"Fanatic" is the tenth episode in the fifth season of Smallville, and ninety-eighth episode overall. It aired on the WB in the United States on January 12, 2006 and on E4 in the United Kingdom on March 13 the same year.
Summary
The Senatorial race between Jonathan and Lex heats up when Jonathan receives an anonymous threat warning him to drop out of the election. When Clark finds Jonathan badly beaten, he and Chloe find the attackers. Lois is thrown into the mix when she is captured and forced to assassinate Jonathan during his speech.
Recap
→ see also Category:Screencaps from episode 5x10
A hidden killer assembles a rifle at a campaign rally for Jonathan Kent. The assassin prepares to shoot and it is revealed to be Lois. The rifle is fired and the bullet streaks toward Jonathan.
Forty-eight hours earlier
Lois assembles a rifle.
Lex is meeting with the Central Kansas A&M Students for Lex Luthor group. One woman, Samantha Drake, asks to have a picture with him. She is clearly his biggest fan, talking about how much she knows about Lex and even wearing a "Lex" charm around her neck. Lex is unnerved at Samantha's devotion. After the meeting, Lex gets a call from Griff. He says he has incriminating evidence against Jonathan for Lex and they arrange a meeting. However, Lionel finds Griff first and gives him a large amount of money for the envelope containing the evidence. Griff looks confused when he gives it to Lionel and Lionel burns it after glancing at the picture.
Clark and Lana fight about their relationship.
The Kents are preparing for a photo shoot arranged by Jack Jennings' campaign manager Sosnick. However, they are dressed in formal business clothes, completely unlike the Kents in reality. Lois criticizes Sosnick and Jonathan agrees. He fires him and hires Lois instead. Jonathan then receives a scrambled call giving him a last warning to drop out of the campaign. Saying he told the caller not to call again, he hangs up and takes a heart medicine pill.
Lois is putting up election posters when Samantha's group starts to tear them down, claiming they are not regulation size. They argue and Samantha realizes that Lois will not back down. She tells her buddies they need to play harder. They corner Jonathan in the barn and beat him up.
Clark arrives at Lana and Chloe's dorm room and the two get ready to go out. Then they decide to stay in and they start making out on Lana's bed. When Clark abruptly decides to leave after all, Lana confronts him about why they haven't had sex since he died. She is concerned, but Clark doesn't answer and accuses her of pulling away first by moving to Metropolis and obsessively studying astronomy. Lana gets angry and leaves Clark alone in the dorm room.
Chloe offers Clark advice.
Clark goes to the Daily Planet to talk to Chloe about his relationship problems. Both embarrassed, they have a very personal and awkward conversation about whether or not Clark can sleep with Lana with his powers. Clark says they haven't because he doesn't know what will happen since he has trouble "adjusting his abilities to new situations." Chloe eventually tells him that Lana is going to figure it out herself sooner or later and he needs to tell her the truth.
Jonathan is attacked by Samantha and her group.
Lionel offers Martha enough money to finance the rest of Jonathan's campaign, but she refuses. He suggests that since the run has been so stressful, maybe she doesn't want Jonathan to win. When Martha and Clark return home, they find Jonathan hanging upside down, unconscious in the barn. They rush him to the hospital, but Jonathan doesn't want to postpone the rally. He admits that he has been receiving threatening calls for a while now, and Martha and Jonathan argue about his decision. Lex arrives at the hospital. He is concerned and unsuccessfully tries to convince Clark that he had nothing to do with the attack.
Jonathan's poll numbers rise due to the attack, so Samantha decides to kill him. The other two members object, so she kills them as well. She then shaves her head bald, in homage to Lex. She is waiting for Lex when he comes home and tells him what she has done for him. Lex is suitably appalled and Samantha gets angry and knocks him out.
Samantha prepares to take Jonathan out of the race.
Clark and Chloe trace the calls to Jonathan to the student group. Clark admits that Jonathan has changed since he started his campaign and Chloe suggests that since Clark saves lives every day, Jonathan might be trying to prove a point by making a difference in his own way. Clark goes to their headquarters and finds the two dead students and realizes that Samantha is probably going to the rally. Backstage at the rally, while Jonathan prepares to give his speech, Lois runs into Samantha, who knocks Lois out cold. When Lois comes round, Samantha forces her to use a sniper rifle to shoot Jonathan, but at the last second, Lois attacks Samantha. Samantha grabs the rifle and gets a shot off before Lois grabs her. Just as Samantha shoots, Clark enters the rally, hears (ironically, since bullet's travel faster than the speed of sound) the bullet, and superspeeds in front of Jonathan to catch it without anyone noticing he was there. However, everyone hears the rifleshot and people panic. When Clark gets to the booth, Lois has Samantha pinned down.
Lana and Clark slow down their relationship.
Lionel and Lex argue about Griff's fate. Lex has correctly guessed that Lionel paid Griff off. Lex is frustrated by Lionel's constant and complete refusal to support him.
Lana and Clark meet in the barn and decide to slow down their relationship and attempt to rebuild it. Lana reveals she is studying the meteor showers. She says she doesn't believe they are random and has been comparing the two events. She thinks a ship might have arrived in the first meteor shower, and that someone from it has been in Smallville the entire time. Clark just looks alarmed and does not reply.
Lois reports that Jonathan is ahead in the polls, but she is worried because they are officially out of money. Martha decides to take Lionel up on his offer and meets him in his car.
Cast
Starring
- Tom Welling as Clark Kent
- Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
- Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
- Erica Durance as Lois Lane
- Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
- John Glover as Lionel Luthor
- Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
- John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Guest Starring
Co-Starring
- Dean McKenzie as Lex's Campaign Manager
- David Richmond-Peck as March Sosnick
- Sage Brocklebank as James
- Miles Meadows as Doug
- Bud the dog as Shelby
Characters
- Clark Kent
- Lana Lang
- Lex Luthor
- Lois Lane
- Chloe Sullivan
- Lionel Luthor
- Martha Kent
- Jonathan Kent
- Samantha Drake
- Griff
- Lex's Campaign Manager
- March Sosnick
- James
- Doug
- Shelby
Sentient Species
Vehicles
TBA
Objects
TBA
Concepts
TBA
Featured Music
- "I Want It All" - Depeche Mode
Title
- A fanatic is "a person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause."
- This episode features Samantha Drake, James, and Doug, the three members of the fanatical Students for Lex Luthor.
Notes
- Antagonist: Samantha Drake
- Clark uses the following abilities in this episode: super speed, Super-Hearing, invulnerability and X-ray vision.
- This is the second episode this season after Arrival in which all main characters appear.
- This episode marks the 29th appearance of Clark's red jacket & blue shirt outfit, which he wears frequently throughout the series.
- This episode marks a rare occurrence in which one of Lex's many allusions to history and mythology is relatively inaccurate. He comments to Clark that his question was like Apollo asking Icarus why he was building wings, when in fact, it was Icarus' father, Daedalus, who built them.
- Some speculations about the problems Superman could face in his "personal" life have been discussed by the writer Larry Niven here.
- Lana and Clark talk about staying in tonight instead of going to the ice rink, which seems a little odd considering Clark went on his first date with Alicia at the ice rink before she was killed in Pariah.
- This episode marks the first time Clark becomes worried of hurting Lana with his strength; they had consummated their relationship before but only when he was human.
In Other Media
- Lex tells Clark jokingly that if he doesn't win, "There's always the White House." In the comics, Lex Luthor does indeed become President of the United States.
Trivia
- David Richmond-Peck (Sosnick) was also the meter maid assaulted by Lex in Dichotic.
Continuity
- Lex looks to be in good health in this episode, despite being recently shot and having surgery to prevent paralysis in Lexmas.
- Lana joined Metropolis University to study Astronomy in Thirst.
Allusions
- Lex and Lionel are quoting the book The Art of War, a military philosophy and strategy novel by Sun Tzu. A book of the same name was written by Niccolò Machiavelli.
- Lex tells Clark that asking him why the Senate seat is so important is "like Apollo asking Icarus why he's building wings". This is a reference to the Greek mythological story of Icarus. Imprisoned on an island with his father, they fashioned wings held together with wax to escape. Icarus' father cautioned him not to fly close to the sun, but Icarus ignored the warning. His wax wings melted and he fell to his death into the sea.
Quotes
- Lois: Not that that didn't totally rock, Mr. Kent, but I have no idea how you're going to find a replacement that quickly.
- Jonathan: I do. (he hands her the folder)
- Lois: Oh, me? Um, what do I know about being a campaign manager?
- Jonathan: What do I know about being a state senator?
- Lois: Right.
- Clark: How far do you want to cross this friendship boundary?
- Chloe: Since when did we have boundaries?
- Chloe: Awkward factor 8! So basically what you're saying is that you're afraid that... in the heat of the moment, you might... please don't make me finish this sentence, Clark.
- Clark: Well, you see, that's the thing. I'm not sure what would happen. I mean if I couldn't control myself...
- Chloe: Okay, you know what, Clark, right there that's something that can never be unseen.
- Clark: It's not funny.
- Chloe: No, you're right, it's not. It's just that this conversation definitely cements me as your Krypto-hag.
- Lionel: "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons... "
- Lex: "And they will stand by you even unto death." You know, you really don't have to quote "The Art of War" to me, Dad. I read it cover to cover three times before I finished high school. Although... I still would have preferred a bike for my 14th birthday.
- Lionel: How does it feel, Lex, to have people worship you?
- Lex: Being the idol for a cult of psychopaths isn't exactly a power trip, Dad.
- Lana: Well, I was looking to the satellite imagery from the first meteor shower, the one that happened when we were kids. And there's something that doesn't crash the way the other meteors did. It umm... Well, it kind of lands... Clark, what if a ship came down in the first meteor shower as well, and whoever was in it has been here with us this entire time?
External links
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