This weekend marks the 15th anniversary of the premiere of Smallville. To celebrate this fantastic show, we went back over its 10-season run and found five of the best episodes.
“Reckoning” (Season 5, Episode 12)
“Reckoning“ is a roller coaster of an emotional journey. The episode starts off on a happy note, and we are treated to Clark’s proposal to Lana, with quite a display of his powers. They return to Smallville, where Clark reveals to his parents about his decision and later, Jonathan wins the election. But things take a dark turn as an intoxicated Lex distracts Lana on the road and causes her to run into a bus, killing Lana. Clark implores Jor-El to correct the timeline and save Lana, which he does, but with a price: the life of Jonathan Kent. This episode forces Clark to take on more responsibility and changes the dynamic of the series forever. [Joseph Wilbur]
“Legion” (Season 8, Episode 11)
The very first of a series of three episodes that were written by the famed writer for several of the Arrowverse shows, Geoff Johns, “Legion“ is one of the most emotionally complex episodes of Smallville, but also one of the most exciting. With an appearance from three time-traveling superheroes hailing the 31st Century who call themselves Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl, Geoff does a splendid job bringing the Legion to life from the pages of the comics.
While it was easy to feel a squeal of delight seeing Garth come close to revealing too much about Clark’s future, the episode also faces Kal-El with one of his most difficult decisions in his life: whether or not to kill Chloe to save the planet. Although the Legion advises Clark to kill Chloe and destroy Brainiac, he manages to both disable Brainiac and save one of his dearest friends. Geoff even threw in a nod to a hero we see in another of our favorite episodes, “Homecoming“. [Joseph Wilbur]
“Requiem” (Season 8, Episode 14)
“Absolute Justice” (Season 9, Episode 11)
Hands down, one of the greatest episodes of Smallville is the two-hour double episode “Absolute Justice“. From the start of Smallville, it was known that licensing problems would stop a full cast of the Justice League from appearing. But seeing the remnants of a destroyed Justice Society come together with the beginnings of the Justice League made for one of the best stories we’ve ever seen. Watching the original heroes from the ’40s die made for a great start to the show. Then when the wagons are circled, and we finally see the Helmet of Doctor Fate? What a fantastic reveal!
By merging the new characters with the old, it helped add another layer of story and introduced the villainous Checkmate. Although only Starman, Hawkman and Doctor Fate play active roles, the archived footage of the rest of the Justice Society had us practically squealing in nerdy delight. Had Bart been around to fill in as a pseudo-Flash, we could have seen a unique Justice team with elements of both. As it was, the final moments really closed the deal. Icicle attacks the Watchtower, knowing moves before they would be made. Then the combined teams change the future and end his menace. [Graham Host]
“Homecoming” (Season 10, Episode 4)
If you are going to make it to 200 episodes, you may as well make that 200th episode an amazing one. And the Smallville writers did just that with “Homecoming”. The episode follows Clark’s first confrontation with Darkseid, and he is not feeling the hero vibe. Another episode with a member of the Legion, this episode brings back Milton Fine, but this time as the hero known as Brainiac 5, who gives Clark glimpses of both the future and the past to prove to him that he is the hero the world needs. And oh boy, are those glimpses exciting.
Finding himself transported to the year 2017 (next year!) and into the basement of the Daily Planet, we see a newsstand full of papers whose headline article reads: SUPERMAN SAVES THE DAY! We see Lois, who has complete knowledge of all of Clark’s past, including his “secret,” make several attempts to get him to put on his famous spectacles. And when Clark takes the elevator upstairs, we get a shocker when we get to see the more well-known disguise of Clark Kent, complete with slicked back hair, and of course, those glasses. And towards the end, they even tease us with a glimpse of a red, yellow, and blue blur. This episode gives fans a tease that they have been waiting 200 episodes for, and what we will eventually see in the future. [Joseph Wilbur]
