Shimmer

## "Shimmer"Season 01, Episode 10

"*That’s the thing about Clark Kent. He's not always there when you want him... but he's always there when you need him.*"
—Lana Lang

**"Shimmer"** is the tenth episode of Season One of The CW's *Smallville*. It was written by Mark Verheiden & Michael Green and directed by D. J. Caruso. It is the tenth episode of the series overall, and premeried on January 29, 2002.

## Synopsis

A teen whose family lives and works in the Luthor mansion has a crush on Lex, and her jealousy of the tycoon’s new girlfriend brings forth vandalism by an invisible perpetrator. Meanwhile, Clark volunteers to work with Lana on a school blood drive after she and Whitney have a fight.

## Recap

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 throws him against a scaffold and knocks him out. 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".

## Cast

* Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
* Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
* Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordman
* Sam Jones III as Pete Ross
* Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
* Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
* John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
* Jesse Hutch as Troy Turner
* Kett Turton as Jeff Palmer
* Sarah-Jane Redmond as Nell Potter

Co-Starring* Glynis Davies as Mrs. Palmer
* Azura Skye as Amy Palmer
* Brenda M. Crichlow as Guidance Counselor

## Trivia

### Production Notes

* Amy's shrine for Lex features an article about the bank robbery from *Smallville: X-Ray* (2001).

### Goofs

* When Victoria first gets into the bath and leans back, her hair and chest are already wet from previous takes.
* When the suitcases are being put into the minivan, a small brown case is put in, up against a bigger beige case. in the next shot, the beige and brown cases have disappeared and Mr. Palmer is putting a blue case in. In the last shot, the small case is gone and Mr. Palmer is putting the beige case in the minivan.
* In this episode there is a blood drive for the American red cross, in this episode the characters are only 15, and donating blood. You can't donate until you are 17.
* Clark tells Chloe he and Lana are meeting at his place but they actually go to Lana's house to organise blood drive.

## References

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