Accelerate

Season 2, Episode 21, Aired
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Episode Summary

Lana is haunted by the ghost of a dead friend, Emily, but the "spirit" has connections to Lionel Luthor, who is also scheming to get control of the Indian caves and "help" Lex with his wedding.
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Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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  • this was a good ep i thought

    8.5
    "Great"
    By cube2k8, May 10, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this ep of smallville there here of the movie and they see the movie and clark goes and everyone are leaving and lana is cleaning up but she starts to see old footage of her best friend along time ago and she thinks its nothing she goes to clark for help and she sees the thing again and clark gets her to tell the story about her when they were kids and she acidently fell into the water and died when it was raining they decide to go to the dad to see if he had seen it and he says is this a joke or somthing and he gets them to go away. but turns out he had seen it becasue he is tied to luthor corp and they have created somethint that is just like her keep her alive so he could have a daughter. and lionel is trying to get control of the caves in this ep and also trying to be nice to give lex a wedding gift and being able to use the luthor corp jet. this was a good ep i toughtmoreless

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  • Lana's childhood friend, who died accidently six years earlier, suddenly reappears, leading Lana to believe she's seeing a ghost. But Lionel is involved, and Clark sees her too, leading to his discovery of another Luthorcorp scheme.moreless

    8.5
    "Great"
    By cxtasy, Oct 31, 2008 Report Abuse
    After the gang watches a '50s horror flick at the Talon, Lana cleans up the theatre alone, when someone flips on home movies of her childhood, and slams the door. Then her small childhood friend Emily, who died young, appears to her in several places, and Lana panics, until Clark steps in. So what's real and what isn't? It may be one of those episodes where everything is a dream, or a meteor-rock-induced hallucination.

    Later at home, Lana gets another jolt when little Emily appears again, claiming to be real. Clark is there again, Emily vanishes, and Lana takes Clark to the Elbow River Bridge, where she tells him the story - Emily slipped off the bridge and drowned but Lana could not help her. The musical score should be noted here - it's very wistful and a perfect match for this scene, as good as any Hitchcock movie - perhaps reminiscent of "Vertigo." Clark suggests visiting Emily's father, Pete Dinsmore (Neil Flynn) in Granville, who turns out to be distant and unsympathetic to Lana's claim to have seen his daughter, and he has never fully recovered from his loss.

    Side story is an update on Lex and Helen's wedding plans, with Lionel still insisting that his cash offer to Helen to leave Lex was doing him a favor - by verifying her loyalty. No wedding invitation for Lionel, but he presents a gift - a paid honeymoon trip via Luthorcorp jet. But these two have such a history of distrust that Lex can never accept anything at face value - and it's often true that ulterior motives exist within both of them.

    Chloe and Clark continue their mild hostility while Clark scans the Net to help Lana. Her interest piqued, Chloe theorizes that Lana's stress is causing hallucinations. The newspaper archive about Emily's drowning mentions the Elbow River bridge in 1996, and Lana's presence during the accident. At Mr. Dinsmore's house, we're shocked to see Emily, or an apparition of her, fully visible to her father. She is a defiant little girl and won't allow herself to be locked up. As Dinsmore attempts to grab her, she disappears, and suddenly, a spear-like pole flies across the yard and spears Dinsmore like a marshmallow at a campfire. Surely he's dead.

    The silly scene of the episode has Clark and Pete in a cemetery in a pouring rain, with street clothes only. So Directors think that a soaking wet star is more dramatic than one with the smarts to take an umbrella? They find Emily's grave, and Clark x-rays a corpse therein, so someone died sometime. But Emily then appears nearby - for no logical reason, but she can move at superspeed. In some nifty special effects, Clark chases her through near-stationary raindrops, but the little kid beats even him. However, he finds her necklace.

    Back at the Talon, Emily appears to Lana again, terrorizing her, but disappearing again when Clark arrives, reassuring Lana that he, too, saw Emily. Lana recognizes the necklace as Emily's.

    Lionel is at the hospital visiting a former employee, when Lex checks in on him, suspicious of Lionel's every move, which Lionel again pegs as paranoia. The employee turns out to be Mr. Dinsmore, recovering from the spear wound, apparently inflicted by Emily. Then Lex, too, sees Emily, who says Lionel is a bad man who took away the bunnies in her back yard. Now how would she know Lionel? Zip, she's gone again.

    Clark and Lana break into the Dinsmore home, and hear a voice in the basement. Clark uses a flashlight, making us wonder why he doen't just turn on the lights - well, again, for dramatic effect only. Emily's room is just as she left it years earlier, with toys, dolls, and a diary. In a sub-basement, they find an entire lab full of suspended-animation chambers, one housing yet another Emily, apparently being kept alive by artificial means. When Lana spills the always-present meteor rock, Clark is agitated and eager to leave. The truth about Dinsmore is slowly being revealed; the script is well-paced to keep up the suspense.

    Dinsmore has apparently been successful in cloning his dead daughter, and attempting to give her the memories of the original Emily. Clark returns later to find Emily, or her clone. He explains to her that the real Emily died. Emily disappears; Lex appears. Clark explains the cloning lab; Lex explains that at Luthrocorp, Dinsmore was experimenting with use of meteor rock to "Accelerate" cell growth. Now we have the big picture, and only the force behind this conspiracy is to be revealed.

    Next time Emily appears to Lana, she's less terrified, but Emily super-speeds away to the river; Lana follows. At the hospital, Lex, as expected, sees an opportunity to exploit the situation. He offers to protect Emily II; Dinsmore says that Emily has no conscience and is dangerous. At the bridge with Emily, Lana tellis her the story of the accident suffered by first Emily. The little clone shoves Lana into the raging current, but Clark dives in to the rescue, then does CPR on her abdomen, but she recovers anyway.

    Lionel visits to see Lex, who accuses him of reopening Level 3 and genetically-engineering human beings. Lionel dismisses this as science fiction, but then drops the news that he has managed to wrest control of the caves from Lex.

    Lana comes back to see Clark, expressing gratitude for his protection, but she finds it difficult to live up to his perfect image of her - someday, she fears, she may disappoint him. Smallville never has any pointless dialog - this fear must portend some future storyline. Clark reassures her that nothing could ever change the way he feels; now she may need to start believing in him. Lionel has decided to tell Dinsmore that the cloning project must end. Dinsmore is still attached to Emily II as his daughter, but Lionel callously calls her the property of Luthorcorp, and brings her a gift - a white rabbit. Knowing what she did to Dinsmore, why is Lionel so confident about being close to her? As the camera pulls back, we see Emily is in her room, but the room is within a lab, and she will continue to be a Luthorcorp experiment. Nice surprise wrapup to this surprising episode. Although Lionel seems to be more sinister than ever, we should withhold judgment for a few more episodes, or even seasons. The Lionel character has a remarkable ability to reveal motivations that aren't always as evil as we first think. One of the better episodes of the season, partly due to our growing realization of the conspiracy behind what began as a mere "ghost" story. The fine acting, script, and great music make this a good one for another view. Re-run rating B.moreless

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  • Lana's old friend comes to visit.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By addict666, Jul 08, 2008 Report Abuse
    I remember being really scared when I saw this episode for the first time. That little girl was quite scary and played her role really well and it made you feel sympathetic for her because she is young and doesn't know any better. When she kills her father it was a really good moment. I also really like all the interactions between Clark and Lana in this episode and they are really sweet together and it is nice to see him save her (again). The end is also really good with Lionel coming in and taking the girl and giving her the bunny.moreless

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  • "I'm a Freak and Obsessed with Lana" Part 5

    7.9
    "Good"
    By lenzinoH20, Apr 15, 2008 Report Abuse
    Accelerate-Lana is haunted by the ghost of a dead friend, Emily, but the "spirit" has connections to Lionel Luthor, who is also scheming to get control of the Indian caves and "help" Lex with his wedding.

    An eerie and mysterious episode despite being cnetered around Lana, "Accelerate" sees Lana being haunted by the ghost of her dead childhood friend, Emily. Emily is actually quite creepy as Jodelle Ferland plays part so well. You start to feel bad for Emily, especially after the revelation that she's just one of many clones create by her deranged father. I love the sci-fi angle of the episode like the secret labortories with all the test tubes and how Lionel was invovled with the production of the Emily clones. The last scene in which Lionel is having tea with Emily in her bedroom could have come off corny even silly but John Glover just pulls it off so well making the scene menacing and creepy. Kristin Kreuk also does a fine job during her confession scene to Emily.

    The SFX team should be awarded as the special effects were breathtaking, esecially in the scene wher Clark chasing after Emily in superspeed through the rain. Just the way eveything seemed frozen in time around really was an astonishing effect. An effective episode that has good dose of mystery and suspense.moreless

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  • Great Episode

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Beer75, Aug 22, 2007 Report Abuse
    Lana thinks she is seeing ghosts, when an old childhood friend, Emily, who died six years prior, appears. Clark discovers that the child is indeed real. By moving extremely fast, the girl seems to disappear and walk through walls. Clark learns that Emily's father has been cloning her, with the help of green meteor rock. The flaw with the Emily clone is that she has no sense of morality, which eventually puts Lana in danger. Meanwhile, Lex prepares for his wedding with Helen. In this episode, the experiment of Luthor Corp. with the refined kryptonite is disclosed with a weird and dangerous result. Lionel Luthor steals the guard of the Kawatche caves from Lex Luthor.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • The shot immediately following the wiping of the fog off of the casket-incubator-pod thing, it is shown to be completely fogged over again, with no traces of it ever having had a little area wiped clear. Edit
    • Trivia: Emily was born January 20, 1986 and died April 14, 1996. Edit
    • How do Clark and Lana know that Mr. Dinsmore is in the hospital, so that it's safe for them to snoop around his house? And why doesn't the new sheriff question why they were in his house to begin with? Edit

  • Notes

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    • The visual effects team of Smallville was recognized by the Visual Effects Society with a 2004 VES Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial, for the work they did on this episode. Edit
    • Music: "I'm With You" by Avril Lavigne. Edit
    • Jodelle Micah Ferland (Emily Dinsmore) also appeared earlier this year on the pilot episode of "John Doe." Her role was slightly more normal. Also, in "John Doe," she is dressed as a Fairy princess, much like the young Lana Lang. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Lionel: Bunny-Buns? That's a beautiful name. Edit
    • Lana: Sometimes I think you've created this perfect picture of who I am. Clark: It's what I see. Edit
    • Lex: All ethics aside, it's an astonishing accomplishment. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Theater Film: The House on Haunted Hill
      1958 horror flick directed by schlockmeister William Castle with a flying skeleton gimmick. Later remade in 1999. Edit
    • Lex: If anybody would know about the Seven Deadly Sins, Dad, it would be you.
      One gets the impression this might be a stab at John Glover's role as the Devil in the TV series Brimstone - Glover's last regular TV role. The Seven Deadly Sins are also long time foes of Captain Marvel in the DC mythos, and appeared relatively recently in the JLA/JSA crossover Virtue & Vice. Edit

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