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"Infamous" is the fifteenth episode in the eighth season of Smallville, and the one hundred-sixty-seventh episode overall. It aired on March 12, 2009.

Summary[]

Linda Lake returns to Metropolis and threatens to expose Clark's secret unless he promises to give her exclusive information on the Red-Blue Blur so she can become a star reporter again. Refusing to be blackmailed, Clark tells Lois his secret and asks her to write his story for the Daily Planet.

Recap[]

→ see also Category:Screencaps from episode 8x15

LindaLakeReturns

Linda Lake is back.

Lois gets out of a taxi in the pouring rain with two suitcases, and when Clark shows up, she complains that she waited 3 hours for him at the airport. Clark apologizes for not having been there.

As Lois walks into the Daily Planet, Linda Lake suddenly appears behind Clark. She reveals that there isn't a worse prison than where she's been. She says she's been living two years underground, and that she knows that Clark is the Red-Blue Blur and wants to expose him. She shows Clark a story she's been writing and threatens to blackmail him in order to regain her fame and critical acclaim. Clark tries to grab Linda Lake, but she turns into water and disappears.

Chloe visits Clark in his barn, and Clark tells her about Linda Lake's threat. Suddenly, after some thought and discussion of his options, Clark decides that he will reveal his secrets to the world, on his terms. When Chloe seems doubtful, Clark says that as the world accepted "The Red-Blue Blur", there's a chance that they will accept him. Clark says that for the first time in his life, he may actually be able to be himself. Chloe insecurely smiles.

At Metropolis Hospital, a nurse called Toni goes into the medicine storeroom and Davis is standing there. Davis has his pockets full of pills, and the nurse asks him what he is doing. Davis replies that he is an EMT. The nurse asks him to explain why he has taken so many pills, and he says that he is restocking his rig. The nurse reads the name of the pills: 'Anti-psychotics', used for treating people with multiple personality disorders. The nurse apologizes and says that she hopes that whoever needs it gets it. Davis says, "So do I" and prepares takes some of the pills.

CKcatchesLois

Clark reveals his secret to Lois.

At the Daily Planet, Clark watches Lois as she works. He decides to ask her to write his story. He says that he didn't forget to pick Lois up at the airport and the reason he wasn't there was that he was protecting people and that he is the Red-Blue Blur. Lois laughs, disbelievingly thinking it's just an excuse and goes into a room to restock her papers. She steps up on a table and tries to reach for the paper, but she can't reach it. To demonstrate what he can do, Clark helps her by lifting up the table with one hand. Lois looks shocked, and when Clark lets go of the table Lois falls into his arms, and says "I guess I should stop calling you Smallville..."

Lois locks the door to the room she and Clark are in. She asks why she is the first person Clark told. Clark admits that Lana and Chloe have known it for years. Lois then begins to inquire what "guns" Clark has in his arsenal. Clark then tells her about his powers: that he can blast fire out of his eyes; he can hear a dog barking from 10 miles away; he can see through solid objects, which alarms Lois; and that he can run faster than the speed of sound. Once again, Clark asks her to write the story. Lois agrees, thinking he is a meteor freak, which prompts Clark to tell her where he's really from.

Infamous326

Clark is asked for an autograph.

The very next day's Daily Planet's front page reads: "CLARK KENT: ALIEN FROM KRYPTON". Clark is walking down the street observing the reactions of people as they see him. A newspaper vendor gives Clark a paper for free, and a little kid asks him for his autograph. Everywhere Clark goes, people smile, applaud, scream and take pictures of him. One fanatical girl deliberately jumps from a balcony and calls out for Clark to catch her, which he does. Suddenly he is surrounded by the media, and Linda Lake appears and says that she will have the last word after he scooped her.

Chloe asks nurse Toni about Jimmy being transferred into the hospital. Toni says that he isn't there and says that the hospital is full because of the paparazzi following Chloe, the alien's best friend. Chloe sees Davis and asks to talk to him about "what happened" between them. Davis thinks that she is talking about when she was Brainiac-infected, but she meant when Davis kissed her. She admits that she deleted all the messages that Davis sent her on her wedding day without checking them. Davis says it's dangerous having the kind of relationship they have, and Chloe leaves. Another nurse comes by with that day's Daily Planet and incredulously asks Davis if he actually knows her, explaining that Chloe is the Kryptonian's best friend. As Davis heard from Brainiac-infected-Chloe that his destiny was to kill "the other Kryptonian", he silently mumbles "Kryptonian..."

Linda then goes to see the Daily Planet's City Editor, Randall Brady and tells him that she has a story for him. Randall dismisses her, saying that the Daily Planet does not care for gossip columns anymore and he suggests that she gets a new career. She says it's about the alien, which arouses his interest.

BulletproofCK

Clark getting shot at by police.

In the Kent farmhouse, Clark is talking on the phone to Martha, who warns she may be forced to go on leave as a Senator. Chloe makes her way through paparazzi at the door and announces that Clark and Lois have been given penthouse offices at the Daily Planet. Then they notice a news broadcast on TV of an anguished mother whose husband died when Clark wasn't there, making Clark feel bad that he can't be there for everyone. Chloe reveals that Linda was held at Black Creek and her power can be neutralized by electricity. They suddenly see on TV that Linda has called a press conference, where she announces that Clark is the first wave of an alien invasion, not a savior. She tells the press that the real hero was Lex Luthor, whom Clark killed. Soon afterwards, federal agents arrive. Clark refuses to leave and goes outside to confront them while Chloe slips out the back door.

The feds question Clark about how he came to Earth and the accusation that he killed Lex. He denies killing Lex, but the head agent tells him that they will need to run some tests on him. Clark gets angry and says that nobody will be running any tests. However, more agents come in to accost him and when he throws one across the room, they all open fire on Clark. He allows the bullets to bounce off his chest before he super-speeds away.

Clark catches up with Chloe and says that they need to leave Smallville and hide until the media fuss dies down. He says he will find her later and that he plans to use the Legion ring to go back in time. Chloe warns Clark that he may also change something else, but he insists he must stop Linda Lake before she can blackmail him. But Linda Lake is hiding in the undergrowth listening.

NotEasyBeingGreen

Clark's exposed to kryptonite.

Randall comes down to the basement of the Daily Planet and shows Lois the story by Linda on the front page, accusing Clark of the murder of Lex Luthor.

Lois gets in the elevator on her way to protest to Tess, but finds herself with Linda, who is thrilled that people have turned on Clark.

Lois barges into Tess' office, only to find the agents waiting for her, but before they can arrest her, Clark super-speeds her away.

They arrive at the barn, and Clark tells her that he can make everything go away by using the Legion ring, but Lois urges him to stay and fight back. She says that she understands his decision but is disappointed that she will not know his secret if he resets the time, and suspects that he won't tell her the next time. Clark goes to find the ring in his toolbox, but is exposed to kryptonite planted by Linda, who comes out of hiding and knocks Lois out.

At Isis, Chloe is deleting all data from the computers and shredding papers. Davis stumbles in and says he can't stop it and says he's built up a tolerance to the anti-psychotic pills. He remembers that Brainiac told him it was his destiny to destroy Clark, and that he's a Kryptonian as well. Chloe now realizes that he is Doomsday, and Davis tells her to warn Clark. He then starts to transform and tells her to run. She runs.

As she runs along the street, Chloe phones Lois and leaves a voice message to Clark that Davis is Doomsday. She gets into her car, but Doomsday has caught up and shakes the car about before he rips off the car door.

DavisDoomsday

Davis transforms into Doomsday.

As Clark lies helpless on the floor of the barn, Linda shows him that she has the Legion ring and tells him that she plans to go into the future and find out big stories before they happen, which will restart her career. Lois then awakens and tackles Linda. They tussle until Lois knocks Linda out. Clark grabs the Legion ring as Lois picks up her message from Chloe, but she can only say "Davis..." before Clark disappears.

"Two days earlier", Clark reappears in his barn, now alone, and quickly leaves.

[After Clark has reset hit timeline], Clark goes to see Linda at her apartment and shows her the story he has written about the murders she committed and says she is going to jail. She attempts to escape, but Clark electrocutes her to neutralize her power and keep her in her human form.

CKfriesLinda

Clark uses electricity to keep Linda in her human form

Lois steps out of Clark's truck; this time, he has picked her up from the airport. He agrees that things got crazy during the wedding party and Lois suggests they forget everything they discussed there. She invites him for coffee later but says it'll be okay whether he comes or doesn't.

SmotheringLinda

Davis murders Linda.

Clark, being the only one who remembers the previous timeline, tells Chloe what happened and how he thought things would work out when he told Lois about his secret. Chloe suggests that he should create a separate identity to fight crime. Clark insists that this time he won't tell Lois and says that he has destroyed the Legion ring. Chloe wonders what might have changed this time.

Nurse Toni goes into the medicine storeroom and Davis is standing there. Davis has his pockets full of pills, and the nurse asks him what he is doing. Davis replies that he is one of the EMTs. Unlike the other timeline, Toni then tells him that a patient is asking for him. He goes to the criminal containment room and finds Linda Lake. She says she knows his secret, telling him to unleash the beast and break her out of her chains. He warns her to stop, but when Linda goads him, he begins to transform and smothers Linda to death, causing him to stop transforming. He leaves the room and throws away the pills.

Lois waits for Clark at a table outside the coffee shop. Out of her sight, Clark is standing across the street, watching her. He sends her a text message saying he can't make it because he is caught up at work. She replies saying she couldn't make it either. Clark walks away as Lois continues to sit at the table with her coffee, dejected.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special Guest Star[]

Co-Starring[]

Uncredited[]

  • Uncredited actress as Jess

Mentioned[]

Featured Music[]

  • "Dreamer" - Uh Huh Her

Title[]

  • Infamous means, "having an exceedingly bad reputation; notorious." It also has a legal definition: "Punishable by severe measures, such as death, long imprisonment, or loss of civil rights."
  • In this episode, Clark becomes "infamous" when he gets Lois to reveal his secret to the world and Linda Lake accuses him of murdering Lex Luthor and being the first of an "alien invasion."

Notes[]

Clark-curl

Clark's curl

  • Clark has a curl in his hair while revealing his secret to Lois in the paper room. This foreshadows his future identity as Superman. However, this could be purely incidental as it does appear like his hair has simply fallen on that side from whatever product was used not maintaining its hold in that particular take.
    • The supposed curl is only visible during one very brief scene and not during most of the time while Clark is telling Lois his true story.
    • The curl reappears in the scene when Clark and Chloe are talking after Clark reset time using the Legion ring.
  • Clark going back in time because he made a bad decision is similar to what happened in Season Five's Reckoning in which he tells Lana his secret.
  • This is the fourth time that time travel has been featured on Smallville. The other times were Reckoning, Apocalypse and Legion.
  • When Clark reveals to Lois that he has X-ray vision, she crosses her arms over her chest, covering it. Chloe pulled her vest over her chest in the same way in Blank when Clark told her.
  • Though Martha wasn't seen in this episode, she was mentioned when Clark talked to her on the phone. Although she has been mentioned since, the last person depicted speaking to her on the phone was Lionel Luthor in Season Seven's Wrath.
  • This is the fourth time that Lois has learned Clark's secret. The first three times were in Spell, Blank and Crimson.
  • When Lois finds out about Clark's secret, she says that she shouldn't call him 'Smallville' anymore. She said the same thing in Blank before her memory was erased.
  • As in Recruit, Clark doesn't act like someone who just lost "the love of your life" in the previous episode. Pariah would be equivalent to Requiem in this way. Anyways, as Chloe stated that Clark "buried himself in the patrol duty since Lana left", we can assume that this episode more than likely takes place weeks afterwards and that Clark has probably already recovered from Lana's departure.
  • The plot is similar to that of fellow WB series Charmed season 3 episode "all hell breaks loose" in which the world finds out about the Charmed one's powers and the chaos that follows, resulting in them turning back time to before anyone found out.

In Other Media[]

  • Lois doing Clark's interview about his origins and heritage is a direct reference to the interview from Superman: The Movie.
  • The newspaper article mentions that Clark's powers include "the ability to travel faster than a speeding bullet, leap tall buildings in a single bound..."
  • In DC Universe television series of The Flash there is a character named Linda Lake in the 11th episode Beat the Clock.
  • While Clark has always been bulletproof, this episode first clearly shows glowing bullets bouncing off him in normal speed, similar to a scene in Superman Returns.

Continuity[]

  • Linda Lake appeared in Season Six's Hydro. She was presumed dead after Lana hit her with her car and Linda turned into water, but she somehow survived.
  • Chloe mentions Lana leaving Clark, which happened in Requiem. Also, Clark uses the Legion Ring but doesn't set it far back to stop Lana from getting powers possibly because he doesn't want to change destiny as he learned his lesson from Reckoning and sees Lana with powers a positive thing.
  • Clark was given the Legion ring by Rokk Krinn in Legion.
  • In the time period that is later erased when Clark uses the ring, Clark informed Lois that it was he who saved her from the speeding car, in Identity. He also told her that he caused the barn door to fly off its hinges, which occurred in Sneeze.
  • Davis and Chloe discuss the kiss they shared, which occurred in Abyss.
  • Davis mentions being in the Arctic with Chloe, which happened in Legion.
  • Chloe talks to Lois about Doomsday's attack on her wedding day, which happened in Bride.
  • This episode marks the 86th appearance of Clark's red jacket and blue shirt outfit, which he wears frequently throughout the series.
  • Before Clark went back in time, Lois tried telling him that Davis is actually Doomsday, although she was cut-off by Clark teleporting and thus, he did not hear her. He later discovers Davis' alter-ego in Eternal.
  • Davis and Doomsday were both last seen in Legion.

Locations[]

Quotes[]

Lois: You're a reporter, Smallville. You're not saving the world.

Clark: Can I talk to you?
Lois: Wow, what is that noise? Is someone talking?
Clark: Lois, you can't ignore me forever.
Lois: Could be worse. You could be ignored in a three-hour downpour.

Clark: Chloe, I always thought that I would live in secret forever. But you convinced me that Jimmy's picture of the Red-Blue Blur was a symbol of hope.

Clark: For the first time in my life, I may actually be able to be myself.

Clark: That thing that saved you from the speeding car, that was me. That time the barn door flew off its hinges, you thought it was a weather anomaly? I did that.
Lois: Yeah, right. What'd you do, sneeze?
Clark: Actually...

Clark: (to Lois) You're speechless. That's never a good thing.

Lois: You're like... a hero?
Clark: Look, Lois, this is a lot to take in all at once, but I wanted you to hear it from me before you heard it from anyone else.
Lois: So why am I the first one you told?
Clark: Actually, Lois... you're not. Lana and Chloe already know.
Lois: Oh. Someone's had a busy morning.
Clark: They've known for years.
Lois: Right. Of course.

Lois: What guns you got in your arsenal?
Clark: (sighs) I guess I might as well just throw it all out there. I can blast fire out of my eyes.
Lois: Okay...
Clark: I can hear a dog barking from ten miles away. I can see through solid objects, and I can run faster than the speed of sound.
Lois: Wait. Rewind. (discreetly covers herself) Expand on your whole... see-through-things... thing.

Lois: Tomorrow's front page will tell the tale of the red-and-blue, meteor-infected hero.
Clark: About the meteors... we should talk about where I'm from.

Lois: How can someone with X-ray vision be so blind?

Clark: The world isn't ready to accept someone like me.

Chloe: (referring to the paparazzi) It's like the Beatles have landed in Smallville.

Chloe: You know, Clark, maybe you can have your cape and wear it, too. Say that Clark Kent, the unassuming journalist, buttoned up in a starched shirt and tie, but then, when he's playing the hero, he —
Clark: — steps out of the shadow into his red and blue, creating two completely separate identities?

Lake: You may have scooped me... but I will have the last word.

Lois: (to Lake) You see a parade and you just have to rain on it, don't you. You can't stand the fact that there are actually good people in this world.

Lois: People looked up to him. He could have been the hero they always needed.
Lake: Funny thing about people — the only thing they love more than building up heroes is tearing them down.

Clark: This sounds crazy, but in a few moments, this will all be over.
Lois: Okay, well, try me. My shock threshold is pretty high right now.

Clark: This time, it will be different, Lois. When I do this, no one's going to remember who I am.
Lois: And when you hit your reset button... you're not going to tell me your secret, are you?
Clark: I'm sorry.
Lois: It's okay. Why should I think I'm special? Clark, I understand.
Clark: Lois, you don't understand. It's because you are special.

Clark: Controlling time is too dangerous, Chloe. It always comes at a price.
Chloe: Trust me, I'm thrilled that you got a page-one rewrite. But it kind of makes me wonder what might have changed this time.

Davis: You must have blacked it out. You were in the Arctic with me. You told me it was my destiny to kill the other Kryptonian.
Chloe: What are you saying, Davis, the other Kryptonian? There's only one Kryptonian. There's only Clark.
Davis: I am Kryptonian.
Chloe: (backs away in realization) You're Doomsday.
Davis: I was sent to this planet to kill Clark.
Chloe: You stay away from him.
Davis: You have to warn him, Chloe.

Clark: My father sent me here with a dying wish that I use my abilities to protect mankind. It's what I've always done, it's what I'm going to continue to do.

Lois: Some people spend their entire lives looking for a way to stand out. To be a person that anybody would call special.

External links[]


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Screencaps: Season 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10

CategoriesMain Characters · Relationships · Villains

ComicsThe Comic · Season 11 · Miniseries


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