Smallville TV Show - Homecoming - Smallville Recaps, Smallville Reviews, Smallville Episodes | TWoP

Recapped by Tippi Blevins · Aired 2010-10-15

Previously on Smallville: A disguise-clad Kara told her cousin Clark that a new darkness had come to Earth, but he wouldn't be fighting it; Clark tried to fly but fell, weighted by his own self-doubt, through the roof of the barn; Chloe faked her death to protect Oliver; meteor-infected bug-boy Greg Arkin made plans to molt and mate way back in the first season; James Marsters showed up to make the show better as Brainiac, but Clark and the Legion got rid of him; Oliver came out of the superhero closet and told the whole world he's Green Arrow; there was a darkness in Clark, a darkness that liked to choke Lex clones and set buildings on fire with his eyes; Jor-El told Clark that he would never be Earth's savior.

Currently on Smallville: Clark's sitting up in his loft, staring down at the week's hero-themed magazines. There's InStyle with Kara, the "Maiden of Might," on the cover, which also promises to reveal her secrets. There's also a copy of Fortune with a split picture of Oliver, one half his normal billionaire self, the other half his hooded hero self. A copy of Time bears Clark's S-shield and asks, simply, "Hero?" Clark picks that one up and whispers, "Good question." He also picks up his old copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with the Fortress key hollowed out of it. He looks at himself in a mirror. "Maybe Jor-El was right," he says. "Maybe I'm not the one." Then he adds, "Maybe none of us are." Well, Kara is. Just because you're a self-involved whiner doesn't mean everyone else is, too. Cheer up! He tosses the book into a suitcase where he's already packed up his new leather jacket. He closes it just as Lois bounds up the stairs.

He calls out her name in greeting, then apologizes for being so "out of it" lately. "I left you a message," he says. "Yeah, three days ago," she says, not mad. "Feeling better?" He raises his eyebrows, possibly stunned not to be on the receiving end of one of Lois's trademark verbal tirades. He just gives her a weak nod and then Lois reassures him that it's not like Clark has missed any big news... "Seems like the Blur took a little vacation this week, too," she says. Nudge, nudge. Clark figures there must be something going around. Like a virus that causes severe moping. It's called Whine Flu, and there's no cure, although copious amounts of Cherry Garcia might help ease the symptoms. Lois doesn't press the issue, instead turning to the Time cover. "Hero haters," she pronounces them. "Just when you thought the world couldn't get more upside-down, right?" Clark turns the magazine over so he doesn't have to look at its silent accusations anymore. "They probably don't want to put their hope in someone who's going to let them down," he mopes. She tries to cheer him up a bit, saying the Blur would never let them down and promises to stand by him. When Clark is puzzled, Lois insistently explains she believes in the Blur. Since Clark doesn't know that she knows The Secret, this is probably just making him feel worse. He pouts and stares at a speck of dust on his nose. Lois changes the subject to their reunion tomorrow at Smallville High. After all, she was enrolled for 23 whole days! Clark points out she only showed up for five. "That's a record in my book," Lois says. No wonder you never learned to spell. She waxes nostalgic for a normal high school life, having been moved around so much as a "military brat." She's not going to miss it. "We don't have to be dating to show up at a reunion together," she says. Wait, they're not dating? Since when? [Since she left the continent and he didn't stop her? Maybe? - Zach] Clark tries to beg off, muttering about all the memories there, but Lois persists. "You put the 'Smallville' in Smallville, Smallville," she says. "Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen?" she asks. Famous last words. Clark smirks by way of giving in.

By Tippi Blevins

Meanwhile, at Smallville High... They've dug out that old "Fly to Victory!" banner from the early days. Ominous music plays us into the counselor's office. The counselor, a frazzled-looking woman, is going through a stack of paperwork and talking to herself. "I've wasted a decade," she practically spits, "picking up the pieces from meteor-mutant students. 'How do I get into college with a criminal record?' You can't, freak!" She continues complaining to herself about listening to their stories for ten years. No matter how crazy they are, she says, they always mention Clark Kent. As the camera pulls back, we see that she hasn't been talking to herself at all. Rather, she's been chatting it up with a tiny voodoo doll of Clark that's perched on her desk. You know, Ms. Counselor, maybe you should consider the fact that you're the crazy one. Just something to think about. She snatches the doll off her desk. "So nice of you to come back for the reunion," she says to it. "Save me a trip!" She picks up a letter opener with promises of making him pay. She moves to stab the wee Clark doll so vigorously that the papers fly off her desk. Everything freezes. A man in black walks into the room, slipping past the frozen torrent of paperwork. He comes around behind Lady Crazypants. Yay, it's James Marsters back as Brainiac! He aims a finger at the counselor's head; it morphs into metal and jabs into her temple. "It's time to move on from the past," he says. "Leave Clark Kent to me." Somebody save her!

By Tippi Blevins

A few commercials later, Clark and Lois pull up at the school in his shiny red Dodge Ram. He's wearing jeans, a blue tee and his letterman's jacket that has a big red S on the left breast. Lois seems overdressed in comparison, in a yellow minidress with spaghetti straps. As they walk up the steps toward the school, it seems that most of the ladies are nattily dressed while the fellows tend to be more casual. Lois waves at everyone, remarkably remembering everyone from her chemistry class or pep rallies. Clark bumps into a woman who drops her books to the ground. As Clark bends down to pick them up, he remembers the time he dropped his Nietzsche book on the ground because Lana was wearing a Kryptonite necklace. Holy crap, Tom Welling was young! Oddly enough, I think he was about the age that Clark is supposed to be now, in case you needed any reminders of what actual 23-year-olds look like. Young Lana teases him lightly and asks, "So what are you, man or superman?" Today's Clark looks up and realizes the person he's bumped into his the school counselor. She gives him a stern look that gives way to a big smile. She throws her arms around the redwood trunk of his body and gives him a big hug. She reminds him not to leave early because there's a special treat in store for him. Lois watches the whole display with a smile. "A couple more hugs," she says, "and maybe you'll have the 'bah humbugs' squeezed out of you." Ebenezer Kent looks doubtful as he follows Lois into the school. The camera pans down to a parked car with a license plate that reads "RAKNID" and that I first misread as "RANKID" and couldn't figure out what the hell it meant. The first season's Bug Boy gets out of the car and reveals himself to have pupated into a Bug Man. Ominous music plays. Again.

By Tippi Blevins

Once inside the school, Lois tries to engage a group of fellow alums by reminding them she was in Chess Club with them. "I sat through an entire game once!" Surprisingly, they don't remember her and wander off without acknowledging her. Undeterred, Lois moves on to a group of guys all wearing their letterman jackets. They don't remember her, either, even when she reminds them they used to all hang out behind the school and smoke. Well, she chewed gum, but still! Even though she must have just recently been all over the news for having been tortured by (and bringing down) that Godfrey fellow, no one recognizes her at all. She's just shocked. Clark drags her away. As they pass by the check-in table, a young woman sees Clark and calls him over. "What happened to the bumbling nerd?" she asks, giving him the sex-eyes. Her name is Suzanne and she goes "Bawk, bawk, Crows!" when Clark recognizes her. Either she was once a mutant chicken-crow hybrid, or she was the school's ornithologically misinformed mascot. Lois smiles darts at this woman. Suzanne gives Clark his name tag and then asks if Lois is his date. "I went to school here, people," Lois says to everyone. No one responds, so Lois starts rifling through the name tags. She finds one for Lana and shows it to Clark. Lois, sad, assumes Lana will be showing up, but Clark assures her she's not. "I forgot how many memories you had here," Lois says. Woman, he told you in the loft just the night before! Clark sees Chloe's name tag on the table and smiles wistfully.

He heads to the school's newspaper room. Chloe's Wall of Weird is empty, but someone was nice enough to leave it unpainted so that Clark can see the faded outline of where the pictures used to be. "It started out as a scrapbook that just kind of mutated," the Chloe of his memory says. Young Chloe has flippy hair and a pink flower tucked behind one ear. "So what do you think?" she asks, grinning from ear to ear. Lois comes into the room behind him, drawing him back to the present. She apologizes for bringing him back. "Oh! My! God!" a girl says behind them. They turn to see a young student, her hair in pigtails. A plaid-clad boy is with her, holding a banner that reads "Welcome back, Chloe!" "You were friends with Chloe Sullivan!" the girl gushes. Chloe must be awful at faking her death if people were expecting her to show up at her high school reunion. [Plus, why are these currently enrolled students here at all? Beat it! - Z] "What happened to her?" the boy asks. "I mean, she was the rising star of the Daily Planet like she always dreamed and now--" The girl cuts in: "It's like she just vanished! Like someone found out that she knew too much!" The boy nods his support of this theory. Clark tells them Chloe's not coming. The kids look sad, and then the girl recognizes Lois. Lois is thrilled someone finally remembers her, but then the girl goes on: "You dated the Green Arrow!" She wonders what it's like to date a superhero. Lois makes sure that Clark hears her say that it wasn't a big deal, but that she'd date another one. "So this is all that's left of The Torch?" Clark asks. The boy, who my closed captioning says is named Clayton, assures him that the paper is alive and well and online. "The Wall of Weird has gone viral," the girl adds. Grandpa Clark remembers a time before the YouTubes and whatnots. The young Torchettes share their theory that the Blur once went to Smallville High and that Chloe wrote about his mystery saves in the school paper. "I wouldn't waste any more time on the Blur," Grandpa Clark mopes. "Seems he's gone away, and I'm not so sure he's coming back." Lois, trying once again to cheer him up, says that the Blur has been an inspiration to these kids. Clayton says maybe it's a good thing the Blur didn't show up for the reunion: "He would have stolen your thunder, Clark!" "What thunder?" Clark asks. Cut to...

By Tippi Blevins

...Clark, looking supremely bored, sitting on a golden throne with a crown perched atop his head. The festivities have moved to the auditorium, where everyone cheers for their homecoming king. Lois sits in another throne beside him, waving to her subjects. "Now this is the homecoming I'm talking about," she says. "Thank God you squeaked out that state championship in your senior year." Swinging jazz music plays, because these people graduated in 1949 or something. Everyone cheers. Clark looks like he would rather swallow a Kryptonite pill. As he looks over the crowd, he spies Bug Man, who is giving him quite the exaggerated menacing glare. There's a sound like cicadas humping. Balloons fall from the ceiling and then freeze in midair. Everyone is frozen. Clark is mildly puzzled by this turn of events, so he takes off his crown and wades into the crowd to investigate. Brainiac saunters in through the door. "My sincere apologies," he says, "for interrupting this festive trip down memory lane." Clark tells him to leave everyone else alone. "Oh, don't worry, I'm only here for you," Brainiac assures him. Clark, to his credit, doesn't try to just eye-blast him on the spot, but instead listens to what the guy has to say. "I wanted to slow things down, make sure you can soak in this special moment," he says. Clark's not a quick learner, so make sure you slow things way, way down. "This is the moment your life changes forever," Brainiac tells him. He puts a hand on Clark's shoulder and teleports the both of them away from the reunion. The festivities resume at their normal pace. Lois sees that Clark's throne is suddenly empty. No one else seems to notice, though. That's what a high school education gets you nowadays.

By Tippi Blevins

In a flash of light, Clark and Brainiac materialize on a wooded path. Brainiac starts walking and Clark follows after him, saying, "I don't know if you're a ghost from my past or the darkness Jor-El warned me about, but this will come to an end!" Clark adds "Just like it did the last time!" to add weight to the threat, but Brainiac listens to everything with a very mild expression. He even agrees: "I hope so, for your sake." Clark walks around in front of Brainiac, stopping him in his path. He rattles off a list of Brainiac's past offenses. Brainy thanks Clark for saving him from all that. "I've come to do the same for you," he says. He holds up his hand, showing the Legion ring on his finger. Clark realizes this means Brainiac has come from the future. Brainy says he joined the Legion. "In the 31st century, I'm known as Brainiac 5," he says. "The ring, time travel, all my creations... I brought the Legion into a new realm of heroism." Clark remembers helping the Legion destroy Brainiac, and he doesn't remember much, so this must have been important. Brainy says he was cured. Clark looks all over Brainy's fine form with a hint of disbelief. Brainiac compares himself to Clark, saying they were both created by Jor-El, in one way or another. They were both meant to bring peace. "But neither of us was immune to corruption, to darkness," Brainiac says. Clark's fed up with everyone suddenly telling him he has a darkness inside. "You destroyed cities," he says to Brainiac, desperate to highlight their differences. "I may not make the right decisions, but at least I'm trying to save people." Brainiac offers to show him, explaining that his own corruption started with a wonky nanobot. As Brainiac walks in front of Clark, the tableau behind him changes from sunny woods to a snowy cemetery.

By Tippi Blevins

Clark sees himself standing by his father's freshly dug grave, some five years ago. He watches as his past self sprinkles a handful of icy soil on top of Jonathan's coffin. "If you're trying to save me somehow, why show me this?" "Because this was a defining moment for you," Brainiac says. "Perhaps the defining moment." He says it's the day Clark started to blame himself. Didn't he start blaming himself in the series premiere? Clark says he's the one who decided to change fate, and his father died as a result. Didn't Jonathan just come back a couple of episodes ago to absolve him of this? "Son, it was my own anger that did me in! Anger and decades of a totally cow-based diet!" Brainiac transports him to the night that Jonathan and Lionel Luthor had their tussle in the barn. Jonathan tosses Lionel across a workbench. Clark takes a step toward them, but Brainiac holds him back. "You can't change his fate," he says. "He was just protecting me," Clark protests. Brainiac: "And that was his choice. Whether it happens this day or any other day, Jonathan set his own destiny into motion. You know that. You just won't let yourself believe it." Clark watches helplessly as his father staggers away from the aftermath of the fight. Brainiac wants Clark to forgive himself. Clark thinks his father didn't have any choice but to protect him. "We always have a choice," Brainy says. "He chose to be your protector, just as you've chosen to be the Earth's protector." He goes on to say that nobody forced Clark to do it, that he embraced it. I think there are a lot of seasons of this show that sort of contradict that, but whatever. "We all choose our own fate," Brainiac tells him. He takes Clark by the shoulders and suddenly they're standing in Oliver's apartment.

Or maybe it's his office. It's pretty dark, so it's hard to tell. Easier to see is Oliver's family crest, displayed in glowing stained glass on one wall, which is green and has arrows on it. Again, how did his revelation come as a surprise to anyone? Oliver pours himself a drink and sits down to watch people on TV complain about the Green Arrow. "This isn't a memory," Clark astutely observes. Oh, there's that gigantic vase of lemons and limes from last week; we're in his office, then. Clark doesn't know why he should feel guilty over this. "Oliver made his own decision to come out to the public," he snits. "He didn't think what it would mean to the rest of us." On the TV, a blonde reporter who reminds me a bit of Ann Coulter challenges Oliver to face the public. Oliver buzzes his assistant, asking for calls. Plenty from CNN, the BBC and Dr. Phil, but none from the one person Oliver's been waiting to hear from. Chloe? No, it's Clark that Oliver's been waiting for. He crumples visibly when his assistant says "Mr. Kent" hasn't called. Clark looks sad and lets out a small sigh. "He's always so Oliver, I didn't know that he needed me." "But he does," Brainiac says. Clark gets defensive: "Well, I don't know how not returning his calls amounts to some 'darkness within me.'" Brainiac seems a little surprised that Clark doesn't see the problem. "The darkness is the past," he says. "And you hold onto it, and you dwell. You punish yourself and everyone around you for past mistakes." Clark thinks they don't have the privilege of mistakes. Brainiac urges Clark to help Oliver, to stop punishing him with his silence and his distance and his full, pouty lips. Or something like that. "Let it go," Brainiac says. Clark frowns. A flash of light brings us back to the reunion.

By Tippi Blevins

The slow music has started up and alums have paired up for a dance. The two young Torchettes watch the old folks and smile bashfully at each other. Lois goes to get herself some punch while Clark and Brainiac watch unnoticed. The lady serving up the punch asks Lois who she's there with. Lois briefly tries to establish herself once more as a fellow alum, but gives up and says she's there with Clark. The lady practically has an orgasm at the sound of Clark's name. She gushes: "That 'farm boy door turned local football hero'? Doesn't get any bigger than that!" Lois humors her with a chuckle. The lady goes on to say she always thought Clark would end up with Chloe. "Chloe's my cousin," Lois says. The lady ignores her and starts oohing and ahhing about Lana's gorgeousness. And she was so hard-working! "I mean, how many cheerleaders run a coffee shop in high school?" She goes on about Lana and Clark being soooo perfect. Lois tries to make an escape, but Punch Lady keeps pulling her back into the conversation. Punchy asks if Lois is married to Clark, or at least engaged. Lois explains they're not really even seeing each other right now. "So you're the moth," Punchy says, "not the flame?" What a rude and personal thing to say. Lois's eyes tear up. "Are you sure he likes you?" Punchy asks, then gives Lois a pitying look before walking away. Was this woman infected with some Kryptonite that gave her the powers of super-bitchiness? Brainiac asks Clark about his feelings for Lois. "All I've ever done is protect her, after what happened with Lana." "Interesting outcome," Brainiac observes. "Lois doesn't seem especially protected." He says Clark spends so much time dwelling on the past that he's missing out on the present. Clark thinks about this for a while, then spies Bug Man walking toward Lois. "I have a message for Clark Kent," Bug Man says to Lois. Clark wants to go back to save Lois, so he grabs Brainiac's ring. Over Brainiac's protestations that Clark hasn't learned the lesson yet, a blast of purple light hurls Clark into the Daily Planet basement. The mail cart guy bustles past him. Clark walks past a copy of that day's paper without noticing that the headline is "Superman Saves the Day." Heroic music plays us into the commercials.

By Tippi Blevins

Back from the commercials, he bumps into Lois. At first she's annoyed, then she realizes it's him. She's wearing professional attire, her hair done up in a French twist. Clark's all "buh?" "Not again," Lois sighs and ushers him into a nearby office. She takes off his letterman's jacket, chastising him for playing dress-up. She calls him "honey" and makes him wear a pair of black-rimmed glasses that she says were his idea in the first place. Clark, confused, fidgets like a little boy being dressed for church. He wants to know about the reunion, and how Lois got here, but Lois is on the phone with Perry White and talking a mile a minute. Clark follows her back out into the basement. A man and woman walk up to Clark. "Told you it's not him," she says, giving Clark the once-over. "It's just the guy from the eighth floor." They walk away, disappointed that they didn't just have an encounter with Superman. The whole glasses disguise probably would make more sense if Clark hadn't already worked with these people for years without them. It's still a cute moment, though. Clark goes to his desk, but a young fellow informs him it hasn't been his desk for years. Clark finally looks down at the day's paper and sees that it's October 15, 2017. Photo credit: Jimmy Olsen. Presumably not the dead one.

By Tippi Blevins

Clark leads Lois to what appears to be their shared office. He takes off his glasses and tries to tell her he's from another time. She rolls her eyes. "Clark, you're from a different planet! That's not exactly a newsflash!" Clark, again, is all "buh?" She gives him a pep talk that includes a bunch of buzzwords signifying her knowledge of his whole story. He's so stunned that he has to sit down. Lois studies him, then some realization dawns on her and she takes a moment to actually slow down. She thinks she knows what this is about: "I forgot again, didn't I?" She grabs a calendar off her desk. "Our anniversary?" That gets Clark back up out of the chair. "Our anniversary?" he echoes. "Oh, don't play dumb," she says. He ain't playing, lady. "You always hold it over me!" She reminds him of the day he finally trusted her with his secret. It was perfect and romantic and... she didn't forget it, after all! She points to her calendar and continues trying to diagnose Clark's problem. She checks him over for Kryptonite infection, opening his eyes wide with her fingers so she can get a better look. Heh. Finally, it dawns on Clark that he needs the Legion ring. Lois scoffs at that dangerous-sounding idea, even though it would come in handy since they both need to be on opposite sides of town in a few minutes. She grabs her bag and heads out for her meeting with the mayor. He trails after her, still babbling about the ring. She tells him to check the farm, since that's where he keeps all his "go-to Phantom-catchers and Fortress disks." Hee. She gives him a little shove into the elevator, pantomiming circles around her eyes for Clark's missing glasses.

As the elevator doors shut, a voice to Clark asks, "She's a handful, isn't she?" He turns to face an older version of himself, hair slicked back and wearing a business suit and coat. Older Clark is also wearing glasses and looks strangely younger than the present-day Clark. The Clark of today gives the Clark of tomorrow a hot, open-mouthed ogling. He needs the commercial break to drink in this vision of loveliness.

After the commercials, he's still ogling himself. "You're right on time," Older Clark says. His head looks oddly small with his hair slicked back. It's like a wee acorn perched atop a mighty oak. Our Clark is surprised that his older self was expecting him. "Time travel," Older Clark says. "Think it through." The gears turn painfully in our Clark's brain: "Because you were me when you went through this and I'm...?" Smoke puffs out of Clark's ears as things finally fall into place for him. Older Clark gives him a verbal biscuit: "Well done, my man." Our Clark is a bit annoyed at how uptight and nerdy his future self is, but his future self has no time for these trifling things. He tells Clark to get to the roof while he goes to take care of a bad nuclear reactor outside of town. "I can't be two places at once," he says. You did it just a couple of episodes ago! Clark wonders why his older self didn't try to stop any of this, since he knew it was coming. Older Clark says his younger self has to experience this in order to become his future self. Our Clark doesn't find that a particularly thrilling prospect. Older Clark opens the elevator doors, barks at Clark to get to the roof, and then super-zips away. I think you can see some red and blue in his blur, hinting at the Superman suit emerging from his business garb.

By Tippi Blevins

Our Clark steps out of the elevator, looking after his older self. "That's what I become," he sighs. He doesn't have long to mope, though, because an explosion rocks the building. He and other office personnel walk to the window just in time to see a red and yellow blur whoosh through the air. Clark smiles. A mushroom cloud is rising up over the skyline. Superman zooms round and round the blast, seen only in crappily animated, red crayon-like tornado swirls. Everyone continues staring out the window. Hopefully Supes got all the radiation, and everyone doesn't end up sprouting a third eye or something. Clark hears Lois calling for help on a radio by the window. "We've lost control, we're going down," she says. Lois is in a helicopter that's teetering on the edge of the roof. She was taking a helicopter to talk to the mayor across town? Fuel must be damn cheap in the future. Not to mention pilots. The helicopter tips toward the street. Just when Lois and the pilot look to be toast, Clark grabs the helicopter by the landing skids and slowly pulls it back up onto the roof. Lois sees Clark in the side mirror and elbows the pilot in the face before he can see anything. "What are you doing?" she asks Clark, again miming the international symbol for "Wear your glasses!" As they walk away from the helicopter, Lois playfully chides Clark for not at least wearing the cape. He takes her by the arm and turns her to face him. He's awed that she protected his secret. She plants a big smooch on him then gives him the big lovey eyes. "What else was I gonna do?" she asks. "I would do anything for you; hardly a newsflash." She thanks him and then they kiss again. They reluctantly part and she tells him she'll see him at dinner. He watches her go back into the building with a smile.

By Tippi Blevins

Brainiac touches his shoulder and says: "Not every man is destined to find a woman like Lois." Tsk-tsk, writers. You need to trust that you wrote Lois well enough in this episode that we'll get her awesomeness. Don't oversell it by having other characters pile on the love. Brainiac's like the non-ironic version of the Punch Lady extolling Lana's virtues at the reunion. Clark agrees that Lois is "one of a kind" and says he knows why he was sent here. "I had intended to be here with you," Brainiac says, "but you interfered with the ring." "You wanted me to see how things would be with Lois," Clark says. "And with the flying." Brainiac says that Clark's "darkness" isn't just in the past but in fearing the future. Clark says he'd always hoped his life would be like this. Except for when he used to want a normal life, but whatever. He'd given up hoping. Brainiac tells him not to worry because the future turns out fine. So we don't need to tune in for the finale or anything? Awesome! Brainiac advises him to "shed the weight of the past." Then he ribs Clark for stranding him in the "dark ages" then zaps them both back to the reunion.

Greg Arkin the Bug Man is just walking up to Lois to deliver that message for Clark. Clark and Brainiac are standing just a few feet away in a spotlight, but no one seems to see them. Let's just chalk it up to some kind of ring magic. "Clark is the reason a lot of us are still here," Bug Man says. "I got kinda caught up in my web of obsession and he set me straight." I had to go back and read Omar G.'s recap because I didn't remember this episode. It looks like Bug Man (then Bug Boy) and Clark fought and then Bugs dropped a big metal block on himself and turned into a bunch of roaches or something. Clark shouted "Greg, watch out!" somewhere in there, but I guess he did so with such caring and intensity of feeling that it really made an impact. Also, ew: Bug Man is made of reconstituted roaches. He's still talking to Lois, calling Clark a hometown hero. "Just tell him," Bug Man says. "Tell him 'thank you.'" Clark, talking to Brainiac, realizes he's lost sight of the present while moping about the past and future. "A hero is made in the moment," Brainiac says, "not in questioning the past or fearing what's to come." Well, a little of that is okay. Just don't be a dick about it, you know? Brainiac zaps himself away in a flash of light. Clark walks up to Lois and leads her onto the dance floor. (The two Torchettes are also dancing and kissing in the background. Enjoy your youth while it lasts, kids! You'll be 30 before you know it! And still playing teenagers on the CW!) Lois and Clark have just started dancing when the music ends and the lights go up. The reunion is over. Clark apologizes, but Lois is good-natured about it. For a change.

By Tippi Blevins

Later, Clark goes to visit Jonathan's grave. He stands there in front of the headstone, wearing his silly red leather jacket so that anyone wandering by can see him. He talks to his father about blaming himself for his death. He holds Jonathan's watch in one hand. "It was a way not to have to let go," he says. "It's exactly what I have to do to move on." He pledges to let go of the darkness of his past so he can be there for people now. He also promises never to forget Smallville. "But I have to say the one thing I never could," he says. He peels back a bit of sod in front of the headstone and buries the watch there. He whispers, "Goodbye, Dad." He lays his hand on the stone for a long while before he finally stands up again. "I promise to be the man you knew I could be," he says and walks away.

LuthorCorp. Oliver's in his office, surrounded by a camera crew. Dressed in a sharp suit, he takes a seat opposite that Coulterish reporter. She greets the viewers of Metropolis in a friendly enough manner. She also says her guest needs no introduction, but goes ahead and introduces him anyway: "Metropolis's infamous bad boy, and self-admitted practicing vigilante, Oliver Queen." Oliver starts off smiling but by the time she gets to the end of her intro, he looks like he's realized this is a bad idea. She starts pelting him with questions faster than he can answer. Her friendly facade vanishes. She paints him as a rich boy who got bored and decided to "play dress-up." Oliver is at a loss for a response until he sees Clark walk into the room behind the cameras. Their gazes meet. Clark gives him a nod. Thus encouraged, Oliver finally speaks: "I lost someone. She meant everything to me." Coulter Lite was clearly not prepared for that. She stammers a bit then accuses Oliver of wanting "special rights." Oliver, picking up steam, gets to the heart of the matter: "This isn't about who I am, it's about what I do." He mentions John F. Kennedy, another wealthy man with heroic intentions. Coulter Lite is aghast. "So now you're comparing yourself to a fallen hero of this country?" Oliver's fine with that. "He saw the hero in all of us." He emphasizes that he's not out for revenge or looking for tax breaks. He rails against deep-sea drilling and "putting up razor wire to keep out immigrants." He takes a jab at bloggers who are critics instead of leaders. Clark smiles proudly; take that, bloggers!. "I'm actually doing something," Oliver says. "Right here, right now, for this city. For my country." He gives Clark a little smile. "And I'm not doing it alone," he says. Heroic music swells. Oliver leans toward Coulter Lite, all intensity and purpose, and says: "You're damn right I'm a hero." A damned hot hero. Coulter Lite is speechless. I need a moment, too.

By Tippi Blevins

Smallville High. The two Torchettes are sitting in the newspaper room, in the dark, when the boy gets a message on his phone. "Glad to see you're carrying my Torch," it reads. It's signed "CS." The Torchettes couldn't be more thrilled. Chloe, you kind of suck at pretending to be dead. Still, that was sweet.

Kent Farm, night. Lois walks into the barn, in which Clark has hung a disco ball. He still had it from when he and Lex used to dance the night away together. He apologizes for missing their dance at the reunion. "Don't worry about me," she says. She tells him she understands. He says he's not worried. But he did miss her. She tries to tell him it would be a bad idea for friends to, you know, dance, and blah blah blah. "Lois, get over here," he says, cutting her off. She starts babbling again then realizes she really needs to shut up. She clasps her hands behind his neck. They start to dance and he promptly steps on her foot. Oops. They each cutely try to take the blame. Finally, he suggests she stand on his toes. They dance and make eyes at each other. "I love you," he says. "I love you, too," she says, near tears. She rests her head on his shoulder. She wants to talk about something, but he asks to postpone it until tomorrow. She nods against his shoulder and they both close their eyes. As they dance, he floats them both a few inches off the ground. Aww. Hope you two enjoy this while it lasts. Things will probably go back to hell soon enough.

By Tippi Blevins

Overall, a pretty enjoyable episode, made somewhat weaker by the fact that there have been a lot of episodes where Clark gets pep-talked into heroism. Plus, it seems like this episode should have come later in the season. Now that he's let go of that "darkness," what's going to maintain the suspense over whether or not Darkseid will possess him at some point? What's going to keep him from finally flying? Are we really past the moping, once and for all? Answer the poll to the right!

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Tippi Blevins wouldn't have gone to her five-year reunion for anything. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com or http://twitter.com/tippib.