Cyborg
From Smallville Wiki
| Cyborg | |
|---|---|
| |
| Series | 5x15 |
| Episode | 103 |
| Writer | Caroline Dries |
| Director | Glen Winter |
| Broadcast Date | February 16, 2006 |
| Production Code | 2T6415 |
| Navigation | |
| Previous Episode: Tomb
Next Episode: Hypnotic | |
- This article is about the Season 5 episode. For superhero Victor Stone's character page, see Victor Stone.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
A sympathetic doctor releases a half-human/half-machine subject named Victor who was being held captive and experimented on by LuthorCorp. While making his escape, Victor is struck by Lana's car. After watching him walk away without a scratch, Lana calls Clark to investigate. Clark befriends Victor and promises to help him find his girlfriend, but Lex traps Victor and takes him back to LuthorCorp.
[edit] Recap
A young man, Victor Stone, is suspended in a cage in a dark laboratory. Dr. Hong gives him an injection and when Victor wakes up, Dr. Hong apologizes for what they did to him and hands him a photograph of a girl. Victor tries to make his way out of the building, setting off alarms. Guards and agents go after him, but Victor escapes by breaking through a metal door. He runs into the street and is hit head-on by Lana Lang's SUV. The car wraps around his body and he is unharmed. Lana is knocked out but he is unharmed.
Victor takes Lana to the hospital but quickly leaves. She calls Clark to come get her and tells him how she hit Victor head-on but he wasn't even hurt. Clark leaves to go find him and when they meet, he recognizes him as a Metropolis High School football player, but he supposedly died with his family in a car crash. He tries to get away, but Clark grabs his arm and Victor throws Clark into a wall with unintentional force. He is surprised that Clark is unhurt. Clark X-rays his body and sees his skeleton is made up of metal parts. At the Kents, Martha receives a package secretly delivered at her doorstep. It contains a DVD player that shows the explosion at Warehouse 15 and Clark emerging unscathed from the flames. She later gets an anonymous call demanding money. When she hangs up, Lionel Luthor arrives on business. She doesn't tell him anything, but he notices her distraction and makes sure she knows she can count on him.
Chloe and Lana are at the Daily Planet and Lana is describing Victor to her. When Clark arrives, she explains that her research on SynTechnics did not turn up anything untoward- they are known for making prosthetic limbs. She also discloses that SynTechnics is owned by LuthorCorp. Clark goes to talk to Lex, who does not appreciate his accusations. He breezily says that he owns a multi-billion dollar corporation and it's very possible someone is abusing their power without his knowledge. He unconvincingly says he'll get to the bottom of it. Clark reiterates that so will he, and storms out.
Lana goes to the barn to talk to Victor and tells him that Lex Luthor owns SynTechnics, but she is sure he had nothing to do with it. She asks him if he's going to tell Katherine he's alive and that he shouldn't lie to the woman he loves. He decides she is right and turns to go find Katherine. Suddenly, a beam of energy burns into his shoulder from agents from the company, who also push Lana down. However, before they can apprehend their target, Clark arrives and knocks them out. Lana is all right, but a black viscous fluid is pouring from Victor's arm. Clark and Lana take him to Lois Lane's empty apartment at the Talon, because she is out of town. Victor explains that the bionics are connected to his human biology. The fluid is leaking from his power cell and if the leak isn't staunched, he will die.
Clark tells Chloe Victor's predicament and is still blaming Lex. She tells him that maybe Lex didn't know, because the lead scientist on the SynTechnics project, Alistair Kreig has a history of clashing with his supervisors. She helps Clark locate Dr. Hong and Clark goes to his house. He finds Dr. Hong in the garage and tries to save him, but Dr. Hong is already dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. He is surprised to be approached by Lex. Lex says Dr. Hong was going to blow the whistle on the project, but he either couldn't live with the guilt or someone wouldn't let him live. Dr. Kreig is searching for Victor, and if Clark knows where he is, he needs to tell him so they can save his life.
Victor is declining and Lana admits that Dr. Hong is dead. He begins to lose hope and says at least he will get to see his family again soon. She pleads with him to wait for Clark and Lex but he says he wants to see Katherine before he dies. He arrives at Katherine's house but only finds Dr. Kreig and more agents. They force him to go with him or they will harm Katherine and he agrees. When he exits, it is revealed that Lex set him up, knowing he would show up.
Martha arrives in an alley with a briefcase full of money, prepared to turn it over, but Lionel drives up and the blackmailer runs away. Martha tells him that there is a lot at stake, but he says he was protecting her from blackmail and that she should let him help. He promises to have no interest in the package and just wants to help.
Clark arrives back at the Talon apartment and is annoyed at Lana for letting Victor leave. She says he went to see Katherine and she couldn't stop him. Clark realizes that they took him back to the lab and superspeeds away to save him. Victor wakes up in the laboratory and Lex says he just has to be patient while they repair him. Lex says he just wants Victor to have a normal life, but Victor doesn't want his help. Lex tells him that he is helping Victor take the edge off of his anger, loneliness, or any other emotion. He leaves so the workers can start the procedure and they begin to point a drill at his temple. Clark arrives just in time to throw the doctors out of the way and they escape by jumping off the roof.
Clark goes back to the Luthor Mansion and demands answers from Lex, because Victor told him that Lex was spearheading the procedure. Lex doesn't admit guilt; he claims he was trying to stop Kreig's renegade experiments, but Clark doesn't believe him. Lex says that all miracles have a price and tells Clark to let himself out. Victor is in the Kent barn and thanks Clark for saving him, but Clark is modest. Lana arrives with Katherine in tow. They reunite and when Katherine asks what happened, Victor seems reluctant, but Katherine just says she has time to hear it. Lana is visibly touched by their reunion and looks expectantly at Clark, but he avoids her gaze. Later, Clark is in his loft going through old high school stuff when Lana arrives. She asks him why he quit football since he loved it so much. Clark shrugs that it was just a game. She then asks him why he always hides what he's feeling. She admits that she thinks Victor and Katherine's relationship is a lot like theirs was at its best, but usually it always just goes around and around. She asks him if he still loves her and Clark tells her the truth-- that he always has and always will. Unsatisfied, Lana leaves without another word.
Martha is worriedly viewing the DVD again when Lionel arrives at the front door. He says the blackmailer has agreed to never contact her again and says he was happy to help. However, he also points out that she risks a lot as a Senator by being involved with him. His graciousness wins Martha's trust and she tells him that she doesn't turn her back on her friends because of what people think. In Lionel's LuthorCorp Plaza office, he is seen paying off Martha's blackmailer. Martha is seen burning the DVD in the fireplace, while Lionel watches a copy at the same time. He freezes the frame on Clark's face and mutters that Kal-El's secret is safe with him.
[edit] Recurring Roles
- Victor Stone- Lee Thompson Young
[edit] Guest Cast
- Dr. Hong- Rick Tae
- Dr. Alistair Kreig- Mackenzie Gray
- Katherine Goodwin- Christie Laing
[edit] Featured Music
- "Life After Love" - Colored Shadows
[edit] Episode Title
- A cyborg is a cybernetic organism: an organism that is a self-regulating integration of artificial and natural systems. Victor Stone is reconstructed as a cyborg by Dr. Hong.
- Victor Stone is Smallville's version of DC Comics character Cyborg.
- The word or name Cyborg is actually never used in this episode.
- Cyborg is also the name of the Superman villain who pretended to be Superman in The Death of Superman storyline. So has not to confuse him with the heroic Cyborg, the villain is often called the Cyborg-Superman.
[edit] Notes
- Victor Stone is Smallville's version of DC Comics character Cyborg. Cyborg first appeared in "DC Comics Presents #26" (Oct. 1980) as a young man whose parents were experimenting with portals to different dimensions. A creature was released that killed his mother and badly injured Victor. His father rebuilt his son's body with bionic parts, but Victor harbored deep resentment for his father and left to join the superhero group Teen Titans, where he is still currently a member. Victor's bionic enhancements are both endo- and exoskeletal, but his outward appearance in Smallville is normal. However, Clark's X-ray view of his metal skull plate is similar to what Cyborg's head looks like in the comics.
- Victor remarks that half of his body is "out of a Sharper Image catalog". The Sharper Image is a retail company that sells high-tech gadgets and electronics.
- After being thrown against the wall, Victor asks Clark "What are you made of?". Superman, is also called "Man of Steel", ironically Victor is made half metal.
- Clark and Victor generate enough momentum to break the ground under their feet when they jump off the hospital's rooftop.
- Chloe asks Lana what Victor looks like, on a scale of "one to Taye Diggs." Taye Diggs is an actor memorable for roles in stage, film, and television.
- Lois Lane does not appear in this episode.
- During filming of this episode, Tom Welling fell ill for the first time in five years and production was halted for four days while he recovered. [1]
- When Clark is confronting Victor outside the hospital, he demands to know how Victor destroyed his girlfriend's "Jeep", but she has actually been driving a GMC Envoy since Forever (no pun intended).
- Despite Lana's claims, a collision at 30 miles per hour, whilst undoubtedly causing severe injuries, is far from certain to result in fatality even if the pedestrian isn't bionic.
- It is revealed in this episode that Lionel knows that Clark's Kryptonian birthname is "Kal-El". However, it is not clear if he obtained this knowledge through his work with the Veritas Society's "Traveler" theory, or if he learned it while functioning as an emissary for Jor-El.
- This episode Clark was late for several disasters, despite having superspeed.
- Lana hitting Victor.
- Victor getting shot.
- Dr. Hong being killed.
- Lex mentions to Victor that the cost for all Victors work is "a lot steeper than six million dollars." Interestingly, this is a direct reference to the TV series, the The Six Million Dollar Man, that ran from 1974 to 1978 on the ABC Network. Still further, as Dr Kreig is prepping Victor for the implant, the background music reprises the sound effect heard when the The Six Million Dollar Man used his bionic arm. Lastly, Dr. Kreig's comment, "Your arm is even better than before," alludes to the line in the opening credits of the The Six Million Dollar Man, "Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster" Also, Lex claims that he can save Victor's life, by saying "I have the technology", mimicking Oscar Goldman's speech at the beginning.
- Katherine Goodwin could be considered Smallvile's version of Sarah Simms, Cyborg's friend in DC Comics.
[edit] Continuity
- The DVD with which Martha is being blackmailed is of Clark rescuing Lana from the warehouse explosion in Lockdown.
[edit] Quotes
- Victor: Normal? Over half my body is out of a "Sharper Image" catalog!
- Victor: How could she ever love a thing like me?
- Clark: I'm really not the best person to be asking about that.
- Clark: She said she hit you full on and you're not even hurt. How'd you manage that?
- Victor: Milk - does a body good.
- Victor: How do you know what’s in me? What about that wall I tossed you into– how come you’re not even hurt?
- Clark: You’re not the only one who drinks a lot of milk.
- Lionel: Your secret is safe with me, Kal-El.
[edit] External Links
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