Title:
Rush
Production:
Season 02 | Episode 14 | 35
Original air date:
February 4, 2003

Writer:
Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer
Director:
Rick Rosenthal

Series regulars:
Tom Welling
(Clark Kent)
Kristin Kreuk
(Lana Lang)
Michael Rosenbaum
("Lex" Luthor)
Sam Jones III
(Pete Ross)
Allison Mack
(Chloe Sullivan)
John Glover
(Lionel Luthor)
John Schneider
(Jonathan Kent)
Annette O'Toole
(Martha Kent)

Guest stars:
Rob LaBelle
(Dr. Fredrick Walden)
Shaun Sipos
(Travis)
Haig Sutherland
(Chloe's Boy Thing)
Luciana Carro
(Talon Waitress)

Music:
Song: "I Just Wanna Be Loved"
Artist: AM Radio
Album: Smallville Soundtrack

Song: "Never Gonna Come Back Down"
Artist: BT
Album: Movement In Still Life

Song: "Bread And Water"
Artist: Sheila Nicholls
Album: Wake

Song: "Don't Dream It's Over"
Artist: Sixpence None The Richer
Album: Smallville Soundtrack

Previous Episode:
Suspect

Next Episode:
Prodigal

Ratings:
Airdate1 Viewers2 Rating3 Share4
02.04.03 - -/5.9 -/9
1(U.S.), 2In millions,
3% of all households (nat./over),
4% of households watching tv (nat./over),
 
Pete, Chloe and Clark turn into thrill-seeking daredevils. Clark show off his powers and kisses Chloe in front of Lana.

What's up with Pete? Several kids wind up dead after dangerous accidents during and after a rave party in the cave. All had puncture wounds in the back of their necks and enlarged adrenal glands. Although he doesn't realize it, we've seen that Pete has been punctured while he stood beside the cave wall.
Clark is worried about Pete's daredevil behavior. He thinks Pete might have been slipped a drug at the rave party.
Pete tells Clark to butt out of his business. Using his x-ray vision, Clark sees he has a live parasite inside his body. Pete keeps him away using a green kryptonite rock.
What's up with Chloe? When Clark and Chloe investigate the cave, Chloe touches something green and sticky and gets a sharp pain in the back of the neck. Her behavior gets aggressive and cocky.
Worried about Pete, Clark enlists Chloe's help to meet up with Pete to get him to the hospital. In doing so, he has to break a date with Lana. As they meet, Pete slips a red kryptonite rock into Clark's pocket to join their reckless thrills.
"Bad Clark:" Unknowingly under the influence of red kryptonite, Clark gives Chloe demonstrations of his powers, revealing his secret. Chloe thinks his alien news is cool, and calls Clark her own "personal superhero." Lex interrupts, asking Clark not to interfere with the professor's cave studies. Clark warns Lex to stay "the hell away..."
With Pete driving, Chloe and Clark are making out in the back seat. At Chloe's urging, they stop at the Talon to make out some more and play an imaginary game of strip poker. When he takes his shirt off, the red kryptonite falls from his pocket and he snaps back to reality. Lana comes in and finds them, crying as Chloe flaunts the flirtation.
What's up with Lex? Lex hires Professor Walden, a foremost linguist to interpret the cave drawings. The professor finds a parasite nest in the cave with cave drawings to match the creatures. His crew destroys the nest, and a live specimen is sent to a lab. The lab results show the parasite's DNA is unique and not like anything on earth. Lex tells the Professor the news and wants him to allow Clark full access to the cave, reasoning that Clark knows something.
How it ends: Pete knocks Clark out, with green kryptonite hidden in his punch. Lana douses him with water, waking him up. Pete and Chloe race Pete's car off the gorge. Clark has raced to the scene, catching the car before it hits the ground. Clark takes them both to the hospital, where the parasites are extracted. Chloe says she doesn't remember anything since the parasite invasion.
Apologies fly as Clark apologizes to Lana when she visits Chloe in the hospital. She won't forgive him. Later at Clark's house, Pete apologizes to Clark and his parents. They forgive him and say they're sorry for the burden he carries with Clark's secret. Later at the Talon, Lana won't accept Clark's second apology and is hurt that Clark was kissing Chloe. He leaves, she throws his red "peace" rose in the trash.
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RECAP:
We open with a sleek blue car prowling the night and arriving somewhere with loud techno music. Every time I hear techno music now, I always think of "The System is Down" from homestarrunner.com. Funny stuff. There's also cool airstrip-style red lights and a big green cross-looking thing out in the middle of nowhere. People are hooting and a bunch of cars are parked. So Smallville has a night life? I am shocked and amazed. How often is it on this show that we see teenagers actually acting like teenagers and not slaving away over angst and coffee, or heat-visioning toast? The car parks and Chloe get out of the passenger side. She's got her hair pulled back on both sides and it actually looks really cute. She's grinning. Pete emerges from the driver's side. When did he get a new car? That insurance money from when his car blew up last week sure did kick in fast. He says he can't believe this. Chloe says this is cool: a rave in a cave. Pete's not pleased. He asks why Chloe didn't tell him it was gonna be there. I guess the name, "Rave in a Cave," didn't tip him off. Ungh thunk ungh thunk, woot toot toot toot! "The system is down!" Hee. Chloe says she didn't know; she just downloaded the directions on "The Internet." I've heard of that! As they walk past parked cars and headlights, Pete says that Clark is gonna go crazy. Clark asks what's up with Clark and his obsession with the caves. "I don't know. I think Kyla [from "Skinwalker"] really got to him," Pete says. It may be dark, but a bright shining light splays down from the heavens, illuminating all that is good in a one-mile radius. It's the great and powerful beam of Continuity. And it is Good. Pete whips out his cell to let Clark know about the party. Chloe stops him. She says the caves have been around hundreds of years: "I don't think a little Moby is gonna hurt them." I still say Moby should have this huge, deep, gravelly voice given his name. When he speaks, he shouldn't sound like the guy who does your parents' taxes. Chloe and Pete go inside. Somebody in the background is jumping rope badly. It's hilarious.

Inside the cave. LOUD! Cave paintings from "Skinwalker." Thunk, thunk, wonk, wonk, boom boom, yeaow yeaow. Party people in the cave going nuts. Folks are dancing. Lights are set up everywhere. This is the first enjoyable thing I've seen to do in town all season. Ba-dank ba-dank, donk, donk, diggie donk. I can't tell you how fun it is to type that. More cave paintings. How tribal. Donk donk, diggie donk. Chloe and Pete walk inside slowly. Give in to the groove, Pete! It's all you, baby! Pete goes straight to a couple that's kissing. He interrupts them and tells them to step back off the walls. "The paintings!" he says. They ignore him and go back to kissing. Chloe smiles. She tells him she doesn't think they care about the cave paintings. "These pictographs are sacred!" Pete says. Pete is suddenly Mr. Natural Preservation. Chloe goes back to the couple and tells them that the clay doesn't wash out of your clothes. The couple disperses even though the guy's not even wearing a shirt. Chloe says you've got to hit them where it hurts. Now that that's resolved, Pete is free to bob his head about the cabin. There's a DJ spinning. Wonka wonka, thong thong. "Never gonna come back down!" the music blares. "The system is down!" A straight-up nerd, circa 1987, in a little sweater vest and huge glasses, comes up and kisses Chloe right on the mouth. "Travis! What are you doing?" she asks. He looks more like a "Trevor" than a "Travis." He's all sweaty and Bill Gates-lookin'. He says he's taking his shot. "I always through you were hot!" he says, giddily. Chloe says he's wasted. He says he's just high on life. And asthma inhalant. "Woooooo!" he goes and, because I too was once El Nerdo, I have to laugh in appreciation. Travis the Nerd goes off and starts climbing some metal stands. Pete comes over and asks if Chloe was making out with her Chem partner. Travis has climbed up and has the crowd on his side. He keeps going as Chloe and Pete yell after him to come down. No way, baby. The system may be down, but The Travis is up! Everybody hoots and hollers while Travis does a one-handed rolling motion. Too. Funny. Travis goes even higher. Pete, in vain, yells again. Crane shot of Travis living large up there. Pete, for no reason, goes and stands by himself with his back to a cave wall drawing. We cut to a shot from inside a crevice. We can see the back of Pete's neck. Pete looks around. "I'm invincible!" poor Travis says as he leaps, belly-flop-style, from the rafter. But are you a Golden God? Just as Travis lands crunchily, something bites Pete on the neck. He goes, "Aggh!" and grabs at his nape. Chloe looks at Travis in horror. He's flat and bloody on the ground. Goodbye, Travis. Pete goes from an expression of hurt to pure elation. The Pete is back up! Oh yeah. Pete's groovin' now. Watch out, ladies. Sloppy zoom in on the crevice that blurs to black. Opening credits. I'm thinking Clark must have a strict "No saving nerds" policy, or he would have been there rescuing Travis. (more...)
-- Omar G (TWoP)

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:
After Pete and Chloe are infected by a parasitic worm, it turns them into thrill-seeking daredevils and Pete uses red kryptonite to get Clark to join them on a dangerous adventure. Not only does Clark show off his powers, but he kisses Chloe in front of a stunned Lana. Michael Rosenbaum, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star.
QUOTES:
 
REVIEWS:
Lex: Now you wouldn't be keeping secrets from me, would you, Clark?

Chloe: You're the cunning linguist - why don't you translate this? Kiss - my - ass.

Chloe: What are you?
Clark: Let's just say...I'm not from around here.

Chloe: Can you fly?
Clark: Hey - I'm not a cartoon!

Pete: (Clark's) my brother from another planet.

Chloe: You know, for a boy who has all the money in the world, you'd think (Lex) could buy a good toupee.

Chloe: What other powers do you have?
Clark: Why don't you come back here and find out?
Pete: Hey, this isn't a pimpmobile!

Pete: Clark may be a boy scout, but I'm always prepared.

Martha: Pete, you're out.
Pete: Yeah, back to normal - whatever that is.

Lana: What is this?
Clark: My pathetic attempt at an apology.

 
When Pete stated the obvious and told Clark that in his world, "green means stop and red means go," I was hoping they’d give the whole show a bunch of red meteor rocks. After all, Smallville hasn’t given us much to get excited over in the past few weeks. Instead, we get to watch Lex turn bad, get closer to finding out Clark’s secret, and Clark almost ruin his friendship with Lex because he’s under the influence of said red meteor rocks. The writers are missing what I can’t keep my mouth shut about: the best part of the show is watching Clark and Lex’s friendship develop knowing full well they’ll be enemies later. Yet, they keep trying to push him to the dark side as well as having him dangerously close to discovering Clark’s secret. I, for one, feel it’s way too soon. As soon as Lex becomes "evil" or discovers Clark’s true identity the show should end. If it does not, I feel it will go downhill fast.

It was nice, though, to finally see Chloe show up in an episode. Plus, she got a little action with Clark. This leads me to one of my frustrations with Rush, Clark finally found the balls to ask Lana out only to blow it while he was "Red Rock Clark." I sat there dumbfounded when he finally realized all he had to do was ask her out. There was something so sweet about his expression as he realized she said yes. Also, how cute was it when Martha, realizing how important a date with Lana was, made Jonathan not ground him from going? (more...)
By April Stockwell
TRAILER:
NEWS & NOTES:
The working title of the episode was "Adrenaline".

The title ("Rush") was used within the show - Pete mentions it the first pre-credits sequence and the Talon's marquee has it too.

John Glover (Lionel Luthor) doesn't appear in this episode.

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