Metallo
From Smallville Wiki
| Metallo | |
|---|---|
| |
| Series | 9x02 |
| Episode | 176 |
| Writer | Don Whitehead and Holly Henderson |
| Director | Mairzee Almas |
| Broadcast Date | October 2, 2009 |
| Navigation | |
| Previous Episode: Savior
Next Episode: Rabid | |
Contents |
[edit] Summary
After being struck by a truck, John Corben wakes up alone in an abandoned apartment as a man-machine with a kryptonite heart. Corben realizes he now has superhuman strength and sets out to exact revenge on the Red-Blue Blur, who he perceives to be an irresponsible vigilante. Against Clark's wishes, Lois involves herself in the Red-Blue Blur's investigation, and winds up getting kidnapped by Corben.
[edit] Recap
Lois knocks on the backdoor of the Kent Farm house, in hopes of finding Clark. She finds the place to be abandoned, with dust on the counter; however, someone has been assuring that Shelby is well-fed. Lois receives a call on her cell phone from her new Daily Planet co-worker John Corben, who is still out looking for a story. After asking Lois out twice and being rejected both times, he begins to question Lois's flawless impression of the Blur, who has once again performed his vigilante duties and left his mark. John is determined that the Blur has a dark side, and vows to expose it as he stares at a wallet-sized photograph. He ends his conversation with Lois there, and a gust of wind blows the picture into the street.
As John goes to retrieve it, he steps out between two parked cars and is hit by a large truck. As he bleeds out heavily onto the street, he still attempts to reach for the photograph. He sees a flash of light before waking up on an operating table, in a lot of pain. John removes the bandage around his upper arm to find it now half-comprised of metal, with a tube of kryptonite inserted into his arm. Surrounded by bloody curtains and LuthorCorp crates, he shouts "Hello?" with no answer. He walks over to a mirror and removes the blood-soaked gauze on his chest to reveal an artificial kryptonite matrix surgically implanted into his chest, glowing green. It begins pulsing faster and faster as he begins to panic.
Clark stands on the ledge near the top of the Daily Planet building as he listens for trouble. He overhears people preparing for the day and a marriage proposal, before super speeding off to answer a police scanner call. Asleep in Chloe's apartment at the Talon, Lois has another dream like the one in Savior, appearing to include the exact same scenes as the first one. Shelby wakes her and Chloe comes home, surprised that Lois brought the dog home with her. Chloe reveals she's been taking care of Shelby in Clark's absence. As their conversation changes subjects to the Blur, Lois nonchalantly reveals she's been communicating with the Blur exclusively. Chloe is noticeably bothered by this.
Chloe returns Shelby to the Kent Farm and confronts Clark when he returns home to feed the dog. She points out that she covered for him, although he needs to be more careful for had it been Lois that was at his house, she'd have seen the House of El mark on his shirt and known his identity. Chloe asks why Clark is still contacting Lois, and tells him that if he's going to abandon his "human attachments," then he needs to recognize the sacrifices already made by the two of them and finish the training he's set out to accomplish.
John admits himself into the hospital, and is evaluated by Dr. Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton informs John that the bionic additions surgically implanted in him are not able to be removed, since whoever performed the surgery on him had removed his heart, and the kryptonite matrix is the only thing keeping him alive. When the hospital personnel prepare to sedate him, John throws an orderly and Dr. Hamilton, proving that the modifications done to his body have given him super strength.
Lois visits Tess Mercer at the Luthor Mansion, and they recall the fight they had prior to Lois's disappearance. Tess had fired Lois from her position at the Daily Planet, but Lois has come to blackmail Tess into giving her the job back by threatening to run a story on the Luthors in the Metropolis Inquisitor. As Lois leaves with her job secured, Stuart, an employee of Tess's, enters and shows Tess that he's pinpointed the missing Kryptonians' locations.
Meanwhile, Clark super-speeds to the hospital after hearing about the hospital incident over a police scanner. Dr. Hamilton briefs him and says that while the kryptonite in John's body is significantly affecting his abilities, it is also boosting his adrenaline and therefore intensifying his emotions. This comes into play as John wonders around downtown Metropolis, while the conversation he had with Lois before his accident replays in his head. John finds the picture he had previously dropped near a street drain, and upon seeing the Blur's mark again, comes to the conclusion that the accident and surgery were a gift...that ultimately gave him the ability to finally kill the Blur.
Clark, after finding a keychain John left behind at the hospital, concludes he works at the Daily Planet. He contacts Lois from the hospital, in an attempt to get information that could lead to identifying the bionic villain. They agree to meet at the usual phone booth that night. Chloe visits Lois at work to grab lunch, but sees she's not at her desk. Lois has been asked by the Blur if she noticed anyone who didn't have their keys on them, since the patient who caused the incident in the hospital earlier had left theirs. While Lois sets off to try and find who is missing their keys and likely the suspect, Chloe takes the opportunity to scan Lois's hard drive and finds spyware. Lois returns and dismisses Chloe's lunch request rather quickly, stating she's busy helping the Blur and can't go out.
Tess and Stuart investigate the room in which John awoke in earlier, and see that the people performing surgery in there were testing something and are possibly still monitoring the test subject to see if it would work. She then states that Zod and his people are one step closer to getting their powers.
Lois and John are back at work late that evening. John seems more frustrated than practical about not being able to locate some electronic records. Since they're in the process of being moved, Lois suggests that he find their hard-copy counterparts in the archive room and questions what it is he's looking for. After telling her that he's looking for records on the Blur, John asks to use her keys, since he forgot his somewhere. Lois gives hers to him and tells him that she should go, before quickly jogging to the phone booth to answer the Blur's call. She is able to tell the Blur about John Corben's identity, but is immediately kidnapped by John.
Clark meets with Chloe at the Watchtower, where they are able to uncover a video John had recorded for his sister Rebecca while overseas. She had been murdered three months prior, before John had returned to the United States. Upon his return, he bought the building in which Rebecca was killed; Clark and Chloe believe that John is holding Lois there. Clark tells Chloe of his plan: he's obtained an EMP bomb which will disable all electronics within 50 feet. He plans to use it in order to get close enough to John and defeat him.
John asks Lois who the Blur is, and promises her freedom if she tells him. Lois attempts to hit him with a wrench, but he throws her into some pipes and knocks her unconscious. Clark shows up and begins to approach John; however, John's kryptonite heart forces him to keep his distance. John explains the grudge he holds against the Blur: a prison bus had crashed, and in the confusion, an inmate escaped. That inmate went on to murder Rebecca, therefore making the Blur responsible for her death in John's mind. Clark tries to explain to him that his thoughts are being influenced by the kryptonite and then rolls the EMP bomb. The EMP bomb temporarily neutralizes the kryptonite matrix powering John, and Clark is able to get to Lois. He attempts to wake her, but before he is able to do so, John recovers and throws Clark to the opposite end of the room. John tells Clark that he's going to show him what it feels like to lose somebody he (Clark) loves, and moves toward Lois. Clark finds a lead plate which he partially melts/softens with his heat vision, then super-speeds at John and molds it to his chest. When John attempts to remove it, he removes the kryptonite heart with it and collapses dead. Lois awakens to see the Blur's silhouette and asks to see his face. After taking a step forward, Clark waits for a moment and super-speeds away.
Clark returns to the Watchtower and apologizes to Chloe for not being there for her when she needed him after Jimmy's death. He confesses that he has his doubts, but can't let go of the human life he's been trying to leave behind. Chloe reveals that the spyware she found on Lois's work computer was loaded by Tess; she believes Tess gave Lois her job back to find out where she was when she disappeared for three weeks. Chloe then insists that Clark ensures Tess doesn't get to Lois's memories before he does, since Tess already knows too much about him as it is.
Clark finally returns to work at the Daily Planet, and Lois is ecstatic that he's back. She claims she wouldn't have noticed his absence if it weren't for the fact his replacement was a psychopath. Clark asks for Lois to tell him the story after she brags that she helped the Blur, and so she takes a seat to tell him what he "missed," much to his amusement.
At the Luthor Mansion, Tess looks over the kryptonite heart that served as John's life support, in awe of the power it was able to provide despite its modest size. Stuart enters to show Tess pictures he found of Kryptonian symbols that appeared around the world when Zod arrived. He explains that while their definitive translations aren't known, the designs showed similarities to the Kryptonian words for "blood," "nobility" and "family." Hundreds of these symbols have shown up around the world, proving there are plenty more of Zod's people out there. Stuart shows that one symbol is the mark of the House of El, and upon zooming in to it, it is revealed that there is a man lying inside the crest on the ground.
[edit] Recurring roles
- Dr. Emil Hamilton - Alessandro Juliani
- John Corben - Brian Austin Green
- Randall Brady - Stephen Lobo
- Stuart Campbell - Ryan McDonell
[edit] Episode Title
- Metallo is a DC Comics character who was turned into a cyborg that is powered by kryptonite after a car accident. (Source:Comicvine)
[edit] Notes
- Major Zod and Oliver Queen do not appear in this episode.
- This episode follows the format of a classic freak of the week episode: a human gains kryptonite-based powers, becomes psychotic, and then Clark Kent defeats him in battle.
[edit] Continuity
- John Corben first appeared in Savior.
- Clark mentions Lex's projects involving cyborgs that occurred in Cyborg.
- Shelby was last seen in Instinct.
- Lois refers to Shelby as a female again. She first made this mistake in Stiletto.
- Tess and Lois reference their fight, which happened in Doomsday.
- Clark returns to work at the Daily Planet in this episode.
[edit] Quotes
- Lois: Well, it looks like the night shift finally clocked in. What happened, try to shave in your sleep?
- John: Why do the electronic records in this place only go back a year?
- Lois: Hello. Lois. Banter, banter, banter. What happened, did your snappy patter set with the sun?
- Chloe: Lois stopped by and found Shelby here alone with a dish full of food. Now, don't worry, I covered for you. But you should know that you are *now* on her radar.
- Clark: Thanks. I'll be more careful next time.
- Chloe: Dressed like that? Clark, what if I was Lois? She would take one look at you and realize Clark Kent *is* the Blur.
- Clark: I told you, there *is* no Clark Kent.
- Chloe: No disrespect to your Kryptonian calling, but coming back to feed the dog is about as human as it gets.
- John: (to Clark) Control myself? That's easy for you to say. It doesn't take...much to stay in control when you watch from the shadows. You stand apart from the world...while the rest of us live in it. Even when it breaks your heart.
- Lois: Clark Kent, you're back! I was beginning to think your family lived on some distant planet.
- Clark: Must have really missed me.
- Lois: Uh, only because the guy who sat in your desk was a certifiable psychopath. Otherwise, I've been so busy, I didn't even notice you were gone.
- Clark: Missed you, too, Lois.
[edit] External Links
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