30 Best Smallville Episodes Ranked

With the exciting news of a "Smallville" animated series, it's time to go back and explore some of the greatest episodes of the hit 10 season series. Following the story of a young Clark Kent as he learns how to use his super-abilities to eventually become Superman, "Smallville" was the trailblazer for modern superhero television. Shows like "Arrow," "The Flash," "Supergirl," "Gotham," and plenty of others owe their thanks to this flagship series that proved once and for all that there was a market for superhero television in the 21st century. Of course, Clark never wore the Superman tights on-screen — barring some okay CGI in the finale — but that's because "Smallville" wasn't strictly a superhero show, especially not when it first started.

While "Smallville" has been off the air for a while now, it hasn't been forgotten. Actors Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprised their respective roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane in the 2019 CW crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths," showing us what Lois and Clark have been up to after all these years. Whether you see that epilogue as canon or not, it's gotten many excited about "Smallville" once again, and after the 20th-anniversary event it's clear why fans continued to appreciate "Smallville."

"Nemesis" is one of those episodes that is hard to remember but impossible to forget. Season 6 threw Clark in the middle of a lot more drama than he had ever bargained for, culminating in a marriage between Lex and Lana that sent him over the edge. However, when Lex is trapped underground in a collapsed tunnel system, Clark is the only one who can save his former friend. Of course, things don't go quite as planned (they never do on "Smallville"), and the tunnels are lined with Kryptonite (shocker), forcing Clark and Lex to rely on each other to get out alive before the bombs go off.

This episode does a phenomenal job exploring the complexities of Clark and Lex's eternally doomed friendship, with both of them questioning if they were ever really friends at all. Though, through all of it, Lex holds to the fact that Clark was his only "real" friend. As they struggle underground, we see a new, more vengeful version of Lana here, who would easily have let her new husband die alone. Yet, upon hearing that Clark is down there also, she quickly jumps to the rescue. Thus begins Lana's journey towards embracing her new Luthor identity, which would only get more intense by the season's end.

The Season 3 finale, "Covenant," is an exciting combination of Clark wrestling with his destiny and Lex trying to put his father away for murder. A mysterious girl named Kara (not Clark's Kryptonian cousin who would become Supergirl) arrives on the Kent Farm and takes flight with Clark in her arms. This creates a dilemma for our favorite farm boy, who is torn between staying on Earth with his friends and family and going elsewhere with Jor-El and Kara. Of course, Clark chooses his family, which results in Jor-El threatening the life of his adopted father, Jonathan Kent, ultimately forcing Clark to go with him.

There are also some pretty shocking revelations here. Clark discovers Lex's "room of obsession," which drives a huge wedge between them, ultimately forcing Clark to officially end their friendship. While they'd become friends again, their bond would never quite be the same, and this distrust would eventually evolve into hatred. With lasting impact, this episode throws the Kents and the Luthors into the fire, especially as Lex and Chloe Sullivan put the final lock on Lionel's cage. Oh, and that final scene, wow — there isn't a "Smallville" season-ender with more personal stakes than "Covenant," and it's explosive.

A bit of a cheat, but "Bride" and "Legion" go so hand-in-hand that we can't divorce the two. "Bride" centers around the wedding of Chloe Sullivan and Jimmy Olsen, which goes great until Doomsday smashes through the Kent barn and steals the bride under Brainiac's orders. However, Doomsday isn't the only dream-crusher here. Lana Lang also returns just in time to ruin a long-coming kiss between Clark and Lois, which would set their relationship back a whole season. After Lana's Season 7 send-off, her Season 8 return is not the most welcomed surprise, although Chloe is obviously happy to see her.

"Legion" is the immediate follow-up, which centers around Clark's first meeting with the futuristic Legion of Superheroes, who travel back in time to help Clark defeat Brainiac once and for all. As Clark and the Legion find Chloe, now possessed by Brainiac, our hero has to convince these young supers that all life is sacred, that killing isn't the way to stop Brainiac. Although Doomsday, and his human counterpart Davis Bloome, aren't dealt with until the end of the season, Clark and the Legion manage to neutralize Brainiac for good, ensuring that the corrupted Kryptonian A.I. would never hurt anyone again.

The Season 10 opener, "Lazarus," restores Clark to life after he sacrificed himself to send Zod and his fellow Kandorians away to a New Krypton. A perfect way to launch "Smallville" into its final season, this episode begins to prepare Clark for his final trials before he's officially ready to become Superman. It's here that Clark learns of a coming darkness called Darkseid and that Lex may not truly be dead after all. After facing off against a Lex clone (LX-13) and saving Lois in the process, he becomes increasingly more aware of his destiny — we even get a full look at the suit! Though he's not fully ready, Clark is almost there.

The most touching scene, though, has to be Clark's conversation with the spirit of his deceased father Jonathan, who encourages Clark to "prove Jor-El wrong" and show that he really is ready to be Earth's champion. This is the first time that we see the two of them on screen together again since the fifth season, and it makes us long for the early "Smallville" days when Jonathan would give his son solid advice every week. There's also a lot of drama in this episode between Oliver and Chloe, especially since Chloe sacrifices herself for Oliver, stepping away from "Smallville" for a good chunk of this season.

This Season 4 episode follows a mind-wiped Clark who, after encountering a meteor freak who can wipe people's memories, loses all knowledge of his past. With Clark's parents both out of town, Chloe takes it upon herself to care for Clark and protect his secret — that he too has superpowers. Others, such as Lex, try to exploit Clark in his ignorant state, but Chloe proves to be the best kind of friend a guy could ask for, keeping Clark out of harm's way. Of course, Clark's memories are eventually restored, though he forgets everything that happened during the time his memories were gone.

As a result, Clark still has no idea that Chloe learned his secret (more on that later) and can only speculate as to the "weird" things he did "under the influence." Still, there's a lot of great banter between the two throughout the episode, and Lois' comment that she knows how to handle an amnesiac Clark, which she did earlier this season in "Crusade," is pretty entertaining. Still, the real star of "Blank" is Chloe, who proves to be a real quick-on-her-feet trooper, willing to put herself in harm's way to keep the world from discovering Clark's true identity.

This superhero two-parter was an event when it first premiered on the CW titled "Absolute Justice," though it's really two episodes, "Society" and "Legends," smashed together as one. With a bit of a "Watchmen" vibe, this two-parter introduces the Golden Age of heroes, the Justice Society of America. After we watch a few of them get killed off by Icicle, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, the young JSA protege Stargirl teams up with Clark, Oliver, and the Martian Manhunter to stop the assassin. Long before crossovers between "Arrow," "The Flash," and "Supergirl" were a regular thing, "Smallville" brought us "Absolute Justice."

This doesn't mean that other characters don't have anything to do, though. Lois spends these episodes uncovering the history of the JSA and writes a profile on their vast heroics while Chloe recognizes her path to being a hero might look different than Clark's. Speaking of Clark, there are some great moments between him and the future-seeing Doctor Fate, who reveals that Clark will lead the "Silver Age" of heroes and that Lex Luthor would be his greatest nemesis. There are a lot of spectacular superhero moments in this two-parter, reminding us why Season 9 is so close to the show's end. It's hard not to make Clark Superman already.

Speaking of finales, "Vessel" pushes Clark and Lex's friendship to the extreme! While the two haven't been friends for a while by this point, Lex getting superpowers and discovering Clark's (again) doesn't make it better. This all occurs after Lex is abducted by Brainiac, experimented on, and genetically altered to be the living host for General Zod as he is released from his inter-dimensional prison. The showdown between Clark and Lex almost ends with Clark ending his former best friend's life, but unwilling to cross that line, he "kills" Brainiac instead. This backfires, and Zod is released, erasing Lex's memories.

As Brainiac descends the world into darkness, the episode ends with General Zod trapping Clark in the Phantom Zone, and had "Smallville" ended there, we would have had a lot more questions than answers, to be sure. Like much of Season 5, "Vessel" is one of the most solid finales on the show and throws just about every twist and turn at us before the end credits roll. If you love Superman lore, Clark and Lex drama, and some seriously great work from Michael Rosenbaum (as he plays both Lex and Zod), then this is the "Smallville" episode for you!

After Lionel is put away in prison, it's revealed that he's actually dying. As a result, the older Luthor has only one last play to make for his freedom: body-swapping with Lex. Using one of the mythical Kryptonian Stones of Power, Lionel only partially succeeds, climbing instead into Clark's body after he saves Lex from a terrible fate, leaving the young farmboy trapped in prison as the convicted Luthor. The best part of this episode is watching Tom Welling play Lionel Luthor and John Glover play Clark Kent as they mirror one another so incredibly well that it's almost a bit creepy. But hey, it's still great television.

Of course, this doesn't last and Clark eventually hops back into his own body, but as it turns out, his time in Lionel cured the Luthor of his terminal illness. Lionel, now genuinely a new man (with no memory of Clark's abilities), begins to turn his life around after "Transference" and would soon become a powerful ally to Clark in the coming years — even becoming an Oracle of Jor-El). This episode also features the brief return of "Superman: The Movie" actress Margot Kidder, who plays Bridgette Crosby, an associate of the late Dr. Virgil Swann (more on him in a bit).

One of the most heartbreaking episodes of the series, "Pariah" is notable for a few different reasons. First and foremost, it marks the moment that Chloe learns Clark's secret after watching him catch a car with his bare hands. Seeing her friend as a hero changes Chloe's perspective, setting up the events of other excellent episodes "Blank" and "Arrival," when she finally reveals to Clark that she knows his secret. Besides that, Clark's then-girlfriend Alicia Baker is brutally murdered (after being framed for murder) by a meteor freak who is trying to cleanse Smallville of all modern impurities. It's really heartbreaking.

While Alicia isn't the first love interest of Clark's that he's held dead in his arms (and wouldn't be the last), she is the first that he truly loved, the first that really understood what it was like to keep a secret like his. "Pariah" forces Clark to confront the terrible possibility that Alicia may not be as rehabilitated as he thought, only for him to learn too late that she was innocent the whole time. While there are a lot of good things that come out of this episode (such as Chloe officially learning Clark's secret), it's a tough one for Clark to get through, especially after everyone in Smallville believed Alicia was guilty.

As the final point in Lex's slow turn to darkness, "Descent" is when Lex fully embraces his destiny. This is the one where Lex kills his father, throwing Lionel out of his LuthorCorp office to plummet to his death. Of course, Lionel essentially gives his life to keep Clark's secret, which angers Lex to the point of patricide. Although Lois and Jimmy Olsen uncover Lex's dark deed, he still manages to keep it hidden and under wraps. However, in the process, he still fires Chloe from the Daily Planet. The best scenes are, as usual, between Clark and Lex, especially when Clark accuses him of murdering his father.

Out of all the episodes in Season 7, none are as important for Lex's personal journey as this one. It's here that all the years of constant foreshadowing and speculating finally come to a head. While we hope beyond hope that Lex won't kill his father, Lionel's final moments don't really come as a shock. As Lex continues his search for the Traveler, and eventually Clark's Fortress as seen in "Arctic," he is now willing to get his hands dirtier than he ever was before. Shockingly, Lionel isn't the last family member Lex murders before the series ends, but it is the most personal and the most tragic.

The first episode of the series, "Pilot," reminds us of all the reasons we loved "Smallville" in the first place. From the opening meteor shower that ends with Jonathan and Martha finding Clark in an open field to the moment Lex runs Clark off the bridge, resulting in their fateful meeting, "Smallville" captivated us within the first five minutes of airtime. Clark's bumbling in front of Lana is highly relatable to just about every teenager, as is Chloe's secret pining for Clark. The nostalgic world of early 2000s middle America makes us yearn for simpler times.

As Clark learns the secrets of his origins, they only serve to create more questions about his future. From the obvious Christ-like illusions to the multiple hints at Clark and Lex's inevitable destinies, "Smallville" sets the stage for ten seasons worth of powerful stories, building a universe that would one day be inhabited by Superman. As early as the first episode, it's clear that Clark Kent is a hero we can believe in, which makes the world just a bit more comforting. It all starts here, and after all these years, "Pilot" is just as beloved now as it always has been. Plus, who doesn't love some Lifehouse?

An epic collision between two Supermen, "Rosetta" sees the introduction of former beloved "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve, who plays astronomer Dr. Virgil Swann after portraying Superman in four different feature films. After Clark wakes up in the middle of the road and some mysterious Kryptonian symbols are found burned into the side of the Kent's barn, Swann reaches out to Clark with information about his origins. It's here, for the first time, that Clark discovers his true name, Kal-El, and his origins from the planet Krypton. They even weave some of John Williams' iconic "Superman" score into it!

While it's always cool to see a nice "passing the torch" moment between Supermen, there are other reasons "Rosetta" is one of the strongest episodes of "Smallville." The sisterhood between Chloe and Lana really blossoms here, with Chloe revealing that she views Lana as more of a sister than a friend. There are also some strong moments between Clark and Jonathan near the end, where Jonathan reassures his son that he can choose the type of man that he becomes. All-in-all, this classic episode reminds us why we love "Smallville" in the first place.

One of the most tragic episodes of "Smallville" is also one of the most important. Clark's first experience with real loss occurs in "Ryan," which features the second appearance of the young Ryan James, the boy the Kent family kind of adopts in the first two seasons and Clark forms an older brother bond with. Sadly, Ryan doesn't make it past the end credits, but his final days are spent with his chosen family in Smallville. Like many episodes in the earlier seasons, "Ryan" features a lot of great foreshadowing moments, including Ryan's distrust of Lex and the "Warrior Angel" comic books that tell of a hero whose greatest villain was his best friend.

There's a lot to love about "Ryan," but the biggest thing is watching Clark interact with a surrogate younger brother. The two of them have an inseparable bond, and from the moment Clark rescues Ryan from Summerholt Institute, we know that he'll do anything to protect his little buddy. With Martha's miscarriage later this season, this is the only real glimpse "Smallville" gives us of what the Kent household might look like if Clark had a younger brother to look after. Not only is Ryan a pretty great kid (played by Ryan Kelley of "Teen Wolf"), but he comes complete with his own telepathic superpowers also!

The Season 4 premiere, "Crusade," is the series' strongest opener by far and is aided by riding off the intensity of the cliffhangers introduced in "Covenant." It's here that we see Clark, albeit brainwashed as Kal-El, soar high above the clouds, even above the atmosphere, to retrieve one of the Stones of Power that Lex has stolen from Egypt. However, that exciting sequence aside (which still looks pretty good by today's standards), "Crusade" also marks the introduction of Lois Lane, who steals the show from the moment she shows up on screen. As Lois helps Clark back home to the Kent farm, they soon discover that Chloe (her cousin) is still alive.

But "Crusade" doesn't just feature one Lois Lane! Former Lois Lane actress Margot Kidder (from "Superman: The Movie") makes her "Smallville" debut here as Bridgette Crosby, giving Martha Kent (played by "Superman 3" star Annette O'Toole) the means to save her brainwashed son. There are a lot of great Lex moments here also, as he scours the globe in search of these alien artifacts. After trading a few insults with the jailed Lionel, he continues his newfound mission. Elsewhere, Lana finishes her time abroad, now with a new boyfriend, only to get a back tattoo that'll eventually cause her to be possessed by a 17th-century witch.

The greatest "Smallville" episode of all time, "Reckoning" is the series' 100th episode and there's a reason it's so iconic. Not only was this "Smallville" at the height of its cast — with Clark, Lex, Lana, Chloe, Lois, Jonathan, Martha, and Lionel all established as series stars — but this episode has everything we love about the show all in one place. In the wake of the senate race between Jonathan and Lex, Clark proposes to Lana, finally revealing to her his secret. Sadly, things don't end well, resulting in Lana's death. This forces Clark to make a deal with Jor-El to turn back time and live the day over once more.

Of course, time tries to course correct itself, and instead of Lana's untimely death, Clark's father dies of a heart attack after confronting Lionel Luthor. It's raw, emotional, and completely unforeseen, with consequences that would span years. Honestly, there are times when the episode can be really hard to watch because we always hope beyond hope that Clark wouldn't try to change fate. This is not only one of Clark's most defining moments, but one that would define "Smallville" itself for the rest of the series' run. If there's one episode of the series that is irreplaceable, then "Reckoning" is it.