The third season of Smallville, an American television series developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, began airing on October 1, 2003, on The WB television network. The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to life in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, in the years before he becomes Superman. The third season comprises 22 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 19, 2004. Regular cast members during season three include Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, John Glover, Annette O'Toole, and John Schneider.
Season three follows Clark's (Welling) constant fight against the destiny that his biological father, Jor-El, has in-store for him, and his guilt over the price Jonathan (Schneider) paid to bring him back to Smallville. Lex Luthor (Rosenbaum) deals with the psychological breakdown he had when stranded on a deserted island, while the conflict between him and his father Lionel (Glover) comes to a final blow. Clark's secret begins to weigh heavily on Pete Ross (Jones III), and the relationship between Clark and Lana Lang (Kreuk) hits a dead end. Writers also brought in several DC Comics characters, including Maggie Sawyer, Morgan Edge, and most notably Perry White, in special guests spots.
After spending its first two seasons airing on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm (ET), Smallville was moved to Wednesdays and aired at 8:00 pm for the third season. Season three dipped in the ratings, averaging 4.9 million viewers a week.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main Tom Welling as Clark Kent Welling also portrays a young Jor-El in "Relic" Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang Kreuk also portrays Louise McCallum in "Relic" Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor Sam Jones III as Pete Ross Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan John Glover as Lionel Luthor Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Recurring
Françoise Yip as Dr. Lia Teng Camille Mitchell as Sheriff Nancy Adams Ian Somerhalder as Adam Knight Gary Hudson as Agent Frank Loder
Production Going into season three, the Smallville crew wanted to establish two main themes, which were the consequences of Clark Kent running from his destiny, and Lex Luthor taking steps toward "the dark side". One of the consequences the creative team attempted to show for Clark was his distancing himself from his friends. Season three was also about showing just how evil Lionel Luthor was, which is illustrated by how he attempts to destroy Chloe Sullivan's life and make Lex believe that he is going insane. In order to get better performances from the actors in each individual episode, the crew would often limit the detail an actor knew about their character. Meeting just at the beginning of the year to discuss the plans for the actor's respective roles, usually the actors would only find out precisely what their characters were going to do when the scripts arrived. Other times, an actor might be given a specific piece of character development and told to keep it a secret from the rest of the cast.
Writing Developers and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wanted to set up Lex's "mental illness" early in the season, as it would be something that Lionel would take advantage of in later episodes of season three. In order to accomplish what they wanted, Gough and Millar introduced Lex's imaginary friend "Louis", who appeared on the deserted island with Lex following his plane crash in the season two finale. They had Michael Rosenbaum pull what they referred to as the "Fight Club gag", where he believes that he is fighting Louis, but in reality he has been fighting himself the entire time.Simpson, Paul, pp.14–17 This would culminate in the episode "Shattered", where, as writer/executive producer Mark Verheiden explains, the episode was set up like something out of the film Gaslight (1944), where the audience believes that Lex is being driven insane. "The sacrifice of the father is that he'll sacrifice anything to get Clark back – so he sacrifices his health".— Miles Millar on Jonathan Kent's heart problem The final scene in "Exile", which extended into the opening act of "Phoenix", was the establishment of a storyline that would run the course of the third season, and even extend further into season five. The storyline involved Jonathan Kent making a deal with Clark's biological father, Jor-El, to be given powers strong enough to bring Clark back home; the result was a heart attack for Jonathan later in the season, whose body could not handle the powers.Simpson, Paul, pp.18–21 Gough and Millar wanted to be able to provide answers for certain aspects of the Superman mythology, in this case it was Jonathan's heart condition. According to Verheiden, the idea of having Jonathan suffer a heart attack came to the writing team in season one. The story was almost used in season two's "Fever", but they finally settled on an appropriate story in season three that would tie Jonathan directly to Jor-El when he made a deal to bring Clark home that would eventually lead to a heart attack in the episode "Hereafter".
The writing staff wanted to touch on the fact that even though Clark has all of these powers he cannot save everyone, as well as expanding on the idea of Clark's continual feeling of isolation. "Asylum" served to remind Clark that he cannot save everyone when he fails to stop Lionel from giving Lex electric shock therapy, which ultimately erases seven weeks of Lex's memory that includes his knowledge that Lionel murdered his own parents. Like season two's "Ryan", Clark is faced with the reality that he is not "God", and that he will fail to save people from time to time. "We were exploring the idea that Clark is an alien, and being what he is, is different on an almost cosmic scale [...] that takes him outside the metaphysical reach of this kid's ability [and] enabled Clark to prevent the things from happening that the kid was seeing".— Mark Verheiden on Clark's existence The episode "Forsaken" was designed to set up many of the plot points in the season finale, particularly those dealing with Clark's feeling of isolation, specifically that of Pete Ross and Lana Lang's departure from Smallville.Simpson, Paul, pp.92–95 Next to establishing a heart condition for Jonathan, the team also wanted to address the idea of Clark's mortality, or lack-thereof. The concept in "Hereafter" of Clark possibly never dying came from an idea that sprouted after season one's "Hourglass". In "Hourglass", Cassandra Carver, a blind elderly woman who can see the future of the person she touches, shows Clark a future where he is surrounded by the tombstones of everyone he loves. For "Hereafter", Jordan Cross can see the moment of death for anyone he touches; when Jordan touches Clark he does not see Clark's death, only a billowing red cape. According to Verheiden, they wanted to illustrate how Clark's alien heritage put him on a different plane of existence, and allowed him to alter destiny.Simpson, Paul, pp.58–61
The idea to use Superman's cape, which came from Millar, to represent Clark's "cosmic lifespan", came after much discussion on what to actually use. Ideas were thrown around, including a shot of Lex dumping kryptonite on Clark, as he is lying down, killing him. Ultimately they went with Millar's idea, which they saw as this "great iconic moment", because the audience finally sees their first glimpse of Superman's costume. Superman's cape was not the only iconic imagery used during the third season. The episode "Whisper" not only introduced a new superpower for Clark, his super hearing, but allowed the writing staff the opportunity to provide a sort of "in-joke" to the audience. The team wrote in a gag where Clark wears a pair of eyeglasses, a staple of his disguise later in life while working at the Daily Planet. In the episode, an accident with Clark's heat vision causes him to go blind; as his eyes heal, he is forced to wear a pair of prescription eyeglasses until he fully regains his sight.Simpson, Paul, pp.50–53 "Perry" would introduce Clark's future boss, and editor of the Daily Planet, Perry White. This episode would also serve as the point where Clark finally learns that his powers are caused by the radiation from Earth's yellow Sun.Simpson, Paul, pp.30–33
Early ideas Jonathan's heart attack was not the only element that originated during the filming of season one. The use of kryptonite bullets was shelved during season one for a later date because of the limited number of episodes they are able to produce each season, as well as the writers wanting to find "the right moment" to use this particular plot element. They ultimately settled on season three's "Extinction", about a teenager seeking revenge against everyone infected by the meteors.Simpson, Paul, pp.22–25 "Extinction" featured a tie-in with a season two episode; Van McNulty's reason for killing meteor-infected individuals is based on the fact that his father was killed by the bone-morphing Tina Greer in "Visage", when she impersonated Whitney Fordman. Van's father was the military personnel that came to the Fordman house to inform Whitney's mother that he had been killed in action. "Relic" was another episode that featured an element first thought up back in the first season, which was the use of the same actors to play both their present-day characters and their characters' distant relatives in flashback sequences. It was not used because the crew felt that the audience needed to have more time to become involved with the characters that are featured on the show on a regular basis.Simpson, Paul, pp.34–37
"Velocity" also began its life as an idea being tossed around during season one. The team thought about having an episode devoted to small town drag racing, as it was a problem in the Vancouver area while they were filming season one. The story was eventually used in season three, when the writing staff was looking for a reason to exploit the changing friendship between Clark and Pete. According to Verheiden, they wanted a moment where Pete could release his feelings to Clark, and the jealousy he has over Clark spending more time with Lex and Lana. The episode featured the moment when the friendship between Clark and Pete "fractured a bit".Simpson, Paul, pp.62–65 "Obsession" featured a scene first thought up in season two's "Visage", which called for the use of lead paint to block the effects of kryptonite on Clark when Tina trapped him in the storm cellar with Lana's kryptonite necklace. The scene was rewritten to have Clark's spaceship save him, and used later in "Obsession", where Clark and Chloe use lead paint to trap the teleporting Alicia Baker.Simpson, Paul, pp.66–69
Story alterations