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Commencement

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Commencement
Series 4x22
Episode 88
Writer Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer
Director Greg Beeman
Broadcast Date May 18, 2005
Production Code 2T5222
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Previous Episode: Forever

Next Episode: Arrival

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[edit] Summary

A second meteor shower is headed for Smallville. Jor-El says that Clark must get all the Crystals. Lana may be wanted for murder. Lois is leaving to find her sister in Europe. Clark's graduation ceremony gets interrupted.

[edit] Recap

Lana/Isobel kills Genevieve.

Lana returns to her apartment to find Genevieve Teague demanding Lana to give her the Crystal of Air. They fight until Countess Isobel transfers back into Lana's body. She stabs and kills Genevieve with the stone. The Mark of Transference disappears from Lana's back, because Isobel has finally gotten her revenge. Clark has a dream in which red, yellow, and blue lights come together to form a meteor. He is awakened by his parents, who say that Clark was yelling, "It's coming!" in his sleep. Meanwhile in outer space meteors start flying towards Earth.

Lex walks in immediately after Isobel kills Genevieve and convinces Lana that it was self-defense and she had no choice. He offers her one of the best defense attorneys in the nation. He tells her to stay in the Luthor Mansion and talk to no one until the lawyer arrives. Lionel goes to her apartment and takes the body. He threatens Lex that if he does not get the Stone from Lana by noon, Genevieve's body and evidence against Lana will be given to the sheriff.
Clark gets his diploma.

Clark and Chloe notice that Lana is not at school to pick up her cap and gown. They start to worry when she misses the ceremony completely. Right after Clark receives his diploma, military vehicles pull up, interrupting the ceremony and announcing a meteor shower will hit Smallville in three hours. Clark urges Chloe and Lois to escape Smallville.

Lex offers Clark and his parents safe passage out on the LuthorCorp jet, but Clark rejects the offer. He goes to see Jor-El to ask him what he has done. Jor-El says that Clark has caused this himself because he did not collect the Stones of Power, and today he will witness the consequences for denying his heritage. He tells him that there is nothing that he can to do to prevent it from happening. Human blood has soiled one of the stones, causing a second meteor shower and a dark force from Krypton to come to Earth. If he does not unite the Stones at once, the Earth will be destroyed, and not even Clark will survive. The fate of the world is in his hands.

The Kent house is hit by a meteor.

Clark returns to the Kent Farm where his parents are loading the car. He reluctantly tells them that he cannot go with them and he must unite the Stones. They are fearful because the last meteor shower was full of kryptonite and Clark could be killed. Sounding not very confident, Clark insists that he is the only one who can prevent the Earth's destruction. Finally, Jonathan states that all of Clark's trials have prepared him for this moment and tells Clark to go, and make them proud.

Clark finds Lana waiting for him in the barn. She gives him the Crystal of Air because she thinks that it is meant for him. They say they love each other and kiss, in case they never see each other again. She returns to the Luthor mansion and leaves Chloe a short voicemail. When Lex asks Lana for the stone, she simply says it is safe.

Chloe drags Clark out of Lex's vault.
Lex returns to the Mansion with Lionel waiting for him. They argue over the whereabouts of the Stone of Water. When Clark sets the second stone in the altar, he hears a piercing sound which alerts him to its location - Lionel's pocket.
Kryptonian symbols appear in Lionel's eye.
The stone emits a ray of energy, and Lionel is shocked into catatonia and Lex is shot back against the wall. Unconcerned, Lex simply leaves his manservant to deal with Lionel and puts the stone in his vault. As Lana boards the helicopter, Lex insists again that she give him the stone.
The Meteor Shower hits Smallville.
She finally says she gave it to someone else, angering him. Lana realizes that he is not interested in her safety and angrily boards the helicopter. Lex returns to the mansion.
The Crystal of Knowledge
Clark superspeeds to the Mansion and flings open the vault, but it is full of kryptonite artifacts. He grabs the Stone right before he collapses. Lois and Chloe are stuck in traffic, so they hatch a plan in which Lois distracts the guard at the roadblock long enough to let Chloe sneak by him to get to the Luthor Mansion and look for Lana. Chloe finds Clark unconscious and and drags him away. Lex walks in and finds Chloe, but Clark speeds out before Lex can see him. Lex forces Chloe to tell him why she is there and she insists that she does not know what happened. He drags her to the cave, demanding answers.
Jason terrorizes the Kents.
Having apparently survived his fall into a river, Jason Teague stops Clark's parents as they are leaving the farm. Bloody and pointing a shotgun at them, he demands they tell him where Clark is. He ties them up and they try to fight back, but he threatens them with his gun.

The meteors hit all over Smallville. Lois is stuck in traffic and cannot get out before the meteors hit. She gets out of Chloe's car and escapes to higher ground. In tears, she watches Smallville being destroyed. The Kent house is hit by a meteor with Jason, Jonathan, and Martha inside it. Lionel lies in a catatonic state. Lana's helicopter is hit by a meteor and crashes to the ground. Badly injured, she crawls to the edge of a crater containing a giant black spaceship.

Lex and Chloe see the light coming from the hidden chamber in the Kawatche Caves. Chloe pushes him against the cave wall and he falls down. Clark combines all the Stones and the Crystal of Knowledge is created. Clark grabs the Crystal and is transported to the Arctic. He looks around and throws the Crystal.

[edit] Recurring Roles

[edit] Featured Music

  • "Pomp & Circumstance" - Edward Elgar

[edit] Episode Title

Commencement is another word for a high school graduation ceremony. This is the commencing of Clark's life after high school.

[edit] Graduates

  • Dylan Cooper
  • Caroline Dreeds
  • Chloe Daves
  • Erica Felder
  • Tobias Rice
  • Doug ?
  • Thomas ?
  • Max ?
  • Michael Palm
  • Harvey ?
  • Honya Heart
  • Kate Purton
  • Michael Hoover
  • Hannah Jacobs
  • Michelle Jules
  • Clark Kent
  • Lana Lang

[edit] Notes

  • This was most expensive episode since the Pilot. [citation needed]
  • One of the graduates mentioned at the ceremony is "Holly Harold", who has written eight episodes of Smallville.
  • The astronomer at the research facility that spots the asteroid is reading Adbusters, a popular sub-culture magazine.
    Lights in the sky.
  • This episode received the 2005 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series.
  • On its original airing, this episode filled a 90 minute time slot with the last ten minutes featuring an exclusive 10-minute preview of the movie Batman Begins. The episode itself is about ten minutes longer than others.
  • This is so the last appearance of Jensen Ackles as Jason Teague. It was his first and last season. And the last episode of Jane Seymour as Genevieve Teague.
  • This is the last episode that Erica Durance (Lois Lane) is credited as a "Special Guest Star".
  • This episode contains several Superman allusions: Lois tells the Kents she had an nightmare about a "guy in a red cape", jokingly tells Clark that he will "go into the big city and make his mark", and then rejects the possibility of her becoming a journalist on the grounds that she'd end up opposite "the most bumbling reporter on the masthead" (a reference to Superman's 'mild-mannered' alter ego in the comics). In Clark's premonition, he sees red, yellow, and blue lights in the sky, Superman's colors. Also, the crystal takes the shape of the Kryptonian pentagon on Superman's chest and when Clark woke up from his dream, he had a red blanket draped around him, Martha was wearing a yellow robe, and Jonathan was wearing blue, all Superman colors.
  • A repeat of this episode on E4 during mid-afternoon cut the scene with Jason Teague kidnapping the Kents. [citation needed]
  • The theme playing when they graduate, is "The Pomp and Circumstance Marches" (full title "Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches"), Op. 39, a series of marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar.

[edit] Continuity

  • Clark had a precognitive hallucination about a second meteor shower in Scare when infected with a fear toxin .
  • Lex reveals two years later in Wrath that the date of the second meteor shower is May 18, 2005.
  • Chloe, Clark, Lex, Lionel, Lana, Martha and Jonathan's fate are revealed in the next episode.

[edit] Quotes

Lois: Clark, I know how devastated you must be but if you could just keep the tears to a minimum, I'd appreciate it.
Clark: I'll try.

Lionel: You know, for a woman without a heart, Genevieve Teague certainly did have a lot of blood.

Lex: Can you hear me, dad? Before you leave this Earth, I want you to know... you did create the son you always wanted.

Jason: I'm having what you'd call a rough day.

Lois: You know, I took this career test in some magazine- it said that my perfect job would be a radio disc jockey.
Clark: That would make sense- you talk enough. There won't be any dead air.

Chloe: Because you have a way of getting things done in half the time a normal person gets things done.
Clark: And I'm not normal?
Chloe: No, of course you're normal, Clark. You're as normal as they come

Clark: If you are my father, talk to me. Tell me what you've done!
Jor-El: It is you who has brought this upon yourself, Kal-El.
Clark: What did I do?
Jor-El: I sent you here to unite the three elements.
Clark: The stones? They have nothing to do with me.
Jor-El: But they do, Kal-El. For the knowledge of the universe is meant for you only. Yet you chose to deny your heritage. Today you will witness the consequences.
Clark: So you send a meteor shower.
Jor-El: I have done nothing, Kal-El. Human blood has stained one of the elements and awakened a great danger from the darkness of space.
Clark: What can I do to stop it?
Jor-El: There is nothing you can do to prevent what is already in motion. But the meteor shower is just the beginning, Kal-El. I warned you that the elements could not fall into the hands of a human. The three must become one. It is the only way to save Earth from total annihilation.
Clark: I don't know where they are! I don't have time to find them!
Jor-El: If you don't unite them at once then you, my son, will be seared by a fire from the sky even you can't survive. The future of mankind rests in your hands, Kal-El.
Clark: Please help me! I can't do this alone!

[edit] External Links


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