Reckoning

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Reckoning
Series	5x12
Episode	100
Writer	Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson
Director	Greg Beeman
Broadcast Date	January 26, 2006
Production Code	2T6412
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Contents 1 Summary 2 Recap 3 Recurring Role 4 Featured Music 5 Episode Title 6 Notes 7 Continuity 8 Quotes 9 External Links

[edit] Summary

Jonathan and Lex learn the results of the senatorial election. Clark makes a fateful decision to reveal his secret to Lana, but Jor-El makes good on his prediction that Clark will lose a loved one forever.

[edit] Recap

Clark is sitting in his loft holding a piece of coal. He looks like he is seriously contemplating something very important. Lana appears behind him, and says she's ready to go wherever he promised to take her, but she can't figure out why she needs snow gear. He takes her to the Kawatche Caves and they are transported to the Fortress of Solitude. Lana is in shock as she looks around at the Fortress. Clark then reveals his powers to her by lifting her into his arms and making a super-powered leap onto a cliff above them. They land, and she asks how many times was he there saving her life without her knowing. Clark then surprises her again as he crushes the piece of coal and turns it into a diamond, and uses heat vision to seal it into a ring. Then he proposes to her. He tells her she doesn't have to answer right then and says he'll give her some time to think, considering his secret is a big thing to deal with.

They return to Smallville, and Clark tells his parents he proposed to Lana. Jonathan tells him that Clark is old enough to make his own decisions without the advice of his father, and that he and Martha are happy for him. Lana goes to the Talon where she arrives just in time to stop Lois from falling off of a chair. She tells Lois that she has a big decision to make. At the same time, Clark goes to the Daily Planet, and tells Chloe about his proposal. Chloe is surprised, but happy for her friends. She tells him that he is lucky to know so soon exactly what he wants in life. Lana goes to the Kent farm and accepts Clark's proposal.

Lois is holding an election party for Jonathan at the Talon, where they are happy to discover that Jonathan has won his bid against Lex for Kansas State Senator. During the party, Jonathan gets a mysterious call and angrily agrees to meet the caller. Lana gets a call from Lex. She goes to his mansion where he is drunk and depressed over losing the election. He notices Lana's engagement ring and asks Lana why would she accept it when Clark has lied to her so many times. Lex then realizes that Lana knows Clark's secret. Desperate to find out what it is, he grabs her and yells at her. She runs off and Lex follows her.

As Lana speeds away with Lex chasing after her, she calls Clark. She tells him that Lex knows that she knows his secret and tells Clark where she is. Distracted, she turns just in time to see a school bus. The bus slams into her car, causing it to flip several times, killing her. Clark arrives on the scene, speeding past Lex and revealing his secret at the same time. He realizes he's too late to save Lana. Jonathan, on his way to meet the mystery caller, stops on the side of the road and pulls a devastated Clark away from Lana's body, telling him there was nothing he could do.

Clark realizes that Lana's life is the price that Jor-El promised to collect when he resurrected Clark. He goes to the Fortress of Solitude and pleads with him to fix it. Jor-El gives Clark a crystal that will reset the day back to the beginning. However, he warns Clark that fate cannot be stopped, meaning that even if Clark saves Lana, someone else will die. When Clark takes the crystal, he is suddenly back in his barn holding the piece of coal.

Lana appears behind him just as she did at the start of the episode, and Clark has to make up a reason why he invited her over. Lana quickly realizes Clark is hiding something from her again and she breaks up with him. Depressed, Clark goes to Metropolis and tells Chloe everything, including how he had already lived the day, and about his proposal to Lana. Chloe is shocked to hear about all of it, but promises to keep an eye on Lana to prevent the accident. That night, the election party plays out a bit differently. Clark goes to the party alone, notices Lois' absence, and finds her on the floor of her apartment unconscious. Lana wasn't there to keep her from falling. The ground is covered in water and just as Clark picks up Lois, there's an electrical short and Lois narrowly escapes death. She is sent to the hospital with minor injuries. Lana arrives at the party with Chloe, but Lex still calls, and Lana still goes to Lex's mansion. Again, Lex upsets her. She speeds away, and Lex follows to try to apologize. But this time, Clark stops the bus before it hits Lana. However, he sees Lex consoling Lana about their breakup. This time, Jonathan Kent arrives at his destination, which turns out to be a secret meeting with Lionel Luthor back at the Kent Farm. Lionel shows something to Jonathan that throws him into a rage, and they get into fisticuffs. He dismisses Lionel and laboriously walks into the yard, breathing heavily. Martha and Clark drive up and catch him as he stumbles to the ground. He dies in his wife and son's arms. Clark realizes that just as Jor-El predicted, fate has taken its course. Clark and Martha spend the next day quietly preparing for the funeral. Clark is overcome with guilt, but Martha tells Clark that he can't feel guilty because even if he had the chance, he would never have been able to choose between Jonathan and Lana. He confesses to her that he doesn't know if he can be the man Jonathan wanted him to be without him there to guide him. Martha assures him that he is already becoming a man Jonathan would be proud of.

All of Clark's close friends and several other Smallville residents attend Jonathan's funeral, including the Luthors; Lex stands in the back, unseen. Lana comes over and holds Clark's hand as others leave. Clark is the last person at the grave site. Alone and guilt-ridden, he picks up a handful of dirt and sprinkles it into his father's grave.

[edit] Recurring Role

• Voice of Jor-El- Terence Stamp

[edit] Featured Music

• "You're Beautiful" - James Blunt
• "I Grieve" - Peter Gabriel

[edit] Episode Title

• Reckoning is "an accounting, as for things received or done" or "an appraisal or judgment"
• In this episode, Jonathan's life is taken. This satisfies two debts to Jor-El. In Season 5's Hidden, Jor-El restores Clark's life, telling him that "the life force that has been returned to you will soon be taken from someone you love". Also, in Season 3's Exile, Jonathan told Jor-El he would sacrifice anything for his son; in return, he was given Kryptonian superpowers so that he could retrieve Kal from Metropolis.

[edit] Notes

• This is the 100th episode of the series.
• This is the only episode so far that shows what happens during the transition from the cave to the Fortress when Clark puts the Key into the Kawatche cave table.
• Clark revealing his powers to Lana by making a super-powered leap is similar to Jor-El revealing his powers to Louise McCallum by flying in Relic.
• Clark's crushing the coal into a diamond is a homage to the many times Superman has done this in the comic series, as well as Superman III and in the 1950’s Superman series “Adventures of Superman”, in an episode called ‘Jungle Devil’. For a review of the episode, ‘Jungle Devil’, see Dr. Hermes Reviews.
• When Clark crushes the coal into a diamond and opens his hand, the diamond is already cut and sparkling. Diamonds in the rough require careful cutting and polishing before they become jewelry.
• Lois tells Lana that, "I'd be lucky to end up with someone as honorable as Clark some day." This alludes to Lois and Clark's future marriage in the Superman comics and movies. This future relationship is further alluded to when Lois is nearly electrocuted, suggesting that Jor-El nearly 'took' her life before finally 'settling' on Jonathan.
• The previews for this episode showed Jonathan pinned up against a post by Lionel in the Kent barn, and Lionel punching Jonathan in the face. In the actual episode, it only showed Jonathan punching Lionel.
• When Clark shows he knows everything that happens Chloe calls him "McFly". This is a reference to the Back to the Future trilogy in which the main character Marty McFly travels through time.
• This episode is sometimes edited for content. In the original cut, Lana is shown being thrown about inside the car and her battered body lying outside as Clark kneels next to her. The less-graphic edited version shows only the blood on Clark's hands.
• Promotional pictures for this episode show Clark at the Fortress with Jonathan's body, a scene that was cut, but can be seen on the Season Five DVD set. In the scene, Clark pleads with Jor-El to bring Jonathan back, but Jor-El does not respond.
• When Clark tells Chloe that he has already lived this day, she responds, "What did you do, spin the earth backwards on its axis?" This is a reference to Superman: The Movie, where Superman spins the earth backwards to save Lois Lane's life.
• When Clark is in the cemetery during the funeral, there is a shot of him with a stone angel in the background. Similar shots are shown in every episode where Clark visits a graveyard. ^{[citation needed]}
• Interestingly enough, in the Pilot Jonathan Kent asks Clark if he's okay. When Clark replies "Can I answer that in about 5 years?" Jonathan says "Yeah". But in this episode, Jonathan dies. And it has been 4 and half years.
• When Jonathan wins the election, his name is spelled incorrectly as "Johnathan" on the television in the background.

[edit] Continuity

• At Jonathan's funeral, Clark pick up a handful of dirt and sprinkles it over the grave, something he also does at Lionel's funeral in Descent, suggesting that Clark did regard Lionel as a father in the end.
• This is Clark's first time-traveling adventure. The second is in Apocalypse. The latest instance is in Infamous.
• Lana asked Clark if he believed in life on other planets at the end of Arrival.
• This episode suggests that Jonathan Kent died before he moved to Metropolis where as in the Animated Series Pilot "The Last Son of Krypton" it is shown otherwise.

[edit] Quotes

Clark: Mom, Dad, I have something important to tell you. I told Lana everything.

Martha: What?

Clark: Right before I proposed to her, in the Fortress.

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Lois: (to Lana) Look, I don't know what's going on, but I would be lucky to end up with someone as honorable as Clark some day.

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Clark: I've lived this day before, I kinda went back through time.

Chloe: Great! What did you do? Spin the Earth backwards on its axis?

---

Lex: (to Lana) Probably shouldn't have called. Shouldn't do a lot of things, but I, uh, seem to do them anyway!

---

Jonathan: (to Lionel) We can withstand anything you bring down on us... because we have each other. That's what will always separate the Kents from the Luthors. Now why don't you ge-- why don't you get the hell off my property?

---

Martha: A heart beats only so many times in a life. Your father used his more than anyone I know.

[edit] External Links

• TV.com

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