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"Spell" is the eighth episode in the fourth season of Smallville, and seventy-fourth episode overall. It aired on November 10, 2004.

Summary[]

After Lana touches a spell book written in the 1600s, she, Lois and Chloe become possessed by witches that had been burned at the stake. Now, disguised as goth girls, the three witches come back seeking both revenge and the Stones of Power, wreaking havoc on the town in the process. Clark attempts to stop the witches but they strip him of his powers and force him to reveal the location of the stone he hid in the cave.

Recap[]

→ see also Category:Screencaps from episode 4x08

Spellws 016

Three witches burn at stake.

In France in 1604, three women, Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, Madelyn Hibbins, and Brianna Withridge, are about to be burned at the stake, after having been convicted of practicing witchcraft. The leader, Isobel, is approached by Magistrate Wilkins, and she asks him if he has come to enjoy his handiwork. He then strikes her across the face and tells her she may yet escape the pyre's flames if she tells him of the three stones of power. When she asks for her spellbook, she spits blood onto the marked page, directly onto an illustration that is identical to the tattoo on Lana Lang's back. She casts a Latin spell and a tattoo identical to Lana's appears on her back. As the three witches are burned, Isobel curses the crowd and vows to rise again, stating that the stones and vengeance will be hers.

Spell

Lana changes after touching the cursed page.

In Smallville, Lana and Jason are sitting by the fire in her Talon apartment. She shows him a spellbook belonging to the Countess Thoreaux, saying she maxed out her credit card to buy it on eBay. When Lana touches the page stained with Isobel's blood, the fire roars up and her eyes shine violet as Isobel possesses her body. When Jason asks if Lana is all right, she says she's never been better.

Lois pulls up outside the Kent barn carrying boxes of party decorations. She informs Clark that the barn is the new venue for Chloe's upcoming surprise birthday party the next day. Clark objects, saying his parents are out of town and he has a representative from Princeton University coming to visit. Lois doesn't care and begins to unload the party goods.

Spell14

Lois and Chloe are confused by Lana's strange behavior.

Lois and Chloe show up at Lana's apartment, where they find her doing a strange chemistry experiment, making some sort of potion. Lois notices Lana's behavior and reminds her that it's her job to keep Chloe busy until the party. Lana/Isobel, preoccupied with her ingredient list, waves Lois off. The next ingredient on the list is "hair of two virgins." She takes a hair out of her own head, then one from Lois. Lois' turns out to be unacceptable, so when they leave, Lana heads out to find another virginal hair.

She walks into the Kent home to find Clark wrapping a large present. She offers to help him with it, then proceeds to try and kiss Clark. Confused, he backs away. Lana sidles up to him and, using the gift-wrapping shears, tries to cut a lock of his hair off. The scissors break and Clark asks what she's doing. She sputters that she needs a lock of his hair for a scrapbook she's making. Annoyed, Clark gives her some of his hair and she promptly leaves to get the next ingredient on her list.

At the Luthor mansion, Lana/Isobel observes Lex practicing his piano-playing. She asks Lex if he has any vintage wine, "for the party". Lex produces a bottle, but then Isobel notices the manuscript displayed in Lex's study. Angry, she casts a spell that makes it disappear, then freezes Lex in place. Explaining that the map wasn't meant for Lex, she releases him and casts a spell, bewitching Lex to play the piano forever.

Chloe and Lois find Lana/Isobel in the woods assembling her potion. Isobel convinces them to drink a toast. When they do, they are possessed by Isobel's fellow witches, Madelyn (Chloe) and Brianna (Lois). She explains that they will continue their quest to find the Stones of Power, but Madelyn and Brianna point out that this is the quest that got them killed in the first place. They convince Isobel to let them attend Chloe's party first.

Spell6

Clark asks the Princeton rep to join the party.

At the Kent barn, a worried Clark tries to keep the wild party under control. When the three witches show up, they decide to liven up the party. They cast a spell and all the party goers, including Clark, are suddenly dancing in various states of undress. As scheduled, the Princeton representative comes to interview Clark and Clark makes a "great" first impression.

Vlcsnap-2013-07-24-00h19m16s25

Lex playing the piano with his bloody fingers.

The day after, Clark awakens in the barn to the aftermath of the wild party. He realizes he blew his interview and goes to talk to Lex for help. He finds Lex, his fingers bloody, still playing the piano.

He breaks the spell by physically removing him from it. Lex tells him that Lana is the one who cast the spell, so Clark leaves to try and stop the three. He finds Lana/Isobel at her apartment, where he arrives just in time to catch Jason, whom Isobel has thrown out the window after he attempted to burn her spellbook upon realizing that she was now in possession of Lana's body.

Spell2

The three witches take Clark's powers.

Isobel leaves Clark a message to meet him at the barn. He meets the three witches, but at first had no clue that they were in fact witches. Mistaking Clark as being like everyone else despite his speed, Brianna strikes Clark with a large wheel using magical telekinesis; but quickly realized that his invulnerability made it so it had no effect on him. Isobel, surprised, but not frightened, notes that Clark is more than just quick. Using her own magical telekinesis, Madelyn tossed several tools at Clark, but he destroyed them with his heat vision. The witches then become disgruntled; now seeing Clark as a threat to their plans (though they see him as a sorcerer rather than an alien). Isobel tries to kill Clark with a death-based spell, but only succeeding in seriously wounding and stunning him. To ensure that he stays out of their way, the witches remove Clark's shirt and drain his abilities.

The three chain Clark to a post in the barn and try to pry more information of the stones out of him after realizing that he is connected to them and knows where one is hidden. After magically seducing the answer out of him, Isobel and her cohorts leave Clark chained up and depart for the Kawatche Caves. Jason finds and helps Clark escape and he goes after them. In the caves, Isobel tries to obtain the relic, but it glows and burns her hand.

Clark shows up and catches the relic before it hits the ground, restoring his powers. Before the witches can take his powers away once again, Clark burns the spellbook with his heat vision and all four teens are knocked unconscious from the explosion. Upon waking, everybody has been restored to normal. Lana, Chloe, and Lois are confused, but alright.

Spell4

Jason helps Clark escape.

Clark has to explain the raucous barn party to his parents. He also remarks that magic is real and can truly hurt him. Lex goes to see Lana at her apartment at the Talon and explains to Lana that he was the one to get Jason fired, not Clark, saying he had only her best interest in mind. Lana comes to apologize to Clark as he is cleaning up the barn. She tells him the whole story of the Countess and shows him the tattoo. She asks Clark what it means and he lies that he doesn't know.

In the caves, Lex studies the cave drawing identical to Lana's tattoo.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special Guest Star[]

Co-Starring[]

Uncredited[]

  • Micah Gardener as Party Guest

Featured Music[]

  • "Impromptu No. 2 in E Flat" - Schubert
  • "Blame" - Black Toast Music
  • "What You Waiting For?" - Gwen Stefani
  • "We Might As Well Be Strangers" - Keane

Title[]

  • A spell is a word or phrase that has a magic power to it.
  • The title refers to the various spells that Isobel casts, including the ones that allow her to possess Lana and take away Clark's powers.

Notes[]

  • Antagonist: Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, Madelyn Hibbins, Brianna Withridge
  • Clark uses the following abilities in this episode: super speed, super strength, heat vision, invulnerability, and super dexterity.
  • Isobel uses the following abilities in this episode: Possession, Magic, Teleportation, Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis.
  • Lionel Luthor does not appear in this episode.
  • In a deleted scene, Chloe unwraps Clark's large blue present, which is also from Lois; it is an antique typewriter of the same model used by Nellie Bly, Chloe's historic journalist idol.
  • Clark's weakness to magic is revealed in this episode. In the comics, Superman is also vulnerable to magic.
  • In Crusade, Chloe's gravestone clearly lists her birth year as 1987 meaning it would be her 17th birthday in 2004. This episode proves the birth year on the gravestone to be a production error because Lois tells Clark the party is for Chloe's 18th birthday, and Chloe states the same in the deleted scenes. Also, it is unlikely Chloe would start her high school senior year at age 16. However, the episode takes place no earlier than December of '04 (considering Smallville's football season ended in Jinx, and High school football ends in December), so it's possible that it is 2005 in Smallville at the time.
  • In the beginning of the episode, when Lana pulls out the spell book, she says, "the spell book of Isobel Margaret Thoreaux," switching her first and middle name.
  • Lex plays the piano. In Season Three, Lex told Adam that he didn't know how to play the piano (after Adam played a complicated piece).
  • Lex is being forced to play "Impromptu No. 2 In E Flat" by Schubert.
  • Although possessed by a witch, this is the first time Lois learns Clark's secret.
  • This is the last time Clark wears a yellow jacket
  • It is interesting as to how Clark shaves or has his hair cut, seeing that the scissors broke when Lana tried to cut off a lock of his hair.
  • This episode establishes the existence of magic in the universe of Smallville.
  • With Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, Madelyn Hibbins, and Brianna Withridge all being witches from France, this episode reinforced the notion that there are people with powers (either metahuman or magical) outside of the United States. This had been introduced in the episode before this, Jinx, which had introduced Eastern European metahuman Mikhail Mxyzptlk.

Trivia[]

  • This episode has actor commentary on the Season 4 DVDs. According to Allison Mack, Tom Welling is actually a very good dancer and was deliberately acting goofy during the party scene to make the girls laugh.
  • Both Kristin Kreuk and Allison Mack was sick during the shooting of this episode — Kristin had a throat infection and was having trouble talking loudly; Allison had food poisoning the previous day and was still feeling weak.
  • This episode was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who directed the Helen Slater film Supergirl (1984). The film saw Supergirl combat a witch and introduced witchcraft/magic into the continuity of the Christopher Reeve movies. This episode introduces witchcraft/magic into the continuity of Smallville, and has Clark combat three witches. Furthermore, in both cases, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist(s) revolves around Kryptonian artifacts (the omegahedron in the Supergirl movie, and the Stones of Power in this episode and the rest of Season Four).

Allusions[]

  • The featured trio of witches makes reference to the Charmed Ones from Charmed, although the three witch sisters actually protect the innocents from evil instead of having same the villainous conduct of Isobel, Madelyn and Brianna. Their chants, as well as its side effects resemble the ones of The Craft.

Continuity[]

  • This episode confirms that both Lana and Clark are still virgins (while Lois is not), in spite of Clark's time as Kal under the uninhibiting effects of red kryptonite in Metropolis. This confirms what the bartender at the Atlantis nightclub said in Exile about Clark always going home alone.
  • Clark was stripped of his power by Lana/Isobel. This marks the fifth time Clark has lost his powers. The other losses occurred in Leech, Perry, Asylum and Transference.
  • Lana (as Isobel) says to Madelyn and Brianna that once they have acquired all three Stones of Power they will walk the earth like "Gods amongst men". The message in the ship that Jor-El wrote to Clark similarly stated that on earth, he will be a "God amongst men" (Rosetta).
  • The manuscript that Lex acquired in Run is obviously of extreme value to Countess Isobel.
  • This is the second time Chloe learns Clark's secret, although she too was possessed by a witch. She first learned it in the season 2 episode Rush.
  • Lois was last seen in Devoted.

Spoilers[]

Locations[]

Spells[]

  • Animan Remitto.
  • Vines Chet.
  • Finis.
  • Infinitas.
  • Per lunam et mare... redi et aquae sublatus sunt (3)
  • Liberate bestia.
  • Vapulete.
  • Sursum.
  • Surgite.
  • Incede.
  • Evertere.
  • Vestue Vines Chet. Potestas Genuras Genset. (2).... Potestas Et Vellar Vis.
  • Abitere.
  • Murus Scindandum.
  • Voluntas Victura Nostra Est.

Quotes[]

Lois/Brianna: I'm gorgeous. Look at these. (fondles her own breasts)
Lana/Isobel: (slightly annoyed) Yes. They're very nice.

Chloe/Madelyn: Ah, the woods of France. I'd know them anywhere.
Lana/Isobel: We're in Kansas, Madelyn.

Isobel: It is ours once again. And with it, our magics. Now we may continue our quest for the stones...
Madelyn: Oh. Uh...is that the same quest that got us burned at the stake?
Brianna: That was not pleasant.
Madelyn: The food is so good in this century.
Isobel: And the men actually bathe.
Brianna: [Sighs] And their bodies are so hard.

Clark: Hey, Mom. Yeah, how is Metropolis? Really. I'm glad you're having a great time. What? Oh, yeah, the guy --the guy from Princeton. Um, yeah, I-I met him last night. I, um, don't worry, I think I made an impression.

Lois: Why are we lying in the dirt?
Chloe: And what the hell are we wearing?

Jonathan: Hey, Clark... Son, is there maybe a little something you'd like to tell your mother and me?
Martha: Where did that come from?
Jonathan: From out in the barn. In the hay.
Martha: Clark...
Clark: It was magic.
Martha: I'm sure it was, but...
Clark: No, I mean, it really was. Look, I should not have thrown this party without talking to you guys. I know that. But it's the way things spun out of control. It was Lana. Well, it wasn't Lana exactly. She was possessed by a witch who then cast a spell on us, and...that's how that happened.
Jonathan: Son, I realize that, after all, this is Smallville, but witches and spells and... magic?
Clark: Dad, magic exists. I saw it. And worse, it can hurt me.

Clark: Isobel was... aggressively sexy.
Lana: Oh great, possessed by an evil slut.

Lana/Isobel: (Isobel, Madelyn and Brianna arrive at Chloe's birthday party) We don't have time for this.
Chloe/Madelyn: Time is the only thing we do have. Isn't that what you said right before the angry mob set us on fire?
Lana/Isobel: You're really not gonna let that go, are you?


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Minor CharactersSeason 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10

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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