Title:
Asylum
Production:
Season 03 | Episode 09 | 53
Original air date:
January 14, 2004
Writer:
Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer
Director:
Greg Beeman
Series regulars:
Tom Welling
(Clark Kent)
Kristin Kreuk
(Lana Lang)
Michael Rosenbaum
("Lex" Luthor)
John Schneider
(Jonathan Kent)
Annette O'Toole
(Martha Kent)
Sam Jones III
(Pete Ross)
Allison Mack
(Chloe Sullivan)
John Glover
(Lionel Luthor)
Guest stars:
Ian Somerhalder
(Adam Knight)
Lorena Gale
(Dr. Claire Foster)
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
(Ian Randall)
Shawn Ashmore
(Eric Summers)
Jesse Metcalfe
(Van McNulty)
Ron Selmour
(Connelly)
Elias Toufexis
(Luke)
Gina Doty
(Physical Therapist)
R. David Stephens
(Doctor)
Music:
Song: "Future Proof"
Artist: Massive Attack
Album: 100th Window
"So Far Away"
Artist: Staind
Album: 14 Shades Of Grey
Previous Episode:
Shattered
Next Episode:
Whisper
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Ratings:
| Airdate1 |
Rating2 |
Share3 |
| 01.14.04 |
3.4 |
5 |
1(U.S.),
2% of all households,
3% of households watching tv.
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Lionel plans on having Lex's memory erased using radical shock therapy.
Clark and Chloe try to stop the procedure, while three of Clark's former
adversaries team up against him. Lana meets and bonds with Adam, who's
also in physical therapy.
What's up with Lex: Lex is being medicated at the Belle Reve Sanitarium.
Clark is led in to see him and on the way runs into three enemies from
his past who have been committed to the asylum. Lex is painting when Clark
reaches him and seems extremely happy to see him. He tells Clark he knows
his secret and that he wants Clark to help break him out. When Clark refuses,
Lex attacks him and Clark is shaken by the mental state of his friend.
That night an orderly comes into Lex's cell to give him his medication.
Lex stabs him with a shiv and takes his ID card. He then fights his way
out of the sanitarium but is recaptured by guards just as he begins to
scale the fence.
What's up with Clark: Clark struggles in his decision on how to
help Lex. His parents both tell him to stay out of it, but Clark won't
sit back and let his friend be drugged. He digs up all of Lex's medical
files and when he finds that Lex is scheduled to receive a radical shock
therapy that is designed to erase a patient' s short term memory, but
has a high chance of leaving Lex brain dead, he and Chloe decide to confront
Lex's doctor. They're able to convince Doctor Foster not to do the therapy,
but they later find out that on her way to sign Lex's release papers,
she's killed in an auto accident.
What's up with Lana: Lana is in rehab, doing physical therapy in
order to learn to walk again. While in therapy she meets Adam. Adam's
rehabbing a broken back and the two bond when he gives her some tough
love and tips on recovering more quickly . The lesson is taken to heart
and Lana's recovery is sped along. Before she's discharged, Lana gives
Adam some desserts and promises to come back and see him. Adam says he
doesn't want to come between Lana and her boyfriend, but Lana tells him
there's nothing to get in the middle of and the two decide to stay friends.
What's up with Clark's former adversaries: Van (Episode Extinction), Ian (Episode Dichotic)
and Eric (Episode Leech) are all in the Belle Rev Sanitarium because of Clark, and all three
want their revenge. Van is distrustful of the other two but tells them
he knows how to weaken Clark. When Van gets a piece of kryptonite, he
tells Ian how it will weaken Clark, Ian surprises Van and kills him, saying
he was right not to trust him.
How it ends: Clark decides the only chance of saving Lex is to
bust him out. As Clark is freeing Lex, Ian hits him in the back of the
head with the piece of kryptonite. Ian and Eric beat up Clark and Lex
and drag Clark away, leaving Lex bleeding on the ground. Lex is soon discovered
by orderlies and is taken to a room where a doctor is ready to begin the
shock therapy. As Lex is restrained on the table, Lionel steps out of
the shadows to watch the procedure. Eric and Ian take Clark to the generator
room, where they plan on using the electricity to allow Eric to absorb
Clark's powers. Just as the shock therapy is beginning, Eric absorbs Clark's
powers and the Sanitarium goes dark. Ian is ready to leave, but Eric tells
him now that he has Clark's powers, he doesn't need him anymore and knocks
him out. He then begins to throttle Clark. Clark finds the kryptonite
and uses it on Eric, who is now affected since he has Clark's powers.
Clark then reverses the process, but in the result is that the electricity
is back on, and Lex's shock therapy continues. Clark tries to get to Lex
in time, but is too late and he gets there in time to see Lionel leaning
over the body of his son.
Clark goes to see Lex at the mansion once he's recovered. Lex is happy
and content and remembers nothing from the past months. He thanks Clark
for his friendship and gives him a hug. Clark then goes to Lana's welcome
home party at the Talon. He hasn't seen her since right after the accident.
He sees her from across the room, but as she moves towards him, she's
swept up by other party goers. Clark turns and walks out.
[back to top]
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Wow. This episode should be been called "Tortured," because that's what happens to Lex for the entire episode. He's stuck in an Oz-like insane asylum that's doubled as a Kryto-freak reunion. There's Supernerd from "Leech," Jonathan Taylor Shortstuff from "Dichotic," and just to keep things fresh, Van McNulty from "Extinction," who are all still awfully pissed at Clark Kent for sending them away to a place where old villains-of-the-week go. Lex -- who seems to have come to his senses and is avoiding the meds -- tries to get Clark's help for an escape, but Clark resists until he and Chloe illegally look up Lex's medical records and figure out that he's being drugged and will soon undergo radical shock treatment. Lex tries to escape, and gets the crap beaten out of him. Repeately. Clark breaks in and gets a Kryptonite punch in the face by those crafty Kryto-villains, who've been plotting for just such a meeting, but even though Clark prevails, he can't save Lex from shock treatment ordered by Papa Luthor. Lex goes all mild in the end, but I suspect it's an act. Meanwhile, Lana undergoes the world's shortest bout of physical therapy after her horse-stomping (although, to be fair, it's not as short as Uma Thurman's in Kill Bill), and meets a guy -- an artificially dark Wes Bentley type -- with whom she immediately gets cozy. MamaKent disapproves and tries to meddle till the cows go sour.
By: Omar L. Gallaga (TWoP)
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Lex teams up with three krypto-villains to lure Clark to the hospital to enlist his help in escaping after he hears that Lionel has requested Lex be given electroshock therapy to erase his memory. However, the plan goes awry when the villains double-cross Lex and use kryptonite to steal Clark's powers. Meanwhile, Lana meets a mysterious new stranger in the hospital. Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star.
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Eric: Hey Clark! It's me Eric. Been struck by any lightening lately?
Ian: Nice to see you Clark. Tell my two favorite girlfriens I said hello.
Lex: Please Clark, don't let me rot in this cesspool.
Clark: All i've done is put her in danger. She's better of without me
Martha: You know, you can save the whole world, Clark, but you've got to take care of your heart too.
Adam (to Lana): What happened? Bad pile-up at cheerleading practice.
Lana: Are you always this obnoxious?
Lex: A cured patient doesn't belong in a hospital.
Lionel: You know I have your best interests at heart.
Lex: The only interest you have is keeping yourself out of jail.
Ian: Well, if isn't Ku Klux Van.
Van: How do I know I can trust you freaks.
Ian: The enemy of an enemy is your friend.
Lionel (to Dr. Foster): No risk, no reward. Isn't that what they say doctor?
(after hearing Clark sent lana a card while in the hospital)
Chloe: Nothing says "I love you" like a dollar fifty piece of cardboard.
Ian (to Van): Well you should know better than to trust a meteor freak.
Lana: What happened?
Adam: I tried to get in a burning building and... a beam fell on me. My parents were inside and I thought I could save them.
Pete: I feel the invisible hand of Lionel Luther.
Ian: If it weren't for you Clark, i'd be at Harvard right now with a co-ed on each arm.
Adam (to Lana): Trust me, I don't want to be your rebound boyfriend, but I do want to be your friend.
Lex: You know, Clark, there is one thing I'll never forget.
Clark: What's that?
Lex: How important your friendship is to me.
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Clark, until now, has had a fairly comfortable existence. It's been complicated, he's had failures, and victories, low moments and high, but he's always had the company of good counsel- in his parents, and in his friends. In the past, when Clark's gotten advice from the people around him, it's usually been good. As much as the audience, who knows much more of the bigger picture than the individual characters do, have disliked Jonathan Kent in the past for his unswerving steel spine toward Lex, he was generally right. Clark didn't know Lex, Lex was much older, there was danger in revealing himself. Likewise, Martha's gentle prodding of Clark toward Lana was done with good intention, and a good understanding of the situation- she was right to try to push him out of his shell. This is what parents do.
Tonight, they were wrong. But more importantly, *Clark* knew they were wrong; he knew what was best for him, and he knew what was best for Lana and Lex, but instead of putting his courage to his sticking place, he let doubt cloud his own judgment, to terrible results. After the events in "Shattered," it's understandable how he got to this point- he refused the company of good counsel, and people got hurt. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
This is what creates Superman. Like it or not, he is the most physically powerful man on earth, and to crib from Marvel, with great power, comes great responsibilities. Overwhelmed by doubt, he let other people decide for him his course of action, and by the time he realized that ultimately he is the only one who can best do that it was too late. That was masterful storytelling on Slavkin & Swimmer's part- the repeated conversations with his parents about Lex and Lana, mirrored in his conversations with Pete and Chloe about the same, balanced the cause and effect of bad counsel on a good man, perfectly illustrated by the forboding happenstance that Clark's triumph against electrocution directly led to Lex's downfall by the same.
Slavkin & Swimmer captured the full range of Lex in this episode: clever, loyal, angry, deceptive, and though Lex has been victimized, these writers made it more than abundantly clear that he's finished being a victim. From disposing of his medication, to a nearly perfect escape from the Asylum, his willingness to say whatever it takes to get what he needs, to the still dynamic show of power in evidence against Ian- every minute of Lex's screentime hammered home the fact that even bound, even institutionalized, he will be an equal to the most physically powerful man on Earth. (more...)
By Hope
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One of the headlines on a newspaper on Ian's cart mentions a "Themyscrian Queen Addre... ... tican" - an in-joke reference to Wonder Woman of DC Comics. Presumably it should say "Addresses the Vatican" or some such.
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