"Crisis" is the sixteenth episode in the third season of Smallville, and sixtieth episode overall. It aired on March 3, 2004.
Summary[]
Clark receives a phone call from the future in which Adam Knight kills Lana Lang. Meanwhile, Lex is framed for the murders committed by Adam at Metron Labs and offers to help take down his father in exchange for immunity.
Recap[]
→ see also Category:Screencaps from episode 3x16
Adam shoots Lana.
All's well tonight.
Lana needs to study for Mr. Jensen's history exam, so she asked Clark to cover her shift at the teen crisis hot-line. Clark starts working with Pete and the first call he gets is a message from Lana. Someone is chasing her with a gun. Clark hears a shot and rushes to the Talon to find Lana studying with Chloe, unharmed.
The next morning, Sheriff Adams reviews the tape. She promises to look into it but admits that prank calls are a low priority, so Clark takes the tape to Chloe for analysis. She determines that the call was not pieced together. Lana figures out that the background noise is rain. Clark uses his super hearing to pick out Adam's voice in the distance. He also finds a bit of a radio broadcast of a Metropolis Vipers game. When they piece together the clues they determine that Lana's phone call is from the future.
Lex confronts Lionel.
Meanwhile Lex confronts Lionel with a vial of the blood-serum and papers describing that the trials have so far resulted in patients whose minds remain conscious while their bodies deteriorate. Lionel thinks he wants to shut the project down, but Lex wants to be put in charge of it. Lionel responds by going behind Lex's back and confiscating the blood platelets and ordering Teng to clear out the lab by the end of the day under threat of deportation. Lionel plans to move the lab to another location. The first thing Dr. Teng does after Lionel leaves with the serum is to visit Adam Knight. She gives him an injection and explains that they are shutting down the lab, but she can't take him with her, and Lionel has taken all the medicine. His injection will wear off in 12 hours. He is filled with rage and desperation and takes it out on Teng by strangling her to death. The other lab techs realize what he's done and try to stop him from leaving. In response, he kills all of them.
Clark goes to the mansion to tell Lex about the phone call from the future and ask about Adam. He admits that he knows Lex was at the lab with Dr. Teng. Lex agrees to take Clark to the lab and show him that Adam is there and that he can't leave. When they arrive, they find Dr. Teng and the seven lab techs all dead, but Adam is not there. Lex accuses Lionel of having them killed. Lionel tries to put Lex in charge of the cleanup, but Lex refuses.
Adam steals a phone.
Clark goes to the Talon to tell Lana what they found. Chloe's contact at the phone company tracked down the blocked number that Lana called from. Chloe had to switch her long distance service, but she discovered that the call came from the cell phone of Gwen Burton. Clark suggests that Lana hide out at the Kent Farm, while he tries to track down Mrs. Burton. She works at the medical center in accounts receivable. She loaned her phone to her husband. Clark asks her to call him, and she does so, just as Adam hits him over the head and steals his phone and car. Clark superspeeds to his location, but he is too late.
Kent Farm during a storm.
Clark calls Chloe at the Kent Farm and tells her that the phone was stolen. A storm is brewing, and Chloe decides to go to the Torch to listen to the police scanner. Jonathan insists that she take his truck. He doesn't want her to get stuck crossing the creek in her little car. Clark is at the mansion when Detective Cage of the Metropolis Police Department arrives to search the grounds for evidence relating to the eight homicides committed at Metron labs. Lex tries to send Clark away, but Detective Cage insists that he remain to answer a few questions.
Adam shoots Lana (again).
Adam confronts Chloe to get Lana's location, believing she has the serum he left in his apartment, but she refuses to betray Lana. He notices that she is driving the Kent's pickup and guesses that Lana is hiding out there, despite her denial, as he recognizes the licence plate.
The Kent pickup truck arrives at the Kent Farm. Jonathan sees Chloe in the front seat and Lana wonders why she isn't coming inside. Jonathan goes out to investigate and tells Lana to lock the door behind him. Chloe is actually tied up, and she tries to warn him but he can't hear her over the rain. Adam sneaks behind Jonathan and hits him over the head while the girls looks on helplessly and takes his rifle. He throws Chloe out of the car and threatens to kill both of them unless Lana takes him to the storage facility where she stashed his stuff. When they get there, the vials are missing from their hiding place inside one of his books. He is furious and accuses her of stealing them. They struggle until she is able to steal the phone and run away.
Adam dies.
Prognosis: terminal
Detective Cage has surveillance video of Lex with Dr. Teng in the lab. When they find memos, signed by Lex as acting director of the lab, he realizes that he is being set up. When Clark realizes that the basketball game is approaching the point he heard on the phone, he excuses himself and rushes to the farm to find Martha tending to Chloe. Then he rushes to the teen crisis center just in time to answer Lana's call, but a power line crashes on top of the telephone service box. There is an electrical short and meteor rocks nearby, possibly the reason for the time-warp. Clark takes the phone out into the rain and lifts the power pole high enough to pull the lines out of the puddle with the meteor rocks. Then he is able to ask Lana where she is and he superspeeds to her location just in time to take the bullet for her.
Lionel contemplates suicide.
Adam collapses. Clark approaches and Adam tells him that he saw him take the bullet. Now he knows why Lionel sent him to watch Clark, but its too late. Adam predicts that Lionel will not stop pursuing Clark and it would only be a matter of time before he discovers his secret.
Meanwhile, back at the mansion Detective Cage has decided that he has enough evidence to place Lex under arrest. Just as he is putting on the cuffs, Agent Loder arrives from the FBI. In exchange for immunity, Lex offers to help bring down Lionel. Lionel brings in a new doctor to manage the project, claiming he has a liver disease that is killing him and time is imperative – a claim confirmed as Lionel reviews his medical records and considers suicide.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Tom Welling as Clark Kent
- Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
- Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
- Sam Jones III as Pete Ross
- Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
- John Glover as Lionel Luthor
- Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
- John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Guest Starring[]
- Ian Somerhalder as Adam Knight
- Gary Hudson as FBI Agent Frank Loder
- Françoise Yip as Dr. Lia Teng
- Terry Chen as Detective Paul Cage
- Camille Mitchell as Sheriff Nancy Adams
Co-Starring[]
- Aaron Pearl as Len Burton
- Johannah Newmarch as Gwen Burton
- Deryl Hayes as Detective
- Cedric De Souza as Dr. Burgeon
- Renee Janssen as Flirting Girl at Smallville Youth Center
Featured Music[]
- "Maybe" - Jim Gorman
- "Coming Around" - Melodine
- "Les Pecheurs De Perles (Je Crois Entendre Encore)" - Georges Bizet
Title[]
- A crisis is a dangerous situation or condition.
- The title refers to the crisis Lana is in after Clark hears a phone call in which she is killed by Adam Knight.
- The title also refers to the situation Lex is in after being framed for the murders at Metron Labs by Lionel.
- The title could also be a reference to the Teen Crisis Hotline, where the time-traversing call was made to.
Notes[]
Clark can hear Adam.
- Antagonist: Adam Knight
- Clark uses the following abilities in this episode: invulnerability, super-strength, super-speed, X-ray vision, super-hearing and accelerated vision
- Clark could have used his super hearing to identify which way the van, stolen by Adam Knight, went, but as he never heard that van being driven before, he couldn't tell which car it is.
- The van Adam stole had the license plate 'DDI 035', which is the license plate of Principal Kwan's car, featured in the episode Crush.
- This is the second episode to show Clark's ability to literally change destiny, the first being Hereafter.
- The gun used by Lionel to contemplate suicide is a Smith & Wesson 5906 with a squared trigger guard.
- This episode marks the 12th appearance of Clark's red jacket and blue shirt outfit, which he wears frequently throughout the series.
Trivia[]
- This is the 7th and last episode to feature Ian Somerhalder as Adam Knight. He is tied with Dr. Harden, Grant Gabriel, Gina, Jeff Hage, and Faora (clone) as the 10th most frequently seen recurring character in the series after Jor-El, Nancy Adams, Brainiac, Emil Hamilton, Ethan Miller, John Jones, Nell Potter, George and Helen Bryce. Adam, Dr. Harden, Grant, Gina, Jeff, and Faora are the most frequently seen recurring characters in the series who are tied with each other in the number of episodes in which they appeared.
- This episode was aired with a 'parental discretion advised' warning at the beginning, the first episode to do so.
Allusions[]
- Clark "explains" to Chloe that he can hear so well because he missed too many Linkin Park concerts. Linkin Park is an American rock band that formed in 1996 and their former lead singer, Chester Bennington is shown to scream during his songs, which would cause anyone who attends their concerts to have their hearing shot afterward. Obviously, this was a lie because he has superhearing.
Quotes[]
- Clark: (Clark picks up the phone) Teen Crisis HotLine
- Lana: Clark!
- Clark: Lana?
- Lana: Clark it's happening! Are you there?!
- Clark: Lana?
- Lana: He has a gun!
- Lana: Clark please help me!
- Clark: Lana? Lana what?
- Clark: Lana?! Lana?!
Adam shoots Lana.
- Clark: Lana didn't have anything to do with this.
- Sheriff Adams: You know, unless Miss Lang has grown several inches and developed an affinity for plaid, this would be a good time for you to pipe down.
- Lana: Why would anyone do that?
- Sheriff Adams: If I had the answer to half the "whys" in this town, I'd have a best seller on my hands.
- Lionel: Oh, Lex, I don't have time for 20 questions.
- Lionel: Lex, even if I were the demonic father you've made me out to be, you know I would never do anything so sloppy.
- Detective Cage: It seems that the memo sent by you was the acting director of the lab?
- Lex: I've never seen this before.
- Detective Cage: (sarcastic) Amazing how that always happens.
- Lex: I'm being set up.
- Detective Cage: And they're doing a pretty damned good job of it. Take a breather, think about it if you want to stick to that story.
- Detective Cage: Look kid, your friend's been running off at the mouth for over an hour and 'fessing up, so don't try to play the hero.
- Clark: You're bluffing! He didn't admit anything because he didn't do anything.
- Detective Cage: You really think that? Something tells me that you don't know your friend as well as a you think you do.
External links[]
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