The CW's Official Description:

CLARK IS SHOT WITH A KRYPTONITE BULLET - Clark (Tom Welling) discovers someone is hunting people affected by the kryptonite rocks and the killer’s next target is Lex (Michael Rosenbaum). Clark uses his powers to save Lex, but is caught off guard when the killer learns his weakness and shoots him with a kryptonite bullet.

Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, John Glover, Annette O’Toole and John Schneider also star. Written By: Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer. Directed By: Michael Kattleman

Detailed Description:

By Nadine

It's the end of the school day, and Jake Pollen (Harris Allan) is hanging out with his friend Van McNulty (Jesse Metcalfe) waiting for Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), since he hears that she is now single. Van wonders if Jake is stalking her, since he has her whole schedule. Jake sees Lana, who just got into her car. He walks up to her car and says "Hi" to her. Lana replies, "Hi", and drives off.

Lana decides to go for a late night swim in the school pool. She dives in and begins to swim. She hears a noise, stops, calls out "Hello?". There is no answer. She starts swimming again. We see under the water, Jake is sitting at the bottom of the pool. not breathing, looking at her. He grabs Lana's leg and pulls her down. They fight, and Lana calls for help. Van tries strangling her. Suddenly, he stops fighting with her - he's been shot by a mystery shooter.

The latest edition of the Smallville Torch is out, with the heading "Mystery Shooter Saves Smallville Student - Gunman Foils Attack in Swimming Pool", and a picture of Lana. Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) wonders if there is a new local hero, but Clark Kent (Tom Welling) is reluctant to call him a hero. They walk past Jake's locker, and they see Sheriff Adams (Camille Mitchell) and her crew investigating its content. Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) catches up with them. She tells them that she doesn't think Jake was just a normal kid. Apparently a meteor rock labeled "freak" was found next to Jake's body. Chloe then reminds Clark and Pete about the field trip they took the previous year to Crater Lake. She had dropped her keys off the pier, and Jake had dived in to get the keys out for her. Chloe tells them that Jake was under water for 6 minutes. Clark sees a list on her PC, and she tells him that she has a file for each person who's behavior she suspects is strange. She has a file on Jake ever since the episode at the field trip where she suspected he had amphibious-like abilities. Clark thinks that it is not Jake that they should be focusing on. He's surprised no one is paying attention to the fact that an unknown person happened to be there at the right moment to save Lana. Chloe offers to look into the Jake-side of things while Clark investigates the mystery hero. Clark reminds Chloe that in order to do that, he would need to be working at the Torch. Chloe smiles, and claims that it was never really clear who's idea it was for Clark to quit, and admits that it would be really nice to have him back.

In his office at LuthorCorp, Lionel Luthor (John Glover) is on the phone to the company doctor, and agrees to send Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) to the doctor's office by the end of the week. At that moment, Lex walks into the office on his first day back at work. Father and son hug, Lionel welcomes him back, and Lex admits that it feels like he never left. Lionel fusses over him for a while, offering him the office next to his, with the river view. Lex is eager to start work and generate profits. Lionel offers him coffee, as he hands him a clipboard with standard paperwork to be filled in. Lex is confused about the Corporate Life Insurance paperwork, but his father tells him it is standard for upper-level employees. But Lex sure that $50 million is not standard. Lionel smiles and tells his son not to under-estimate his own value. Lex is still not convinced this is entirely routine, especially when his "mortality has a dollar sign attached to it". Lionel is disappointed that Lex's first instinct towards his father is still one of distrust. "It's called common sense", replies Lex, but Lionel continues to assure him that this is all normal, that Lex is a corporate asset that needs to be insured. As Lex shows no sign of agreeing to this, Lionel tells him, "Alright, if this is unacceptable to you, I understand. You can hand your security card to Nelson on your way out".

Clark shows up at The Talon. Lana is surprised to see him, and he admits that he had thought it easier to stay away for a while. "Easier for whom?", she asks. He apologizes for upsetting her, and explains that he is here to ask her questions about the incident, since he is once again writing for The Torch. She had mentioned that Jake had a friend with him when her had approached her outside school, and he was wondering if she could identify that person for him. He bought a yearbook with him, and Lana points out Van McNulty. There is obviously a lot of tension between them, and they struggle to find the right words to express their feelings. Lana explains that while they are no longer together, Clark should not need an excuse to come and see her. Chloe walks in and interrupts their awkward moment. She shows then pictures from the autopsy she got from her friend in the coroner's office. It turns out that Jake had gills that allowed him to stay underwater for so long, a transformation that happened following the meteor shower. Lana is grossed out by the gills, but Clark finds his gaping bullet wound more disgusting. Lana gets upset, saying that if it wasn't for the mystery shooter, she would not be alive, so she has to right to not be upset by Jake's bullet wound. Clark and Lana get into an argument, where Clark takes the defense of Jake and all the other "freaks", explaining that they did not choose any of this, and that they are just victims of the meteor shower. Lana's point is that, everytime, they tried coming after her or Chloe or some other innocent person. She gives the example of Greg Arkin ("Metamorphosis") and Tina Greer ("X-ray" and "Visage"), who came after her, and of Justin Gaines ("Crush") and Sean Kelvin ("Cool") who went after Chloe. Clark still maintains that Jake getting a shot in the head is far more serious. Lana doesn't agree, saying that Clark himself has saved them many times from these freaks, and so he is technically no better than the mystery hero. Clark protests, claiming that he never killed anyone. Lana is not so sure, as she questions why Tina Greer was found impaled in a back alley. "What happened to her, she did to herself. I was protecting you", replies Clark, which is obviously exactly what the mystery shooter also did. "Spoken like a true vigilante", says Lana, proving her point. He turns to Chloe for support, but she refuses to get involved in this one.

Chloe walks into Lionel's office at LuthorCorp and hands him a file. He asks whether it is an addendum to her report on Clark, but she informs him that it is her final article for the Daily Planet, and that she is turning in her resignation today. She tells her that Clark's friendship means too much to her. He is not surprised, but he informs her that there will be disappointment. She apologizes, but Lionel explains that he is not the one who will be disappointed, her father, Gabe Sullivan (Robert Wisden) will be. Chloe doesn't understand. Lionel explains that he just recently promoted Gabe, and that, as a celebration, Gabe just put a down payment for a new house in one of the nicest areas, but the golf course. He explains to Chloe that it would be terrible if Gabe was to suddenly find himself unemployed. Chloe protests that Lionel couldn't do such a thing. He explains that he won't, as long as Chloe and him enjoy and long and fruitful partnership. Chloe has no choice but to accept.

Clark tracks down Van McNulty at school, and offers his condolences for his friend Jake. Van expresses his surprise at what happened to Jake, explaining that Jake was always chasing girls, but that he can't believe that Jake would actually attack anybody. As they are talking, they reach Van's locker, that he opens to get some books. Clark notices that Van's headset is actually connected to a portable police radio. Van explains that he wants to be the first to know when they find Jake's killer. Clark asks Van whether he could help with some background information on Jake, but Van is not willing to help, saying that everything he knows is in the police record. Clark sees a picture of Van's father, Lt. McNulty, and a lot of medals in his locker. Clark mentions that he's never seen so many medals before, and that his dad must be a real hero. "He was", says Van, "and he was a great father. We used to do everything together".

Clark is working on his article, when Chloe arrives with some more news. Apparently, Jake was not the first to have a meteor rock with the word "freak" on it by his body. Leonard Wallace, a local mechanic gunned down two weeks ago. She seems to remember this mechanic from when her VW Bug was in the shop, and Leonard reached for a wrench three feet under her car, and she started a file on him, as she suspect he had some sort of stretching ability. But the file never grew, since Leonard never did anything crazy, but was killed anyway. Clark and Chloe realize that the mystery shooter is actually hunting anyone with strange abilities gained during the meteor shower. "Smallville's own version of a hate crime", explains Chloe. "But why?", she asks. Clark thinks for a while and answers, "Revenge". He shows her an article on Van's father Lt. McNulty, a marine recruiter who was killed by Tina Greer. "Van is fighting his own personal war", explains Clark.

Pete and Clark walk through the woods to find the McNultys' hunting cabin. Van used to come here with his dad all the time, explains Clark. They look through the cabin, and find a huge arsenal of guns and combat equipment. They also find in green markings, the word "freaks" on the wall, with a picture of the people Van has already killed: Leonard and Jake. Each picture has a line across it. But they also see the next picture which also has line across it: Lex Luthor's. Clark tells Pete to call the police immediately, as he superspeeds off.

Lex is walking out of LuthorCorp, disillusioned, and about to get into his car. We see Van hiding from behind a window, with his gun pointed at Lex. Clark is superspeeding his way to Metropolis. Van shoots a bullet to the back of Lex's skull, but Clark gets there just in time to catch the bullet. He then pushes Lex to the floor, as Van shoots a few more. LuthorCorp security rushes out and pushes Lex into the building to secure him. Trough the window, Van is shocked to see how Clark caught the bullet. Van runs out the back of one of the buildings, but Clark superspeeds to his location and shoves him to the ground. As they both fall to the ground, a couple of meteor rocks fall out of Van's backpack, making Clark weak. Van tries questioning Clark about bulletproof abilities, telling Clark that he is one of them. He then realizes that Clark is unable to speak or to move, and realizes that it is the effect of the meteor rocks. He places them on Clark's chest, but can't do anymore, as LuthorCorp's security cars are coming around the corner. He runs off, leaving Clark unable to move. From the corner of his eye, Clark sees on the meteor rocks has the word "freak" written on it.

Clark finds Lex in the LuthorCorp building and explains to him what is happening. He explains that Van is convinced that the meteor rocks have altered certain people in Smallville, giving then different abilities, and he is hunting them. "Clark, the only abilities I have are playing the market and falling for the wrong women", jokes Lex. "He's obviously crazy", replies Clark, but Lex is not convinced. "There's gotta be some reason he picked me".

Back at The Torch, Chloe agrees that Lex sees to have a really good guardian angel, since he survived the meteor shower, a car crash, and the plane crash. She explains to Clark that she's gotten a hold of Lex's blood work, and that his white cell count is off the charts. Clark gets upset when he realizes that Chloe is keeping a file on Lex, and tells her that she should have learnt her lesson, since they argument about Chloe looking into Clark's past (see episode "Lineage"). Chloe gets defensive and tells Clark that there is nothing wrong with curiosity, that these are her own personal notes. But Clark informs her that that is not true, that Van had a printout of all the information contained in her files. Chloe suddenly realized that Van helped network most of the computer in that office, and that he must have cracked her password.  Chloe starts blaming herself, Clark tries to make her feel better. "It's not like you pulled the trigger.". "No", she replies, "I just loaded the gun and pointed it in the right direction".

Lex is in his office, and Lionel rushes to him, relieved to hear he is safe. Lex doesn't feel threatened by Van, but Lionel advises him not to take a cavalier attitude. Lex jokes and tells his father not to worry, he is now insured. But Lionel informs him that everything is not quite settled yet. Lex inquires as to why, and Lionel explains that it is due to Lex's tendency to attract near-death experiences that has made him to great a liability. "I would have thought surviving would count for something", jokes Lex. Lex then asks his father whether he was ever sick, before the meteor shower. Lionel tells him that he used to suffer from asthma when he was young, but nothing serious. Lex finds it very strange that he has never been sick a single day since the meteor shower. Lionel wonders what this is all about, but Lex jokes it off. Lionel still seems concerned.

Clark runs into the sheriff on his way to The Talon. He inquires about Van, but she tells him she has no reason to believe that Van will return to Smallville. Clark disagrees and shows her Chloe's list. She's still doubtful, but he tells her to look at the first three names: Leonard Wallace, Jake Pollen and Alexander Luthor. The list continues with the name of Greg Arkin. When the sheriff inquires about the list, Clark explains that a friend of his believes that these people are linked to certain phenomena in Smallville. He explains to her that she doesn't need to believe in any of these phenomena, but to understand that Van believes in them, which puts the people on this list in grave danger. She tells him that it won't hurt to check it out.

Clark and Lana start their previous conversation again, where Clark tries to explain to her that, while it's ok for her to be angry at those who tried to harm her, it's not fair for her to take it out on all of those affected by the meteor shower. "No one asks to be different", he explains. She still maintains that she is thankful for Van saving her life, but Clark tries to make her see that he didn't do it to be a hero and save her life, he did it to kill Jake. Upon reflection, Lana concludes, "Life would just be so much better for everybody if the meteor shower never happened", a statement which Clark takes very personally, since the shower is the event that brought him to Smallville.

Van is in the forest, by a campfire, working out. He then gets up, picks up a meteor rock, and melts it over the fire, then places the liquid kryptonite into a mould to make it into a bullet.

Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) and Clark are working on the farm, and Clark tells his father he has searched everywhere for Van but can't find him. He then asks his father if he thinks he is like Van. Jonathan replies, "Clark, you know my answer to that. The question is, do you think you are like Van?". Clark replies that he's been in contact with a lot of krypton-infected people, and it never ends with them shaking hands or being friends, and that he also always just assumed to worst about them. While Jonathan tries to make Clark see the brighter side of things, by explaining to them that there could be a lot of people out there affected by the meteor rocks, who could be leading perfectly normal lives, or even using it to help others, like Clark; Van is approaching the farm in full combat gear. He points his gun on Clark, and waits for Jonathan to move out of the way. He shoots his kryptonite bullet. Clark sees the bullet coming, and puts his hand out to catch the bullet, but the bullet goes straight through right his hand and into his left shoulder. Clark falls to the ground in pain. Jonathan runs to him, wondering what just happened and holds his son on his lap.

Jonathan managed to get Clark into the kitchen. Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) is heating a knife blade that Jonathan then uses to open the wound further. He then uses pliers to get the bullet out, but Clark is in intense pain, and soon passes out from the pain. Finally, Jonathan pulls the bullet out, and both he and Martha are shocked to see this custom-made krypton bullet. Martha grabs it and runs out to dispose of it. Clark is till passed out, but his wound begins healing, and rapidly closes.

Lex is at home going over the car crash simulation, over and over again.

Lana is working late at The Talon, and is taking out the trash. Van shows up in the back alley. He tells her that the police is everywhere looking for him, that's why he's hiding out. Lana tells him that she thinks he should turn himself in. He says that it should be the police protecting them from the freaks. He tells her that she owes him, that he saved her life. She tells him she is thankful for him saving her, but that Lex didn't do anything to him, and that she's sorry for what happened to his father, but that going after innocent people is not gonna bring them back. He tells her that these freaks are not innocent people, and that he was fooled by Jake for three years. He tells her that she is also being fooled, by Clark Kent, and that Clark is one of them. He tells Lana that he saw Clark catch a bullet with his bare hands. "He was a freak, just like the rest of them", he tells her. Lana is shocked at what she is hearing, but asks him, "what do you mean, 'was'?". Van tells her that Clark is no longer alive, that he won't be bothering them anymore. He tells her he found Clark's weakness, and made special bullets. "The freak got exactly what he deserved", says Van. "Clark is more human than you will ever be", says Lana, as she pushes him away, and throws him down a flight of stairs. She runs to a phone and urges the police to the Kent Farm, telling them that Clark Kent has been murdered. Van catches up with her, and interrupts her call, calling her a freak-lover.

Clark is back on his feet. He wants to go after Clark, but his parents try and keep him away. Clark explains that he now knows what he is up against, and is better prepared against Van. He goes up to his room for something. At that moment, Sheriff Adams shows up, asking if Clark is ok. The Kents are surprised that she would ask that, but assure her that Clark is fine, as he comes briskly down the stairs. "Well, rumors of your death have been greatly exaggerated, Mr Kent". The sheriff wonders who would make such a call, but at the same time, she noticed Clark's bloody shirt lying on the stairs. As the sheriff turns around to give the all clear, Clark superspeeds away, and she turns back around and wonders where he has gone.

Clark gets to one of the police cars outside the farm, remembering that Van carries a police radio with him. He calls to Van, saying that he knows he's listening, that Van didn't get him, and that if Van wants to finish him, he should meet Clark where he saw his dad's picture. Van hears the call, while he is busy fighting with Lana and dragging her to his car, where he ties her up and throws her into the boot.

Clark shows up at the school, and so does Van, dragging Lana along, her hands tied behind her back. As Clark is standing there, Van throws Lana to the ground, and decides to show her, once and for all, that Clark is a freak. He shoots a whole cartridge at Clark, who falls back with the pressure of the bullets, but then stands up again. "See? Told you he was a freak", says Van to Lana. Lana is shocked to see Clark alive, but still has the sense to get up, and use her self-defense training to kick Van into the sports showcase. She runs to Clark, wondering how he is still alive. "It's all about dressing for the occasion", says Clark, as he opens his shirt to reveal a lead bulletproof vest. She smiles.

Clark comes to tell Lex that Van has been put in a psychiatric hospital. But Lex tells Clark that he thinks Van may have had a point. He reminds Clark how many times he's had a brush with death. For example, with the car crash, he's always tried to explain his survival thanks to Clark, but now he's not so sure Clark is the one who saved him. He thinks he may have to look within himself for the answer, something within his own physiology. "Maybe I am a freak", he says.

Lana comes over to the farm to see Clark. He tells her that she really kicked ass last night, but she's sorry he still had to get shot. She tells Clark that she actually believed Van for a second when he told her that Clark was bulletproof. "It's really comforting to hear", she says. "Suddenly everything makes sense, the tornado, all the times that you've been there, everything I can't explain". "I wish the answer was that easy, but I wasn't affected by the meteors", Clark replies. "If you were, it would be ok", she says in a last chance for him to confess. He tells her that he has to get back to work. She persists, telling him that she can't believe that he is prepared to take a bullet for her, but that he refuses to open up to her. "Clark, if you don't open up to the people that love you, you'll always be alone. I can't believe you wanna spend your life like that", says Lana. "I may not have a choice", answers Clark. "You always have a choice", she tells him, as she walks away.

Chloe is at her PC, trying to erase her files, but the system is locked, and she can't understand why. Lionel walks in and asks her if she's hit a glitch. He tells her "I knows of a very capable computer technician who many have some familiarity with your setup". She realizes what he means, and says "How could I be so idiotic? You donate the computers and then send your experts in to set them up!". "Yeah, philanthropy," he answers sarcastically, "I've always prided myself on that". He tells her she has no right to privacy here, since the PC belongs to the LuthorCorp Foundation. "You are so low, you're subterranean", she tells him in disgust. But she warms him that her information on Clark Kent is not on this computer, she's not THAT stupid. He explains, however, that his interest doesn't limit itself to Clark Kent. However, he gets very upset because he knows that she was holding personal information on Lex, which lead to Lex being shot at. She apologizes for that, stating that the files where not meant for anyone else to see, other than her. "I warn you", says Lionel, "if I ever catch you investigating a member of my family again, a computer glitch will be the least of your problems. Goodnight Ms. Sullivan".

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Notes:

This episode originally aired 10/15/03 - coincidentally Star Trek: Enterprise used the exact same title for an episode airing 9/24/03, beating Smallville by less than a month.

Back in "Nicodemus", Kristin Kreuk (Lana) used a body double in the infamous pool scene. - Here in this episode, you see that she is much skinnier than the body double.

Van McNulty's father was the officer killed by Tina Greer in "Visage". However, in "Visage", Lt. McNulty was played by , whereas in this episode, the picture of Van's father is actually a picture of actor Anthony Heald ("Boston Public").

Chloe mentions in this episode that Lex has a dramatically increased white blood cell count, a warning sign of leukemia. In the comics, Lex Luthor got cancer from prolonged exposure to kryptonite.

What high schools have late night swimming? If Smallville High did its kinda convenient that Lana is the only one who takes advantage of it (they keep the pool open just for her?), and why would they turn the lights down so low?

Lex seems truly puzzled when Clark mentions people having super abilities - where he's been the last two years? He's had personal experience with an invisible girl and thieves who can walk through walls.

The line where Lana says to Van, "No, You're the freak", is obviously and rather poorly dubbed. In fact, a lot of things she said in that scene were badly dubbed, for example, "What is that? Lead?".

In the scene where Van shoots Clark at the school, Lana is shown in one shot lying on the ground, then the shot changes, but goes quickly back to her. When it goes back, she's shown sitting up, she couldn't have sat up that quickly, especially with her hands tied behind her back.
If the sheriff is so busy, why doesn't she just call the Kents instead of driving out there to check up on Lana's call?

Clark superspeeds to Metropolis to save Lex, and Lex doesn't even think to question how Clark got to Metropolis without a car.

The kryptonite bullets would have easily passed through the thin layer of lead (which is very soft and melts at a relatively low temperature). Even if Clark wore a bulletproof vest underneath, the kryptonite should have been more than close enough to affect him.
Even with the inexplicably poor lighting in the pool, it seems odd that Lana couldn't see Jake in the pool.

Why is Jake following just Chloe's files from her computer? Didn't he bother looking at the "wall of weird"?

Lex says that he has never been sick since the meteor shower. Did he forget his recent time on the island where he had malaria?

Kryptonite maintained its crystalline structure right through the intense heat of meteor impact. And yet it melts over the significantly lesser heat of a campfire?

Why didn't the bullet at least seem damaged when it hit Clark? Even metal bullets take some damage when shot at humans, so you'd think that a bullet made of something that can melt over a campfire would be weak enough to at least shatter when it hits its target.

The sequence of events in Jake's murder don't quite make sense. Van shoots Jake, then we see the rock fly into the water near Jake. Then Lana looks up and sees Van with the rifle in both hands. Then he gets up and runs away. So...he took the shot, put down the gun, threw the rock, then picked the gun back up again - that doesn't sound quite right.

What order are the list of names in? The two dead guys, then Lex Luthor, then Greg Arkin (when the sheriff looks at it). That's not alphabetical, and it's not chronological (Chloe only knew about the garage guy fairly recently.) And it can't be with the dead people at the top, because Lex isn't dead.

Clark says he searched all over for Van, but he must not have been trying very hard - Van has a big bright fire burning at his campsite.

What kind of police don't investigate a breathless, hurried, distressed 911 call about a murder that is abruptly cut off? It's natural they would want to go to the "crime scene," but wouldn't they send someone to check out where the call came from, especially since Lana sounded like she was in trouble? They can trace the calls.

More of the kryptonite melting thing - In "Heat" the coach has the rocks in a sauna fire as heat rocks.

How often does the Torch get published? Or does Chloe get to put out "extra extra!" editions? The Torch comes out with an article about Lana's attack the morning after she is attacked - that's an awfully quick release.

We once more see that Smallville, KS has a harbor.

The Sheriff seems surprised at the list Clark shows her - didn't she see all the photos at Van's cabin showing Lex, Jake, etc., when Pete called her (like Clark told him to).

It seems almost impossible that Van could have got up the stairs and grabbed Lana in the few seconds between when she knocked him down and when she made the phone call.

Why doesn't Clark just x-ray the high school for Van and super-speed take him out?

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