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Smallville / Tropes N to S

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Tropes A to C | Tropes D to G | Tropes H to M | Tropes N to S | Tropes T to Z

Smallville provides examples of the following tropes:

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    N 
  • Naked on Arrival: Happens to both the fake Kara and Clark when Jor-El sents then to Earth in "Covenant" and "Crusade" respectively, both done for the "rebirth" aspect. They both crash into Earth via lightning bolt stark naked and completely uncaring about their nudity until they find someone who insists they Please Put Some Clothes On.
  • Naked First Impression: Happens oddly often in the show:
    Lois: My delicate feminine sensibilities weren't offended the first time I got a glimpse of, uhm, Clark Junior.
  • Nanomachines: Brainiac's physical form is composed of millions, possibly billions, of these.
  • Network Redheaded Step Child: Smallville became this after The WB was replaced by The CW; network president Dawn Ostroff seemed to utterly despise sci-fi shows, and only kept Smallville and Supernatural around because they were the two highest-rated shows on her network, not out of any affection. During her tenure, half the show's budget was cut and given to her favorite shows instead, writers were often fired between seasons, and Smallville and Supernatural often received zero promotion from the network, which was way more interested in pushing shows like Gossip Girl and the Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place remakes. On one occasion, the network president was questioned about this, to which she retorted "Gossip Girl is the phenomenon" ...despite Smallville still being the network's rating leader.
  • Never Gets Drunk: In "Turbulence", we learn that Clark is either physically incapable or needs astronomically huge quantities to get there. Or when the alcohol is magically charmed, as in "Fortune". Also an allusion to Superman's weakness to magic.
  • Never My Fault:
    • Pete blames everyone else for his problems from Lex for what his father did to Clark for having powers and not using them to help him lie cheat and steal.
    • Shannon Bell, the Monster of the Week in "Bound" blame Lex for her ruined relationship despite the fact that she cheated on her fiancé in a one night stand with some random man she met in a bar.
  • New Neighbours as the Plot Demands: Several Special Guest and Monster of the Week characters end up being long term citizens of the small town Smallville, despite usually only appearing for a single episode, with usually at least one member of the cast knowing them.
  • New Super Power: When the series starts Clark only had the Super-Speed, Nigh-Invulnerability, and Super-Strength of latter-day Superman, all at a relatively reduced level owing to his being a teen. Over the series each of his abilities developed, some spontaneously, some as a result of a condition. Clark getting a new power always an entire episode dedicated to it:
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    Brainiac: You've opened the portal for Zod!
    • At the end of "Onyx", Lionel had originally started a charity after being given a second chance in life after getting out of prison, but one encounter with Lex's Evil Twin convinced him to go back to his old ways by the time the real Lex could reach him.
    • In "Descent", Clark breaks and enters into Lionel's office, tampering with evidence that could potentially link Lex.
  • Nightmare Sequence: In "Scare" a LuthorCorp project goes awry when an explosion occurs and causes a toxin to be released into the air, causing the townspeople of Smallville to hallucinate their worst fears.
    • Jason sees Lana making out with Clark and then stabbing him (Jason). Also, that Lana suspects that Jason is hiding something (that part is true).
    • Chloe hallucinates meeting a crazed version of herself with her mother's voice.
    • Lana hallucinates seeing her loved ones and then herself dead.
    • Clark hallucinates another meteor shower hitting Smallville, and then Lana finding out his secret, blames him for her parents' deaths, and coming at him with a shard of Kryptonite.
    • Lex hallucinates himself bringing about a nuclear war. Alternate scene is his mother in a wedding dress telling him he'll bring destruction to everyone.
  • Non-Indicative Name: The eleventh episode of Season 1 is titled "Hug". The villain in this episode is a man who can mind control people to do what he wants by initiating a handshake. He doesn't use hugs and at no point is a hug significant to the plot.
  • No More for Me: Perry White does this when the Kent family tractor plummets out of the clear blue sky to smash to pieces in front of him in "Perry".
  • No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: The designs for the Prometheus suit seemed to have only been written down on paper. So when Lana burned them, there was no way to make another.
  • Noir Episode: "Noir''; black and white, period costumes, references to noir-era "Superman", a noir-ish storyline...
  • Not Himself: Clark gets reprogrammed into Kal-El, complete with full access to all his powers including flight; Lex, when he gets possessed by Zod; Lois when she is possessed by Faora in "Bloodline"; Lana when the Definitely Not Good Witch takes her over; countless other examples. In fact, Clark whenever he's infected by Red Kryptonite.
  • Not Me This Time:
    • "Bound": When Lex sleeps with a woman and he wakes up to find her dead body in bed next to him he immediately suspects Lionel is involved somehow, but Lionel assures him he's not and he's actually telling the truth.
    • In "Pariah", people start getting viciously assaulted from behind in locked rooms and other enclosed spaces. Everyone accuses Alicia Baker, as she can teleport and is a previously established psycho. Alicia protests that she has been cured of her insanity, and in fact, has an alibi for one of the attempts - she was with the town sheriff. Eventually, Alicia gets assaulted and killed by the real culprit, Tim Westcott, a man with Super-Strength and the ability to transform into living sand, which was how he entered those locked rooms. When Clark found out, he wasn't happy...
    • "Sneeze": Lex believes Lionel is the one that's having someone follow him, and doesn't believe when Lionel assures that it isn't.
    • "Kara": Lex is fully certain that he didn't set up the bomb in Lana's car, but bides his time in prison until Lionel sets up a fall guy.
    • "Veritas": Lionel tells Chloe he didn't kill Patricia. But of course, she doesn't believe him, as he also killed Patricia's father.
  • Not Quite Flight: Clark still can't fly. He can, however, leap tall buildings In a Single Bound. Just like the Golden Age Superman.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Smallville loves this trope:
    • In "Rush", Clark and Chloe are making out in the Talon when Lana walks in on them. Clark is affected by red kryptonite and Chloe an adrenaline-inducing parasite.
      Clark: It's not what it looks like.
      Chloe: Yeah it is, Lana. It's exactly what it looks like.
    • In "Gone", Lois is impatient that Clark's shower is taking too long and barges into the bathroom to clean up at the sink, much to his embarrassment. He covers himself in a Modesty Towel and leaves, only to find Martha right outside the door who naturally assumes they were showering together.
      Lois: I don't understand what the big deal is. We were just taking a shower—
      Clark: Showers, we were taking separate showers.
    • In "Fierce", Clark offers to let Lana stay in his house and hopefully salvage their relationship.
      Clark: I have to warn you that my life has gotten a little more... [Kara walks into the room wearing a bikini] complicated.
      Lana: [gasps and looks at Clark worriedly] That might be an understatement.
      Clark: This is my cousin, Kara.
    • In "Crossfire", Oliver decides to help Mia and let her train at his home. His ex-girlfriend Lois visits just as Mia walks out of the shower in a Modesty Towel and assumes Mia is one of his one-night-stands.
    • In "Escape", Lois catches Clark in the shower with a naked Chloe (she was actually possessed by the Silver Banshee and was trying to seduce Clark for laughs).
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The moment Clark made Metropolis his primary base of operations is when Clark starts to realize that the enemies he'll face are far more dangerous than your typical Monster of the Week Meteor Freaks.
  • Nothing Personal
    Lana: And then he had the nerve to say "It's nothing personal, only business."
  • "Not So Different" Remark
  • Now or Never Kiss: It takes until the end of season 5 to get one with Clark and Chloe.
  • The Nth Doctor: Morgan Edge played by Rutger Hauer and then Patrick Bergin, due to Hauer being unavailable; explained through plastic surgery. Actually justified, given the fact that the character was on the run from Lionel.

    O 
  • Obfuscating Disability: Lionel Luthor. In the beginning of Season 2, a life-saving surgery left him temporarily blind. He eventually regained his sight, but neglected to mention it and faked being blind for a few more weeks because people let their guard down around someone they thought couldn't see. Street-wise Lucas Luthor, however, sees through the ruse immediately upon first meeting him; Lionel pours himself some water and doesn't put his finger inside the glass to know when it's full. Lucas tests his theory later by signing "BITE ME" on an important contract instead of his name, and when Lionel couldn't hide his reaction, Lucas hurls a billiard ball at his head. Lionel reflexively dodges and is fully exposed.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "Luthor", Tess and Lois somehow manage to stay alive against Earth-2 Clark until Oliver shows up with Kryptonite weapons, and even then, judging by the state of the three of them and the Watchtower, it must have been one hell of a fight. Arguably done on purpose to create a Funny Moment at the end, when Earth-1 Clark is transported back to Watchtower and is taken by surprise to see the place wrecked and Lois, Tess, and Ollie all aiming Kryptonite arrows at him. Clark's facial expression says it all.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Happens often with Metropolis-Smallville travel. It is usually a two-hour drive but characters come and go between both cities all the time.
  • Oh, Crap!: Let's just say that whenever a hostile Kryptonian arrives, this is the default expression of everyone.
    • Earth 2-Lionel's face says it all at the end of "Scion" when standing next to Lex's grave, he is surrounded by black smoke that transforms into Darkseid and towers over him. Oh crap, indeed.
    • Lionel Luthor gets one in "Transference" as he sees Clark coming after him in the midst of a prison riot. Even more so knowing that Lionel and Clark have switched bodies.
    • An epic one from Zod at the end of "Salvation" when he realizes that he's just accidentally confessed to killing Faora in front of his troops and later when he realizes that Clark fatally stabbed himself with the blue kryptonite dagger, so nothing could prevent Zod from being transported to New Krypton to face justice from his former comrades.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Emil Hamilton's official role (and actual job) on the show is as the team's doctor. However, he's also everything from Gadgeteer Genius to a biologist to coroner when the team needs him to be. If the team needs computer skills, they'll go to Chloe or Tess. If they need anything else, they go to Emil.
  • Once a Season: Starting off with Super-Strength, Super-Speed and Nigh-Invulnerability, Clark develops and eventually masters a new superpower once a season, although some seasons skip it, since they started running out of powers to showcase. The show's promise was that Flight would not come in until the end.
  • One-Person Birthday Party: A flashback shows that as a kid, Lex Luthor had a birthday all alone. It gave context to his miserable childhood and how he developed into the adult he eventually became.
  • One Season Athlete: During the season covering Clark's senior year in high school he becomes a star football quarterback after not having played before (because he was hiding his powers). After that season he never plays football again.
  • One-Word Title: Every episode is named after one word and the show itself is only called Smallville.
  • Open Secret: While you can debate who and when, in some points before the move to Metropolis Clarks powers are used obviously enough that it seems to be implied that many people (those he saves especially) assume he's just a Meteor Freak who wants to keep his privacy, and so they leave him alone, despite knowing that he has powers. The fact that he's an alien, however, remains a secret.
  • Orphanage of Fear: Where Granny Goodness is involved, there's always one involved and St Louise's Orphanage fits the bill.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: "Tomb". A bolt of lightning and a meteor rock bracelet raises one from a dead body that's implied to be in the Talon walls since before the series started.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Kryptonite + bats + mutated rabies = fanged Psycho Lesbians who like blood and black leather and have Super-Strength.
  • Our Zombies Are Different:
    • "Rabid", Type PF.
    • Thanks to a serum derived from Clark's blood we get Type A (Adam Knight and potentially several others.)
    • (Smallville's everything is different, really).
  • Out-of-Character Alert
    • When Clark's on red kryptonite, he always refers to himself as "Kal". Although his offensive and sexually aggressive attitude should tip you off quick.
      "Clark Kent is dead."
    • Lionel in Clark's body has cruel comments for both Lana and Chloe, but the most obvious alert comes when he referred to Chloe as "Miss Sullivan".

    P 
  • Parents for a Day: Clark and Lana in "Ageless" with the odd twist that it only lasts a day because the child in question has a kryptonite-induced mutation that causes him to age by several years every few hours.
  • Passing the Torch: A heartwarming meta-example; Clark learns the whole truth about who he is from scientist Dr. Virgil Swann, played by none other than Christopher Reeve.
  • Patrick Stewart Speech:
    • For a while, Brainiac masqueraded as Clark's history professor (and another displaced Kryptonian). In "Splinter", he goes into a spiel in class about how humans have a long tradition of betraying one another (two examples given were Caesar and Brutus, and Jesus and Judas). Clark delivers a textbook Patrick Stewart Speech to Brainiac at the end of the episode.
      Clark: You don't know anything about this race. Yeah, they can be petty and dishonest and betray each other over nothing. But they can also be honest and loyal. And they would give up everything to protect someone they love... even if they were from another planet.
      Professor Fine: Kal-El...
      Clark: My name is Clark. And I'll always believe in my friends and my family.
    • In "Solitude", the following episode, Fine betrays him but Chloe comes to his rescue.
      Clark: You know, Professor Fine said that human beings were insignificant and couldn't be depended on. He obviously don't know you very well.
    • Clark spent a decent amount of time defending Chloe from superpowered beings. In "Kara":
      Kara: She is just a human. (Chloe was standing right there)
      Clark: A human who is smarter than both of us put together.
    • In "Blue", Kara tries to convince her father Zor-El not to destroy the human race, but he's completely unmoved and just beats her up and continues his rampage, forcing Clark to save the day. She surely learned quickly.
      Kara: I might have not been here long but I learned one thing: everything you told me about humans is wrong. They're good people and they're worth defending.
  • Pedestrian Crushes Car: A recurring bit when young Clark Kent saves a pedestrian from being hit by a car or bus, which crumples around Clark.
  • Perilous Marriage Proposal: Clark finally reveals his secret and proposes to Lana in season five, which she happily accepts, right before knowledge of the secret leads to her being involved in a fatal car accident. Although it gets undone, it nevertheless causes their breakup.
  • Personality Powers: Most of the Meteor Freaks get these.
  • Phlebotinum Battery: Clark is fighting against his Bizarro clone, who has all of his powers inverted. Kryptonite strengthens him and the sunlight weakens him; this is when Clark learns that the yellow sun fuels his powers. In an earlier episode, solar flares/sun spots cause his powers to go haywire and he doesn't have the same precision control.
  • Planetary Core Manipulation: Krypton's core is unstable, and General Zod takes advantage of this by using Brainiac to ignite it. This in turn causes the planet's destruction.
  • Planetary Relocation: In the Grand Finale, Darkseid teleports his home planet of Apokolips into the Solar system and then moves it slowly towards Earth. Superman throws Apokolips back out of orbit at the climax.
  • Plot Parallel: Often between Clark and Lex, but sometimes played with. "Delete" does this with the introduction of Adam, who basically guilts Lana into backing off about his past, while at the same time Chloe and Clark come to a mutual agreement about his secrets.
  • Police Are Useless: Played With in "Turbulence" when Jimmy caught Davis killing someone in the hospital all of the lights are off, and people sleep through everything. It's quite literally impossible to get caught doing anything, and there are no security people anywhere. Yet later, Jimmy is getting ticked at Chloe for not believing in him or whatever shippy crap it was intimated to be, and he slightly raises his voice in anger, and some security guard comes up and says, "Sir, you're going to have to leave!"
  • Poorly Disguised Pilot: The "Aquaman" episode, although apparently not originally intended as such since it was going to be in a different continuity from the show.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: Clark is suddenly powerful enough to shove a planet back into space in the finale, this was a planet capable of traveling under its own power too. This is more than a little out of synch with the power level he's shown to have during the rest of the series.
  • Power Loss Makes You Strong: As often as Clark loses his powers, this happens quite a bit, most notable being taking a bullet for Lois while weakened by kryptonite.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: It takes elements from all versions of Superman from the Silver Age to Post-Crisis to The Superman Films and kind of puts it together while adapting it for a modern-day audience.
  • Product Placement:
    • "Product Placement Pete" was often his character was used for advertising, mentioning everything from Lemon Pledge to a shameless push of the Smallville soundtrack, in character, to boot! In one particular episode, "Hero". Pete returns to the show in full force after a three-year absence, in an episode which is pretty much a drawn-out Product Placement scheme for Stride Gum. The gum actually has a point in the episode — it gets contaminated with Kryptonite and gives Pete stretching powers — so it's shown much more often than the average Product Placement item. Also, Stride gum is mentioned by name over and over, never "gum" but always "Stride," and even one mention of how long the flavor supposedly lasts. At the end, a cured Pete offers Chloe some, holding it up to show the logo exactly as a person in a commercial would, and says "It's Kryptonite-free" as if that was its slogan.
    • The show has a ton of car product placement.
    • The camera goes out of its way to show unnecessary close-ups of the characters' cell phones as they dial, to show off the nifty Verizon logos.
    • "Jinx" has a melodramatic locker room scene before the Big Game where the camera lingers on Clark's Old Spice Red Zone deodorant.
    • "Vengeance": Andrea Rojas uses glasses, but while in her Angel of Vengeance suit she makes use of Acuvue contact lenses. When Chloe learns this, she painfully states "Acuvue to the rescue!"
    • "Noir" has a Product-Promotion Parade where Jimmy Olsen plays Chloe a goodbye playlist by hooking up his Apple iPod to her Toyota Yaris before snapping a farewell photo of them using his Nikon Coolpix camera.
  • Prom Wrecker: In "Spirit", the freak of the week Dawn Stiles, is obsessed with becoming Prom Queen. She's put in a coma after a car accident, but she gains the power to possess other people. She uses this power to try to live out her prom fantasy, eventually possessing the prom queen. However, she realizes that the student body hates her and decides to burn down the school while the prom is still going on for revenge. She possesses Clark when he tries to stop her but Jonathan forces her spirit to leave by exposing Clark to kryptonite.
  • Prophecy Pileup: Involving Clark, the Traveller, Naman, the destruction of Krypton...
  • Prophet Eyes: Both Lana and Chloe get it when they are put into painful comas by Brainiac.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality:
    • The heroes have balked at villains spying more than once (even legitimate government operations) and promptly headed back to their own watchtower full of spy equipment.
    • Milder example in Season 1 with Clark's telescope. Chloe likes to make fun of him for that.
    • When Lana started the Isis Foundation, she began experimenting on meteor freaks in the same way as Lex but while Lex's actions were treated as a Moral Event Horizon since she was searching for a cure, it’s ultimately treated as a good thing. She once found a sick freak instead of calling a doctor or taking him to a hospital she locked him in a room and waited for him to die. This is treated as a noble gesture.
    • The biggest case of this in the series is arguably Lionel's treatment. Lionel throughout the show has shown that he is perhaps a real megalomaniac psychopath. The main characters (for some reason) feel they have the right to forgive and forget his MANY archetypal and mindlessly evil deeds and repeatedly state explicitly how THEIR forgiveness absolves him of all wrongdoing. Particularly shown when they feel disgusted when Lex kills him in retribution for years of psychological torture, thinking it showed just how truly evil Lex has become, with everyone forgetting that Lionel absolutely deserved what Lex did and actually deserved worse much sooner.
  • Psycho Ex-Girlfriend:
    • Lex's girlfriend in Season 2 has a psycho ex.
    • Alicia to Clark in "Obsession".
    • Lana to Lex after their messy break up sometime in Season 6.
  • Puberty Superpower: X-Ray Vision, heat vision and super hearing. His invulnerability and super speed also had notable increases. Most notably, Clark's heat vision starts kicking in as he gets, er, "excited."
  • Put on a Bus:
    • At the end of season 3, Pete Ross by an FBI Agent who suspected (correctly) that he knew something about Clark. The event makes him fear for his life, as well as being frightened that he may accidentally reveal Clark's secret. He returns briefly for a single episode in season 7.
    • Martha Kent moves away from Smallville to Washington, D.C., to take a Senatorial seat at the end of Season 6. She would come back for a few episodes in seasons 9 and 10.
    • Kara gets trapped in the Phantom Zone by Brainiac near the end of season 7 and isn't freed until several episodes into Season 8 and is then promptly leaves again, going in search for Krypton's capital city in search of more survivors and will only come back for a few episodes in season 10.
    • Lana leaves Smallville and Clark at the end of Season 7. She returns in time for Chloe's wedding in Season 8, briefly rekindles her love affair with Clark, then is forced to absorb Kryptonite by Lex, making her deadly to Clark, leaving for good this time, as they physically cannot remain close.
    • Played With in regards to Lex. Michael Rosenbaum departed at the end of Season 7 but through a mix of Stock Footage, audio, and Fake Shemp he still made a few appearances right until the end of Season 8. He would then only come back for two episodes in season 10.

    Q 
  • The Quarterback: As Clark was the quarterback, the occasional episode has him dealing with the team. He is proficient enough to get a college scholarship offer, as well as translating some of Superman's bravado to leading in high school.
  • Quirky Girl, Quirky Tux: Zatanna wears her tuxedo/fishnets combo again when introduced, keeping up her magic comic persona.

    R 
  • Race Lift: Pete is white in the comics. The Martian Manhunter's "John Jones" identity is African-American on the show, but Caucasian in the comics. In an interview, Phil Morris (the actor who portrays Martian Manhunter) said that he once asked the producers if it was intentional that J'onn would take on the appearance of a racial minority as a reaction to the sensation of being an outcast since he's the only surviving member of his race. The producer's response was basically "Not originally, but it is now." This has stuck with J'onn J'onzz since, with every live-action version of him since being portrayed by a black actor. In season 6 of Supergirl (2015), J'onn admits that appearing African-American makes him feel closest to being an outsider, making this interpretation canon for this different version of the Martian Manhunter.
    • Lana Lang is also fully white in the comics, and played by Asian actress Kristin Kreuk here.
  • Raise Him Right This Time: In season 10, Tess tries to raise a clone of Lex Luthor to be a better man than the original. While it almost backfires, it's ultimately discovered that he's a combined clone of both Lex and Clark, meaning he's actually the show's version of Connor Kent, the modern Superboy, and Clark's DNA overriding Lex's firmly cements him to the side of good.
  • Rapid-Fire Typing: Chloe is quite an efficient hacker, which is demonstrated by her being able to pound her fingers on random keys quickly. At some points, it's blatantly obvious that she's not typing anything meaningful at all. Played for laughs near the end of Season 10 when Lois is given Clark's abilities ("This is awesome!") and uses super-speed to type so quickly that her office keyboard breaks in half.
  • Really Gets Around: Oliver Queen is portrayed as being quite fond of female company. He has slept with all three of the main female characters as of Season 9. The Luthors are also all over this trope.
  • Redemption in the Rain:
    • "Eternal": An unusual version - liquid kryptonite rains on Davis on his request, apparently killing him.
    Davis: There aren't enough prayers in this world to give me redemption!
    • Of a kind, in the episode "Rabid" when the people who have been turned into zombies, Lois included, are cured.
  • Reformed, but Rejected:
    • Alicia Baker is rejected by most of the people in Smallville, mostly due to what she'd done to her father and Lana in her first appearance. She's brushed off even after she tries to apologize for her actions.But post-mortem, at least Chloe, Lois, and Clark's parents showed remorse for her (especially Chloe, for obvious reasons).
    • Lionel Luthor in seasons 4, 5 and 7. It doesn't help that he still has a manipulative streak. In "Veritas", Lionel insists to Chloe that he's repented of his past sins, but Chloe dismisses his claims and accuses him of taking advantage of Clark's All-Loving Hero nature.
    Lionel: Miss Sullivan, you must talk to Clark. I need you to talk to Clark.
    Chloe: A little late to mend that fence. Amazing how a couple of cold-blooded murders can come between people.
    Lionel: I have taken moral responsibility for every atrocity I committed in the past.
    Chloe: "Past?!" Try last week! Maybe even today. Who knows with you?
    Lionel: I did not kill Patricia Swann.
    Chloe: After you knocked off her father and the rest of that Veritas coven of yours, I'm supposed to believe you why?
    Lionel: Because I was given a gift. I was chosen by Jor-El to serve him, to be his vessel, his emissary. And that changed me. That made me a different man.
    Chloe: We're not stupid. You preyed on Clark's inherent need to find good in all people, and his constant willingness for forgiveness. But now you have cried wolf one too many times.
    Lionel: Please. I'm begging you to listen. Clark won't talk to me. He's turned away from Jor-El, and now he is vulnerable. He is in terrible danger.
    Chloe: If he's in any danger, it's only from you.
    Lionel: I've repented!
    Chloe: That's right; you're an intensely spiritual man. You amassed all the power a human could until you found out about Clark. Befriending him is the closest thing you'll ever get to seeing God.
    Lionel: Protecting him is the only way I found to pay for my sins. And isn't that what we all want? To repent, and be forgiven. But none of that matters. Because what's coming, is so terrible.
    Chloe: Another false warning. You seriously need to come up with a new line. [leaves]
  • Refusal of the Call: The entire driving force of Smallville is Clark's repeated and continuous Refusal of the Call, despite repeated reminders that not only does The Call (a.k.a. Jor-El) Know Where He Lives, it sleeps on his couch, raids his refrigerator, and carpools with him. by seasons 8 and 9 he finally answered, even to the point where he's the one pointing out to the retired members of the Justice Society that they're not returning their calls.
  • Remake Cameo
    • Christopher Reeve's appearance as Doctor Virgil Swann was a particularly poignant example of this trope. They tried to have him play Jor-El but he died.
    • Annette O'Toole played Lana Lang in Superman III and Martha Kent in Smallville. This casting turned out to be a random fluke. The crew didn't even know at first, being surprised at just how much she knew about the mythology. They were apparently gob-smacked when she told them.
    • Terence Stamp, who played General Zod in Superman II, was cast as Jor-El and had a cameo as Zod.
    • Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the films, played Virgil Swann's assistant (and would-be Love Interest.)
    • Dean Cain (Lois & Clark's Clark/Superman) appeared as what may have been the series' version of Vandal Savage.
    • Helen Slater (who played the title role in Supergirl (1984)) appears as Lara, Clark's biological mother.
    • Marc McClure, who played Jimmy Olsen in the films, appears as Brainiac's creator Dax-Ur in season 7.
    • Teri Hatcher (Lois Lane in Lois & Clark) played Lois' mother Ella Lane in one episode, continuing a tradition of live-action Superman adaptations casting previous Lois actresses to play Lois's mother. Teri Hatcher's appearance is unusual for this trope: when shown, it is on a past recording, as Lois's mother is long dead by this point, and Teri Hatcher appears as she is now, and as the L&C version might appear today.
    • Lynda Carter, best known as TV's Wonder Woman (1975), appears as Moira Sullivan, Chloe's mother, in one episode. A few seasons later, Chloe is mentioned to have met the Smallville universe's Wonder Woman.
  • Reset Button: Used multiple times, but referenced by name in Season 8's "Infamous".
  • Resolved Noodle Incident: People kept holding an unexplained incident at Club Zero over Lex's head and pointed it as a prime example of his money getting him out of trouble. A later episode (appropriately titled "Zero") showed a flashback to what happened there, and the Villain of the Week was a relative of someone who died in the incident trying to kill Lex for revenge.
  • Resurrective Immortality: A specific variation. When Chloe heals fatal injuries, it kills her, but she could resurrect herself. However, when she saves Lois, she is dead for 3 hours. When she saves Lex, she remains dead for 18 hours. Clark thinks if she tries it again, she might stay dead. Permanently.
  • Restrained Revenge: In "Action", after Lionel revealed that he was aware that it was Lana who kidnapped and tortured instead of doing something proportionate or even disproportionate as revenge, he warned her that she was on a slippery slope.
  • Retcon:
    • The Veritas icon being retconned onto the Luthor mansion window.
    • A very blatant and awkward one at the end of Season 8. This Jimmy Olsen turns out to be the older brother of the Jimmy Olsen. Named Henry James Olsen, while his younger brother is the James Bartholomew Olsen from the comics. That being said, the showrunners did make it up to Aaron Ashmore by having him return as Jimmy—this time the real one—in the Distant Finale. Although, the writers knew from the start of Jimmy's run that he would not be the real Jimmy Olsen. Although this was more down to Executive Meddling than anything. They decided that either when Smallville ends, or they had "taken Jimmy as far as he could go", they would reveal the truth.
    • In Season 10, Tess is revealed as Lionel's illegitimate daughter and Lex's half-sister. This is despite several Season 8 episodes implying that Lex and Tess had a romantic involvement, such as in "Bulletproof", where she admits to having loved him. However, Tess definitely doesn't know she is his half-sister and no one really knows what is going on in Lex's head.
  • Retool: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar left before Season 8 began, and the last two seasons shifted focus with far greater ties to pre-existing DC characters. Only two original cast members remained (Clark and Chloe), and Oliver was added to the main cast. Chloe (Allison Mack) only came back for a few episodes in Season 10. Lionel Luthor (John Glover) returned for the rest of the series, albeit he is not the "original" Lionel Luthor but from a parallel universe.
  • Reusable Lighter Toss:
    • In "Slumber", the bad guy of the week tries to toss a reusable lighter to light a fire that would lead to a big explosion. But it's Averted as Clark catches the lighter before it can light anything up.
    • In "Hereafter", the Monster of the Week tosses a Zippo to light up a big fire to burn himself as well as Lana and another girl from the school.
  • The Reveal Prompts Romance: Lois was already attracted to Clark (and also already knew of his Secret Identity), but when he finally tells her he's the Blur she runs up to him and lays a big slobbering kiss on him.
  • Revival Loophole: Tess is being pursued by Checkmate, who implanted her with a tracking device powered by her body. Chloe stops her heart with a defibrillator to deactivate the device and (eventually) injects her with something to start it again.
  • Rewatch Bonus: In "Splinter" when Clark starts driving home, his seatbelt suddenly disappears.
  • Ridiculous Counter-Request: After the bald Lex Luthor imprisons Impulse:
    Impulse: I want a lawyer.
    Lex: And I want a ponytail. Disappointment abounds.
  • Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Clark travels backwards in time at least three times (once with a Kryptonian Crystal to save Lana's life, once with the future Legion of Superheroes' ring to undo his revealing to the world, and once to save himself as a baby in Krypton), and always remembers the timelines that no longer exist. None is longer than a day or two, so it's not a big deal. Also, this is Superman, so he's Everything-proof. In the lead up to the third example, Kara sent a message from past Krypton, which Dr. Swan received in 1989 and recorded in his journal. Clark, reading the journal in 2007, notices the page is "new".
  • Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Deathstroke showed up as a recurring foe despite having little if any connection to the Superman mythos. Similarly, Deadshot appeared as part of the Suicide Squad in the last season of the show.
  • Romantic False Lead:
    • Whitney Fordman, Lana's boyfriend in season 1, fits the false lead to a tee, and was both sent away and killed off.
    • Adam Knight in season 3 and Jason Teague in season 4 are perfectly charming love interests right up until they conveniently (for Clark) turn out to be baddies. Chloe and Clark had a brief relationship near the end of season one before she inexplicably broke up with him.
  • Rousseau Was Right: Both Martha Kent and Lex Luthor's clone espouse the idea that people are taught to hate and that Clark is so noble because nobody ever taught him that.
  • Running Gag:
    • The number of times that someone has been speaking to Clark and then turned around to find him gone would make a good drinking game.
    • Lois' very Eighties-Hair-Band taste in music.
    • Lois's poor spelling, which started way back in the movie (admittedly, it was incorporated as canon in the comic, even before the series started).
    • Whitney's inability to drive a truck without totaling it.
    • Clark and Chloe's ship-tease moments.
    • People inadvertently exposing Clark to kryptonite (Andrea's locket, Lex, Bart and Chloe have all opened the lead box with the meteor rock in it, Lana's necklace, etc.)
    • Lex gets pistol-whipped a surprising amount.
    • Within the first few panels of certain Season 11 comics, there is always one character who yells out "SOMEBODY SAVE ME!". Presumably, this would be the moment where, had the series continued on television, the intro would be cued.

    S 
  • Sadistic Choice: Done again and again and again, villains constantly put Clark in a situation where he has to choose what to do or who to save. Clark is prone to Take a Third Option.
    • In "Requiem", Lex, who wants to pay back Clark and Lana for his condition reveals that the suit Lana stole in an earlier episode (which was meant to heal Lex) absorbs Kryptonite radiation. He then offers the sadistic choice- let Lana absorb the fuel in a kryptonite bomb on the top of the Daily Planet building and never be able to come near Clark again, or walk away and let the bomb go off, taking half of Metropolis with it. Thor former is picked and Lana and Clark become Star-Crossed Lovers.
    • In "Checkmate", Amanda Waller shows Clark a TV screen depicting an agent holding a gun to Chloe's head and demands that he serve Checkmate or watch her die. The gunman makes the fatal mistake of talking, allowing Clark to hear him and figure out his location. Then, he simply speeds over to him and takes him out.
    • LX-13 does this in "Lazarus". Tying Lois Lane up in a field, he sets fire to the crops around her; he's already left a bomb in the ''Daily Planet' building. He then confronts Clark, asking him whether he'll let his girlfriend die, or sacrifice thousands of people in the streets of Metropolis. Clark saves them both.
  • Samaritan Syndrome:
    • In "Sneeze", after Zod and Brainiac wreaked havoc across the globe, Clark ran himself ragged trying to rebuild everything.
    • Lampshaded as 'The Blur' became more and more well known, there was a period where citizens were upset that he could not save everyone. Every tragedy started being blamed on 'Where was The Blur?' and 'Who gives The Blur the right to decide who lives and who dies?'.
    • "Prophecy" has Lois gain Clark's powers and become overwhelmed by the cries for help. Part of the significant character growth Clark has done by this point is that he admits he can't save everyone and while he does feel guilt over this, he must prioritize who is in the most immediate danger before moving on to the next, comparing his role to a Doctor in triage.
  • Sanity Slippage: As Lex's paranoia, selfishness, and Never My Fault complex take over his personality, he arguably experiences this.
  • Sarcastic Clapping: Jonathan does this in "Jitters" after Clark uses his Super-Speed to clean up the Wild Teen Party, but didn't notice his parents are already back in a Home-Early Surprise.
  • Sarcastic Confession: Clark, asked how he knew which cabinet to look in to find a dead body: "Because I can see right through the door, Pete."
  • Save the Villain:
    • The conceit of the show is that Clark Kent unwittingly saves his future Arch-Enemy's life when he rescues Lex Luthor from drowning. The novelty later wore out as Clark saved Lex about a hundred other times over the course of the show, even after he officially becomes evil.
    • He sometimes also tries to save other villains, but convenient Karmic Death usually is his friend.
    • Chloe Sullivan once died saving Lex (after he went evil). Luckily, she doesn't stay dead, although Clark was seriously worried and actually refused to let her do that at first, but Chloe decides to save Lex anyway once Clark is unconscious. This is important because this event triggers both his Heel–Face Turn and Protagonist Journey to Villain, although his exact alignment and motives are always kept very ambiguous except at the very end.
    • Chloe also brought Tess back from the dead after she had to stop her heart to get government agents to stop tracking them. It's notable because Chloe clearly considered letting her stay dead, but her conscience got the best of her. Seeing as how Tess would go on to succeed Chloe as the team's Mission Control, the choice paid off.
  • The Scapegoat: Surprisingly, Lex Luthor becomes this after his Face–Heel Turn due to a combination of The Dreaded and Writers Cannot Do Math. For example, the retcon done in "Power" had Lana instead of leaving Clark of her own free will be kidnapped by Lex. This means that Lex was building the Prometheus suit to fight Clark and save his battered body long before he was even aware of Clark's secret and was wounded in the Fortress.
  • Scenery Censor:
  • School Is Murder: So many of Clark's classmates turn into Kryptonite-fueled murderers or murder victims that the students of Smallville High stop mourning the now-routine deaths halfway through the first season. They are a bit startled when their principal is murdered but get over it by the following week. They shrug off the death of the winningest football coach in school history and don't flinch when it turns out the health / sex-ed teacher is a kryptofreak serial killer.
  • School Newspaper Newshound: Chloe. In the early seasons, she is seen putting out a new, full edition of the Smallville High Torch every week, which is pretty remarkable for a high school newspaper.
  • Sealed Cast in a Multipack: The Half-Arc Season for Season 6 was assorted Kryptonian baddies being accidentally released from the Phantom Zone and Clark having to round them up.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: In the 5th season, Brainiac's primary goal is to release Zod from the Phantom Zone. He eventually succeeds in the season finale and Zod's first action upon being freed is to put Clark Kent into the same can that he just escaped from. Clark manages to escape on his own, without help from the outside, and subsequently reimprisons Zod in the Season 6 premiere. He then spends the rest of the season hunting down the other Phantom Zone prisoners who escaped at the same time he did one by one and either killing or preferably reimprisoning them.
  • Second Super-Identity: Clark Kent/Superman takes on a secondary superhero persona as "The Blur", when Jimmy Olsen captures him on camera as a red-blue blur.
  • Secret-Keeper: There's no main character on the show who's not one. Lois was the last one who didn't know Clark's secret (a fact not lost on her in "Lazarus"). It's implied that Sam Lane figured out Clark's secret at the end of "Ambush", which has been suggested in #3 of the Smallville Season 11 comic book.
    • Lex's knowledge of the secret and his other memories was removed by a neurotoxin used by Tess in "Finale".
    • Most of the people who have learned Clark's secret are either dead, had their memories wiped, or incommunicado (in the Phantom Zone, inside some super-science device, in a coma etc). Some good "Meteor Freaks" have learned and kept the secret.
    • Lex sort of but not quite figured it out early on, but Clark refused to fully entrust him with it. Up until Season 7, he's constantly finding some strong evidence but gets rejected or disproved by either Clark temporarily being Brought Down to Normal, or as in "Justice", Lionel covering for him. Every time Lex 'finds out' he'll always state proudly 'I knew you were different, Clark', only to have his memory of the event removed.
    • Tess figures it out by reading Lionel's journal, and spends a season not-so-subtly telling Clark she knows and wants him to trust her, but Clark refuses. He finally caves, while confronting her and holding her up by her throat.
  • Self-Disposing Villain: Any meteor freak who doesn't somehow lose his/her power will inevitably meet a messy end at their own hands.
  • Self-Duplication:
  • Self-Imposed Exile: Clark put himself into self-imposed exile after feeling responsible for Martha's miscarriage.
  • Self-Made Orphan:
    • Lex Luthor murders his Archnemesis Dad Lionel as his final step into true villainy. Lionel himself was revealed to be one of these earlier in series, having had his friend Morgan Edge kill his Alcoholic Abusive Parents in a gas fire. One can only wonder what Lex's children will do, should he have any...
    • Technically, Tess kills Lionel as well, though it's his Alternate Universe counterpart. Regardless, he is still considered her father even by Tess herself, and she kills him in self-defense.
  • Serious Business: In "Drone", one of Clark's classmates uses her Green Rocks powers to assassinate her rivals for the post of Student Council President, because she's convinced herself that the course of her entire adult life rides on the outcome.
  • Sex Dressed: During the aftermath of a Wild Teen Party in Clark's barn, we see a half-dressed girl scurrying out of the hay, followed by a similarly disheveled guy.
  • Sex God:
    • In "Heat", Desiree's Living Aphrodisiac powers combined with her natural sex appeal makes her a Sex Goddess, which is implied to be how she keeps a hold on Lex for much longer than her usual thralls, which only last a few hours after inhaling her pheromones. A Deleted Scene actually confirms it by showing them post-sex, with a visibly exhausted and breathless Lex.
    • Both Oliver and Zod are very complimentary of Tess's sexual prowess.
    • In "Instinct", Maxima arrives on Earth in search of a Kryptonian to be her perfect mate and her dialogue implies she's too much of a Sex Goddess for anyone to handle her for long, as mere kisses from her cause normal men to Jizzed in My Pants. When Clark proves his strength to her, she's thrilled.
    Maxima: Finally. A man with some fight in him. None of the men on my planet have the stamina to keep up.
  • Sexy Discretion Shot:
  • Sexy Shirt Switch: Several girls end up wearing Clark's football jersey.
    • In "Devoted", Chloe tries to seduce Clark while under the influence of a Love Potion while only wearing his football jersey.
    • In "Hidden" and "Wrath" Lana wears Clark's shirt after they have sex.
    • In "Rage", Lois is shown waking up one morning and wandering around Oliver Queen's penthouse wearing only his shirt.
    • In "Ambush", Lois is wearing Clark's jersey after Their First Time, when they're interrupted by her father and sister arriving for dinner.
    • Subverted two times: In "Gone", Lois ends up wearing Clark's shirt because it is the only clean one. Martha found them and assumed they did something naughty. In "Committed", Lois wakes up wearing only Clark's jersey and assumes something happened, but Clark tells her she just got drunk and changed on her own.
  • Sexy Silhouette:
  • Sexy Surfacing Shot:
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend:
    • Although the specific phrase is never used, Clark said something to this effect about Lois all the time from Seasons 4 through 7. However in Season 8, he starts to reevaluate his feelings on that matter...
    • Clark and Chloe, every now and then. Davis once mistook her as his fiancée when he sees her engagement ring from Jimmy.
  • Ship Sinking:
    • Lana's storyline during her return in Season 8, though not until her last episode ("Requiem"). Clark can never go near Lana again because the suit that is grafted to her skin is irreversibly contaminated with massive amounts of Kryptonite.
    • The writers have gone to great lengths to explain to fans that Clark and Chloe will never be anything more than friends, pointing out that Clark doesn't reciprocate her feelings, and that Chloe herself eventually gets over it.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • Lex for Clark/Lana early in the show. He continually tells Lana that she's with the wrong guy and sets Clark up with her on several occasions. Ironically, Lex would later marry Lana and it would be a large factor in the break up of Lex and Clark's friendship in addition to Lex's evil deeds. In addition, a few years after Lana and Lex divorce, Lex finds a way to prevent Clark and Lana from ever being together again.
    • Lois is encouraging towards Chloe's affection towards Clark in the middle seasons.
    • In a reversal, after Lois accidentally and unknowingly kisses Clark and says he's a better kisser than her current boyfriend Oliver, the look of utter glee on Chloe's face can't be mistaken as anything but this.
  • Shooting Superman: The most idiotic example of this happening is in "Infamous". After being accused of Lex's murder in an alternate timeline where he revealed his powers, a SWAT team attempt to shoot Clark. Despite knowing that he is bulletproof.
  • Shop Class: Brainy kid Ian Randall couldn't get anything better than a C in that class and killed the teacher to cover it up.
  • Shot to the Heart: Clark does this to Chloe in "Truth" and Lana in "Thirst". Chloe does it to Tess in Season 9.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Show, Don't Tell: A lot of Informed Attributes and Character Shilling for Lana.
  • Shower Scene: The show has a fair amount of shower scenes, usually played for fanservice with plenty of Sexy Silhouettes and using Shoulders-Up Nudity or Toplessness from the Back to conceal any nudity.
  • Showing Off the New Body
    • A rare male version happens in "Transference", when Lionel Luthor switches bodies with Clark, Lionel!Clark poses in front of a mirror shirtless while flexing his muscles.
    • A more traditional example occurs in Spell when a gang of ancient evil witches possess Lana, Lois and Chloe. The witch who gets Lois is very happy about Lois's endowments.
      Lois!Brianna: I'm gorgeous, look at these!
      [Lois!Brianna fondles her own breasts]
  • Sigil Spam: By season 9, Clark takes to burning his family crest on the scene of every save he performs, as both a Calling Card and to inspire the disenfranchised population of Metropolis that they do have someone protecting them.
  • Single-Episode Handicap:
    • In "Whisper", Clark was temporarily blinded by some sort of laser, causing him to develop Super-Hearing. The episode was not at all derivative.
    • Likewise, when he caught a cold in "Sneeze", it caused him to develop Super-Breath, which in this version of the character doesn't actually mean freezing breath like in some of the comics but simply lets him generate massive gusts of compressed air.
  • Significant Wardrobe Shift: Clark Kent initially had no costume at all as a high-school student in Smallville. Later after he becomes "the Blur" in Metropolis, he adopts a black Badass Longcoat with the House of El insignia in white on a black T-shirt. Early in season 10, he shifts to a red and blue jacket and trousers as the Blur gradually morphs into Superman, and he finally receives the classic Superman outfit in the Grand Finale.
  • Sign of the Apocalypse: When Lois sees Clark on Karaoke night, she quips, "Clark Kent and Karaoke — isn't that a sign of the Apocalypse?".
  • Sinister Nudity: Lex Luthor finds obsessive college student Samantha Drake in his home, and she drops her robe to seduce him, naked underneath. While she's very attractive, he's disturbed that she shaved her head to look like him (and even more disturbed to learn she plans to assassinate his political opponent).
  • Sinister Suffocation: Linda Lake is introduced as a snobbish, self-centered and overall thoroughly unpleasant gossip columnist. However, when she demonstrates her hydrokinetic abilities by luring her target to a fountain and holding him underwater until he dies, the audience grows aware that she is a manipulative and remorseless killer.
  • Skewed Priorities: In "Requiem", instead of trying to find the bomb, Clark decided it was more important to find Lex. Even Chloe called him out on this.
  • Skinny Dipping
  • Skyward Scream:
    • "Hothead" ends with Clark and Lana screaming up at the sky to vent their frustrations.
    • In "Hourglass", Clark lets one out during a vision of seeing all his loved ones dead.
    • Lex does one at the end of "Persona" after his hired assassin informs him of successfully murdering Grant Gabriel, a clone that he created of his dead younger brother Julian, who turned his back on him for Lionel. This normally would have counted as his Moral Event Horizon, but because of the grief and regret that he showed by doing this, he was still considered at least a little sympathetic among most fans.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss:
    • Jimmy and Chloe indulge in this from time to time. Often due to The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life on Chloe's part. Or mutual flirting between Kara and Jimmy. Or Jimmy having an inferiority complex towards Clark, who Chloe is fiercely loyal to. They really do have quite a few issues.
    • A more violent version in season nine, shown in "Escape". Tess and Zod had a passionate kiss after Tess shoots at Zod, who returns a Neck Lift only to be subdued with Kryptonite.
    • In the Season 8 episode "Committed", when Oliver and Tess are fighting with sticks before their date, they wind up kissing each other.
  • Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Lex has this happen to him over the course of this show, going from a close friend of Clark's and genuinely good guy to evil villain over the course of the series. Lampshaded when he tells Ryan that 'Evil is a journey, not a light switch'.
  • Small Universe After All: Aliens tend to talk about the 28 known galaxies as a reference to Superman: The Movie.
  • The Smurfette Principle: The earliest version of the Justice League includes Clark, Aquaman/Author, Cyborg/Victor, Impulse/Bart, Green Arrow/Oliver, and Chloe. This defies some common expectations however, as she is The Smart Girl and is, at that time, romantically involved with someone outside the group.
  • Something Else Also Rises:
  • Soul Jar: The original Jor-El's recorded his mind into the Fortress computer.
  • Spandex, Latex, or Leather: Smallville does not have one set answer. Clark Kent wore wear red and blue street clothes for most of the show, before settling on Civvie Spandex (usually a red leather jacket with an S logo or a Badass Longcoat worn over a black T-shirt with the S logo) in the final few seasons. Leather seemed to be the superhero outfit of choice, from the Green Arrow, to Doctor Fate, to Booster Gold. Stargirl was the only hero seen in full spandex (save for her mask), though her mentor the Star-Spangled Kid was wearing his spandex top as part of a Civvie Spandex ensemble while on the run from Checkmate.
  • Spiritual Successor: To Buffy the Vampire Slayer, due to the fact that both combine teen drama with the superhero genre; as mentioned above, it was perhaps no coincidence that Smallville premiered after Buffy left for UPN. Both series have similar Character Development and even episodes. In turn, Smallville was succeeded by Arrow, another reimagining of the DC mythos.
  • Spot the Impostor:
    • Happens several times; Clark and Tina posing as Clark, Clark and Bizzaro, for example.
    • An averted example appears in the episode "Onyx"; Lex has inadvertently (and at first unknowingly) created an evil clone of himself (Black Kryptonite separated the Good and Evil personas of him). In order to be sure he's talking to the real Lex, Clark asks about the Lex he's talking to (the evil one) about an encounter he knows he had with the real Lex. Little does Clark know however, the evil version was listening in on the conversation, and manages to fool Clark at first.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Too many to count.
    • Including, going by the Season 1 DVD commentary, the show's creators. It's kind of creepy the way they gush over then-teenage Kristin, calling her "the true magic of the show."
    • Lana isn't the only one who gets them. Clark had Alicia stalking him, and Maxima even traveled to Earth from Almerac just to hunt him down to be her mate.
  • Starter Marriage: Jimmy and Chloe. They were very sweet together at first, but gets increasingly rocky due to the involvement of first Clark, then Davis. Ends sadly when Jimmy shouts at Chloe and declares marrying her is the biggest mistake of his life.
  • Start My Own: Lex's response to Lionel hindering his progress at LuthorCorp was starting Lexcorp.
  • Start of Darkness: "Commencement" (for Lex), "Lexmas" (for Lex, again), "Kandor" (for Zod).
  • Stealth Hi/Bye:
    • Clark's favorite way to enter or exit any scene. Usually the special effects crew are kind enough to at least give us his distinctive superspeed whoosh sound, but occasionally not, such as in "Splinter" where Clark has been infected with silver kryptonite (which gives him paranoia and hallucinations) and breaks into Lex's castle. Lex walks down a darkened hallway, looking everywhere for Clark, and when he turns around, Clark is standing where he'd just looked with no apparent way of entering the room.
    • Kara picked up the family business and arguably did a better job (read:more off-screen Stealth Byes due to budget cuts).
    • Blink and you'll miss it, but in an episode where Clark is depowered (actually inside a virtual world), he leaves the room without Lois or anyone else present noticing his disappearance for a few minutes, showing that he can actually do this without using super speed.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Lex and Lana tried to get Clark to reveal his secrets when he lost his memory in "Blank". While Lex succeeded, Clark regained his memory before Lana could.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table
    • In "Facade", Lois finds herself strapped to a surgery table after being gassed by Dr. Fine. Clark arrives and rescues her before anything happens.
    • In "Conspiracy", Vala and the other Kandorians are strapped to operating tables and experimented upon after they're kidnapped by Dr. Chisholm. Only Vala manages to survive the experience thanks to Zod, Lois and Clark.
  • Straw Character: Cat Grant, a major departure from the freewheeling comic book version. When Lois is performing rituals under the possession of Isis, Cat actually says "I will never understand liberals." Gordon Godfrey is a caricature of conservative talk show hosts, though that at least is true to his comic book roots. Although in "Icarus", Cat agreed to at least be more objective when it comes to superheroes.
  • Straw Fan: Ben Meyers in "Action" is essentially a proxy of overzealous fanboys who threaten actors and crew members when movies or TV shows make changes to the source material.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The show probably has the most serious usage of Stuff Blowing Up then anything. Sometimes it is difficult to find an episode without an epic explosion. Just in season one, we have a classroom combustion ("Hothead"), greenhouse explosion ("Craving"), car explosion ("Metamorphosis"), bus near-explosion ("Rogue"), gas canister explosion ("Drone") and a gas-line explosion ("Obscura").
  • Stupid Good: In "Hero", Chloe threatened Lex the owner of the Daily Planet with an expose in the Daily Planet. This seems to be a regular occurrence; the heroes regularly use Insane Troll Logic to accuse the villain of something and are only justified because the villain later uses it for evil ends.
  • Stupid Evil: Red kryptonite turns Clark into this.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Kryptonian crystalline technology borders on the magical.
  • Supernatural Hotspot Town: Smallville, Kansas as portrayed in the first four seasons has quite a bit of this due to the amount of Kryptonite in the area that fell to earth along with Clark Kent causing "meteor freaks" to appear with powers ranging from precognition to disintegrating organic matter. After Season 4, when the action moves to Metropolis, this conceit is largely dropped and more of the larger DC Universe is explored.
  • Supernatural Soap Opera: The series mixes the everyday drama of a young Superman in the Weirdness Magnet small rural town of Smallville.
  • Supernormal Bindings: Handcuffs with kryptonite in them which are used to restrain Kara.
  • Superpowers For A Day
    • Pete Ross got elastic superpowers thanks to a chewing gum. Those powers only lasted for one episode.
    • Chloe Sullivan got the power to make everyone tell her the truth. That superpower was killing her. It was removed by the end of the episode. She then got Empathic Healing for a couple of episodes before trading out for Super-Intelligence, then going back to normal.
    • Lana was clairvoyant. In a later episode, Lana temporarily copied Clark's powers. Clark actually had to remove them because Lana was determined to use her powers to get vengeance on Luthor.
    • Clark briefly had "Dead Zone" Vision
    • Lex, Lana and Jonathan were all briefly Flying Speeding Bricks. It cost Jonathan his health and eventually his life.
  • Super-Senses: Kryptonians have enhanced senses as part of their power-set.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
    • Clark with his Kryptonian powers is nigh-invincible and curb-stomps almost anyone he fights, but one must remember that he is just a teenager with superhero powers but no actual training. As such, when he finally faces enemies who are extremely powerful and has several years of experience, reality ensues as Clark finds himself seriously struggling against those enemies. Faora and Zod as one of Kryptonian's deadliest fighters both curb-stomp him with ease, the stronger Aldar easily beats him, Titan and Web both prove to be exceptionally struggling challenges in that they land several strong hits.
      • Of course, even after Clark gets Kryptonian training, by Season 9's end, he still only has a few lessons. He is still able to handle the kryptonian soldier clones, but he comes short when he finally faces Zod in a fight where they are both mortal. After all, Zod may be less skilled than he was when he curb-stomped Clark before and Clark's own training also levels the playing field more, but he is still a Major and has already had years of experience and training so Clark gets some pretty good shots but even when he disarmed Zod, Zod still beats him down. Zod even goes as far as to confidently taunt Clark, stating that fighting like normal humans does against him would not end well against him, and by the end of the fight, all Clark can do is let Zod stab him so Zod will be taken away to New Krypton as there was no way for him to defeat him in a fair fight.
    • Done cleverly with a Hope Spot. After finding a photo that showed that Lionel's death was not suicide, Lois and Jimmy are trapped by a shooter under Lex's orders. The shooter shoots Lois in the shoulder after she locked them inside and went to attack.
    • When it was announced that a former model would be playing a teenage Clark Kent, the show runners decided it would make ZERO sense for him to be portrayed as being unable to get a date. Indeed, the show makes numerous references to women finding Clark attractive. Which leads to…
    • In one of the last episodes of season 1, Clark asks Chloe to the Spring Formal. She reacts EXACTLY like a 15 year old girl would who was just asked out by the guy she’s had a crush on from the moment she met him: she is BARELY able to suppress the glee and joy she’s feeling, and has to struggle to keep a straight face.
    • Lois and Clark’s entire relationship qualifies. He’s over six feet tall, classically handsome, and has a muscular farm boy’s build. She is very beautiful and has curves that would make Marilyn Monroe jealous. Naturally, they would be attracted to one another. Also, no matter how much they try to pass off their relationship as Vitriolic friends, it’s blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes and ears that they have feelings for each other, with more than one character commenting on it as early as Lois’ FIRST episode.
  • Swiss-Cheese Security: Lex Luthor used to be the Trope Namer. Virtually any character on the show is prone to showing up at Luthor's mansion unannounced to have a chat with Lex in his office, steal something, beat him up, etc. The Smallville wiki actually had a page on it. Not that any other supposedly secure location is any better. If a secret government base or LuthorCorp installation is mentioned, it's practically guaranteed that someone is going to break in, super-powered or not. Lex himself once mentioned that he really needs to improve his security. One of Tess' minions also lampshades how cheap the security is.

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