Smallville: Season 2 (2002)

Originally Reviewed 

Monday January 8, 2007

Season 2 delves into Clark's search for the truth behind who he is and why he was sent to earth. The Luthor's also begin to play a larger role in the season as well as Lex and Lionel continually try to out wit each other which usually leads to disaster for those around them. They also continue to obsess over the mysteries of the octagonal disc which Lex had discovered in Season 1, and as new discoveries continue to surface their obsession only grows as they are still unaware the importance that Clark Kent plays in it all.

Character Development:

Clark Kent: Clark begins to learn more about his origins when he discovers an underground cavern containing drawings and writings depicting a man falling from the stars with the ability to shoot fire from his eyes. The cavern contains a hole in the wall in the shape of the octagonal key, when Clark places the key in the wall it allows him to translate the writing and sets forth a series of events, one of which is his contact with the voice of Jorel (his biological father) which informs him he is to begin on his destined path in life. Clark doesn't wish to follow the path set forth for him by Jorel believing his plans are for him to become ruler of Earth. In his despair to rid himself of Jorel, Clark destroys his ship which leads to consequences that end up hurting those he loves and putting the relationship he was finally able to build with Lana in Jeopardy.

Lex Luthor: After organizing an employee buyout of the Smallville Luthor Corp plant Lex starts his own company, Lex Corp. Although the corporate wars between him and his father continue as Lionel tries to take back what Lex was able to snatch away from him. Lex trumps his father again when he gains historical conservation rights over the land that Lionel was planning to build on after Clark's discovery of the underground caverns sparks Lex's curiosity. Lex has also vowed to the Kent’s that he has ceased his investigation of Clark but there are many instances throughout the season which suggest Lex still hasn't given up on his obsession, an obsession which seems to see new light after the discovery of the caves and his suspicion that Clark knows more about them than he is leading on to believe.

Lana Lang: Lana's emotional turmoil continues through Season 2 as she breaks up with Whitney, who joined the army and shipped out, finding out her father wasn't actually her biological father and that her bio dad was still alive, and new feelings for Clark Kent. On top of that Lana moves in with Chloe and her dad after her Aunt gets married and moves to Metropolis, which ends up being quite an interesting situation when both girls have pretty strong feelings for Clark Kent.

Chloe Sullivan & Pete Ross: Chloe wins the award for the most annoying character of the season, her love affair with Clark Kent becomes quite ridiculous as she practically goes into mental breakdown every time she sees Clark with Lana. This obsession grows so large that when Lana and Clark finally get together Chloe decides to betray Clark in return for him not being honest about his relationship with Lana. Chloe excepts an internship with the Daily Planet from Lionel Luthor under the terms that she is to investigate Clark and present him with any information she can find. As for Pete Ross his character has a little more of a role this season, after Pete discovers the spaceship in a field Clark is forced to tell him the truth or risk losing him as a friend. Pete becomes Clark's sidekick of sorts and also his moral support.

Lionel Luthor: Lionel is temporarily blinded after an operation was performed on him due to the disaster in the finale of Season 1. Lionel hires Martha Kent as his assistant, she enjoys working for him until she discovers he is in the possession of the octagonal disc, a safe full of refined meteor rocks and a file on Clark. The battle between Lex and Lionel continues and many surprises pop up, such as Lex's half brother Lucas, and Lionel's hold over Chloe Sullivan.

Top 5 Episodes:

Aired 2/11/03

Lex hunts down and finds his half brother Lucas (after the discovery that he had one in a previous episode). Lionel claimed he had died before his first birthday but of course that was a lie. Lucas ends up becoming the key to a possible take over of Luthor Corp by Lex, but he isn't aware yet of the possibly that maybe Lionel wanted Lucas to be found. With the return of the "prodigal son" Lex sees himself banished from the mansion while Lucas takes his place in the Luthor family, but Lucas isn't about to be played for a fool, he's suspicious of Lionel and his alleged blindness.  It's a great episode that really shows how twisted the Luthor family is and the lengths that they will go to, to out play each other.

Aired 10/15/02

Green Kryptonite can kill him, but Red Kryptonite can make him go rebel! When Clark slips on his class ring, which turns out to have a red kryptonite stone in it, things begin to go crazy. Clark turns into a girl crazy, party crashing, back talking, motorcycle riding dude and the problem is there is no way of stopping him! This is the first of many episodes featuring the Red K, I always get a kick out of these episodes because they're really fun, and it's always nice to see an alternate version of the reserved Clark Kent.

Aired 10/8/02

Pete discovers Clark's spaceship which had been thrown into a nearby field when the twisters hit Smallville. He gets really excited about it, and Clark has a hard time convincing him to keep the ship a secret for the time being. When Clark and Jonathan sneak over to Pete's place and take the ship during the night Pete spots them and gets furious with Clark. When Pete threatens to tell Chloe about the ship and Clark stealing it, Clark decides they best thing to do is to come clean to Pete. At first Pete is quite ticked at Clark for hiding all of it from him, but when the meteor infected Dr. Hamilton finds out about the ship and Pete's knowledge of the owner he finally realizes why Clark kept the truth a secret.  A pretty exciting episode which is a starting point for Lionel’s interest in Clark Kent and the octagonal disc, and the first occurrence of a supporting character finding out the truth about Clark Kent.

Aired 2/25/03

After Clark puts the octagonal disc into the cave wall he's able to decipher the writings within the cave. Strange things then begin to occur, one of them being Clark’s sudden burst of fire from the eyes on the side of the barn which leaves the imprint of a Kryptonite symbol. Chloe begins to buzz all over the story and Clark tries to calm her down explaining it's probably a prank, she then informs him that Dr. Virgil Swann, one of the smartest men in the world has been trying to get a hold of him... if it's a hoax it must be a pretty big one to fool him.  This is  the episode which finally presents Clark with some explanations of who he is and where he came from. The late Christopher Reeves plays Dr. Virgil Swan in one of the best episodes of the series not just the season.

Aired 5/20/03

Jorel makes first contact with Clark and informs him of his destiny and that he will soon have to leave all those that he loves and begin on his new path. This freaks Clark out so he decides to destroy the spaceship in hopes of getting rid of Jorel and putting his past behind him, but his choice only ends up causing him even more pain, and leads him to run away to Metropolis. The finale also sees Lex getting married to Helen Brice and the crashing of his plane in the middle of the ocean on their way to their honeymoon.  This is probably one of the most emotional episodes of the season, which is one reason I thought it was really well done. The story was well written, and it's a really great lead in to season 3!

Final Thoughts:

Overall, Season 2 is much improved upon in comparison to Season 1. This season delves more into the secrets in the life of Clark Kent and the Luthor's, who seem to only be a step behind Clark unaware that everything they are obsessed with all ties back to the Kansas farm boy. In the end, it's a great season with a lot of twists and turns!

9/10