The school unknowingly uses red kryptonite in the class
rings and its effect on Clark (Tom Welling) stuns his friends and family as he
turns into a rebellious and dangerous teenager who decides to use his powers for
evil instead of good. Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha (Annette O'Toole)
scramble to find the truth behind Clark's behavior before he exposes his true
identity, while Lana (Kristin Kreuk) finds herself drawn to the "new" Clark who
declares his love for her.
Michael Rosenbaum, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack and John Glover also star.
Jeff Woolnough directed the episode written by Jeph Loeb.
By
Nadine
Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) has just bought the school ring and is
showing it's red stone off to Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) and to Clark Kent
(Tom Welling). The boys are gonna get theirs too. Pete tells Clark that
Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) has deemed it too expensive, but Clark
decides it is his money and he wants to buy it.
Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) is showing new girl Jessie Brooks (Sara
Downing) around school. Jessie inquires about what Lana does for fun.
Lana tells her about The Talon, but Jessie is giving attitude and feels
she is too superior to hang out in a coffee shop. Jessie then spots Clark
and finds him very attractive. She asks Lana who he is. Clark has just
purchased the ring, and, at that moment, slips it onto his finger. The
red stone, which is in fact red-irradiated green meteor rock, lights up
for a second and the red travels through Clark's veins. His eyes turn red
for a second. He tells Pete he's feeling great. At that moment, the
school principal walks up to Jessie and tells her that her dresscode is
inappropriate. Clark overhears the conversation and laughs at Jessie's
arrogant response. Just as the principal is asking Jessie to discuss this
in his office, Clark comes to her rescue and tells the principal to
lighten up and to let her dress as she pleases on her first day. The
principal, Lana and Pete are all shocked by Clark's new behavior and
arrogance.
A US marshal (Michael Tomlinson) is interrogating Kyle (Jessie's
boyfriend) on the whereabouts of Jessie and her father, who are now
fugitives. He explains that she has called a few times from various
payphones in Kansas. The marshal then kills Kyle.
Clark's new behavior is already confusing Pete, as Clark shows him a
flyer for a bar outside town that doesn't check IDs. Jessie introduces
herself to Clark, and writes down her number on his hand. As he watches
her walk away, he tells Pete, "She is kinda hot", and Pete responds,
"But, aren't you married to Lana in your imagination?". Seconds later
Lana walks up to then and Clark starts hitting on her, telling her that
he will only come to their cram session tonight if she's going to be
there, and how he hasn't taken his eyes off Lana all day. Though slightly
embarrassed, Lana laughs it off and walks away. Pete is speechless.
Jonathan and Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) are in the
barn, as Jonathan is polishing up his old motorcycle. Clark shows up and
Jonathan gets upset that Clark decided to buy the ring. Clark looses his
temper and states that he is tired of worrying about every cent he
spends. Martha calms Jonathan down and puts the behavior down to classic
teenage rebellion, and reminds her husband that a few years ago, he
defied his own father by spending $500 on a bike.
Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) is confused by his father's sudden
invasion of the mansion. Lionel Luthor (John Glover) has taken over Lex's
office and has made it his, and the office is buzzing with construction
workers and personal secretaries. Lex confronts his father, who storms
out, shocked that his son would make his life difficult, seeing that his
is blind. Although visibly upset, Lex orders everyone to give Lionel what
he wants.
The marshal is still trying to track Jessie down. He finds a payphone in
a bar that Jessie used recently. It is the same bar that Clark had spoken
to Pete about. The marshal shows the barman a picture of Jessie, and
tells him that she used the phone. The barman agrees to cooperate once
the marshal reminds him that the bar's license is at stake if Jessie, who
is under age, came to this bar to drink. The marshal gives the picture
and a contact number to the barman, telling him to call if she comes
back.
Pete, Chloe and Lana are studying late at The Talon. Lana goes to open
the door for Clark. He suggests that they both go for a drive or go
dancing rather than study. Lana asks him if he is asking her out on a
date, and he replies "I'm asking you to have some fun with me". He flirts
with her and compliments her. Lana is confused and returns to studying.
He shocks everyone by asking them to go out to a bar rather than study.
Confused, Chloe and Lana decide to go make him some decaf, and Clark uses
his x-ray vision to see through Chloe's clothes.
Clark: "Did you know that Chloe had a birthmark on her cheek".
Pete: "No she doesn't".
Clark: "Not that cheek".
The next morning, Jonathan gets a call from the credit card company,
asking him to confirm some seriously high charges that were made the
night before on his card. They go visit Clark in the barn, and find that
he's bought a satellite dish, a state-of-the-art stereo system, a plasma
screen TV and video games. The music is blaring and Clark is no longer
wearing red, blue or yellow, but rather a green skateboarder's shirt,
sunglasses and a leather jacket. As his father begins to yell at him to
take it all back, Clark leaves and rides off on his father's bike.
Jessie's walking to school, and her father drives up to her and tells her
to go home and change into more decent clothes, telling her that they
can't afford to draw attention to themselves. At that moment, Cark shows
up on his bike and offers Jessie a ride to school. They pull up at school
and shock everyone. He then continues his intense flirting with Lana,
making her really uncomfortable. Jonathan shows up, angry, and orders
Clark to get in the truck. Clark refuses. Jonathan grabs him by the
jacket and says he has to because he is ordering him to, as his father.
Clark responds that Jonathan is not his father, he never was, and then
uses his superstrength to push his father onto the truck. Pete runs to
help Jonathan, and, confused, they both stare at Clark walking away.
Jonathan and Martha discuss Clark's behavior and realize that it is more
than just teenage rebellion. They think it may have to do with his
abilities developing, but realize that reasoning with him won't help.
They consider asking Pete for help.
Clark shows up at The Talon and tells Lana that they need to talk. He
wants to tell her the truth about everything. He tells her to ask him any
question she wants. She asks him what happened the night of the twisters.
He promises to get back to that later, but first he wants to tell her
that he's had feelings for her for a long time, and he knows she likes
him to. She asks him what this is, a brand new Clark Kent. He responds
"Well, that depends, do you like it?" and grabs her and kisses her! He
leaves her confused and tells her he will pick her up at 8.
Chloe shows Pete that the class rings are not worth $350. She found out
that the company substituted rubies for worthless meteor rocks. Pete is
confused because the rocks are usually green, but Chloe tells him that
there's a special kind, near Hob's Pond, that has a red vein. This makes
Pete realize that Clark is also wearing this ring that is made of meteor
rocks and he runs off. He shows the rocks and the ring to the Kents. They
try to find a way to get the ring off Clark.
Clark goes to visit Lex and is shocked by the changes that Lionel has
made. Lex tries to make Clark understand Lionel's new situation, but
Clark is harsh and says "Just cuz your father has a problem, doesn't mean
he needs to rule your life", to which Lex responds "I wasn't aware a $2,000 coat came with a backbone. What's
going on?". Clark says, "I have a hot date tonight and I wanna rock her
world". He asks to borrow Lex's Ferrari.
Clark takes Lana to the bar, that's now packed. He snaps at two guys that
are starring at Lana. He asks Lana if she wants a beer, and she's
shocked. When she also refuses to dance, Jessie shows up and asks Clark
to dance. Clark leaves Lana standing there. The barman notices Jessie and
realizes she is the girl from the picture. As Jessie and Clark are about
to kiss, Lana walks up and tells Clark she wants to leave. He tries to
get her to chill and gives her money to go buy drinks. She's outraged,
and he asks what happened to her attitude of them seeing whomever they
want, "there's enough of me to go around", he says. As she turns to
leave, he grabs her arm. At that moment, the two guys come to her rescue
and allow her to leave. Clark knocks them out and demonstrates his
superstrength and heat vision by knocking out all his opponents. Jessie
explains that she can't be there when the police arrive. They walk out.
Clark starts loading his bags into the Ferrari, explaining to his shocked
parents that he's through being poor and that he wants to live life. He
is prepared to make millions with his abilities. Jonathan and Martha try
to reason with him, explaining the story behind the ring. Clark listens
but answers that he wishes he had found the ring sooner, and that there's
no way he's taking it off. He drives off in Lex's Ferrari.
Clark shows up at the Luthor mansion and asks to borrow the Ferrari
longer. He tells Lex that he has no idea what he is capable of. He
explains how he is leaving his parents, Lana and Smallville behind and
move onto bigger and better things. Lex thinks about following him, and
makes him wait in the mansion while he ties up loose ends, and they can
leave together.
The marshal is at The Talon while Lana and Chloe discuss the mystery that
is Clark Kent. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Pete are trying to work out a
plan, when Lex shows up at the Kent barn and tells Jonathan that Clark is
hiding out at the mansion.
As Clark is waiting in the mansion, Lionel walks in. Clark makes fun of
him, steals his glasses and is rude to him. He tells Lionel that Lex may
be too afraid to tell him, but that no one in Smallville wants Lionel
here. At that moment, the marshal shows up, and says that he wants to
speak to Clark about Jessie, because he was told that Clark and Jessie
were at the bar. He shows Clark a picture of Jessie, but Clark lies and
says that he has never seen her before. The marshal takes his gun out,
but Clark uses his superspeed and grabs the gun. He shows off his
strength by shooting himself in the hand. The crushed bullets slide right
off his hand and onto the floor. The marshal is shocked. Lionel was in
the room, but since he's blind, would not have witnessed anything.... or
has he? He blindly finds the door and goes to call security. Meanwhile,
Clark corners the marshal and asks him what he wants. The marshal
explains that Jessie's dad is a corporate whistle-blower who has all the
information on disk. The marshal has been hired by the company to get the
information and Jessie's dad back. Clark is interested in getting a hold
of that information himself and knocks the marshal out.
Clark shows up at Jessie's house and demands the disks. He wants them for
the money. The marshal shows up and demands the disks. He has a gun. But
from another room, Jessie's father is watching and shoots and kills the
marshal. Jessie's father points the gun at Clark and advises him to
leave. Clark gets mad and starts destroying the house, while Jessie
manages to leave the house with the data.
Jessie runs through the cornfields with the purse containing the disks,
but Clark catches up with her. He grabs the disks from her, when Pete and
Jonathan show up. Jessie runs off. Pete opens a lead box containing green
meteor rocks, which weaken Clark. Jonathan goes to strike Clark with a
hammer, and Clark, in defense, hold out his fist with the ring. Jonathan
shatters the ring.
Lex finally confronts his father, and moves his office back to what it
was. He explains to his father that the best advice he gave him as a boy
was to stop feeling sorry for himself. In return, he tells his father,
"Stop acting like your blindness gives you an excuse for self-pity".
Stunned, Lionel admits that he is impressed with Lex's new attitude, and
feels that he "May have learnt the value of directness from his friend,
Clark Kent, a very interesting young man". As he mysteriously utters
those words, Lionel is playing around with the three crushed bullets,
which leads us to believe that Lionel may not be so blind after all.
Clark apologizes to his parents for the things he said, and explains that
he realizes that the love of his parents is something all the money in
the world can't buy. He thanks them for by him. He tries to apologize to
Lana, and explains that the things he said really weren't him. "Even the
part where you said you had feelings for me", she asks. He's confused on
what to answer, and she explains that he can't have it both ways. He says
he wishes he could explain, but he can't. "Story of your life" she
responds. She says she knows he's sorry, but it's just not enough
anymore...
All detailed descriptions © Copyright 2000-2008- All Rights Reserved
Notes:
As of this writing over half the regular cast have been
influenced or mind-controlled into wild, reckless, and
sexually-uninhibited behavior activity: Lex and Chloe in "Hug," Lana,
Pete, and Jonathan in "Nicodemus", Lex and Jonathan in "Heat", and now
Clark in this episode. No doubt Lionel, Martha, and a returning Whitney
will be having a chainsaw fight one of these days under the influence of
green rocks... ;)
18 million viewers made this the WB's most watched
episode this season. It was written by longtime Superman writer Jeph Loeb
and is one of two stories he will write for this season.
At several times throughout the episode Clark's face is
tinted red - through the red stained glass windows in Lex's study, at The
Talon when an outside red neon light shines on his face, etc. Even
without lighting, the make-up people seem to have added a little more red
taint to Tom Welling's face.
Rating: 6.6/10
Notice when Clark stops behaving with Superman-like
behavior, he stops wearing red, yellow, and blue.
Although one contributor thought Clark's green shirt with
a black symbol on it was from "The Greatest American Hero", actually it
appears to be the RDS (Red Dragon Skateboarding) logo.
http://www.rdsskatesupply.com/cat.html.
The first on-screen meeting of Lionel and Clark.
If the Kents are routinely scraping by (when they aren't
deep in debt), how could they possibly have enough available credit to
afford all of the things that Clark bought? A firm handshake and an
honest face only go so far, even in Kansas. (editor's note: on the other
hand, you'd be surprised how much credit some of those companies will
extend... :) )
No indication is given as to how much time has elapsed
since the last episode, but there is no talk in this episode about Nell
getting married to her new insurance hunk. (editor's note - then again -
should there be? It's not like Nell is on-screen or anything...)
When Jonathan Kent goes to speak with Clark at his
school, Clark shoves his father into the driver-side door using his
powers, thus causing a large dent in the door. If you look carefully just
as Jonathan initially exits the truck, you will see the dent is there
before Jonathan meets it the hard way.
The heck with Lionel suspecting Clark has superpowers -
everyone in the bar, including Jessie, saw Clark acting really, really
strong (picking up and throwing two overly-grown men) and a bat
spontaneously burst into flame. And all these people aren't conveniently
dead at the end of the episode. Yes, we know heat vision is invisible but
you'd think at the very least Chloe or someone might pick up on this -
doesn't she watch out for weirdness stuff like this? Anyone want to bet
we never hear from any of these witnesses again?
Why did Clark-red buy a jet ski? In Kansas? Okay, there's
a small lake nearby (with Freezer Kelvin still at the bottom presumably),
and a koi pond. Still, where does Clark plan on using it?
When Lex says the line about a $2,000 coat (see Quotes),
the closed captioning says "$2,000 shirt". Which is pretty unlikely, all
things considered - aren't too many shirts that go that high.
Security at the Lex manor continues to be incredibly lax
- U.S. Marshall guy gets in just fine, and with a gun to boot. He does
say the guys at the gate were kind enough to let him in, though. Pity
they didn't call ahead.
How'd the U.S. Marshall get to Jessie's house so quickly?
Clark pins him with a pool table, knocks him out, super-speeds off to
Jessie's house, talks for a minute or two...and the Marshal arrives.
How did Lana know that Jessie was talking about Clark
when she asked who's the hottie in primary colors? From the angle that
Jessie was at she couldn't see that Clark was wearing a red shirt
underneath his long-sleeved blue shirt. He was also wearing blue jeans.
Pete however was wearing even more primary colors, a yellow sweater and
blue jeans. Two possible explanations are that Lana thinks that Clark is
the hottie out of the two or that she was looking at the exact same spot
Jessie was looking at. Lana wouldn't be that dumb to admit she thinks
Clark is a hottie to a stranger, and Clark and Pete were standing exactly
next to each other, so how could she tell who Jessie was looking at?
When Pete confronts Clark with the kryptonite, Jonathan
calls out to Clark and then takes a swing and Clark blocks the swing with
his fist, breaking the ring. How did Jonathan know Clark would try to
block the attack with his fist and the ring? Wouldn't it be easier to
just take the ring of his hand since Clark is powerless? Or is Jonathan
really planning on breaking open the skull of his depowered son (it's a
pretty hefty swing)?
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