Originally aired October 22, 2003
Written by Drew Z Greenberg
Directed by Terrence O'Hara
Clark comes to the aid of Sarah, a young girl being hunted by a monstrous creature. Lionel demands that Lex undergo a psychological evaluation before giving him full access to LuthorCorp.
Tropes present in the episode:
- All Just a Dream: The teaser and first act of the episode is revealed to be a dream experienced by Clark, thanks to Sarah.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with Clark and Lana talking about swimming at Crater Lake, although the real Lana jokes she'd only go Skinny Dipping with him in his dreams.
- Comatose Canary: Sarah Conroy for most of the episode. She wakes up after conquering her fear of the Traveler/Nicholas.
- Cool Car: In Clark's dream, his parents buy him a spiffy new truck.
- Eccentric Millionaire: Lex is reluctant about doing a psychological test, because it may just confirm he's crazy, but Lionel "comforts" him by saying rich people are never crazy.Lionel: When you're rich, you're not crazy— you're eccentric!
- Evil Sounds Deep: The Traveler in Sarah's dream.
- Evil Uncle: Nicholas Conroy, Sarah's uncle who keeps his niece in a comatose state so he can control her inheritance.
- Fanservice: Clark and Lana going Skinny Dipping in the teaser, with a plenty of Male and Female Gaze of them stripping, with Clark being shirtless Clark and Lana being in her underwear.
- Forced Sleep: Sara is being artificially kept in a coma by her Evil Uncle via drugs. He does the same with Clark and Lana when attempting to kill them.
- Girl of My Dreams: Clark Kent dreams of a girl named Sara Conroy before he ever met her. He saves her life in both the dream and real world, but they do not become attracted to each other at all, and she becomes a Clark/Lana Shipper on Deck.
- Heavy Sleeper: Thanks to Sarah, Clark sleeps for a day and a half.
- I'm Not Afraid of You: In Sara's nightmares, she is terrorized by The Traveler. Clark tries to fight the monster, but it seems unstoppable. Clark figures it out and encourages Sara not to be afraid of him anymore and once she does, it gets weakened and Clark destroys the monster with his heat vision.
- In the Hood: The Traveler, the monstrous representation of Nicholas in Sarah's dream, wears a red cloak.
- Katanas Are Just Better: In Clark's dream, Lex draws a katana and tries to attack Clark with it, exposing his powers. In the real world, the katana turns out to be a prop from a Japanese movie.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Sort of. The first third of the episode is basically Clark's ideal world—his parents buy him a fancy new truck, and he and Lana are on better terms. Then things start to go downhill when Lex discovers Clark's powers and vows to expose Clark to the world.
- Mundanger: Nicholas Conroy, who has no special powers in the real world.
- Mythology Gag:
- Clark's line to Pete in the dream world after he sees the Traveler reflected in the glass:Clark: Pete, how could you miss him? He had a big red cape on!
- Clark's line to Pete in the dream world after he sees the Traveler reflected in the glass:
- Neck Lift: The Traveler executes this on Clark in the dream world during the final act.
- "No Peeking!" Request: When Clark and Lana both want to go Skinny Dipping at Crater Lake, Lana says she doesn't mind swimming together as long as he doesn't peek while she strips. He keeps his back turned while she takes off her clothes behinds him, but does turn to catch a peek just as she's diving in.
- Playing with Syringes: Nicholas uses some kind of drug to keep Sarah comatose.
- Reusable Lighter Toss: Nicholas tries to kill Lana by pouring a line of gasoline and then trying to set her car ablaze by tossing his lighter to the ground, only for Clark to Super-Speed past and grab the lighter.
- Shoulders-Up Nudity: When Clark and Lana strip naked to go Skinny Dipping, the camera doesn't pan below Lana's shoulders or Clark's waist.
- Shout-Out:
- Lex has a prop sword that he says is from his favorite Akira Kurosawa film, Throne of Blood.
- In the dream, when Clark questions Chloe's reasoning for taking down the Wall of Weird, she states that she's "done chasing windmills", which is a reference to Don Quixote
- Chloe calls Clark and Lana going Skinny Dipping a "Blue Lagoon" moment.
- Skinny Dipping: During the teaser, due to a Heat Wave both Clark and Lana coincidentally have the same idea to go Skinny Dipping on Crate Lake at the same time. Clark attempts to leave at first but Lana says she wouldn't mind going skinny dipping with him and the two take their turns stripping before swimming together.
- Stealth Pun: Songs by R.E.M. play throughout this episode, which is about Clark being trapped in the dream world by Sarah.
- Stock Footage: The footage of Clark using his Super-Speed to travel to Conroy's house is recycled from "Lineage", with the only difference being that Clark's shirt has been recolored to match the scene.
- The Tease: Lana acts like this during Clark's dream, not minding going Skinny Dipping with him and stripping seductively while throwing her clothes towards him and later commenting she greatly enjoyed the view when he had to climb out of the water. This Out Of Character behavior is the first hint that it's actually All Just a Dream, with Lana acting like that merely because Clark was having an Erotic Dream. The ending scene has the real Lana jokingly dismiss the idea of going Skinny Dipping with him.Lana: Well, it's been like an oven outside so I was thinking we could go swimming at Crater Lake?
Clark: I really don't think skinny-dipping is a good idea.
Lana: Who said anything about skinny dipping? Maybe in your dreams, Clark. - Villain of the Week: Nicholas Conroy, Sarah's greedy Evil Uncle who wants to keep her comatose so he can control the family fortune.
