Smallville (season 5)

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This article contains a complete summary of the fifth season of the American drama action/adventure sci-fi television series Smallville. The season began airing on September 29, 2005 and concluded on May 11, 2006


Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.


Smallville Season 5

Country USA
Network The WB
Original runs September 29, 2005May 11, 2006
No. of episodes 22
DVD Release Date September 12, 2006
DVD Format Widescreen, Boxset
No. Title Airdate
501 Arrival September 29
502 Mortal October 6
503 Hidden October 13
504 Aqua October 20
505 Thirst October 27
506 Exposed November 3
507 Splinter November 10
508 Solitude November 17
509 Lexmas December 8
510 Fanatic January 12
511 Lockdown January 19
512 Reckoning January 26
513 Vengeance February 2
514 Tomb February 9
515 Cyborg February 16
516 Hypnotic March 30
517 Void April 6
518 Fragile April 13
519 Mercy April 20
520 Fade April 27
521 Oracle May 4
522 Vessel May 11

[edit] Overview

After uniting the three artifacts and being transported to the Arctic, Clark lets the newly formed crystal do all the work, and shortly afterward, the Fortress of Solitude emerges. After entering the Fortress, Clark begins the task of fulfilling his true destiny and stopping the coming darkness with the help of his Kryptonian birth father, Jor-El. However, the recent meteor shower heralds the arrival of two disciples of the malevolent General Zod, and they quickly lay siege to Smallville in their search for Kal-El.

Chloe's mysterious disappearing act in the Kawatche Caves and reappearance in the Yukon has Lex growing ever suspicious of Clark. Clark meets one of his college teachers, Professor Milton Fine, who has a few secrets of his own. Aquaman and Cyborg stop by Smallville, and Chloe gets a job at the Daily Planet, starting at the bottom (literally). Clark becomes human for a brief time, allowing him to finally be honest with Lana and have a real relationship with her, and Jonathan and Lex run for the State Senate. Clark moves increasingly closer to the hero he will one day become, and a shocking death leaves everyone in tears.

Clark receives help from an unlikely source, and Professor Fine's true motives are revealed, leaving Clark to make a decision that could affect all of humanity. Professor Fine's computer virus infects the technological infrastructure across the globe, causing panic and chaos everywhere. to stop it all, Clark finally comes face-to-face with the destroyer of Krypton.


[edit] Sections

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Arrival

The arrival of the Kryptonians
The arrival of the Kryptonians

[edit] Plot

Having been transported to the Fortress of Solitude, Clark is greeted by Jor-El, who informs him he cannot return to Smallville; instead he must stay and prepare to save the planet. Also transported to the Fortress, Chloe is unable to handle the sub-zero temperature of the Arctic and collapses inside the Fortress, begging Clark to use his powers to save her. Jor-El forbids him to leave, but finally acquiesces, telling Clark he must return before sunset or there will be dire consequences. Meanwhile, Lana is horrified when she sees two Kryptonian aliens emerge from a spaceship discovered in the remnants of the meteor shower. The two aliens are searching for Kal-El. Clark returns and traps the two in an alternate dimension, but loses his powers when the sun goes down. He then goes to Lana and carries her to the hospital. Lex grabs the ship from the crater and takes it back to Luthorcorp, where a black liquid drips from the ship and takes human form.

  • Note:
    • The Fortress of Solitude is based on that of the movie versions, including Superman Returns which was released after this season's final episode.[citation needed]
    • As of this episode, Smallville becomes the first live action Superman series to have a fifth season in color.[1][2][3]
    • The new opening credits misspelled Kristin's first name, Kristen. This was then corrected for the following episodes.


[edit] Mortal

Clark confronts Lex
Clark confronts Lex
  • Original airdate: October 6, 2005
  • Written by: Steven S. DeKnight
  • Directed by: Terrence O'Hara
  • Recurring role: Camille Mitchell
  • Guest role: Kenny Johnson, Brad Mann & Todd Mann
  • Featured music:

[edit] Plot

Jor-El strips Clark of his powers, making him human. Delighted to finally be "normal," Clark pursues a relationship with Lana sans secrets. However, after Lana, Jonathan and Martha are taken hostage by three thugs, Lee (Johnson) and the Twins (Brad and Todd Mann), Clark must figure out how to save his family without his super powers. Using his now-mortal wits, he confounds the thugs and saves the day, not before confronting Lex and exposing his involvement in the affair. The episode ends with Clark and Lana consummating their love.

[edit] Hidden

Clark attempts to stop a nuclear missile
Clark attempts to stop a nuclear missile

[edit] Plot

Chloe is warned by Gabriel (Johnny Lewis), a former school newspaper worker, that he is going to set off a missile and obliterate all of Smallville. Still stripped of his super powers, Clark confronts Gabriel and ends up getting shot. In the hospital, Clark flatlines and his fate is left in Jor-El's hands. Meanwhile, Lex believes Lionel has the key to open the spaceship. Clark ends up being resurrected back to his Kryptonian body by Jor-El, who is using Lionel's body as a vessel, but at the cost of the life of someone he loves. Newly empowered, Clark returns to Smallville, dismantles the rocket in space and saves the town.

[edit] Aqua

Underwater battle: Clark vs AC
Underwater battle: Clark vs AC

[edit] Plot

A summer beach party at Crater Lake takes a dramatic turn when Lois hits her head while jumping into the lake. Before Clark can rescue her, a mysterious swimmer, Arthur Curry (Aquaman[1]), comes to her rescue, out-swimming Clark and leaving him baffled. During his first lecture at University Professor Fine, (the human form that dripped from the ship at Luthorcorp) tells Clark that Lex is behind a covert operation manufacturing weapons. AC attempts to break into the Luthorcorp Marine Center in an attempt to destroy one of the weapons and is captured. While Lex is demonstrating his weapon to several high ranking military officials Clark breaks into the lab and saves AC. Together they destroy the weapon thereby ruining the deal Lex has been brokering. Clark finally finds himself unable to trust Lex any longer and agrees to work for Professor Fine in exposing the activities of Luthercorp.

  • Note: At the end of the show, AC suggests to Clark that they should begin a "Junior Lifeguard Association." Clark tells him he's not ready for the "JLA" just yet. In the comics the JLA was the acronym for Justice League of America, of which both Aquaman and Superman were members, although Superman had declined to join the JLA upon his first invitation.


[edit] Thirst

Vampire Lana
Vampire Lana

[edit] Plot

Lana decides to enroll at Metropolis University at the last minute and is forced to join a sorority to find housing at such a late date. However, the house leader Buffy Sanders (Nevin) and her new sorority sisters offer her more than a place to crash after they turn her into a vampire and instruct her to kill Clark.

Meanwhile, Chloe applies for an internship at the Daily Planet, but the newspaper's formidable editor (Fisher) may be more than she can handle.

Professor Milton Fine finally reveals his evil side and superhuman powers when he kills Lex's bodyguard.

  • Note:
    • Buffy Sanders is a play on the character Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.
    • James Marsters, the actor who played the British vampire "Spike" on Buffy, now plays Professor Milton Fine in Smallville. He is quoted in this episode saying, "There are no such things as vampires."
    • The episode's scribe, Steven S. DeKnight, was also a writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.
    • There were two connections to George Lucas in this episode. Carrie Fisher who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars Trilogy. Also The project that developed the anti-vampire drug was called project 1138, a reference to THX-1138 Lucas' first film.

[edit] Exposed

Undercover stripper Lois
Undercover stripper Lois

[edit] Plot

Clark and Jonathan are thrilled when Jack Jennings (Wopat), Jonathan's oldest friend, rolls into the Kent farm looking for their support in his campaign for re-election to the state senate. However, after a young girl named Melissa turns up dead, it is revealed that she was a stripper and Jennings' mistress, which makes him the prime suspect. Searching for answers, Chloe convinces Lois to go undercover as a stripper, but things take a dangerous turn when Lois is kidnapped by a diplomat's son who intends to sell her into slavery.

  • Note:
    • Tom Wopat, who portrays Senator Jennings, starred as Luke Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard television series alongside John Schneider (Jonathan Kent) who played Bo Duke (Luke's cousin).


[edit] Splinter

Paranoid Clark
Paranoid Clark

[edit] Plot

Clark is exposed to a new kind of meteor rock, silver kryptonite, causing him to have paranoid delusions about those around him. The silver kryptonite makes him believe that Chloe is going to reveal his secret, Jonathan is scheming against him with Lionel and Lex and Lana are having a secret relationship. Chloe and the Kents frantically search for a cure, but it is Professor Fine who comes to Clark's rescue - but not without an agenda.

[edit] Solitude

Clash at the Fortress: Clark vs Fine
Clash at the Fortress: Clark vs Fine
  • Original airdate: November 17, 2005
  • Written by: Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer
  • Directed by: Paul Shapiro
  • Recurring role: Terence Stamp (voice) & James Marsters
  • Guest role: Bud
  • Featured music:

[edit] Plot

After Martha contracts a strange disease and is given hours to live, Clark turns to Professor Fine (Smallville's interpretation of the familiar Superman villain Brainiac), who convinces Clark that Jor-El is the one responsible for her illness and the only way to save her is to destroy the Fortress of Solitude, separating Jor-El's link. However, once the two arrive at the Fortress, Fine tries to free Zod and kill Clark, revealing himself not to be just a mere Kryptonian as he claimed.

[edit] Lexmas

Have a Merry Lexmas, and a Happy Luthor Year!
Have a Merry Lexmas, and a Happy Luthor Year!

[edit] Plot

Lex considers whether to find or create damaging information against Jonathan to upset his Senatorial race...information that may harm Clark and Martha as well. But when Lex is shot, he falls into a coma and is visited by the ghost of his mother (Down), who shows him what his life could be like if he frees himself from his father. In this life, Lex is married to Lana, and they are expecting a second child. But, will this be enough to pull Lex from the dark path he is taking? Meanwhile, Chloe persuades Clark to play Santa, and to deliver gifts to those less fortunate.

[edit] Fanatic

Jonathan's life is in danger
Jonathan's life is in danger

[edit] Plot

Jonathan's life is threatened by a mysterious source, who urges him to drop out of the senate race. Later, Clark finds his dad beaten and hung from the rafters. He later discovers that Lex's followers, primarily Samantha Drake (Burgstede), are determined to do anything to see that Lex wins the election. Lois is threatened into assassinating Jonathan during his senatorial speech. Lionel offers Martha some money to help Jonathan's campaign. Lana believes that the answers she is looking for lie in the first meteor shower.

[edit] Lockdown

Lana and Lex locked down
Lana and Lex locked down
  • Original airdate: January 19, 2006
  • Written by: Steven S. DeKnight
  • Directed by: Peter Ellis
  • Recurring role: Camille Mitchell
  • Guest role: Kevin Daniels & Sarah Lind

[edit] Plot

Two police officers (Daniels & Lind), one of whom witnessed the spaceship land in the second meteor shower, take Lex and Lana hostage and threaten to kill them unless Lex reveals where he hid the spaceship. While escaping to the panic room in the mansion, Lex takes a bullet meant for Lana. Fearing Lex may bleed to death, Lana asks him to tell the officers the secret location, but he confesses the ship has been missing for weeks. Clark discovers Lana has been researching the spaceship with Lex and fears she is close to discovering his secret. Meanwhile, the Kents do not see eye-to-eye on campaign financing. The corrupt officers shoot, and kill, the Sheriff of Smallville.

[edit] Reckoning

Clark says farewell
Clark says farewell

[edit] Plot

Clark is finally willing to reveal his secret to Lana, but there be consequences. Jonathan and Lex learn the results of the senatorial election and the life of someone Clark loves will be taken away from him. A desperate Clark appeals to Jor-El for help, only to find himself frantically trying to save them again, and Lionel reveals to Jonathan he has a little more up his sleeve.


[edit] Vengeance

The Angel of Vengeance
The Angel of Vengeance

[edit] Plot

Clark discovers the new reporter at the Daily Planet, a bespectacled, bumbling woman named Andrea Rojas (Quiñones), is actually a masked avenger who fights crime at night. Meanwhile, Clark’s bottled-up grief threatens to get the best of him as he joins Andrea in her fight against crime.

  • Note: Andrea Rojas is also the real name of Acrata, a DC Comics character with a different back story and different abilities. In addition, the Smallville Andrea mentions that her mother was part of an organization called Acrata.


[edit] Tomb

Chloe screaming as she watches Lois being tortured
Chloe screaming as she watches Lois being tortured
  • Original airdate: February 9, 2006
  • Written by: Steven S. DeKnight
  • Directed by: Whitney Ransick

[edit] Plot

The spirit of a young girl is released from her tomb after lightning strikes a kryptonite bracelet she was wearing. Clark finds the corpse in the walls of the Talon and it attaches itself to Chloe. Clark follows the trail of the spirit to find her killer, who has been preying on girls in Smallville for the past 10 years. When Lois is suddenly kidnapped, Chloe has to come to her rescue.

[edit] Cyborg

Clark and Victor Stone, aka "Cyborg"
Clark and Victor Stone, aka "Cyborg"
  • Original airdate: February 16, 2006
  • Written by: Caroline Dries
  • Directed by: Glen Winter
  • Guest role: Lee Thompson Young
  • Featured Music:
    • "Life After Love" by Colored Shadows

[edit] Plot

A sympathetic doctor releases a half-human/half-machine subject named Victor Stone (Young) who was being held captive and experimented on by LuthorCorp. While making his escape, Victor is struck by Lana's car. After watching him walk away without a scratch, Lana calls Clark to investigate. Clark befriends Victor and promises to help him find his girlfriend, but Lex traps Victor and takes him back to LuthorCorp. Clark arrives at the lab to free Victor. Meanwhile, Martha is being blackmailed by an unknown stalker; Lionel offers to step in and deal with the stalker, and seems to do so peacefully (according to Lionel). It is revealed the Lionel knows more about Clark than he is letting on. While watching the footage of the blackmail material, Lionel utters one final thought, to himself, "Your secret is safe with me... Kal-El."

  • Note:
    • Victor Stone is the name of DC Comics superhero Cyborg.


[edit] Hypnotic

Fine is Back!
Fine is Back!

[edit] Plot

Lex goes searching for Professor Fine, in the jungles of Honduras. Lex discovers that Professor Fine is in Honduras and sets out to confront him. Clark meets a beautiful seductress named Simone (Hiltz) who uses a magical charm to make people succumb to her every wish. An enchanted Clark reveals his powers to Simone, who seizes the opportunity and demands Clark to kill Lex.

[edit] Void

Lana becomes addicted to a Kryptonite drug
Lana becomes addicted to a Kryptonite drug
  • Original Airdate: April 6, 2006
  • Written by: Holly Harold
  • Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc
  • Guest role: John Schneider, Patrick Currie, & Alisen Down

[edit] Plot

Chloe discovers that Professor Fine is still alive. Meanwhile still distraught over her break-up with Clark, Lana experiments with a dangerous serum that allows her to flat-line and see her deceased parents again. A worried Clark rushes to save Lana from hurting herself, but ends up being injected with the kryptonite-laced serum by a rogue doctor. When Clark flat-lines, he is able to talk to his father, recently deceased Jonathan, who warns him that Lionel knows his secret. Meanwhile, Lionel continues to get closer to Martha.


[edit] Fragile

Lex's ultimate desire finally comes true
Lex's ultimate desire finally comes true

[edit] Plot

Clark and Martha take in a little girl, Maddie (Hirst), after her foster mother is brutally stabbed to death. However, after it is discovered that Maddie has the power to shatter glass, she becomes the prime suspect. Lois takes a job as Martha's Chief of Staff, and Chloe walks in on Lex and Lana during an intimate moment...

  • Note: "Fragile" marks Tom Welling's directorial debut.


[edit] Mercy

Clark confronts Lionel about what he knows
Clark confronts Lionel about what he knows
  • Original airdate: April 20, 2006
  • Written by: Steven S. DeKnight
  • Directed by: James Marshall
  • Guest role: Ian Tracey

[edit] Plot

A masked tormentor (Tracey) takes Lionel hostage and orchestrates a series of elaborate games that Lionel must win in order to stay alive. After Clark tells Martha that Lionel knows his secret, she sets out to confront him, but inadvertently becomes a pawn in the tormentor’s game and ends up fighting for her life.


[edit] Fade

Lex protects himself, and Lana, from an invisible hitman
Lex protects himself, and Lana, from an invisible hitman
  • Original airdate: April 27, 2006
  • Written by: Turi Meyer & Al Septian
  • Directed by: Terrence O'Hara

[edit] Plot

While in Metropolis, Clark saves the life of a stranger named Graham, who vows to repay Clark for his kindness. Unfortunately, Graham happens to be a hit man with the ability to cloak himself, and he decides killing Lex would be the best gift he could give Clark. Meanwhile, Clark confronts Lana about her relationship with Lex.

[edit] Oracle

Fine injects Lex with a supervaccine, that has surprising effects
Fine injects Lex with a supervaccine, that has surprising effects
  • Original airdate: May 4, 2006
  • Story by: Sadhu & Daniel Sulzberg
  • Written by: Caroline Dries Neil
  • Directed by: Whitney Ransick
  • Recurring role: James Marsters

[edit] Plot

Clark is stunned when he sees his father’s ghost at the graveyard, but becomes even more confused after Jonathan tells him he must kill Lionel. Meanwhile, Lex develops a vaccine for Fine’s deadly virus, but Fine intervenes and injects him with the vaccine, which causes a shocking reaction in Lex.

[edit] Vessel

Lex has gained a new lease on life, and the powers to accomplish anything
Lex has gained a new lease on life, and the powers to accomplish anything
  • Original airdate: May 11, 2006
  • Written by: Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson
  • Directed by: James Marshall
  • Recurring role: Terence Stamp (voice) & James Marsters
  • Guest role: Bud

[edit] Plot

In the fifth-season finale, Clark's Kryptonian origins sow seeds of sorrow and destruction on Earth as forces affecting Lex, Lionel, Lana and Clark are set in motion, culminating in the moment for which all his trials have prepared him. Fine unleashes a crippling computer virus, which will lead to the destruction of Earth via pandemonium, and refuses to stop it unless Clark agrees to release Zod. Clark turns to Jor-El, who informs him that Zod needs a vessel to inhabit in order to leave the Phantom Zone; Clark must destroy that vessel, and that vessel is Lex. Meanwhile, Lex is stunned by his newfound powers and shares the discovery with Lana, who decides to stand by her new man, unaware of the shocking turn Lex’s life is about to take due to Fine's evil machinations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ CW episode guide describing AC as Aquaman
Smallville
v  d  e
Episodes: Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6
Characters
Clark KentLana LangLex LuthorChloe Sullivan
Lionel LuthorLois LaneJimmy OlsenMartha KentOliver QueenJonathan Kent
Pete RossJason TeagueWhitney Fordman
Guest characters
Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6
Related information
Smallville DVD releasesMedia informationKryptoniteKryptonian Crystals
In other languages