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Abyss

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Abyss
Series 8x09
Episode 161
Writer Don Whitehead & Holly Henderson
Director Kevin Fair
Broadcast Date November 13, 2008
Production Code 3T7458
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[edit] Summary

Brainiac begins removing Chloe's memories one by one until the only person she remembers is Davis. Clark realizes the only way to stop Brainiac from taking over Chloe’s mind is to rebuild the Fortress of Solitude and ask Jor-El to heal her.

[edit] Recap

Chloe's memories are in green.

Jimmy brings Chloe breakfast in bed.
Chloe awakens to find that Jimmy has brought her breakfast in bed. He asks her if she has heard from Lana, who has not responded to her wedding RSVP. Chloe looks confused and Jimmy explains who Lana is. He is concerned because Chloe has seemed forgetful lately, but Chloe says she just has a case of pre-wedding jitters. He reminds her about their engagement party and she remembers the evening. However during the memory, things start to change and disappear. Jimmy's face blurs until she can't recognize it and she snaps out of the memory. Jimmy is worried but Chloe cannot remember who he is. Jimmy goes to tell Clark that Chloe has been forgetting things for weeks and was actually afraid of him.
Chloe tell Clark about her memory loss.
He thinks it is the result of her meteor infection. He asks Clark to talk to her.


Chloe goes to the hospital to research memory loss when she runs into Davis Bloome. She remarks that he looks exhausted and remembers that she was going to help him investigate his past. Davis decides that he is no longer interested. He wants to talk to her but Chloe brushes him off. He guesses that something is wrong with her and Jimmy, but Chloe tries to pretend that she is fine. Davis tells her that he is there for her, but he looks upset that she did not want to talk with him.


Chloe is at the Isis Foundation researching amnesia when Clark arrives. He asks her if she is all right but Chloe claims
The symbol for Doom
Jimmy is overreacting. She rattles off a list of Jimmy "facts" and Clark recognizes that she is acting strange. He says he heard her close the computer bay and when he doesn't believe her lie, he forces it open. Chloe has plastered the walls of the room with notes to remind herself about her life and the people in it. She admits that she has been losing her memory but comes there to remind herself. She and Clark have to face the realization that Brainiac is slowly taking over her mind.


Davis goes to Chloe's apartment to drop off his RSVP but Jimmy opens the door. Davis talks about Chloe's behavior that morning. He sends his regrets that he won't be able to attend the wedding and remarks that Jimmy really loves Chloe.


Clark takes Chloe to his barn and asks her about her amnesia. She tells him that when she focuses on a memory it is replaced by Kryptonian code. She draws a symbol and Clark translates it to mean "doom".
Clark rebuilds the Fortress.
Clark thinks he should rebuild the Fortress of Solitude but Chloe disagrees. She thinks the crystal is dangerous but Clark tells her that he will not let his secret destroy her life. Chloe tells him that she thinks knowing his secret changed her life for the better. She recounts the memory of Clark catching a car but it ends abruptly and is replaced with code. She snaps out of it to Clark calling her name. She thinks the memory wasn't lost but Clark asks her if she remembers his abilities. She doesn't recognize the terms "Kal-El,", "Krypton", or "Brainiac". Chloe realizes from Clark's reaction that she has forgotten something important. Clark is convinced he needs to rebuild the Fortress and instructs her to stay in the barn. She gets upset and doesn't want him to leave her. He gives her a yearbook to jog her memory and superspeeds away. Chloe looks confused at his disappearance, but she waits for him.


Jimmy arrives at the barn and Chloe pretends to remember him but Jimmy knows she isn't telling the truth. He wants to take her to the hospital but she tells him that she wants to trust Clark. Jimmy shows her photographs of them as a couple to persuade her.


Eighth grader Clark and Chloe.
Clark rebuilds the Fortress to talk to Jor-El. Jor-El explains that he did indeed program the Fortress to self-destruct and strip him of his powers if he became a danger. Clark tells him that he understands his role to protect people and that Jor-El needs to trust him. He asks him to help cure Chloe. Jor-El warns that Brainiac is highly unpredictable and asks if Clark is ready for the fallout.


Chloe is getting an MRI at Metropolis General Hospital, but when the machine start up, it shorts out. Chloe sees flashes of memories with Clark, until she views their first meeting as eighth-graders, in which a young Clark shows her his loft. Chloe as a child admits that she doesn't make a lot of friends because her mother left their family. She mentions a book she lost in the move. Clark speeds and replaces the book and Chloe is touched. She kisses him but
Chloe is lost in her memories.
the memory begins to fade. They run into another of Chloe's memories, the chaos in the basement office of the Daily Planet during Dark Thursday. In her memory, she is approached by Clark, but this memory also starts to fade. Chloe clings to Clark and pleads for him not to leave her. Clark assures her that he never will, but moments later he is pulled away into oblivion. The remaining details are sucked away until Chloe sees herself and the symbol for doom.
Chloe only remembers Davis.
When the chaos of the memory has faded, Davis appears. The MRI continues to short out and the technicians retrieve her. She tells them that she has to find Davis.


Chloe finds Davis in the ambulance bay and tells him that all she remembers is him and her name.
Davis injects Chloe with a sedative.
He wants to call her friends, but she is afraid since she doesn't know who her friends are and says she only trusts him. Clark returns to the Talon but only Jimmy is there. He confesses that Chloe has gone missing. Both men are feeling guilty for leaving her alone. Clark suggests they work together and tells Jimmy to contact John Jones to locate her while he canvasses the streets. On his way out, he finds Davis arriving with Chloe. However, Chloe, who only remembers Davis, is fearful of Clark and Jimmy. She starts to panic and Davis injects her with a sedative. Clark tells Jimmy they will take her to the hospital and instructs him to get her things. When Jimmy exits, Clark picks Chloe up and takes her to the Fortress.


Clark tells Jor-El that he feels like Chloe never would have gotten hurt if she didn't know his secret. He tells Jor-El that he doesn't want her to remember anything about Krypton or his abilities. Jor-El agrees.
Clark takes Chloe to the Fortress.
Clark addresses Chloe, who is still unconscious. He tells her that she has been his best ally but he wants to protect her from the danger of knowing his secret. He kisses her forehead and a bright light flashes. A black substance oozes from Chloe's ear and absorbs into the surface of the Fortress.
Davis kisses Chloe.


Chloe is back home fully-recovered, excited to be planning her upcoming wedding. Clark arrives and the impact of Chloe not knowing his secret is plainly evident. Chloe exits to head to Metropolis for more wedding planning when she is approached in the alley behind the Talon by Davis. Chloe thanks him for helping her when she was sick. Davis admits that he lied about having to work during the wedding. He tells her that he is not going because he can't watch her marry the wrong man. Chloe is alarmed at his straight-forwardness. She tells him that there might have been attraction when they first met but she is sure of her feelings for Jimmy. Davis pushes harder and kisses her. Chloe backs away but Davis tells her that he is not ready to let her go. Chloe looks apprehensive.
Doomsday is coming.
Clark goes back to the Fortress to talk to Jor-El. He asks him about Chloe's seeing the symbol of doom. Jor-El explains that the symbol represents a virtually-unstoppable Kryptonian creature that has made its way to Earth. Clark realizes that Brainiac was trying to contact the creature through Chloe. He vows to take it on. Jor-El supports him and Clark exits. Brainiac then appears from hiding in his natural liquid form and climbs onto the console and begins to infect the Fortress. As the crystals turn black, Brainiac announces that the House of El will fall and, Doomsday is Coming.

[edit] Recurring Roles

  • The Voice of Jor-El - Terence Stamp
  • Brainiac - James Marsters (voice only, uncredited)[1]

[edit] Guest Stars

  • Young Chloe - Victoria Duffield
  • Young Clark - Jackson Warris
  • Neurologist - Robert Lawrenson


[edit] Featured Music

  • "Sad Girl" - Blue

[edit] Episode Title

  • Abyss refers to a chasm or gorge that is so deep that it is not visible. In this episode, it refers to Chloe's lost memories.

[edit] Notes

  • Tess Mercer, Oliver Queen, and Lois Lane do not appear in this episode.
  • Jimmy quotes the song "Fly Me to the Moon", by Frank Sinatra.
  • The author of Tales of the Weird & Unexplained, Aleya Naiman, is a nod to the show's prop master.
  • Chloe says to Clark that Metropolis is something like a two hour commute from Smallville. The distance between Smallville and Metropolis has been an inconsistency in the show since Season 1's Nicodemus.
  • James Marsters doesn't appear and isn't credited.
  • The footage of Clark rebuilding the Fortress is re-used from Arrival. This time, Clark is seen in the foreground as the Fortress is created.
  • Chloe calls Smallville "Norman Rockwell's neighborhood," a reference to the artist famous for depicting idyllic images of American family life, mostly on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post periodical throughout the Twentieth Century. Ironically, she also assumes that nothing strange will happen in the town.
  • In Identity, Clark tells Oliver that the lives of everyone who have learned his secret have been turned upside down and that he can't mind-wipe the people who already know it, yet, in this episode, Clark asks Jor-El to restore Chloe´s memories except for everything related to his secret.
  • After Jor-El saves Chloe, Clark calls him directly "father" for the first time. He actually referred to Jor-El as his father when he defeated General Zod.
  • In Pariah, when Chloe learns Clark's secret, Alicia Baker is beside her after teleporting her to the construction site where they both hid from Clark. However, in the scene where Chloe remembers Clark catching the car, Alicia is not there, indicating that she has forgotten her.
  • The scenes where Chloe's memories are erased are very similar to scenes from the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In both, objects disappear and crumble as the characters run from memory to memory trying to escape deletion.
  • Images of Lex Luthor, Lionel Luthor, Lana Lang, Tess Mercer, Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent, and Oliver Queen are seen on the computer screens at Isis to help Chloe remember.
  • In the Dark Thursday memory, after Clark is dragged away and deleted, when the camera slowly zooms in on Chloe and the symbol for Doom, the future Superman symbol is visible briefly.
  • The conversation that Clark and Jimmy have about Chloe's meteor infection replaces a deleted scene from Arctic where they had a similar exchange after Chloe was attacked.

[edit] Continuity

  • Brainiac attacked Chloe in Arctic.
  • Chloe's memories reference many different points of her and Clark's relationship. Among those pictured are their kiss in Magnetic, their reenactment in Bound, their date in Tempest and the memory of their first kiss, first described by Clark in Obscura. The culmination of her memory loss during Dark Thursday contains flashes of their kiss in Vessel and Clark saving her from the car crashing through the window.
  • Clark refers to Pete Ross by name for the first time this season.
  • In this episode, Chloe loses her memory of Clark's secret. In Season 7's Cure, she was willing to lose her memories of all of her friends and family in order to avoid psychosis.
  • The Fortress is rebuilt, after being destroyed in Season 7's Arctic.
  • Jor-El had hoped that one day Clark would call him "Father" in Season 5's Hidden.
  • This is Chloe Sullivan's fourth visit to the Fortress of Solitude. She has previously been there in Arrival, Solitude, and Traveler.

[edit] Quotes

Chloe: I've forgotten almost everyone, Clark, and I'm having to fake my feelings more and more with people. Pretty soon there isn't going to be any more "I, Chloe." Just an I.Q.
Jor-El: Welcome home, my son.
Clark: Home? I wanted to see it that way, Jor-El. I wanted to learn more about my family, about my destiny. Then you tore it all away.
Jor-El: I programmed the Fortress to remove your powers and self-destruct if you became a danger to the planet.
Clark: When you sent me here, you had no way of knowing how I would use my abilities. You trusted me. When I betrayed that trust, you were willing to sacrifice your only son to save this planet. But now I know what it truly means to protect people, not just my family and friends.
Jor-El: You've made great progress, my son.
Clark: One thing needs to change. You call me your son. You treat me like your enemy. I think it's time you stopped punishing me, and start trusting me again.
Jor-El: You've grown up. Your trials have matured you.
Clark: My trials are not over, Jor-El.
Clark: Chloe never would have gotten hurt if she wasn't trying to protect me.
Jor-El: I tried to warn you the danger in sharing your true identity.
Clark: Now that I'm taking more risks, it's even more dangerous for her. Chloe deserves a life free from the burden of my secret. When you restore her memory, I don't want her to remember anything about Krypton. Or my abilities.
Jor-El: I know this choice is not easy for you, my son. But it will be done.
Clark: You're the best friend and ally I could have had, Chloe. The truth is, you saved me more than I could have ever saved you. I'm sorry to go back to hiding the truth from you, but the best way that I know to protect you... is to let you go.
Clark: Jor-El. I've come here to thank you for what you've done. Chloe's a lot safer now that she doesn't remember the truth about me. I guess I'm just starting to realize how much I actually lost.
Jor-El: You made a difficult choice. I'm proud of you, Kal-El.
Jor-El: The symbol for doom represents the ultimate destroyer. A Kryptonian creature bred for a single purpose... to kill. It adapts and evolves to any attack. It is virtually unstoppable, and it appears it's made its way to Earth.
Clark: (referring to Doomsday) I don't care how powerful it is. I'll take it on like I have everything else.
Jor-El: I'm here for you as well, my son.
Clark: Thank you... Father.
Davis: I can't go to your wedding Chloe, because I can't watch you marry the wrong man.
Chloe: Jimmy, I'm impressed. You managed to balance out singles, couples, and families while keeping all of the exes at different tables, and still keeping the kids' tables away from the cake. You truly are the zen master of seating charts.
Jimmy: More the master of musical chairs.
Brainiac's voice: (to Jor-El) Your son is destined to fail. Soon a new age will dawn on Earth. An age of power and strength, and the fall of the House of El... Doomsday is coming.

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