Smallville 1.21 - Tempest (Part 1)

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Before anyone asks, that's not Lex Luthor's twin brother on stage. It's Cinjun Tate, the lead singer of the alternative rock group Remy Zero, performing at the Smallville High Spring Formal in this episode. They're the group that recorded "Save Me", which was used as the theme song of "Smallville". They were only a minor rock group in the 2000's, which isn't meant as an insult to their quality. Many first rate rock groups never make a breakthrough. Their song was probably picked because they were a relatively unknown group who wouldn't charge a lot of money for the use of the song. Michael Rosenbaum assumes they've become millionaires through the song "Save Me", but it wasn't enough to keep them together. Remy Zero split up a year after this episode was broadcast.

In my opinion, this is a well written and well planned episode as a season finale. There's no freak-of-the-week. The episode is used to tie up all the sub-plots of the first season, while leaving a few things open for the next season. My praise goes out to Al Gough and Miles Millar for writing such an excellent episode, as well as to Greg Beeman as director.

The episode opens with Lionel Luthor flying into Smallville to give a motivational speech to the employees of the Luthorcorp fertiliser plant operated by his son Lex. He praises the assembled workers for their hard work over the last 12 months. Then he tells them that the plant is being closed and everyone is being fired without notice due to Lex's failures. As they walk away, Lex protests that the plant has been making a profit, but Lionel insists that he was a failure and now he has to work in Metropolis alongside his father. Lex accuses Lionel of only wanting to have him in Metropolis so that he can watch what he's doing.

This event is a major headline in Smallville's local newspaper, since Luthorcorp is the town's biggest employer with a workforce of 2,500 employees. The plant closure threatens the whole community, because it will have a knock-on effect on all the other businesses in the town. But look at the front page of the Smallville Ledger. It's written by Lisa Francescalo, who was so unnerved by the plant closure that she repeated the second paragraph in the second column ("There were no initial layoffs") in the third column on the right of the photo. That's sloppy journalism. I think Chloe should take her job.

The article also attempts to put the blame on Lex. The photo shows him with his thumbs up, as if he's applauding the plant closure. This photo was actually taken a few seconds earlier when Lionel Luthor praised the hard work of the employees. It's so easy to give a false impression without actually writing anything incorrect.

Chloe's father was a senior employee at the plant. After losing his job he's considering moving back to Metropolis, taking Chloe with him. This makes Chloe and Clark sad, because a romance is finally beginning between them. At least they'll be able to go to the Spring Formal together.

Lex secretly calls together the plant's top employees, including Chloe's father, and tells them he wants to keep the plant open. He suggests an employee buyout. Lex himself can only supply 90% of the funds needed, so the top employees will have to supply the other 10%, even if it means having to remortgage their homes. Lionel finds out about the plans and takes steps to stop it happening. He buys the local bank, the Smallville Savings and Loan, where the employees do business. He says that if any of them are behind with their mortgage payments he'll immediately repossess their homes.

Last week Whitney Fordham discovered that his father had been awarded medals for his bravery in Vietnam. This has spontaneously inspired him to enlist with the US Marines. That's very sudden, and it means he'll miss the graduation ceremony. He asks Lana to wait for him until he comes home. That's a big challenge for a 15-year-old girl. She doesn't give a direct answer, although she seems to be willing to wait.

Clark visits Lex's mansion to talk to him about the plant closure. While there he sees the octagonal piece of metal on Lex's desk and recognises it as part of the space ship that brought him to Earth.

Back at the farm, the investigative reporter Roger Nixon is watching Clark. He was already observing him last week when Clark saved Lana at the carnival. When he sees Clark getting into the truck he presses a detonator, and the truck explodes.

Clark is unharmed, of course, as Roger Nixon knew he would be. He just wanted the evidence on film.

Here's a gratuitous screenshot of Tom Welling's naked chest. I hope it excites my female readers. It might even excite Tom's wife when she sits watching the episodes with him.

Clark assumes it's an accident, but later in the day he visits the Talon. Roger Nixon approaches him and tells him he wants to write a story about him. Lex is also in the Talon and interrupts the conversation. He pretends not to know Roger and tells him to leave Clark alone.

Clark goes home, but Roger is still pursuing him. He's bugged the Kent farm. He hears Clark telling his parents about the encounter in the Talon. Roger also overhears Clark telling them that he saw a piece of the space ship on Lex's desk.

Roger goes to Lex's mansion and picks up the octagon when Lex isn't looking. He tells Lex that he isn't scared of him any more, because he has the story of a lifetime.

Chloe picks Clark up for the Spring Formal. Usually it would be the other way round, but Clark doesn't have a car after his family's truck blew up. Just one small question: is Chloe old enough to drive? She was 15 at the beginning of the season, and maybe she's turned 16 by now, but isn't that still too young? I need to ask someone.

When Chloe picks Clark up, we see a cute custom. The two exchange flowers before they drive to the dance. Clark gives Chloe a small bouquet to attach to her arm, and Chloe gives Clark a rose to pin to his tuxedo. They have strange customs in America. I wonder how it started.

Pete is accompanied by Erika Ross, who he claims is the hottest girl in school. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. We'll never know, because she doesn't appear again after this episode.

The teenage kids all enjoy the drinking, dancing, kissing and whatever else teenagers like to do at school dances. Remy Zero are on stage, providing the musical entertainment. Lana isn't at the dance, because she's accompanying Whitney to the bus that will take him to Parris Island, South Carolina. When she drives home she crashes her car and gets caught in a storm with three tornadoes.

At the same time, Roger Nixon is going to the Kent Farm's storm shelter to see if there's really a space ship. When he uncovers it, the octagon rips itself out of his hand and attaches itself to the ship like a key. He's interrupted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who're coming to shelter from the storm. Jonathan threatens Roger, but he runs out of the shelter. Jonathan follows him. Martha is left alone in the shelter. The space ship turns itself on and rises from the ground.

There's an announcement at the Spring Formal about the storm. Clark knows that Lana is outside, so he rushes and sees her car by the roadside. She's back inside it, and the tornadoes lift it from the ground as Clark helplessly looks on.

Lionel visits Lex, angry that Lex is using his mother's stocks to fund the company buyout. The storm shatters the window. A column breaks and falls on Lionel. Lionel begs Lex to help him, but Lex hesitates, wondering if he should let his father die.

TO  BE  CONTINUED

Those ominous three words signify a cliff-hanger. In previous weeks both Michael and Tom have said they want more cliff-hangers, but now there's finally a cliff-hanger they're disappointed. In the podcast Tom said that the cliff-hanger sucks. It would have been worse for people watching it on television at the time, because there was a four-month delay before the second season started. Michael said he was too impatient, so he immediately watched the first ten minutes of the next episode to see what would happen. Michael Rosenbaum isn't just a star of the show, he's a new fan, because he openly admits that he watched hardly any of the finished episodes at the time he made the show.

One of the podcast's callers asked how Michael and Tom felt when they finished filming the season finale. Michael just felt relieved, glad that he'd got through it. Tom was worn out, and he drove back home as quick as he could. Despite the cliff-hanger, they didn't know for certain that there would be a second season.

Michael talks about perks he was given as a Smallville star. He was given free visits to Disneyworld, as well as all-expenses-paid trips to London and Paris. Tom didn't seem to know that these perks existed. He'd put Smallville out of his head. Michael relates that when he left the Louvre in Paris he was surrounded by hundreds of fans. When the security guard came out to help him, he asked for Michael's autograph. Michael obviously enjoyed the adulation of fans, especially female fans. He'd never had a girlfriend, he claims, but because of "Smallville" everyone wanted him. "Smallville" changed his life.

Michael admits that he kept some artefacts from the show as souvenirs. He says that he'll bring one each week to future podcasts. Let's hope he doesn't forget. Tom has the space ship from the series in his cellar. That's too big to carry to the studio, but I hope he can show us a few photos.

As I said above, the podcast for this episode has been divided into two parts. The second part will be broadcast next week. Actually, both parts have already been broadcast, because I fell behind with my reviews while I was on holiday. I'll watch the second part in a couple of days.

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