As Smallville entered its seventh year, a lot of changes were in store for the Superman prequel that followed Clark Kent’s (Tom Welling) journey to becoming the Man of Steel. Not only was the season heavily affected by the Writer’s Strike of 2007, but it marked as the last season for a few big characters. In addition to that, season seven introduced a major DC character in Laura Vandervoort’s Kara Zor-El a.k.a. Supergirl before Melissa Benoist suited up as the role in Supergirl and the Arrowverse.
With Clark getting closer to becoming the Man of Tomorrow, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) took his final steps to become our hero’s greatest foe. Despite the writer’s strike, Smallville’s seventh season was packed with a lot of stories as it pushed the series forward. With that said, these are the best and worst episodes of Smallville season seven.
WORST: Fierce (Episode 3)
Following her introduction, the third episode officially begins Kara’s arc of making a life for herself in Smallville. However, Fierce gives us a pretty cheesy story for the Girl of Steel when she enters the Miss Sweet Corn pageant.
As part of the competition, we meet the villainous Weather Girls who join the group of the show’s cheekier villains of the week. Despite some good moments, Fierce definitely doesn't hold up as one of the better episodes of the season.
BEST: Kara (Episode 2)
After making her debut in the season premiere, episode two focuses on Kara's search for her cousin Kal-El, who she still thinks is a baby because she's unaware that she was in suspended animation for 18 years. Kara is a fun episode for the two super-cousins who finally cross paths.
It was also genuinely fun to see how Kara struggled to adjust to Earth. While this is all going down, Lex discovers that Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is actually alive and well in China. This gives us a confrontation and the beginning of Lana’s clash with Lex for the season.
WORST: Fracture (Episode 12)
One of the weaker arcs in the season was when Kara temporarily lost her memories. After the major events in Blue, Kara is left wandering around in Detroit with no memories of who she is.
The episode Fracture follows up with Kara, now living as Linda, who is found by Lex as he was still actively trying to find the woman who saved his life in the season premiere. Fracture makes Kara’s amnesia storyline frustrating in the season, even though it gets solved a few episodes later.
BEST: Bizarro (Episode 1)
Following their showdown in the season six finale, the season seven premier is packed with lots of goodies. For starters, we get to follow Bizarro Clark and see how Kryptonite strengthens him while the sun weakens him. It’s another reminder of how good Welling is at playing both good and evil of the same character.
Bizarro also follows the mystery surrounding Chloe’s (Allison Mack) healing abilities, as this was the beginning of exploring her meta-human powers. Despite making it look like she died in the season six finale, Bizarro reveals that Lana survived while Clark still thinks that she died.
WORST: Persona (Episode 10)
While Bizarro was one of the season premier's best elements, his second episode weakens his character. After taking over Clark’s life, Bizarro is dedicates himself to living a happy life with Lana. Since the real Clark is frozen in the Fortress of Solitude, his friends and family don’t realize the body swap.
It just seemed like a real stretch for the series to make Bizarro go from a psychotic foe to just wanting to live a happy life with Lana. Persona sadly becomes the character’s final appearance after he gets killed by an overload of blue Kryptonite.
BEST: Descent (Episode 16)
One of the final steps Lex took to become a legendary villain happens here. Lex threatens to shoot his father Lionel (John Glover) for some information about The Traveler's identity, but it doesn’t stop there. Done living in Lionel’s shadow, Lex pushes Lionel out of the window and watches him fall to his death.
Lex causes a lot of drama here, but nothing beats his confrontation with Clark, who knows what he did. The episode then ends with Lionel’s funeral where we get the iconic moment of the two standing at opposite sides, clearly foreshadowing their future as rivals.
WORST: Sleeper (Episode 17)
It still remains a big mystery as to how we got an episode like Sleeper following the death of a character as important as Lionel Luthor. In the seventeenth episode, Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore) gets involved with the Department of Domestic Security who makes him spy on Chloe.
While Jimmy has had a lot of good episodes during his time in the series, Sleeper was definitely not one of them. Who knew that Superman’s best pal would end up as a secret spy for an episode? More importantly, who asked for it?
BEST: Apocalypse (Episode 18)
The milestone 150th episode is one of the show’s best. Directed by Welling himself, Clark gets to see what the world would look like if he had never crashed on Earth as Brainiac (James Marsters) went back in time to kill baby Kal-El.
While several of the people in his life were living good lives, Brainiac has influenced Lex who in this reality is the President of the United States. Apocalypse is an outstanding episode that becomes a good “What If” story that pushes Clark to keep fighting as he manages to go back in time to Krypton’s final moments.
WORST: Hero (Episode 13)
Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) left the series after the third season but finally returned for a guest spot in season seven. Despite seeing a good familiar face, it doesn’t change the fact that his return was absolutely ridiculous. This episode became infamous for its silly use of Kryptonite, which is something that happened a lot during Smallville’s run.
When Pete returns, we discover that he has stretching abilities thanks to chewing Kryptonite-laced gum. What could have been a good guest spot for Clark’s good old pal instead becomes a big joke simply because of the Kryptonite gum.
BEST: Arctic (Episode 20)
The seventh season finale is one of the most unforgettable of all time, as this was Rosenbaum’s final episode a series regular. After seven long years, Lex finally discovers Clark’s big secret as the Traveler.
Not only does Lana leave Clark in a heartbreaking scene but Kara is also revealed to be Brainiac in disguise, as he had trapped her in the Phantom Zone. From a big showdown with Brainiac to Lex’s confrontation with Clark, Artic hit all the bases. Closing the season out with a cliffhanger, Lex destroys the Fortress as he and Clark get trapped inside.