Asylum (Episode) - SirJeffCena

**Asylum**" is the ninth episode in the third season of *Smallville*, and fifty-third episode overall. It aired on January 14, 2004.

## Summary

Lex has been suffering for a month in Belle Reve, but when Lionel orders radical electroshock therapy, Clark finally decides to break him out. Unfortunately, Van, Ian, and Eric are ready to take Clark out. Meanwhile, Lana meets Adam Knight during her physical therapy.

## Recap

It's been a whole month since Lex was committed at Belle Reve Sanitarium. Clark is finally allowed to visit him. On his way in, he sees Van McNulty, Eric Summers, and Ian Randall in the hallways. Lex has not been taking his medication and he has not forgotten what he saw Clark do. He asks Clark to break him out. When Clark refuses, Lex grabs him by the throat and screams at him. The guards move in quickly to restrain him. The next morning, Lex attempts to escape. He stabs a guard in the leg with a pencil, takes his ID badge and lets himself out. He makes it halfway up a chain link fence with barbed wire before guards use a taser to subdue him.

At the Kent Farm, Clark tells his parents about his encounter with Lex. Clark is sure he was drugged, but Martha points out that this isn't Lex's first brush with mental illness. Jonathan is worried about Clark getting caught if he tries to break out Lex and he worries about Lex knowing Clark's secret. Martha tries to encourage Clark to visit Lana, but he's trying to respect her request to stay away.

Meanwhile, Lana is working out with her physical therapist. It's been a month since her accident, but her femur was broken in four places and she hasn't been able to walk without crutches. Another patient, Adam Knight, gives her a hard time for not pushing herself harder, accusing her of feeling sorry for herself.

Back at Belle Reve, Lionel has come to visit Lex who is now being held in restraints. Lionel knows that Lex has not been taking his medication. Lex tries to convince Lionel that he doesn't need them. He pretends that the story about Lionel killing his parents was a paranoid delusion, but then he gives himself away by saying that Lionel's only interest is to stay out of prison. The meeting ends with Lex raging against his restraints. Lionel goes to Dr. Foster. He is unhappy that his son has been in in Belle Reve for an entire month with no results. He pushes her to perform a dangerous experimental procedure despite the fact that it is successful less than 50% of the time and the majority of patients are left with irreparable brain damage.

Chloe finds Clark at the Smallville Torch office doing research to try to prove that Lex doesn't belong in Belle Reve. He can't find anything conclusive, but he discovers that Lex has been recommended for radical electroshock therapy in twenty-four hours. They learn that Dr. Foster's last patient to receive the treatment is in a permanent vegetative state. They corner Dr. Foster at Metropolis General with this news and accuse her of drugging Lex to make him delusional. They warn her that she will be in great danger from Lionel if Lex becomes a vegetable and they beg her not to perform electroshock therapy on Lex.

Meanwhile Ian and Eric approach Van and offer to break him out if he tells them what Clark's weakness is. The plan is for Eric to leech his powers again. Van pays a guard to smuggle in a meteor rock. When he discovers that it has arrived, Ian splits himself in two and kills Van. He approaches Lex, still in his restraints, to cut a deal. He offers to break Lex out if he helps fund their new lives on the other side. Lex refuses. He hasn't forgiven Ian for trying to kill Lana and Chloe as part of his scheme to secure the LexCorp scholarship. Ian tries to change Lex's mind by showing him that he is on the schedule for electroshock therapy.

At Smallville High School, Clark tells Pete that Dr. Foster is going to sign the cancellation papers on Lex's procedure. Pete is worried that Lex knows Clark's secret and Clark says he isn't willing to let Lex suffer to protect his secret. Pete tries to explain to Clark how hard it is to keep his secret. He doesn't believe that Lex can be trusted. Chloe arrives with the news that Claire Foster has died in a car accident. Pete suspects Lionel and Clark decides to break Lex out. He tears open the chain link fence, forces the door open, and begins to remove the restraints when the two Ians arrive with the meteor rock. They take turns beating Clark and Lex until neither of them can get to their feet. They haul Clark out on a gurney knowing that the guards will be coming soon for Lex's procedure.

The two Ians bring Clark to a part of the sanitarium with many high voltage connections. They wire up the gurney just as the guards arrive for Lex. They sedate Lex and when he regains consciousness he is strapped to a table with electrodes on his head. Lex is terrified but his father is there to assure him that this is for his own good. In the voltage room, Clark is still lying on the gurney incapacitated. Eric holds the meteor rock in Clark's hand while Ian throws the switch, sending electricity through the gurney and their two bodies. This makes it impossible for Lex's treatment to proceed.

Eric picks up Clark and throws him across the room. He beats him up until Ian complains that they need to leave before the guards notice they are gone. Eric is in no hurry and throws Ian across the room but Clark has found the meteor rock and attempts to take his powers back. He grabs Eric and backs him into an electrical box without letting go of him or the meteor rock. After his powers are restored, he throws a switch which cuts off power to the box, but unfortunately restores power to the machine Lex is attached to. Clark throws away the meteor rock and rushes to Lex, but he is too late. The treatment has been completed.

Meanwhile, Lana begins to do extra therapy sessions on her own when Adam comes in just in time to pick her up off the floor. She continues to make fast progress in her therapy with Adam and actually walks a few steps without crutches. Martha arrives to drive her home and tries to put in a good word for Clark. Later, Adam is in hospital for hydration therapy and Lana comes to visit with desserts from the Talon. She has graduated from crutches and can now walk only using a cane.

When Clark visits Lex at the mansion, he obviously has no memory of anything that happened there or why he was sent there. He doesn't remember seeing Clark use his powers and he doesn't remember uncovering Lionel's part in the conspiracy to kill his grandparents. Clark decides not to tell him the truth. When he tells his parents, Jonathan is happy that Clark's secret is safe, but all Clark can think about is that Lionel got away with murder. Jonathan makes it clear that he does not want Clark going after Lionel. Clark wishes that he could erase the last few months of his life, and Martha encourages him to go to Lana's welcome home party at the Talon. He goes, but when Lana sees him, she does not approach him.

Meanwhile, Lionel is reviewing tape from Clark's visit to Lex. He is dismayed to realize that Lex knew Clark's secret, but the shock therapy has made him forget.

## Cast

### Starring

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

### Guest Starring

* Adam Knight
* Ian Randall
* Van McNulty
* Dr. Claire Foster
* Eric Summers