Smallville: Season 1 (2001)

Originally Written

Thursday, October 27, 2006

Plot: Season 1 starts the story of Clark Kent, prior to his Superman days. Unlike the films, Clark Kent isn't a skinny nerd of a kid, while this version of Clark Kent is still relatively shy he is a more accurate interruption of what Clark Kent should have been portrayed as in his youth. The first season is merely a stepping stone for the show in which Clark begins to discover his powers, learn about his past and fight off a new "meteor freak" every week. The first season also sets up the unlikely friendship of Clark and Lex Luthor which will continue for at least three seasons.

Character Development:

Clark Kent: Clark knew he was different he just didn't understand why, that is until his parents decided it was time to tell him that he isn't from earth, there's spaceship in the storm cellar to prove it. Learning to deal with being different is hard; having to hide it from everyone is even harder. Clark has his shares of close calls as few unsavory people seek to exploit Clark’s abilities. When Clark saves Lex Luthor's life, after Lex drives his car off a bridge, he creates a never ending mystery in the mind of Lex, leaving him wondering how he ever survived that crash, and how Clark managed to survive being hit by his car and ripping the roof off of it!

Lex Luthor: Banished to Smallville by his father as a test to see if Lex could prove himself as a in managing the local LuthorCorp plant, Lex begins to like the quaint little town and finds himself even more intrigued by a farm boy named Clark Kent. The young farm boy who miraculously saves him from a deadly car accident and emerges without a scratch. Lex begins to become obsessed with trying to figure out what happened that day, as well as a growing interest for the meteor rocks which seem to have strange effects on some of the locals.

Lana Lang: Both her parents died in the meteor shower on the day Clark Kent came to Earth, making Lana the poster child of the Smallville disaster. Now living with her Aunt, she has a rather wavy relationship with Whitney, the school quarterback, and has begun a rather close friendship with Clark Kent.

Chloe Sullivan & Pete Ross: Chloe is the local sleuth and editor of the high school newspaper, The Torch. At times she can be rather aggressive and thick headed when it comes to a news story, and she thrives on the weird occurrences in Smallville, so much so she that she has an entire wall dedicated to them, The Wall of Weird. She has pretty big crush on her good friend Clark Kent, but he's too Lana crazy to notice it. Pete Ross is another close friend of Clark and Chloe who plays a minor role in the first season, the most we know about Pete is he has a supreme hatred for the Luthors who he claims ruined his family's business.

Whitney Fordman: High school quarterback for the Smallville Crows, Whitney has a hard time dealing with his emotions and tends to push those who try and help him away. He finds Clark to be a threat to his relationship with Lana, when really it's his attitude that's pushing Lana away.

Top 5 Episodes:

 Aired 5/14/02

Summary: When Lana Lang gets caught in an explosion she soon discovers she has the ability to see through the eyes of someone else. As it turns out this person kidnaps Chloe and now she is the only hope of finding Chloe alive. Meanwhile, Lex continues his study of Clark Kent and runs across an old crop duster with an intriguing story to tell about the day of the meteor shower. This story leads Lex to begin an excavation of a local field the discovery of a mysterious octagon shaped disc with strange inscriptions.

Comments: While I'm not a big fan of Lana Lang this is a great episode in the sense that it's the episode of the uncovering of the octagon disc which plays an important role in the next few seasons of the show.

Aired 3/19/02

Summary: When a rare flower, thought to be exterminated over 100 years ago, reappears in Smallville those who come into contact with it begin to lose all sense of control and allow their emotions to put themselves and everyone around them in danger. The effects escalates when the second phase sends the victim into a comma and certain death. With his father and friends all infected by the "Nicodemus" flower Clark has a relatively short amount of time to save them.

Comments: The plot of Nicodemus is nothing that hasn't been seen before but it's one of those episodes that you always get a kick out of watching, plus in a season filled with the typical "freak of the week" this episode is a breath of fresh air.

Aired 3/12/02

Summary: An old "friend" of Lex Luthor's resurfaces and begins to terrorize him over what happen three years ago at Club Zero. Lex begins to grow a little nervous because the person stalking him died three years ago at Club Zero, and that was one day in the life of Lex Luthor that he would prefer leave buried. But Luthor can't escape his ghosts as the past won't rest until the truth is revealed or Lex is dead. Meanwhile, Chloe begins to ask question about Clark's life for a school biography report and learns some interesting information about Clark's adoption that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Comments: Zero is another unique episode to Season 1 and well worth the watch, I always enjoy the episodes surrounding Lex because a majority of the time they are pretty interesting and mysterious. This episode also marks the beginnings Chloe’s investigations into Clark's past.

Aired 5/21/02

Summary: This jam packed season finale sees the Lionel Luthor closing down shop in Smallville in hopes of bringing Lex back to Metropolis. But Lex isn't ready to go home and devises a plan to take back the Smallville factory. A reporter working for Lex, who has been watching Clark over the last few months closes in on all of Clarks secrets and discovers his spaceship. Whitney breaks the news to Lana that he's joining the army, and Chloe finally gets her date with Clark as the two go to the school dance, but it's all cut short when the twisters hits Smallville, and Lana's caught in the middle of them.

Comments: A very well done season finale sees the departure of Whitney, and might I add not too soon, the makings of a great feud between the Luthors and the revelation of Clarks' secret to an outsider that could potentially change the Kent's lives.

Aired 10/16/01

Summary: The Pilot episode in which we are introduced to the main character's in the series, the meteor storm that changed all their lives, the birth of an unusual friendship between Lex and Clark, who learns he isn't quite so normal.

Comments: A great introduction to the series which sets a basis for all that is to come and by far the best episode of the season because it has a nice mix of everything.

Final Thoughts: Season 1 is a great start to the series but is by no means the best season. The weekly villains who gain their powers from the meteor rocks get a little old after a while. The character of Whitney is by far the most annoying of the season and Kristin Kreuk's acting is quite corny. On the upside most of the episodes are very entertaining and well written, Clark and Lex are by far the best characters, and portrayed by great actors. The controversial friendship between the two, which had a lot of Superman loyalists divided, I thought was not only very interesting but made the series better. Sure this show doesn't stick straight to the Superman lore but it molds it into something fresh and entertaining, which is never a bad thing in television.

8/10