Originally aired October 20, 2004
Written by Steven S De Knight
Directed by David Barrett
After Jonathan's wallet is stolen in Metropolis, Clark tracks down the thief, a teenage boy named Bart Allen who possesses Super-Speed...and can move faster than even Clark. Lex procures an ancient manuscript, and Clark learns that it is framed with Kryptonian symbols.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Big Brother Mentor: Clark becomes this to Bart.
- Gratuitous Russian: The crate with the manuscript has "Fragyl" written upon it in Cyrillic letters. Googling the letters provides about a dozen Russian pages, all of them either about this scene, or this trope.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Bart begins the episode bouncing between Heel and Face (he's a thief working for a fence in Metropolis, but he rescues Jonathan from an out-of-control truck) before finally settling on Face thanks to Clark's influence.
- Innocuously Important Episode: The first major episode that depicts superpowers not connected to kryptonite or Krypton, as Bart's Super-Speed is entirely separate from the Green Rocks. This allows the show to start integrating more of the general DC mythology without having to tie it into the Meta Origin. This culminates into introductions to Aquaman and Cyborg, and eventually Season 6's "Justice" episode.
- Mythology Gag:
- The colors of Jonathan's medication pills are red, blue, and yellow, the colors of Superman's costume.
- In the final scene, Bart remarks to Clark that he's going to look for others like them and start up "a club or a league or something."
- The episode ends with a race between Clark and Bart.note
- Bart's fake IDs have names like "Jay Garrick", "Barry Allen", and "Wally West".
- Parental Abandonment: Bart tells Clark that his parents abandoned him after he got his Super-Speed because they couldn't handle him.
- Put on a Bus: Bart leaves Smallville and doesn't return until Season 6's "Justice."
- Series Continuity Error: a relatively minor one, but Clark expresses great surprise at finding someone who can "move like him". However, even disregarding the other Kryptonian-powered characters, Clark has faced off against the similarly speedy Emily Dinsmore on two separate occasions.
- Super-Speed: Bart can move faster than even Clark.
