Smallville Season 1

The **first season** of *Smallville* began airing on October 16, 2001, on The WB television network, and concluded its initial airing on May 21, 2002 with 21 episodes.

### Pilot

On October 7, 1989, a meteor shower flies through space towards the earth with a small spaceship centered in the middle of them. Oblivious to these events in space, rich businessman Lionel Luthor and his young son are flying in their helicopter to a factory in Smallville. Nine-year-old Lex Luthor is scolded by his father for expressing his fear during the flight, later finding relief when they land.

Meanwhile, young Smallville couple Jonathan and Martha Kent take a trip into town, visiting florist shop owner and Johnathan's former girlfriend Nell Potter and her three-year-old niece Lana Lang. Nell is looking after her niece whilst her parents are at the Homecoming football game. Johnathan buys some flowers whilst Martha makes a wish from Lana who is dressed up in a fairy princess costume she was given for Halloween. After leaving Nell's flower shop Martha reveals her wish for a child as the couple are about to Drive away they notice the homecoming parade coming down the road as the Smallville crows celebrate winning another match. The pair eventually start to make their way back to their farm.

As the meteors and space ship starts getting closer to earth, Lionel Luthor starts to make a business deal with Dale Ross and Bill Ross of the Ross family creamed corn factory to buy their factory. Whilst a bored Lex starts to wander off into Riley Corn Field. After hearing someone whisper "help me", he runs in a panic, stumbling to the ground where he is called upon by fourteen-year-old Jeremy Creek who is without clothing and tied to a cross with an "S" painted on his chest.

Suddenly a meteor hits the cornfield and creates a shockwave seemingly swallowing Jeremy and Lex. In the town, the townspeople gawk at the destructive trail of the meteor that had hit Riely field. Suddenly more meteors hit the town including one that kills Lana's parents, Lewis and Laura Lang. The barrage of meteors leaves a path of destruction in its wake and even Jonathan and Martha are caught in the madness when their pickup truck gets overturned by a meteor.

Lionel races off to find Lex only to find him lying in the cornfield, with only a small patch of red hair remaining on his head. Linoel backs away in horror as he sees that lex is now bold. While hanging upside down in their truck the Kent couple is approached by a young boy without clothes or parents. After getting out of the truck they search Nearby for the boy's parents only to find a black spaceship laying in some wreckage, seemingly this young boy they have just found is not of this planet. The Kents decide to keep the boy and name him Clark.

12 Years later, in 2001, Smallville is now "The Meteor Capital of the World" with a population of 45,001. We see fourteen-year-old teenage Clark Kent now a high school freshman. He is surfing the internet looking up various impossible acts on his computer. After being called down to breakfast by his mother he then tries to convince his parents to allow him to play high school football. Overly cautious of his growing abilities, Jonathan disappoints Clark and refuses to sign the permission slip fearing he will accidentally hurt other students. Leaving the Kent farm a moment too late, Clark misses his bus to Smallville High.

On the bus already is Clarks two best friends Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan, they discuss how Clark is always slow and Chloe hears a noise on the roof, but Pete thinks she is imagining it. It is Clark having just used his super-speed to go through a cornfield short cut and has jumped on top of the bus. After arriving at school Pete asks Chloe if she's going to the homecoming dance and if she is, if she 's planning on going with Clark, which causes her to insist she does not have a crush on him only for Pete to ask her to go with him instead "Just as friends".

Chloe and Pete bump into Clark who makes up a lame excuse for arriving before they do, leaving Chloe perplexed. Clark tells Pete that he can't sign up for the football team which amuses Chloe forcing the pair to explain that they only want to join the football team to avoid becoming the "Scarecrow". A tradition in which every year the Smallville High football team chooses the geekiest freshman male who they leave in his underwear tied to a cross in a cornfield, like a scarecrow. Suddenly Clark notices Lana, who has grown to become a beautiful young lady. When Clark approaches her he becomes physically ill due to Lana wearing a necklace made from the meteor that killed her parents. This causes Clark to fall over in pain and it's revealed by the reaction of Chloe and Pete that this isn't the first time Clark has fallen over in front of his crush.

As Lana helps Clark pick up his books, High School Senior Quarterback and Lana's boyfriend Whitney Fordman, arrives and kisses Lana, noticing Clark on the floor Whitney pitties Clark and asks him if he's ok before leaving with Lana to go to Class.

Also inside the school is Jeremy Creek (looking exactly as he did twelve years ago). He gazes at the football trophy case, then breaks it and steals a picture of three smiling football players.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Twenty-one year old Lex Luthor arrives in Smallville to assume management of the Smallville branch of his father's company, a fertilizer plant on the site of the former Ross Creamed Corn factory. It's clear from his deminer that he doesn't want to be there as he sarcastically says "Thanks dad" to himself.

Back at Smallville High at after school football tryouts, Clark watches Lana practicing with the other cheerleaders. He daydreams about being the star quarterback and winning the game, only to be interrupted by Pete dressed in Clark's words "like a tackling dummy". Clark then leaves and walks home at normal speed to think and mope. A truck passes him and some sharp debris falls from it, coming the other way is Lex who is speeding along when his cell phone rings. Distracted, he doesn't notice the object which fell from the tuck lying in the road ahead. His tires get shredded and he ends up losing control of his car. He sees Clark moments before the car hits him. Both go over the Loeb Bridge into Elbow River. The impact knocks Lex unconscious, but Clark swims towards him, rips the top off of his car, and pulls him out. He resuscitates Lex, who is sure he hit Clark, but Clark brushes him off. When Clark's father arrives at the scene, he is very unhappy with Lex and tells him to drive slower in the future.

Later that night, Clark is in the

loft of his parents' barn. He spies on Lana, who is also his neighbor. She is taking to her Whitney about Clark saving Lex's life and Lana gives him her necklace for good luck in the homecoming game as a scout from Metropolis will be there to watch them the team play. She tells him about it being made from the same meteor that killed her parents "So much bad luck came from it, there must only be good luck left".

Also that night at Frank's auto shop, Jeremy looms in the shadows watching Frank work on a car. When Frank notices him and Jeremy steps into some light and gets closer Frank recognizes him as the scarecrow kid from 12 years ago. When Jeremy doesn't say anything Frank tires to shake him only to get electrocuted and fall to the floor. Asking him what he wants and telling him it was just a game, Jeremy replies with "to play". He then electrocutes Frank and holds him up against a wall zapping him into a coma, shattering an image of Frank in his youth with two other football players that Jeremy holds responsible for putting him out in the cornfield twelve years earlier.

The next day, after arriving home from school Clark notices a brand new truck in the driveway. Martha tells him it's as a gift from Lex for saving his life and Johnathan has the keys. However, Johnathan doesn't want Clark to keep it due to an animosity he has towards the Luthors. He tells Clark that they evicted their neighbors to buy land for LuthorCorp's factories that made the money that probably bought the truck. When Jonathan says that it's normal for Clark to be upset, Clark turns on the wood chipper and sticks his hand inside to demonstrate that he is not "normal", leaving Jonathan stunned.

This act forces Jonathan to explain to Clark his origins, at first Clark doesn't want to believe him until he shows him the spaceship, which they have hidden in their storm cellar. He tells Clark that he arrived in it during the meteor shower. Clark is angry and says he should've been told sooner.

He runs away to think and meets Lana in Smallville Cemetery. Not wanting to tell her why he's there he asks her why she's in a graveyard and she confesses that she goes there to talk to her dead parents. She and Clark have their first real conversation as Whitney now has Lana's necklace. Clark walks Lana home and he asks if her if she's going to the homecoming dance when she replies she's going with Whitney, she then asks Clark if he's going with anyone. He says that he is going to sit it out and Lana says if he changes his mind, she'll save him a dance. She then kisses him on the cheek and goes home but watching Whitney watching from the shadows is Whitney who quickly appears jealous.

The next day before school Clark goes to Lex's mansion to return the keys to the truck. He explains to Lex that he can't keep the truck and Lex realizes it's because Clark's father doesn't like him. He thinks it's because of his boldness but Clark tells him it's because of the things Lex's father has done to the town. Lex thinks Johnathan is worried that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree and that Lex might be like his father. When Lex asks Clark if he is like Jonathan and believes that Lex is a bad person, Clark, who is still coming to terms with being an alien, tells him he's got to go. Lex then asks Clark if he believes a man can fly, and that after the accident and his heart stopped he had a vision of flying over Smallville. Lex says he doesn't want anything to stand in the way of their friendship.

Meanwhile, Pete and Chloe are at the scene of a crime. A third former football player has been found in a coma. They see

Jeremy sculling around after releasing they have never seen him at school before and that he is acting strange they quickly snap his picture. They take the photo to the office of the school newspaper, the *Smallville Torch* as Chloe is the editor of it. Joined by Clark the 3 manage to find him in a twelve-year-old yearbook.

They realize he has been in a coma since the meteor shower and hasn't aged a day because he was suffering from an electrolyte imbalance. He escaped from the hospital during an electrical storm and is now prowling around Smallville electrocuting jocks and putting them into comas for revenge. Clark doesn't believe such a thing is possible but Chloe shows him her "Wall of Weird" - a collection of articles about the strange goings-on in Smallville since the meteor shower. Clark then sees Lana's face in an article about the meteor shower and releases her parents died during the events that bought him to earth and believes that he is to blame. He quickly leaves, whilst Pete and Chloe look on.

As Clark is leaving the school, Whitney picks him to be the next scarecrow. Clark tries to fight, back but Whitney is wearing Lana's necklace. When Clark notices the necklace, Whitney puts it on Clark which renders him helpless. Whitney and his fellow football players throw him in the back of a pickup truck but Jeremy has witnessed the event and follows them. Clark is strung up in field on a cross with an "S" painted on his chest.

Jeremy finds him and realises that this hazing ritual will never stop even though hed punished the jocks that did it to him as a warning. Clark asks him to free him but he refuses to help, telling Clark that he'll be safer where he is. Clark realises that Jeremy plans to go to the homecoming dance and electrocute everyone there. Jeremy then leaves just as Lex is driving by. Lex sees Jeremy as he jumps the fence and he recognizes him from twelve years ago. Lex gets out his car to investigate but Jeremy slips away. Lex then hears Clark cry for help and searches for him in the field he quickly finds him and unties Clark. Lana's necklace falls off in the commotion and as Clark runs away, Lex picks it up.

At the dance, everyone is having fun dancing but unknown to everyone inside Jeremy is about to set off the sprinkler system to get them wet for electrocution. But Clark shows up and orders him to stop, he then tries to connect to Jeremy telling him he understands his pain. But Jeremy is in denial that he is in pain and points out that the homecoming hazing needs to stop and that punishing everyone inside is the only way. When Clark moves to block him, Jeremy tries to electrocute him only for Clark to be immune, Clark then grabs and throws Jeremy away from the sprinklers. Clark warns him to give up but Jeremy then uses his electric powers to start a maintenance truck up. Jeremy tries to run Clark down with the truck but Clark grabs onto it causing Jermey to crash into a water main. As the cab of the truck fills with water, he short-circuits himself. When Clark opens the door of the truck he notices Jermey has turned back to his true age of 25, his powers are gone and he has no memory of Clark. He asks Clark where he is and who Clark is. Clark introduces himself to Jermey and tells him he's in Smallville. Jeremy says that he just wants to go home and Clark nods.

Clark goes into the gym and watches Lana and Whitney dance after being crowned Homecoming King and Queen and leaves in frustration. When he sees Whitney's truck, he pauses. After the dance, the students are astonished to see three trucks belonging to the football players stacked one on top of the other making Whitney furious as Clark smiles and superspeeds away. Back at his loft, Clark looks out into space through his telescope. Jonathan comes to the loft to talk to Clark telling him about how his father gave him the telescope when Jonathan was Clark's age. Clark is no longer angry and says he is glad the Kents are the ones that found him. Jonathan says it was Clark who found them. Clark daydreams that Lana stops by and gives him the dance she promised him. As they dance, she asks him if everything is alright, and he responds that it's perfect. The sound of a car horn jolts him back to reality, as he watches Lana being dropped off by classmates. He gazes at her and whispers, "Thanks for the dance, Lana." She turns, almost as if she heard him, then smiles to herself, and walks into her house. Clark remains looking out the window.

### Metamorphosis

Lana is dropped off after the homecoming dance. As she prepares for bed, she finds a box in her bedroom. When she opens it, butterflies surround her. Outside in a tree, Greg Arkin, a boy from school, is watching her through a window and recording her with a video camera. When he goes home, he fights with his mom, who found another videotape of Lana. She threatens to ship him off to military school. Greg is an avid collector of insects.

He loads up part of his collection into his car, presumably to release them, but he hits a bump and the jar containing the insects breaks. They swarm around Greg, apparently biting him, until he crashes his car. He screams as they continue to attack.

The next morning, Mrs. Arkin enters his room to find all the cages are empty. She doesn't notice her son stuck to the ceiling with a web-like material.

Clark Kent is dreaming of flying. He flies into Lana's house and floats over her bed; she wakes up and tells him, "It's all your fault." Clark wakes up in his own house, floating above his bed. He tells his dad he woke up floating, but Jonathan says he can't provide any explanation, but they will deal with whatever comes their way.

At the farmer's market, Clark confronts Whitney Fordman, who tells him the Scarecrow incident was a joke. Whitney asks for Lana's necklace, but Clark doesn't have it. Meanwhile, Lana runs into Greg, who asks her for help on a school assignment. Lex Luthor is also at the market. He notices Clark's interest in Lana and asks him about the previous night in the cornfield.

Greg ambushes Whitney in his truck on his way home. The Kents drive up on the accident and Clark saves Whitney before his truck exploded and covered the two in flames. Martha and Jonathan were relieved they were safe but shocked to find Clark completely unharmed.

Lana is riding at the stables and Lex meets her after she finishes. When he tries to introduce himself, she says they've already met. She explains that when she was ten she went to Metropolis for a riding competition. Lex's father invited her and her aunt to stay with them and use the indoor pool, where she found Lex and another girl skinny-dipping. Lex sees a photo of Lana wearing her necklace. He finds out that she gave it to her boyfriend Whitney. Lex knows that it ended up around Clark's neck in a cornfield, so he suggests to Lana that she ask Whitney where he was before the homecoming game.

Greg's mother comes home to find the thermostat set to 103 degrees. Some of the walls are covered with webs. Greg explains that he is planning to eat, then molt then mate. Then he explains that the pharaoh spider kills its mother after it hatches.

Lex gives Clark Lana's necklace. It makes Clark sick, but Lex shuts it up in a lead box and Clark doesn't feel its effects anymore. Clark doesn't want to take it, but Lex persuades him to use the necklace to woo Lana. At school, Lana confronts Whitney about the prank on Clark and requests her necklace back. Whitney says he lost it, and she walks away. She passes Greg, who reminds her about helping him with the assignment. Lana tells him she's busy, that she has to see Clark.

Clark experiments with the meteor rock in the lead box before Lana finds him in the barn and apologizes for Whitney. When she admires his loft, Clark says that his dad built and calls it his "Fortress of Solitude". Clark skips this opportunity to return her necklace.

Greg molts in the shower and then goes to the barn to attack Clark. Jonathan is there and is nearly killed, but Clark saves him. Clark recognizes Greg and Martha remembers they used to be friends. Clark admits to his father that he feels responsible for all the weird things that have happened in Smallville since the meteor shower.

Chloe finds an article about Amazonian tribesmen who take on characteristics of insects after being bitten by them. She deduces that meteor rock-infected bugs must have bitten Greg and turned him into a "bug-boy." Pete and Clark talk about how they used to be close friends with Greg in grade school. He had a tree-house near the foundry but Pete remembers that Clark always got sick when they played there. Clark, Chloe, and Pete go to Greg's house to investigate and find a mess: pieces of Greg's skin in the shower, a video of Lana and the corpse of his mother. They deduce that Greg will come after Lana next and go to try and save her.

Whitney tries to apologize to Lana and Greg appears and throws him across the barn. When Clark arrives, Whitney tells him that Greg has kidnapped Lana and headed off into the woods. Clark deduces that Greg took her to the tree-house. He gives Whitney directions and takes off at super speed.

At the tree-house, Clark finds Lana in a cocoon. Clark and Greg battle from the tree house to the Creekside Foundry. The place is littered with meteor rocks, which weaken Clark until he realizes that lead shields him from its effects. Clark finds Greg and throws him across the room. Greg then is squashed when some heavy equipment falls on him. Back at the tree-house, Whitney rescues Lana and they walk away with their arms around each other. That night, Clark leaves Lana's necklace on her front doorknob.

### Hothead

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.

### X-Ray

At the Smallville Savings and Loan, Lex Luthor tells the manager that he wants to close all of his accounts. The manager is very disappointed and a bit confused when Lex requests all the money in cash. When Lex's signature doesn't match the signature on record, he asks to see Lex's driver's license. Lex pulls out a gun. He leaves the bank at a run with the alarm sounding. Halfway down the block he meets up with his friend Clark Kent. When Clark asks what's going on, Lex throws him through the large front window of Speck's Optical. As he recovers, Clark has a sudden headache, and then is able to see right through Lex's skin to his skeleton. Lex's bones have an odd green glow.

Rose Greer confronts her daughter Tina about a backpack full of money she found in the house. She asks if it was Tina who robbed the bank yesterday. Tina morphs into Lex and says that it was Lex Luthor who robbed the bank. Her mother insists they return the money. They struggle over the backpack, and Tina's mother falls down the stairs to her death. Tina starts to call 911, but she doesn't report the emergency.

Martha Kent reads about the bank robbery in the newspaper. Clark insists that it couldn't have been Lex. Jonathan seems willing to believe any terrible thing about Lex. Just then, Lex shows up on the Kent's porch. Clark is surprised that he isn't in jail, but Lex explains that he had a rock solid alibi: he was in Metropolis hosting a reception for 200 fertilizer distributors. He wants to talk to Clark because Clark was listed as one of the eyewitnesses. Clark insists that the bank robber looked exactly like Lex Luthor.

In gym class, Clark is climbing rope against his buddy Pete Ross, when he suddenly looks right through Pete's skin to his muscles. Clark is so shocked, he loses his grip and falls to the floor. As he recovers, he looks right through the wall to the girls' locker room and smiles as he sees Lana Lang remove her towel. After school, he explains to his parents about his X-ray vision. His parents encourage him to practice so that he can learn to control it. Clark knows that they are just guessing and he storms out in frustration.

Tina visits Lana and wonders aloud if Lana's Aunt Nell would adopt her if anything ever happened to her mother, then she and Lana could be sisters. Lana is unnerved by the strange question and assures her that nothing is going to happen to her mom.

Clark is running errands on Main Street with his mom when he gets another headache. He starts seeing everyone on the street like an X-ray. He notices the skeleton with glowing green bones walk into the antique shop. Martha catches up and they enter the store to be greeted by "Rose" Greer. Clark asks about Tina. "Rose" explains that she is with Lana, so Clark leaves. Martha asks "Rose" for the lamp that Rose has been restoring. While Rose is in the back of the store, Martha finds a large sum of cash on the floor. "Rose" says that the lamp isn't ready and a client paid her in cash earlier that day. When Martha turns her back, "Rose" slips Martha's keys out of her purse. On the street, Martha is nearly run down by her own truck, with "Clark" at the wheel. Martha is shocked as "Clark" seemingly drives around the corner, but then appears behind her to help her to her feet.

Back at the Kent farm, Jonathan announces that the police found their truck abandoned. Martha recalls that the antique shop is the only place she stopped that day. She also notes that Rose Greer was acting strangely and that the cash she found on the floor had a Smallville Savings and Loan band, so it could be from the robbery. It seems too crazy to suspect that Rose turned into Clark until Clark admits that when he saw Tina's skeleton it seemed green and inhuman. Martha explains that Tina was born with a soft bone disease. Despite experimental treatments, she wasn't expected to live to the age of six, but she got better around her third birthday—right after the 1989 meteor shower.

Coming out of the coffee shop, Lex finds Roger Nixon, a journalist, leaning against his car. He threatens to publish a story about a previous run-in with the law Lex had at a younger age, involving a nightclub called Club Zero, unless Lex pays him $100,000 in cash. Nixon gives Lex his contact card, and tells him he has 24 hours to deliver the money or he'll publish the story about him. Enraged, Lex drives off.

In the garage, Lana finds a box with some of her mother's high school things, including a diary. She asks her aunt about her mother. From the diary, Lana learns that her mother hated cheer-leading and dreamed of leaving Smallville. Aunt Nell admits that she told Lana the things she thought Lana could handle at the time. Lana laments that she has been trying to live up to a Laura Lang that didn't exist. Aunt Nell tells Lana that Laura gave the graduation speech. The first line said: *"I never made a difference here, but maybe my children can."*

At school, Clark stares at Tina, trying to see her skeleton. Chloe and Pete agree that the only thing weird about Tina is the amount of time she spends idolizing Lana. When Lana emerges from her classroom, Tina tells her that her mom is moving to Metropolis, but she doesn't want to pull Tina out of school. Tina wants to know if she can move in with Lana and Nell. When Lana hesitates, Tina takes it as a rejection and storms off. Clark is successful in focusing his X-ray vision and spying a backpack full of cash in Tina's locker. Clark tells his parents about what he found.

At the antique shop, Tina morphs into her mother just as two sheriff's deputies approach, looking for Tina. They admit that a kid with an anonymous tip led them to find the money from the bank robbery in her locker.

"Lana" arrives at the loft to tell Clark about Tina. When she kisses him, she morphs back into Tina and throws Clark through the wall. She has guessed correctly that it was Clark who tipped off the police. She leaves Clark for dead. Clark tells his parents they can't call the police because Clark is the only one who can recognize Tina.

Lana goes to the *Smallville Torch* office to ask Chloe Sullivan to help her find the graduation speech her mother delivered in 1977. Chloe discovers that due to its controversial nature, the editors decided not to print it that year.

At the Luthor Mansion, Roger Nixon arrives to deliver the files and collect his money. Lex tells him that if he walks out that door Lex will make him disappear. He tells Roger that he has deleted all records of the man's existence, and announces that he wants Nixon's help. He wants him to print positive stories about him and kill negative ones. Lex takes him to a large room with a wrecked Porsche. He wants Nixon to find out how Lex survived the crash.

Clark is in the barn practicing his X-ray vision on a lead box when Lana comes to visit. She tells Clark about her mother's diary. Clark muses about what he might ask his biological parents if he ever had the chance. Later, he and Pete go to the antique shop to investigate. Clark sees a skeleton in a cabinet and they open it to find Tina's mother's body. They also find pages with Lana's signature over and over, and guess that Lana will be Tina's next victim.

Tina appears as Lana and asks Whitney for his letter-man jacket. At the cemetery, Lana is visiting her parents' grave when Tina appears as Whitney. She says terrible things about how Lana has a great life, but she can't see it. She has no right to be unhappy, and she doesn't deserve her own life. Tina morphs back into herself and strangles Lana, stealing her meteorite necklace. Lana wakes up inside a crypt. When Clark arrives at the cemetery, he finds Tina-as-Whitney with the necklace in her hand, and she puts the necklace in her pocket while getting close to him. At first Tina has the upper hand, but when she takes off the jacket, Clark recovers. During their battle, Tina tells Clark that Lana is dead. Clark scans the cemetery and sees one of the skeletons is moving. He breaks into the crypt and lifts Lana from the tomb.

Clark's parents let him know that Tina will not be able to hurt anyone else. Whitney arrives to comfort Lana. Clark's X-ray vision activates and he is pained as he watches Whitney and Lana enter the house and embrace. Cloe locates an audiotape copy of the graduation speech and Lana is able to hear her mother's speech.

### Cool

Chloe Sullivan and Clark Kent arrive at a party full of high school students at Crater Lake which is laced with green meteor rock fragments. Lana Lang is there with Whitney Fordman. Sean Kelvin approaches Chloe and asks her out. Chloe doesn't seem impressed, but she does give him her number. Clark gives her a hard time, so she says she gave him her number just to get rid of him. Sean is throwing the football with Whitney. Sean claims he is interested in Chloe only as another conquest. When Whitney overthrows the football, Sean walks out on the ice to retrieve it and falls through the ice. The water re-freezes, trapping and drowning him.
The next morning, Sean breaks through the ice and approaches a campfire. His skin and hands are blue, but as he warms his hands by the fire they return to a normal color. He inhales warm air coming off the fire and the color of his face is also restored, but when he walks away from the fire we see that it has turned to ice.

Martha Kent is balancing the farm's books and the news is not good. Clark displays an uncanny ability for arithmetic and jokes that he could quit high school, play a professional sport and make a ton of money with endorsements. Walking to school, Chloe tells Clark and Pete Ross that Sean didn't call that morning as he promised. Sean complains to the school nurse that although he felt fine this morning, now he can't seem to get warm. He has a temperature of 38 degrees. When the nurse places her hand on his forehead, Sean grabs her hand. His color improves, but the nurse complains that now she has the chills.

Lex Luthor visits the Kent farm to buy some artichokes. He tells Martha he is hosting a dinner tomorrow night for the farming community. He wants to invest in some farms, modernize them, and make them competitive again. He is very interested in having Jonathan Kent attend the dinner. Martha and Jonathan argue about attending Lex's dinner. Eventually, Martha convinces Jonathan to go, but when they arrive at the Luthor Mansion, they find that they were the only ones to have been invited.

At the Beanery, Lex Luthor tells Lana Lang (again) that he thinks she is with the wrong guy just as Whitney arrives and breaks a date. Lex runs into Clark outside the restaurant and tells him that Lana is free tomorrow night. Lex gives him tickets and promises a limo ride if Clark gets in there and asks her in the next 60 seconds. This appears to be just the encouragement he needs, and he makes the date with Lana Lang.

Clark tells Chloe and Pete about his date with Lana, just as Sean arrives hunched over with cold and rubbing his hands. Chloe can't go with him right now, so he runs over to make a date with Jenna Barnum. It's such a cold move; Chloe can't help but feel slighted. Clark is not happy with Sean either.

At her house, Jenna invites Sean to join her in the shower, but Sean is in bad shape by now. His skin is blue and his hair is full of frost. He grabs the shower head, and the water starts coming out as hail. Jenna is terrified. Sean apologizes, but his desire for warmth overwhelms him. He embraces Jenna and kisses her. It works. Sean is restored, but Jenna is frozen solid. When Sean releases her, she shatters. Sean is sitting in front of a cold fireplace, wrapped in a blanket, shivering with cold. He is calling another girl, Bella, but she doesn't want to see him. He tries to light a match, and the flame freezes in his hand. Then he notices that he still has Chloe's number.

Chloe is trying to help Clark choose something to wear for his big date with Lana when she gets a call from Sean. She makes a date with him for coffee at the office of the *Smallville Torch*. Clark and Lana talk in the limo about how they retreat from the world with a good book or a telescope. The television in the limo reports that police are seeking Sean in connection with Jenna's death. Clark drops Lana off at the Beanery, and then heads for the school.

At the *Torch*, Chloe finds a trail of flower petals leading to the pool. Sean apologizes again and explains that he can't get warm, sitting by the fire only gives him a quick fix, body heat lasts longer. As he approaches Chloe, she falls into the water. She swims away, but Sean sucks all the heat out of the pool and it freezes just as she's climbing out. Clark arrives to free Chloe and knocks Sean across the room. Clark sends Chloe away, and turns to face Sean, but he's gone.

Back at the *Torch*, Chloe's research turns up a similar condition in which the thermosensitive cells in the brain are damaged. Pete arrives at the Beanery with a date and sees Lana. Whitney arrives, and Lana gives Pete the limo and asks Whitney to take her home. At an electrical substation, Sean tries to use electricity to warm himself. He tries to flag down Whitney and Lana on their way home but they crash. Sean heads for the Luthor Mansion.

Clark arrives at the crash site, and Sean attacks him. He is able to steal enough body heat from Clark to warm himself properly and leaves Clark frozen on the ground, but by the time he gets to the mansion, he's blue again and pulls the heat from the generator. Clark recovers just as Martha Kent leaves the mansion to check on the generator. Clark approaches Sean as he tries to attack Martha. As they battle, Sean steals enough heat from Clark to get warm again. Clark throws Sean into a nearby pond, which freezes and traps Sean in the ice.

Back at the Kent Farm, Jonathan is working on his motorcycle as Lex arrives to express his disappointment to have learned that Jonathan took out a loan to keep the farm going. Jonathan says he just doesn't know if he can trust Lex. Lex promises that if Jonathan ever changes his mind, the offer still stands.

Chloe adds a candle to the memorial for Jenna at school. Clark apologizes to Lana and tries to ask her out again. Lana explains that Whitney is now sufficiently jealous not to leave her any free weekends. Clark boldly asks Lana why she goes out with Whitney. Lana confides that he makes her feel safe. Whenever she needs him, he's there.

### Hourglass

Clark, Pete and Lana are volunteering at the Smallville Retirement Center to fulfill a required 30 hours of community service for school. Clark has been assigned to read to Cassandra Carver, a blind woman who believes she can see the future. Although blind, Cassandra is very perceptive, and can identify her surroundings quite accurately. Pete asks to have his fortune told. Cassandra seems to rebuff him, but drops her book so that he will pick it up and hand it to her. When he does, she touches his hand and tells him to check his pockets and he realizes that he has locked his keys in his car. He leaves Clark alone with Cassandra who reveals to Clark that someone close to him is going to die very soon. Later, Clark tells his parents about Cassandra's vision, but they are unconcerned. Lana visits Harry Bolston. He is listening to classical music. He confesses to being obsessed with the local history of Smallville after revealing that the Langs came to Smallville in 1938.

Harry uses a wheelchair and asks Lana to push him around the grounds and tell him what the Langs have been up to since 1938. She takes him to the koi pond, where Harry asks Lana to leave him on the bridge and go back to his room to fetch him a scarf. While she is gone, he tries to sneak a cigarette, but drops his lighter. He reaches over to retrieve it, but upsets his wheelchair, falls through a string of decorative lights and tumbles into the pond and sets off a brilliant display of sparks. Harry seems unable to move for several seconds until suddenly he is young again. He stands up and laughs manically. It is then revealed that the pond has been contaminated with meteor rocks. He then retrieves some old newspaper clippings and lists containing the name Zoe Garfield, a waitress at the Beanery.

At the Beanery, Zoe waits on Harry. Clark and Lana arrive with Chloe Sullivan. Lana laments the missing Harry Bolston. Her friends try to console her and offer theories regarding his disappearance. Harry, eavesdropping, wishes them luck finding him.

Clark goes the Luthor Mansion to deliver Lex's produce order. He tells Lex about Cassandra's prediction that someone close to him will die very soon. Lex pretends to be skeptical, but he asks Clark for her name before he leaves.

Back at the retirement center, Harry is playing the piano. Cassandra tries to trick him into taking her hand, but Harry refuses. Lana notices that someone has removed Harry's picture as a young man from the bulletin board. Clark is there to see Cassandra again. Lana tells Clark that she has just given a statement to the police. She learned that Harry Bolston's real name is Harry Volk. He was convicted of murder 60 years ago when he was 17. In the 1940s, he was studying to be a concert pianist and was up for a scholarship to the Metropolis Conservatory, but his teacher recommended someone else, so Harry murdered his teacher's son. Cassandra tells Clark that she began having visions at the same time she lost her sight- the day of the meteor shower. When Clark takes Cassandra's hand they both see a vision of him kneeling in the rain surrounded by tombstones bearing the names of all the people he loves: his parents and his school friends. The tombstones seem to go on forever. Clark runs off, terrified. He tells his parents about the vision and they try to comfort him, but Clark has interpreted it to mean that he will outlive everyone that he loves and is destined to be alone.

At Jim Gage's house, the power goes out. Just as he's about to call someone, he sees Harry at the front door dressed as an electrician. As Harry checks the circuit breakers, he asks Jim if he's any relation to Randolph Gage. Jim admits that Randolph, his father, died in 1993. Harry removes a length of piano wire from the bottom of his toolbox.

Back at the retirement center, Lex Luthor has arrived to talk to Cassandra Carver. Lex asks Cassandra if she can tell him anything about Clark. Lex admits that Clark is his friend, but he is also a mystery. Cassandra refuses to tell him anything about Clark, but she offers to tell him his future. Lex refuses.

Clark, Chloe and Pete meet in Clark's loft. Pete tells Clark that Jim Gage was found blindfolded and strangled with piano wire. Chloe says that was the same way Harry Volk killed the piano teacher's son in 1945. Clark thinks it might be a copycat, but Chloe has a photo of Harry Volk from the 1940s. It looks just like that guy they saw at the Beanery. Of course, Chloe is ready to assume that Harry has traveled through time. Clark suggests they search Harry's room for fan mail of a copycat.

Cassandra catches Clark on his way to Harry's room. Chloe and Pete go on ahead while Clark stops to talk with Cassandra. Cassandra admits that she knows that Clark is not like everybody else. She has seen him many times in the futures of many other people, saving them over and over again from pain, despair, fear and darkness. Clark takes Cassandra's hand again and sees a series of flashes of visions of people in trouble, but Cassandra can't tell him who they are.

Chloe and Pete find more newspaper clippings in Harry's room. When Clark sees a picture of Zoe Garfield, he recognizes her as one of the people he saw a glimpse of in his most recent vision of his future. He guesses that Harry might be after her and he rushes off to the Beanery.

It's closing time at the Beanery, but Harry doesn't want to leave. He offers to play the piano while Zoe cleans up the shop. Harry reveals that Zoe's grandmother Eve Garfield helped kill his future, and now he intends to kill Zoe's future. Harry tries to strangle Zoe just as Clark smashes in the door and saves her. Later, Martha reports that Zoe is fine and Harry is in the hospital for observation. When Clark admits that Cassandra might know his secret, his parents say they don't want him to see her anymore.

Lex summons Clark to the mansion, questioning him about the accident, but Clark says he doesn't remember anything about it.

A sheriff's deputy arrives at the hospital to pick up the unidentified "kid from the Beanery assault," but when they enter the room they find the aged Harry Bolston handcuffed to the bed. At the koi pond, Lana tells Clark that Harry told police that a kid who was obsessed with his case kidnapped him. When Clark begins to feel ill, he looks down into the pond and sees the meteor rocks. Clark tells Harry that he suspects the truth. Harry seems more interested in the fact that his name is Kent. He calls the nurse to ask Clark to leave. Later, Harry pushes himself out to the koi pond in his wheelchair and dives in.

At the *Torch*, Chloe and Pete are studying news coverage of Volk's trial. Lana arrives to announce that Harry is gone. Chloe finds a list of jurors that worked on Harry's trial with Hiram Kent's name on it. Martha Kent answers her door to find the young Harry Volk impersonating a gas man. Martha doesn't smell gas and figures out that Harry is lying. She tries to call out and finds the phone is disconnected. She hits Harry over the head to get to her car and finds the tires have been slashed. Finally she hides in a grain silo. Harry finds her and attacks her with a knife. Martha pulls a lever and buries them both in grain. Clark and Jonathan arrive just in time to pull her out and resuscitate her.

Lex Luthor arrives at the retirement center to visit Cassandra Carver, saying he's ready to see his future. Cassandra takes Lex's hand and sees a vision of Lex in a brilliant white suit and one black glove in the oval office of the White House. Then he is in a field of sunflowers. When he bends down to smell one of the flowers it dies. Then all the flowers die. A field of dry human bones replaces the flowers. Lex seems pleased. Lex holds out his arms as it begins to rain red blood. When Lex asks what it is that Cassandra saw, Cassandra doesn't answer. Lex realizes that she is dead. He calls for help and leaves the room, visibly shaken. When Clark comes in and sees Cassandra dead, he realizes that the death she had predicted when they first met had been her own.

### Craving

At her family nursery, a chubby Jodi Melville is working in the greenhouse, harvesting carrots. There are several bright green meteor rocks in the soil in which the vegetables are growing. Her father complains that she doesn't want to eat his spaghetti, and she explains that her latest weight loss plan consists of eating only vegetables. She wants to look her best for Lana Lang's birthday party. Her father expresses concern that she is much too focused on this party.

At school, she is cutting the heads off pictures of supermodels and pasting their bodies into her scrapbook with pictures of her own head when Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross approach and ask for help with their algebra assignment. Clark Kent is too busy with Lana. When they offer to buy her lunch, they are introduced to her vegetable drink. Dustin Crenshaw approaches and adds a cutting remark about her weight, and Pete defends her gallantly. Back home, after only a day on her new diet, Jodi gets dramatic results. She watches in the mirror as her double chin recedes. She checks her weight again and loses 29 pounds as she watches the numbers on the scale go down!

At the Luthor Mansion, Lex is just finishing up a physical examination. The doctor is surprised by an unusually high white-cell count, but he doesn't suspect leukemia. Lex explains that he never gets sick, but he used to have asthma until he lost his hair. The doctor says that he sees "a lot of this in Smallville." Some people think that it is because LuthorCorp's fertilizer plant contaminates the environment. Later, Lex checks out the *Smallville Torch* website and sees one of Chloe's stories about Smallville being one of America's strangest towns.

Aunt Nell is planning for Lana's birthday party while Clark and Lana study for the math midterm. Lana explains that the party is more than she wants. Whitney shows up to tell Lana that he got the chance to try out for the Kansas State football team, so he's going to miss her party.

Back at school, Jodi works up the courage to ask Pete to Lana's party. Lana arrives at the Kent Farm with the produce order for the party. While she is there, Clark offers to be her escort at the party. Lana accepts, but makes him promise that unlike last time, he will actually show up. Jodi makes herself another shake and checks her weight. She watches as her waistline melts away, and loses another 27 pounds in seconds. Initially, she is elated, but then she feels an overwhelming craving and rushes to the kitchen. She eats frantically until she's stuffed. She spies her vegetable shake and guesses that it is responsible for her insatiable appetite. She throws it against the wall in rage.

Jodi is eating hamburgers and milkshakes while driving her car in pouring rain. A deer steps out on the road. Jodi tries to stop, but she hits the deer. Unharmed, she gets out of the car and approaches the deer. Her stomach rumbles, her face contorts and she seems to uncontrollably devour the deer.

Clark is spying on Lana in his loft when Whitney gives her a book for her birthday. Chloe walks in and teases him about spying. Then she tells him about a mysterious story in the paper about a deer found dead on Route 5. They are listing the cause of death as "unknown." Chloe wants Clark to go down to animal control and help her check it out. They find the deer, take some pictures, and check the lab report, which says that it lost eighty percent of its body fat. They jokingly guess that it has been liposuctioned to death by a fat-sucking vampire.

Jodi hides from her dad in the bathroom, surrounded by hamburger wrappers and pizza boxes.

At school, Clark finds Lex reading the Wall of Weird. Lex explains that he stopped by to talk with the principal about a new computer lab. He says that since the plant manager, Gabe, is always talking about his daughter and her work at the *Torch*, he stopped by to check it out. Clark explains Chloe's theory that everything weird in Smallville can be traced back to the meteor shower. When Chloe arrives, Lex tells her that he likes her theory. Chloe tells him that only Dr. Hamilton shares her opinion, but he's been reduced to selling plastic meteor chips to tourists. Lex goes to visit Dr. Hamilton and offers to fund his research as a mineralogist. Dr. Hamilton refuses Lex's offer.

At school, Jodi isn't feeling well. When Dustin walks by, he makes another snide remark about her lost weight. Jodi takes the opportunity to seduce him. They sneak away to the football stadium and slip into a dark room. Jodi transforms again and attacks Dustin.

Also at the stadium, Lana is telling Clark that she hasn't had a happy birthday since her parents took her to a drive-in when she was three years old. Clark hears a noise and investigates with his X-ray vision. When he enters the boiler room, he finds Dustin in very bad shape. Back at school the next day, Chloe tells Clark that Dustin is in a coma. His body went into shock from the loss of all his body fat. He probably would have died if Clark hadn't found him when he did. They join Jodi in the cafeteria, who is eating ravenously.

Just as Clark is getting ready to go to Lana's party, Chloe shows up at the Kent Farm. She shows Clark a work order from the Smallville Body and Fender for bodywork done to Jodi's car. They guess that she probably hit the deer and her behavior must be related to her rapid weight loss. Pete arrives at the Melville house to pick up Jodi. Just as they start to leave the house, Jodi's stomach grumbles. Pete wants to take her to the hospital, but Jodi runs back into the house. She asks Pete to leave her alone, but he follows her into the house. She attacks him, knocking his head against the floor and rendering him unconscious, but Clark arrives before she can do him any further harm. She flees through the back door and hides in the greenhouse.

Clark follows her but finds the place full of meteor rocks. She bashes him over the head with a shovel. When she goes for the killing blow, she catches sight of her reflection and is repulsed by what she was about to do. She goes into a rage, bashing in what appears to be a gas line, and then smashing the lights, making sparks, which ignites the gas, creating a terrific explosion. Clark grabs her and protects her from the blast just as Pete comes to and joins them behind the house.

Meanwhile, at the Luthor Mansion, Lana is hiding from her guests. She is obviously disappointed that Clark didn't show up. Lex opens some mail from Dr. Vargas. He goes to see Dr. Hamilton and tells him that he has been given a clean bill of health. He gives Dr. Hamilton a check for $100,000, insisting that he continue his research regarding the link between meteors and human health.

Clark tells his parents that Jodi is on her way to the hospital, then leaves to visit Lana. Lana gives him a hard time for not showing up at her party, but she lets him give her his present. He has recreated her last happy birthday with a drive in movie, popcorn and Bugs Bunny cartoons.

### Jitters

Jonathan and Martha Kent are on their way to Metropolis for a few days to celebrate their anniversary.
n an apartment building in Metropolis, Belinda Jenkins puts her baby to bed. While the infant looks up at the ceiling, a shadowy figure enters the room. It's his father, Earl Jenkins, who has come to say good night. He tries to pick up his son to hold him, but he begins to tremble. He steps back away from the crib as his jitters get worse. It's almost like a seizure except that everything in the room begins to shake as if there were an earthquake. Belinda reenters the room as if she has heard something, but only the baby is there.Down at street level, the Kents drive by LuthorCorp just as Earl, out in the rain, is trying to get his prescription. He is trembling so badly that he drops the bottle. The pills spill and are ruined in the pouring rain. He runs up to the building and calls to Will, the maintenance man, to let him in to see Lionel Luthor. He claims that something happened to him at the plant in Smallville. Will won't let him in. Earl gets a case of the jitters and trembles so badly that he shatters the glass door and falls to the floor. Will runs up and helps him to his feet. He wants to take Earl to the doctor, but Earl gets another case of the jitters while he's still got ahold of Will. When it passes, Will is dead. Having had his arms around him, Earl accidentally broke Will's neck. Horrified, he runs off into the night.

Walking to school in the morning, Clark tells Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross that he's planning to have a party while his parents are out of town for a few days. He emphasizes that he wants it to be a small gathering, but that night there are at least a hundred people at his house, half of whom he doesn't recognize. He uses his super speed to save the flooring from a sick guest. Lana Lang shows up without Whitney Fordman, and the fireworks begin (literally). Lex Luthor arrives to take credit for the fireworks. He also admits that the police will not be any trouble. He wanted to make sure Clark's first party was a success, to ensure his reputation.

Back in Metropolis, at a restaurant, Martha fails to reach Clark by phone. Jonathan asks if Martha misses living in Metropolis. She admits that she does miss it, but she doesn't regret moving to Smallville.

Whitney arrives at the Kent Farm looking for Lana. They go outside to talk. Whitney is a little upset that she came to the party without him, and Lana is a little upset that he's smothering her. Just then the barn starts to shake. Lana runs off to get Clark, and Whitney grabs a pitchfork. When Clark gets out to the barn, they find Earl huddled under a canvas tarp. Clark recognizes him. Earl says that he's come to see Jonathan, but Jonathan is out of town. Just then Earl begins to seize. Clark reaches out to him, but it's like reaching out to meteor rocks. Clark's hand hurts and his veins turn green. He pulls away and calls an ambulance.

At the hospital, Clark tells Chloe that Earl worked at the Kent farm twelve hours a day for six seasons until he took a job at the Luthor plant. When Deputy Miller arrives there's a ruckus in Earl's room. Earl is standing but shaking so badly that anyone who approaches is thrown across the room, even Clark. When the fit ends, Earl collapses to the floor.

The next morning, Clark returns home to find a huge mess in the house from the party the night before. He uses his super speed to clean it all up. He seems pretty satisfied with himself, but then discovers that his parents were upstairs as Jonathan claps sarcastically. They had already seen the mess. They returned home early when they couldn't reach him by phone all night. Clark tells him that Earl is at the hospital, and is wanted for murder. Jonathan can't believe it. Clark also tells them that he couldn’t get close to him because it made him sick the same way meteor fragments do.

Jonathan and Clark go to the hospital to check on Earl. The doctor explains that he is suffering from some kind of mineral poisoning. Tiny bits of the mineral have implanted under his skin. His body is trying to push them out. He claims it all started after an explosion at the LuthorCorp plant six months ago. There is no record of any explosion.

When Jonathan enters Earl's room, Earl explains that the explosion occurred when he was cleaning Level Three. They were conducting experiments with a new fertilizer that would help corn grow twice as fast. It was unstable, and when it exploded, it embedded itself in his skin. They shut down the whole level and transferred Earl to Metropolis. Four months later, the jitters started. Earl asks Jonathan to help him get back into the plant, so he can figure out what was in that fertilizer. Jonathan can't help him, police from Metropolis are on their way to take him back, but Clark has a field trip to LuthorCorp Smallville Fertilizer Plant No. 3.

Gabe Sullivan, Chloe's father, is the plant manager, and he is conducting the tour. Earl has escaped police custody, and he is in the plant at the same time the field trip is being conducted. When he tries to find Level 3, he finds a wall where the hall to the elevator used to be. Clark leaves the others and slips through a door marked authorized personnel only. The rest of the tour goes on to the control room. Earl bursts in and takes the plant manager and the students hostage, at gunpoint, demanding to be taken to Level 3.

The plant is evacuated. A mob of worried parents gathers outside the plant. Lex Luthor arrives and grants special access to Jonathan and Martha Kent. Meanwhile, Clark brings Earl some blue prints in an attempt to prove to him that there is no Level 3.

Of course, Earl is unconvinced. Lionel Luthor arrives by helicopter. He tries to talk with Earl. Earl has another episode and grabs a valve to steady himself. It comes off in his hands and hits Clark across the face. Clark is fine, but the pipe is leaking methane gas. Whitney wants Clark to help him take Earl out. Clark can't help, so Whitney tries to do it himself. He fails.

Lex decides its time for some bold action and goes inside the plant His father protests, but is obviously proud of his son's boldness. Lex promises to be Earl's hostage if he lets the others leave the plant. He also promises to take Earl to Level 3, although Lex believes it to be in Earl's imagination. As the student's leave the plant, the gas reaches dangerous levels. The fire doors are ordered to be sealed. Clark manages to stay behind as everyone is evacuated. He finds the same closet that Earl described as the location of the elevator. He uses his X-ray vision to see that the elevator is still there, on the other side of the wall. Clark uses the intercom system to tell Earl that he has found the elevator. When Earl leaves the control room, Clark enters and uses his super strength to turn the valve (without the handle) and shut off the methane leak. Earl drags Lex down to the closet.

They find that Clark has broken a hole through the wall, and they can see the elevator. Lex is honestly surprised, but when they enter the elevator, there are only two buttons for Levels 1 and 2. Earl touches the blank space where a third button might have been, and it lights up under his finger. Lex is truly astonished. They walk out on a catwalk. Earl says there used to be an enormous cornfield down below, and every night they sprayed it with a green mist, but it's all gone. Clark arrives just as Earl is having another fit. He grabs the handrail and the catwalk begins shaking violently. It gives way, and Earl and Lex end up dangling 30 feet above a concrete floor.

Clark tries to help but he becomes sick as he approaches. He pushes through his sickness and pulls Earl back up to the catwalk. He sends him to the elevator, and then pulls up Lex. As they head to the elevator, Earl starts to have another seizure. The two race along the catwalk before he can shake it free again. They all tumble into the elevator just as the catwalk crashes to the floor.

When the three of them emerge from the plant, Earl is taken away in an ambulance. His parents greet Clark, and Lex confronts his father. Lionel addresses the press referring to Level 3 as a redundant storage area. During the interview, Lex pledges the best possible health care for Earl. Lionel pulls Lex away and mock embraces him as Lex stares in envy at the true love that the Kents have for each other.

### Rouge

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.

### Shimmer

Lana Lang has been excused from gym class for a few days while she chairs the American Red Cross blood drive even though she passed out when she saw the blood from her own skinned knee in seventh grade. Troy Turner snatches Amy Palmer's notebook from her to see if she is writing about him, but its all about Lex Luthor. Amy's brother Jeff Palmer arrives just then to rescue her. It turns out that Amy's parents work at the Luthor Mansion. In the locker room, Clark Kent feels a bit ill as an invisible assailant walks by and clobbers Troy with some small free weights. Clark and Pete arrive to help. The invisible assailant can be seen as he walks through the steam, but no one notices.

At the Beanery, Clark tells Chloe about the attack. Lana and Whitney are arguing about something. When Lana tries to sign up Chloe and Clark for the blood drive, Clark sidesteps by volunteering to help pass out cookies.

At the Luthor Mansion, Lex and Victoria Hardwick are playing billiards when Amy Palmer walks in to serve drinks. Amy spills the drinks all over Victoria. Victoria is sure that she did that on purpose, but Lex is loyal to his staff and gives Amy the benefit of the doubt. Amy rushes home to the servants' quarters. She complains to her mother that Victoria wants Lex all to herself. Her mother counsels her that even though they live on the Luthor Estate, they are not a part of his world. Jeff assures their mother that they know their place. When Amy is left alone in room, we see that she has a beautiful watch with an ancient Napoleonic franc as its face.

At the Kent Farm, Martha Kent asks Clark about the blood drive. Jonathan Kent reminds him that he can't donate. Clark arrives at the Luthor Mansion to deliver an enormous order of white tulips. As soon as Clark sets them down, they fly across the room. Clark tells Lex that he has decided to fight for Lana. Lex is searching under the furniture for a watch. He tells Clark that this watch is special because his mother gave it to him just before she died. Clark uses his X-ray vision, but he can't find it either. When Clark goes to check the library, he finds Victoria on the computer.

Just then they hear a banging upstairs, they rush up the stairs to find Victoria's room has been trashed. The bedding has been torn up, the pictures are all askew and the walls are covered in graffiti. Chloe adds it to her Wall of Weird, but the police are handling it as vandalism.

Lionel Luthor arrives in Smallville to give Lex a hard time about having Victoria at the mansion. That night, Clark helps Lana with the blood drive, avoiding donating by saying he's afraid of needles. It comes out that Aunt Nell and Jonathan Kent used to date, and that Nell took the break up pretty hard. Just as Clark and Lana are about to kiss, Aunt Nell interrupts and sends Clark home. Clark invites Lana to watch the sunset from his loft.

At school, Clark uses his X-ray vision to find a prescription in Whitney's backpack. At the Beanery, Amy tells Clark that she saw Victoria going through Lex's things.

Clark arrives at the mansion to warn Lex. He tells him that he saw her going through the files on his computer. Lex says that he already knew that, and he seems completely unconcerned. Clark also mentions that Amy is obsessed with him. Lex dismisses it as a teenage crush. When Lex asks about Lana, Clark tells him about Whitney's prescription. Lex is familiar with the medication—his mother took it for her heart condition. Upstairs, an invisible assailant interrupts Victoria's bath. Clark hears her struggling and rushes into the room. He pulls her from the tub unconscious, but she quickly comes to and begins coughing. When he is pushed to the side by invisible hands, he uses his X-ray vision to see a skeleton leaving the room. Clark also sees that the assailant stepped on a piece of the broken mirror and left behind some blood and some green goo.

Clark takes a sample of the blood and the green goo to Chloe at school. The goo smells like roses, but when she rubs some on her fingers, her fingers disappear. When she wipes it off, her fingers reappear. They decide to check Amy Palmer's blood type against the sample. Clark asks Whitney about the heart medication and learns that Whitney's father has been in Metropolis all week for tests, but it doesn't look good. Whitney doesn't want to talk to Lana about it because Lana has already suffered through the deaths of her own parents. Clark tells him that Lana will probably understand better than anyone.

At the Beanery, Lex tells Clark that Victoria is staying in Metropolis until Lex can figure out who attacked her. Clark admits that he's reconsidering his decision to go for it with Lana. He feels he would be taking unfair advantage of a tragic situation. Amy approaches to say hello and Clark uses his X-ray vision to discover that she is wearing Lex's watch. Lex and Clark return to the Luthor estate to search Amy's room. They find a shrine to Lex full of photos and newspaper clippings as well as his watch. Lex is not unkind. He agreed not to call the police, and he offers to pay for Amy's medical care, but he does ask that the Palmers leave the mansion tonight.

Clark finds Lana in his loft watching the sun set. It's a very intimate moment, but instead of making his move, he tells Lana that Whitney really needs her. At the mansion, the Palmers are packing up. When they leave, an invisible assailant attacks Lex.

Chloe arrives at the loft to tell Clark that the sample blood drop does not match Amy Palmer's blood donation, but it does match her brother Jeff's. Clark rushes off to the mansion. Jeff has bound Lex and is tormenting him. He explains that he attacked Victoria for his sister. Clark has to break down the door to get in. Jeff knocks Lex's head against the wall, rendering him unconscious. Jeff explains to Clark that he found a strange green rose on grounds. He studied it and used its oils to create the invisibility cream. When he grabs Clark around the neck, Clark elbows him and he flies across the room and into the scaffold. Open cans of paint fall on him, revealing where he is.

Jeff is taken away in an ambulance. Lex says Jeff is in need of "serious therapy".

### Hug

n an office building in Metropolis, Bob Rickman is meeting with Paul Hendrix, from the Center for Environmental Protection (CEP). Paul is concerned about Bob's intentions to build another plant in Smallville because his last plant contaminated the groundwater. Paul has a restraining order against Bob from building any more plants until all the cases against him have been resolved. As Bob goes to leave, he shakes hands with Paul. Their handshake glows green and Paul seems dazed. While in this dazed state, Bob persuades Paul that he is in pain and the only way to end his pain is to end his own life. By the time Bob gets to the lobby, Paul has jumped out his window and fallen to his death.

Clark, Chloe and Lana are horseback riding. Chloe isn't very good at it. Lana says that Whitney has been begrudgingly working a lot of extra hours at his family's store since his father has been ill. Chloe accidentally drops her camera. When Lana leaves Clark and Chloe to retrieve Chloe's camera, Chloe explains her theory that all the weird stuff that happens in these woods can be traced to Kyle Tippet, a sculptor who lives alone in the woods. When Lana cries out, Clark rushes to her and finds her with Kyle Tippet. Kyle runs away when he sees Clark. Chloe's camera has recorded the encounter.

Back home, Clark reviews the camera footage with his parents. It doesn't look like Kyle was trying to hurt Lana, but Lana's aunt wants Clark to tell the police that Kyle spooked Lana's horse and attacked her. Clark decides to go talk to Kyle about what happened.

In Smallville, Bob Rickman is hosting a reception. Victoria Hardwick and Lex are there. Bob reveals that he has chosen the Kent Farm as the site for his new pesticide plant, but Lex is sure that Bob will never convince the Kents to sell their farm. When Clark arrives at Kyle's trailer in the woods, Kyle explains that the horse threw Lana and he was just making sure that she was okay. Other than that, Kyle is very unfriendly.

At the Beanery, Clark meets Lana and Whitney. He tells them that he talked to Kyle and he doesn't think that he did anything wrong. Whitney seemed very unimpressed and disappointed that Clark didn't do anything more decisive. Lex is at the Beanery, too. He warns Clark that Bob Rickman is after his farm.

After the reception, Kyle finds Bob and warns him to get out of Smallville. Apparently they made an agreement nine years ago, that Bob would leave Smallville alone. As he leaves the building, Kyle runs into Clark who asks him why he's in town. Kyle explains that he filed a complaint against Bob, but he also complains that people used to mind their own business. Whitney comes out of the Beanery and warns Kyle to stay away from Lana. Clark offers Kyle a ride home. Bob steps out on to the street and introduces himself to Whitney, shaking his hand.

After dropping Kyle off, Clark notices Whitney's truck parked out in the woods and heads back to make sure Kyle is all right. Whitney is going after Kyle with a baseball bat. Clark arrives just as Kyle is getting the upper hand and he blocks a blow intended for Whitney. When the police arrive, they take Kyle into custody, but Clark isn't ready to believe Whitney's version of the story.

At school the next day, Chloe decides to research the possibility of a connection between Bob Rickman and Kyle Tippet. Lana is furious that Clark wouldn't back up Whitney's version of the story. Clark reminds Lana that Whitney strung him up in a field once and Lana tells Clark that if he doesn't like Whitney, then he shouldn't pretend to be his friend.

Bob Rickman shows up at the Kent Farm to persuade Jonathan Kent to sell. His super handshake doesn't work at first because Jonathan is wearing work gloves, but Bob finds another way after Jonathan takes his gloves off. Jonathan next seen holding a contract with his signature on it, trying to figure out what happened and how to get out of it.

At the Beanery, Lana and Whitney snub Clark. Clark meets Lex there and tells him that the contract his father signed is "ironclad," but Lex is willing to help. Clark decides to visit Kyle Tippet to see if he can figure out how Bob convinced his father to sell the farm.

Bob calls the sheriff and they send a deputy over. Bob shakes the deputy's hand and says that he needs him to take care of an old friend. At the same time, Kyle makes a jail break by persuading another deputy to give him his uniform. Clark shows up just as the first deputy fires at Kyle. He uses his super speed to help Kyle dodge the bullet. He is not entirely successful and Kyle suffers a shoulder wound.

Clark takes Kyle to the Luthor Mansion where Lex's doctor, Toby, stitches him up, no questions asked. However, he does make a reference to the knife wound Lex received at Club Zero. Back home, Clark finds Lana waiting for him in his loft. She heard that Kyle had escaped from jail and she was a little freaked out. She wanted to clear the air between them and preserve their friendship, but Clark is pretty strong in his defense of Kyle.

Bob approaches Lex at the Beanery, but Lex won't shake his hand. Clark comes in and asks Bob how he got his dad to sign that contract. When he shakes Bob's hand, he shows uncanny resistance to the handshake and nearly crushes Bob's hand. Chloe reveals that Rickman and Tippet were trapped in their car during the meteor shower, then afterward were the salesmen of the year for three straight years. They return to the Luthor Mansion to talk with Kyle. He is missing, and it seems that he has persuaded the staff to forget all about him. Clark guesses that he has gone back to his trailer in the woods.

At Kyle's trailer, Kyle explains to Clark and Chloe that he and Bob Rickman were terrible salesmen before the meteor shower, but afterwards they could persuade anyone to do anything. He says the effect lasts until the person does what he has been told, and then they can't remember having done it. If they fail, they will keep trying unless they are forcibly snapped out of it the way Whitney was. Chloe wants a demonstration, so he shakes her hand and tells her to kiss Clark. She does so, but then she can't remember.

Bob Rickman arrives at the Luthor Mansion to tell Lex that he is no longer pursuing the Kent farm as a proposed site for his plant, but wants the chance to shake his hand. Clark calls Lex and tells him that Kyle wants to go public and bring down Bob Rickman. Lex agrees to come pick them up and drive them in to Metropolis. Lex locks Clark and Kyle in the car and douses it with gasoline before setting it on fire. Clark uses his super strength to rip off the doors and escape before the car explodes. Clark zooms away with Kyle just as Rickman arrives to give Lex an automatic weapon. Lex catches up with Clark at Frank's Auto Shop and shoots him with the automatic weapon.

Clark dodges the first couple of dozen bullets, but there are too many, they start hitting him in the back, tearing holes in his jacket, and Clark collapses. When Lex approaches to finish him off, Clark kicks him across the room, effectively snapping him out of his trance.

Bob Rickman seems to know his plan has failed. He is waiting outside, but decides just then to pull a gun from his jacket and go inside. Before he can enter the building, Kyle Tippet comes up behind him and grabs his hands. They are locked for a moment in a double handshake, then Bob kills himself. Kyle explains to Clark that he always was the more persuasive salesman. He also promises to keep Clark's secret, saying that Clark has inspired him to use his gift to do great things.

At home, Martha Kent tends her son's wounds. The bullets from the automatic weapon have left bruises all over his body. Lana arrives to assure Clark that even though she doesn't see things his way about Kyle, she thinks their friendship is worth more than one argument. Later, Lex arrives to find Clark in his loft. He says that because of Bob Rickman's sudden death, his company will not be expanding and were glad to get out of the deal with the Kent Farm. Lex clearly doesn't remember anything that happened that night. Clark asks Lex if their friendship will fall apart like Kyle and Bob's. Lex smiles and responds that their friendship will become the stuff of legend.

### Leech

The Smallville High School students are on a geology field trip looking for a specific list of rocks. Eric Summers, a shy, quiet boy, offers to help the pretty, blonde Holly find a meteor rock, but her boyfriend threatens to knock him into the next county. The geology teacher Mr. Summers (Eric's dad) breaks it up, then berates Eric for not finding more rocks. Eric wanders away morose. When he has all the students loaded up on the bus, Eric is missing. Clark Kent volunteers to go find him.

Clark finds Eric standing on the ledge of Smallville Dam listening to music and dropping rocks into the dam, just as the thunderstorm starts rolling in. Eric is holding his bag of rocks, which includes a meteor rock. A bolt of lightning strikes near Eric and he starts to fall off the Dam. Clark grabs his hand before he can fall, and at that moment, Clark is struck by lightning square in the chest. The electricity radiates down his arm to Eric, and a cloud of green smoke surrounds them. When Clark pulls Eric up, he reaches over to pat out some embers on Eric's coat and is surprised when he burns his hand on them.

The next morning, Jonathan asks Clark to help him get the truck out of the mud. Clark seems confused when he can't do it. He falls down hard and his nose starts to bleed. When he realizes his super speed is gone too, Martha gives him a ride to school.

When Eric Summers comes downstairs for breakfast, he realizes that he doesn't need eyeglasses anymore. His father gives him a hard time again for what happened at the dam. When he goes to backhand his son, Eric uses his super speed to grab his father's hand. Mr. Summers backs off, greatly surprised.

At school, Clark is sweating buckets after the kind of workout that never used to faze him. He asks Eric if he's feeling any different. Eric just says he feels great, and then when he's alone, repeatedly bench-presses six hundred pounds while smiling. After school, Whitney drops Lana off at the flower shop. He tells her that he has been having a hard time because he has to spend so much time helping out at his dad's store that he doesn't have time to train and his grades are slipping. He's worried about losing his football scholarship to Kansas State. They are both surprised to see the "For sale" sign in the window of the flower shop, which includes the Talon Theater. Lana is particularly upset with her Aunt Nell for not consulting her about it.

Roger Nixon shows up at the Luthor Mansion with his report on the car crash. He reports that all evidence suggests that Lex actually hit Clark on the bridge. He is eager to break the story, but Lex warns him no one else is ever to learn of these findings.

Clark struggles through his chores on the farm, which he says take two hours instead of five minutes. He expresses profound respect for his father's ability to do this every day. He is still out after dark mending a fence when Lex arrives. Lex is surprised and disappointed to see that Clark is struggling. He accuses Clark of not telling him the whole story about the day of the crash. Clark gets angry at Lex's insinuations that Clark is hiding secrets about himself. Clark dares Lex to hit him with a hammer to see if it hurts.

As Chloe and Pete are walking along Main Street, a man grabs Chloe's laptop and runs off. Eric chases after the thief, who thrusts at him with a knife that shatters against Eric's hand. Finally, Eric grabs the thief and throws him 30 feet to cheering crowds. Chloe writes a story about Eric in the *Smallville Ledger*, calling him a "Super Boy." Reading the story, the Kents realize that Eric must have taken Clark's powers somehow, and Jonathan guesses he will probably not get them back. Clark has mixed feelings. He thinks it must have been a waste of time keeping his abilities a secret since everyone seems to be celebrating Eric's abilities. Martha reminds him that doesn’t have to hide any more. She advises him to try to have some fun.

At school, Clark shows disdain for Eric's boasting about his abilities, but he cheers up when Whitney and Brent invite him and Pete to a pick-up basketball game and he can actually accept. He and Pete lose badly, but Clark is smiling from ear to ear.

In Metropolis, Lex is annoyed at Sir Harry Hardwick for keeping him waiting. He threatens to reconsider the deal to help Harry take over LuthorCorp with his shares. Harry announces that the deal is off, and that he has another plan to take over LuthorCorp, having just bought Cadmus Labs. With the profits from the patents, he can afford to buy LuthorCorp outright.

After school, Clark meets Lana at the Talon theater. She explains that she is sad because her Aunt Nell has decided to sell the flower shop and the theater. It has sentimental value for Lana since her parents met there. He asks her for her English notes, since he slept through class, and she remarks that he seems more relaxed these days.

When Eric gets home, he's excited about being in the paper and he expects his parents to be proud of his good deed. However, his father informs him that he is taking him to see a professor for some tests. Eric gets angry and speeds away. He arrives at school, where he boldly asks Holly on a date. Her boyfriend threatens to leave her alone. So Eric terrorizes Holly's boyfriend, threatening to crush him with a truck. When Clark tries to stop him, Eric throws him several feet. Clark lands on the top of the car, unconscious. Horrified, Holly tells Eric to get away, and calls him a freak.

As Clark has his ribs bandaged, he tells his parents he feels responsible. Lex arrives to make sure Clark is all right. Clark is irritable and defensive, so Lex backs off and apologizes.

Eric arrives home asking his parents for help. He knows he made a mistake terrorizing his schoolmates. His parents know what happened, but they are afraid of him and have called the sheriff. Eric is devastated.

Jonathan reports that Eric's parents are afraid of Eric. Clark expresses sympathy for Eric and asks his father if he was ever afraid of him. Jonathan tells him that he put a few holes in the walls, but he was a good kid, so he was never afraid. Clark reasons that if Eric has his abilities, he might have his weakness, too.

Back in Metropolis, Lex has arrived at the offices of Harry Hardwick, who has realized that Cadmus Labs is worthless. Lex reveals that he planted the misinformation about Cadmus Labs on his computer knowing that Victoria would steal it. Lex announces that he and his father will be making an offer on Harry's company in the morning.

Clark asks Lana if he can borrow her meteor rock necklace, and goes to Eric's house with it.

When Clark arrives at Eric's house, he finds the sheriff's car sticking out of the roof. Mr. Summers tells Clark that Eric went to "get rid of" his powers and that there was "only one place he could do that". Clark finds Eric at the dam again. He jumps and Clark meets him at the bottom, unharmed. Clark tries to tell him that he can adjust to his abilities, but Eric is still in a rage. Clark attacks Eric with the necklace at the same time Eric attacks Clark with a live power line. The combination of high voltage and meteor rock transfers Clark's super powers back to him. A cut on his forehead heals instantly and the necklace hurts his hand. Clark puts the necklace back in the box. Then, Eric is taken away in an ambulance.

Later, Lionel calls to congratulate Lex for taking over Hardwick's company. After they hang up, Nixon arrives. Lex tells him that he was wrong about Clark and that the Kents are now off limits. Nixon delivers a photograph of Lionel in an intimate position with Victoria. Lex is saddened to realize that it was Lionel who used Victoria to set him up.

Clark returns Lana's necklace in the lead box he received from Lex. He says that it will protect her memories without holding her back.

### Kinetic

At the Luthor Mansion, Clark is helping Chloe interview Lex Luthor by operating the video camera when Wade Mahaney, Derek Fox and Scott Bowman walk right through the walls wearing ski masks. They enter the vault and fill their bags with cash, coins, precious artifacts and a computer disc. On their way out they are able to put Clark in a headlock before hitting him in the gut and putting him on the floor. Chloe tries to run away but they push her out of a fourth story window. Fortunately, she lands in soft grass, but Clark is devastated that he couldn't get there in time.

At the Smallville Medical Center Clark is sitting with Chloe when Lex arrives. He has called in the best doctors from Metropolis. She has a broken arm and a concussion. The police think that these same bandits are responsible for a dozen robberies throughout the county over the past six months, including the Smallville Savings and Loan, but for some reason, Lex has decided not to report anything stolen. He is only interested in finding the people who hurt Chloe.

At the Kent Farm, Clark is angrily splitting firewood with his bare hands. He's actually making quite a mess of it, creating toothpicks. His parents find him and try to convince him that Chloe's injuries are not his fault. His mother even encourages him to go out and investigate what happened. Clark goes to the bank and when he uses his X-ray vision, he sees the remains of a human arm inside the door of the vault.

Outside the flower shop, Lana meets Whitney who seems distant, distracted and depressed. At the Talon, Aunt Nell is packing some things when Lana arrives to ask who the buyer is in hopes of convincing him or her to renovate. Lana is disappointed when Nell tells her that she is selling the building to Lex.

At the gang's loft, Wade is disappointed that his heist wasn't even on the news. Scott guesses that Lex has so much money that he hasn't missed the stuff they took, but Derek figures out that Lex probably didn't report the robbery because he doesn’t want anyone to know about what is on the disc they stole. They check out the disc, and discover Lex is stealing money from his father to fund a personal project involving a particle accelerator. They decide to blackmail Lex with the disc. Derek reminds everyone that the tattoos don't last as long as they used to, and they need to find a new member for their gang.

At the mansion, Lex is on the phone giving his security firm a hard time when the burglars show up again demanding a million dollars or they will upload the disc to the Internet.

At Fordman's Department Store, Whitney tells Clark that he lost his scholarship to Kansas State. Wade is there also, and Clark notices his bright green tattoo. Wade, also a former football player, recognizes Whitney from the football games, and asks about his future. Whitney tells him the truth, and Wade commiserates, saying he lost a scholarship due to an injury. Wade invites him to a party at their place that night. At the party, Wade shows Whitney their tattoo machine, and talks him into getting one. The tattoo ink is a bright, meteor rock green. Later, while walking through a traffic tunnel, the gang throws Whitney in front of a truck. The truck passes right through him.

Back at the medical center, Clark visits Chloe again, who has awakened. Clark feels extremely guilty, but Chloe tries to lighten the mood with good-natured sarcasm. Chloe then remembers that one of the guys that grabbed her had an octagon tattoo. Clark goes back to Fordman's to ask Whitney about the guy with that tattoo. He discovers that Whitney has a new tattoo and warns him to stay away from those guys. Whitney doesn't want to hear it.

At the Talon, Lana makes an impassioned plea to Lex to renovate the old theater, but he is unmoved by sentiment. He plans to turn it into a parking garage to service downtown. Later, Lana meets up with Clark in his loft. He tells her that Whitney has lost his scholarship. He also tells Lana that he discovered that the new guys he's hanging out with used to be great athletes in high school before it all fell apart for them. Lana tells Clark about her meeting with Lex. Clark suggests that maybe Lex didn't reject her proposal, but challenged her to come up with a better one.

That night, the gang picks up Whitney at the store and Clark follows. They meet Lex Luthor in a meat locker, but Lex didn't actually bring the money. Whitney starts to panic when they threaten to kill Lex. Their time is running out and they have to leave. When Clark arrives, the meteor rock in the tattoos has rendered him helpless and the guys hit him in the head with a meat hook, but he manages to call out Whitney's name before they all disappear through the wall.

Back at the gang's loft, they give Whitney a hard time about his performance. They argue about keeping him in the gang, but they need new blood. The meteor rock tattoos work by speeding up their metabolism, and they are burning out.

The next morning, Clark meets Pete and Chloe at the medical center. Chloe has done some research and guessed how the gang is walking through walls. Later, Whitney tells Lana and Clark all about the plan to kill Lex. They formulate a plan to sneak into the gang's loft and get the disc back.

The loft seems deserted. Clark uses his X-ray vision to find the disc hidden in the ventilation ducts, but then the gang returns. When Clark crushes the disc, Wade sticks his hand right into Clark's chest. They leave him reeling and take Whitney out back where they have dozens of junk cars stacked up. Wade holds Whitney under one car while Scott is set to drop it on them. The plan is that the car will pass right through Wade, but it will crush Whitney. Then Lex sneaks up behind him and zaps him with a stun gun. As Lex calls the police, Clark rushes off to find Whitney. Scott releases the car just as Wade's tattoo fades from bright to dull green.

Clark rushes in and grabs Whitney just as the car falls on Wade, crushing him. Scott tries to run away just as the sheriff arrives. As the police take Scott and Derek into custody, Lex promises to keep their secret as long as they keep his, and he threatens them that if they don't, he'll be able to get at them no matter where they are.

The next morning, Lana makes another presentation to Lex. This time, Lana has researched tax breaks and historical sites, and proposes to turn the Talon into a successful café, bookstore and venue for local bands and art house movies. Impressed, Lex accepts the idea. Lana is elated until Lex uses the word partnership, then she seems a little worried.

### Zero

Lex Luthor is wearing a straitjacket, hanging upside down in a large dark room. He calls out for help. Jude Royce approaches, shining a light in his face and demanding the truth. Flashback to Metropolis, three years ago (c. 1999), Lex enters Club Zero with Max Kasich and Amanda Rothman. Max is Lex's bodyguard. Amanda is a friend of Lex, engaged to Jude Royce, who is supposed to be out of town for a few days, so she is out with Lex tonight. Unfortunately, Amanda catches sight of Jude across the room sitting between two beautiful women. Hurt and outraged, she takes off her engagement ring, throws it at him and runs away. Jude correctly guesses that Lex brought her there on purpose. Lex admits that Amanda deserves better. Lex catches up with a crying Amanda on the dance floor. Jude catches up with Lex and they exchange blows. The noise and the lighting add to the confusion. Jude pulls a knife and stabs Lex in the shoulder. Max pulls out a handgun and shoots and kills Jude.

In the present, Lex is still hanging from the ceiling in a straitjacket. Jude calls him a liar. He already knows that version of the story from the newspapers and police reports, but he doesn't believe it. He threatens to get even, claiming that Lex, not Max, killed him. He raises his handgun to shoot Lex.

**One week earlier**

Mr. Austin gives his students an assignment to write a six-page biography about one of their fellow students. Supposedly, the subjects were randomly assigned, but Pete Ross was assigned Stan Gibson, the manager of the student store. Chloe Sullivan was assigned Clark Kent and Clark was assigned Lana Lang.

Clark takes off to meet Lana at the Talon where he finds her arguing with the general contractor about the plumbing. Jude Royce is there applying for a position as an assistant manager. Jude warns Lana that whatever Lex gets involved with usually turns out badly. When Lex arrives at the Talon, Max meets him outside. Lex is not happy to see him because they were supposed to be avoiding each other. Max reports that Jude has been stalking him and demanding the truth. Lex sends him to a safe house in Metropolis and joins Clark in the Talon. When he learns that Jude has applied for the assistant manager position he becomes upset and leaves. When he starts his car the music is blaring—the same song that was playing the night Jude Royce was killed. Lex can't figure out how to turn it off. Clark uses his X-ray vision to find a CD player under the dashboard.

Clark returns home to find Chloe interviewing his parents for her biography assignment. She is asking difficult questions about his adoption. Clark rushes off to meet Lana on Main Street. Lana says that she is really enjoying the Talon project. People are depending on her rather than treating her like the poor little girl who lost her parents. Lex arrives and they all go inside to meet the contractor but they find him on the floor unconscious. They rouse him and he reports that someone knocked him over the head. There is a gift box on the table with Lex's name on it. Inside is Max Kasich's hand, identifiable by a distinctive ring he always wore.

The next day at school, Chloe is trying to get interesting information about Clark from Pete. Pete tells her that when Clark when six, he threw a nine year old bully through a door. Chloe tells Clark that she has done some digging and discovered that Clark's adoption was managed by Metropolis United Charities, but they were only in business six months and Clark's was the only adoption they ever handled. Clark is furious. He didn't know any of that and he's not happy that Chloe is poking around.

At the gym in the mansion, Mr. Rains, head of security, reports to Lex that Max never made it to Metropolis after leaving Smallville, and that Jude Royce has no parents and no siblings. He has not yet tracked down Amanda Rothman. During his workout, Lex flashes back to that night at Club Zero. Amanda is crying over the body of her dead fiancé when Sam Phelan arrives. Lex tells Sam that after Jude stabbed him, he and Max struggled for Max's gun; both their hands were on it when it went off and killed Jude. Sam agrees to fix it so that Lex's name will not appear in any police reports or any newspapers. He gives Lex the card for a man (Dr. Toby) who will take care of his shoulder so that his name doesn't appear on any reports in an emergency room. As the memory ends, Lex is still in the gym where someone puts a gun to his head. When he turns around, he sees Jude Royce, the man who should be dead. Clark arrives at the mansion and scares Jude off. Clark tries to ask Lex about Club Zero, but Lex doesn't want to talk about it.

Back at the Kent Farm, Clark is helping his dad with the chores. Clark asks about the mysterious Metropolis United Charities. Jonathan makes an equally mysterious reference to needing "a higher level of access." Then they find their entire herd of cows dead in the field. The Center for Environmental Protection (CEP) shows up with HAZMAT suits and finds barrels with the LuthorCorp logo on them. Lex is on hand to supervise the cleanup, but one of the CEP men is Jude Royce. He uses a taser gun to shock Lex and throw him into an empty cargo van. He drives him all the way to Metropolis, to the abandoned site that was once Club Zero, puts him a straight jacket and hangs him from his heels, ten feet off the floor.

Chloe meets Clark in his loft to apologize for blindsiding him with the adoption mystery, saying she is dropping the whole thing to save their friendship. She finds the clippings that Clark has on the death at Club Zero and they match the picture of the man killed with a picture Chloe took of the CEP guys. She hacks into the DMV database and pulls his license. She gets an obviously fake name (John Smith) and an address. Clark asks her to send the Metropolis PD there as he speeds away. When he arrives, the police are there and the coroner is removing a body bag from the house. Clark uses his X-ray vision to see that the corpse has no hand and deduces that it must be Max Kasich. Clark asks a police officer where he can find Club Zero. The officer explains that it closed six months ago but gives him the address.

Back at Club Zero, Jude is once again about to shoot Lex when Roy Rothman shoots Jude. Roy turns on the lights and music and shoots the chains holding Lex upside down. Lex crashes to the floor. He recognizes Roy as the contractor from the Talon, but he's actually Amanda's brother from Central City.

When he was in prison, Amanda was the only one who visited him. He explains that he has kidnapped Lex because he wants vengeance for his sister, who committed suicide a year ago. He also explains that about a week after his sister's funeral, he walked into a restaurant in Blüdhaven and met a short order cook who looked exactly like Jude Royce. Lex agrees to tell Roy the truth about what happened the night Jude was killed.

Lex says that after Jude stabbed him, Max pulled out his gun, but a dancer bumped him and he dropped it. Amanda picked it up and shot Jude. This is not the story that Roy wanted to hear and he becomes furious. He picks up Lex and puts him up against a huge fish tank. Just as he pulls the trigger, Lex twists away and jumps back over a railing. Clark walks in just then. He uses his super speed to push a couch under Lex, then runs upstairs and throws Roy against a post, rendering him unconscious. Then he runs back to the door and pretends to have just arrived. He unties Lex, and they head back to Smallville for the Talon opening. Clark brings an old photo from the original opening on Talon as a gift. Lex runs into Clark and Clark asks him if what he told was the truth. Lex then states that "the truth is, I'd do anything for my friends". Back at the Torch offices, Chloe decides to continue her investigation into Clark's adoption by Metropolis United Charities.

### Nicodemus

James Beels is racing along the road with a large yellow flower in the seat next to him. He's on the phone very eager to tell Lionel Luthor that he has found something. When the secretary won't pull him out of his meeting, he gets very agitated, throws down the phone, and steps on the gas. When he catches up with Jonathan Kent, he sounds the horn, flashes his lights, and rams Jonathan's car in a rage. The road is narrow and before Jonathan can pull over, he tries to pass on the right, hits an obstruction and flips his car. Jonathan pulls over and drags Beels from the car just before it explodes. The flower sprays him in the face.

Dr. Hamilton arrives at the Luthor Mansion to report that James Beels stole one of his flowers after helping him move some equipment. The Nicodemus flower has been extinct for 100 years but he has used meteor fragments to irradiate the dormant seeds.

Clark comes home to find his parents kissing in the kitchen. Martha admits that Jonathan has been acting strangely every since he got home. He grabs a beer from the fridge and asks Clark if he wants to watch the football game. He blows off his chores and wipes the beer bottle on the curtain (instead of using a towel). Lex Luthor visits to ask if Jonathan is all right and Jonathan goes on an angry tirade about how he hates the Luthors then leaves to go take a nap as Clark and Martha look on in shock.

The next day, Clark tells Pete Ross about his father's strange behavior. Pete reveals that he hates Lex because his father swindled his family out of their creamed corn factory twelve years ago. He never mentioned it before because he trusted that Clark would see for himself that he is bad news. Chloe Sullivan is doing a poll for the newspaper, asking everyone what his or her deepest desire is. Pete says that he would make out with a beautiful girl. Lana says that she would climb the windmill out in Chandler's Field.

Back at the Kent Farm, Jonathan continues to act strangely. Martha notes that he has a high fever. When the phone rings, it is Jim Alexander over at Smallville Savings and Loan, calling to turn down Jonathan's loan application. Jonathan picks up the phone and says that he's going to have to turn down his loan to his face. He's next seen driving erratically on his way to the bank. He nearly hits two pedestrians. Clark happens to be walking down Main Street, and he intercepts his father before he walks in the bank with a shotgun. They struggle a bit, and Jonathan shoots Clark in the chest. Of course, Clark is unharmed, but Jonathan collapses to the ground.

At the Smallville Medical Center, Jonathan is showing the same symptoms as James Beels, who just slipped into a coma. That night, Chloe and Lana search the site of the accident for something that might have infected both men. Chloe snaps pictures while Lana goes into the woods. Lana finds the hula dancer figurine that sat on Beels' dashboard. Then the flower rises up from the ground and sprays her in the face.

At Hamilton's lab, Lex Luthor confronts Hamilton about his experiment. Lex has learned that a strange contagion struck Smallville (the Morley Settlement) in 1897. A priest who witnessed the scene left a diary which described how the settlers began acting out of character. He claimed a local flower was to blame. It is this flower that Dr. Hamilton has resurrected from extinction in the hope that the toxins within might have other applications. Lex orders Hamilton to pack up one of the flowers so that another team in Metropolis can study it and find an antidote for Jonathan Kent.

At school the next day, Lana arrives dressed to kill, wearing a black miniskirt and boots. She tries to convince Whitney to skip class with her, but he refuses, so she finds Clark and drags him to the swimming pool. She strips down to her bra and panties and dives in. When she can't convince Clark to join her, she kisses him and then pushes him in fully dressed. She slips away without getting into trouble just before Principal Kwan finds Clark treading water.

Clark tells Chloe about Lana's strange behavior and they guess that the site of the accident is the only thing that Beels, Jonathan and Lana all have in common. They can't figure out why Chloe isn't affected, but they do find an image of Dr. Hamilton in the photos that Chloe took at the site of the accident, so they decide to go talk to him. When Chloe arrives at Dr. Hamilton's lab, he successfully evades her questions.

At the Talon, Lex is on the phone demanding results from his team investigating the flower, when Lana walks in and gives everyone the afternoon off. She fails in her attempt to seduce Lex, so she steals his car and heads for the windmill. Clark arrives at the Talon just as Lana is speeding away. He catches up with her climbing the windmill in Chandler's Field. Halfway up, Lana begins to feel faint and falls. Clark catches her and rushes her back to the hospital where Jonathan has just slipped into a coma. Lex pledges to Martha to do everything he can for Jonathan.

Back at school, Chloe reports that she saw the Nicodemus diary in Dr. Hamilton's lab. She recounts the same history mentioned earlier by Lex to Hamilton, but adds the detail that the cavalry torched the entire site in an effort to destroy all the flowers. Pete has found a paper that Hamilton wrote six years ago (c. 1996) about how meteor fragments might be used to irradiate dormant plant cells, so they guess that Hamilton brought back the Nicodemus, but they also know that Lex is involved. Chloe reveals that Lex checked out *The Nicodemus Diary* and that Lex had something to do with bringing the flower back from extinction. When Clark confronts Lex, he is upset until Lex admits that he was investigating the Nicodemus flower but denies knowing Dr. Hamilton.

Chloe and Pete sneak into Hamilton's lab to investigate. Pete knocks over one of the jars containing a flower and is infected by the contagion. He tells Chloe that she is beautiful, and that she ignores him because she only has eyes for Clark. Pete rants that Clark is probably hanging out with his new best friend, Lex Luthor. Pete finds a handgun in Hamilton's desk and points it at Chloe until she hands over her car keys so that he can go after Lex.

At the hospital, Beels has died and Jonathan's condition has not improved. Martha recounts to Clark how they first met at Metropolis University. Chloe arrives to tell Clark that Pete has been infected and gone after Lex. At the mansion, Hamilton shows Lex a manuscript he found in a museum containing a Native American cure for the Nicodemus toxin. Lex plans to send it to his team in Metropolis just as Pete walks in. Pete shoots Hamilton in the shoulder and Hamilton drops the manuscript in the fire. Lex reaches in and grabs the book; Hamilton hits Pete and makes him drop the gun; Lex throws the manuscript to Hamilton; Hamilton rushes out of the room as Pete recovers the gun and fires four times at Hamilton as he rushes out the door. Pete turns the gun on Lex as Clark enters the room. Clark pretends to agree with Pete. He approaches Lex and pushes him hard against the wall, stunning him. Then he uses his super speed to disarm Pete and then knocks him out with a slap to the forehead. He helps Lex to his feet, explaining that it had been an act to stop Pete from killing him. When Clark asks Lex if Hamilton was really at the mansion, Lex doesn't give a straight answer.

Jonathan wakes with no memory of his illness. The doctors in Metropolis found the cure from the manuscript of Native American medicine. Pete and Lana are also recovering. Chloe goes to question Dr. Hamilton again, she discovers it empty. Lex informs Hamilton that he has destroyed all of his laboratory equipment and moved his experiments to Cadmus Labs, outside Metropolis, where he can keep a closer eye on him.

Clark takes Lana to the top of the windmill in Chandler's Field where she can see the Metropolis skyline.

### Stray

Ryan James is trying to pawn a small angel figurine. He haggles with the pawnbroker telling him it's gold. The pawnbroker tells him it's fake but Ryan wins him over by saying his mother is dead. Touched, the pawnbroker increases his offer and dials into the shop's safe. Across the street, Ryan climbs into a car with James Gibson and Debra Burch, his stepparents. He is reluctant, but he tells them the combination to the safe and asks them not to forget his angel; the two exit the car with a shotgun and pistol. Ryan follows them out and is horrified to see his father shoot and kill the broker. He then runs away blindly into the woods with his step-parents after him. While trying to cross the street, he is struck by a car being driven by Martha Kent. Alarmed, Martha collects the boy and drives him to the hospital just as James and Debra arrive.

At the Smallville Medical Center, Dr. Harden informs the Kents that he only has minor injuries. Ryan claims to only know his name and they can't find his parents. She also tells them that he has injuries not related to the car accident, speculating that he may not *want* to remember. She announces that Child Services will not be able to pick him up until tomorrow, so the only place for him to stay is a juvenile cell at the sheriff's office. Clark suggests that Ryan stay with them.

The next morning, the Kents awake to a homemade breakfast courtesy of Ryan, who proceeds to correctly guess exactly how they like their pancakes, but he can't guess for Clark. Jonathan asks him why he was out on the highway that night and he gets defensive, says he doesn't remember, and leaves the table abruptly. Clark finds him on the tractor reading his favorite comic book, *Warrior Angel*. Ryan is afraid that the Kents won't like him if they discover that he did "bad things" before they found him. Clark gets him to loosen up by playing basketball. Jonathan and Martha look on while they play.

At the hospital, James Gibson poses as a private detective looking for a lost boy. He asks about Ryan and learns only that Ryan isn't there anymore.

Lex Luthor receives a surprise visit from his father, Lionel, who compliments his work on the profits of the LuthorCorp plant in Smallville. He offers Lex a new position in Metropolis as Special Adviser to the Chairman (himself). Lex doesn't jump at the offer, but he promises to think about it.

Clark takes Ryan to the *Torch* office to meet Chloe. She compares his story to that of Kaspar Hauser, an obscure German folk tale about a boy who appeared out of the woods and was eventually claimed by every parent who had lost a child. She abruptly ends the story before revealing the sad ending, but Ryan finishes it for her. She looks at him strangely, surprised that he knew the ending seemingly right out of her head.

When she is out of earshot, Ryan tells Clark that Chloe likes him and wants him to ask her to the upcoming school dance. Clark is skeptical when Ryan says she has even picked out a pink dress.

Clark takes Ryan to the Talon to meet Lana and Lex. Lex informs Ryan that he has the entire *Warrior Angel* collection, but Ryan is unimpressed. Clark asks him why he was so rude to Lex and Ryan says that Lex is leaving anyway, because his father offered him a job. Clark tells him to stop making up stories about people and leaves him alone for a minute. Ryan then sees James in the coffee shop and runs away out the back with James in pursuit. Ryan crawls into a Dumpster to hide. Clark arrives in the alley and is horrified to see it being picked up by a dumptruck. He pries the side of the Dumpster off and Ryan is able to crawl out safely.

That night, Lex visits Clark in his loft and Clark asks him if he ever wanted a sibling. Lex tells Clark he had one, named Julian, but he died as an infant. He says it broke up his family and his mother was never the same. He also confirms Ryan's "story" when he reveals that Lionel has indeed offered him a job, but he doesn't know if he wants it anymore. Clark is surprised when Lex claims he didn't tell Ryan.

Jonathan takes Ryan to the Talon as a reward for helping out. Before they leave, he informs Lana that one of her employees is a bad person. Indeed, Lana later catches the employee stealing cash from the register. They are followed back to the farm by Ryan's stepparents, who are sitting outside, reading a newspaper article about Lex.

Clark and Chloe go back to where Martha hit Ryan to look for clues to his identity. Clark brings up Ryan's claim about Chloe's pink dress and she reluctantly confirms it, but maintains that she didn't actually *buy* the dress. They find Ryan's backpack, which contains a photograph of Ryan and his mother.

Inside Ryan asks Martha cryptic and probing questions, unnerving her. She sends him outside to play.

At the farm, Clark catches Ryan looking at his spaceship in the storm cellar. He is angry, but Ryan promises not to tell. He confesses his ability to read people's thoughts. He begins to cry as he explains that his mother died and his step-parents abused him and made him steal. He says he wanted to start over with the Kents.

Debra arrives at the Kent house posing as a child services advocate. She threatens to kill the Kents unless Ryan plays along and he has to leave before saying goodbye to Clark. Lex arrives shortly afterward to give Clark a gift: a fencing sword, called a foil. Clark thinks that it is a going-away present, but Lex explains that he hasn't quite made up his mind about leaving Smallville and climbs into a limousine, on the way to dinner with his father. As they drive away, it is revealed that James is driving.

The Gibsons meet up to hack into Lex's account with a laptop. He says he already has the account number for his trust fund and asks Lex for the password. Ryan reads Lex's mind and gets the password, saying it's "Julian." They then dump Lex on the side of the road.

Chloe goes to visit Clark and shows him James Gibson's rap sheet. Clark recognizes him as Lex's limo driver and speeds away. He finds Lex on the side of the road, but Ryan and the limo are gone.

The Gibsons stop at a bowling alley to torch the limo and hack into Lex's account with a laptop. James grows infuriated when the password doesn't work and threatens Ryan. Debra wants to kill Ryan but he tells her that James is only going to kill her once they get the money. James tries to make it look like Ryan's playing games, but she realizes that Ryan has never lied before. He kills Debra, then chases Ryan into the bowling alley. Clark arrives and uses his x-ray vision to find James and Ryan. He throws a bowling ball and hits James in the chest.

Clark takes Ryan to the Talon to say goodbye to Lana, who gives him a goodbye kiss.

Lex informs Lionel that he is not ready to come back to Metropolis and turns down his job offer.

His aunt from Edge City comes to the farm to collect him. He also reveals Johnathan and Martha's secret: The real identity of Clark but he promises to keep it a secret. Ryan gives Clark his comics collection and again warns him about Lex. Clark looks subdued as the Kents wave goodbye.

### Recap

Tyler Randall has come to visit his dying mother in the hospital. She asks him to help her die and requests to be buried in Smallville. He smothers her with a pillow, and when the life support alarms sound, a nurse enters, followed by a doctor and security. In the struggle, Tyler falls out the window more than 20 feet to his death.

The coroner finds the kryptonite meteor fragment from Tyler's bracelet wedged between the bones in his wrist and removes it, causing a green aura to radiate throughout Tyler's body. Just before the coroner begins to cut him open, Tyler grabs his arm, and the coroner turns to dust. Tyler walks out of the room.

Martha and Clark arrive at Mobile Meals and meet Tyler Randall, the new volunteer. Their first stop is to see Mrs. Sikes and her dog Pepper. Mrs. Sikes is bedridden and in pain. They have brought her irises today. She asks them to bring white roses tomorrow.

At the Luthor Mansion, Dominic Sanatori has arrived, ostensibly to perform an audit. Lex makes it clear that Dominic is not wanted there. Sanatori goes to the Kent Farm and asks Jonathan Kent if he has any idea why Lex spent so much money researching the car crash and the Kent family. Jonathan doesn’t know why, but he isn't happy to know that Lex has been prying into their lives.

Lex meets Clark at the Talon, and Clark tells him about how he and Jonathan go fishing every year, but he has since grown out of it and doesn't really want to go. Lex offers him two tickets to see the Metropolis Sharks as a substitute for the fishing trip. Lana receives a call: George Fordman has had another heart attack. Clark and Lana visit Mr. Fordman in the hospital, but Whitney hasn't arrived yet.

When Clark arrives home, he finds his dad preparing for the fishing trip. Clark asks if he wouldn't prefer to go to the football game instead. Jonathan suspects that he got the tickets from Lex, and tells Clark that Lex has been investigating them. Clark reveals that he already knows that, and Jonathan is furious that Clark didn't tell him sooner. Finally Clark blows up and tells his father that he's not a little kid any more and he doesn't even like fishing.

Late that night, Tyler Randall arrives at Mrs. Sikes' home. He has come to put her out of her misery. As Tyler walks in the door Pepper begins barking as usual. Tyler quiets the dog forever and gives Mrs. Sikes a white rose. He takes her by the hand, and she turns to ash.

The next morning, Martha tries to encourage Clark to work things out with his dad. At school, Chloe tells Clark about Mrs. Sikes. Although the official story is that she died in a fire, Chloe is going to look into the possibility that she died from spontaneous combustion. Clark talks with Whitney and learns that his dad always promised to be there the day Whitney threw his first pass for the Metropolis Sharks. Whitney just doesn't want to see his dad so weak in the hospital. He would rather remember him as he was when he was strong. Clark tells him he would rather have the man than the memory any day.

Chloe finds an article in the *Daily Planet* about a coroner who was turned into a pile of ash, so they decide to go to Mrs. Sikes' house to investigate. They see no sign of fire damage anywhere, but they do find Pepper's ID tag in a small pile of ash. They also find a white rose in a vase.

Lex arrives at the Kent Farm to ask if Jonathan is going to the game on Sunday. Jonathan says that he is going fishing, and he confronts Lex about investigating his family. Lex claims that he was completely honest with Clark about that.

Martha arrives at Mobile Meals to deliver some extra produce. When Tyler tries to help her with the vegetables, they turn to ash. Martha guesses that he killed Mrs. Sikes, and asks Hank to call the sheriff. Tyler tries to run, and Hank grabs him and turns to ash. Clark arrives to find Tyler approaching his mother and super-speeds between them. Tyler puts his hand on Clark's face. Clark's skin turns gray and he winces in pain, but he throws Tyler across the room, and his face returns to normal. Tyler disappears. Back home, Clark tells his dad that he saw Tyler's heart wasn’t beating.

At the Talon, Clark warns Lana about Tyler. Lana thanks him for talking with Whitney, and Lex rescinds his offer of football tickets. He wants Clark to go fishing and spend some time with his dad. He doesn't want to come between Clark and his father.

Lana finds Whitney in Smallville Cemetery at the Langs' grave. Whitney admits that in all the time that they spent together, he had never been there before. He just didn’t want to think about ever losing his parents. After Whitney leaves, Tyler approaches Lana. He says he doesn't want to hurt anybody. He just wants to help. He's going to try to help Whitney's father.

At the Talon, Chloe has received more information on Tyler Randall. The toxicology report indicates that he was taking a lot of painkillers. There is also the news that he failed to actually kill his mother. She recovered from her illness, and she was sent home. Lana arrives to tell Clark that Tyler is going after Mr. Fordman. Clark speeds away and finds Tyler in Mr. Fordman's room. He has knocked Whitney unconscious. Clark throws Tyler out of the room and tells Tyler that his mother is still alive. They go to her house, where she is sleeping peacefully. Tyler realizes that he wasn't really trying to stop others' pain, he was trying to relieve his own. He puts his palms together and turns himself to ash.

That same night at the Luthor Mansion, Lex drugs Dominic Sanatori. The next morning he meets his father in Metropolis with Sanatori in the trunk. Lex tells his dad not to send any more drones to bother him or the Kents. His father actually seems proud of how Lex handled Sanatori.

At Clark's request, Lex arranges it so that the Metropolis Sharks come to Smallville and play a little scrimmage for Mr. Fordman with his son as their quarterback.

### Drone

Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross discuss each candidate's chances at being elected class president. According to Pete, Sasha Woodman is a hard worker, but more a follower than a leader. Paul Chan is the most qualified, but Pete thinks Felice Chandler will win because she is the most popular. Chloe says the *Torch* is printing bios of every candidate, but as the editor she can only endorse one. Later that night, Paul is home printing flyers for his campaign when a swarm of bees come up a drain and sting him more than a hundred times.

The next day, they learn about Paul's attack. Clark speculates that Paul's chances in the election have been diminished since he is no longer able to campaign. Pete surprises Clark by announcing that he has entered Clark in the election. Clark is not thrilled. Despite Pete's enthusiasm, Clark is planning to remove his name from the ballot, when Sasha confronts him. She is high-strung and completely appalled that Clark is running against her.

Lex Luthor is speeding along in his silver Ferrari when he passes a beautiful woman checking under the hood of a red Mustang. He stops and calls his mechanic to come out and meet them. After a few moments of casual conversation, Lex guesses that she is a journalist. He confirms that there is nothing wrong with her car and she confesses that she works for the *Metropolis Journal*. Her name is Carrie Castle and she wants to do an article on him, insisting that it would be a flattering profile on him, but Lex refuses.

Clark tells his parents that Pete has nominated him. He is surprised that his parents think running for class president is a good idea. When Clark stops by the Talon to see Lana Lang, the place is deserted. The Beanery is trying to put them out of business. Lana thinks Clark would make a good class president, too. Clark goes to the Luthor Mansion to see if Lex has any ideas about how to help the Talon. Lex insists that the Talon has to find its own feet and he doesn't intend to subsidize it. He gives Clark an idea for a campaign slogan. At school the next day, Clark's campaign is in full swing. Lana and Pete are supportive, but Chloe is unimpressed that Clark has not yet established his position on any of the issues. She grills him on where he stands on several student issues but Clark doesn't have any answers. He asks Pete what he should do about his speech, but Pete thinks meeting and greeting is more important. Sasha sees them planning and rips down one of Clark's posters in anger. When she goes home, she goes to the shed in the back yard. It is decorated with a banner reading "Campaign Headquarters". She adds Clark's campaign poster to her collection of the opposition. The ceiling of the shed is covered with enormous honeycombs. A swarm of bees forms the shape of her face.

Clark asks Chloe to help him put up posters. Chloe has news about the attack on Paul Chan. She reports that apparently, the Center for Environmental Protection (CEP) has determined that the bees that attacked Paul came from several different hives from all over the area. When Clark asks to see the latest issue of the *Torch*, he is shocked and disappointed to learn that Chloe is endorsing Paul Chan. Chloe explains that she agrees with Paul's stand on the important issues. She says it's nothing personal, but he's still upset and storms away.

Clark and Pete stop by the Talon and Lana offers to help Clark write his speech. Lex arrives and although he doesn't offer to bail her out, he encourages her to keep fighting for the Talon and get creative.

Sasha tries to talk Felice into dropping out of the race. Felice blows her off and Sasha warns that she did ask nicely. Later, Principal Kwan discovers Felice in her car covered in bees. Clark and Pete are discussing the campaign when Chloe arrives. They are still annoyed that she didn't endorse Clark. Chloe reports that Felice is in the hospital in a coma. Clark and Pete realize that this is more than a coincidence. They remember that bees attacked Sasha last year in Shuster's Gorge, the deepest meteor crater in Lowell County.

They theorize that now she is controlling them. When Sasha asks Clark to drop out of the race, he confronts her about the bees. At the Talon, Lana is helping Clark with his speech when a swarm of bees attacks. Clark is able to get Lana to safety and draw the bees away. Clark takes Lana home, and prepares to go looking for Sasha. Lana tells him that Chloe could help, but Clark admits that he's not speaking to her. Lana points out that Chloe was only doing what she thought was right. Clark goes to Sasha's shed and Chloe meets him there. He admits that he doesn't want to be in a fight with her and they make up. They theorize that Sasha has somehow become the hive queen. If she is defeated in the election, her scent will change and the bees will turn on her.

Sasha goes to the Kent Farm to meet Clark. Clark confronts her again about controlling the bees and Sasha calls the bees to attack Martha. Clark uses his super speed to save her and they hide in the storm cellar until the swarm passes. Sasha goes back to her hive and finds Clark waiting there. He vows to stop her from hurting anyone else. The bees arrive, but Sasha claims that she didn't tell them to come back. She pleads with Clark to save her as they attack. Clark throws a screwdriver at a propane tank and then throws himself over Sasha. The shed explodes and burns up all the bees.

At the Talon, they celebrate the victory of Paul Chan. Even though he couldn't campaign, and Felice and Sasha dropped out, he still beat Clark! Lex arrives at the party, to learn that Lana uncovered the fact that the Beanery has several health code violations which will all come out in the *Smallville Ledger* tomorrow. Lex congratulates Lana for being creative and saving the Talon.

Carrie Castle sneaks into the mansion and poses as Lex's masseuse to get him to talk. She convinces him to sit for the interview. Later, at the Talon, he reveals that he has gotten his hands on a rough draft. It is not the flattering exposé that she promised. He guesses that it was his father who put her up to it and he offers her a position as managing editor at the *Journal* if she buries the article. She accepts.

Lana finds Clark taking down his posters in the barn. Lana admits that she enjoyed playing dirty to secure the Talon's success. Clark says he understands, since he got caught up in the popularity of running. Lana convinces him to read her his finished speech.

### Crush

At Metropolis Children's Hospital, Justin Gaines is in the art room when Dr. Nathan Wells comes in to check on him. He is dressed in a tuxedo, apparently on his way to a charity benefit. Justin will be returning to Smallville tomorrow. He has been in hospital for five months since he was in a hit-and-run accident, but his rehabilitation has not gone well, his hands are crippled. He can barely hold a pencil. He used to love to draw, but the portrait he's working now looks terrible. He has severe nerve damage, his level of recovery is actually remarkable considering the original injury, but Justin is not grateful. He is deeply resentful of what's happened to him. Drawing was the only thing he was ever good at, and now he's no good at it. He blames Dr. Wells. He has five malpractice suits against him, so he figures he probably did something wrong in his case as well. Dr. Wells joins Rene in the hall and they get into the elevator together. Although Dr. Wells had spoken very kindly to Justin in the room, he speaks very disrespectfully of him in the elevator. As the elevator descends, we see another portrait that Justin has been working on. It is obviously Dr. Wells, and it is quite good. Suddenly, the elevator begins to fall from the 14th floor to the 5th. Dr. Wells forces open the doors and finds that they have stopped between floors. He helps his wife up and out, and then we see Justin scratching out the hands on the portrait of Dr. Wells, and when he tries to climb out, the elevator continues to fall, severing his hands.

It's career fair day at Smallville High School. Danny Kwan tries to recruit Clark for the Air Force. Pete gets a job on Mayor Siegel re-election campaign. Chloe is nervous about trying to get one of the four spots available for high school students at the *Daily Planet* out of more than 500 applications. Pete reminds her that she could try the *Metropolis Inquisitor*, but Chloe has her heart set on the *Planet*. He suggests she try again on Saturday when she and Clark are planning to be in Metropolis for a journalism student convention. Clark realizes he totally forgot to register their places, and now its too late to get tickets. Chloe is extremely upset and points out he's been spending a lot of time with Lana and Lex and completely neglecting his other friends. Near tears, she storms away, and Clark doesn't understand why she is so upset. Pete is also slightly annoyed at Clark's cluelessness. Pete tries to explain to him that Chloe really likes him. She wants to ask Clark to the spring formal, and she was really looking forward to spending a day with him.

Justin returns to school that day. Chloe is very happy to see him. They have been sharing email messages for the past six months during his recuperation. Sadly, he will not be able to resume drawing the comic for the *Smallville Torch*. Justin offers to buy Chloe a cup of coffee and although she sees Clark over his shoulder, she agrees and they head off together.

Clark catches up with them later back at the *Torch*. Justin admits that that he didn't remember anything about the accident for a long time, but now he thinks that part of the license plate was DDI. Chloe is excited about looking into it for him. Clark says that he managed to get a couple of tickets to the conference from Lex, but Chloe is still angry at him. She firmly emphasizes that she and Justin will investigate the accident without his help and she has decided to go to the convention with Justin. When Justin drops his portfolio, Clark sees a newspaper clipping of Dr. Wells accident.

Back at the Kent Farm, Lana visits with Clark and asks about Chloe. He admits that he does feel that they could become more than friends, and that he did feel jealous when he saw her with Justin. When Clark admits that he's surprised he never saw it before, Lana says that sometimes the right person is in front of you and you never know.

Justin is frustrated trying to do a portrait of Chloe with his crippled hands. He tears up the page and throws it away. Then he picks up five pencils and pieces of chalk with his mind and starts creating a beautiful portrait.

Lex Luthor is visiting the grave of Lillian Luthor, his mother, when he meets Pamela Jenkins again for the first time in years. He is not happy to see her. It is the ninth anniversary of his mother's death.

At school the next day, Clark tries to convince Pete that Justin might not be any good because of the clipping he saw in his portfolio. Justin over hears them and tells Clark to let him have his chance with Chloe. Clark delivers the pies to the Talon and meets Whitney. His father is on the mend and he has tickets to see *Our Town* at the Metropolis Play House. He's being very sweet to Lana, but she seems a little less than thrilled. When Whitney leaves she admits to Clark that Mr. Fordman's illness defined their relationship, and now that he is better, they have to redefine it. She asks how Clark is doing with Chloe. He admits that he's afraid of losing a friend, but he chose friendship over romance once before and he regrets letting the moment slip past him.

Justin find Chloe at the *Torch*. She is excited to tell him that she sent her contact at the DMV the partial license plate number he gave her. Justin gives her the portrait he did. Then he tells her that when the car hit him and he was lying in the road, he thought of her. He admits that he had a crush on her and he regretting not doing anything about it. Chloe is touched and they kiss passionately; all the office supplies in the room begin to float. When Chloe opens her eyes, she is startled and everything falls to the floor. Justin admits that he's been telekinetic ever since the accident, but he doesn't want to become an addition to Chloe's Wall of Weird. But Chloe is not freaked out- they kiss again just as Clark bursts in without knocking. Chloe leaves the room to talk to Clark, and while she is away, a fax arrives from the DMV with a hit on the partial license plate number with a match. In the hall, Clark tries to warn Chloe away from Justin. Chloe is still angry with Clark. She says Justin told her Clark was talking about him, and doesn't want to hear what he's trying to say.

Pamela visits Lex at the mansion. She reveals that she did not abandon him after his mother's death. Lionel sent her away. She has come seeking forgiveness, but Lex is still angry. Pamela leaves sadly.

That night, when Principal Kwan arrives home, he finds a garbage can in his driveway. When he gets out of his car to move the can, Justin confronts him about the accident. Kwan says that it wasn't him, but Justin slams him up against the garage door. He pulls up the lawn lights and impales Kwan's jacket, so he can't move away. He turns on the car, puts it in gear and crashes it into Kwan and through the garage door and against the far wall.

Lex visits Clark in his loft and is highly amused at Clark's attempts to understand the female psyche. Clark explains his dilemma with Lana and Chloe and Lex offers some advice, saying that if he cannot choose between the two girls, he will lose both of them. He also remarks that some people are meant to be alone, and Clark looks disappointed at his bluntness. Martha Kent walks in with the news that Principal Kwan has just been killed in an accident.

At school the next day, Clark finds a distraught Chloe working on a memorial issue. She's fighting back tears but still trying to get the issue together. Clark offers to help but she turns him down. Clark notices that Kwan's license plate starts with DDI, but Chloe is so upset, she will not entertain suspicions of Justin.

Clark goes to the Kwan house to investigate. He asks Danny if Justin happened to come by last night. He explains that Justin believes that Principal Kwan was the hit-and-run driver because he matched part of the plate. When Danny acts sullen and guilty, Clark guesses that it was Danny at the wheel of the car. Danny admits that his dad was trying to protect him.

Chloe goes to Justin's house because he wasn't in school that day. Chloe finds a sketchbook in his bedroom filled with comics of Dr. Well's accident and Principal Kwan's murder. She guesses that Clark was right to suspect Justin. When Justin enters the room, he tries to kiss Chloe, but she makes an excuse and a quick exit, but Justin notices his sketchbook is out of place.

At the Talon, Clark's mother tells him that he did the right thing convincing Danny to turn himself in. Then Chloe calls from the Kent Farm in a panic. She tries to tell Clark how Justin caused the accidents, but Justin is there and he uses his mind to take the phone from her hand. He closes the door and throws her across the room. He picks her up and drops her, spraining her ankle. Finally, he hits her on the head with a horseshoe, knocking her unconscious. Just as he advances on her with a chain saw, Clark arrives and takes the hit. He tells Justin that he killed the wrong man. Justin throws Clark across the barn, but Clark, being far more powerful than Justin imagined, super speeds right back to him and defeats him by throwing him against a wall. He goes to check on Chloe, who has revived. He hugs her as she begins to cry.

Lionel shows up in Smallville to tell his son that they are selling Cadmus Labs. Lex reminds his father that their deal memo gives him 50% ownership with veto rights, but what he really wants to talk about is Pamela Jenkins. He's afraid that Pamela will ask Lex for money. She has lots of medical bills because she is dying of cancer.

In the hospital, Lex brings Pamela the book she was admiring at the mansion. Pamela explains that she is ashamed that it took her so long to come to see him. She is angry that she let Lionel scare her away. She expresses regret that she couldn't help him grow up and tells him how proud she is of the man he has become.

The next day at the Talon, Chloe tells Clark that Justin is being held in the psychiatric ward. She admits that Clark was right about Justin but Clark is sorry he turned out to be right. He asks Chloe to join him at the student journalism convention. Chloe agrees to go and they make up. Their relationship seems to be starting to develop. Lana watches their exchange and seems upset by it. When Whitney walks in, she seems resolved to tell him it's over, but she doesn't get the chance. He has come to tell her that his father has died.

Everyone is at the funeral, dressed in black. It's raining, appropriately, as Lana looks longingly at Clark before following Whitney and his family.

### Obscura

Lana Lang and Whitney Fordman are horseback riding when they see and hear an enormous explosion. Upon investigation, they discover an exploded gas line. Teams are already working on the problem, but they don't seem to notice that another line is about to explode. Whitney rushes in to warn them and everyone takes cover. In the resulting explosion, Lana is knocked off her feet and sprinkled with small bright green stones. Clark arrives at the Smallville Medical Center that night to find Lana asleep and Whitney by her side. Chloe Sullivan stops by on her way to Metropolis. She has an interview for an internship at the *Daily Planet*. She is reluctant to go because of Lana's injury, but Clark assures her that Lana wouldn't want her to miss her chance. As Chloe exits the hospital and unlocks her car, Lana has a nightmare in which she kidnaps Chloe and wakes up abruptly.

Lex gives the Kents a check for damage that was done when LuthorCorp chemicals were spilled on his property. Martha and Jonathan think it is too much, but Lex assures them that he is only repaying them the exact amount of livestock and land they lost. Later, Roger Nixon arrives at the Luthor Mansion to complain about the deal Lex made with Carrie Castle at the *Metropolis Inquisitor*. He has also come to tell Lex about a lead he is developing on the meteor shower. He has found a crop duster, Eddie Cole, who saw a spaceship fall, but he needs Lex to pay him to tell the whole story. When Lex and Roger go out to meet Eddie, he tells them that he saw a meteor swerve over Miller's Field. He thinks it was a ship, but when he went back to investigate later, the ship was gone. He thinks someone took it. Lex pays Eddie for his story, but he tells Roger he doesn't believe it.

The next morning at the Kent Farm, Martha Kent tries to give Clark advice about inviting Chloe to the Spring Formal. At school, Clark is trying to prepare an issue of the *Torch*, but everything is going wrong: the printer is jammed, the scanner is broken and the Spring Formal activity schedule is late. Lana arrives to ask about Chloe because her nightmare has her worried. Clark tries to contact her all day without success. By the time he gets home, Jonathan notices his frustration and assures him that Chloe will be fine. Clark asks Jonathan if he will accept Lex's money and Jonathan says he is still thinking about it.

At the Talon, Pete tells Clark that he is going to the Spring Formal with Erica Fox, the hottest girl in the class. Lana asks about Chloe, but they still haven't heard from her. Suddenly, Lana is struck by another vision of Chloe. This time she is blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back in a room full of teddy bears hanging from the ceiling in plastic bags. She also sees an image of a masked face in a mirror.

At the amusement park, the kidnapper is welding something while Chloe gets free of her bindings and makes for the door, but the kidnapper grabs her and injects her with something that makes her pass out.

Gabe Sullivan arrives at the Talon with Deputies Watts and Birdego. Lana tries to tell them what she saw. Deputy Watts seems to take her seriously while Deputy Birdego makes rude remarks. Mr. Sullivan gets a call that they have found Chloe's car abandoned in the woods. That night Lana visits Clark in his loft. He tells her that he and his dad have spent the afternoon trying to find Chloe and they afraid they might never see her again. Lana tells him that she spent the afternoon being questioned by the police, who looked at her like she was crazy. Clark reminisces about the first time he met her, just last year, in eighth grade. She had just transferred from Metropolis and Clark showed her around the school, then he showed her around his farm. When he brought her up to his loft, she kissed him right out of the blue. Suddenly, Lana has another vision of Chloe being buried alive under the windmill in Chandler's Field. Clark super speeds away. He uses his X-ray vision to find Chloe, then reaches into the ground and pulls her coffin out.

Clark and Lana visit Chloe at the hospital. She is just getting off the phone with the *Daily Planet*. They want to do a story about her, but she intends to write her own story for the *Torch*. Clark asks her what she remembers but when she tries to recount her ordeal, she begins to cry, and Clark and Lana turn to leave so she can rest. She reluctantly asks Clark to stay a little longer. When Lana leaves Clark and Chloe alone, she has another vision of the kidnapper watching her, but when she turns around, there is no one there.

Clark stays with Chloe all night and returns home in the morning to help Jonathan with farm chores. Jonathan tells Clark he intends to cash Lex's check. On the way, they discover that Lex is conducting an excavation in Miller's Field. Lex claims that he is just testing the soil, but Jonathan doesn't believe him. He gives him back the check and angrily stalks off. Clark protests, saying Lex wasn't doing any harm, but Jonathan reveals that he finds it suspicious that Lex is excavating this particular field because it is the one in which they found Clark. Just as they are leaving Dr. Hamilton finds something interesting. Later, Lex visits Clark in his loft. Clark admits that both he and Jonathan don't believe Lex's story that it a routine soil test. Lex tries to explain that he is obsessed with the meteor shower because it changed his life and he needs to know why. He admits that he met a man who said he saw a ship. Clark tries to deflect him, but Lex is determined to investigate.

Whitney arrives at the Talon to show Lana some military medals he found while going through his father's things. He tells Lana how his father earned them for courage while fighting in the Vietnam War. Whitney takes it as a sign that he doesn't have to throw a ball to do something important with this life.

The next day at the *Torch*, Clark explains to Whitney and Chloe his theory about how Lana began receiving visions. He has done research on the De Kretser Syndrome and explains that after the London blitz, several cases were reported of people who became psychically linked with the people they were with when the bombs exploded. Lana was with Whitney, Watts, and Birdego at the time of the explosion. They guess that if she is linked to one of the deputies, he might be aware and might come after Lana

At the Talon, Deputy Birdego arrives to ask Lana a couple of questions. Lana has a vision of the kidnapper entering the Talon and hitting Deputy Birdego over the head. When Clark, Chloe and Whitney arrive they find Deputy Birdego, but Lana is gone. The deputy tells Clark that his partner is working as a security guard at the carnival grounds. At the carnival, Lana wakes up in the same room where Chloe was held, bound but not blindfolded. She shouts out for help. Deputy Watts walks in and explains that he kidnapped Chloe in order to take credit for finding her and now his plan is to solve Lana's murder. Clark arrives just in time to deflect the bullet with his hand. Watts flees with Clark in pursuit. Watts fires several bullets at Clark with no effect and Clark throws Watts into a ticket booth. As backup arrives, Clark zooms away. Lana has her final vision of Watts being shot down by his fellow deputies.

The next day at the Kent Farm, Chloe comes by to tell Clark that she got the internship at the *Daily Planet*. Even though she missed her interview, they were impressed with the story she wrote about the kidnapping cop, which was published in the *Smallville Ledger* (instead of the *Torch*). Awkwardly, Clark asks Chloe to be his date to the Spring Formal and Chloe accepts enthusiastically. As she leaves, Clark grins happily.

At the mansion, Dr. Hamilton has the preliminary results on the object they found in Miller's Field. It is an octagon-shaped disc about three inches in diameter and a quarter inch thick. The alloy it is made from is like nothing else on Earth. Unfortunately, Eddie Cole is no longer available for questioning.

### Tempest

Lex is waiting at the helipad for his father to arrive. Lionel hasn't told Lex the purpose of the visit, but Lex has gathered all the plant employees together for him. Lionel claims that it will be a motivational speech, but then he proceeds to announce that the plant will be closed due to management problems beyond their control. Lex is furious. This is obviously another attempt to get Lex out of Smallville and back in Metropolis, where Lionel can keep an eye on him.

At school, Clark is trying to get advice from Pete about his tie and cummerbund. He tells Lana that he's planning to ask Lex if he can borrow his limo. Chloe arrives with the news that they are closing the LuthorCorp Plant.

Clark tells his parents the news, but they have already heard about it since the *Smallville Ledger* rushed a special edition (for the first time since the 1989 meteor shower). They argue about why this happened and who is to blame.

Whitney takes Lana to a surprise picnic. He's prepared this special setting to tell her that he's enlisted in the Marine Corps. He says the only thing he'll miss in Smallville is Lana and asks Lana if she will wait for him. She doesn't know how to answer.

Clark goes to the Luthor Mansion and sees the missing piece of his ship on Lex's desk. Lex is upset that Lionel blamed the closing of the plant on him. When Clark realizes how busy Lex is, he leaves without asking to borrow the limo. Lex stashes the key in a little box. Clark meets up with Chloe at the *Torch* office. Chloe tells Clark that her dad is talking about moving back to Metropolis. She and Clark are both upset at the prospect. That evening at the Talon, Clark tells Lana that Chloe might be leaving for good. Lana informs Clark that Whitney has joined the Marines. They speculate what it might be like for them when both Chloe and Whitney are out of their lives.

Lex calls a meeting with the plant's senior management and announces he has a plan to orchestrate an employee buyout.

The next day, Clark is driving fence posts into the ground. When he gets back in the truck and turns the key, the truck explodes. Clark steps out bewildered but unharmed, and it is revealed that Roger Nixon has been filming the entire scene. Jonathan speculates that the explosion was caused by a leaking fuel line, perhaps igniting the fertilizer in the back of the truck. Clark confides that he almost didn't feel the heat and the debris didn't leave any bruises. Martha speculates that he's getting stronger as he gets older.

Lex is reviewing an email message when his father walks in asking why he hasn't started packing. Lex admits that he is forcing a vote of the board of directors to accept the buyout. Lionel laughs at the idea that Lex and all of the employees are willing to risk everything they have. Confident that they will fail, Lionel also casually mentions that he has purchased Smallville Savings and Loan and will not hesitate to close out the employees' mortgages when they start missing payments.

Clark tells Chloe about the truck and she agrees to drive him to the dance. They talk about Whitney's imminent departure. Chloe speculates that Whitney and Lana will break up, and when she moves away, Clark will be free to pursue Lana. Clark is unnerved by her attitude and Chloe admits that she is scared Clark will forget all about her to be with Lana and leave her at the gym all alone. Clark reassures Chloe that he is not asking her to the dance by default but because he really wants to be with her. He gives her a kiss just as Lana walks by.

At the Talon, Roger Nixon asks Clark if he is willing to do an interview and asks why Clark wasn't hurt in the explosion. Lex arrives and shoos him away. Lex warns Clark to stay away from Nixon. When Clark gets home he tells his parents about the journalist, saying he is sure Nixon blew up the truck. Then he tells his parents that he saw the missing piece of the ship on Lex's desk. Roger Nixon has bugged the Kent's house and is out in his car listening to the entire conversation. He also learns that the ship is in the storm cellar. Roger goes to the mansion and steals the key. He then promises to show Lex all the proof he needs tonight. Lex arrives at the Kent Farm and finds Clark in his loft trying to tie his bow tie. He assures Clark that whatever happens in the next few days, Lex is still his friend and that is never going to change.

Whitney and Lana wander into the empty school gym before the dance, where all the decorations are ready. Whitney puts on some music and asks Lana to dance. He tries to talk to her about their relationship, but Lana doesn't want to talk, so they just dance.

Chloe arrives to pick Clark up and they exchange flowers. They notice that a storm is moving in; the wind has grown even stronger by the time they arrive at the school. As they arrive, Lana and Whitney are leaving on their way to the bus station. Clark says goodbye to Whitney and Whitney apologizes for tying Clark up in the cornfield. He asks Clark to look after Lana until he gets back. At the bus station, Lana gives Whitney her meteorite necklace for luck. Whitney promises not to lose it this time. He promises that he will still love her when he sees her again.

Roger Nixon goes into the Kents' storm cellar. When he takes the key out of his pocket, it floats away from him and fits itself into the ship. The Kents enter the storm cellar to get in away from the storm and find Nixon there. Jonathan guesses that Nixon is the journalist that Clark told him about and is about to beat him up. Martha is trying to stop him when she notices that the ship is floating and glowing. With Jonathan's attention diverted, Roger runs out into the storm and Jonathan goes after him.

At the Spring Formal, Remy Zero is performing "Save Me". When they switch to a slow song, Clark asks Chloe to dance. Clark requested the song because it's one of Chloe's favorites. As they are dancing, Chloe says how surprised she is that Clark came through for her tonight, since every other attempt that Clark has made to date anyone has been ruined when he rushes off to save someone. Just as they are about to kiss, the assistant principal interrupts to announce that the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning. Three funnels have been spotted south of town, and no one will be allowed to leave the gym. Clark knows that the bus station and Lana are south of town. Chloe agrees to call Lana, but Clark zooms away as soon as her back is turned.

Lex realizes the key is missing and guesses that it was Roger who took it. Lionel arrives to announce that he has discovered that Lex is using his mother's stock to fund the buyout. He tries to tell Lex that it won't work, but Lex is determined to get free from his father. Lionel vows to bury Lex and everyone who takes Lex's side. Just then, the storm blows out a window, sending Lionel to the floor and Lex across the room. A bookcase falls on Lex, cutting his eye. A column falls on Lionel, pinning him to the floor. Lex manages to get the bookcase off of himself, but when Lionel calls out for help, Lex seems to consider the possibility of leaving his father on the floor to die, then seems to regret his hesitation.

Lana is driving home from the bus stop when a large piece of debris hits the windshield. She swerves and puts the truck in a ditch. She gets out and sees three funnels coming straight for her. They come together to form one monstrous funnel as Lana gets back inside the truck and desperately tries to use her cell phone. She sees Clark arrive just as the funnel picks up the truck. Clark runs straight into the storm and disappears.