Rogue

## "Rogue"Season 01, Episode 09

"*You can take the boy off the farm but you can’t take the farm out of the boy.*"
—Chloe Sullivan about Clark Kent

**"Rogue"** is the ninth episode of Season One of The CW's *Smallville*. It was written by Mark Verheiden and directed by David Carson. It is the ninth episode of the series overall, and premiered on January 15, 2002.

## Synopsis

Clark’s craftiness is tested in this intriguing installment when he matches wits with a corrupt Metropolis police detective. On his way back from viewing an art exhibition in the city, Clark stops an out-of-control bus from hitting a homeless man. His heroics are witnessed by a crooked lawman, who tracks down the Smallville teen and makes him an offer he can’t refuse: Perform illicit tasks for the cop or face exposure. But Clark isn’t so eager to capitulate. Elsewhere, Lex’s love life heats up when an old flame breezes into town and asks him to reconsider his current position in his father’s company.

## Recap

At the charity gala in the Luthor Hall Collection of the Metropolis Museum, Clark Kent and Lex Luthor admire a piece of jewel-encrusted armor that belonged to Alexander the Great. The jewels are red and blue and a snake appears on the chest, shaped like an S. Lana Lang is also there, but when she invites Clark to join her and her boyfriend Whitney Fordman, he retreats to get some air.

Outside the museum, Detective Sam Phelan a police officer is beating someone up, ranting about obtaining his file at internal affairs. As Clark walks down the steps of the museum, a bus comes around a corner. When the driver has a heart attack, the bus starts plowing through the parked cars along the side of the road. Just before the bus crashes into a bus stop where a man is sleeping, Clark uses his super speed and his super strength to get in front of the bus and let it crash into him.

There is a terrific explosion as the bus wraps around Clark's body. Clark is unharmed. When people begin pouring out of the museum to see what caused the commotion, Clark zooms away. When Sam investigates the scene, he guesses that Clark stopped the bus.

The next morning, Clark helps his dad raise a large generator up high in the rafters of the barn. Clark tells his parents what happened in Metropolis with the bus. Back in Metropolis Phelan is blackmailing a guard, saying he will expose the guard's previous DUI charge if he doesn't comply. The guard gives Phelan surveillance photos from the gala the night before. Phelan seems most interested in a photo of Lex and Clark together. At the Luthor Mansion, Lex and Victoria Hardwick are having breakfast. Victoria is the daughter of a multinational industrialist, Harry Hardwick, and one of his vice presidents. She has come to propose a deal that will let Lex get back at his father.

At Smallville High School, Chloe Sullivan is showing off her latest scathing editorial. Principal Kwan arrives to let her know that he's very unhappy that her paper focuses on the weirdness of Smallville and not actual school events. He tells her she can no longer edit the paper and it will be suspended until he can find a new one. Lana promises to try to help.

At the Beanery, Lex runs into Sam Phelan. He reveals that Sam was on Lionel Luthor's payroll and helped Lex out of a few scrapes, but Lex hates him. He asks Lex if he knows the boy in the photo with him. Lex claims that he doesn't know who it is.

As Clark walks through the barn the generator he helped raise into the rafters falls on top of him. He throws it off just as Sam Phelan comes down out of the loft. He explains that he needs Clark's help. Without knowing exactly what he needs, Clark senses that Phelan's intentions are not good and he flatly refused to help. Sam threatens to reveal Clark's secret and asks him to meet with him tomorrow afternoon at the Beanery. Clark tells his parents what happened. Jonathan plans to go see Detective Phelan the next afternoon. That night, Clark is in his loft when Lex arrives. Lex warns Clark that Phelan is bad news.

The next day at the Beanery, the meeting between Sam Phelan and Jonathan Kent does not go well. Phelan says only that he wants Clark's help, but he won't say why. Jonathan refuses to allow him to exploit Clark. Phelan threatens to tell Clark's secret and Jonathan loses his temper. At school, Lana has some good news and some bad news. The good news is that she talked with Principal Kwan, and he has reinstituted the school paper. The bad news is that Lana is the new editor. Even though Lana says Chloe will still be in charge, Chloe is still very upset. She lashes out at Clark and Lana and storms away in tears.

Lex proposes to Victoria that instead of helping her and her father take over LuthorCorp that he and she ought to take over both LuthorCorp and her father's company. In Metropolis, Phelan reveals what he wants Clark to do. He convinces him to break into the head of internal affairs' apartment and steal Phelan's file. Clark pops the lock and uses his X-ray vision to locate the safe in the wall. Then he drops it five stories right on top of Phelan's car and zooms away as the police arrive.

The next morning, Clark lies to his parents about where he was the night before. Deputy Ethan Miller arrives with a warrant to search the farm. They find a dead body in the barn and take Jonathan into custody. Martha Kent follows in the car while Clark returns to the house fuming. Phelan arrives at the farm and Clark attacks him. Just before Phelan is seriously injured, Clark regains control and lets him go. Clark visits his dad in jail and confesses to having gone to Metropolis the night before. He also admits to nearly killing Phelan that morning.

At the Beanery, Clark refuses Lex's offer to help, but when Phelan takes Clark to Metropolis again that night, Lex is following them. Phelan takes Clark to the museum. He wants him to steal the breastplate for him. They disable the security system and call in a bomb threat to get the guards out. Lex finds a plain brown package in the newspaper dispenser. He opens it up to find an alarm clock inside. Inside the museum, Clark bends the bars and breaks the glass protecting the breastplate. Phelan places the breastplate in a duffel bag and Clark throws it through a window to land at the feet of the guards on the sidewalk. Enraged by this double cross, Phelan pulls out his gun and fires. Clark uses his super speed to dodge the bullet. When the guards reenter the museum, Phelan fires at them and they shoot him down.

The next morning, all the charges against Jonathan have been dropped and he returns home. Clark assures his mother that no one saw him that night. At school, Lana is in trouble with Principal Kwan for her scathing editorial: "Kwan Crushes Freedom of Speech," but she successfully argues that it meets his conditions in that it is about a student and school sponsored club, without any mutants. Principal Kwan agrees to reinstate Chloe as long as she promises not to print what she can't prove. Chloe apologizes for getting upset at Lana's attempts to help.

Lex is reviewing security footage of the museum in which Clark appears as a blur.

## Cast

* Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
* Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
* Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordman
* Sam Jones III as Pete Ross
* Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
* Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
* John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
* Cameron Dye as Detective Sam Phelan
* Hiro Kanagawa as Principal James Kwan

Co-Starring* Mitchell Kosterman as Sheriff Ethan Miller
* Danny Wattley as Deputy
* Costa Spanos as Phelan's Snitch
* J.B. Bivens as Museum Security Guard

## Trivia

### Production Notes

* With this episode, a conscious decision was made to start moving the show away from a "Villain of the Week" format and into a larger mythology.
* The armor Clark states he couldn't see himself wearing is reminiscent of Superman's uniform. The snake insignia on the center makes an 's' shape and is adorned with blue and red jewels - Superman's colors.

### Goofs

* When Phelan first begins talking to Lex in the Beanery he is standing facing Lex, hands empty. When the shot cuts to Lex and back, Phelan is suddenly holding a coffee mug and is partway through swallowing.
* When Clark enters the Torch office to talk to Lana, he doesn't have a coat. As he leaves, he is holding one in his hands.
* When Phelan and Clark drive away from the farm, for a brief moment you can see a shadowed outline of a crew member running by the house before ducking down by the fence to get out of the shot.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.smallvilleph.com/2002/01/rogue/