Now that we’ve reached the halfway point of our Smallville rewatch, let’s look at the best episodes from the show’s first five seasons…



Pilot (S1 E1)

A very strong start to the series. The first monster-of-the-week was a tad rubbish, but all the hints at Clark’s future (“are you man or superman?” “I haven’t decided yet”) more than made up for that.

Hourglass (S1 E6)

An episode centred on the immutability of fate is a clever idea for a prequel show with a fixed end point. The visions themselves are powerful stuff – particularly Lex’s horrific future.

Leech (S1 E12)

The ‘powerless hero’ trope is really overused, but this episode is one of the best of them – as Clark’s abilities are accidentally transferred to another kid (X-Men‘s Shawn Ashmore).

Red (S2 E4)

Clark goes bad after being affected by a red meteor rock in a terrific episode. Tom Welling clearly relishes the chance to play the big blue boy scout going off the rails.

Insurgence (S2 E12)

Tensions fly everywhere in this episode (which also sees Clark actually sorta fly), as Lex and Lionel bug each other and Martha finds out that her boss has dirt on Clark. Terrific drama.