I hope it's OK to create an entry for X-Ray.

I just rewatched this episode, and it was tons of fun.

Highlights: Michael Rosenbaum does a great job playing Tina Greer playing Lex.
Tina is a great villian, one of my favs. I wish she could have more episodes.
Lex has some great lines in this one. The one about not being a criminal mastermind was terrific.

It was fantastic to watch Xray again.

Lizzy Caplan(?) the woman who played Tina Greer did an exceptional job. She creeped me out the whole time with her Lana obsession. I hadn't realized until someone mentioned it but she was in "Mean Girls" too. I had forgotten that was her. She seems able to change her look quite dramatically.

Marta mentioned that MR used his right hand to sign Lex Luthor's name in the bank in the teaser when he was suppose to be Tina Greer even though both MR and Lex are left handed and how that was a nice subtle way to hint at the deception. I agree!

Roger Nixon was really a great villain. He' s introduced in this one and MR's arrogant smile as Lex tells Roger he's going to erase his existance and give him a new identity to make his life miserable was glorious. M Rosenbaum played that up to the hilt. They had a great dynamic going.

Also, I felt truly sorry for Clark when Lana asked him what he'd ask his parents if he ever got to talk to them. He wasn't being a complainer, he was just expressing his sincere frustration at not understanding himself more which I'm sure is something adopted kids everywhere could relate to.

I even liked Chloe and Lana's interaction at the Torch where Lana butters Chloe up with a compliment about her work at the Torch and Chloe apologizes for her snarky comments about cheerleading and ends up helping Lana find her mother's graduation speech. Heck, I even felt sorry for Lana in the end scene when she was listening to her mom's address.

There were also some really cute lines. I had forgotten why S1 is my favorite, but the characters were all so deliciously rich and they all had so much potential. They were even all pretty smart!

I really enjoyed this episode.

Someone said Clark using his xray vision on the lockerroom was something every teenage boy would do and I concur. It was a harmless misusse of his power and very funny.

Clark was quite charming in the episode and the Kents! My gosh, they were smart, figuring out the problem together and warning Clark.

Of all the 'New Power' episodes Heat is my favorite. I think this one's my second followed by Sneeze.

It's so much fun to watch the Season 1 episodes again. I absolutely love MR in this, from his stint as Tina Greer in the beginning to how he made Lex so smugly confident in his handling of Roger Nixon at the end. Lex was a good guy in Season 1, but he was also so deliciously bad. There are so many layers to his character. No wonder he was one of my favorites back then.

Snarky Clark. When was the last time we saw him? Goodness he was almost as snarky as Chloe in this episode, with his "You would have worn a mask" and "You always keep your knife in that pocket" lines.

The Season 1 episodes were kind of simple, but they were so much smarter than the episodes we have now. I think it must be because the writers back then were smarter. They were able to write humor that came from the characters, not contrived situations. And there seemed to be a reality to everything. Of course there was some suspension of disbelief, but it wasn't out of hand. It was easy to feel for the characters and want them to succeed.

Bank Robbing Faux Lex and Lana Obsessed Tina really made remember why (at 11) I liked this show so much!

The Chlark scene was really cute and watching those S1 scenes now that I do ship them... it's different. Good different. It makes me appreaciate Tom/Allison chemistry a whole lot more.

As for Lana, I used to really like her in S1, she had potential. the scene where she listens to her mom's speech is heart warming.

I wish I could elaborate more but I'm late for class. CoreFourRewatch owns!

I agree, Tina is one of the best Freaks of the Week. She's very, very creepy in this episode, and totally devoid of morality (stealing is fine if it results in a better standard of living, and killing your mom isn't really a big deal as long as you get to live with Lana afterwards!).

Roger is definitely a great recurring villain, too (though his accent bothers me because it starts out very Southern and then slowly goes away over the course of the season). I love his smugness when he thinks he's got Lex over a barrel, and his dawning horror as he realizes he's in way over his head. Lex is chilling and ruthless in that scene, and MR plays it beautifully. And yes, his line about being a criminal mastermind is awesome.



I agree. The dialogue back then was much better, and the way the characters react makes a lot more sense, IMHO. And Clark was a much more interesting character! I love the delighted grin on his face as he's checking out the girls in the locker room. Clark, you bad boy, you!

The entire cast was in one episode! That was always semi-rare, but WOW!

I really loved this episode. It's not an all time favorite, but I love it. It felt like a small town (Tina's mom ran the antique shop, everyone knew about Tina's prior medical condition, Laura Potter's speech being banned). They used the double life/secrets metaphor really well, while everyone still coming off as really genuine people. I think I'll break this down by points.

• Clark came off really well in this episode. He had a sense of humor (teasing with Pete in gym, Lex about wearing a mask, and with his dad about the knife). He had some questions about being adopted but was comfortable with his life for the most part. He had already bought into the Wall of Weird (and asking Chloe to partner up to investigate), and used his power as a sense of responsibility to stop Tina. There was the funny, kind normal kid guy who thought Chloe was there to see him; then there was the confused yet noble alien who really did need his parents - his adoptive parents - to guide him through it all.
• Lex was such a bad ass! His utter distaste for Reporters, his glee at ruining someone's life, his plan to use the Inquisitor as the rag that "the people read" to generate good press for himself was awesome. Lex's spotlighted car was also amazing showing off his obsession and paving the road for the CoCK yet to be assembled. Add on top of that him still wanting Jonathan's respect and being a bit put out by not getting it? Just really fun. THIS is a future villain. He was scary in how cold and playful he was about it all.
• Chloe used her researching skills merely to help out Lana, which was really nice. I felt like we learned more about the character through Lana (saying Chloe knew who she was and went for it which was admirable) and Pete (she's the girl you call for the tales of the weird and unexplained) than her though. Short of if you throw rubber spiders at her, she'll go for her staple gun.
• Lana I really, REALLY liked in this episode too. It underlined she was just like her mom, which is something we see big-time later on in the series, but here Lana comes across as a girl trying to understand who she lost. Her want to find an actual connection to her parents, that curiosity I really liked. One because it makes some sense, and two because it was a nice contrast to Clark. He was adopted, he loved the only parents he'd ever known, and was content with that; she remembered her parents (some) and thus struggled to try to find out more. I just thought it worked.
• Tina was a good example of how the FotW concept really rocked for this show. When they casted well, they were this good mix of scary and human. Tina was this great example of how the show had this original X-Files/Twin Peaks vibe. Things were not what they seemed on the surface. Not Clark, not Lex, not Lana, not Chloe, not the town. That was a big show theme and it make the town a little creepy, a little interesting, and it made the characters a lot more compelling.
• Roger Nixon is probably one of my favorite season-long villains. In part because he's not epically evil, he's just a shady corrupt reporter. He works for the Inquisitor which became short hand in early seasons as to having absolutely no morals or credibility at all. He's focused on getting rich and on getting famous. He tries to get one over on Lex Luthor, and instead Lex Luthor gets one over on him. Since Roger never was meant to be all that loyal, I don't mind how it turned out but man. He was a good character. Really helped build up the world of greys in the reporting world even; you could be about Truth or Fame, so merely becoming a reporter wasn't something to be celebrated on it's own. It was how you did it. Clark's investigating (to stop the bad guy) and Chloe's (to help someone) to Nixon's (to get rich).
• Whitney was pretty awesome in this episode simply because of the line "I swear that girl's got you low-jacked."
• Kents were totally sweet. Not only did we have several Kent family pow-wows, Martha working in the community, Jonathan being IMO rather sweet and dorky especially with the whole "You could SEE through my HAND!" but they kept a nice even keel and it made sense how they raised this sweet, dorky, noble Clark.
• Pete had LINES. He was in the episode. Granted it was mostly to give information about his character being the friend who gives girl advice and plays sports (vs. Chloe being the investigator, and the implication that Lana's the fellow adoptee) but I also like how they played it that Clark would trust Pete enough to simply slip up and tell him that he saw through a wall -- and Pete's known Clark long enough to simply dismiss it out of hand.

Good, FUN episode; lots of music, beautiful colors, really good effects. It was charming, which was nice. I really miss that small-town hero vibe. Clark did the right thing because it was the right thing; he gave back the money on an anonymous tip and he took Tina down simply because he was the only one he could. There was no ego, no angst just a realization that he had responsibility and he owned up to it. It was really great.

BPox - I have to agree, I enjoy Tina. I think she's devious and does a good job with her plots. Watching MR play her is always fun and the best line and interchange in the ep is between those boys, Clark and Lex:

"A criminal mastermind would have worn a mask."

Anvil, but also hilarious.

This is a great point. Clark does angst over his new power at first, because it's another sign he's different. But once he learns how to use it and realizes he can do good with it (he can find the bank robber, clear Lex's name, return the stolen money) that angst disappears. It's no longer a detriment, it's an asset. Okay, he does angst a little bit over the power at the end when he watches Lana and Whitney through the door, but that's more Lana angst than Alien angst.

It got old when they did FOTW over and over, but yeah the hidden passions/outer wholesome image thing was cool. Tina really personified this as she literally wore the wrong face.



The jockying was good. Again, scandal (image) vs. secrets and lies serving the greater good. Nice tension.



It's the tension, the back and forth that's good. I have no issue with Clark having angst, but the moments of joy and satisfaction seems to be gone these days.

I liked that Tina and Lana were friends prior to this episode. Their prior connection enabled Tina to be more than just some random admirer of Lana's. Lizzy Caplan was very good in this episode. I felt sorry for Tina even when I should not have.

Yes one of the most sympathetic villains on the show and the actress was superb, the way you start to see the hints of obsession slowly till she explodes is really well done. I liked the special effects and seeing Lex "losing it" was all sorts of cool!

What needs to be reminded is that in S2 starts the writing of the PS3 or atleast 2 of them and you then wonder just how have they came to this S9 in the way they have? I can only chalk it up to the fact that as much as we loved to eviserate AlMiles they did have a somewhat coherent plan, vision and grasp on their characters to not do the tripe being done now to Clark and Chloe and pimp whoring of Lois. imo. It focused these PS3 yahoos to some of their better writing. I was shocked looking back at the Lex Asylum arcs and the some of the better S3 episodes were done by two of the PS3 in a writing pairs. Slavin and Swimmer, Souter and Peterson?

I remember that a lot of people didnt like season 1, because of the 1-week villains and the lack of mythology, but I loved it. It all seems so innocent, and I really cant believe how much some of the characters ended up changing from S1-S8.

I loved S1 myself, and I really liked "X-Ray" specifically. Agreed that LC was wonderful and really played a sympathetic villain. I adore the "Clark discovers his powers" episodes because they're just so fresh and fun and that's largely due to TW. He really nailed that innocent wonder that Clark possessed in the very early seasons.

I'm in the minority of those who prefer the cornfields to the streets of Metropolis. The smalltown setting really brought a cozy comfort to the series and coupled with the great use of rich color and the warmth of the sun-drenched farm house, the series really built itself a fabulous backdrop for the weekly adventures. I understand that there needed to be a push toward the city, and the darkness of the series does support that, but the show lacks a maturity that, I think, it really needs to make Metropolis work. The town of Smallville was almost like a character in and of itself, while Metropolis just seems like a non-entity.

I think the problem is, that all that coziness and warmness was supposed to be brought by Clark to the city when he supposedly became closer to his Superman destiny, but it looks like the city infected him with its darkness, and he is just really a vigilante that fights for whatever reason instead of because he believes people is good and want to be good on the inside, YMMV.

That's why I do like his keeping his red Carhart farm jacket, shirt and jeans as a representation of the smalltown rural 'good' in RBB/Clark is supposed to possess and show through Superman eventually.