In dispatching the helicopter shock troops who attack him and Lois at the safe house, Clark should simply hit them enough to render them unconscious. He should not throw them up in the air as he does with one of them, thus exposing his secret. He later does the same thing with Trent, when instead of throwing him, he should try melting the arm Trent’s using to hold Chloe.

How does Chloe’s casket open so easily? Aren’t caskets locked when they’re buried?

And speaking of Trent, will James Cameron get a royalty for this episode’s use of him?

Good storytelling and some great tension developing, but this ep has plot holes large enough to drive a Humvee through.

Clark and Lois come upon the remains of the safe house and it's surrounded with crime scene tape. Jonathan refers to the area as a federal crime scene. This is 2-3 months after the explosion, right? A federal investigation into charred remains would be over by now.

Why didn't Clark use his x-ray vision at the safe house? He would have found the tunnel.

General Lane (Michael Ironside is great in military roles) must have a tracking device on Lois for the helicopter to find them at the safe house. Lane is working with Lex. Lex knows Chloe is alive and he's keeping her safe. There is no reason for Lane to be watching the remains of the safe house.

The dug up grave scene was ridiculous. Lois leaves the Kent's house with light coming up. It's daylight when she's standing atop the coffin. Lana mentions it's morning. Digging a hole 6' x 8' is a major undertaking (hee hee hee, I crack me up!!). It's very unlikely Lois could have done this by noon. And I appreciate that they made Lois look a little dirty, but you move that much dirt, and you'll be covered in it. And you'd be absolutely exhausted.

Coffins are not put into the grave and covered in dirt as we see in this ep. They are buried in concrete crypts with a concrete slab on top. To exume a grave requires a backhoe to dig to the crypt, then you have to lift the concrete slab. The slab is usually in 2 pieces that can be pried up by several strong men. They also have steel rings set in them to connect them to a rope and be pulled up by a backhoe or truck.

The dynamic between Lionel and Lex just gets better and better! Best line of this ep is Lionel warning Lex that he'll never have a moment's peace. Every sip of wine, every key you turn,...

Ditto Luigi, Clark needs to learn some of Lois' moves and knock guys out without flinging them 50 feet.

Trent might have been a fun enemy to have around for the season. He could know Clark's secret while squaring off against him from time to time. We'd never know if he reveal's Clark's secret to Lionel. Clark's abilities would not have any deadly effect on him. Clark would have a season to find a way to beat him. But no, they meet in a foundry and they melt him. Been there, done that, I'll be back. Boring.

Having a law enforcement background, I hate prison movies. The HBO show Oz makes me puke. Federal prisons are not full of shadows and steam-filled corridors, and inmates are not allowed to run around unsupervised. For Lionel to get shivved in a shower is a horrible movie cliche. An inmate in protective custody would shower in a small locked room with a staff member posted within screaming distance. To be technical, the federal prison in Kansas is in Leavenworth, and it's quite a modern facility.

For Lex to take the chance of having Lionel killed in prison, he got a horrible return on his investment. Why didn't the inmate stab Lionel more than once? Unless Lex wanted Lionel to live through the trial...

Chloe was wearing one of her stylish coats when Clark finds her. I guess Trent gave her a moment to get dressed before he abducted her.

In addition to hiding his strength, Clark also needs to quit super-speeding in front of Lex and Lois.

I was under the impression that Lois was in General Lane's office without permission. How did Lois find out that Chloe was at the foundry? How did she know to bring the stun gun? And how did Lois get to the foundry without the cavalry? I can only assume that the military got the call from Lex, they gave Lois a stun gun and told Lois where Chloe was, and they decided that their job was done.

I've seen on movie nit forums for Terminator 2 that steel factories do not have big pits or vats of molten steel as we saw in that movie and in this ep.

Um, where did everyone in Smallville go? No employees or visitors at the cemetary. No staff at the prison (but a tailor??). 1 humvee driving at the military base. No foundry workers.

All true.

Who paid this guy to stab Lionel in the shower?
It made no sence to me.

Why didn't they pretend that Chloes body was burned indstead of buried. it would leave really no traces if she really is in a coffin or not.

I also noticed that Clark didn't use Xray in the safe house, would've made sence, huh?

I didn't like the Trent part at all.
How did Lionel pay him to do this,
where did he get his information about where to find Chloe.
Why did he try to kill Lois?

I would have liked a little longer fight between him and Clark. He isn't surprised that he can't injure Clark. Why?

I was thinking Clark could use a chilly breath against him but he isn't aware of this ability,
did they forget about this one?

Also: Flying. In a very early episode Clark was floating while sleeping/dreaming. Why didn't he try to find out more? I guess the writers dropped the idea of letting him fly to early in the series if ever?!

Also: Flying. In a very early episode Clark was floating while sleeping/dreaming. Why didn't he try to find out more? I guess the writers dropped the idea of letting him fly to early in the series if ever?! - elwood

I remember reading somewhere before the premier of the show that the writers and producers didn't want another Lois and Clark, so they would avoid giving Clark the ability to fly, as they would avoid putting Clark in the blue and red suit and cape.

Nice use of the Maroon 5 song at the end.

The exact phrase was "no flights and no tights."

Of course, the WB apparently told the writers to bend the "no flights, no tights" rule in an effort to keep ratings up.

How so? We haven't seen any tights, the two only instances of flight were aberations, and I think the first, which was in IIRC, Vortex, was ambiguous.

I read that it was the network's decision for Clark to fly in the season premiere. That's why I said they were told to 'bend' the rule.