Smallville S4 E22 – Commencement

High school graduation is finally here for Clark Kent and the Crows of Smallville High, but receiving a diploma is the least stressful thing on today’s itinerary! As caps fly and bittersweet goodbyes loom, a cataclysmic cosmic threat turns the celebration into pure pandemonium. A second meteor shower—mirroring the tragic day baby Kal-El first crashed into Earth—is hurtling straight toward Kansas, sending the town into total military evacuation mode.

Meanwhile, the relentless race for the three Kryptonian Stones of Power reaches a boiling point. With Genevieve Teague pushing Lana to deadly extremes and Jason going completely unhinged on the Kent farm, Clark must gather the artifacts before an alien invasion flattens everything he loves. It’s a breathless, blockbuster finale that permanently closes the high school chapter and launches our boy farmhand toward his true destiny in the Arctic!

Review

What an absolute freight train of a season finale. Season 4 caught plenty of flak along the way for getting tangled up in bizarre witch tattoos, convoluted medieval lore, and Jason Teague’s questionable family tree. But “Commencement” pays the tab for all of it by delivering arguably the biggest, most cinematic spectacle Smallville had pulled off since the Pilot.

The pacing here rarely pauses for breath. Instead of lingering on high school nostalgia, the writers use the commencement ceremony as the ticking clock. The moment the sirens ring out and the sky turns an ominous shade of fiery hellfire, the stakes skyrocket. You get genuine emotional weight from John Schneider and Annette O’Toole as Jonathan and Martha refuse to abandon their boy, sharp and frantic character beats between Chloe and Clark, and Lex sliding further into the obsessive, secretive gray area that defines his journey. Even if the Countess Isobel arc had to end on an abrupt, stabby note, the momentum going into the final Arctic cliffhanger is nothing short of iconic.

Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars I almost went 5, but because I watched this and next week back to back I HAD to be able to go up on that episode that is the best I have seen to date.

Who Stars in the Episode (and “Freaks of the Week”)

• Tom Welling as Clark Kent
• Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang / Margaret Isobel Thoreaux
• Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
• Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
• John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
• Annette O’Toole as Martha Kent
• Erica Durance as Lois Lane (her final episode credited as a “Special Guest Star” before becoming a series regular!)
• John Glover as Lionel Luthor
• Jensen Ackles as Jason Teague (Season 4 swan song before trading small-town Kansas for hunting monsters in a ’67 Impala)
• Terence Stamp as the Voice of Jor-El

The “Freaks of the Week” (Guest Stars):

This finale skips the typical mutant-of-the-week formula and unleashes human obsessives:

• Jane Seymour as Genevieve Teague: The grand dame of television brings icy, manipulative ruthlessness to the table. She isn’t meteor-infected, but her obsession with the Stones makes her deadlier than half the high school mutants Clark ever fought. This episode serves as her dramatic exit from the series.
• Jensen Ackles as Jason Teague: While a series regular this year, Jason essentially acts as the rogue threat here, snapping completely and holding the Kents hostage with a shotgun while meteors rain from the sky.

Special Effects & Visuals

For a 2005 network television budget, “Commencement” threw every cent it had at the screen.

• The Good: The scale of the second meteor shower feels genuinely apocalyptic. The shot of Clark diving in front of little Henry to shield him with his own body as a massive meteor obliterates the ground is a quintessential, goosebump-inducing Superman image. The fiery streaks cutting across the midday sky and the swirling Kawatche cave energy effects still hold up nicely.
• The A Bit Clunky: The green-screen work on the military helicopter evacuation sequences has that unmistakable mid-2000s glow around the actors’ hair. A couple of the exterior building explosions around town feature that lightweight, weightless CGI debris where bricks seem to bounce around like styrofoam packing peanuts. Still, given the sheer ambition, it’s easy to forgive the rough edges.

Music

Unlike typical episodes packed with alt-rock montage singles, “Commencement” relies heavily on Mark Snow’s sweeping, tense orchestral score alongside the traditional graduation processional:

• “Pomp & Circumstance” – Sir Edward Elgar (as Clark, Chloe, and Lana walk down the aisle in their caps and gowns)
• Original Score – Mark Snow (propelling the meteor countdown, cave activations, and the chilling final sequence in the snow)

Complete Synopsis and Plot Breakdown

Clark is plagued by apocalyptic dreams of a second meteor shower striking Smallville, and Jor-El warns him through the Kawatche caves that a great evil is coming. To stop it, Kal-El must unite the three ancient Stones of Power (Fire, Water, and Air) before it’s too late. Clark already has one stone, but the others are out of reach.

Things go off the rails when Genevieve Teague confronts Lana, demanding the stone Lana holds. Countess Isobel suddenly possesses Lana, a violent struggle erupts, and Isobel impales Genevieve with the artifact, fulfilling a centuries-old blood grudge. The moment the stone is stained with human blood, Isobel’s spirit leaves Lana for good, but the cosmic beacon is activated—drawing the incoming armada of meteors straight to Earth.

Smallville High’s graduation ceremony is abruptly halted when the military issues an emergency evacuation order. While panicked crowds scatter, Jason Teague tracks Jonathan and Martha to the Kent farm, pulling a shotgun and demanding to know Clark’s secrets. Before he can shoot, a meteor crashes directly through the house, crushing Jason.

Clark races to assemble the stones. Lana gives him hers before boarding a helicopter with Lex’s security. Lex corners a catatonic Lionel, searching for the final stone, but Chloe intervenes. Lex acquires the stone, but Chloe secretly trails him to the Kawatche caves, where Clark confronts Lex. Chloe saves Clark by shoving an encroaching Lex aside, causing Lex to hit his head and knock himself cold.

Placing all three stones into the cave altar, Clark unites them into a single, glowing crystal: the Crystal of Knowledge. The cave erupts in blinding white light, teleporting Clark away just as the crystal vanishes.

Outside, Lana’s helicopter is hit by shockwaves and crashes into a field, where she crawls out only to witness a massive alien spacecraft opening before her. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the frozen wastes of the Arctic, Clark materializes, holding the Crystal of Knowledge. He hurls the crystal into the blinding tundra, watching as a crystalline palace begins to sprout from the ice—the birth of the Fortress of Solitude.

Lessons and the Path to Superman

• Duty Trumps Childhood: Graduation is supposed to be the symbolic boundary between youth and adulthood, but for Clark, it becomes a literal trial by fire. He doesn’t get to attend an after-party or unpack his bittersweet teenage memories; he has to stay behind in a dying town to protect humanity.
• The Cost of Secrecy: Chloe witnessing Clark’s world firsthand without him knowing marks a massive turning point. It shows that Clark cannot carry the weight of two worlds completely alone without burning down the relationships he cherishes.
• Stepping Into the Heritage: Throughout the first four seasons, Clark resisted Jor-El at every turn, terrified of being a conqueror. By finally assembling the stones and accepting the journey that leads him to the Arctic, Clark stops running from his biology and takes his first conscious step toward embracing his destiny as Earth’s protector. We also get the fortress of solitude and it starts to feel like the Superman we all know and love.

Photos

Talk Ville – Fortress of Solitude Stories, Tom’s Favorite Series Moment & Deja Vu Finale

Review Notes

This feels so much more like Superman and though I didn’t like the abrupt ending with Lana basically committing murder, the rest of this was fantastic.

Thank god we are done with the Teagues, the stones quest etc.