Smallville Season Five. Created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Series by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

Smallville is about Clark Kent. It is about the human being Jonathan and Martha Kent raised, and the man he becomes. The fact he has powers and problems with aliens is just gravy. The story is not about a super hero, but about a man who learns who and what he is...and that is a hero. And he happens to be bullet proof.

The series works because everyone associated with it cares. The writer's turn out great stories. The worst episode of Smallville is still better than the best episode of many shows. The production crew work to keep the feel "Real" while still making it interesting and the actors put their hearts and souls into the performances.

Superman is all about Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Smallville is all about quality entertainment that is appropriate for the whole family, without being banal. It is a weekly morality play about making the right decisions in tough situations. And I love it for that. It is very true to the spirit of the Legend.

The Episodes
Season 5, Episode 1: Arrival
Chloe Sullivan: Hey. I think it's time you switch into Super Clark mode now.
Clark Kent: Super Clark?
Chloe Sullivan: I know you run faster than a speeding bullet, Clark. Take me along for the ride.

Smallville, Meteorite capital of America, suffers a second bombardment! But it's not just rocks from space, a pair of Kryptonians! And they are less than friendly. Where is Clark when we need him most? In the Artic, learning what it means to be Kryptonian! The Knowledge Crystal has reached it's full potential becoming the Fortress of Solitude.

But when Chloe arrives, Clark has to take a break to save her. He promises to return before Sunset. (Which, at that latitude should be what? September?)

Clark faces the Kryptonians, Nam-Ek and Aethyr, who want him to join them in creating a Kryptonian Utopia on earth. Of course they have all the charm and patience of the average American tourist in the third world, and things quickly come to blow. Clark manages to save Lana from them, and trap them in the Phantom Zone. However, he does not get to the Fortress by sundown, and as a punishment, Jor-El strips him of his powers!

Season 5, Episode 2: Mortal
Clark Kent: This is impossible! It's a million degrees in here!
Chloe:Gosh, Clark. I didn't realize super whining was one of your powers.

Have you ever noticed just as soon as you loose your super powers, you need them again? Clark at first thinks this is a blessing because he and Lana can have a normal relationship (and sex!). But when a trio of escaped Belle Reve meteor freaks show up and threaten the family, Clark wishes he had his powers back.

Meanwhile, Lionel is still babbling about Krypton, and Lex has him committed so that he can get down to the business of studying the Kryptonian craft!

Season 5, Episode 3: Hidden

Gabriel Duncan is determined to kill all meteor freaks, and hijacks a nuclear silo to do it. It is a race against time, and Clark has no super powers! And with out the instincts to dodge and duck Clark gets shot, prompting Jor-El to take action. Lionel's new role is revealed, and Lex discovers the ship he is studying may have carried more than two passengers!

Season 5, Episode 4: Aqua
Lois Lane: You don't even know me.
Arthur Curry:What's to know? You're abrasive, sarcastic, and you never shut up.
Lois Lane: Yeah, those are my good qualities.

When Arthur Curry shows up in Smallville for a little friendly ecoterrorism of a Luthorcorp underwater project, Clark thinks there is something fishy about him. Probably because he thinks Lois is sexy. Introducing Aquaman, and Professor Milton Fine.

Season 5, Episode 5: Thirst
"I hate costumes." Clark Kent.

High School is over, and College is starting, and Lana is pledging Tri Psi Sorority. The leader Buffy Saunders, has a secret to go with the sisterhood...they are vampires! With Halloween following four days after this episode, it's the Smallville/Sunnydale crossover, with a twist. Vampires are created by Kryptonite. And of course, Lana and Chloe are infected.

Season 5, Episode 6: Exposed
Lois Lane: Oh and about the lap dance. If you tell anybody about it, your night-light will make a very public appearance.
Clark Kent: Aye, Aye; Sailor.

This episode features two things, guest star Tom Wompat as Jonathan's old friend, the senator, (and more Dukes of Hazzard references than you can shake a stick at). The other is Lois's undercover gig as a stripper! ‘Nuff said.

Season 5, Episode 7:Splinter

One thing this show has taken upon itself is to define the effects of Kryptonite however it pleases. Now we discover a new colour; Silver! When Clark is infected, he becomes paranoid and convinced his loved ones are plotting against him. He gets help from a very strange place...Professor Milton Fine! (Played by the sexy Buffy vet, James Marsters.)


Season 5, Episode 8: Solitude
Clark Kent: You know, Professor Fine said that human beings were insignificant and couldn't be depended on. He obviously didn't know you very well.
Chloe Sullivan: Please. Robo-Professor knows as much about human nature as R2-D2.

When Martha Kent contracts an exotic disease, it is Professor Milton Fine who has the treatment; a piece of Meteor Rock! It only slows the disease, but proves Fine is more than he appears. In point of fact, he is a Kryptonian Artificial Intelligence, known as Brainiac! And he has been manipulating Clark to get him to open the Phantom Zone to free his Master...General Zod!


Season 5, Episode 9: Lexmas
Lex: We're talking about Lana! I know we've had our differences, but my wife, she's the mother of your grandchildren.
Lionel Luthor:How can I have grandchildren? I don't have a son.
You know that your life is at the crossroads when you have an "It's a Wonderful Life." moment. When Lex is shot in a seedy neighborhood of Granville, he has a vision; his life, married to Lana, cut off from Luthorcorp, with children, and friends. But when tragedy strikes in his vision, Lex rebels against the lack of control, rather than seeing the seven years of joy, and his son Alexander, he determines to beat fate, and thus, his path to the Darkside is sealed.

Meanwhile, a teamsters strike has Clark playing Santa for a charity that hands out toys to needy children with comedic, and heart warming results.

Season 5, Episode 10: Fanatic

Lex is running for state office, and Jonathan is opposing him. However, the Lexcamp contains a few whack jobs, and one figures having Lois (who is Jonathan's new campaign manager.) kill him! Further Griff, a private eye is collecting dirt on the Kents. Guess what he finds out? But Lionel Luthor pulls a double cross, eliminating Griff, and funneling funds to Jonathan's campaign via Martha. Also key to the episode are Clark's fears about continuing the physical relationship he started with Lana back when he was depowered. This harks back to Larry Niven's excruciatingly funny 1971 article, Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, about the physical dangers of sex with a super being.

Season 5, Episode 11: Lockdown
Lana Lang: Kiss me. (Chaste peck)
Lana Lang: Clark, what am I, your cousin? Really kiss me.

The Panic Room episode. A cop, labeled crazy because he reported seeing the Kryptonians in the meteor shower and his wife try to hold Lex captive to force him to tell them the truth of where the space ship is so that they can expose the "Alien Threat." Lana ends up locked in there with Lex. Also, the fertilizer nears the rotating blades as Jonathan finds out about Lionel Luthor's campaign contribution.


Season 5, Episode 12: Reckoning
Lois Lane: Let me guess. Three words: tall, dark, and bumbling.
Lana Lang: Have you ever thought you knew someone so completely and then it turns out that there's this WHOLE other side to them.
Lois Lane: Well are we in arms dealer territory, or are we talking the Crying Game?
Lana Lang: Nothing like that.
Lois Lane: Then I guess the question is, does it change the way you feel about him?
Lana Lang: Maybe.
Lois Lane: Look I know this might not mean much coming from me but, I would be lucky to end up with someone as honorable as Clark someday.

This is a really landmark episode; one of the best of the series. Clark tells Lana the truth, setting a series of events into motion that ends in tragedy. Jonathan wins the election, but Clark looses everything. He turns to his other father for help, and gets time rolled back to save Lana. But fate can be bent, but not thwarted, and the books will balance. You have to watch this episode.

Season 5, Episode 13: Vengeance
Following in the wake of Jonathan Kent's death (which coincided with the character's death in the comics) Clark drops out of college for a semester to deal with matters on the farm. Martha is mugged, taking some of Jonathan's things to charity, but she is rescued by a powerful masked vigilante, the Angel of Vengeance. Clark tracks the watch they stole from his mom, and the Angel, who proves to be infected by a new route; she received a heart from someone killed in the Meteor shower.

Meanwhile, Lionel tries for a take over of Luthorcorp, but is out maneuvered by Lex.

Season 5, Episode 14: Tomb
"Clark, I'm a writer. If I killed myself, I would write one hell of a suicide note." Chloe Sullivan.

When Chloe sees a ghost, everyone thinks she's crazy. But there is a skeleton in the walls, and Clark sets about seeing if he can solve a very old murder. Also, Lionel persuades Martha to serve out Jonathan's term as state senator, and move on with her life.

Season 5, Episode 15: Cyborg
Victor Stone: What the hell are you made of?
Clark Kent: I was just about to ask you that.
Introducing another hero from the comics! Victor Stone was a star football player until an accident. But Luthorcorp rebuilt him, and now as much machine as man, Victor just wants to get back to his girlfriend. Luthorcorp has proprietary concerns. And when Martha Kent is blackmailed with surveillance from the space ship explosion, Lionel makes it all go away. Convenient isn't it?

Season 5, Episode 16: Hypnotic
It's a rare relapse into the Freak of the Week syndrome. A girl has a necklace that gives her hypnotic powers. She uses Clark, which ruins his relationship with Lana. She also put the mojo on his mom the Senator, and on Lex.

Season 5, Episode 17: Void
"This is your destiny, son. You are going to touch the lives of so many people. Not just as a man, but as a symbol. You're a symbol of peace. You're a symbol of justice. And now it's time for you to go." Jonathan Kent.

The writers watched "Flatliners" again, and Lana gets addicted to a Green K based drug that lets her have near death visits with her parents and Whitney. When Clark tries to stop her, he gets a dose, and a father son chat with Jonathan Kent. Dad has a message; Lionel Luthor knows Clark's secret, and he is trying to get close to Martha.

Season 5, Episode 18: Fragile
When Martha's aide Naomi is sliced to ribbons, her daughter Maddie stays with them. Clark is surprisingly good with kids, and draws the kid out of her shell. Maddie has a power; she can shatter and manipulate glass. It is less than perfectly controlled. However as it turns out, Maddie is the first person to inherit a meteor power from a parent! One of the best Freak of the Week episodes.

Season 5, Episode 19: Mercy
"I want to play a game..."

The writers rented "Saw" and this is what happened. A psychotic ex employee, (completely untraceable to Lex) kidnaps Lionel and Martha and puts him through several brain teasers. But if he gets it wrong, Martha Kent dies!


Season 5, Episode 20: Fade
Clark Kent: I guess this a bad time to ask for a favor?
Chloe Sullivan: Are you kidding me? The amount of times you saved my butt you can pull a coin from the favor bank anytime you need. What's up?
Clark Kent: Somebody sent me a 50-inch plasma with all the bells and whistles - forgot to sign the gift card.
Chloe Sullivan: Clark, that's not a problem. That's winning the Trifecta. When's movie night?

When Clark saves a man, he is desperate to repay Clark. He is also an invisible hit man hired to kill Lex! And Clark is tempted not to interfere....

Season 5, Episode 21: Oracle
Clark has another visit from his father...and Jonathan tells him to kill Lionel Luthor! Something is up. Milton Fine is back, helping Lex develop an "alien vaccine." Lana is very suspicious of him. And Lionel finally comes clean about being the oracle of Jor-El. He has been writing Kryptonian, not knowing what it means.

Chloe Sullivan: I came by for your Kryptonian dictionary. I ran Lionel's symbols in that program, and it came up with this pattern - 3 signs repeated 32 times.
(Hands the paper to him)
Chloe Sullivan: What does it say?
Clark Kent: "Zod is coming."

Season 5, Episode 22: Vessel
Jor-El: Zod was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for crimes that lead to the destruction of our planet.
Clark Kent: Zod killed you.
Jor-El: And your mother and our entire race, just as he will do on Earth.
Clark Kent: I won't let that happen.

Season Five rolls towards an apocalyptic conclusion: Brainiac is calling the shots, the virus he unleashes on the world is a computer virus, which is bad for Martha Kent, in her airplane with Lois. Jor-El gives Clark a weapon to kill Zod, but Zod is possessing the body of a human; Lex Luthor! And after he kills Clark, he has moves to put on Lana... And Brainiac has the last word, trapping Clark in the Phantom Zone!

The Cast
I have covered the main players in other reviews of later seasons. This time, I would like to take a look at three of the background players.

New this season is James Marsters as Professor Milton Fine. James is familiar to most Fantasy fans as Spike from the hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gone is his "Billy Idol" look, but the razor sharp wit is still there with less smarm and more intelligence. As an artificial intelligence whose entire body is a computer, Fine plays well. He usually is ahead of the curve, planning his moves two steps further than his collective opponents. James proves he can handle the cerebral end of things; he's more than sex appeal in leather with fangs.

Another favorite is Annette O'Toole. The First Legacy, she played Lana Lang in Superman 3 opposite Christopher Reeve. She was chosen for her ability to project down home purity and common sense, and those qualities also define Martha Kent. Martha is the glue that holds everything together. She is the calm voice of reason, and she is the one who dampens the anger and reminds people of their better nature. She is an excellent mom.

This season, sadly, she gets the opportunity to expand her horizons as she assumes her husband's role in the Kansas State Senate. And she proves her skills running the Kent family farm on a shoe string have practical application on a larger scale.

Annette also captures the vulnerability of a woman deprived of the love her life. It is a touching performance, delicate, and perfectly done.

And lastly, John Snyder as Jonathan Kent. If any single person shaped Superman's sense of responsibility, it was his father. John captures that straight forward, no nonsense, ethical core that makes Pa Kent the perfect role model for a hero. Their relationship was not always smooth, and that was as it should be. Clark had to fight his father's protective streak to give himself room to grow. And Jonathan would get that, by the end of the episode. It was always believable, and it always touched the heart strings. Jonathan Kent, we will miss you. John Snyder, now you won't just be Bo Duke for the rest of your life. Great job.

This show continues to deliver quality entertainment, week after week. Clark is ethical, kind, and lives a life of service. What a wonderful role model in today's world. But that in no way indicates he is an overgrown eagles scout, and some of the best parts of the show are Clark struggling with what he wants compared to what the world demands.

So, this show receives my highest recommendation. As we enter season eight, it is still going strong.


The Smallville Saga

Smallville: Season One
Smallville: Season Two
Smallville: Season Three
Smallville: Season Four
Smallville: Season Five
Smallville: Season Six
Smallville: Season Seven
Smallville: Season Eight


Animation

Superman: Doomsday

Novels

The Last Days of Krypton

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8