Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

A good television series has to hook audiences from the beginning. When Smallville came out, it had the advantage of being rooted in a slice of American mythology, thereby guaranteeing it a certain number of core viewers. But those Superman loyalists would soon have disappeared if the show were done poorly, and without a bang-up opening, the uninitiated might not have gotten hooked. As pilot episodes go, Smallville's is one of the most climactic around. Even as a stand-alone, it's impressive, but as the doorway into a fantastic series, it really shines.

The episode begins in idyllic if slightly dull Smallville, Kansas, "creamed corn capitol of the world." The year is 1989, and the town's triumphant mood following another winning football game for the hometown Crows shatters when meteors pelt the surrounding area, wreaking havoc. Among the casualties of this incident are the parents of 3-year-old Lana Lang, future next-door neighbor of Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha (Annette O'Toole) Kent. While these two flee to their farm, they find themselves upside-down but uninjured when their pick-up truck flips. Gazing out into a crushed field, they see a small unclothed boy approaching. Could he be the answer to all of Martha's prayers for a child? And what of the spaceship lodged in the ground just feet away? Nearby, Lionel Luthor (John Glover), unethical CEO of LuthorCORP, searches frantically for his young son Lex, only to find him facedown in a field with his shock of red hair singed off his scalp.

All of this occurs before we hear the opening song, Remy Zero's adrenaline-pumping Save Me. The rest of the episode takes us twelve years later, when Clark (Tom Welling), a freshman in high school (who curiously is already driving), is starting to get tired of all the restrictions Jonathan has placed upon him in an effort to hide his abilities. All he wants is to try out for the football team, but Jonathan is convinced this is a recipe for trouble, so he's doomed to geek-dom with clumsily loyal, good-natured Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) and plucky school newspaper editor Chloe (Allison Mack) (who curiously runs The Torch almost single-handedly despite having been in high school for a mere month or two). Chloe gives Clark a rough time, but her affections toward him are obvious to Pete, if not to Clark himself, who is too busy pining for Lana (Kristin Kreuk), now a cheerleader dating star football player Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson), to notice.

Shortly after this introduction to Clark's most significant peers, we find him staring out over the ledge of a bridge and quietly contemplating his life when Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), recently installed (much to his displeasure) as the leader of his father's Smallville plant, comes barreling along in his fancy sports car and, swerving to avoid collision with a large piece of debris dropped from a semi, plows into Clark, sending them both into the water. The next thing he knows, he's on the bank receiving CPR from Clark. Grateful but extremely puzzled, he offers his hand in friendship and obsesses about just what happened in that accident. Clark obsesses too and receives a major - and, to his mind, unforgivably delayed - revelation from Jonathan about his true origins.

This pilot episode does an excellent job of laying the foundations for the rest of the series. There are a few cheesy special effects shots, but for the most part the action is smooth and engaging. The acting is excellent all around, and if 25-year-old Welling is not quite physically believable as a 15-year-old, he certainly looks like Superman, and he conveys adolescent angst very believably. Lex in this episode comes across as earnest, a suddenly reformed wild child genuinely determined to make good. Rosenbaum's performance is winning and intriguing, and it's hard not to like this future super-villain. Mack and Jones are both very likable in their co-starring roles as Clark's core support system at school, while Kreuk's Lana is at this point sweet and sympathetic. She gets way too angsty later on, but here she is very pleasant. Seasoned actors Schneider and O'Toole infuse their performances with wisdom and experience. Jonathan is overprotective and rather inclined to hold a grudge and lose his temper, but he is practical and extremely devoted to his son. So is Martha, who is overwhelmingly maternal and forgiving. Clark definitely seems to be a mama's boy; his relationship with his adoptive father is more complicated, but there's definitely a lot of respect and love shared between them.

As pilots go, few have drawn me in as completely as this one. I recommend it whole-heartedly. However, rather than buying it separately, I would just purchase the first season, which is readily available - and quite inexpensive if you get it used from Amazon. While this is certainly one of the best episodes of the season, the other twenty or so are all entertaining and well-done. The only pitfall is that you'll likely get sucked in like I did, and you won't be satisfied until you have the whole series on DVD!

Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five

Poems:
His Friendship
A Luthor is a Lion
A Father's Love
Metamorphosis
Martha
Destiny
Jonathan
This Moment

Parodies:
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Save Me
Harrigan
Rhymes and Reasons
Leaves That Are Green
Kathy's Song
Silver Bells
A Most Peculiar Man

Recommended: Yes