Deutsche Version | Season 1 | Season 3
Disc 1
Vortex
Synopsis: Lana’s Truck is torn apart by the tornado but Clark is there to protect her. But on the day after the storm he has to go on a search for his father who has run after the reporter that wanted to disclose Clark’s secret. While they are searching for him, Chloe makes the suggestion that they should stay “just friends”.
My Opinion: This was actually a good resolution. Of course they had to find a way to silence that reporter and this way had an ironic touch. If Lex knew what secret the reporter has taken into his grave, I believe he would have killed Jonathan instead.
And when it comes to woman Clark is as sensitive as a wrecking ball.
Heat
Synopsis: The new school year has started and Lex wants to marry! And his fiancé is Clark’s new biology teacher. She’s so hot that Clark sets the silver screen on fire just by staring at it. But something isn’t right with her. She has a strange control over all men, including Lex – but not Clark.
My Opinion: A “new ability” episode. It’s always fun to see Clark learning to control it and he always can put it to good use in the same episode. But I didn’t care much for the pheromone lady, maybe because I watched a similar story recently on Stargate SG-1.
Duplicity
Synopsis: Pete finds Clark’s spaceship (that had been lost since the tornado) in a field and he wants Clark’s help to salvage it. But then someone steals the ship and Pete suspects Clark – which isn’t far from the truth because Clark and his father actually intended to steal it. Then Clark decides to reveal his secret to Pete.
My Opinion: A really good episode. I’ve been waiting for it. Clark simply needs someone he can confide to (apart from his parents) and his best friend Pete is the perfect choice. And Pete will prove that he’s worthy of that knowledge in the very next episode.
The fact that Lionel now knows of the spaceship will also lead to very interesting storylines.
Red
Synopsis: Clark buys a ruby ring for $350. But the stone isn’t ruby, it’s red Kryptonite (not yet) meteor rock. Clark loses all stoppages and becomes a badass guy. But just as the effect of green meteor rocks worsen his condition over time, so does the red one.
My Opinion: Great episode. Loved it. It rarely happens that Tom can play Clark out of character and the red Kryptonite (sorry, it’s simply easier than “meteor rock”) gives him the perfect opportunity. I don’t really worry about the end, he will save Lana’s live once or twice and they will be friends again.
But the episode reminded me of Harley Cat:
Disc 2
Nocturne
Synopsis: Lana has a secret admirer who sends her poems but Clark is overprotective and assumes he is a stalker. Clark and Ross finally find the young man who is held captive in the basement of the house of by his parents. But when they release him, he transforms and not even Clark is able to stop him.
My Opinion: Lana’s grudge with Clark didn’t even last one episode. 😉 I find it always interesting how people manage to hold helicopters on the ground just because they are strong enough – yet they aren’t anchored to the ground in any way. It’s one of the riddles about superpowers I probably never solve. 😀 I liked it, though and it was nice to see Richard Moll (Bull in Night Court) again although it was only a small role.
Redux
Synopsis: Two students die of old age in short succession and that can’t be a coincedence. Someone seems to suck the life out of them to stay young. But the Kent family has yet another problem: They need some additional money and there’s a person who could help: Martha’s father. But Jonathan and he have a long, bad history that Clark tries to mend.
My Opinion: A standard FotW episode where the bad gal died a bit too fast in my opinion. But I liked to see that even the Kents can’t solve all their family issues, it makes them more normal.
Lineage
Synopsis: A woman comes to town who claims to be Clark’s real mother. She also claims that he is a half-brother of Lex’s. Meanwhile Lana tries to find out whether a certain man is her biological father. It is also revealed, how the Kents managed to get adoption papers for Clark.
My Opinion: A “family” episode that I liked a lot. It is interesting to see how the “average television family” has changed over the decades, from the “perfect” housewife, the husband and the two children to what we’ve seen in recent years (the families in ER, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, … and Smallville). I never noticed before that Chloe’s mother has been mentioned that early in the show, although her fate hasn’t been revealed yet.
Ryan
Synopsis: Ryan calls from the Summerholt Institute where he is held as research object. Clark rescues him but that nearly lands him in prision for kidnapping. Ryan’s ability to read minds is based on a brain tumor that will kill him. Clark and Lex try to prevent that.
My Opinion: A very emotional episode and a very sad one. I find it interesting how they made the comic Warrior Angel a forebode of things to come. Funny thing to say about a fantasy series but it makes it more realistic that Clark isn’t able to save everyone, especially when there’s nothing that he can do personally.
Disc 3
Dichotic
Synopsis: Ian is a very ambitious student and he wants to have a scholarship from LutherCorp. For this he kills one of the teachers after he recieved a “C” and he dates both Lana and Chloe – at the same time. Clark is not the only one with a secret. He tries to warn his friends but they misinterpret it.
My Opinion: I enjoyed that episode, Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Home Improvement) did a good job. But I especially enjoyed that Clark put a foot down. When he warns them about anything, he means it. Unfortunately they didn’t really listen as one of the following episodes will show.
Skinwalker
Synopsis: During a motocross race with Pete Clark accidentally falls into the Kawatche caves. The Kawatche are an old indian native american tribe and they have legends surrounding a man coming to Earth in a rain of fire who will protect mankind. Unfortunately LutherCorp plans to build an office tower on that very spot. Then the foreman get killed by a wolf and the thing gets mysterious.
My Opinion: The Kawatche caves will become a major story location in the future and I like the idea that someone has been on Earth long before Clark. The question remains how that person could possibly know that and how Clark would arrive on Earth. The fact that Clark has fallen in love with someone was unfortunately a dead giveaway of who would be gone by the end of this episode (one way or the other).
Visage
Synopsis: First Whitney is declared MIA then he suddenly appears in Smallville and wants to revive his relationship with Lana. Unfortunately he has lost some memories due to a war injury. Clark is suspicious because some things don’t add up and he investigates on his own.
My Opinion: Déjà vu. As I said they didn’t really listen (at least Lana didn’t). I always like it when characters aren’t forgotten and after Ryan was Tina (X-Ray) the second person who has made another appearance. Unfortunately this was the last appearance of Eric Johnson on the show, his character Whitney is now officially KIA.
Insurgence
Synopsis: Lionel has bugged Lex’s office to spy on him and now Lex wants to return the favour. But the operation gets out on control, when the “bug team” takes Lionel and Martha hostage and tries to open Lionel’s safe. A police squad stands ready but Clark finds his own – and very unique – way into the building.
My Opinion: When I saw this for the first time I hadn’t suspected that Lionel had the octagonal disc. I think they never explained how he got his hands on it. But now we know for sure that not only Lex is experimenting with the meteor rocks, but Lionel as well. One wonders how much Lionel knows about Clark at this point.
Disc 4
Suspect
Synopsis: Lionel Luthor gets shot twice and a drunk Jonathan Kent is the prime suspect. All evidence points to him but Clark believes in his innocence. In the end there are four people who had a motive to kill Lionel but none of them was the culprit.
My Opinion: I am not too much into crime stories and didn’t like this story that much.
Rush
Synopsis: During a cave rave party a student is stung by something and in an adrenaline rush he jumps from a great height and dies. Pete is also stung and starts to behave similarly. When Clark and Chloe investigate in that matter Chloe becomes the third victim and then Pete infects Clark with red Kryptonite – and the party begins.
My Opinion: This was a great episode, I liked Chloe’s style. Unfortunately it’s once again Clark who can’t give an explanation for his behaviour. Sometimes the “relationship” of Clark and Lana is a bit annoying because the writers do everything in their power to bring them not together. But the “party” part of this episode was really great so I can overlook this annoyance. Of course they had to draw the forgetfulness card to undo Chloe’s knowledge.
Prodigal
Synopsis: Lex has finally found his half-brother Lucas and wants to ally with him against their father. But Lionel has found him first and he and Lucas manage to squeeze out Lex. Lex is broken and has to leave the mansion. There’s only one place he can go: The Kent farm.
My Opinion: It was cool to see Lex do an honest job on the farm. And Lucas had a valid point when he asked how much personality of the parents is reflected in the children. Another interesting question is whether or not Lionel could already see again during Insurgence because that would mean that he has witnessed Clark’s powers firsthand.
Fever
Synopsis: Martha tries to hide the key to the spaceship – the octagonal disc – in the storm cellar. But there she inhalates meteor-infested spores and gets very ill. When the Disease Control Agency wants to search the farm, Clark has to hide the spaceship at Pete’s house. But Clark gets infected, too and they can’t bring him to a hospital.
My Opinion: Another episode that I liked a lot, especially the part where Clark was sick and both women had to think about how they feel about him. That’s one thing I find interesting about the characters: Both Lana and Chloe don’t like that Clark keeps secrets from them yet both aren’t totally honest to him either when it comes to their feelings.
Disc 5
Rosetta
Synopsis: Clark dreams about putting the key into the lock in the cave wall. He finally decides to take that step and he learns all about the symbols on the wall and understands that language. The very next day he can’t control his heat vision and he burns the symbol for “hope” into the barn. When Chloe publishes this he gets a message from a man in New York who claims to know his origins.
My Opinion: It was a really great that they’ve managed to put Christopher Reeve on the show. One generation meets the next. I also really liked it that they used the original Superman theme in that episode. That reminded me of the way they incorporated the original Battlestar Galactica theme into the Colonial Hymn of the new series. And now we know, Clark is Kal-El from the planet Krypton and Krypton doesn’t exist anymore.
I also liked the appeal for funds after the show – if one can use the popularity of the show for a good cause, why not?
Visitor
Synopsis: A young student claims to come from another planet and he can set things on fire by staring at them and he can heal. Clark takes him under his wings and tries to find out whether he is really an alien or just a boy who needs help.
My Opinion: I liked that episode, one could feel Clark’s loneliness and his hope that he might not be alone after all. Funny thing is, his communication tower, the lights and the place deep in the woods, it all reminded me of E.T.‘s departure, though I cannot explain why. And I felt sorry for Cyrus when he mentally broke down.
Precipice
Synopsis: Three student harass Lana in the “Talon” but Clark comes to the rescue. He trows one of them directly on the hood of the new Sheriff. He has to do 40 hours of community service but also get sued by this student. He wants to have one million dollars and the Kents could lose everything. Now its Lana’s turn to come to the rescue and she does very well on her own. Meanwhile Dr. Bryce is stalked by a former boyfriend and neither Clark nor Lex trust Sheriff Adams enough and they take matters into their own hands.
My Opinion: For more than one season Lanas wishes to leave her image as “fairy princess” behind but now she finally does something about it. Ok, she did re-open the “Talon” but I still had the impression that everyone around her (Chloe, Clark) were standing more on their own feet than she was.
It was an ok episode.
Witness
Synopsis: A few guys have developed a way to inhale refined Kryptonite and become super-strong. One night they try to hijack one of Lionel’s secret transports and Clark tries to stop them but they match his strength and they escape. When he tries to expose them they endanger his parents, yet Clark still tries to find a way to stop them. But he has other problems as well: After an argument with Chloe he quits his job at the “Torch” and puts his friendship with her on hold. And then Lionel makes Chloe an offer she can’t resist.
My Opinion: Yet another appearance from a member of the Tim Taylor family: Zachery Ty Bryan (Brad in Home Improvement). I hated it to see Clark and Chloe to break up especially because I know what Chloe is going to do. The question that remains is whether the destruction of the “Torch” was staged by Lionel (not sure they will answer that question).
Disc 6
Accelerate
Synopsis: Lana sees a former friend of hers. But that’s impossible, Emily died six years ago. She isn’t a ghost, but she isn’t totally real either. Clark tries to help Lana and finds a secret lab – and there’s more than one Emily. They are copies of a failed experiment and that experiment now endangers Lana’s life.
My Opinion: Although I found it interesting that Lionel Luthor is conducting experiments on human beings, I wasn’t much into that episode because I am not much into the horror genre.
Calling
Synopsis: Lana and Clark get closer and closer but then Dr. Walden is awaking from his coma and he claims that “the day is coming”. He tries to kill Clark because he has read the same text as Clark, that “the last son will rule the third planet”. Meanwhile someone has stolen Clark’s blood from Dr. Bryce’s office and there are supsects: Lex and his father Lionel.
My Opinion: This was the great begin of a season finale. As I said I’ve never read Superman comics but I don’t like the idea that Jor-El really had the intention that his son should rule mankind and I am glad that he is opposed to that thought as well.
Exodus
Synopsis: Clark and Lana have their very first date but then the ship calls out for Clark again. His biological father demands that he leaves everyone behind and that he has to leave Smallville. But he doesn’t intend to follow his father’s rule but instead he plans to destroy the ship. Meanwhile Lex walks down the aisle and marries Dr. Bryce. But from there everything changes for both Clark and Lex.
My Opinion: Great finale and an evil cliffhanger. I feel so sorry for both Martha who has lost her baby and Clark who feels responsible for that (ok, he actually is). But personally I also think that Clark made a bad choice when he ran away. This guy saves lifes on a nearly daily basis but he doesn’t want to face the consequences of his actions. But then again I am forgetting that he is only 17 years old.
I believe that was the last episode I ever watched on television on a regular basis. I missed the beginning of the third season the next fall and then kind of dropped out. I only regained interest in the show after I bought the first seasons on DVD.
The Season – My Opinion: That was a very good season, exploring Clark’s origins. We will learn more with every season. This season also had a lot of good stories that came together to several arcs and these will also continue. Of course there were also FotW episodes – and there will always be some in every season – but not so many than in the first season. And more importantly they weren’t always bad guys.