The WB has released a description of "Crusade," the fourth-season opening episode of Smallville scheduled to air on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
Here's how the episode was described:
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: "Clark (Tom Welling) returns to Smallville re-programmed as Kal-El. Intent on fulfilling his destiny, Kal-El takes to the skies to steal a powerful kryptonite crystal. Meanwhile, Lois Lane (Erica Durance) comes to town to investigate the murder of her cousin Chloe (Allison Mack). Also, Lana (Kristin Kreuk) returns from Paris with a new attitude and a new boyfriend (Jensen Ackles, "Dark Angel"), Jonathan (John Schneider) lies in a coma, and Lionel (John Glover) faces a grim new life in prison."
Written By: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Directed By: Greg Beeman
Guest Stars: Erica Durance (Lois Lane); Aleksander Kalugin (The Seer); Margot Kidder (Bridgette Crosby); Ona Grauer (Doctor)
The WB's Official Description (Revised 9/10): LOIS LANE HITS SMALLVILLE, CLARK FLIES AND MARGOT KIDDER GUEST STARS -- Clark (Tom Welling) returns to Smallville re-programmed as Kal-El. Intent on fulfilling his destiny, Kal-El takes to the skies to steal a powerful kryptonite crystal. Determined to save her son, Martha (Annette O'Toole) turns to Dr. Swann's emissary, Bridgette Crosby (Margot Kidder, "Superman"), and learns about a surprising new form of kryptonite. Meanwhile, Lois Lane (Erica Durance) comes to town to investigate the murder of her cousin Chloe (Allison Mack). Also, Lana (Kristin Kreuk) returns from Paris with a new attitude and a new boyfriend (Jensen Ackles, "Dark Angel"), Jonathan (John Schneider) lies in a coma, and Lionel (John Glover) faces a grim new life in prison. Michael Rosenbaum and Annette O'Toole also star. Greg Beeman directed the episode written by Al Gough & Miles Millar (#401).
Added 9/10: Smallville Executive Producer Alfred Gough talks about Margot Kidder's upcoming visit to the show in a KryptonSite interview here. Included are details about her character's past with Dr. Swann!
Added 9/9: Margot Kidder (Lois Lane from the Superman movies) plays Bridgette Crosby, emissary to Dr. Swann, in this episode. She shares a scene with Annette O'Toole (Martha).
- Ona Grauer plays a doctor who saves Lex after he is poisoned. The character may be appearing in multiple episodes.
Added 9/8: Lois first meets Clark when her car swerves off the road and she's brought face to face with a naked Clark. "Look at his face...." Lois has to remind herself.
Added 9/6: "We pick up three months after he was sucked into the cave under Jor-El's tutelage. We'll see him dumped out in a cornfield buck-naked, and he'll run into Lois Lane. That's their first meeting — and he has no memory of being Clark Kent. He's Kal-El and he can fly," Alfred Gough said in a Sept. 6 TV Guide Online interview.
- And what about Lex? "He seemed dead, didn't he? Through the course of the first episode, we'll learn how he beat it," Gough said.
- Do Lana and Lois have a cat fight over Clark? "Actually, they get along great, much to the consternation of Clark," Gough told TV Guide Online. "He and Lois don't get along. She's not the Lois from the comics or movies or other TV shows. She's a 19-year-old Army brat. Her father, Gen. Sam Lane, is a Great Santini type who's running a military base outside Smallville. He gets involved with the Luthors."
- And what of Clark and Lex's relationship? "It's strained. Repairs will be attempted, but inevitably, something else will happen. And Lex is running Luther Corp. at this point because Lionel is in jail."
Added 9/3: Lex visits Lionel in prison, and pointedly makes references or accuses Lionel of poisoning him and blowing up the house that Chloe was in. Lex also accuses Lionel of breaking into his plane at 20,000 feet.
- Lex's motivation for being in Egypt is revealed - it seems there are three crystals hidden around the world by "scientifically advanced, ancient cultures." Legend says that if they're united, they point the way towards a treasury of knowledge. It almost sounds like the three crystals may be what it takes to unlock the key to the Fortress of Solitude, doesn't it? This theory is also consistent with the WB's official description which says that "Kal-El takes to the skies to steal a powerful kryptonite crystal."
- Lex asks Lionel if he thinks the crystals could save his life. Lionel berates him for wasting time on financing a "fairy tale" that's taken him around the world looking for crystals and symbols like the ones in the cave, before Lex reminds Lionel that he's been doing the same thing for years.
- Lex tells Lionel "You shouldn't wound what you can't kill." Apparently his invulnerability kept him alive whereas the poison would have killed an ordinary man. The game is on.
Added 9/2: Dr. Swann does not appear in "Crusade," contrary to earlier rumors. Someone tells us "Martha Kent calls 'someone' and but that someone is not there....so she says she needs to find 'him' right away regarding her son!" This could, however, leave open the possibility that Swann could appear in "Gone," which is the second episode of Season Four.
- Here's something else we are told to maybe explain the "Kal-El" flying thing: "Clark does not turn into two people.... he comes back to earth as Kal-El..... tells Martha that Jonathan and Clark Kent are dead. Martha uses Kryptonite to make Kal-El turn back into Clark."
Added 8/31: Lois becomes increasingly exasperated with the person she's trying to get directions from on her cell phone. Her destination is the Kent Farm, and she makes a snark about "Do they even have addresses here?"
- A flash of lightning interrupts her phone call and kills the signal. Lois gets out a cigarette, but warns herself that she will hate herself forever if she smokes it.
- We hear that fans will be very impressed with Erica Durance as Lois, and it doesn't sound like a company line.
Added 8/27: How are they going to get away with Clark flying? USA Today printed this tidbit alongside an interview with Executive Producer Alfred Gough: "And in a big (if temporary) departure from its "no flights, no tights" rule, this Superman will fly in the season opener. Gough says the script provides a loophole because Clark has been "reprogrammed" as Kryptonian alter-ego Kal-El. "He can only do it once; by the end of the episode, he can't do it anymore."
Added 8/16: Apparently Clark splits into two beings at one point in this story - the Clark we all know and love and "Kal-El," which would explain the convenient flying.
Added 7/30: Dr. Swann returns? Possibly... see Rumorville for more.
Added 7/19: Michael Rosenbaum revealed to Sci Fi Wire that his first scene filming will involve Lex on a jet.
Added 7/15: Lois Lane will be in at least 13 episodes of Season Four, which sounds almost like a series regular to us!
i cant wait till episode 6 "Transference"!!! it sounds so funny and interesting......
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: - In prison, Lionel meets a man named Edgar who has figured out the key to body transference based on the Kryptonian symbols and using a stone artifact. Lionel's goal is apparently to switch bodies with Lex, hence the title "Transference," but for some reason the transfer instead switches him with Clark.
- Lionel, in Clark's body, seems amazed by his newfound strength, in a scene where he holds a combine up for Jonathan.
- Edgar's cell in the Kansas State Penitentiary is filled with photos of Kryptonian symbols from archaelogical sites around the world, including the Kawatche cave. When Clark is first transferred into Lionel's body, he stands there, staring at what he sees. "You must be Lex," Edgar tells him, in awe that the transfer worked. Clark (who we will call "Lionel" in quotes from here on out since he is in Lionel's body) tells him he's not Lex - he's Clark Kent.
- Edgar reveals that the stone was supposed to be used on Lex. When "Lionel" asks where the real Lionel got the stone, Edgar tells him he's not supposed to say. Edgar finally 'fesses up, and tells him that the stone was found in an underwater Mayan ruin. The symbol on the stone is that of water - "the element of transformation."
- Edgar has a great understanding of pattern recognition, and he's figured out 17% of the Kryptonian symbols so far. Edgar reveals other patterns that we will first see in "Crusade" - including symbols of fire, air (which looks like an "8," perhaps like what was burned onto Clark in "Exodus"), and water. Edgar thinks if you put all three together you'll get knowledge beyond your wildest dreams. He admits he didn't even believe it for sure until this body-jump was just successful.
- We learn some of Edgar's backstory of why and how he ended up in prison. He believes that he was framed for embezzlement by one of his colleagues. "I'm a mathematician looking for hidden patterns in the Dead Sea scrolls. What do I want with money?" he tells Clark. He conveniently ended up sharing a prison cell with Lionel, who offered to help him out with lawyers if he would help Lionel with the symbols.
- "Lionel" asks Edgar if the real Lionel ever said why he was so obsessed with these things. "A dying man wishes to grab onto whatever hope he can, and he found his salvation in a hunk of rock," Edgar reveals. With that, Clark knows Lionel's secret - and that now, in Lionel's body, he, too, is dying.
- Lionel, in Clark's body, tries to get his money out of his Swiss bank account and convert the entire balance into bearer bonds. We learn in this scene that Lionel's mother's maiden name was Meehan.
- In Clark's body, Lionel stands shirtless in a mirror, admiring his own physique. He also pulls open his waistband and peeks down at his crotch, impressed. Guess someone with the initials L.L. is going to be pretty lucky someday!
Added 8/26: The teaser for the episode begins with Jonathan and Martha watching Clark playing football, from the stands. Clark glances back at Assistant Coach Jason from the field also, but hey, you all don't start slashing until the season actually starts, okay? The Crows are one touchdown away from victory.
- Someone labeled in the script as "Lionel" (with quotes; could be Clark in his body, not sure from these pages) gets attacked by a skinhead with a screwdriver. The skinhead suggests playing "Who Wants To Beat A Billionaire."
- Martha makes a comment that Jonathan must have driven somebody. Lex can tell something is up with her voice. "Martha, I don't mean to pry, but is everything okay?" Martha stumbles, before a phone call saves her from having to answer. The voice on the phone is that of Lionel Luthor. Martha seems surprised.
Added 8/25: This episode involves a "body jump" where Clark and Lionel switch bodies. Look for revelations for both characters, and for some humor to spring from the situation.
(if this is a spoilers thread, do we have to put the spoiler highlight thing over it? i will just in case.)
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: Episode #4-8: "Spell" Airdate Unknown
Written By: Steven S. DeKnight
Added 9/24: The name "Madelyn Isobel Thoreaux" is the full name of the Isobel character. You might remember this is also the name of the person Lana was tracing in the season premiere - that gave her that weird power. It could be that the two are connected/related. Visit Rumorville for more.
Added 9/21: Magic comes to Smallville for the second week in a row, in a story dating back to a time when three young women were accused of witchcraft in 1604. The three women somehow have a tie to Lana, Chloe, and Lois today, who seem to have taken on their behavior.
- One witch in 1604, Isobel, threatens that she will "sleep a while" before getting her revenge, while she is on the stake. A Kryptonian tattoo on her burns red. Could this mean there is a Kryptonian connection to Earth dating back 400 years?
- Lana is the one girl tied mystically to Isobel somehow, and her eyes crackle with energy, which causes Jason to look at her with his eyes widening in fear.
- Chloe's connection is to a witch named Madelyn; Lois is connected to Brianna. Chloe is chowing on a cookie and moaning in ecstacy.
- Lois and Chloe are checking out the guys in 2004 (apparently they may be possessed by the spirits of these witches?) and comment on the hard bodies and the fact that men in 2004 bathe. Lois/Brianna uses her witch power to make one "studly teen"'s shirt pop open. They then cause mischief that makes the boy's girlfreind storm off.
- A Princeton recruiter comes to the Kent Farm to meet up with Clark. On his way to the house, he is interrupted by a semi-clothed boy and girl. He enters the barn, to find Clark stripped to his boxers, dancing with the scantily clad Lois/Brianna, Lana/Isobel, and Chloe/Madelyn.
(he was in 'how to deal' w/ mandy Moore, and hes the one in the commercials for......oh nm i dont remember i think perfume? )anyways... thats what kryptonsite said, that hes gonna play that person that i have no idea how to say his name...theres like no vowels in his last name
September 27, 2004: Smallville - Season 4, Episode 2 - “Gone”
The WB has made available the following description for the 2nd episode of Season 4 of "Smallville". Titled "Gone", this episode is due to air in the U.S. on Wednesday September 29th at 8pm. Here's the official description from the WB...
Clark (Tom Welling) and Lois Lane (Erica Durance) investigate Chloe's (Allison Mack) apparent murder, but are stopped by an army officer, General Sam Lane (guest star Michael Ironside), who turns out to be Lois' father. Lois suspects that Sam knows more about Chloe's death than he will admit, and Clark discovers that Sam has recently been in contact with Lex (Michael Rosembaum). Jason (Jensen Ackles) arrives from Paris and convinces Lana (Kristin Kreuk) to continue their relationship. Suspecting that Chloe is still alive, Lionel (John Glover) sends an assassin with the power to morph his limbs into metallic weapons to keep Chloe from testifying against him.
John Schneider and Annette O'Toole also star. James Marshall directed the episode written by Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders.
Dr. Swan can't come back and the closest thing to him coming back will be hearing him being mentioned on the show once in a while until the season is over.
The key to the ship and the wall. But that is common knowledge if you have seen season 3.
4-10; Scare
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: Lex's secret experiment at Luthorcorp goes awry and causes a dangerous toxin to be released into Smallville. Those infected by the toxin, including Clark, Lana, Lex, and Jason imagine their greatest fears come true and then fall into a coma. Desperate to find a cure, Clark gives some of his blood to Lex and is stunned at what Lex does with the antidote.
Lionel, AGAINST HIS WISHES is released from prison, and apparently Jason gets a job with LuthorCorp.
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: Alicia the teleporting girl from Season 3 will be back for a two part story. Apparently it all has to do with Sex. From what I know... her and Clark (In full Kal-El form) are getting MARRIED?
KMC Community Forums
Sep 8th, 2004 04:31 PM
i think perfume? )anyways... thats what kryptonsite said, that hes gonna play that person that i have no idea how to say his name...theres like no vowels in his last name 
