Hothead

Season 1, Episode 3, Aired

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9.0
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Superb
892 votes
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An abusive and hot-tempered football coach gains the ability to control and project fire.
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Fan Episode Reviews (30)

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  • S01E03.....................

    5.5
    "Mediocre"
    By hell693, Oct 22, 2011
    Really this is what you give us the premiere was great the second episode worst and now the third is the worst of all till now i cant believe this i love the cast and they have chemistry but this episode is also disappointing why cant the episode return to the level that the first episode has i will give this series one season because well i think it will get renewed and because i promised my friends i will give this series a chance so i hope it gets better i cant see it getting any worse and when will we see Chloe and Clark or Lana and Clark together i want one of them to be with Clark.moreless

  • Against Jonathan's wishes, Clark joins the high school football team, which turns out to be run by a bullying coach who after a sauna heated with kryptonite rocks can summon up fire at will. Things really HOT up with this episode (ahem!)...moreless

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Feb 12, 2011
    The first two episodes were good, but "Hothead" really raises the bar and, in my opinion, is the best episode thus far in 'Smallville's run.

    I really like with this episode that we get a more mature aged menace to deal with (in the form of Coach Arnold), a nice sign that things (thankfully) won't constantly be limited to the standard "troubled-teen-turned-monster-of-the-week".

    Dan Lauria puts in a fun turn as Coach Arnold, playing it just right between "playing it straight" and comic-book villain without camping it up. The "monster of the week" in the Pilot felt almost tacked on as an afterthought, and Bug Boy in "Metamorphosis" wasn't used to his full potential, but here, we finally get an opponent who has a decent story and some real menace to him.

    It's not made clear if it is the one kryptonite sauna seen here that turns Coach Arnold bad, or if he's been knowingly been "under the influence" for some time, it's kinda left up to the viewer to decide for themselves. But either way, it makes for a great story, and I'm surprised that some have found fault with the fire sequences as personally I found them to be really good.

    I still find Chloe a little annoying, but herself and Pete are slowly starting to find their place in the series a bit more here.
    The b-plots of Lana taking a job waitressing, is more of your atypical "good-looking teen drama", but in fairness plays out well, and by this point I really like Kristen Kreuk in the role. There is also another plot of Lex, who is being pressured by his father to lay off a number of workers at some factory or other. The details never really seemed all that clear to me, but it does make for some good (literal) duelling scenes between Lex and father Lionel.

    All-in-all, I really enjoyed "Hothead". An interesting plot and guest Krptomutant, this one really left me looking forward to the next episode. I give it a very decent 9.5 / 10.

    (By the way, some other reviewers seem to misunderstand and think that "review" means to give a detailed rundown of the plot (which is already under 'Full Recap' when in fact it's to give your own personal thoughts on the episode, folks! lol)moreless

  • This Episode Isn't So Hot!

    6.3
    "Fair"
    By lenzinoH20, Feb 12, 2011
    Hothead-An abusive and hot-tempered football coach gains the ability to control and project fire.

    The series is still trying to find it's footing as this is another freak of the wekk episode and a rather forgettable one. Don't get me wrong, Former Wodner Years star Dan Lauria gives a great performance as Coach Walt Arnold, but the story never really has your interest. A stricted football coach forcing his team to cheat and use his powers to scare them is rather lackluster. Althought there is one scene in particular where Coach Arnold causes fire to shoot out the sprinklers on the football field was a coold effect. I can't say the same about the rest of the fire effects as they were dodgy for the most part. The last confrontation between Coach Arnold and Clark, they especially looked rather fake.

    But what the episode does best is developing Clark a bit more as becomes invovled with football. It's a nice little storyine for Clark as it creates conflict with him and his father. I also loved the return of Lionel Luther in this episode as he and Lex have a fencing fight. It's quite a tense scene as John Glover and Micheal Rosenbaum are already buildign great animosity between father and son. The dynamic between Lex and Lionel will continue to grow and develop more seriously as the series moves on. All and All, "Hothead" sees the series developing at a nice pace, but the weak freak of the week storyline kinda gets in the way.moreless

  • This episode was better than the previous one, and I think it's even up to the standards of the Pilot. =) (Spoilers)

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Jason5550123, Feb 12, 2011
    This episode of Smallville was an improvement from the last one, continuing to show the great character interaction/development. It also had some pretty good action scenes, which I enjoyed. It's good to see some interaction between Lex and his father, Lionel. I'm looking forward to seeing more of that twisted father and son relationship in the future. It's good to see more of the Clark and Lana relationship as well. It's really starting to look like they are falling for each other a little but. Well, it appears Lana is falling for Clark, since we all know Clark has already fallen for Lana. Overall though, I give this episode, Hothead, a 9.5 out of 10.moreless

  • this was a really cool ep

    8.0
    "Great"
    By cube2k8, May 06, 2010
    this ep has to do with a football coach that is desprate to win his 200th win . and it startes off the show with a football game and whitney wins the game for them with a nice through. then it goes right to the school grounds were the news has broke that some of the football team players were cheating on a test. and cloey is all happy that she got them busted and happy about the story. then clark stops a football from hitting her in the face and the coach sees his arm when he throws it back. and tells clark that he should play football for the team.clarks dad does not want him to play football at all because of his powers. and clark wants to play gets into a arguement and leaves and says you cant stop me. meanwhile lana is having second thoughts about cheerleading and quits becasue they cheeted on the test and thinks there more to cheerleading. so she gets a job as a waitress. and does bad. and clark is playing in pratice and the dad is seen jumping over the players and stuff with his powers. after practice princeable quan questions the coach about the cheeting and the coach gets so mad the thing explods clark tries to stop the coch gets tangled up and they end up putting a stop to the coach and the team still won but hte coach did not get to see the 200th winmoreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (8)

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    • When Clark finally hits the sauna window with a rock, it shatters most of the glass. However, when Jonathan enters the locker room and looks inside, much of the glass is restored and it has a single neat, nearly-round puncture in it.

    • There is no mention of both fires in the coach's office, where the first fire would have needed the fire department for sure.

    • When confronted by the principal, the coach gets angry and his TV catches fire. The principal walks out past a fire extinguisher and lets the fire burn. Wouldn't he try to put it out, or at least wait for the fire department?

    • Pete is a freshman and yet his Varsity jacket has a letter on it. Since it's so early in the season and in the school year his jacket should not have a letter yet.

    • When Coach Walt tells Whitney to come over and talk with Clark and himself, Lana walks over with them but there is no sign of Clark getting sick from her necklace.

    • When the football is thrown at Chloe, she flinches and takes her hand off of her camera, then glances at Clark. In the very next shot, both her hands are on the camera and she glances at Clark again.

    • When Clark gets the principal out of the burning car, the principal's face has ashes on it from the fire, but his clothes aren't even singed even though the steering wheel was engulfed in flames.

    • In the fight scene, Clark kicks the coach clear across the room, through the glass, and right onto the bench. The coach just gets right back up.... wouldn't that cause really bad damage to his back, not to mention the glass shards?

  • QUOTES (13)

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  • NOTES (5)

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    • Hiro Kanagawa makes his first appearance as Principal Kwan.

    • According to an interview with Annette O'Toole, most of the cast were filming this episode when 9/11 happened. She had to have her husband Michael McKean drive to and from Vancouver because planes were grounded. During the car journey they wrote the songs for the movie A Mighty Wind.

    • "Renegade Fighter" by Zed plays at the first scene when they are playing football in the rain. "Bad Day" by Fuel plays in the background when Chloe, Clark, and Pete are visiting Lana in the coffee house. "Motivation" by Sum 41 plays when Jonathan is watching Clark playing football. Other music: Gorillaz (Clint Eastwood), Third Eye Blind (Never Let You Go), and Binocular (You).

    • In its original U.S. airing the WB aired scenes from "Jitters" for the next week's previews. "Jitters" was held back even though it was filmed sequentially after this episode.

    • Wonder Years crossover? Dan Lauria played another Arnold on the ABC series--The Wonder Years.

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