Ep 4.05 - Run

[lex fan 10]

one of my favorite episodes!

[DJ Doena]

While rewatching the first Bart episode, for the first time I noticed the ramp they used to life the crashing truck from the street onto the sidewalk.

[Austin 3:16]

Love every single part of this episode. My favorite part was the scenes between Clark and Bart at the end. When Bart said "Its a big world..." I was like how'd they not spin that off into a show for Bart? Would've been so cool but I'm glad we r getting a Flash show soon though. Loved the race between Bart and Clark and Feels Like Today playing during the sequence? How cool was that? This episode is my main reason why I'd love to see the series get a better timeslot on TNT. It was just fun especially the race at the end.

[Simba_Muffy]

One of my favorite episodes of the season and the show. I so wanted Bart to guest star in S9 or 10. Yeah, I know he showed up in other episodes.

[jon-el87]

Decided to rewatch the episodes leading up to "Justice" ("Run", "Aqua", "Cyborg" and "Arrow").

I think this episode still holds up, after all these years. Bart ran away from home, because of how his parents looked at him, because of his powers and the fact that he just didn't fit in. In reality, teens do run away due to problems at home. So, the writer have just given a metahuman spin on real things. And, prior to meeting Clark, there were no one Bart could talk to about being a metahuman or super fast. To me, this episode demonstrates the need for the future Justice League. Not just as a team of superheroes, fighting crime, but as a place where metahumans can meet and interact with others like themselves.

I like the race at the ending. Just two new friends having some fun. And Bart talking about finding others like him and Clark. That they could, perhaps, start a club or a league or something. Already here, the seed for the "Justice" episode is planted. I don't think they were expecting to actually do something with it (as few superhero shows, pre-Smallville, lasted more than four seasons), but it's nice to already see hints at it.

I also like that they didn't make Bart a meteor freak. Really demonstrates that there is a whole world outside of Smallville. You don't have to have visited Smallville to get superpowers. Compare it the Arrowverse, where nearly all metahumans were created in one city, on one specific date. Meaning everyone has to have been there, to have powers. Smallville needed meteor freaks, because you can't have a new super powered menace show up, in a small town, every week. And, as the show progressed, they were phased out.

[Bally]

I actually like that little run of episodes you've listed, and 'Siren' can be added to that.

What's most noticeable is that even thought the stories were largely based in the town of Smallville for the first 5 seasons, the scenes centred around Metropolis use locations (Vancouver I'm guessing) that really show the place as being a large city. For the last 5 seasons, the show was mostly based in Metropolis but thanks to a more limited budget, they couldn't use locations to recreate that sense of scale. The stories in the latter seasons really needed the budget of the earlier seasons (more than the earlier seasons needed it, I'd dare say), and they would have been able to show more events instead of having them take place in Offscreenville with characters merely referring to them.