What is the best 12th episode of the Series?

[Vergon6]

MOD NOTE: Just a friendly reminder to everyone, please remember that everyone is entitled to an opinion about the show, positive or negative. If you disagree, please do so respectfully.

[Tekken Force]

I really do have to wonder what is the point of these polls asking what the best umpteenth episode of the series. Seems wrong and unfair to compare episodes to each other in that way to begin with.

[stenochick]

There was nothing brilliant about Reckoning. the first half was just a cheap excuse to focus on Lana and the second half was just pointless drama for the sake of it. If the show really wanted to Kill Jonathon they should have found another way to kill him instead of making it Clark's fault.

I guess the brilliant part was killing off Lana. J/K!!

I really liked Lana back then but the Romeo and Juliet angst was killing me. I thought it was brilliant that they finally had Clark reveal his secret to her and propose to her. I loved her stunned reaction and the fact that she said yes. Then fate took its toll and Lana just happened to be in the path of a random school bus.

If the episode had just ended there and the funeral was for Lana, I would have thought it was a great episode and a very respectful send-off for Lana. Instead we get Jor-El turning back time and Jonathon dying. I did not like that at all.

They could have killed Dad off later in the series if that was their intention. What I did not like was the "undoing" of it all. IMO, Jonathon died in vain as Lana's character (and Clark's, too) was dragged through the mud for almost four more years.

[Supsfan]

I guess the brilliant part was killing off Lana. J/K!!

I would have been equally annoyed if Lana died because of Clark's mistake to be honest. My main beef with the Lana plot in Reckoning was it made 0 sense that Clark proposed to her at the beginning. In all reality it would have made sense if he finally decided to tell her his secret and we get a similar opening scene like we did but it was like the producers knew that everything would be reversed so let's go the full mile since it's meaningless in the end.

[stenochick]

I would have been equally annoyed if Lana died because of Clark's mistake to be honest. My main beef with the Lana plot in Reckoning was it made 0 sense that Clark proposed to her at the beginning. In all reality it would have made sense if he finally decided to tell her his secret and we get a similar opening scene like we did but it was like the producers knew that everything would be reversed so let's go the full mile since it's meaningless in the end.

I see where you are coming from, but I looked at the proposal from the point of view of two small-town highschool kids from Kansas.

They were so in love that I felt that Clark had nowhere else to go from there except propose to her and marry her. At that point in time, looking at it from Clark and Lana's perspective (having no knowledge that Clark would be Superman), engagement was the next step and Clark had to come clean with the truth about himself with the woman he was going to marry.

Also, if you look at Lana's death objectively, her SUV was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Clark had no way to know that Lana would leave the party to be with Lex (that part of the plot was ridiculous to me), get emotionally upset while driving, and then drive into a distracted school bus driver and die. It wasn't Clark's fault or Lex's fault, IMO. Just some really, really bad luck or karma.

(I can't believe I am analyzing this stuff. It really is just soap opera drama. There is no reason for any of it except ratings.)

[Nimkong]

The Legends is my 5th favorite epiode of the series.

[sassafras19]

1. Legends
2. Collateral
3. Reckoning
4. Fracture
5. Insurgence
6. Bulletproof
7. Labyrinth
8. Pariah
9. Hereafter
10. Leech

[JorEl23]

BEST TO WORST:

Season 5: Reckoning
Season 9: Legends
Season 6: Labrynth
Season 10: Collateral
Season 4: Pariah
Season 2: Insurgence
Season 7: Fracture
Season 8: Bulletproof
Season 3: Hereafter
Season 1: Leech

[SGuthrie27]

My head pretty much explodes when trying to decide the best of this bunch. I do not know how I will be able to eventually decide. *is frustrated* I like nearly EVERY episode on that list for one reason or another!

*Leech - Eric Summers is one of my favorite FOTWs, and this was the first time we saw Clark without his powers, and the responsibilities associated with them. The acting was superb, the characterization was great... great start!

*Insurgence - EPIC Season 2 episode that has few that parallel its level of suspense and excitement, at least in the earliest seasons. Between Lionel (is he blind or not?) and Martha being held hostage, the key turning up again, Clark making a super-leap, the introduction of Maggie Sawyer, and Lex trying to mess with his dad and having the whole thing blow up in his face... just, wow.

*Hereafter - One of the sentimental favorites of the bunch for me, this is one episode that I have re-watched, along with the two Chloe-centric episodes of this season, more than pretty much any other ones on that DVD set. Jordan Cross is a very cool character with an awesome power, and his friendship with Clark was great! It also deepened the mystery of Adam Knight, back before his backstory became a little too ridiculous and convoluted.

*Pariah - CHLOE LEARNS THE SECRET!!!!!! 'Nuff said. Or, almost 'nuff said -- I should also mention that this is the episode that made me like Alicia, and softened my feelings toward Lois a little more. No easy task considering how much I didn't really care for her in Season 4.

*Reckoning - Say what you will about the drama that spun out of this episode -- it was still an incredible roller-coaster ride, and had profound effects on the show from then on, via Jonathan's death, and Clark changing fate by going back in time to save Lana (and not propose to her).

*Labyrinth - This episode was so creative and surreal! Clark's mental landscape was so bleak, foreign, heartbreaking, and yet with so many familiar undertones (the Jor-El handsoap being one of the funniest), and new takes on old plots and relationships. The Chlark fireside chat at the end is one of my favorite Season 6 moments, too.

*Fracture - Okay, this one, for me, is probably the weakest of the bunch, but I still like it better than many elements of Season 7. Li'l Lex was cool (Connor Stanhope rocked in that role), Chloe used her abilities again to try to save the day, Lex got shot, Kara was found, Lex and Lois teamed up... lots of really cool elements. Some of the memories in Lex's head...? Not so much.

*Bulletproof - You know, if you cut off the last two minutes of the episode, this is really an AMAZING part of Season 8. Dan Turpin was a very cool guest star, and Clark really inspired him to be someone better who stood for something that mattered -- he was brought to a new level of heroism by Clark's superheroism!

*Legends - It's one half of the Justice Society of America two-parter, so you KNOW it's gonna be amazing (and it is)!

*Collateral - Just read my haiku I wrote on p. 22 of the "Loved It, Hated It" thread, and you'll know how much I adore this episode.

In other words... I have no clue what I would ever pick on this list! Can't there be a multiple choice option?

[wellinglover66]

Collateral's the worst episode of the season. Why isn't there one for the worst ones?

[swellde]

I wasn't the biggest Lana fan, but I loved the beginning of Reckoning. I thought that was one of the coolest Smallville scenes they had done yet but I hated the part where as soon as Lana finds out, she dies so I will go with Pariah.