Smallville Season 4 Recap – Ageless (5.04.05)

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Episode Title: Ageless
Original Airdate: May 4, 2005

Episode Recap:

A young couple is driving down the street late at night frantically asking for help over the phone. The young woman appears to be pregnant. The man yells into the phone that it’s an emergency, but the woman screams that it’s too late and that “it’s coming!” The car swerves off the road and into a field. Um, that was smart, I guess… The woman’s stomach begins glowing, and the man apologizes and runs away. A burst of light erupts and Lana and Clark (who are driving by) stop to check it out. There is a huge crater in the field, with a baby inside.

At the hospital the sheriff talks to Clark and Jonathan Kent about the mysterious baby. The sheriff tells Clark that “he did good for a change.” What a bitch. Clark tells Jonathan that he thinks the baby may not be from earth. Apparently there is no room left in child services, so Clark convinces his parents to take the baby. Geez, between Ryan, the kid whose brother died from the liver disease, and Lois, do the Kents ever NOT take in somebody that they met in a hospital?

Apparently the Torch has its own coffee machine. I find that strange for some reason. Anyway, over coffee Chloe and Lana discuss Clark’s magic touch with the baby. Clark walks in seconds later, and he and Lana start having a humorous parent-like conversation (“Can you pick up some formula on the way over?” “How you doing with diapers?”). Chloe plays the 911 tape from the night before, and Clark asks Chloe to trace the call so that they can hopefully find the baby’s father and get some answers.

Lionel arrives at Genevieve Teague’s house, where she demands that he get the missing element that she believes Lex is in possession of. Wow, Lionel’s hair is especially crazy tonight. Also, apparently Genevieve was the one who got Lionel out of prison.

Clark holds the baby as he feeds him some milk, using his heat vision to warm it up a bit. Lana walks in as he’s changing the baby’s diaper. Just as Clark says he’s getting the hang of everything, the baby starts peeing. How…..graphic. The two decide to name the baby Evan, since he was found in Evan’s field. Clark and Lana start debating how attached they should get to Evan when suddenly the lights start flickering and the baby starts shining. Evan is now a slightly-less cute young boy.

Lex is in his office when Lionel walks in and asks about the missing element. Wasn’t it called a stone earlier this season? Lex believes that Lionel is using Genevieve as a threat, and that he actually wants the element himself. Lex insists that he doesn’t have it, but if he did he wouldn’t trust Lionel. A little bitter, considering it was his own double that made Lionel evil again. Lionel tells Lex that he can go on the rest of his life being mistrustful of him, or accept him as his father who loves him. Lex simply walks away, and Lionel tells him that Genevieve is dangerous and to watch his back. Lex responds that he always does.

At the barn the Kents discuss what to do about Evan. Martha and Jonathan want to take him to the hospital, but Clark thinks it’s a bad idea. He wants to take him to Lex, because of his experience with meteor rocks. Because Lord knows all of THOSE experiments have gone so well. Meanwhile, on the loft, Evan reads the Velveteen Rabbit. He also likes the Encyclopedia. Especially windmills (they were invented in Persia, you know?) Lana tells him that she’ll show him a real windmill one day. When Clark arrives, Evan runs to him and calls him “dad.” Weird. Evan wants to know where his real parents are, if it’s not Clark and Lana.

At LuthorCorp, some scientists run tests on Evan. Lex tells Clark and Lana that Evan’s body is storing energy, and that once it’s stored enough energy it’s expended to burst a rapid cell division, which is why he’s able to age from a baby to seven in a day. They need an exact match from a living donor to do a bone marrow transplant in order to save him. Seconds later, there’s another burst of light, and Evan is now a teenager. And unfortunately for him, it’s the awkward looking pubescent phase. At least he doesn’t have braces. Lex wants to isolate him, but Clark won’t allow him and insists that he’s taking him home.

Back at the barn, Evan believes that he’s dying. Clark promises that they’re not going to give up, and that Lex is working on a cure right now. Lana also tells him that they may find his father. Evan says it’s not fair that he won’t get to experience all the things he wants to, and runs off. Lana goes to check if he’s okay, as Clark does some investigating to see if he can find out the identity of Evan’s father.

At school, Chloe tells Clark that she was able to trace the 911 call to Karen Galligher, who was a senior. Apparently she shorts out monitors whenever she passes by them, and she was only pregnant for a week. Chloe goes to check the RSVP list for the party that Evan was, ahem, conceived at in order to find out who the father is.

Clark walks into a car garage looking for Tanner Sutherland. Clark asks if he was at a party last weekend, and the kid nervously answers that he doesn’t know. Wow, that’s Clark-level bad lying. Tanner finally caves and tells him that he got with a girl at the party and the next day she calls and is pregnant. He went over to her house and her stomach was already showing. Tanner says that it wasn’t a baby, it was a monster. Clark tells him that it was a baby and it’s his son and that he’s aging rapidly and needs a bone marrow transplant or he’ll die. Tanner says he can’t deal with this and walks off.

Jonathan and Clark discuss the situation at the barn. Clark doesn’t want to tell Evan about his father, but Jonathan thinks that he deserves to know. Evan arrives and Clark tells him who his father is and where he works. Clark adds that sometimes fathers don’t live up to your expectations, and Tanner yells and tells Clark that he’s not his real father. Do people actually say that in real life?

Lex and a scientist discuss the test results as Clark rushes in to inform him that Evan’s father doesn’t want to help. Lex reveals to Clark that they need to isolate Evan immediately, because the next time he ages he’s going to release enough energy to kill himself and anyone else around him.

At the garage later that night, Evan confronts Tanner. After a scuffle, Tanner shoves Evan away, but backs into something sharp, killing him instantly. Later, Clark and Lex arrive and discover Tanner’s dead body, with a piece of Evan’s shirt in his hand. Lex reminds Clark that they needed a living donor to save Evan, and the only thing they can do is contain him, or else a lot of innocent people can be killed.

Lana is at the Kent house talking to Mr. Kent on the phone. After hanging up, Evan arrives. She starts lecturing him about how worried everybody was when Evan starts feeling another energy burst coming. Evan asks her to take him to the windmill before he dies.

At the Torch, Clark continues to try to call Lana but is unable to reach her. Chloe suggests that Evan is putting off an energy field like his mom did. They follow the power surge grid to try to track where he went. Clark puts two and two together and realizes they went to the windmill. Clark uses his super speed to get there, to which Chloe quips “go get ’em speedy.” That’s much better than the usual confused “Clark?” everybody says.

Meanwhile, Lana and Evan are on top of the windmill looking down at the world beneath them. Evan seems at peace. Lana tells him that she’s glad he finally had a chance to see it. He’s been alive for two days. Suddenly the windmill starts shaking as Evan writhes in pain. Clark uses his super speed and is suddenly at the top of the windmill. He grabs Lana and tells her she needs to get down. She’s not curious how he got up there? Clark stays with Evan as Lana hides behind her car for protection. Evan tells Clark he wishes he was his father, when suddenly there is a burst of light and a surge of energy. Lana yells out Clark’s name, and a battered Clark emerges from the smoke. He tells her he got clear just before it happened, but Evan is that gone.

At the barn that night Clark and Lana discuss Evan and how he made such an impact on their lives despite only being here for a short time. They resolve to make the most of their lives before it’s too late.

Lionel and Genevieve talk as she pours them each a glass of wine. Genevieve asks if he has something for her, and he answers “I most certainly do” and then toasts her to the resolution to their problems. She takes a sip, and Lionel gives a speech about parenthood being an interesting phenomenon, and the lengths people go to in order to protect their children. Genevieve starts gasping for breath as she drops her glass and collapses to the ground. Lionel tells her that she will die in minutes and that the death is extremely painful. He tells her that he’ll give her the antidote if she gives him the element she stole from Bridgette Crosby, and that if she goes near his son whatever happens to him happens to her. Lionel asks where the element is as he holds the antidote out in front of her.

Outside the Kent house, Clark continues to mourn the death of Evan. Martha and Jonathan come outside and reassure him that he did everything he could, and that they’re sure Evan knew that. Clark asks how they deal with parenthood, and they tell him it’s not easy but it runs with the territory. Clark sulks over the fact that he probably can’t reproduce (with humans, anyway), but the Kents tell him he can always adopt and that “you never know what the future will bring you.”

At the mansion, Lex sits with one of his scientists when Clark rushes in. Lex tells him that Evan’s life wasn’t in vain and that his unique cellular structure could advance research on cancer and age related diseases by hundreds of years and that he’s releasing his findings to every research facility around the globe. Lex tells Clark that he’s going to be a great dad, and Clark returns the compliment. Lex disagrees, and says that he plans on leaving a different kind of legacy. Clark thanks him again, and leaves. After he’s gone, the scientist asks Lex if he’s sure he wants to release the findings. After a dramatic pause, Lex says “eventually.”

Episode Review:

Nothing terribly significant transpired this episode concerning storyline progression leading to the finale. A lot happened last week, but we didn’t really seem to see much fallout from it tonight. Although Clark and Lana were noticeably closer this episode than they have been pretty much all season (and I think this episode was a season high for the amount of scenes they shared together), we got no real indication that they are planning on giving their relationship another try, which was hinted at last week. We also didn’t see the implications of Chloe’s comment to Clark about him actually trusting her when he had amnesia, which is a bit strange considering how worried he was that he may have used his powers in front of her. Finally, we also didn’t get any progression with Lex and the caves. Considering the amount of resources Lex has used to try to get possession of the elements he knows of in the past, it seems like this would be a priority for him.

That said, for a filler episode I found “Ageless” enjoyable. As I stated last week, Clark and Lana have been kept apart for so much of the season that when they actually share screen time together it seems fresh. It was a bit disappointing that there was so little interaction between Clark and Chloe, but they also need to be careful not to overexpose that relationship like they had with Clark and Lana the past three seasons. I have a feeling that Clark and Chloe’s relationship as well as the fact that Chloe knows Clark’s secret will play a major part in the next two episodes (especially the finale), so the lack of attention it got this episode was acceptable.

Lex continues his complex journey to darkness. He was less malicious tonight than last week, as he genuinely did seem to want to help Evan and to protect innocent people from being hurt or killed. However, he was also crueler than usual to Lionel, and his decision to withhold his findings despite the great good it would do to release that information is very noteworthy. I also think his words to Lionel were significant: “I’m simply continuing where you left off.” Indeed he is.

I think the highlight of the episode, though, were the few interactions between Lionel and Genevieve. It was nice to finally find out how Lionel got released from prison, however the motives behind it is still somewhat curious. If Genevieve knew that Bridgette Crosby had the missing element that Lionel once possessed, why get Lionel released from prison? And if Genevieve thought that Lionel was still in possession of it, why didn’t she ask him for it immediately? More may be revealed in the next couple of episodes, so I’ll withhold further judgment until then.

I was disappointed that they turned Lionel evil again, but I’m a bit relieved that he apparently still has some good left in him. When Genevieve threatened Lex, Lionel seemed genuinely upset about it. Later when he went to confront Lex, he again seemed truly concerned for his well being, and his words of caution seemed very real. His desire to have a father/son relationship also seemed authentic. Also note that he told Lex that he loves him, which is something that (a) he’s never said (as far as I can remember) and (b) Lex has always wanted to hear (as revealed by Lex last season). And again, at the end of the episode after he poisoned Genevieve, he stated that his motivation was to protect his child and warned her never to threaten Lex again, and if anything ever happened to him, he’d do the same to her. In the past Lionel has taken threats against Lex as a personal affront (as if he was saying “You have the nerve to threaten MY son? Do you know who I am?”), but here he seems to truly care about the well being of Lex.

Also, when it looked like Lionel was going to take a sip of the wine, I said to myself “don’t you know better than to take a sip of your drink before the person you don’t trust does?” Then, when Genevieve took a sip of her drink as Lionel held his glass to his lips without sipping, I knew that she was f’d.

But man, that Lionel sure has a knack for poisoning people, doesn’t he?

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into various popular television shows. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.