Exposed — smallville

"Exposed" is the sixth episode in the fifth season of Smallville, and ninety-fourth episode overall. It aired on November 3, 2005.

Summary

Jack Jennings, Jonathan's oldest friend and the current state senator of Kansas, comes to Smallville to visit. However, after a young stripper turns up dead, it is revealed that she was Jennings' mistress, making him the prime suspect in the murder investigation. Chloe and Lois go investigate and Lois is forced to go undercover as a stripper, but it takes a dangerous turn when she's kidnapped by the murderer Mr. Lyon.

Recap

Chloe is working late at the Daily Planet screening news calls and Lois is keeping her company. Lois asks Chloe to help her move into the apartment at the Talon. Just then, Chloe receives a call from a desperate woman who gives her address and says someone is trying to find her. They get there and see the woman get intentionally killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Detective Maggie Sawyer talks to Chloe and Lois, but is frustrated with their lack of information. Chloe and Lois believe the dead girl, Melissa Paige, was more than just another stripper and decide to look into it themselves. Chloe notices the phone booth that Melissa used is near a club, the Windgate.

Jonathan's old friend, Senator Jack Jennings, comes to visit the Kent Farm. Jack is in the middle of a re-election campaign and wants Jonathan to help rally the farmers for him-– he is in the running against new candidate Lex Luthor. Detective Sawyer then shows up to question Jennings. She reveals that they found a picture in the dead girl's apartment of her and Jennings together, much to Jonathan's shock and dismay. Jennings, clearly embarrassed, denies any knowledge of the girl and Jonathan then suggests it is a fake made up by Lex in an effort to discredit Jennings and get more political support. Clark goes to the Luthor Mansion and confronts Lex, who denies he has any involvement in the affair. He recognizes the Windgate and warns him it has a dangerous reputation, but he nonetheless gives Clark a VIP pass to get in.

Lex comes by the Kent farm to talk to Senator Jennings and an angry Jonathan demands answers. Lex reveals he checked out the photo and found cell phone records confirming Jennings was talking to Melissa that night, but he is going to let the press find it, rather than go public with it himself.

Chloe and Lois find their way to the club, but they fail to talk their way past the bouncer. Noticing some women in costumes outside, they sneak in behind them to ask some questions. None of the girls are willing to talk to them and they all seem very fearful. Chloe and Lois spot a private office and sneak in to start searching the files, but they are soon interrupted by the owner. Chloe covers by passing Lois off as a potential new hire and the owner tells her to take her clothes off so he can see how she dances. Lois gets ready to go on stage while Chloe stays backstage to continue to question the other dancers.

Clark, in a suit and tie, enters the club, where he is greeted by the owner. Clark claims he is meeting with Jennings, who has a "usual table." Clark looks on in astonishment as the next dancer, Lois, emerges in revealing clothing and starts a very awkward dance routine. Eventually she gets into it but then spots an embarrassed Clark. She slips over after her routine and ostensibly gives him a lap dance so she can discreetly question his presence. He tells her he is looking for evidence to clear Jenning's name. Afterward, Clark notices a European man, Mr. Lyon, meeting with the owner and uses his super-hearing to overhear them talking about $500,000 and the owner's "girls."

The police bust in and Sawyer interrogates Clark and the other patrons as part of the investigation of the dead girl, who worked at the club shortly before the hit-and-run. Meanwhile, Mr. Lyon manages to get Lois out. Clark spots Chloe in the crowd, who doesn't know where Lois is. He then listens in on the conversation between the owner and Sawyer, where the owner claims Jennings was drunk at the time he met the girl and she took him home, but the Senator had nothing to do with the murder. Probing for evidence, Chloe talks to the dancers about Lyon. They tell her that he often takes different girls out of the club, who then disappear. Chloe finds out that Lois went with Lyon. After hours of questioning, Sawyer allows Chloe and Clark to leave, thanks to some phone calls by Lex. Sawyer is not impressed with their theories and investigation.

Jonathan meets up with Jennings at the farm and they go for a ride. Jonathan confronts Jennings about the dead girl and wants straight answers. Jennings admits that he was involved with Melissa and doesn't love his wife, but he lied just to keep Jonathan out of it.

Lyon takes Lois to his apartment. He gives her a red dress to wear, which is identical to the one Melissa was wearing the night when she was killed. While changing her clothing, she finds Melissa's personal belongings in the dresser. He takes pictures of her in her new dress and talks about how she'll make all the other girls jealous. When she tries to get out, he grabs her and forces her to stay. She tries to fight back, but the bodyguard tasers her unconscious.

At the Planet, Chloe and Clark compare notes. Clark overheard Sawyer talk about the son of a diplomat and Chloe has photos of the car's license plates. They find a consulate plate in the photos and find the address, and Clark super speeds there. Lyon is taking Lois out by helicopter from the rooftop helipad when Clark arrives. He prints out a fake passport Lyon made for her while Chloe figures out there is a helipad on the roof.

Clark superspeeds up there, hooks the helicopter with a line, and starts pulling it down. Clark yanks the helicopter back down, knocking out the pilot. Lois awakens and punches out her captors.

Clark and Lois apprehend Lyon and turn him over to the police.

Sawyer and the cops show up but she reveals that Lyon has to be released due to his father having diplomatic immunity. Relieved to be alive but very disappointed in the criminal justice system, an angry Lois punches Lyon once more, and Sawyer advises them to return to Smallville. Later Clark meets with Lex and thanks him for his help, then expresses his disappointment with Jennings.

Clark and Jack are talking in the barn and Jennings seems genuinely sorry to have let Clark and Jonathan down. He reveals he's calling a press conference and is pulling out of the race. Later, Jennings suggests that Jonathan should consider running for Senator. Clark is helping Lois move out of the Kent house when Chloe shows up with her news story revealing that Interpol arrested Mr. Lyon upon his return to Europe, thanks to an anonymous tip. Lois reluctantly thanks Clark for his help and they part as friends.

Cast

Co-Starring

Characters

Sentient Species

Vehicles

Kent Farm truck
Jack Jennings' car

Objects

TBA

Concepts

TBA

Featured Music

"Don't Cha" - The Pussycat Dolls
"All Jacked Up" - Gretchen Wilson
"How Do You Do It" - Molly M
"Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" - Brendan Benson
"I'm Human" - Flashlight Brown

Title

Expose means "To reveal the guilt or wrongdoing of" and "To engage in indecent exposure of (oneself)."
Jack Jennings' affair with Melissa Paige is "exposed", forcing him to withdraw from the race for State Senate.
Lois also exposes herself literally, by performing a routine as a dancer at the Windgate.
Mr. Lyon's human trafficking of Windgate Club strippers is exposed after he attempts to kidnap Lois.

Notes

Antagonist: Mr. Lyon
Clark uses the following abilities in this episode: super strength, super speed, super hearing, and super leaping.
Lana Lang, Lionel Luthor, and Martha Kent do not appear in this episode. It should be noted this is the first episode of the series not to feature Lana. This is the third consecutive episode in which Martha does not appear and the first in which Jonathan appears but Martha does not.
Since this episode, Clark and Lex are the only two members of the original main cast who appeared in every episode.
This episode used to air as syndicated reruns on ABC Family with a "mature content" viewer discretion warning.
The phone log that Lex hands to Jonathan shows that the three Kansas cities of Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita are all in the same 206 area code. In fact they are all in different area codes and none of them are 206 (which is actually the Seattle, WA area). The area code for Metropolis is 785, which is the real area code for Topeka and the northern half of the state of Kansas.
In the last scene with Jonathan and Senator Jennings, the Senator calls him "Jon" instead of "Jonathan."
After taking a statement from Lois and Chloe, Maggie Sawyer turns her back to them, smiles to herself before making a whistling movement with her mouth, then biting her lip. In term of body language, biting one's lip can be a sign of either being nervous, or sexually attracted. Maggie Sawyer was one of the first openly homosexual characters in DC or Marvel Comics.
The villain of the episode is named Mr. Lyon. Action Comics #14 (May 31, 1939) has Superman deal with a villain named Lyons.
Discussing the episode on the Talk Ville podcast in 2024, Erica Durance mentions in her interview that she was very nervous doing the pole dancing scene, since it was her first time doing anything on stage and that she was raised in a conservative way. She also said that Lois dancing on the pole was intended to be comedic, but the producers removed the comedy, causing the scene to be a bit objectifying. Durance said she was fine with it at the time, although it wasn't her intention to merely appear as a stripper.

In Other Media

Clark pulling the helicopter down and his remark, "Looks like it got caught," is similar to a scene in the Superman film, in which he saves Lois from a helicopter as it falls off a building.
One of the things Chloe does at the Daily Planet is write obituaries. In the pilot of Lois and Clark, Jimmy Olsen writes obituaries. Clark also writes them as shown in Superman Returns.

Trivia

Actor Woody Jeffreys (who plays Mr. Lyon) also played Jack Graham in the Season Two episode Witness.
Actress Brandi Alexander (who played Angel, one of the strippers in this episode) also played one of the sorority girls in season 4 episode Recruit. It is unknown if the two characters are the same woman. It is not unheard of for college students to pay for college by stripping.
The video game Lois and Chloe are playing in the beginning is PlayStation 2 exclusive Crimson Sea 2.

Spoilers

Metropolis Police Detective Sawyer also appears in Insurgence, Exile, and Descent.
Lois mentions her dance routine a year later in Combat.

Allusions

Tom Wopat was John Schneider's costar on their popular series The Dukes of Hazzard; that originally aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985; in which they played cousins Luke and Bo Duke, respectively.
The episode contains several references to the show and several years of friendship, most noticeably Senator Jennings' Dodge Charger. In the show, the cousins frequently climbed through the windows of their Dodge Charger and drove recklessly through the dirt roads of Hazzard County.
Also, Lex mentions the "Good Ol' Boys" line when confronting Jonathan at the Kent house.
Lois remarks that Chloe used to have a crush on Richie Cunningham (meaning Clark), a reference to the wholesome main character of the television show Happy Days that aired in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Lois also directs Clark to stop "looking at her like she's Jabba the Hutt" the unsavory, slug-like character from the Star Wars films, then calls him "007", the famous codename for secret agent James Bond.
- Ironically Jabba himself would have looked at Lois very differently from the way Clark was, while she worked undercover as an exotic dancer.
Chloe tells Lois to "find her inner Demi Moore" before going on stage, a reference to the 1996 film Striptease in which Moore plays an exotic dancer.
- In the early 1980s, Demi Moore was among the actresses who auditioned for the titular role in the film Supergirl (1984), before Helen Slater was cast in the role.
Maggie Sawyer tells Clark and Chloe that if they want to play Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy, they should do it in someone else's precinct. This was an allusion to the popular fictional detectives.
The name on Lois' fake passport is Margot Neill, an allusion to two of the actresses that played Lois Lane in the past, Margot Kidder and Noel Neill.
As stated by Lois at the end of the episode, Clark owns an Elmer Fudd night-light. Elmer J. Fudd is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters.

Quotes

Chloe: (in reference to Lois' very revealing, star-spangled dance outfit) All I can say is... God bless America!

Clark: I'll have a Coke... straight up, on the rocks.

Lex: I knocked, I guess you didn't hear.

Jonathan: Oh, I heard you.

Lois: You're gonna get me fired if you keep looking at me like I'm Jabba the Hutt.

Clark: What do you want me to do?

Lois: (hesitating) I don't know. Give me a 20 and meet me out back.

Clark: (to Lois) Is there anything I can do to make this move go faster? Maybe pack your three closets of clothing? Burn your loofah sponge? Take your Whitesnake collection to Goodwill?

Lex: (to Clark) You know, when I asked you to stay out of trouble, I kinda thought that might include being caught underage at a strip club, using my membership while I'm gearing up for a political campaign

Clark: You know, this is weird. I've spent so much time up here with Lana.

Lois: Clark, it's not like I'm taking her place....

Lois: Oh and about that lap dance, if you decide to tell anybody about it, your Elmer Fudd nightlight will make a very public appearance.

Clark: Aye aye...sailor.

Chloe: (to Lois and Clark) Okay, before I start any of the real heavy lifting, you have to indulge me for just a moment in my first Daily Planet byline. (Chloe hands Clark the newspaper. He eagerly scans the front page) It's not exactly The Torch, Clark. Page 73. (Clark opens the page, still looking for the "article") At the bottom.

External links

TV.com (recap source)
Transcript

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Splinter

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Categories: Main Characters · Relationships · Villains

Comics: The Comic · Season 11 · Miniseries