Whitney (Eric Johnson) returns home from the Marines
looking to rekindle his relationship with Lana (Kristin Kreuk) but his
suspicious behavior prompts Clark (Tom Welling) to question his true motives,
ultimately revealing a shocking truth about "the new Whitney." Lex (Michael
Rosenbaum) becomes suspicious of his new girlfriend (guest star Emmanuelle
Vaugier, My Guide to Becoming a Rockstar) after he discovers a
questionable photo of her with Lionel (John Glover).
Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star.
Bill Gereghity directed the episode written by Todd Slavkin & Darren
Swimmer.
Detailed Description:
By
Nadine
Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) and
Clark Kent (Tom Welling) are in
the kitchen of The Talon, on the floor by the sink, trying to fix a
leaking pipe. Lana complains about the plumber. Clark tries to fix it by
turning the valve, but turns it the wrong way, and instead of a small
leak, the water is just bursting out of the pipe, wetting both himself
and Lana. Lana runs off to go fetch a towel. While she's away, Clark uses
his heat vision to weld the leak. She comes back and it's fixed, and
she's extremely surprised, and at the same time, she can't keep her eyes
of Clark's body, with his wet white t-shirt sticking to his abs!!
Finally, she comes out of her daydream to give him a towel.
A moment later, they're back in the main room of The Talon, and Clark
tells Lana how he misses having her live next door, he's tried to talk to
the people who live in her house now, but they're not as friendly. She
says she misses watching sunsets from his loft. She then starts looking
through a box of Whitney Fordman's (Eric
Johnson) stuff, pictures of him from the army and the necklace. She
explains that since Whitney has been MIA for over a month, they sent his
personal effects to his mother, and Mrs. Fordman (Catherine Barroll) gave
Lana her meteor necklace back. Lana's keeping it in the lead box, but she
opens it to look at it, and Clark starts feeling ill. He still manages to
talk and notices that she's not wearing it. She closes the box. Clark
reassures Lana that "If anyone can get through this, Whitney can".
Aceh Province, Indonesia. Whitney and his unit are walking through the
swamp. One of the men tells Whitney that they're never gonna get back.
Whitney tries to keep everyone motivated, but they're bombs that are
going off everywhere. Most of his men are killed, and he's left with one
man, who is injured. He carries the man through the swamp, encouraging
him. Then a bomb goes off right where they're standing.
Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), Pete
Ross (Sam Jones III) and Clark are
discussing their class, and are disillusioned because Graham Bell may
have stolen the idea for the telephone from someone else, and Ross was
not the one to design the American Flag. Clark sees Lana and asks her to
go with him to a Produce Festival on Saturday. At the beginning, she says
she's too busy, and he tells her that he knows she's worried about
Whitney, but that it's ok to have a little fun. She realizes he's right
and accepts. At that moment, they start hearing a lot of noise from
everyone in the school hallway, and suddenly all the students part to the
sides of the hallway, all in slow motion, and, at the end of the hallway,
we see Whitney, in his Marines uniform walking towards Lana. Lana is
stunned, she drops her books, and runs to him and throws himself in his
arms, all in slow motion!! They hug, and he tells her how much he's
missed her. All the way back at the beginning of the hallway, Clark is
standing there, looking sad, and he walks away.
Back home, Clark's parents are surprised that he's not happier that
Whitney has returned. He explains that he knows it sounds selfish, but
things were just getting better with Lana. Martha Kent (Annette
O'Toole) says she thought that Whitney and Lana had broken up. Clark
explains that she did, in a video letter she sent him, but now
she's throwing this party for his return. Jonathan Kent (John
Schneider) is firm when he tells his son that Whitney is a war hero,
and that Clark should put his feelings aside and go to the party.
Whitney and Lana are catching up at Whitney's house. Mrs. Fordman has
baked cookies for them. She says she's delighted that things are back to
normal, and that Whitney is with the prettiest girl in school. Whitney
tells Lana that the only thing that kept him going was the thought of
her. Lana mentions the video letter, and he asks her "What video
letter?". He explains that he was caught in an explosion, and he some of
his memory was wiped out. She does have the heart to tell him about the
fact that she broke up with him in the video letter. He says he just
wants things to be as they used to be, and they hug.
Dr. Helen Bryce (Emmanuelle
Vaugier) meets Lex Luthor (Michael
Rosenbaum) in his office, and excuses herself for being late for some
function they are supposed to attend. But Lex is not in a party mood and
is looking very upset. He asks her why she lied when she said she has
never met his father, Lionel Luthor (John
Glover), and he shows her a picture of Helen and Lionel sitting
together on a bench. She's shocked that Lex would have her followed, but
he explains that he was having his father followed. He then asks her why
there's a $100,000 wire transfer into her bank account from LuthorCorp.
Again, she asks him why he would check out her finances, and he tells her
that after catching her on her lie about not knowing Lionel, he ran a
full background check on her. He goes on saying he's shocked and
disappointed that she would agree to spy on him at the request of his
father. Helen started by trying to defend herself, but Lex doesn't let
her put a word him. When he's done accusing her, she refuses to justify
herself and is shocked that he could even think such a thing. She refuses
to give into threats or tell him about her private life. She walks off.
Lana is in her room, unable to decide what to wear to Whitney's party.
Chloe walks in and asks her about Whitney. Lana explains that Whitney
thinks that they're still a couple, and that he doesn't remember anything
about the video latter. She feels he needs her more than ever. Chloe
wonders if Lana is falling for his uniform and Lana admits that some
feelings came back. She explains that with Whitney, what you see is what
you get, there are no secrets. "Unlike someone we know", says Chloe.
The party is at The Talon, and Chloe asks Whitney for an interview. He
admits that he doesn't remember much and what he does remember he doesn't
want to talk about. Meanwhile, Lana pulls Clark aside and apologizes for
not being able to make the produce festival on Saturday. Clark
understands completely, but Whitney overhears, and asks them what they
are talking about. He also asks them if they saw a lot of each other, and
he starts getting upset. Clark answers "Not especially", and Lana
reassures Whitney that she and Clark are just friends, but Whitney gets
more upset. He runs off to the bathroom, where he yells at himself in the
mirror, and then, in anger, rips off one of the bathroom stall doors. At
that moment, Clark walks in and sees him. He tries to calm Whitney down,
telling him that he kept their promise that he would just be looking out
for Lana (see episode "Tempest").
Whitney is really angry, and tells Clark that, while he was off fighting
for his country, Clark steals his girl. He warns Clark to stay away.
Clark asks him how he managed to tear the door down, and Whitney tells
him that he is a trained US Marine and that there are a lot of things
that he is capable of.
Clark sees Lana at school the next day, but she's upset with him. She
asks Clark how he could get that angry and tear a door off and tell
Whitney to stay away from her. Clark is shocked and tells her that it is
not what happened, that Whitney is the one who warned him to stay away
and who ripped the door off. Lana can't believe that Clark would say that
about Whitney, after everything Whitney's been through.
Lieutenant McNulty ( D. Neil Mark) shows up at the Fordmans, and Mrs.
Fordman shows him in, and asks him if he is here to see Whitney. McNulty
is confused and says, "There must be some mistake, your son is
actually...". He never gets to complete his sentence, Whitney shows up,
and hits him furiously with a baseball bat. Mrs. Fordman screams, Whitney
kills the Lieutenant.
Lana and Whitney go to feed her horse. He tells her that he misses those
times when it's just the two of them together. He sees the meteor
necklace around her neck and is glad she's wearing it. She says that they
sent it back. He doesn't understand, she reminds him that she had given
it to him before he left, (see episode "Tempest")
and that it had been sent back along with his belongings when he was MIA.
He gets upset because he can't remember. He asks her suddenly to move in
together, since Nell (Sarah-Jane
Redmond) has left. When she hesitates, he thinks this is about Clark,
and he tells her to watch out, that Clark has secrets. He then apologizes
for freaking out.
Lex and Clark are at the Luthor mansion playing pool. Clark tells Lex
that he doesn't see Helen as the espionage type. Lex is still suspicious
and tells Clark that people are seldom who you think they are. He
confesses that he was actually considering a longer relationship with
Helen than his usual two months. Clark explains that he is worried about
Whitney, that it's like he's someone else. Lex thinks that it may be
post-traumatic stress, which is something that had happened to some of
LuthorCorp's employees. He offers to set up and appointment for Whitney
with the specialist that treated the LuthorCorp employees.
Back at home, Whitney terrorizes his mother about a radio station on the
car stereo. There's a knock on the door. Mrs. Fordman tries to scream,
but Whitney duck tapes her mouth. Whitney goes outside to talk to Clark.
Clark tells Whitney that he's worried about him, that Lex told him about
a doctor that can help him. Whitney brings up Lana, and Clark explains
that this has nothing to do with Lana, that Whitney needs help. Whitney
answers, "I need you to stay out of my life". Whitney gives Clark a
slight push that throws Clark across the lawn. Clark is shocked. As
Whitney goes back into the house, Clark x-rays the house and Whitney's
body, and sees that his skeleton is distorted. As Whitney walks back to
his mother, his face changes into Tina Greer (Lizzy Caplan, see episode "X-Ray").
Clark rushes to the Torch office where he finds Pete and Chloe. He tells
them that he thinks Whitney is Tina, that she may have escaped from the
psychiatric hospital. But Chloe tells him that Tina killed herself
recently, but pouring paint thinner on herself and setting herself
alight. She claimed she didn't know who she was anymore. Clark wonders if
they got dental records. Clark and Pete walk out of the office and
explains that he's sure that Whitney is Tina. He tells Pete that Tina
knows about Clark's abilities but that he just thought that no one would
believe her in the psychiatric hospital. Pete wonders if she also knows
about the effects of the meteor on Clark, and Clark is sure she does.
Clark tells Pete to warn Lana. At that moment, Lana shows up, and asks
them what she has to be warned about. Clark tells her about Tina, but
Lana finds it ridiculous. Clark tells her to stay with Pete while he goes
to confront Whitney, but, when Clark has left, Lana tells Pete she has to
go. Pete tries to get her to stay, saying that Tina is dangerous and a
freak. Lana suddenly gets really bad and kickboxes Pete to the ground. He
realizes she's Tina, as Tina holds him by the neck and asks him, "Who you
calling a freak", and she knocks him out.
Clark goes to the Fordmans' and knocks on the door but there's no answer.
Finally, he breaks the door down, and finds Mrs. Fordman tied up. He
frees her and she tells him that Whitney is actually Tina.
Whitney (well, Tina) goes to Lana at The Talon and makes her sit down. He
proposes to her, explaining that he understands why she didn't want to
just move in. He wants it to be legal, and then to leave Smallville. She
says she's too young, but he says that his mother was only 16 when she
married his dad. She looks sad and says sorry, that she can't accept it.
She finally tells him about the video letter, where she suggested they
should break up. She apologizes for not telling her sooner. She tells him
that she really cares for him. "But you care more about Clark", Whitney
responds. Again, she explains this has nothing to do with Clark. Whitney
tells her to look him in the eyes and tell him that she doesn't feel
anything for Clark. She is unable to. He doesn't get upset, he tells her
that in the Army, he learnt to deal with loss and that he will get over
this. He asks her one favor, for her to return the necklace to him, so he
can remember her that way. She gives it to him.
Clark goes down to the storm cellar, where he finds his dad. Jonathan
asks about Mrs. Fordman, and Clark explains that she is staying in the
hospital overnight. Jonathan asks, "Any idea where Tina is now?" and
Clark responds, "She could be anyone". Jonathan mumbles, "You're right
about that" as we see him holding the meteor necklace and we realize it's
Tina. She puts the necklace around Clark's neck and throws him to the
floor. She tells him that she knows about his abilities and that she
figured the meteor shower must have made him that strong. She ties him
up, while she tells him that she loves Lana and she wants to be with her
and she's figured out who Lana wants to be with. She suddenly turns into
Clark and tells him that it will be easy to become him, because he has
the perfect life, the perfect parents, everything, and Lana is just
waiting for him to make his move.
Lex finds Helen at The Talon. He tries to apologize. She tells him that
Lionel offered her the money, not to spy on Lex, but to break up with
Lex. When she refused, Lionel wired the money anyway, hoping she would
change her mind. She was going to tell Lex it, but then he came on strong
with his interrogation. She says she's glad it happened, it's showed her
who she's dealing with. Lex tries to apologize, but it's too late, she
walks off.
Clark is tied up in the cellar and is struggling to free himself, but
can't because of he necklace. Suddenly, the ship lights up, nearly
blinding Clark, and with a huge flash on light, turns the necklace's rock
to white, making it harmless. The ship then switches off.
Tina is in Lana's room, sniffing her clothes. Lana walks in, and Tina
turns into Chloe. She asks Lana to borrow her socks. Tina/Chloe says that
she bumped into Whitney who apparently told her that he knows Lana will
be happy with Clark. Lana again says that this has nothing to do with
Clark, but Chloe tells Lana that it's obvious that Lana and Clark are
meant to be together. When Lana is surprised that Chloe would encourage
her to be interested in Clark, Chloe explains she doesn't wanna stand in
the way. But she pushes too far, and Lana gets freaked out by Chloe's
behavior, especially after Chloe gets really close to Lana.
Jonathan finds Clark and helps him, and Clark shows him the effect of the
ship on the necklace. He then runs off to save Lana.
Clark/Tina shows up at The Talon. Clark tells Lana that seeing her with
Whitney made him realize that he has to act immediately or he will loose
her forever. Lana freaks out again, wondering why everyone is acting so
weird. Clark tells her he loves her. They kiss, but the kiss becomes to
intense and Lana pushes him away. At that moment, the real Clark shows up
and Lana is shocked. Both Clarks try to persuade her that the other is
Tina. Finally, the real Clark tells Lana about the leak in the drain
pipe, and she pushes Clark/Tina away. Clark/Tina tells her that they are
meant to be together. They struggle and Lana hits her head against a
pillar and passes out. Both Clark's fight against each other. They are of
equal strength. Finally, Clark/Tina gets impaled on a pole, and changes
back to being Tina and tells Clark to look after Lana, and then dies.
Jonathan and Clark return home and Martha inquires about Mrs. Fordman.
Jonathan explains that Lieutenant McNulty has come to their house to her
that they had found Whitney's body and that he died in combat. Everyone
is extremely upset. She inquires about Lana, but Clark says that,
according to Chloe, Lana is not ready to see anyone. Clark admires
Whitney's courage for fighting for his country and wonders if he had no
abilities, whether he would have the same courage. Jonathan tells him,
"There is no doubt in our minds that you would".
Lex shows up at the hospital where Helen is on duty. He tells her that
what he did was inexcusable. He violated her trust. He explains that he
was born in an environment of distrust. When his mother died, he learnt
to build a wall around his heart that just grew. He now wants to tear the
wall down, but doesn't know how. He's asking for her help, he doesn't
want to become like his father. Helen realizes how much she cares for
him, and takes his hand as they walk down the hallway.
Clark takes the necklace to the caves. Lana shows up, she is in tears.
She tells Clark she never should have send Whitney the video letter,
Whitney ended his life thinking she didn't care. Everyone she loves
leaves her, her parents, Nell and now Whitney. She tells Clark she's so
sorry for doubting him, and that he's always been a great friend. She
doesn't care if he has secrets, he's the one good and constant thing in
her life and she doesn't want to loose him. He hugs her and tells her
he's not going anywhere.
All detailed descriptions © Copyright 2000-2008- All Rights Reserved
Notes:
Eric Johnson reprises his role as Whitney Fordman (one of
the cast members in season one). The character left to join the Marines.
This is probably Whitney's last appearance.
Lizzy Caplan reprises her role as Tina Greer, the
shapeshifting krypto-mutant of the week, from the first season episode "X-Ray".
This is the second (and probably last) Tina Greer episode.
John Glover doesn't appear in this episode (except in a
photo).
The haunting ballad which starts playing at the end of
the episode (from the moment Lex and Dr. Bryce hold hands) is "Mad World"
by Gary Jules and is also featured on the Donnie Darko soundtrack.
Coincidentally, it's also played during the final scenes of that movie.
The officer Tina (as Whitney) kills is the father of Van
McNulty. Van becomes a "meteor freak hunter" in season 3.
The Marine officer that came to the Fordmans' house said
he was a lieutenant, but had Captain's bars on his cover. Also in the
beginning, when "Whitney" is walking down the hall - you don't wear a
Cover indoors and the red stripes that are on the side of his legs are
called "blood Stripes" and you have to be a NCO or above that E-4 or a
Corporal. He only had a E-3 (lance corporal - one stripe up and
crossrifles underneath them).
The United States is at war with Indonesia? When did that
happen? (Whitney's unit may have been assisting the Indonesians in a
military action against someone else within their country - terrorists,
perhaps. Although those would be awful well-armed terrorists...)
When the officer went to the Fordman's to tell them
Whitney was dead, how did Tina know that he was a lieutenant? It's pretty
difficult to distinguish the ranks just by looking at their uniforms
unless you're familiar with the marines.
When Jonathan finds Clark in the basement after the
spaceship incident he yells to someone (presumably Martha or Pete) "He's
down here!" Yet, nobody seems to be coming even though there is plenty of
time for them to show up.
The red, blue and yellow billiard balls are lined up on
the left side when the camera is facing Clark and Lex. The goof is that
as the camera angle changes to Lex's view looking at Clark going to the
other side, putting away the pool sticks, the red, yellow and blue balls
are on the left and slightly scattered. They moved across the table
without anyone touching them.
After seeing Whitney's skeleton, why doesn't Clark go in
to confront him or even bother to scan the rest of the house?
We never find out what happened to Pete. Hope he's got
good medical insurance - how many times has he been knocked around this
season?
Tina's skeleton looks different (and decidedly non-human)
than it did in "X-Ray".
So...Clark can't super-speed up stairs? He runs normally
up the cellar stairs and then (off-camera) super-speeds away, despite the
fact he's in a hurry to rescue Lana.
The writers seem to have forgotten that Clark has a cell
phone (in "Dichotic").
He doesn't try to call Lana to warn her about Tina, and at the end Lana
says that she tried to call him at his house but says nothing about
calling him direct. Wouldn't she try his cell phone number first? And
wouldn't she be one of the likely people he'd give his number to?
Tina's scheme seems to rely not only on the fact that the
real Whitney doesn't show up, but that he is dead and believed dead.
After all, if he sent a letter to Lana while Tina-as-Whitney were
cruising around, it would blow her cover. Except...how did she know he
was missing in action and wouldn't show up or communicate with Lana?
Tina's nuts, but she's not stupid. Note that even Clark doesn't seem
up-to-speed on Whitney's situation, so even if she was hanging around in
disguise, how would Tina have found it out?
Clark's spaceship has been in the presence of green
meteor stuff before (in "Duplicity")
and it didn't react like it does here. Hamilton was experimenting with
the stuff and had lots of it around, and Clark was being weakened by it -
why didn't the ship nullify it then? (there is an explanation of sorts
mentioned later in "Exodus",
but it's only a theory on Clark's part and the contradiction here still
isn't addressed.)
Not exactly a goof - more of a nitpick - but Tina
possesses the Jason/Friday the 13th-style power of being exactly and
conveniently where she needs to be on several occasions. She just happens
to be at Whitney's home with the lieutenant shows up, she just happens to
be in the school when Pete and Clark walk by and discuss their
suspicions, and she just happens to be at the Kents' barn as Jonathan
when Clark shows up. Three times kinda stretches the ole suspension of
disbelief...
There are several references to the fact it's winter
(with the winter festival and all). Does it really look like Kansas in
the winter? No snow, there's lots of flowers in the Kent's kitchen,
Martha's selling produce, and almost everybody's pretty lightly dressed.
So Clark can tell if it's Tina-in-disguise with his x-ray
vision. Why doesn't he use that trick more often? He made 2 big mistakes
by talking to Tina, once as "Lana" (which could have gotten Pete killed)
& later as "Jonathan" (which could have gotten himself killed). He said
it himself that Tina could be anyone. It seems like he would take the
precaution of making sure to whom he was talking.
It looks like Lana and Clark are working on a drain pipe,
not a water pipe - there's no reason water would be spraying out
continually like it is. (Clark identifies it as a drain pipe when he
confronts Tina at the end.)
Not sure if its intended to be deliberately ironic or
not, but the banner in front of Smallville is misspelled "Acadmic
Excellence."
Do they really give psych patients paint thinner? Or
anything flammable? Pity Tina's mother isn't around or she'd have pretty
good grounds for a law suit...
When Lex and Clark are shooting pool, it interesting to
note that during Lex's second shot, he seems to have no interest in
aiming at all since at the moment we hear the shot, he is looking up at
Clark.
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