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October, 1989.

Today is the day Smallville will be introduced to Clark Kent, but these people going about their daily business don't know it yet. Lionel Luthor is in a helicopter with his red-haired son Lex, who is just a boy. A frightened little boy, who doesn't want to open his eyes.

LIONEL: Luthors are not afraid. We don't have that luxury. We're leaders. You have a destiny, Lex. You're never going to get anywhere with your eyes closed.

Lana Lang, a small dark-haired girl, is in her aunt Nell's flower shop, wearing a fairy princess costume (it's October, so maybe it's Halloween ... or maybe they're practicing pagans and celebrate it year round). Jonathan and Martha Kent enter the store, and it's clear that Nell has quite the flame burning for Jonathan. She makes less-than-subtle digs at Martha. Lana, oblivious to all the undercurrent, asks Martha if she would like to make a wish and innocently touches Martha's forehead with her wand.

In the car, Jonathan tells Martha he knows what she wished for -- a child -- and she can't deny it. (So Lana is the one who summons Clark, huh?)

Meanwhile in outer space, a family of meteors are flying toward Earth faster than speeding bullets. Uh oh, you know that never bodes well (the Superman quote rip-offs, I mean).

Near a cornfield, Lionel is meeting with some farmers while Lex wanders around. The boy hears a voice saying, "Help me" and he goes to investigate. But when he hears the voice again without a body attached to it, he becomes frightened and runs away. In his panic he falls, losing his asthma inhaler.

When he looks up he sees a teenager, Jeremy Creek, tied to ... well, a stake in the middle of the cornfield, with a red "S" painted on his naked chest. It is as if he is a live scarecrow. Jeremy asks Lex to help him.

The meteors have other plans. They choose at that moment to come pelting out of the sky, hitting the cornfield and creating destruction where they make contact. Smoke and other debris soon enfold both Jeremy and Lex.

The main part of town is not immune. People are celebrating after a homecoming game, including the Langs. Nell and Lana are witnesses to the moment a meteorite crashes into a nearby car, blowing it and Lana's parents to smithereens (heehee, that was fun to type).

The Kents are driving home in their truck when a meteorite drops in front of them, causing the truck to overturn.

Lionel runs through the cornfield frantically, looking for Lex. He finds a tuft of Lex's red hair (we know this CAN'T be good at all) on the ground, and eventually uncovers his son, who is lying, shaking, on the ground. There are only bits of hair still on Lex's head; he is mostly bald. In typical Lionel Luthor-fatherly fashion, Lionel rears back, horrified.

The Kents are coming to. Upside-down, Jonathan squints as a naked boy comes into view and peers into the truck with a smile. The next time we see the three of them, it is apparent that Martha wants to keep the little boy -- that she believes it is the work of Fate.

JONATHAN: Sweetheart, we can't keep him. What are we going to tell people -- we found him out in a field?
MARTHA: We didn't find him. He found us.

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Today (or rather, let's say Oct. 16, 2001, when this episode originally aired)

Inside the Kent farmhouse, Clark, Martha and Jonathan play Happy Family. Clark wants to try out for the football team, but Jonathan is against it, afraid that Clark might accidentally hurt someone.

CLARK: All I want to do is to go through high school without being a total loser. (In the words of our friend Lysandra, "Anyone who looks like him would SO not be a social misfit in high school." Well, this is FANTASY, Lysandra, so we'll just buy it. Okay?)

Clark is late for school, and his friends Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross are on the school bus joking about Clark's lethargy.

PETE: Statistical fact: If Clark moved any slower, he'd be extinct.

But we know better, don't we, good viewers? Clark, of course, takes off at super speed and meets up with his pals at school moments later. (Yeah, that's not suspicious at all.) Chloe and Pete are talking about a dance, and already we're getting the low-down on who likes who. It appears that Chloe likes Clark though she denies it, and Pete seems a bit interested in Chloe himself. They are, of course, astounded to see Clark when they know he missed the bus.

Pete calls Chloe an "intrepid reporter," thus establishing her as the girl who's going to stick her nose into everything. He then talks to Clark about handing in their permission slips for trying out for the football team, thus establishing himself as the guy-pal who does guy-things with Clark.

Chloe finds the idea of the two of them on the football team a vastly amusing idea, but Pete explains that it's also out of a sense of survival. Apparently, there's this tradition, see, and ... Oh, Pete can explain it better:

PETE: It's a Homecoming tradition. Every year before the big game, the football players select a freshman, take him off to Reilly Field, strip him down to his boxers, and then paint an "S" on his chest.
CLARK: And then string him up like a scarecrow.

(Make a note of that -- they're freshmen. Which means that none of them should be older than 15 years old.) Pete figures they won't choose one of their own (oh Pete, so naive). At this point, the clouds clear, the sun blazons its shining rays everywhere, and angels appear singing heavenly hymns as Clark spots Lana, now all grown up. (<--- that seems pretty obvious, that since everyone else is older she would be too, but you never know) Okay, not literally re: the angels and stuff, but to Clark they might as well have.

He begins to walk toward her, and five feet away (Chloe wins the bet) he stumbles and falls, scattering his books everywhere.

CHLOE: Statistical fact: Clark Kent can't get within five feet of Lana Lang without turning into a total freak show.

Here we get some subtext that "Smallville" is getting so darn good at. Yes, it's true, Clark's in love. He's a teenager. He gets awkward around the girl he likes. But his klutziness might also be attributed to the fact that Lana wears a necklace around her neck that boasts a green meteorite fragment. It glows when Clark is near, and he looks sick. You do the math.

They have a short conversation filled with double-talk, and Whitney Fordham arrives on the scene to present himself as The Obstacle (i.e., the high school boyfriend who will get in the way of Clark and Lana being together). He is flat, vaguely sinister, self-assured and dismissive. (In other words, like all "popular" guys in high school.) He is proprietary toward Lana, and one suspects that he knows about Clark's crush on his girlfriend. Yet while Whitney probably partially believes that there is no way Lana will go for Clark (given that the latter is such a tool and not cool like Whitney), he's also got an inferiority complex like many guys his age, and he feels slightly threatened, which accounts for his proprietary behavior (I'm not excusing him, I'm just making observations).

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Inside the school, the teenager that Young!Lex encountered in the cornfield oh so many years ago, Jeremy Creek, is staring at a trophy case. He breaks the glass with his fist and grabs a picture of three football players.

JEREMY: It's payback time.

Eeek!

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Lex, in a gorgeous Porsche, arrives at LuthorCorp Fertilizer Plant No. 3. He parks and surveys his new domain. To say he's less than impressed would be an understatement.

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Clark is daydreaming. He's a big football star and Lana is so impressed with his skill that she's just about to lock lips with him. Doesn't actually happen, as the real world (and Pete) interrupt. Pete wants to know how he looks in his football uniform.

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Another quick cut. This time back to Lex. He's driving fast down a stretch of road. A bridge is coming up, and we see that Clark is lounging against it (for what reason, I'm not sure we've ever learned). Lex's cell phone rings, and he glances down to pick up. He doesn't see the large metal what's-it that had fallen off a passing truck just moments before. By the time he finally looks up, it's too late, he hits the what's-it and causes the car to swerve -- right into Clark. The Porsche plows through the guardrail, sending Clark and Lex both into the water below.

Lex is unconscious, and Clark is, of course, unharmed. Underwater, Clark rips open the top of the Porsche and fishes Lex out. Once safely on land, Clark performs mouth-to-mouth on Lex (I KNOW it's a life-saving procedure and shouldn't have slashy connotations ... but come on, it's a TV show, I can't help it), who splutters up water.

LEX: I could have sworn I hit you.
CLARK: If you did, I'd be ... I'd be dead.

The next scene has Clark with a blanket around his shoulders (it's red ... gee, could it possibly allude to a cape of some sort?) while official-looking people seem to be checking out the accident evidence. Jonathan arrives and is frantically worried about Clark. Lex, standing nearby (interestingly enough, also with a red cape ... I mean blanket over his shoulders), introduces himself when Jonathan demands to know who was "the maniac that was driving that car." There is an immediate sense of animosity, all of which is coming from Jonathan. He's clearly not a big fan of Lex Luthor's.

As Jonathan and Clark walk away, the mangled Porsche is lifted out of the water. Lex is bemused, and glances toward the retreating Kents speculatively.

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Clark is peering through his telescope, and we can see Lana's porch with perfect clarity. (Psst ... he doesn't know about his extraordinary vision yet.) Lana is on the porch enjoying a mug of hot liquid, and Clark smiles upon seeing her (I don't know about you, but I think this whole peeping Tom -- heehee -- thing is kind of creepy), but that quickly changes to a frown when Whitney joins her.

We change perspective and now we can hear what Whitney and Lana are talking about (Clark cannot, we presume). They have a discussion about the Luthors (her aunt is at Lex Luthor's house ... doing what, I don't know ...), and Whitney wants Nell to put in a good word for him, as the Luthors apparently own the Metropolis Sharks (presumably a pro football team).

LANA: If you want someone to put in a good word, ask Clark. He saved Lex's life today.
WHITNEY: You're kidding. (Translation: That wuss?)
LANA: Sometimes people can surprise you. I think it's kind of cool. (Translation: I didn't know he had it in him, either. He's always seemed like kind of a pansy. Sweet, but a pansy.)
WHITNEY: Coach said a scout from Kansas State is coming to the game on Saturday. (Translation: I'm getting bored with this conversation because it's not about me. Plus I now feel even more threatened by that wuss than before.)

Lana takes off her necklace and hands it to Whitney, saying that she wants him to wear it at the game on Saturday. Whitney wants to know if it's really made from a piece of the meteorite that killed Lana's parents.

LANA: So much bad luck came out of it. There can only be good luck left. (In what universe?! Honey, bad things can happen and keep on happening. That's life.)

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Frank's Auto Repair -- night. Guess it's time for the X-Files part of the episode. Frank is working on a car. Jeremy stands and watches him. There is a brief scuffle as Jeremy sends an electric shock through Frank's body. Frank seems to immediately recognize who Jeremy is, saying, "That was 12 years ago, man! It was just a game." Jeremy shocks him again.

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Clark's coming home from school (I assume), and spies a shiny new truck parked near the house. His mother tells him that it's a gift for him from Lex. The note Lex left: "Dear Clark, Drive safely. Always in your debt. The Maniac In the Porsche." Clark is thrilled -- the only downer? His father has the keys.

Jonathan tells Clark that he can't keep the car. It seems the Luthors (primarily the sins of Lionel) make a habit of screwing people over, blinding them with flashy gifts.

CLARK: So you're judging Lex on what his father did?
JONATHAN: No, Clark, I'm not. I just want to make sure that you know where the money came from that bought that truck.

(Actually, Jonathan, that's nice lip service and maybe you're right about not accepting the truck. But you DO judge Lex on the sins of his father.)

Clark then freaks out about not being normal and stuffs his hand down the chipper that's on at full blast. He pulls his arm out, his shirt in tatters but his skin completely intact (he probably broke the chipper and now they'll have to get a new one, silly boy). Jonathan is extremely worried, and seems disbelieving that nothing is wrong with Clark's arm. (You'd think he'd know about Clark by now.)

CLARK: I didn't dive in after Lex's car; it hit me at 60 miles an hour. Does that sound normal to you? I'd give anything to be normal!

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Clark is in the barn sitting by his Peeping Tom Telescope^TM. Jonathan comes up to make peace by revealing that Clark is an alien. You know, to make him feel better about not being normal. Jonathan shows Clark the spaceship the Kents keep in the storm cellar that they've been keeping secret from Clark all these years (guess he's never been to the storm cellar before, huh?). The whole thing goes as well as you might expect. Clark flips out and hightails it out of there at ... well, super speed.

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Nighttime. Cemetery. Lana on a horse. You wouldn't think those three things would go together, would you?

Clark is apparently skulking around and scares the crap out of Lana, who is a bit terse with him until she calms down. The two of them have a nice little chat, and Lana introduces him to her parents, Lewis and Laura Lang, whose graves she visits once in a while to "converse" with them.

Afterward, Clark walks Lana home. He asks her if she's going to the dance, forgetting for a moment about The Obstacle. She asks him the same question, and he says that he wasn't planning to.

LANA: Well ... if you change your mind, I might save you a dance. (Gee, MIGHT. Thaaaanks.)

Lana rectifies this less-than-encouraging offer by kissing Clark on the cheek. Here come the angels and the sunbursts and the heavenly choir again.

But cue the bass line and the sound of thunder and lightning striking, as we pan to Peeping!Whitney (sans telescope) waiting for Lana on her porch.

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The next day. Clark has made his way into the Luthor mansion, and he follows the sounds of a fencing match. He's standing in the doorway when one of the fencers corners the other, and the loser of the match throws his sword in frustration. It nearly hits Clark, but juts out of the wall next to him, instead. Wonderful undertone of the sinister here.

The person who threw the sword is none other than Lex Luthor; his opponent is his female instructor (we assume). Lex says that he hadn't realized Clark was there; he's jovial and familiar. He mocks the mansion he lives in, which he claims his father had shipped from Scotland stone by stone.

In Lex's office, Clark explains that he can't keep his new ride.

LEX: Clark, you saved my life. I think it's the least I can do.
CLARK: ...
LEX: Your father doesn't like me, does he?
CLARK: ...
LEX: It's okay. I've been bald since I was nine. I'm used to people judging me before they get to know me. (Here we have a more precise age information. The meteor shower was 12 years ago, which makes Lex 21.)

The two continue with a revealing conversation about Lex and the car accident. When Lex's heart stopped for those two minutes, he flew above Smallville ("People can't fly, Lex"), and he no longer sees a dead end. Lex feels that Clark has given him a second chance.

LEX: We have a future, Clark. And I don't want anything to stand in the way of our friendship.

(This was a bit creepy, if you ask me. But it's the pilot episode, and it's Lex Luthor. So it should be, I suppose. <g>)

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Back in town, Chloe and Pete are with a crowd of onlookers as someone is taken out of a store on a stretcher. Pete notes that it is the third such victim this week. Chloe notes that they've all been former jocks. Pete sees Jeremy in the crowd and points him out to Chloe, who takes a picture.

Later, Clark has joined the two of them and they are all in the office of The Smallville Torch, the high school paper that Chloe runs. She has found a high school yearbook with Jeremy's picture in it -- and he looks exactly the same; it is as if he has not aged a day in 12 years.

CLARK: That's impossible. He'd be like 26 today. Must be a kid who looks like him. (If only they hadn't chosen an actor who looked even OLDER than 26, this might have more resonance.)

Chloe explains that Jeremy recently escaped from the state infirmary, where he's been in a coma for the last 12 years. "He suffered from massive electrolyte imbalance." But due to a recent electrical storm, the hospital's generator went down and then Jeremy was gone.

CLARK: And now he's back in Smallville, putting former jocks into comas. Why?
PETE: Because 12 years ago today, they chose Jeremy Creek as the scarecrow. (Anyone else thinking about Pearl Jam? Anyone? Bueller?)

Chloe hands Clark a newspaper clipping -- "Comatose boy found in field, 20 yards from meteor strike." Chloe then postulates that the exposure to the blast must have done something to Jeremy's body. Clark is disbelieving, and Pete encourages Chloe to share The Wall of Weird. It is a bulletin board covered with news and magazine clippings.

CHLOE: It's every strange, bizarre and unexplained event that's happened in Smallville since the meteor shower.

Clark is mesmerized. He follows the wall, until he comes upon a Time magazine cover. It's of Little!Lana in her fairy princess costume, crying. Clark is horrified, as the realization dawns that all of it would never have happened if not for his arrival. (That's right, Clark, it's ALL YOUR FAULT. ... What? He can't hear me. I'm on the other side of the big square glass.)

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At school now, Clark feels a hand on his shoulder. He thinks it's Chloe and is about to shrug her off (Has he SEEN Chloe? She'd only be able to reach his shoulder if she were on stilts!), but finds to his (and our) dismay that it's Whitney. Proving, at least this episode, that he's the villain rather than Lex Luthor, Whitney informs Clark with smug satisfaction that Clark has been chosen as this year's scarecrow.

Clark is able to hold his own until Whitney removes his jacket and Clark is laid low by the force of the stone on Lana's necklace, which hangs around Whitney's neck. Whitney, now with the upper hand, demands to know what is going on between Clark and Lana. Clark's eyes are fixed on the stone that's weakening him, and Whitney thinks it's because it's Lana's (there might be some of that, too). He tells Clark that it's the closest Clark is ever going to get to her, and ties it around Clark's neck. Whitney and his friends toss Clark into the back of a truck.

There is a witness however -- Jeremy.

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Nighttime now, and Clark is strung up like a scarecrow in his boxers with a red "S" painted on his chest. The green stone on the necklace around his neck glows. Clark is weak, trembling, sweaty. It's an ironic image, to be sure.

Jeremy appears, and Clark pleads for him to help him.

JEREMY: I thought if I punished them it would stop. But it never stops.
CLARK: Wait. Where are you going?
JEREMY: Homecoming dance. I never made it to mine.
CLARK: Get me down. Please.
JEREMY: You're safer here.

(Um, yes, that may be, but could you at least untie him? Jeremy, of anyone, should know how it feels to be scared and humiliated, tied up like that. Or is it that he can't touch anyone without sending an electric shock through them? But we get the impression that he can control it, which goes back to how lame it is that he doesn't help Clark down.)

Lex is driving away from his fertilizer plant and sees Jeremy exit the cornfield. He stops and gets a flash of himself as a young boy, seeing someone tied up in the field. He gets out of the car, but Jeremy's already gone. Lex looks around for a bit, and kind of shakes off the feeling he's getting. He's about to go back to the car when he hears a voice calling for help.

Unlike his younger self, this Lex is unafraid as he makes his way through the field with a flashlight. He's bowled over to see Clark there and immediately starts to untie him. As Clark falls to the ground, the necklace loses its hold and Clark is back at full strength. Lex is concerned about Clark's health ("You need to see a doctor") but Clark is dismissive and eager to get out of there. Lex says that Clark should at least let Lex give Clark a ride (ohmyGOD did your mind just go where mine went?), but Clark's already gone. As Lex lowers his arm, his flashlight shines on Lana's necklace, which rests on the ground.

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It's the Smallville High Homecoming Dance! A bunch of kids are dancing, including Chloe and Pete, and Whitney and Lana, who are wearing Homecoming King and Queen crowns (oh GAG me). Jeremy is outside, about to tamper with the fire sprinklers, when Clark appears behind him and tells him that he has to stop.

Jeremy is less than enthused to see Clark, and seems to have no empathy toward this other person who went through the same things he did (if leaving Clark strung up in the middle of a cornfield at night wasn't indication enough), despite what he says.

CLARK: I won't let you hurt my friends.
JEREMY: Those people in there aren't your friends. The sprinklers will get them nice and wet; I'll handle the rest.
CLARK: They never did anything to you.
JEREMY: I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for you and for all the others like us.
CLARK: What happened to you was my fault. I can understand your pain.
JEREMY: I'm not in pain. I have a gift, and a purpose, and a destiny. (He turns away but Clark speeds to block his way)
CLARK: So do I.

(That is so freaking cool. Had to be said. Carry on.)

Jeremy, now apparently no longer doing this for Clark, attempts to electrocute him, but Clark slams Jeremy into a car with super strength (it's amazing Jeremy just doesn't die right then -- he may have the power to harness electricity but his body's still as frail as the next human, right?).

Jeremy's now pissed off that his revenge plans are being thwarted by the very person he claims he's standing up for, so he gets in the car and attempts to run Clark over. The car, with Clark hanging on to the hood, careens into a wall that has an emergency hydrant attached to it. The pipe bursts and water sprays everywhere, which electrocutes Jeremy.

Instead of dying, Jeremy opens his eyes and looks around, disoriented. He doesn't know who Clark is or who he himself is. He says he wants to go home.

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Back at the dance, Lana and Whitney are still dancing (it amuses me to think that it's the same song as before <g>). They kiss, with Clark watching (creepily) from the shadows. Clark leaves, and as he's crossing the parking lot, he gets an idea and smiles.

When Whitney and Lana leave the dance, Whitney sees that his truck along with two others are piled up like pancakes. Lana glances to where we know Clark is off in the distance, as if she senses him ... or that the culprit who did it was still nearby.

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Clark's back in his loft in the barn, looking through the Peeping Tom Telescope^TM once again. Jonathan shows up to make amends with his son, and Clark is receptive. All the events of the past ... however many hours has really sobered him up. He says he's glad that the Kents found him.

Jonathan leaves, and Lana materializes moments later. Clark is surprised to see her, but she doesn't seem self-conscious at all. She tells him that she saved him a dance, and they begin to move slowly together.

A horn honks and Clark is jolted out of this fantasy. He makes his way back to the window where Lana is waving to the people who dropped her off.

CLARK: Thanks for the dance, Lana.

Lana looks around as if she heard his words (I wish she would stop doing that; maybe she's got creepy powers of her own), then smiles and goes into the house.

The End