User Reviews

After a couple of episodes, a few weeks on timeline, Clark Kent finally returns to his true self, with his powers back. The process was complicated, but very well done at the end. Gabriel Duncan is the son of a general, with access to the old missile locations (from the Cold War) of Kansas. But during the past seasons (too bad the character never actually appeared before), Gabe and his dad were witness of the consequences from the first meteor shower in Smallville. They both saw what meteor freaks caused, the accidents, deaths, weird situations, lot of things, that many people in Smallville seem to ignore. So now, after the second meteor shower, both of them decide to put an end to this. Gabe sets the time out to direct one of the missiles to Smallville, and surely for being the son of a general, he's able to pass security, and force the guards to help him. He calls Chloe, who seemingly was his friend during school time. In the meantime, Clark wakes up in bed with Lana, but it's early in the morning so his parents discover what they've been doing when they get down the stairs. Martha is stunned but is more easy on them, but Jonathan is seriously upset with his son. Before an argument can start, while Lana leaves, Chloe arrives and learns what happened, but the missile crisis soon becomes the first priority for everyone. Jonathan and Clark go to the town for some update, but the sheriff sends them away. About this part, one of the highlights clearly is the timer of the missile. It's impossible that all the events of the episode occur in 1 hour, should've been 4 at least. Then, for me seems likely for Gabriel to execute his plan given his dad's connections, he's not a stranger there, he knew everything, and for what the first scene shows, the guards already knew him. As for Clark's morning, his parents reaction was natural, perfect, with Jonathan being harsh on him. Also, Clark looked really happy then, but the price for giving up his powers will be terrible.

When Clark and Chloe set to investigate the possible missile locations, they get to the same obstacle than police and government, they don't know which one is, seemingly there were 16 on Kansas. So Chloe calls back Gabriel, and lures him to them, but when Clark appears to talk him out of his plan, Gabriel fatally shoots him, and takes Chloe as hostage. That was a critical moment, intense, after all the times we saw Clark catching bullets like nothing. He really overrated mortality, like his friend will say. Some good samaritan finds him, and in the hospital, doctors do everything they can to help him, Jonathan, Martha, Lana are there, distressed, shocked to see what has happened to Clark. Lana talks to him while he sleeps, and after she tells she loves him, he stares at her, and dies. Doctors arrive but are unable to reanimate him, and pronounce Clark dead. Tears and shock are around his beloved ones (Lois was missing there). And right then, Jor-El memory and will, in Lionel's body, reacts, escapes from the asylum where he was capted, and takes Clark to the Fortress through the cave. The next scene is great. Jor-El explains Clark that his mortal journey is over, but given his destiny, he can't be allowed to die. That's why he manages to resucitate, surely given Krypton powers to help his son, but as Jor-El says, life, the Universe has a balance, and someone's else life is going to be taken away, someone close to Clark. It's too late to undone, and Jor-El also knows this is going to be his son's Darkest times, but from them, he'll become stronger. He tells Clark he loves him, and leaves. With his powers back, Clark finally manages to stop the missile right after it was launched, in the sky, and saves Smallville. In the meantime, Chloe and Gabriel have a little fight, and he gets killed when the gun is accidentally triggered. She sees the missile being launched, and later realizes that Clark stopped it. When he returns home, his parents are shocked but happy to see him, and he lies to them, to Jonathan, who asked which was the price his biological father aseo for. Clark reunites with Lana, and she seems to forget the miracle of his resucitation. She even takes Clark's medical tests to Lex, without knowing they were made when he was mortal. At the end, Clark confides in Chloe about what happened, the price someone is going to pay for his mistake. He deeply regrets giving up his powers, disobeying Jor-El. The last scene was excellent, the soundtrack, beautiful.

This episode is very important for Smallville storyline. It marks the price Clark will pay in Reckoning. He wanted so much to be normal, to have an honest mortal relationship with Lana, that he forgot who he is, his destiny, for what his parents raised him. He has a gift, and thought that a love relationship was most important. His mistake was made during Arrival, when he should've returned to the fortress right after sending the kryptonians to the Phantom Zone. Jonathan always tried to disuade Clark from being normal. He wanted to keep him away from Jor-El (because he misjudged him), but he never doubted Clark's destiny as the world hero. During last episode, Chloe had the same thoughts. And only now Clark realized. If he stayed mortal, sooner or later someone was going to kill him, he has too many enemies, and there's always a risk in trying to save the World. If wasn't Gabriel, someone else was going to do it. To finish, I don't think Jor-El has God powers, he could only save his son, like in the episode Fever, by healing his wound and returning him the powers. Like he will admit, he can't resucitate another persons.

"Smallville" has long been one of my favorites shows, for many reasons. While the Season 5 episode "Hidden" is a good one, it also has one fairly major problem - the introduction of Clark Kent and Lana Lang having premarital sex (thankfully, not on-screen).

I know some will call me a Puritan for this, but I don't care. Superman is supposed to be a symbol for people to look up to, both emotionally and morally. And even though Clark Kent hasn't yet donned the costume at this point, I still think the writers should have maintained his overall integrity. I can't blame Tom Welling or Kristin Kreuk for this - they're actors being paid to do a scene. But the producers and writers should've exercised better judgment, in my opinion.

The one saving grace to this aspect of the episode, is Jonathan Kent's reaction when he learns of Clark and Lana's activities the next morning. The younger characters both try to justify their behavior, and even his mother Martha is more liberal than conservative about it. But Jonathan's mix of both anger and disappointment is very clear in that scene. At one point, he tells Clark, "There's many conversations I never had with you, because I didn't think I needed to." His attitude is that he expected Clark to make a better choice, than simply following his hormones.

Otherwise, the rest of the episode is pretty good. The main plot involves a mentally-unhinged young man named Gabriel, who kidnaps Chloe Sullivan to have her aid him in arming a nuclear warhead to destroy Smallville. At this point, Clark has been rendered mortal, so when Gabriel shoots him he dies in the hospital. But in a very cool twist, Lex's father Lionel is taken over by the spirit of Clark's Kryptonian father, Jor-El. He explains that the only way for Clark to return is with his powers restored, but also says that such a resurrection will require the life of someone Clark loves in return. John Glover channeled Marlon Brando perfectly in that scene; I can't even imagine how much rehearsal went into it.