Hothead (Episode) - SirJeffCena

"**Hothead**" is the third episode in the first season of *Smallville*, and third episode overall. It aired on October 30, 2001.

## Summary

Coach Walt Arnold is obsessed with winning. Meteor rocks in his sauna have given him the power to cause objects to burst into flames. Clark Kent defies his father and joins the football team. Lana Lang defies expectations, quits cheer-leading, and waits tables. Lex Luthor defies his father in a business plan that saves several people their jobs. The coach attacks the principal, a player, and a journalist before Clark stops him.

## Recap

Coach Walt Arnold is hard on his team, but he's a winning coach. Next Friday's game will be the last of the season and Coach Walt's 200th win. After a game, Coach Arnold retires to enjoy his private sauna which was given to him five years ago, in recognition of twenty years of dedicated service by the alumni association. The steam coming off the lava rocks has a green tinge.

Principal Kwan arrives to discuss a problem. He has discovered that seven of the football players cheated on their mathematics midterm, so they are ineligible to play in next Friday's game. Coach Arnold asks Principal Kwan to keep it quiet for a few weeks and deal with it in the off-season and when Kwan refuses, Coach Arnold loses his temper. Kwan doesn't back down and exits. Coach Arnold hits the top of his desk in frustration and rage and it bursts into flames.

On Monday, Chloe's new article appears in the Smallville Torch describing the football coach as abusive. Lana is upset that football players were cheating. Coach Arnold tries to recruit Clark. He pushes pretty hard and finally Clark agrees to join the team even though he knows that his father will not give his permission. Back home, Clark argues with his father about playing football and Martha tries to play peace-keeper. Jonathan attends Clark's first practice. Clark is not able to control himself on the field and leaps over the linemen and scores a touchdown. Although no one is hurt, Clark's father leaves the stadium, obviously disappointed. At home, they argue again about him being on the team.

At the Luthor Mansion, Lex argues with the business managers that Lionel Luthor sent to make sure Lex runs LuthorCorp his way. The company is performing twenty percent below projections, so Lionel wants Lex to cut the work force, but Lex plans to increase it in a bold move aimed to put his competitors on the run.

Lana explains to her Aunt Nell that she has quit the cheer-leading squad and wants to get a part-time job, so she can have money to travel during the summer. Nell offers her a job at her flower shop, but Lana is determined to find something on her own.

Coach Arnold is reviewing film from that day's practice when Principal Kwan comes to his office to let him know that one of the football players confessed that it was the coach that gave him an advanced copy of the math test. Principal Kwan tried to have the coach suspended, but too many members of the school board are friends with the coach. Principal Kwan plans to get other students to come forward to force the board to suspend Coach Arnold. The coach loses his temper and throws the remote control down on the desk. The television bursts into flames.

Coach Arnold watches as Principal Kwan walks to his car. When he turns the key in the ignition, Coach closes his eyes and the car's interior bursts into flames. Clark rescues the principal just before the car explodes.

Chloe, Clark, and Pete go out for coffee at the Beanery and meet Lana waiting tables. Lana is having a hard time. Chloe notices when the seven suspended football players all leave the coffee shop together and she decides to follow them. She finds them talking with the coach on the football field. The coach is trying to figure out which of them ratted him out. Trevor Chapell gives himself away. The coach loses his temper and hits the boy across the jaw with his fist. When he does, the sprinklers become flamethrowers. Chloe photographs the whole incident. At the pep rally, Chloe tries to get Trevor to give a statement to the school paper. The coach attacks him and burns his arm with his bare hand. Trevor tells the coach that Chloe has a picture of them from the football field the night before. The coach goes inside the school and finds Chloe working on tomorrow's edition of the paper. Without entering the room, he closes his eyes and her computer bursts into flames. The fire grows and engulfs the entire room. Chloe is nearly overcome, when Clark shows up and the coach backs off. Chloe explains to Clark her theory that the coach is responsible for the cheating and the pyrotechnics, but she doesn't have any proof, so they decide to visit Trevor.

Clark looks for Trevor at the Beanery and finds Lex Luthor. Clark, Lex, and Lana all talk about their parents' expectations. Lex notes that the two of them stood their ground and that they have inspired him to do the same. Clark finds Trevor the next day holed up in his garage surrounded by fire extinguishers. He confesses to Clark that the coach gave him the math test. He shows Clark the hand-shaped burn on his arm. Clark goes looking for the coach and finds him in his sauna. Clark accuses the coach of hurting Trevor and threatens to keep him from coaching. The meteor rocks in the sauna makes Clark sick, and the coach easily overpowers him and locks him in the sauna. Chloe and Clark's parents wonder where Clark is and go looking for him. Clark tries to escape the sauna by throwing the rocks through the small window. Jonathan finds him, breaks down the door, and drags him out of the sauna. He recovers just in time to do battle with the coach who becomes so enraged, he burns himself up.

Later, Clark reconciles with his father when he quits the football team. He finds Lana on the football field, thinking. She admits that she got fired, but she is tired of being a cheerleader. They talk about how they want to be something more than what they are. And since they are alone, Lana offers Clark the chance for both of them to let out of their chests all the frustration and stress by screaming.

Lionel Luthor arrives in Smallville to give Lex a hard time about his decision to increase his workforce rather than decreasing it. Since they can't seem to come to an agreement, Lionel suggests that they fence for it. Lex loses and is ordered to reduce his workforce. Instead, Lex finds a way to cut the operating budget without reducing his workforce, infuriating Lionel.

## Cast

### Starring

* Clark Kent
* Lana Lang
* Lex Luthor
* Whitney Fordman
* Pete Ross
* Chloe Sullivan
* Martha Kent
* Jonathan Kent

### Guest Starring

* Dominic Sanatori
* Nell Potter
* Principal James Kwan
* Trevor Chapell
* Coach Walt Arnold

## Notes

* Antagonist: Walt Arnold
* Clark uses the following abilities in this episode: super strength, super speed, super dexterity, and Invulnerability
* This is the first episode of the series featuring Lionel Luthor other than flashbacks from *Pilot*.

## Spoilers

* This is the first time Clark has been on a football team. He would play again his senior year, leading his team to an undefeated season and a state championship. He also was recruited to play football at Metropolis University by Geoff Johns in *Recruit*.
* This episode begins a recurring element of this season, with Lionel Luthor's insistence of downsizing the Smallville Fertilizer Plant, and its eventual closure in the episode *Tempest*.
* In season eight's *Bulletproof*, David Paetkau also plays Dan Turpin.

## Locations

* Smallville
	+ Kent Farm
		- Kent House
		- Loft
	+ Smallville High School
		- The Torch office
		- **Football field**
	+ Luthor Mansion
	+ Lawson's Field
	+ Main Street
		- The Beanery