“Mortal” originally aired October 6, 2005, was written by Steven S. DeKnight and directed by Terrence O’Hara.

Preview

Be careful what you wish for, Clark Kent. After years of wanting a normal life, Clark finally gets his chance. No super-strength. No super-speed. No heat vision accidentally setting something on fire at an awkward moment. He’s just Clark, and surprisingly, he’s pretty happy about it. Being mortal means he can finally imagine having a normal relationship with Lana without his Kryptonian baggage hanging over every conversation.

Naturally, Smallville gives him about five minutes to enjoy it. Three super-powered prisoners escape from Belle Reve and target Clark, taking Lana, Jonathan, and Martha hostage. Their demand sends a powerless Clark into a heavily guarded LuthorCorp facility looking for a mysterious serum. For once, Clark can’t rely on his powers to save everybody. He’ll have to settle for courage, brains, Chloe, and the increasingly useful realization that Lex Luthor is keeping way too many creepy things behind locked doors.

Episode Review

“Mortal” is one of those episodes that sounds like it should be a temporary gimmick but winds up saying something fairly important about Clark.

Clark has spent years treating normality like some mythical promised land. If only he weren’t Kryptonian, he could date Lana. He could stop lying. He could work on the farm. He could wake up without wondering whether somebody had discovered a glowing rock that would give them telepathy, laser elbows, or whatever else Smallville has planned this week.

Then he finally becomes human.

And he loves it.

Clark works with Jonathan at a barn raising, feels physical soreness for essentially the first time, and tells Chloe that he’s happy being free of his Kryptonian destiny. More importantly, he feels as though he can finally have the relationship with Lana that he’s wanted.

That makes what happens next much more interesting.

When Tommy Lee and the twins threaten his family and Lana, Clark doesn’t have superpowers to fall back on. And yet he still tries to save them. That is arguably the most important thing “Mortal” tells us about Clark.

Take Superman out of Clark Kent and you still have Clark Kent.

The episode also makes good use of Chloe. She knows Clark’s secret now, so the writers no longer have to spend half their scenes having Clark desperately invent explanations for impossible things happening around him. Instead, Chloe can actually help.

And then there’s Lex.

Lex approaches Clark hoping they can repair their friendship, but by this point there’s so much suspicion between them that the old Clark-Lex friendship is basically being held together with duct tape and memories of better seasons.

That’s probably my favorite part of “Mortal.” The episode isn’t really about Clark losing his abilities. It’s about discovering which parts of Clark never depended upon them.

Turns out quite a lot.

Who Stars in This Episode?

The principal cast appearing in “Mortal” includes Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan, John Glover as Lionel Luthor, Annette O’Toole as Martha Kent, and John Schneider as Jonathan Kent. Erica Durance is credited as Lois Lane but does not appear in the episode.

There are also several guest performers, most importantly Kenny Johnson as Tommy Lee, with twin brothers Brad Mann and Todd Mann playing his two accomplices.

Freak of the Week: Tommy Lee and the Twins

This time the Freak of the Week award is a group prize.

Tommy Lee is a Belle Reve prisoner with electrical abilities who escapes along with a pair of twins. The twins can work together to create a powerful force field, making the trio considerably more troublesome than the average Smallville criminal.

Kenny Johnson is the standout guest star here. He gives Tommy enough swagger and menace to make him a convincing problem for Clark, particularly because Clark doesn’t have his usual get-out-of-danger-free card.

Normally you’d expect Clark to handle three meteor-powered criminals somewhere between breakfast and feeding the cows.

Not today.

That’s what makes these rather straightforward villains effective. Clark suddenly has to view people with powers the way everybody else does.

They’re terrifying.

Special Effects

“Mortal” doesn’t depend on effects quite as heavily as some Smallville episodes, and that’s actually appropriate.

The twins’ force-field ability gives Clark a threat that can’t simply be punched away, while Tommy’s electrical powers supply the more obvious super-powered spectacle. The episode’s real trick, though, is deliberately not giving Clark an effects showcase. The absence of super-speed and super-strength becomes part of the visual storytelling.

A normal stunt suddenly means more when Clark can actually get hurt.

That’s also why I think the episode’s effects work better in context than they might viewed in isolation. Nothing here is the greatest CGI Smallville ever produced, but it serves the story rather than taking it over.

And that is occasionally a blessing on this show. Sometimes you don’t need a tornado, spaceship or badly aging CGI creature.

Sometimes you just need Clark Kent to get punched and realize:

“Oh, right. That hurts now.”

Music

The major featured song associated with “Mortal” is:

• “A Message” – Coldplay, used toward the end as Clark and Lana decide to move their relationship forward.

The episode also features “Supernatural” by Wild Whirled according to the soundtrack listing. Tunefind lists “Collide” by Dishwalla but specifically notes that it is not in the episode, so I’m leaving that one off the actual track list.

Track Listing

1. “Supernatural” – Wild Whirled [tunefind.com]
2. “A Message” – Coldplay [tunefind.com]

“A Message” is an especially good Smallville needle drop. The show was very good at finding songs that could make two attractive people staring meaningfully at each other feel like the fate of Western civilization depended on their relationship.

Rating

4.5/5

“Mortal” isn’t a giant mythology episode and doesn’t try to be one. Instead, it takes away the thing that supposedly makes Clark special and discovers that he remains heroic anyway.

It’s fun, surprisingly warm, occasionally tense, and very important for Clark.

I’d put this above a standard Freak-of-the-Week episode because the villains are really just a mechanism for asking a much better question:

Who is Clark Kent when he isn’t Superman?

The answer turns out to be encouraging.

Lessons From the Episode

Being human isn’t the same as being ordinary

Clark has always associated humanity with normality.

“Mortal” lets him experience the difference.

Without his abilities he’s physically human, but he’s still the guy willing to put himself in danger for another person. He’s still stubborn. He’s still loyal. He’s still going to try to save everybody.

So losing his powers doesn’t make him ordinary.

It just makes rescuing people significantly less convenient.

Courage matters more when you’re vulnerable

Super-powered Clark running into danger is brave.

Powerless Clark doing it is arguably braver.

Clark knows he can be injured now. He knows his enemies have abilities that he doesn’t. And he knows there’s no guarantee that everything will work out.

He goes anyway.

That is a major Superman trait developing independently of the costume or powers.

Clark’s dream of a normal life isn’t foolish

I like that the episode doesn’t punish Clark for enjoying being human.

He’s genuinely happy.

That matters because Clark’s desire for normality has sometimes been presented as something he merely needs to “get over.” “Mortal” makes the situation more bittersweet. Clark really could enjoy this life.

That makes his eventual acceptance of something bigger more meaningful.

Secrets have consequences

Clark becoming human also changes his relationship with Lana. Suddenly he feels that one of the biggest barriers between them has disappeared. Their relationship can move forward in a way Clark previously resisted because his abilities and origins always complicated intimacy.

But the larger problem hasn’t magically vanished.

Clark still has a history Lana doesn’t completely understand.

And that’s the recurring tragedy surrounding Clark’s secrets. He isn’t hiding things because he enjoys lying. He’s hiding them because every choice carries consequences.

How This Moves Clark Toward Superman

This might be the most important part of “Mortal.”

Clark has spent much of Smallville believing his abilities are responsible for his destiny.

This episode begins separating those two things.

His powers are Kryptonian.

His heroism is Clark.

That’s an enormous distinction.

Superman ultimately matters not because he’s capable of saving people but because he chooses to save people. “Mortal” gives Clark a situation where the usual physical advantage disappears, meaning his motives can be tested without his abilities getting in the way.

And Clark passes.

He doesn’t look at his powerless condition and say, “Sorry, everybody, Superman’s office is closed.”

He tries anyway.

There is another subtle lesson here too. Clark finally receives the normal life he’s spent years wishing for, and he discovers that normality doesn’t eliminate responsibility. Bad things don’t stop happening because Clark Kent no longer has super-strength.

That’s a major step toward the man Clark eventually needs to become.

He has spent years asking:

“Why do I have these powers?”

“Mortal” begins pushing him toward the more important question:

“What kind of person am I going to be, whether I have them or not?”

Superman begins with the answer to that second question.

Complete Synopsis and Plot Breakdown

At Belle Reve, Lex visits Lionel, who is in a catatonic condition. As Lex leaves, prisoner Tommy Lee uses his electrical abilities to escape, bringing along a pair of twins capable of generating a powerful force field together. Tommy announces that their destination is Smallville.

Meanwhile, Clark is adapting remarkably well to life without powers. He’s working alongside Jonathan at a barn raising and actually enjoying unfamiliar experiences like becoming sore from physical labor. Chloe questions how he’s adjusting, particularly given everything connected to his Kryptonian destiny, but Clark insists that he’s happy. He feels free, and his new mortality seems to offer him the possibility of having an ordinary life with Lana.

Lex arrives and tells Clark that he hopes they might rebuild their friendship. But the relationship between them has already suffered badly, and good intentions aren’t enough to erase all that accumulated suspicion.

Clark and Lana later spend time together in Clark’s loft. With Clark no longer burdened by his powers, their relationship is markedly more relaxed. Their romantic moment is interrupted by Tommy and the twins, who use their abilities against Clark and demonstrate very quickly that the formerly invulnerable farm boy is now seriously outmatched.

Tommy’s group takes Lana, Jonathan and Martha hostage and forces Clark into a dangerous mission involving LuthorCorp. Specifically, they want him to obtain a serum from the mysterious Level Three research facility.

Without his powers, Clark must rely on planning and assistance rather than brute strength. The situation gives Chloe an opportunity to function as an actual partner rather than a friend left wondering why Clark Kent keeps surviving things that should have turned him into a crater.

Clark ultimately faces the crisis as a genuinely vulnerable human being. That’s the point of the whole exercise. The mechanics of the hostage plot matter, but dramatically they exist to strip away Clark’s greatest advantage and see whether he’ll still behave like a hero.

He does.

By the end, Clark receives something else he’s wanted for years: the chance to move forward with Lana without his powers standing between them. Their decision to take the relationship to its next level is accompanied by Coldplay’s “A Message.”

Viewed as the second chapter of Season 5, “Mortal” therefore isn’t simply the episode where Clark doesn’t have powers.

It’s the episode where the series makes an important point about why those powers were never the most interesting thing about him.

Clark doesn’t save people because he’s Superman.

Eventually, he’ll become Superman because he’s the kind of person who saves people.

And that’s a pretty good reason to give “Mortal” an extra half-star.

Photos

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