Episode 5.17 - "Void"

Aired April 6th, 2006

Welcome back to UGO’s Fortress of Smallville, the weekly look at Clark Kent’s younger days back in middle America on WB’s Smallville. Come along as we follow The Man of Steel’s past, back when it was blue jeans, not blue tights.

Previously on Smallville:

Last week was full of revelations, with a couple of cool Lex related tie-ins. First off, we got to see Clark getting down and dirty with a hottie that wasn’t his girlfriend, who just happened to be working for Lex. Then it was on to the intriguing discovery of one, thought to be dead, Professor Milton Fines (James Marsters) hanging out south of the border with Lex’s stolen spacecraft. Let’s just say there were a few alien identity issues. Back in Smallville things were coming to a head between Clark and Lana, with the both of them living in "splitsville" by the end of the episode, which sets up this week perfectly for Lana to get deeply depressed and spiral out of control. Add to that, it also provided the set up for Lex and Clark to get a few words of wisdom from the other side.

After witnessing Lana’s heartbreak, we’re thrown right into her obsession of temporarily dying to communicate with her dead parents. Since she’s swinging single now, you’d figure on some campus fun, but instead Lana decides that the only people she can talk to are her dead parents. What does she do? Well, she hooks up with a couple of shady med-students, one of which, Lance, has come up with a Kryptonite based serum to induce death, along with an antidote to bring you back to the land of the living. How convenient is that? It seems that kryptonite is just as versatile as Duct tape. Really, there are endless uses for the stuff. After getting a taste of the afterlife and a quick chat with the folks, Lana is hooked and soon turns into what can only be described as a raggedy and rabid looking junkie.

Meanwhile that intrepid journalist, Chloe, informs Clark of the true facts about the spacecraft and Milton Fines down in Honduras. Playing her cards close to her chest, Chloe doesn’t reveal her source, prompting Clark to take a speedy jaunt down south, where he meets a native boy who is carving an exact replica of the spaceship. Clark gets a few answers with a very distinct print of the craft on the ground, but aside from that, it’s time to head home. If you really enjoy the super details of the show, be sure to check out Clark’s wardrobe in the first scene of the Honduran village when you get the chance. Aside from the brief diversion into the jungle, all of the real action is happening back in town and by the time he makes it home, Lana is "jonezin’" big time, and resorts to stealing from Lex to pay for her next fix. As you’d expect, Lex is less than thrilled and tracks her to the university, where Lance jumps him and he subsequently has a pleasant, but cryptic conversation with his expired mom. Lex is told that the blood will wash his soul... the blood of all the people he’s going to kill. To his surprise, she raises his left hand, which is now fitted with the dreaded black leather glove. Remember the "Hourglass" episode? If not, the one from the comics in which the Kryptonite ring radiated his hand. Will we eventually see the Lex Luthor we’ve known throughout the years? Well, not in this episode, as just in time, it’s Chloe to the rescue as she gives Lex the antidote.

Things wrap up via another cool battle scene between Lance and Clark, with Clark briefly going to the other side. Once there, he gets a heads up from his old man, John, who dishes the goods on Lionel Luther’s knowledge of Clark’s secret and his interest in Clark’s mom, Martha. While Clark is off in the spirit world, Lana takes down Lance with the help of a power saw. Nice! After Clark is brought back and Lana is on the road to recovery, Clark and Chloe compare notes, realizing that Lionel is up to something fishy. In addition to the whole Kent family thing, he was also Chloe’s confidential source for the Honduras material. What’s Lionel Luther up to? Next Week on Smallville:

It looks like a new romance is starting to blossom in the little Kansas town and it doesn’t take very long for newshound, Chloe to find out it’s Lex and Lana, which isn’t really that surprising when you think about it. It should be interesting to see how Clark takes the news, but that can wait for now, as Clark takes on the role of protector and advocate when a young telekinetic girl that he befriends is accused of murdering her mother. Sounds like it’s going to be a super installment and hopefully we’ll get a few more pieces of the Lionel puzzle.