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Smallville Season 5 Episode 15

Cyborg

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 2/16/06

Clark finds himself up against Lex when he befriends Victor Stone, a half-machine, half-human subject who escapes from LuthorCorp with the aid of a sympathetic doctor.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (77)

A Titan in Training

8.0

By lenzinoH20, Jan 02, 2009

Cyborg-Clark finds himself up against Lex when he befriends Victor Stone, a half-machine, half-human subject who escapes from LuthorCorp with the aid of a sympathetic doctor. Before even watching this episode, I knew that I would automatically love, given that it features another debut of a DC comics hero; this time in the form of Victor Stone aka Cyborg, one of the future Teen Titans. Lee Thompson Young (Victor Stone) seems perfect in to role, given his experience with action given his work on the Disney Channel TV series The Famous Jett Jackson. Not to mention, the guy really give a good performance in the role. You really fill bad for Victor as his life was taken away and his been transformed into something he never asked for. I love the scenes between Victor and Clark as they talk about their love lives and how they deal with keeping their abnormal abilities a secret.

Lex was also great in this episode and I loved how in the end, Lex double crossed Clark and was the reason Victor became Cyborg in the first place. I love how Lex gets darker and darker with each episode as Michael is getting really good at portraying Lex's evil persona. I also love the action/SFX shots of Clark and Victor jumping off a building and landing on the ground. It gave the episode a more heroic feel, which just added to a good storyline. While "Run" and "Arrow" still remain the 2 best superhero debut episodes of the series, "Cyborg" is still a good episode with a solid portrayal of a future Teen Titan.moreless
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A young man with serious injuries was rebuilt by a Luthorcorp lab with bionic equipment, making him a near-match for Clark's powers. They work together to stop further threats to his life.moreless

7.8

By cxtasy, Sep 11, 2008

In an interesting opening scene of a high-tech lab, a young man strapped to a chair is being injected with a yellow fluid by a technician. He's released from his bonds but alarms go off as he escapes. Chasing him down storage room halls, guards attempt to shoot him, but he has good speed, and races out leaving only a badly bent steel door. More super-powers?

Lana's cruising Metropolis in her GMC Envoy, but bam! - suddenly super guy is there and she collides with him, but like Clark, he has not a scratch, while the GMC is frontally totalled. What will Lana's next car be? Another hospital trip for Lana, but super guy at least stays around long enough to take her for treatment. Clark is there soon, and Lana describes the accident to him.

Super-guy has left the hospital, but he's found by Clark, who recognizes him as Victor Stone (Lee Thompson Young), a fellow football player, so they're at least familiar. Clark had heard that he was dead, but Victor tosses Clark into a wall...and Clark's x-ray eyes see that Victor is about 60% "Cyborg" inside.

Local news has Martha accepting the state senate seat, an event that's been developing for the last couple episodes. A package left for her at the house has a DVD player with a scene from Warehouse 15, indicating someone knows something about Clark. Martha gets a call about the video - it sounds like a case of blackmail. Lionel shows up, this time at the front door, for their conference in Topeka. But she's going to reschedule, and he senses trouble, and leaves, while offering any help she needs. Victor has come to the Kent farm for sanctuary, where Clark and Lana read with him the online article about Victor's death, and the death of his entire family. He explains that he was taken by Syntechnics personnel to a lab, where he was reconstructed bionically. Clark later admits to being "different," a fact Lana doesn't know, and Victor's girl Katherine does not even know he's still alive. So everyone has secrets.

Chloe digs up info on Syntechnics, finding that prosthetics is the company's business, and the owner is Luthorcorp - no surprise there. So Clark barges in on Lex, demanding to know what his company is doing, but Lex barks back, "Your righteous tone says it all!" Tension continues between the two, as Lex denies knowing the details of the many small entities bought up by Luthorcorp. We shall see.

Lana's at the barn to see Victor; she encourages him to see Katherine. The lab guards put on a tactical assault, shooting Victor, but Clark intervenes. Victor, however, is leaking oil. They go to the Talon apartment as their next hideout. Hanging plot element here - what of the guards? Arrested? Clark heads to the home of the chief scientist for Syntecnics, Dr. Hong, who was the one who released Victor from the lab. The good Dr. Hong is very dead, asphyxiated by vehicle fumes, found by Clark just as Lex arrives.

Lex claims his head scientist Dr. Kreig has gone rogue, and Clark reluctantly agrees to accept Lex's help. Victor, hearing of Hong's death, goes to Katherine's house, but she's gone and Dr. Kreig and guards capture Victor and return him to the lab - after all, they have a major investment here. Lex is at the lab; he knows everything, so there's deception going on after all. Repairs are started on Victor, but he'll get a new chip install, which will remove troublesome emotions such as anger, despair, and loneliness. His destiny will be serving as a corporate drone.

Martha has brought blackmail cash to a nighttime rendezvous in her blue GMC, but Lionel intercedes, pleading with her to let him handle it for her. She accepts.

Clark returns to find Lana alone; she explains Victor's departure. Clark suspects Victor has ended up in the lab, and he's right - home power tools are about to be used on him, when Clark stop all that, rudely tossing the lab techs around and making a super-escape with Victor.

Lex and Clark have another confrontation, Lex still denying everything. Luthorcorp has moved on; he wants Clark to do the same.

At the farm, Victor is still recovering, but feeling like a billion dollars. Clark and Lana have arranged a surprise for Victor, a happy reunion with Katherine. Can he have anything like a normal life with her? If only Lana and Clark could have such an ending, for even one episode.

Martha is watching the blackmail video again - it's the bomb blast at the warehouse ("Lockdown," a few episodes back). Lionel claims that blackmailer, who was a warehouse guard who saw too much, has been thwarted, but we can see that Lionel's still trying to ingratiate himself with Martha.

Clark sees Lana again, talking about their glory days, but he can't say anything honest to her. She still wants the truth, but all he can say is that he'll always love her, "No matter what happens." That's not enough for her. Relationship status quo.

Finally, we see Lionel paying somebody off - it's the blackmailer! Lionel was behind the whole plot - to make Martha dependent on him? Martha is destroying the video at home, while Lionel watches it at his office - it's Clark speeding through the warehouse fireball to save Lana. His final words are, "Your secret is safe with me, Kal-El." With Lionel's recent actions, those words are hollow assurances. Good starring role for Lee T. Young, and a bit of development of Martha's future, otherwise fairly good adventurous episode. Re-run rating C+.moreless
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After a young man escapes from LuthorCorp, Lana accidentally hits him with her car, then watches him walk away unharmed. Clark investigates, and learns that the man, Victor Stone (aka Cyborg), was part of an experiment with bionic parts.moreless

8.4

By scorpionqueen86, Jun 16, 2008

After Victor Stone, a former wide receiver for Metropolis High, is freed from a LuthorCorp laboratory, Lana accidentally hits him with her SUV, but is surprised to see him walk away unharmed. Clark investigates, and learns that he was in a car crash that killed his family and was supposed to have died. However, thanks to an experiment involving bionic parts, Victor (a.k.a. Cyborg) survived, and became a half-man, half-machine. Meanwhile, Lionel offers to help Martha deal with a blackmailer who knows Clark's secret.

My Review: If nothing else, I liked CYBORG for the introduction of yet another superpowered character, especially one who, like Bart Allen and Arthur Curry before him, didn't turn out to be a psychotic meteor freak. And so much the better that the character introduced is an actual comic book hero. IMO, Lee Thompson Young couldn't have been more perfect for the role, even though he'll be forever ingrained upon my memory as (the famous) Jett Jackson. The effects were also pretty cool. I especially admired the collision at the beginning, and the x-ray effects for Victor's bionic bod (Although his doesn't compare to my fiance's body...I still get brownie points for that, even if my fiance doesn't see it, right? ;D). I think it's also pretty neat that Clark found himself a bud just as strong as he is. Now, as for the subplot involving Lionel and Martha, I'm glad that it became part of a bigger storyline about Lionel knowing Clark's secret, and that the writers left it open as to *how* Lionel knows that secret. But still, it bugs me that they never really resolved certain aspects of the subplot, like whether or not Lionel was behind Martha being blackmailed. However, the episode overall deserves eight-point-four bionic parts out of ten.

Highlights: Victor's escape; Clark meeting Victor, and x-raying the bionic dude; Clark and Victor's talk in the barn loft; Chloe and Lana discussing Victor; Clark confronting Lex about Victor; Victor's insistence on visiting his girlfriend; Clark helping Victor to escape again; Victor's reunion with his girlfriend, Katherine; Lana's attempted talk with Clark; and Lionel calling Clark by his Kryptonian name.moreless
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Clark befriend Victor Stone, a half man half machine, experiment of Lex's.Victor escapes form Luthorcrop with the help of a doctor.

7.0

By beca_23, Nov 09, 2007

This Episode was definetely really wierd. Smallvill has been an old time fave show of mine but this epsiode man me really re-consider this. Some may critise what I say next but I think that this episode marks the point where Smallville will being his decent down to one of those shows that I resort to if I'm bored out of my mind!

However, It wasn;t all bad. I loved Chloes role in this episode! Chloe isn't seen much but really comes through when Clark needs some top secret information. Chloes is one of those characters we as the viewers take for granted but realise without her - Clark wouldn't be able to help the people he has!moreless
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Great Episode

10

By Beer75, Aug 22, 2007

Was quite speechless after watching Cyborg. Probably that's because I see two parallels depicted in an exquisite way. One clearly is the love between Clark and Lana and that between the Cyborg man Victor and his girlfriend, the other treacheries of Lex and of his father to Clark and Martha respectively. Each resulted in a completely different ending. This is not the episode that you may simply walk away when it's over; nor does it contain anything that would make you edge over your seat with sweaty hands. It will make you think---speculate for a better word, what it is that makes the similar kinds of people get different results out of their similar actions in similar settings. Would one of the answers be Attitude? There is definitely a surprised revelation of Lionel's attitude toward Clark's secrets.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Michael Rosenbaum	Alexander ('Lex') Joseph Luthor
Tom Welling	Clark Kent/Kal-El of Krypton
Allison Mack	Chloe Sullivan
Annette O'Toole	Martha Clark Kent
John Glover	Lionel Luthor (Recurring Season 1, Regular Season 2+)
Kristin Kreuk	Lana Lang

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Lee Thompson Young	Victor Stone	Guest Star
Rick Tam	Dr. Hong	Guest Star
Adrian Hughes	Blackmailer	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (9)
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- Trivia: The code to unlock Victor's cage is 246 enter.
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- Lana stopped driving her Jeep Liberty earlier in the season, and hit Victor with a GMC Envoy. However, Clark refers to it as a Jeep.
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- When you look along the bottom of the screen at the beginning of the episode you see rail cars with Canada painted clearly on them.
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- Victor is portrayed throughout as a nice guy who has full control of his powers. But when Clark grabs him at the hospital, Victor throws him into a wall at full strength - if it had been anyone but Clark, that person would have been critically injured or killed.
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- Clark keeps calling Lana his girlfriend and acting like they're together, but they broke up in "Reckoning" three episodes earlier.
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- Last time, but...Martha basically says Lionel is her friend, and "I'm not the kind of person who turns her back on her friends because of what people think." Lionel tried to murder Chloe and his own son. Stole the cavern key. Fought with Jonathan. Threatened to expose Clark's illicit adoption. Convicted of the murder of his own parents. Put out a contract hit on Andrea's mother. All things she has to know. That Martha would consider Lionel her "friend" in any way, shape, or form - much less let him get within a mile of her - is just nuts.
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- Instead of using his super-hearing or x-ray vision or super-speed, Clark strolls up to Hong's house, knocks on the door, then strolls casually around to the garage and eventually finds Hong. it would have made sense and be consistent with other instances for Clark to scan the house, and at the very least he would have spotted Lex rather than his sneaking up on Clark.
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- The laptop Victor uses switches position without him even touching it when the camera angle changes.
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- When Clark went to the lab to rescue Victor he threw Dr. Alistair Craig at least 10' away which would knock someone out or at least injure them. Given that, it's impossible that he could have got outside in the brief period of time that Clark and Victor escaped and down to where they landed.
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QUOTES (18)
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- Clark: (while looking through his old football stuff) I guess Victor kind of reminded me of the glory days.
  Lana: Why'd you quit, anyway? You, uh, you always seemed so at peace on that field, like everything that was weighing you down just evaporated.
  Clark: It's just a game.
  Lana: Clark, why do you do that?
  Clark: Do what?
  Lana: Hide what you're really feeling. Seeing Victor and Katherine together, how in love they are--it, uh, kind of reminded me of our glory days. You know how much I love you, Clark. But we seem to just keep going around and around. We can't move forward.
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- Dr. Krieg: (after capturing Victor) You were right. He came here like a fish to water.
  Lex: Yeah, well, the heart has a way of clouding one's better judgment.
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- Victor: I need to see Katherine.
  Lana: Victor, they're still searching for you. You can hardly walk.
  Victor: I don't care. I'm gonna see her before I die.
  Lana: Okay, let's just wait for Clark.
  Victor: I'm not waiting for anybody. If you had one last chance to see the person you love, what would you do?
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- Clark: I got a friend of mine who works at the Daily Planet. She might be able to help find out more about these guys. Maybe get them off your back.
  Victor: You'd do that for me?
  Clark: I kind of got this thing about being experimented on in labs.
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- Lana: Who are you?
  Victor: Nobody you want to know. Trust me.
  Lana: Wait. At least tell me how you...
  Victor: I'm sorry about your car, but I don't have time for 20 questions right now. I'm out of here.
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- Victor: Normal? Half my body is straight out of a Sharper Image catalog!
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- Chloe: So, on a scale from one to Taye Diggs, where exactly are we?
  Lana: Um, he's definitely up there.
  Chloe: Yeah. Tall, dark and bionic. You think he likes blondes?
  Clark: His girlfriend's a brunette, sorry.
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- Lana: I hit you at 30 miles an hour – you should be dead.
  Victor: Wouldn't be the first time.
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- Clark: She said she hit you full on and you're not even hurt. How'd you manage that?
  Victor: Milk - does a body good.
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- Victor: What the hell are you made of?
  Clark: I was just about to ask you that.
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- Victor: How do you know what's in me? What about that wall I tossed you into – how come you're not even hurt
  Clark: You're not the only one who drinks a lot of milk.
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- Clark: (bursting in) We need to talk!
  Lex: And you should work on your entrance, Clark. Bit abrupt, don't you think?
  Clark: What do you know about Syntechnics?
  Lex: See, now that's exactly what I mean. No small talk, no pleasantries. Just straight to the accusations.
  Clark: I haven't accused you of anything.
  Lex: You don't have to. Your righteous tone says it all. So what am I have supposed to done this time?
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- Victor: Only I didn't have a choice.
  Lana: Well, now you do.
  Victor: Between what? Being a can opener or a Cuisinart?
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- Victor: How'd you do that, Kent?
  Clark: I can do a lot of things.
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- Lex: Clark. Going to try some small talk this time. Like how Victor Stone escaped from the lab? (Clark glares) I guess not.
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- Lex: Victor was under heavy anesthesia. He must have misconstrued my intentions.
  Clark: That seems to happen to you a lot…doesn't it?
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- Victor: I'd say thank you, but... the words seem just too small.
  Clark: And completely unnecessary.
  Victor: Your mom raised you modest, didn't she?
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- Clark: Is everything working alright?
  Victor: I feel like a billion dollars. Which probably isn't too far off.
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NOTES (9)
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- Deleted Scene: Lex is locating Victor's whereabouts on his computer.
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- In-Joke: Besides the blatant allusion that Lex makes (see below), this episode contains several unstated references to the 1970s TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
  1) Lex says "I have the technology," echoing one of the famous lines from the series' title sequence.
  2) As Clark and Victor are escaping the lab, a graphic on the wall in the background shows a male silhouette, one half normal and the other half in X-ray. A graphic like this was also in the opening credits.
  3) When Dr Kreig is prepping Victor for the implant, the background music reprises the sound effect heard when the Six Million Dollar Man used his bionic arm.
  4) Dr. Kreig's comment, "Your arm is even better than before," alludes to the line in the opening credits "Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster"
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- When Clark is using his x-ray vision on Victor in the last shot before returning to normal vision, he looks at his head where you can see what Cyborg's head looks like in the comics.
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- During the filming of this episode Tom Welling fell sick, for the first time in his five years of acting on Smallville, and they had to postpone shooting for four days.
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- When this episode played on Access TV network in Alberta, Victor's "Your mom raised you modest, didn't she?" quote was cut out but the subtitle was not.
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- Featured music: Life After Love by Colored Shadows
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- Christie Laing (Katherine) previously played a nurse in the third season episode "Truth."
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- Erica Durance and John Schneider don't appear in this episode.
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- Cyborg
  In the comics, Cyborg first appeared in DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980) and was created by George Perez and Marv Wolfman. Victor Stone was a talented athlete and scholar and stopped to visit his parents when they were experimenting on a dimensional gateway device. An acidic blob came through, killing Victor's mother and crippling him. His father Silas was forced to put him in an experimental military suit and replace a number of his crushed and missing body parts. Victor woke up to find himself a disfigured half-human freak. Hating his father, he left and eventually linked up with the newest incarnation of the Teen Titans, where he has been a member in good standing (for the most part) for many years. As of the time this episode premiered he was a member in good standing.
  
  Cyborg was also one of the members of the Teen Titans in their animated series where he was played by Khary Payton. However, he first made the TV/cartoon scene in 1985 with The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians where he was voiced by Ernie Hudson.
  
  In all versions Cyborg has superhuman strength, an infrared eye, extendible limbs, and carries a variety of weapons such as a blaster that projects "a million decibels of white sounds." As with Smallville's other adaptations of existing comic book characters, Victor's powers and origin here are somewhat different from that in the comic books.
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ALLUSIONS (4)
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- Victor: Instead I've got a bunch of Sintechnik'' scientists playing Frankenstein.
  This is reference to a book by Mary Shelley Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. The story is about Doctor Frankenstein who creates a living being out of the parts of dead people.
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- Victor: Half my body's straight out of the Sharper Image catalogue.
  The Sharper Image chain of stores and catalogue are renowned for finding and selling the very latest gadgetry.
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- Lex: At a price a lot steeper than six million dollars.
  Alluding to the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man, with the first mainstream cyborg, Steve Austin.
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- Clark: How about turning Victor Stone into a tin man...
  In the comics, Vic is often referred to as "Tin Man," referring to the character L. Frank Baum created in his novel The Wizard of Oz, Human woodsman Nick Chopper magically replaced a series of limbs and body parts until he was completely metallic.
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