Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: B | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Back To School Special
By Tippi Blevins | Season 10 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.15.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's been a few days since Oliver came out of the superhero closet and both Clark and his Blur alter ego have been in hiding. He's too busy moping about how Kara gets to fight that new darkness and suddenly his role as savior of Earth isn't so well-defined anymore. Lois tries to cheer him up by dragging him to their five-year reunion at Smallville High so they can mingle with the their fellow rapidly-aging 23-year-olds. She's miffed when none of her fellow classmates remember her, even though, by her own count, she only attended classes for five days. People remember Chloe and Lana, neither of whom attend, of course, although we get to see them in brief flashbacks as Clark takes a walk down memory lane. Also back is that "bug boy" from the first season, who shows up to deliver a message to Lois for Clark, which is: Thanks for setting me straight, bud!
Also dropping by with a message for Clark is a debugged and well-meaning Brainiac 5. He's come from the future to 1) cut short a nutty guidance counselor's plan to kill Clark because she's tired of hearing about him from all her meteor freak students, and 2) school Clark so he can finally (again) decide to be a hero. That "darkness within" Clark is all about not letting go of the past, or something. First Brainiac shows Clark that it wasn't his fault that Jonathan Kent died. Then he shows him a future some seven years hence when Lois is in on the secret and helps him in his Supermanly role. He meets his future self who has adopted the traditional glasses-and-suit look. Clark even gets to help him rescue Lois when a helicopter she's in suddenly takes a dive and 2017's Clark is busy taking care of some nuclear threat. Brainiac also makes Clark realize he's been kind of an asshole friend to Oliver lately, not being there for him after the big outing. So upon returning to the present, Clark's first task is to show up for moral support while Oliver smoothly turns the tables on a snitty interviewer.
At the end, it seems like he's going to tell Lois his secret, having realized that everything works out just fine in the future. Instead, he asks her over to the loft for a dance and floats her off the ground while she's not looking. Aww. Does anyone think this is the last we'll hear of Clark's mopey inner darkness? Yeah, me, neither.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!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.