Title:
Memoria
Production:
Season 03 | Episode 19 | 63
Original air date:
April 28, 2004

Writer:
Al Gough and Miles Millar
Director:
Miles Millar

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:
Martin Cummins
(Dr. Gardner)
Wayne Dalglish
(Young Lex Luthor)
Alisen Down
(Lillian Luthor)
Andrew Airlie
(Mr. Woodward)
Paul Campbell
(FBI Agent)
Matthew Harrison
(Garner's Assistant)
Elizabeth Thai
(Sommerholt Receptionist)
Kendall Cross
(Lara (voice))
Terence Stamp
(Jor-El (voice))

Music:
Song: "My Immortal"
Artist: Evanescence
Album: Fallen

Previous Episode:
Truth

Next Episode:
Talisman

Ratings:
Airdate1 Rating2 Share3
04.28.04 2.8 5
1(U.S.),
2% of all households,
3% of households watching tv.
 
Lex continues to try and recover his missing seven weeks and discovers the true fate of his brother Julian. Clark remembers his biological mothers name.

Memoria What's up with Lana: Lana stops by the mansion to drop off payroll information and discovers Lex standing on a ledge yelling his brother's name "Julian." She pulls him off the ledge and he's disoriented. Lana tells Clark she's worried and he tells her he'll take care of it.

What's up with Lex: Dr. Garner of the Summerholt institute has been running treatments on Lex trying to get him to remember the seven weeks he lost while he was committed. Garner tells Lex the treatment is what's behind his spontaneous memories, flashbacks that happen at a whim. Lex keeps thinking back to when he was 12 and his brother Julian was born.

What's up with Clark:
Clark tries to persuade Lex not to continue the treatments. When his attempts fail, he goes to Lionel Luthor and tells him he should stop Lex so he doesn't remember that Lionel had his grandparents killed. Lionel quips that Clark isn't concerned with Lex's well-being and plays a video surveillance tape that shows Lex telling Clark "I know your secret Clark."

What's up with Lionel: Lex's flashbacks continue to reveal more about Lionel and Lex's father-son relationship. When Lionel tries to convince Lex to stop the treatment, Lex has another flashback. This time he sees his mother Lillian and Lionel arguing. Lillian tells him she wants a divorce and that she didn't want another child because she hates how Lionel treats Lex. Later, Lex remembers the night his brother died. Lionel enters the room and finds Lex who tells him he accidentally killed Julian. Lionel snaps and hits a 12-year-old Lex.

How it ends: Lionel shows up at the farm and tells Clark if Lex continues the treatments he'll have him committed permanently. Clark goes to Summerholt and tries to convince Dr. Garner that it is in Lex's best interests to stop, but he's overcome when he steps next to the liquid bath Lex is dipped in during the treatment. The liquid is Kryptonic and Clark is restrained. Garner calls Lionel and tells him Clark fell for his ploy, Lionel now has Clark at his mercy. Lionel shows up and they plan on trying the memory treatment on Clark. Just as they are to begin, Lex shows up at Summerholt and demands to see Garner. When he's refused, he calls Lionel knowing he's in the building. When Lionel leaves to confront him, Garner starts up the treatment even thou Lionel said to wait. Clark convulses when he's dipped in the liquid. The system overloads and Clark has a memory flashback to when he was being put in the spaceship. He hears his mother worry that she just wants someone to love her child and he wakes up screaming the name Lara. When the alarms go off, Lionel and Lex rush into the lab. Garner is dead and Clark is drowning in the liquid. Lex frees him and tells him he's going to get him out.

A couple days later, Lex has another flash back. This time he sees his mother smothering Julian. He realizes she was the one who killed Julian. When he tells his father, Lionel refuses to believe it, but after he thinks about it, he accepts it and asks Lex why he hid the truth. Lex said it was to protect his mother. Lionel said if he'd known the truth their relationship would have been different... Lex walks out saying "Yes, you would have loved me."

Martha talks to Clark in the barn and asks him if he's ok. He assures her his secret is safe and then tells her the treatment triggered a memory about his parents. He realizes his parents weren't monsters like Jor-el and he remembers his mothers name - Lara.
[back to top]

RECAP:
Lex goes to Dr. Garner for an experimental treatment to try to recover the memories Lionel Luther had erased. Clark is worried that Lex will hurt himself, and also that Lex will remember Clark's secret when he recovers his memories. Clark tries to get Dr. Garner to stop the treatments, and (thanks to some Kryptonite) is captured by one of Garner's associates. It turns out that Lionel Luther set Clark up as part of a deal to stop Lex's treatments. Garner puts Clark through the experimental procedure and recovers Clark's earliest memory -- Clark's parents putting him in a spaceship and sending him to Earth. Clark also learns that his mother's name is Lara. Clark somehow causes the experiment chamber to explode, which knocks Dr. Garner into a coma, and Lex comes and rescues his boyfriend. Also, Lex's mother is the one who killed Julian, not Lex.
By: Omar L. Gallaga (TWoP)
OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:
Believing that key information about his father's past was lost when his memory was erased, Lex decides to join an experimental program with Dr. Garner to regain the information so he can turn his father over to the FBI. Knowing that Lex will discover his secret if he regains his memory, Clark tries to stop him but is caught by Lionel and the doctor and exposed to the same radical treatment so that Lionel can solve the mystery of Clark's past. Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star.
QUOTES:
 
REVIEW
Lex (yelling): Julian! Julian! Julian! Julian!

Clark: Lana, the last time Lex went off the deep end, you almost got trampled by a horse.

Clark: Aru you okay?
Lex: Well, I haven't lost my mind if that's what you're asking.

Lex: Apparently a clean bill of health isn't good enough for Clark Kent. I can take care of myself.

Lionel: You know, Clark, I always thought that your parents' corn-fed hokum made you weak, but clearly I have underestimated your dark side.

Lex: What brings you to Smallville, Dad? To find more evidence of little green men in the Kiwatche caves?

Lex (age 12 to Lionel): I told you nobody would come. Everybody hates me.

Lionel: I will not let you inflict psychological scars on my children.
Lillian: That's why they have you, Lionel.

Lex: I really don't have to explain myself to you Clark.

Lionel (to Lex): You spend too much time in the past... that's always been your weakness.

Lionel (to Martha): your son has always had a penchant for secrecy.

Martha (to Lionel): Don't you worry about Jonathan, he'll be fine. His strength of character will see us through anything.

Dr. Garner (to Clark): You've always been intrigued by my research and now you have a chance to be a part of it.

Lionel: I want us to begin studying Clark Kent immediately.

Lex: Looks like i'm not the only one playing with fire.

Clark: Lex help me.
Lex: I'm gonna get you out of here.

Lex: I will never become my father. I would never sacrifice you or anyone I care about to bring him back.

Lex: I was your sole remaining heir. I knew you'd never let anything happen to me, but m, she would be the lamb the lamb to the slaughter.
Lionel: If I'd only known . . . if I'd seen – things would have been so different between us.
Lex: Yes, dad - you might have actually loved me.

Clark: Lara is my biological mother's name. I just can't believe I forgot about her.
Martha: You didn't. Your first word was Lara.

 
Wrought with tender emotion and plot twists, Memoria is one of my favourite episodes ever. Al Gough and Miles Millar blended the Superman mythology and the current Smallville storylines perfectly. Every scene was written with great care and their passion for the characters really shone through. It was as if they were saying to the audience, "This is what Smallville is really about."

At the very heart of the episode is love – not romantic love but the agape or unconditional love between family and friends. Lex's love for his mom was so unconditional that he bore the blame of murdering his brother onto himself. Showing such maturity at such a young age really demonstrates the kind of person Lex really is. Lionel's love for Lex comes with so many conditions that it's no wonder that Lex is messed up! When Lionel actually admitted that things would have been different between them, it showed that he knew he was punishing Lex all along. Evil dude! And in a twisted way, Lex is becoming more like Lionel in order to gain the affection he never received.

Poor Lex never had any love growing up did he? While Clark had Martha and Jonathan's plus the recent knowledge that his birth parents loved him. So much so that they were willing to part with him just so that he can live. The closing scene between Martha and Clark was so poignant that I welled up. At that moment, I was able to feel Lara's (Clark's Kryptonian mom) heartbreak of having to send your child across the galaxy, not knowing for sure if he will survive or have a good life.

Other stuff

  • Lionel told Lex to lock up his doubts and fears in a box – sounds like repressed emotions to me!
  • We have a double bonus of a shirtless Lex and a shirtless Clark.
  • Clark wore fairly large red underwear in the tank – quite different from the tight red ones worn outside Superman's costume. LOL
  • Lex had on plain black shorts.
  • Lex's mom said to Lex, "Hush, don't wake the baby. He's sleeping," after she killed Julian. Lex said the same thing when he sang to the rolled up blanket. (And also in "Shattered")
  • The Superman creators seem to like the letter "L" for their women – Lara, Lillian Luthor, Lois Lane, Lana Lang!!
  • Clark's first word = Lara. So sweet.
  • The scene with Jor-El and Lara talking over Clark's spaceship had pretty cheesy dialogue. It didn't sound very normal to me - maybe Kryptonians talk like that.

    Verdict: Six out of five stars.
    By Hayley Planet

  • TRAILER:
    NEWS & NOTES:
    As Lex has the flashback to when his father discovered Julian dead, Superman's colors red, blue, and yellow alternatly flash on adult Lex's face.

    When Lana pulls Lex off the ledge he hits his head pretty hard but it has no effect on him.

    Given Lionel's infatuation with Greek/Roman history and mythology it's not surprising both Lex and Julian are named after two of the greatest military leaders of all time: Alexander the Great and Julius Ceasar. Also the story of a mother who kills her son can be compared to the myth of Medea.

    Samuel L. Jones (Pete), Allison Mack (Chloe), and John Schneider (Jonathan) don't appear in this episode.