Gone (Episode) - SirJeffCena

"**Gone**" is the second episode in the fourth season of *Smallville*, and sixty-eighth episode overall. It aired on September 29, 2004.

## Summary

Clark and Lois Lane investigate Chloe's apparent murder, but are stopped by an army officer, General Sam Lane, who turns out to be Lois' father. Lois suspects that Sam knows more about Chloe's death than he will admit, and Clark discovers that Sam has recently been in contact with Lex. Jason arrives from Paris and convinces Lana to continue their relationship. Suspecting that Chloe is still alive, Lionel sends an assassin with the power to morph his limbs into metallic weapons to keep Chloe from testifying against him.

## Recap

Clark and Lois are walking through the corn fields to what is left of Chloe's safe house. Clark is explaining to Lois that even though she finds it hard to believe, he knows Chloe is not dead. They are investigating the ruin when a helicopter swoops down on them.

Clark tells Lois to run and Clark fends off two commandos. Meanwhile, Lois is running through the fields dodging the low flying helicopter. When another commando jumps from the helicopter in front of Lois, she goes into combat. Clark superspeeds closer to the helicopter and uses his heat vision to fry the engine, forcing the helicopter to land. He superspeeds up behind a victorious Lois. Together they run away from the scene. A man smoking a cigar steps out of the helicopter and looks on.

Back at the Kent Farm, Clark and Lois are cleaning up after having run from the helicopter. Lois barges into the bathroom during Clark's shower. Clark is mortified when his mother catches them in the bathroom together. Downstairs, the Kents ask for an explanation and Clark is forced to explain about the helicopter incident much to Lois' dismay. After Lois leaves, Clark is reprimanded for crashing a helicopter.

Lex goes to see his father who is getting ready for the trial at the penitentiary. Lex accuses him of being responsible for Chloe's death. Lana, who has just returned to Smallville from a summer in Paris, goes to visit Lex back at the Luthor Mansion and they talk about reopening the Talon and Lana renting out the upstairs apartment there.

Lois sneaks out of the house and goes to investigate Chloe's grave site. She digs down to her coffin and discovers that Clark was right and Chloe is not in the coffin. A man approaches Lois at the grave site, demanding an explanation. He morphs his hand into a huge sword and attacks her, knocking away Lois' prepared bottle of mace. Lana appears and knocks the man in the head with the shovel, to no effect. She sprays him in the eyes with the mace and he recoils. Lana helps Lois up and they notice the man has disappeared. Lana assumes that he had been digging up Chloe, but Lois tells her that she in fact was the one to dig up the grave and not the "medieval psychopath".

Lana and Lois go back to the Kent Farm and meet up with Clark, who is fixing a tractor. Lois lets slip that Lana "had a hot summer fling" and discovers that Clark and Lana once had a thing. Clark explains that it's complicated.

Lois is talking to Clark about Lana when a helicopter shines a searchlight through the barn loft. The man smoking a cigar enters and is revealed to be Lois' father, General Sam Lane. After a talk with Lois about her visit to the crime scene, he is invited for dinner by the Kents but the General politely declines.

Clark goes to see Lex and tells him Chloe is not in her grave. Lex tells him due to the magnitude of the explosion there was nothing left to put into a casket. Clark notices the brand of cigar General Lane smokes in an ashtray on Lex's desk. He doesn't say anything and quietly leaves.

Lionel is showering in the penitentiary when an inmate stabs him in the liver and leaves the broken blade inside of him. Lionel is left on the floor while the inmate runs away. Later, he is lying in the hospital bed when the man from the graveyard comes to talk to him. His name is Trent and he is a former patient from Belle Reve. Lionel has hired him to make sure Chloe can't testify against him at the trial.

Clark goes to the army base office to do some investigating. Instead, he finds Lois there for the same reason. Clark finds a suspicious name in a record regarding Nellie Blye, one of Chloe's heroes who has been dead for eighty years. He superspeeds away to find the address indicated.

Clark enters the home of "Nellie Blye" and finds Chloe's Wall of Weird and her laptop. In the next room, he finds two guards lying dead on the floor. Lex walks in. Lex explains that he arranged the safe house explosion to stage Chloe's death. He did it to protect her from Lionel's attempts to get rid of her. He has attached a tracking bracelet to her wrist and calls one of his men to locate her. Clark overhears the location and superspeeds away.

Chloe is tied up in a foundry. She manages to kick a button to let herself down. She is untying herself when Trent grabs her by the throat. He morphs his hand into a metal claw and is strangling Chloe when Clark comes up from behind. Trent sees his reflection as Chloe faints. Clark grabs Trent and throws him through piping. Clark and Trent battle it out. Clark blocks Trent's sword again and again, advancing on him. Clark goes to attack him but falls right through Trent. Lois appears and fries Trent with an extremely large stun gun. Trent turns around and is prepared to attack Lois when Clark uses his heat vision to fry him from behind. He explodes into a puddle of molten metal. Clark and Lois go get Chloe who is regaining consciousness. She hugs Clark and her cousin and as they are leaving says she is going to finally defeat Lionel Luthor at the trial the next day.

At the house the Kents are talking about Lionel's conviction and are glad there was something even he couldn't buy his way out of.

Clark goes to the caves and meets Lana. She talks to him about his friendship with Lois. Clark without hesitation replies that he thinks Lois is bossy, stuck-up and rude; he cannot stand her. Lana gives Clark a knowing smile as she replies, "The best ones always start that way."

Lex goes to see Lionel going off to prison. He gloats that it was something he could not possibly have missed. Back in the apartment above the Talon, Lana's boyfriend Jason Teague surprises her by showing up in Smallville to stay together.

## Cast

### Starring

* Clark Kent
* Lana Lang
* Lex Luthor
* Jason Teague
* Chloe Sullivan
* Lionel Luthor
* Martha Kent
* Jonathan Kent

### Guest Starring

* General Sam Lane
* Gabe Sullivan

## Notes

* Antagonist: Lionel Luthor and Trent MacGowen
* In the original airing, Allison Mack was uncredited to maintain suspense of Chloe's fate.
* Trent MacGowen's powers and scenes draw heavily from *Terminator 2: Judgment Day*. Trent can turn body parts into metal, just like the T-1000 terminator. In addition, Trent even turns his entire body into "liquid metal" so that a human passes through them, a scene drawn directly from *Terminator 2*. Finally, both the T-1000 and Trent have their final scene in a foundry and both meet their end in a vat of hot bubbling metal. It is also similar to the character Colossus from X-Men who could turn his whole body into metal, giving him enhanced strength, and invulnerability to bullets, knives, etc.
* This episode marks the final appearance of Gabe Sullivan, Chloe's father, on the series.
* In the scene where Lois is running from the helicopter, a rainbow is seen on the horizon. This is impossible as in the show, it had not rained at all that day. Although this could be due to water particles suspended in the atmosphere.
* Colin Lawrence (Agent Stocker) will play a Doctor in *Thirst* and Captain Nichols in *Turbulence*.
* The song, *Flower Duet* (which is heard when Lionel is taking his shower) was played in *Superman Returns* when Lex was telling Kitty Kowalski of Promethous.
* There is an editing error when Clark is talking to Lex in the home that Chloe was taken from. A shot on Tom Welling while talking, shows the side of Michael Rosenbaum face who is also clearly talking. In the final cut of the episode Michael's mouth is moving but no words are heard.
* The ruins of the safehouse where Chloe was kept seems smaller than it was seen in *Covenant*.
* The first rescue of Lois Lane by Clark in both film and television versions involve a helicopter.
* The rifle used in this episode by Lois is a prop from the film *Deep Rising*. It is a heavily modified Calico M955A, which in the film was known as the Chinese M1-L1 Triple Pulse Rifle. In the episode however, it's more used as a stun gun.

## In Other Media

* Lois nicknames Clark as ***Smallville*** for the first time in this episode. This nickname originated in *Superman: The Animated Series* when Lois Lane first meets Clark Kent in the episode "The Last Son of Krypton: Part II".
* Sam Lane is the 16th DC Comics character to be adapted into the show.

## Continuity

* Clark's mention of his last "co-ed situation" is in reference to the time that Alicia Baker teleported into his bed in *Obsession*, and Jonathan caught the two making out.
* The Daily Planet's article on Lionel's conviction was reported by Perry White, the reporter who tried to expose Clark's secret in the season 3's *Perry*.
* Clark recognizes the name of Nellie Bly, a pioneering 19th century female journalist, as one of Chloe's heroes, while Lois doesn't. This is in keeping with the first time that Lois was mentioned in *Delete*, where Chloe described her as having "no interest in journalism."
* Gabe Sullivan was last seen in *Covenant*.
* General Lane cashes in his rain check, of eating dinner at the Kents', in the season 10 episode *Ambush*.

## Locations

* Smallville
	+ Kent Farm
		- Kent House
		- Clark Kent's Loft
	+ Smallville Cemetery
	+ Fort Ryan military base
	+ Luthor Mansion
	+ Talon
	+ Kansas State Penitentiary
	+ Smallville Foundry
	+ Kawatche Caves

## Quotes

**Lois**: (*Digging in Chloe's grave and talking to herself*) I hope that Clark is right, otherwise this is going to be very ugly, Chloe.

**Clark**: We usually take turns in the bathroom.
**Lois**: Oh, don't start with me, Smallville. You're the one taking the marathon shower. Besides, my delicate feminine sensibilities weren't offended the first time I caught a glimpse of Clark junior.

**Lois**: I don't understand what the big deal is, we just took a shower...
**Clark**: *Showers*. We took *separate* showers.
**Martha**: At noon?

**Lois**: (*to the Kents*) Well, you don't have to worry because now their helicopter is lying face first in the field. (*silence*) Your non-verbals are killing me. And this seems like a family matter, so I'm gonna head upstairs. (*whispers to Clark*) Way to go.
**Jonathan**: (*to Clark*) Please tell me that you did not crash that helicopter.
**Clark**: (*smiles apologetically*)

**Clark**: Us?
**Lana**: Yeah, you and Lois.
**Clark**: Lois? She's bossy. (*pause*) She's stuck up. She's rude. I can't stand her!
**Lana**: The best ones always start that way.

**Jason**: Lana, I didn't come here to get you. I came here to be with you.