Or spin the Earth backwards once he learns to fly.

I loved the show, alot of cliffhangers, but I enjoyed it.

Could Swan be from Krypton?

I thought of this as well, but then wouldn't that be changing the mythos a little too radically?

i liked it a lot...sure there were plotholes, but at least they furthered the plot along...I loved it when clark kissed lana...made me think maybe he's not such a ****. But then she pulled away and the same crappy drama ensued.

also, on the previews for next week, didn't it say "on the season finale"? I really hope not...i hope i misheard it and it said leading up to the season finale or somethin...

Bingo!

I doubt it. He'd be super on earth so I don't think he'd be crippled.

I think his motivation was explaine by his statement about his curiosity. He's obsessed with knowledge about Krypton.

Lionel has acknowledged that he's been reading Swan's emails to Clark, he has seen Clark do "super" things while pretending to be blind (right?), has seen Clark in the cave in front of the key hole what a 100 times now, has other evidence I'm not recalling, and he still can't put 2 and 2 together.

Oh and Lex! This is the guy destined to be Superman's arch enemy and he's intimately familiar w/ Clark. He knows what CK looks like so the whole glasses thing certainly won't pull the wool over his eyes! He knows Clark's voice, etc., etc. Obviously I see another memory wash in Lex's future. Maybe he'll totally forget all his time in Smallville and his history of benevolence.

And Lana! Enough is enough already. Kiss. Don't kiss. I've waited too long for you. I hooked up with Adam. And you'd think Clark would realize the only way to get Lana is to tell her his secret.

I say go tell Chloe and shag rotten!

Hopefully Pete will return from where ever the writers have exiled him.

I dig the show by the way.

I was completely lost in what was happening in this epsiode. What exactly happend? And how did Chris Reeve get the key at the very end?

After thinking about it some more, I think Swan is like The ERADICATOR. He could have been around for over 100 years. We know others have visited from Krypton.

1. Very interested in Krypton
2. Very interested (protective) in Kal-El/Clark
3. Wants to conquer earth (ERADICATOR wanted to conquer earth and so does the ship/Jor-El). Swan could have been controling the ship as he did the disk.
4. Able to work with computers
5. Can control the disk to the ship
6. Knows about the caves

Nobody knows. My guess is it has something to do with that "I'm waiting" message from Jor-El.

I like the idea of a storyline where Swann tries to use the Key, or Clark, or some combination of kryptonian stuff, to cure himself. Reeve would make a great badguy/nemesis. They need more than Lionel, cause thats getting tired. They wore out Freak-of-the-week. The Comics have dozens of adversaries for superman to go up against. Luthor, in whatever form, isn't the ONLY one. Adding Swann as a recurring badguy would be a great step forward i think. If that's the way they're going, i think it redeems last night's episode. But it could just be one of those loose ends we never see again.

EDIT: Eradicator! That's even better. Good Call Iron_Giant. I think it may be too bold for what Smallville's been capable of lately.

I also was hoping Reeve's appearance would be a little more substantial (maybe it'll pay off later on), but it still has a good set-up. Exactly what "deal" did Swann make with Lionel?

I'm still trying to figure out what Jonathan's role with the key is. Apparently, he knows how significant it is to Clark's past (and future). Did he gain more insight when he "made a deal" with Jor-El? Did he bring a duplicate or something when he came to the cave, or did the key just magically transport itself to a pre-determined location (i.e., Swann?).

At least Lana gave Clark some tough love, but since they killed off Whitney and Adam, there needs to be a better love triangle down the road.

The subplot about Lionel trying to nail Clark and Lex trying to nail his father have interesting ramifications.

I think he has put two and two together, but just seeing and knowing these things isn't enough for him. He wants the physical proof, which he knows Lex has, and which is why he tried making a deal with Lex to get access to the hard proof.

Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I think that the speculation makes sense...

Don't know why I'm spoilering this, but here goes...

I was thinking the exact same thing, I was like uhh... how did Swann who is three hours away in Metropolis and in a wheelchair manage to get the key that was just inserted into the cave wall. That is unless it's not the same key. Don't know why you guys are hating on the current season, i'm eager to find out how season 3 ends over the next few weeks.

I am not sure why all the hatred either. Even at it's weakest, this show is still better than most other crap on the air, and still better than Birds of Prey was last year. I think season three has had some weaker episodes, but I think this was one of the stronger ones. I understand the frustration at the hanging threads, but come on, it's the final story arc for the season, of course there are going to be hanging threads. They have five or six episodes left to explore the remainder of the series, and touch on things some of you felt should have been touched on in this episode.

And who cares where Pete or Chloe were? They usually bring the show down when they are on anyway. People complain when they get screen time and complain when they get none. Make up your minds!

Although there have been some weak spots this season (not as many as season one, where they did mostly exposition to set up the Kryptonite factor), I've liked it quite a bit. A lot of the episodes have been a lot darker in tone than the first two seasons and there have been shake ups between character relationships and a great development to Lionel Luthor's evil.

Of course, I would like to see the dynamics of the Clark/Lana relationship to take a breather for awhile. Some days they're chummy like everything's OK because he's saved her life yet again, and the next, Lana gives Clark the cold shoulder because he won't totally open up the way she has to him. At least we got to see a more emotional, almost tearful Clark this episode, with all the conflict he's enduring.

I agree with everyone else who was confused. What the hell is up with the key? Now the key can send out signals? How did Swann get the key?

Maybe they'll clear up some of the confusion, but I'm not too hopeful.

I have to respectfully disagree with those who say that even the weakest episodes of Smallville are better than anything on tv. (Now, I did feel that way about The X-Files and Buffy so I can understand where you are coming from).

IMHO, this show has had some great episodes in the past but I have felt that this 3rd Season has been steadily heading downhill. I was really suprised how dissapointed I was in this episode since I noticed at the beginning it was written by Jeph Loeb.

The direction of the show is on a tragic course and I'm not sure it can recover. I say this because of the many articles I have read on how the producers want to string out Clark's adventures without ever really showing him fly or him in his costume.

I'm not trying to say that he has to be Superman now or construct his costume (and I'm really not trying to take this whole thing to seriously) but I felt in the show beginning there was a good idea but becasue of the state of creative television and the limit to serialized stories we get episodes that appeal to the lowest common denonminator.

Swan is Jor-El? Are you guys braindead? How the hell can Dr. Swan be Jor-El? That makes no friggin' sense.

It doesn't have to make sense.

Well, the only reason that we're even suggesting that it's a possibility is the pure randomness of the last minute of the episode. I mean, for NO apparent reason, the key teleported from the cave right to Dr Swan (as far as we can tell). It really made absolutely no sense, and assuming the writers aren't just being random for the sake of being random, then there's a reason the key went to him. If he is just a really smart human who happens to have learned Kryptonian, then why would the key have gone to him?

We're only making wild guesses because the writers threw something in that's completely out of left field, and we're trying to make sense of it.

That aside, I did have a question regarding Lana. I'm really starting to lose track of who doesn't like who at which point, but didn't it end on Lana telling Clark that she wanted to stay away from him (after the whole horse incident)? If so, then why was she getting on him about staying away from her in the recent ep?

For one, it's variety. I'm sure quite a lot of viewers are sick of the obligatory ten minutes of Clark and Lana doing the whole "I'm going to make metaphors and analogies that make it seem like I love you, but I really don't, or can't say it, now let's just stare at each other for a minute or so" thing every episode. Having some of the characters that are in the main credits actually part of the storyline would help us forget about Lana.

On the other hand, whenever they DO do something with Chloe or Pete (especially Pete), it tends to be stupid. For reference, go back to the quite Pete-centric street racing episode.

The problem with Pete is that he's a character that knows Clark's secret, and really should be more integral to the plot. As is, they only bring him in either to fill a scene out every few weeks, or when they need Clark to have somebody help him that isn't his parents.

Now that Lionel has confirmation of something going on with Clark, they'd better kill him off real quick.

Lana - I guess there'll have to be 3 more years of this melodrama. The next 4 episodes better be the best of the season for this show to be redeemed. Judging from the preview (and Chloe's line) I fear its more of the same.

I agree. Even after Lana seemed to break things off with Clark at the end of this episode, I gurantee Lana and Clark will meet up in the final 10 minutes of the next episode and have their obligitary talk.

I'm all for more Pete and Chloe. When the writers force them into a stupid dillema just so Clark can save them though...

Lana needs to ease off on the secrets Clark is keeping from her, the guy has saved your life a gajillion times, cut the guy some slack.

well, it might be plausible if you consider he was on Earth back in the 60's, and if he chose to stay on Earth, it would be at a cost, or I would assume. Maybe that cost was he had to suffer the consequences of gold kryptonite (or which ever one it is that strips a Kryptonian of his powers.)

Of course, that's a big what if. I recall speculation that Bruce Wayne made his appearance this season, and that was total bunk. I don't put much stock into the writers of this series to really come up with something as radically different to the Superman mythos as letting Jor El live.

Good riddance to Pete and Chloe... never liked their characters, and i didn't miss them at all.