Before the Arrowverse was The CW’s flagship franchise, the network had Smallville; the Superman prequel that paved the way for today’s DC TV shows to exist. As the series entered its ninth year, Clark Kent (Tom Welling) took a bigger step towards his destiny as Superman. Following the tragedies of the previous season finale, Clark began sporting a proto-Man of Steel costume with the iconic House of El symbol on his chest. But as Clark entered one of his darkest years in the show, one of his greatest foes came to life.
Season nine went deeper into the Kryptonian mythology as Major Zod (Callum Blue) came on board before he became the iconic general. This was also one of the seasons where Smallville began to embrace the larger DC Universe by introducing more heroes and villains. It’s time to look through the best and worst episodes of Smallville season nine.
WORST: Persuasion (Episode 14)
While Clark and Lois (Erica Durance) were getting deep into their romance in season nine, their Valentine’s Day was a hot mess. In the fourteenth episode, Clark temporarily gets the power of persuasion after being infected by gemstone Kryptonite.
While it had some fun moments, Persuasion didn’t really fit too well into what was going on at that point in the season. It did give closure on who killed Jor-El (Julian Sands), it didn’t progress much for the season as a whole.
BEST: Savior (Episode 1)
The season nine premiere continued Smallville’s tradition of kicking off a new season with a bang. Here, Clark operates as The Blur with his new costume and leaves the House of El symbol all over the city as he makes his rescues. Meanwhile, Lois returns from her mystery trip in the future which becomes a key storyline later on.
Savior made it clear that this season was going to be an important one for Clark’s journey. But it also took in the massive consequences from the previous season which allowed our characters to grow and evolve.
WORST: Conspiracy (Episode 15)
While Smallville didn’t get too freaky when it came to some of its weirder episodes, the fifteenth episode of this season was an exception. In Conspiracy, Bernard Chisholm (JR Bourne) became the freak of the week as he pursued his mission in exposing the Kandorians. Especially after they had resurrected him and experimented on him.
The episode got a little too intense even for Smallville standards because of Dr. Chisholm. However, Zod getting his powers was still a big takeaway.
BEST: Metallo (Episode 2)
After being hit by a truck, John Corben (Brian Austin Green) wakes up to discover massive changes to his body, like his heart being replaced with Kryptonite that is now his only power source. Already hating the Blur, John goes after the hero for being partially responsible for his sister’s death.
Their first encounter leads to one of the most powerful moments on the show. In the midst of his rage, John asks the Blur what gives him the right to do what he does. Metallo was a strong hour for the new season, especially since this is where Clark decides to return to his dual identity.
WORST: Escape (Episode 16)
Smallville did a lot of DC Comics heroes and villains justice, but there were a couple that they screwed up. One of these was Silver Banshee who's introduced in the sixteenth episode Escape.
While it was a solid relationship episode for Lois and Clark as well as Oliver (Justin Hartley) and Chloe (Allison Mack), the DC villainess holds Escape back. We don’t even meet the character properly until the second half. Despite being one of the more powerful Superman villains around, her TV version fell flat from the cheesy costume to how quickly the defeated her.
BEST: Kandor (Episode 7)
The seventh episode is where we get to really explore the mystery of how Zod and his group of Kandorians made it to Earth. In the properly titled episode Kandor, we flashback to how Jor-El and Zod became enemies back on Krypton. Also, this Zod and those who came out of the Orb are clones.
While Clark does meet his biological father, it’s heartbreaking as Jor-El only gets to see his son for a minute before he passes away. From the Krypton flashbacks to Clark’s heartbreaking moment with Jor-El, Kandor is remarkable on so many levels.
WORST: Rabid (Episode 3)
The third episode was essentially the closest thing Smallville ever had to a Halloween episode. Titled Rabid, a virus begins turning humans into zombies including Tess (Cassidy Freeman) and Lois.
Even though they solved the problem, it felt weird to see Smallville introduce zombies into their universe the way they did. Despite having dealt with meta-humans, aliens, and magic, it wasn’t necessary to see zombies get introduced.
BEST: Absolute Justice (Episodes 11/12)
After his well-received Legion of Super-Heroes episode, DC Comics writer Geoff Johns was back with another big episode. This time, he introduced the Justice Society of America to Smallville that became a two-hour event. Season nine was a struggle for the proto-Justice League which is why it was perfect to see the JSA that year.
From exploring the deeper lore of heroism, we meet characters like Hawkman (Michael Shanks), Doctor Fate (Brett Stait) and Stargirl (Britt Irvin) who have great influences on our current team. Absolute Justice also introduces Amanda Waller (Pam Grier) and the Checkmate organization in a fun way. The two-parter allowed this version of the DC world to be fleshed out as it pushed Clark even more towards his destiny.
WORST: Charade (Episode 19)
The episode was one of the season's more dramatically charged hours. Lois deals with a familiar foe working with DC baddie Maxwell Lord (Gil Bellows) to find out who the Blur really is. But during all of this, Clark and Lois go through some big drama.
From losing their jobs at the Daily Planet to Clark learning that Zod has been calling Lois as the Blur which creates even more drama between the two reporters, Charade is a mixed bag with an underwhelming portrayal of Lord and complicated issues in Lois and Clark’s relationship.
BEST: Salvation (Episode 22)
The season nine finale is one of the biggest finales of all time that sets the stage for the tenth and final season. Here, Clark is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to save Earth from General Zod while leaving the planet in the good hands of the League. Lois finally learns Clark’s secret, and Tess’ fate is left up in the air after Zod kills her while a mysterious woman keeps an eye on her. Let’s not forget the opening where Clark sees his destiny in 2013 as Superman. But it gets better when Clark wakes up where he finds a gift from his mother (Annette O’Toole) who left him the Superman suit.
Salvation ends with an epic clash between Zod and Clark who defeats the General, but at a big cost. In order to banish Zod, Clark stabs himself with the blue Kryptonite dagger and stumbles off the tower so Zod gets sucked into the portal. We then continue to see Clark falling, ending season nine on a massive cliffhanger.