The iconic young Superman show Smallville ran for a whopping 10 seasons across The WB and CW, signing off in 2011 after an impressive 217 episodes. Over the course of the decade Smallville was on the air, Clark Kent (Tom Welling) went from an awkward, bumbling teenager to the resolute hero we all know and love. Smallville gave us a look into a young Clark Kent we’d never seen before, paved the way for the Arrowverse on the CW, and provided arguably some of the mythology’s best interpretations of Superman’s iconic characters — namely Lex Luthor and Lois Lane.
Videos by ComicBook.com
When the Smallville first premiered on The WB in 2001, creators Al Gough and Miles Millar drew inspiration from shows like The X-Files for their episodic structure. For the first four seasons of the series, most weeks on Smallville it was up to Clark stop the latest “meteor freak,” or individual affected by Kryptonite from the meteor shower that brought Clark to Smallville as a child. There were some great guest-star “meteor freaks” that left an indelible mark on the show but a few in particular stand out. Check out our list of the 5 best meteor freaks below.
Honorable Mention: Ryan James
Okay, okay, Ryan isn’t technically a meteor freak. We first met the telepathic Ryan James (Ryan Kelley) in Season 1 during the episode entitled “Stray,” in which he feigned amnesia to escape his abusive stepparents and was taken in by the Kents. His brotherly bond with Clark was immediate and heartwarming, but upon his return in Season 2, in the episode “Ryan,” their connection turns heart-breaking. In “Ryan,” we learn Ryan’s mind-reading abilities aren’t powered by Kryptonite, but by a brain tumor. Despite Clark using his abilities to do everything he could to save Ryan, ultimately it wasn’t enough and the young boy succumbed to his illness. Not only did Ryan allow Clark to be a big brother, it also taught him a devastating but necessary lesson — not everyone can be saved.
5) Kevin Grady
While Kevin’s meteor-powered ability isn’t all that impressive, it’s what it brought about for Clark and his loved ones that earns him a spot on this list. Kevin Grady (Jonathan Bennett) was a one-episode-wonder in the Season 4 episode “Blank” that had the ability to erase others’ short-term memories. However, when he used his power on Clark, he wiped his entire memory.
Clark with amnesia made for a fascinating hour of television. A recently clued-in Chloe (Allison Mack) has to teach him about his superpowers as well as prevent Clark from inadvertently revealing them to others. Lex leverages Clark’s amnesia to reveal secrets about the Kawatche caves, but the most riveting, gripping aspect of the episode involves the seasons-long live triangle between Clark, Chloe, and Lana. Clark falls for Lana at first sight (again,) leading to one of Welling and Kreuk’s best-acted scene when a guileless Clark asks Lana where it all went wrong between them. Chloe, still holding a candle for Clark, catches the tail-end of their conversation and makes the crushing observation “Looks like the heart remembers more than the brain.”
RELATED: 10 Smallville Episodes Featuring Stars Before They Were Famous
4) Emily Dinsmore
Smallville occasionally dipped into the horror genre over its ten-season run, and one of the times they did it most effectively was through the character of Emily Dinsmore (Jodelle Ferland). A childhood friend of Lana Lang’s (Kristin Kruek,) Emily tragically drowned helping a young Lana after she fell into a river. After her passing, Emily’s father devoted himself to bringing back his daughter via Kryptonite-powered cloning. He succeeded, except the clone of Emily experience a lack of mortality combined with accelerated aging, super speed, intangibility, superhuman strength, enhanced durability, and a heightened healing factor.
Therefore, when the clone of Emily tracked down Lana in the season 2 episode “Accelerate,” she initially thought she saw a ghost of her childhood friend. Clark had to save Lana from drowning when Emily tried to seek revenge for young Lana not saving her, and the clone was taken to mental asylum Belle Reeve, where many a meteor freak ended up in Smallville. A teenage Emily (Amber Rothwell) returned in the Season 3 episode “Forsaken” to finish seeking vengeance against Lana, but thanks to Clark, she was defeated once again. Emily’s character on Smallville isn’t just an example of the show successfully blending genres within the world of the show, she’s so effective because the writers also tied her story to something personal and tragic to Lana.
3) Tina Greer
Now, Smallville wouldn’t be a superhero show if we didn’t have a shapeshifter, now would it? Pre-Mean Girls fame, Lizzy Caplain guest-starred on two episodes of the show as Tina Greer, a meteor-infected teenager who had the ability to take on anyone’s appearance. Tina was on the fourth-ever episode of Smallville and her shapeshifting ability provided the perfect pairing for Clark’s emerging X-ray vision abilities. Like most guest stars on the show, Tina harbored an unhealthy obsession with Lana, forcing Clark to learn how to get a handle on his new superpower in order to save her.
Caplan did such a great job as Tina that the show brought her back for the Season 2 episode “Visage.” While recurring guest stars aren’t always enjoyable the second time around, both the writers and Caplan used Tina and her ability in a fresh, compelling manner. This time, Tina posed as Lana’s ex Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson) back from serving abroad to be with Lana. Whitney’s return threw a wrench into Clark and Lana’s slowly blossoming romance at the time, which of course, only became more complicated when Clark discovered Tina was impersonating Whitney, who had actually died in service of his country. Not only was “Visage” a brilliant way to bring back one of the show’s best “meteor freaks,” it also provided an emotional conclusion to Whitney’s character who has been written off at the end of season 1.
RELATED: Tom Welling Soars Again as an Aged Superman In Smallville Revival Fan Art
2) Alicia Baker
It’s not easy to introduce a love interest to a mythology is old and storied as Superman that feels canon, but Smallville pulled it off with Alicia Baker (Sarah Carter). Alicia was a classmate of Clark’s with the ability to teleport who first appeared in season 3 in the episode aptly titled “Obsession.” When Clark and Alicia are trapped in an free-falling elevator on a field trip, the pair are forced to reveal their abilities to one another. Thanks to Welling and Carter’s palpable chemistry, Clark and Alicia dating was a welcome breather from season 3’s exhausting will they won’t they between Clark and Lana.
What began as a sweet and earnest high school romance between the two quickly turned dangerous when Alicia began using her powers to obsess over Clark and their relationship. It nearly turned fatal when Alicia tried to kill Lana to remove her as competition for Clark’s affections. She was sent to Belle Reeve, then released a year with the claim she was “cured” and a lead bracelet to keep her from teleporting in the season 4 episode “Unsafe.” Yet, Alicia’s doctor only discharged her in a gross attempt to be with her, and Alicia used red Kryptonite to coax Clark into a quickie marriage in Vegas. Though the pair reconciled and tried to make their relationship work, Alicia was killed off in the following episode “Pariah,” but to this day she remains a fan-favorite.
1) Eric Summers
Appearing in the season 1 episode “Leech,” Clark’s experience with classmate Eric Summers (Shawn Ashmore) taught him a character-defining lesson about the responsibility that comes along with his powers. On geology field trip, Clark’s abilities get transferred to the sullen, overlooked Eric Summers. Unlike Clark, Eric doesn’t hide his newfound powers and is initially praised for them. The now-powerless Clark is resentful of Eric’s newfound local hero status as he learns just how difficult his chores and other activities are without special abilities.
That is until the attention and the superpowers go to Eric’s head and when he begins using his abilities to terrorize his peers. Clark witnesses that his humility and secrecy about his superpowers was in fact the right approach, and Eric learns that power doesn’t necessarily fix one’s problems Ultimately, Clark figures out how to transfer his Kryptonian abilities back to their rightful owner and Eric was taken to Belle Reeve. As with most of Smallville‘s most successful meteor freaks, Eric returned in the Season 3 episode “Asylum,” still bitter and still unable to best Clark even when he leeched his powers again.
Clark Kent and the entire series likely would have turned out incredibly differently if Clark hadn’t had such an influential and intimate experience with the both positive and negatives of what it is was like to be “normal.” Contrasted with Eric’s carelessness and abuse of Clark’s abilities, he was able to see what the consequences, as well as a glimpse of what he could become if surrendered to his baser impulses and misuse them. “Leech” wasn’t the first time Clark lost his powers on Smallville, but it certainly set the tone for how he conducted himself both with and without them for the rest of the series. None of that would’ve been possible without Eric Summers.
Did we leave off your favorite Smallville “meteor freak”? Let us know in the comments!
