As ‘Smallville’ Turns 25, Revisit the Show’s 10 Most Super Episodes
The WB gave Superman a new generation of admirers 25 years ago with Smallville’s premiere on October 16, 2001. But Clark Kent (Tom Welling) wouldn’t put on the Man of Steel’s blue-and-red suit until the show’s closing moments — instead, Smallville depicts how an outsider boy living in a small-town grows up to become a hero to people around the world, thanks to lessons from his friends and family. On the other side of town, meanwhile, another young man is growing up without those positive influences, on his way to becoming one of Clark’s biggest nemeses…
In honor of Smallville’s 25th, we’re presenting our picks for the show’s 10 best episodes. (And at the moment, you can cue them up faster than a speeding bullet on Hulu, where all 10 seasons are streaming.)
10. Season 7, Episode 16: “Descent”
The “descent” of the title? Surely Lex Luthor’s (Michael Rosenbaum) descent into villainy, and this episode marks the tipping point. In its opening moments, Lex confronts his father over the way Lionel (John Glover) raised him — and endangered him. Lionel tries warning Lex that there will be no redemption for him on his current path, and he’s right… especially after Lex shoves him off the top of the LutherCorp skyscraper.
9. Season 3, Episode 1: “Exile”
Anyone fed up with Clark being a goody-two-shoes needs only to check out the Season 3 premiere, when the grief-stricken teen, under the influence of Red Kryptonite, goes on a hedonistic crime spree as “Kal” in Metropolis. Back in Smallville, a desperate Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) has a father-to-father chat with Jor-El (Terence Stamp) as the two paternal figures debate Clark’s future. Clark eventually returns to his moralistic self, but this episode shows a possible flip side of his persona.
8. Season 9, Episode 21: “Salvation”
The epic finale to many fans’ favorite season, “Salvation,” has one iconic moment after another, including Clark saving the Daily Planet building in a flash-forward, getting his Superman suit in the present, and outsmarting Zod (Callum Blue) in an alien-vs-alien duel. Plus, Lois Lane’s (Erica Durance) un-blurry memory causes her to connect the dots when she locks lips with The Blur, a.k.a. Clark in disguise.
7. Season 6, Episode 11: “Justice”
The big-screen Justice League was a flop, but the Smallville version certainly wasn’t. Amid a new threat from Lex, Olivier Queen a.k.a. Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) assembles the super group, which includes Clark and allies Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman (Alan Ritchson), Bart Allen a.k.a. Impulse (Kyle Gallner), and Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg (Lee Thompson Young). After watching this supergroup in action, we were practically groupies.
6. Season 4, Episode 22: “Commencement”
Our heroes’ time at Smallville High comes to a close as a new era opens. Under edict from Jor-El, Clark unites the Stones of Power and creates the Fortress of Solitude, not realizing pal Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) hitched a ride along with him to the Arctic. Meanwhile, a second meteor shower strikes Smallville, bringing a certain brainy Kryptonian to town.
5. Season 10, Episodes 21 & 22: “Finale”
The series’ two-part finale goes out with a near-apocalypse — make that a nearing Apokolips. But Clark is able to fend off the encroaching planet, defeat the supervillain Darkseid, and finally suit up as Superman. In other satisfying twists, Chloe and Oliver start a family, a memory-wiped (and hopefully reformed) Lex becomes U.S. president, and Clark gets pep-talks from his Kryptonian and human fathers.
4. Season 5, Episode 12: “Reckoning”
In this 100th episode, Clark seems to have it all. He tells longtime love Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) his secret, she accepts his marriage proposal, and his father wins the Kansas State Senate race. But then Lana dies in a car accident, and Clark gets Jor-El’s help in resetting the day, unwittingly giving his father a death sentence, as the universe demands a life be taken.
3. Season 10, Episode 4: “Homecoming”
The 200th episode celebrates Clark’s small-town past, local-hero present, and Super future, as an altruistic version of Brianaic (James Marsters) takes him on a Christmas Carol-like journey that honors the show’s legacy itself. “A hero is made in the moment, not from questioning the past or fearing what’s to come,” Brainiac tells Clark in words that still ring true today.
2. Season 2, Episode 17: “Rosetta”
Who better to introduce Clark to his Kryptonian roots than a scientist played by another onscreen Kal-El star, Superman star Christopher Reeve? As the series moves away from its “Wall of Weird” origins and starts embracing a serialized format and Superman lore, fans get a mythic hour that honors the franchise as a whole.
1. Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”
All these years later, Smallville’s pilot is still our favorite episode, a perfect amalgamation of comic-book backstory and teen-drama soapiness. It not only sets up’s Clark and Lana’s will-they-won’t-they relationship but also establishes Clark and Lex as best friends, a dramatic irony since we all know how that friendship ends. Bonus: The episode also gives us the enduring image of a shirtless Tom Welling with an “S” painted on his chest.
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