-El's journal telling how Zod ends up destroying Krypton and he mustn't be allowed to do the same to Earth. Then Clark's super-hearing detects the fact that Faora is pregnant and she admits that Zod is the father and Clark insists that this is proof that Kryptonians can find a life here on our planet. At the mansion Zod asks why Oliver doesn't kill him and Oliver says he promised Clark to try this peacefully and at that moment Faora warns Clark that Zod seeks the book of Rao and if he finds it his power would be boundless. Oliver calls Clark telling him he's captured Zod but while he speaks Zod breaks free and attacks him as Clark listens in horror to Oliver's screams as he speeds to the mansion to save his friend. He rushes into the room to find the fried remains of a security guard Zod extracted information from and then he finds an unconscious Oliver on the floor with a "Z" branded into his chest! Agent Campbell gets a call from Agent Waller telling him that the information they got from Watchtower has located the Kandorians and all Checkmate agents are now ordered to hunt them down. Agent Campbell signs off and tells his men he has no intention of letting Tess escape his wrath and they will continue to hunt Tess down and kill her. As Oliver is wheeled into the hospital he tells Clark Checkmate has found the Kandorians and he must hurry to save them from death.
Faora tells her few followers she will not let Zod tyrannize them any further and she asks for their support but then the doors burst open as Agent Waller and her agents gas the Kandorians taking them captive. Agent Waller takes Faora away telling her men to kill the rest but as soon as she leaves Clarks speeds into the room knocking out all the agents and freeing the Kandorians. Faora's sister tells Clark that Waller has captured Faora and he rushes off to hopefully save her and her unborn child. Chloe has snuck into the hospital with Tess and she takes her into a room with a defibrillator. She tells Tess she wants to use the machine's electrical paddles to stop Tess' heart deactivating the scanner for good and then she'll use a cardiac adrenalin needle to revive her. Tess doesn't want to trust Chloe but she has no choice so she lies down and Chloe charges the paddles and shocks Tess to death! The rogue Checkmate agents loose Tess' scanner signal and they walk right by Tess lying in a body bag as Chloe crouches on the floor. Then she hears Agent Campbell order the building locked down and she quickly revives Tess with the needle. Tess is surprised to be alive and Chloe warns her if she reveals anything she's learned about the heroes Chloe's helped with Watchtower she will see her dead and Tess says now Chloe must trust her for a change and the two part company.
Agent Waller tells Faora that Zod has just killed dozens of her agents while destroying her field offices then Zod speeds onto the scene throwing Waller thirty feet into a windshield. He moves to finish her off but Clark arrives knocking Zod straight though a warehouse wall. Clark goes to check on Waller and Zod grabs Faora escaping with her back to his hidden lair. He tells Faora he has trusted her as his right hand since saving her in combat. He says that insurrection by any of his fellow Kandorians will cause him to raze this planet in punishment and he demands Faora kneel before him and she refuses. So he grabs her and makes her kneel while he squeezes her neck until it snaps and she lies dying at his feet. Only then does Zod notice her protective hand sheltering her stomach and he kneels and uses his super hearing to listen to his unborn son die and he weeps now over what he has done then his sadness turns to anger and twists his face in hate. Chloe and Clark watch over a badly injured Oliver lying in his bed when they see international news and Clark sees that Checkmate's castle headquarters is in flames and he realizes the war between the Kandorians and Earth has been started by Zod.
Chloe's phone picks up a warning that Zod has taken his troops to the Fortress of Solitude and now Clark speeds there to head off further disaster. Zod carries Faora's body into the Fortress telling his soldiers that she was killed by Checkmate and therefore they must fight to survive so that that Krypton doesn't die with them. Clark speeds onto the scene declaring Zod a liar saying she was last seen alive with Zod. Zod cites Clark saving Waller's life and Faora's sister sides with Zod and now his soldiers all say they will follow Zod to the ends of the Earth. Zod declares that Krypton will rise again and all on Earth will kneel before Zod and Clark says he won't allow that to happen. Then Zod tells Clark he won't be able to stop them and they all fly away smashing out of the Fortress as Clark realizes he now faces a small army of fully super-powered Kandorians who will follow Zod to the death!

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

"Hostage"

Written By: Jordan Hawley & Ann Coffel Saunders
Directed By: Glen Winter
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 05/7/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Gil Bellows
Co-Starring: Crystal Lowe
Martha Kent: Annette O'Toole
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Perry White: Michael McKean

Our Story:
Clark is looking all over the Kent farmhouse to hopefully find the book of Rao that his father Jor-El left here on Earth years ago while he begs Chloe for help over the phone. Supposedly it contains great power and Chloe opines that searching for the fabled book of power is why Zod and his super-powered Kandorians have disappeared as finding the book is now their greatest priority also. Chloe explains that Watchtower computer systems have not yet been rebuilt and have only fractional computer ability compared to its once great database. Then Clark has to hang up as he hears someone else is in the house and he rounds a corner to discover Lois. She tells Clark that she's uncovered a story which may get them their jobs back since being fired last week by Franklin Stern the new Editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet newspaper. Clark begs off citing more important priorities but Lois says that she needs a purpose in life and then Clark asks her to give him a break and Lois announces she wants a break in their relationship for a while. But Clark has no time to react to that as Ma Kent suddenly walks through the front door!
Then Ma Kent announces she's bought none other than Perry White home for dinner and Lois' ears perk up at meeting a man she considers a reporter's idol. Ma and Clark stand in front of Pa Kent's workbench in the barn and they both sadly speak of their deep shared loss. Ma admits she hasn't returned home for so long as the memories are too painful. She says she met Perry in a committee meeting and Clark is glad she has met someone and Ma says she's glad Clark has Lois in his life. Lois is inside gushing all over Perry who says he admires her and Clark's work. They both state how they're working on very big stories and Lois shows him a drawing of the Kryptonian disc called the book of Rao saying aliens presently here on Earth are searching for it. Perry says he found out a secret government installation was recently destroyed and his investigation has uncovered a woman called the Red Queen who is blocking Checkmate's efforts and he also found a sketch of what appears to be the book of Rao. Perry delights Lois when he tells her she just got the break of a lifetime as he thinks their stories are connected and she's about to get a by-line with Perry White!
Tess Mercer awakens in her bedroom to fins all the doors and windows barred and then the man we know as Maxwell Lord, A.K.A. The Black King, comes in the room knocking Tess to the floor and with his boot on her neck he asks her where the book of Rao is. Back at the Kent farm Ma Kent asks Lois how she and Clark are doing together. Lois talks about when she was helping the Blur and it gave her a sense of a higher purpose in life. Ma relates how after she and Pa were married she got a job to intern for a federal judge but after helping Pa and other farmers during a flood she was able to help 20 families save their farms and that gave her the thought that being important is relevant to who you're helping with their problems. Back at the Watchtower Chloe searches for any mention on the internet anywhere about the book of Rao but when she does the image of a Red Queen appears on her monitors and she tells Clark the Red Queen has blocked her efforts and Clark worries that The Red Queen title connotes Checkmate's hand in this affair. But Chloe reassures him that the Red Queen has been revealed to be an enemy of Checkmate.
Clark talks with Perry and he tells him he's working with Lois on their now mutual storyline. Clark is slightly jealous but Perry tells him he has realized that having someone around to share their life with if what makes life worth living and then he asks Clark for his blessing as he wants to marry Ma Kent. Clark returns to talk to Lois and he asks that they don't take a break from each other. Then Ma and Clark see Perry standing in the doorway bringing in wood wearing Pa Kent's old jacket and it's a very poignant moment for all of them. Perry asks how Clark and Lois are getting along in a relationship while also working together. Lois admits that she and Clark were fired and their relationship is on hold and she turns and tells Clark she now sees that she must find her higher purpose by herself and she wants a permanent breakup and not just a break. Clark follows Lois outside asking her to reconsider the breakup but Lois tells him if he really cares about her he must then be willing to let her go and Clark can't argue that point.
Tess is still in her barred bedroom and Oliver is now thrown in with her with his chest showing the "Z" that Zod burned into it with his heat-vision. She asks what their captors asked him about and he replies they asked about aliens and other strange things and then he accuses her of this all being a set-up for him to reveal information thinking he's Tess' fellow captive and he thinks that Tess is the Red Queen. Perry has left with Lois and Ma admits to Clark her relationship with Perry is an unanswered question in her mind. Clark admits he hates lying to Lois constantly about his other life as the Blur and he's just falling deeper in love with her. Ma advises him to take Lois into his confidence or it is indeed time for him to let Lois go. Perry and Lois arrive at Lois' apartment to find it trashed and Lois uses the cell phone Waller gave her and she calls the number demanding a face to face meeting with the Red Queen. The cell phone rings moments later giving Perry and Clark coordinates for a meeting with the Red Queen! Clark meets with Vala the Kandorian refugee whose sister Faora was killed by Zod recently and she tells Clark how significant and powerful the book of Rao is and she insists Clark is responsible for Faora's death.
She says Zod is searching for it but someone called the Red Queen is blocking his efforts and she says that she thinks Tess Mercer is the Red Queen and then she leaves. Chloe calls Clark saying that she's found a lot of talk on the internet about Perry and Clark being set up for a meeting with the Red Queen and if Vala's right and if the Red Queen is Tess gone rogue then Perry and Lois are in mortal danger! In Tess' bedroom Maxwell Lord tortures Oliver with Tess still insisting she isn't the Red Queen and in response Lord shoots Oliver through his right knee. Oliver comes from behind Tess and tells her she was always his true love and at that statement Tess knocks Oliver down, grabs Lord's gun firing at him dispelling the mental illusion he had been using to interrogate Tess. Tess rises from the table Lord had her on and grabs a nearby knife and cutting Lord's neck ever so slightly she warns him the next time she'll kill him and she flees the room. Lord calls someone on his phone telling them they were right and Tess' interrogation failed and then a high pitched whine is heard over Maxwell Lord's phone and he falls to the floor unconscious like a puppet whose strings have just been cut!
Perry and Lois see the Red Queen standing atop a building near where they were told to wait and they chase her onto the roof with an older Perry trying to keep up with Lois as he mutters, "Great Caesar's Ghost" while painfully climbing a fire escape ladder. Suddenly the fire escape ladder breaks off of the building and with Perry hanging on it then falls into an electric store sign and now Lois throws Perry a rope and starts to pull him to safety. Then as she pulls him over the rooftop the sign snaps free and falls towards the crowd watching all this below. Clark speeds onto the scene in his dark Blur outfit and catches the sign tossing it aside to the sidewalk just as Perry is pulled to the rooftop safely by Lois. As the crowd below breaks into applause for Lois and her saving Perry, Lois stands atop the building with her hands on her hips telling him she could get used to this. As this all happens the Red Queen enters her limo to speed away but Clark intercepts the vehicle with his super-speed and he rips the door open demanding the whereabouts of the book of Rao. His answer is in the form of a red gloved hand holding a huge piece of Kryptonite in Clark's face and when he collapses from the radiation which is so deadly to only Kryptonians, the Red Queen's driver safely accelerates away with her!
At the Watchtower Chloe informs Clark that while the Red Queen was escaping him Tess was being treated for injuries so she cannot be the woman in question. Chloe then tells Clark that Watchtower is now once again fully functional but she isn't sure she wants to continue playing the role of all-seeing eye in the sky for him anymore and she needs a real life for her to live. Clark reminds her she's as much if not more a hero then he ever will be and the world needs her and Clark needs her and with that realization Chloe powers up the Watchtower systems and gladly retakes her role as information broker to super-heroes. She tells Clark that in the past when it might have seemed she was working against his interests she was merely doing whatever she had to do to protect him. Clark hears the words "protect him" and a synapse fires in his brain and he realizes at last exactly who the Red Queen really is. Tess Mercer enters the wine cellar in the Luthor mansion and she goes to a false bottle in a rack and unscrewing its bottom she takes out the Kryptonian information disk known to us as the book of Rao. But a red clad woman appears behind her with a gun and telling Tess to not turn around we then see Ma Kent relieve her of the precious and dangerous Kryptonian artifact.
She tells Tess she doesn't like using Maxwell Lord as his methods are harsh but he got the job done so Tess could escape and then Ma could follow her to the book of Rao. She tells Tess that if she isn't careful she will end up on the wrong side of the coming Apocalypse. Then she says she cannot fully comprehend what someone will do to protect their loved ones as Tess has no loved ones but now she knows the Red Queen will do whatever is necessary to protect Clark Kent. She tells Tess to never bother Clark again or she may not live to regret her interference then she fades away into the shadows like a wraith leaving Tess with tears pouring down her cheeks over Ma Kent's words about her having no one to love or to love her in return. At the Daily Planet Lois sees her and Clark's desks restored with their nameplates on them and Perry explains he put in a good word for her and Clark to his old friend Franklin Stern. He then says he's flying out immediately on a lead about the Red Queen being overseas but he intends to keep pursuing Ma Kent. Lois says the events of the last few days have taught her that she must find the hero within herself and that way she'll attain the life with a higher purpose she seeks. Perry leaves but when Lois sits down at her desk there is a whoosh of air and she sees the Blur has just left her a note that says "It's time for us to finally meet. The Blur".
Clark enters the farmhouse and he tells Ma he misses her but the next time she comes home he hopes she'll take it easier on him with the Kryptonite and Martha realizes that Clark knows everything. She tells him that he must be protected and that's why she became the Red Queen and there is a great battle coming which may destroy even Clark. He asks his mother for the book of Rao citing that his father Jor-El left it here on Earth as a gift to Clark and it is his destiny to save this planet from harm and he finally fully accepts that fact. Ma takes the Kryptonian disk called the book of Rao from a nearby case and hands it to its rightful owner. Through tears Ma tells Clark that the book of Rao can be used to send the Kandorians to another plain of existence but once used to exile them from Earth all Kryptonians will be exiled from our planet including Clark!

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

"Salvation"

Written By: Turi Meyer & Al Septien
Directed By: Greg Beeman
Produced By: Al Septien & Turi Meyer
Aired in the U.S.A.: 05/14/10

Roles & Actors this episode:
Co-Starring: Adrian Holmes
Co-Starring: Crystal Lowe
Clark Kent: Tom Welling
Lois Lane: Erica Durance
Tess Mercer: Cassidy Freeman
Oliver Queen/Green Arrow: Justin Hartley
Chloe Sullivan: Allison Mack
Zod: Callum Blue

Our Story:
The year is 2013 and the World's Fair is being held in Metropolis where Perry White is now the editor of the Daily Planet newspaper and Lois Lane is the go-to reporter with a reputation of always getting her story. But the biggest shocker is the headline we see Lois reading that says Lex Luthor has announced he is running for President of the United States. Next we see Lois and the other reporters running towards a window as one man yells, "Look up in the sky!" and Lois notices that Clark's left his glasses on his desk and his chair is still spinning so we know he left in a hurry. Then just before a runaway plane can hit the Daily Planet globe a colorful caped figure grabs the plane and turns it aside at the last moment averting certain disaster. Then Clark bolts awake up from his couch in the Kent farm barn loft and he is startled at the dream we just saw him having. He spots a package sitting across from him and he steps up to it opening the card on it and it says, "If you decide to stay. Mom". We don't see directly what's in the box but reflected in his iris we see a bold red "S" in the shape of Clark's Kryptonian family crest and we realize he's looking for the first time at what will become the most famous costume in the history of heroes!
Lois received a note from the Blur saying they must meet and she walks onto a building roof and Zod stands there dressed in a duplicate of Clark's black Blur outfit. He tells Lois he needs her help as Clark Kent is about to reveal his identity as the Blur and that will ruin him. He says that Clark's doing all this out of jealousy over Lois' feelings for the Blur and he urges her to investigate Clark to see if he's lying. At the once again fully-functioning Watchtower Chloe talks by video-linkup to Oliver Queen, secretly the Green Arrow, who says that the recently disappeared Kandorians might have flown off-planet by now. But Chloe is sure that a war between the Kandorians and Earth is inevitable and coming soon. As Oliver tells Chloe he's on his way and then hangs up Clark speeds into the room telling Chloe that their impromptu league of heroes even at full strength will be no match for the super-powered Kandorians and their defeat on those terms is assured. Chloe holds up the Kryptonian disc known as the book of Rao and Clark says his mother gave it to him as his birthright as she inherited the Kryptonian library from Lionel Luthor after his death.
He also explains it was created by his father Jor-El to send the Kandorians to a new world they could call their own but once activated it will send all Kryptonians on Earth there, including Clark. Clark says he's finally accepted that his destiny is to be a hero to the world that has adopted him as one of her own and he's not going anywhere. Chloe wonders if Clark's destiny might not be to go with the Kandorians as their new leader and establish New Krypton wherever they end up. Zod speeds to Clark's Fortress of Solitude to once again demand that Jor-El speak to him despite his earlier attempts failing. Tess enters the Fortress telling Zod she's had an epiphany and she intends to do whatever she must to achieve redemption. Zod's response is to bodily smash her into the crystalline control console saying he's learned she's kept the Book of Rao from him and she'll find no redemption or mercy from him. Tess takes out a pair of glowing green Kryptonite knuckles and donning them she proceeds to beat the hell out of Zod while telling him she will never allow him to either kill Clark or conquer the Earth. But somehow Zod overcomes the deadly effects of the Kryptonite and he rises and turns the full power of his heat-vision on a now screaming Tess!
Soon afterwards Clark speeds into the Fortress and he and Zod argue back and forth about might makes right over just doing the right thing period. Clark says Zod can obtain redemption over killing Faora and Clark relates how his insistent will got his adopted father killed. Each man insists they will follow their own interpretations of what they believe their destiny to be and then Zod speeds away. Then Clark finds Tess and the entire left side of her body is charred black while her right half remains intact and Clark speeds away with Tess to get her medical help. Lois receives a letter from Perry White with an airline ticket in it and then she reverse researches the Blur finding only a picture of Zod which confuses her all the more. At the hospital Tess tells Clark everything she's done has been to protect Clark and she says that even though Zod destroyed the console in the Fortress he can use the console she pulled from the rubble of the twin tower of Rao that Zod intended to use to turn the Earth's sun red. She tells Clark he's the only one who can save us now and the war has already begun and Clark's time has run out. Then with a final painful sigh Tess Mercer mercifully passes out leaving Clark to ponder all that she said to him.
Round the world the seven wonders lie in ruins and any of man's monuments left, including Washington's monument in D.C., now have the "Z" of Zod's Kryptonian crest burned into them with a super-soldier of Zod's standing atop each one as they burn and fall. At the Watchtower the various heroes report in, including Hawkman, and many of them want to fight but Clark walks into the tower in street clothes saying the Kandorians are going to be sent away by him and he insists the remaining heroes will be needed by the world and they must now and forever become a league for justice. The heroes all salute Clark telling him it's been their honor to serve with him and they will carry on as he has asked. Oliver urges Clark to tell Lois his secrets or at least to say goodbye to her. Zod's soldier reports to him that their satellites are not working and Zod says that he will possess the book of Rao by dawn and then the world will be theirs. Oliver tells Chloe that he's had a satellite made just for the Watchtower but the earth station must be activated manually at the site and while Chloe remains at her station Oliver will go start the satellite link-up by himself. Clark finds Lois at his barn loft and she's just found his private journal with the notes for the book of Rao and they match Perry White's sketches exactly. Then Lois tells Clark she's been offered a desk job at the Daily Planet foreign office in Kenya and Clark encourages her to go. But Lois says she would give her chance up for him as he's the most important person in her life but he must stop hiding his secrets from her. But Clark cannot bring himself to reveal his true self to her and he wishes her luck in her new job.
Back at the hospital poor Tess finds an end to her pain when she passes away hopefully to find more happiness then she could attain in this life. Chloe and Oliver talk over their phones and Oliver starts the station working but the now online sensors detect multiple intruders heading right for Oliver! Oliver is surrounded by what Chloe says are Kandorians but Oliver yells one last time that he loves her and she answers she loves him too, then he screams to her that whoever has come for him are not Kandorians then the phone goes dead! Clark goes to where Tess told him the console is and he prepares to exile the Kandorians and himself. Meanwhile Lois meets Zod and he tells her he will never deceive her the way Clark has and now he wants her to give him the book of Rao and she says he is now the most important person in her life and she hid the book of Rao for safekeeping. But then Lois gauges Zod's angry insistence on getting the book and she tells Zod she knows he's not the Blur. Zod answers that by knocking her away from him like a doll then he starts to speeds towards her but Clark speeds up and lands a mighty right hand punch knocking Zod far away. Then he catches Lois just as she starts to fly into the phone booth she and Clark used this past year to talk to each other. He gently lowers the woman he loves to the ground and Lois awakens and as Clark stands in the shadows she asks his forgiveness for trusting Zod as the Blur and Clark takes her in his arms and they kiss passionately. Then Clark speeds to the extra console and he's about to start the book of Rao up when Zod and his soldiers all fly on to the rooftop surrounding him!
But Clark tells Zod's soldiers the truth about Zod killing Faora and his child that she bore and also that the Book of Rao will send them all to a new planet and there they can start New Krypton. Zod charges Clark whispering that his soldiers will never believe the truth about him killing Faora but he has forgotten they all possess super-hearing and they all now surround Zod and Clark activates the book of Rao. One by one the Kandorians are transported away on beams of golden light except for Clark and Zod who shows Clark the Blue Kryptonite knife he holds which has robbed them both of their powers and now he slashes madly at Clark cutting him badly. But Clark is a fighter also and using his coat he wrapped around his sleeve he wards off the knife and takes Zod down hard on the rooftop. Then they fight as true physical equals each giving no quarter and drawing blood from each other with wild blows. Zod backs Clark up to the building's ledge and then Clark purposely takes Zod's hand and plunges the Blue Kryptonite knife into himself and falls off the ledge. Zod realizes that now he's no longer exposed to the Blue Kryptonite and with a scream of rage the golden beam catches him transporting him away from Earth and all his plans of making us all kneel before him go with him. And Clark simply falls to a certain death and as we watch the picture fades to black and the words: TO BE CONTINUED appear on the screen.

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

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Season 9

Episode Guide

Episodes

Summaries

"Savior"

"Metallo"

"Rabid"

"Echo"

"Roulette"

"Crossfire"

"Kandor"

"Idol"

"Pandora"

"Disciple"

"Absolute Justice"

"Warrior"

"Persuasion"

"Conspiracy"

"Escape"

"Checkmate"

"Upgrade"

"Charade"

"Sacrifice"

"Hostage"

"Salvation"

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