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Smallville Season 3 Episode 14

Obsession

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9.3

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 2/18/04

Clark is forced to use his powers in front of Alicia, a new girl at school, but he is surprised to find out she has powers of her own. The two develop a bond through their shared secret, but things turn ugly after Alicia becomes obsessive about sharing Clark with anyone else – especially Lana. Meanwhile, Lana asks Lex to investigate Adam.moreless

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (19)

First ya see her, then ya dont!

9.0

By MovieMark, Nov 27, 2010

It's no wonder Alicia, arguably one of Smallville's most memorable student-of-the-week characters, is brought back in season four because she is simply outstanding here. Her radiant looks, her pearly-white smile, her bending of the most simplest phrases into something a little more flirtatious - she's a stunner. Sarah Carter chews up every scene and really has instantly likeable chemistry with Tom, a fresh and new approach to relationships on the show, ya know, before she gets all Glenn Close. While the plot wanders off the way you'd expect it to, how it gets there makes for some interesting viewing. While the denouement with Adam is horribly disappointing and painfully anti-climatic, the rest of the episode flourishes in a simple story that's character-driven and overall carries a freshness and simplicity that rarely works so well. It's a pity we have to wait till next season for Alicia to show her purdy self again, although when that time does come, it produces some of the best of season four. Plus Alicia in her panties showing up in Clark's bed easily boosts this one up a rating or two.moreless
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this was a good ep

8.5

By cube2k8, May 30, 2010

in this ep of the show smallville clark learns about a new student and he uses his powers infront of her becasue he has no choice but he learns that its ok and that she has powers also and they share a very deep bond but thing is she does not want to have to share clark with anyone especily lana . and things get werid and she tries to kill her. this was a good ep i thought and it was really exciting ep and lana goes and wants to investgate adam this was very interesting and thats why i gave it a 8.5moreless
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Could've been the best as well as opened up new doors for the show...

6.0

By SC_Shadow, Nov 16, 2008

Could've been the best as well as opened up new doors for the show...

Unfortunately it turned out to be just another meteor-freak gone bad piece of crap.

Alicia started as a GREAT character. She has the ability to teleport and she knows about Clark's abilities. She is played by a great as well as good looking actor who, in the first ten minutes of the episode, I liked way more than Lana. (The actor playing Alicia acts better than the actor who plays Lana as well)

Alicia started as a great character, realistic, and someone Clark could love as well as share his secret with --- while causing conflict between Clark and Lana's feelings for each other as well. Unfortunately she turned out to be a crazy stalker who was obsessed with Clark and tried to kill Lana. (A scenario that happens every other episode of this disappointing show.)

I really liked Alicia, having her as a main character would've enhanced the series and brought a fresh new face to the dull and repetitive series.

The episode started fantastic, but just turned out to be another meteor-freak powered disappointment...

This is about the time I started losing faith in Smallville.

Suggestion to Everyone: Skip this episode, it's a GREAT episode, but it does almost nothing for the main plot and is just pointless to watch and will make you dislike Smallville.moreless
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A fellow student falls for Clark, both romantically and in an elevator, forcing him to reveal his powers to her - she has her own unusual abilities. Her feelings for Clark soon threaten his identity, while Lana is forced to deal with Adam's treachery.moreless

8.5

By cxtasy, Nov 14, 2008

At Luthorcorp, Lionel conducts a tour for Smallville students, including a bored Chloe and a new female guest star, Sarah Carter, playing Alicia Baker. As Clark and new student Alicia elevate together, the car starts to plummet, forcing Clark into an unintended rescue. Some dramatic special effects have him ramming his hand through the elevator wall and braking the plummeting car with his bare hand, in full view of Alicia. This trick comes off better than many of Clark's super-feats, so kudos to the FX crew. To Alicia, he lamely pleads, "Please, don't tell anyone about this!" But Alicia has some stuff of her own, teleporting them away from discovery. They have a deal. Mutual secrecy.

Thanks to the producers taking the trouble to film outdoors in the winter - it's not easy, but nice to see the effort made, and not have every scene an indoor shoot. On the snowy sidewalk, Clark and Alicia now have good cause to bond, both having secrets to keep, but not from each other. She admits to being a meteor mutant, giving her teleporting ability. Clark likes that, and weakly deflects her question about his abilities. He's always been a pushover for someone who shares his secret, so something may come of this, romance-wise.

On the 'B' plot, Lana starts a frantic search of the Talon apartment, finding documents hidden in the closet - a diary of Adam's. She sees that he's been keeping notes on her, but he discovers her prying, and refuses to vacate - tenant laws, you know. Then Clark asks Alicia out, well, no, not really a date, so she overcomes his awkward attempt by asking him on a date. Lana soon informs Clark of Adam's journal, and that he will be evicted, when Lana catches onto something between Clark and Alicia. Out at the barn, Alicia presses him for more on his abilities - which he reveals. Kryptonite isn't Clark's only weakness - his need for love can be his undoing again.

The red Dodge pickup is still in service; Clark takes Alicia home, first date, first kiss? Almost. But next thing you know, she's invaded his personal space at home, in the night, and Clark does not seem to have emotional super-strength. Oops, door opens and there's Dad, resulting in some awkward dialog with the parents. And fast-moving Alicia is now eavesdropping on Clark's admission of feelings for her. It's an instant obsession; he becomes aware of it when he sees she's plastered photos of herself all over his school locker.

Clark ask for advice from Lex, who tells him that he may be the cause of the obsession. A direct approach is called for, so Clark sees her parents, informing them that he knows her ability. Now we learn more - they kept Alicia in a special room to try to control her powers, so maybe there's more to fear than he knew. Alicia overhears this conversation, too.

Alicia's father fell down the stairs at home, and Sheriff Nancy questions Alicia about a possible assailant, and aside, she confesses to Clark that she was behind the attack. Hard to capture vapor-girl, and she is a threat to Clark's identity, to his friends, to everything he values. Scary portrayal.

Chloe and Clark cook up a trap; Chloe goes to Alicia's house, reporting that the Sheriff suspects Clark may have been involved in her father's accident, and that he needs her help. She comes to him; Clark agrees to disappear with Alicia, but leads her into a steel chamber covered with lead paint. She seems trapped, but she has a piece of kryptonite, and he's outsmarted again, and Alicia slips out.

Alicia's next quarry is Lana, and in a jealous rage, threatens Lana's life. You have to admire Ms. Carter's portrayal here, and she becomes a growing threat, playing a higher level of intensity in each scene. Clark escapes the vault by cleverly dumping lead paint onto the kryptonite chunk, and getting to the Talon in time to prevent her attack on Lana. And more fast thinking by Clark as he showers Alicia with lead paint. Alicia cannot teleport; she's imprisoned in her own obsession.

Lana now has more insight into Clark's feelings about her, Clark's denials notwithstanding, but Lana wants to know what Alicia heard from Clark about his truths. By now Lana should not expect Clark to tell her anything, and he doesn't.

Lana thinks Lex has gotten rid of Adam - but where is he? Strapped in chair in a dark lab, a prisoner of Lionel, who says he sent Adam to Smallville to ingratiate himself with Lana, in order to learn everything he could about Clark. Adam needs a serum, but Lionel declares Adam is no longer in his research program - Adam is left to scream into the darkness. Quite a shocker at the end, at least on the 'B' plot, showing once again the extremes to which Lionel will go to discover more about Clark. This ending may or may not wrap up the Adam-Lana affair. Both story tracks are good, solid Smallville, and this episode has Clark shown as more competent and inventive than in most others. He comes up with good uses for his powers, falling short only by letting his emotional need for companionship overcome his good judgment. The Alicia character is played so well by Ms. Carter that Clark's fear is palpable, as her knowledge of his powers and her obsession almost traps him completely. This works much better than most meteor freak episodes, largely because of the emotional impact on Clark - he's involved in more than just using his powers to rescue Lana, Chloe, or the rest of the world. Re-run rating B-.moreless
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Why Do Freaks Fall In Love?

8.1

By lenzinoH20, Apr 20, 2008

Obsession-Clark is forced to use his powers in front of Alicia, a new girl at school, but he is surprised to find out she has powers of her own. The two develop a bond through their shared secret, but things turn ugly after Alicia becomes obsessive about sharing Clark with anyone else – especially Lana. Meanwhile, Lana asks Lex to investigate Adam.

Despite being another freak of the week episode, this episode has a purpose and that's actually giving Clark an episode that actually develops his character, not to mention, giving him an interesting love interest. The opening teaser comes as a nice surprise when Alicia turns out to be meteor freak and helps Clark escape of the elevator. Alicia is one the few freak of the weeks who turned out to be psycho yet you still liked her as a character. Maybe it's because Clark and Alicia's developing relationship throughout the episode is more convincing than any Clana has been for the past 7 years? Yep, I think so. Tom Welling and Sarah Carter have some quality chemistry between them. The scenes between Clark and Alicia are genuinely sweet as you hope they really do stay together. But too bad the writers had to turn Alicia into just another psycho meteor freak that goes after Lana of all people. It just seemed like lazy resolution to what was building up as a nice development for Clark but then have him save Lana in the end, ehw! I funny that every relationship Clark and Lana have that doesn't involve them together always ends up a disaster forcing them to get back together afterwards. But Sarah Carter gives a good performance none the less as Alicia turns too obsessed and it great seeing Clark falling for a girl that isn't Lana Lang.

The special effects are great and I especially liked the way Alicia's teleportation looked. But the ending really shocking as Lionel has Adam trapped in a lab underground. Lionel's involvment with Adam is a great development and Lionel's evil nature has never been so true. John Glover just owned that scene! All and All, a well developed episode with a great character and an excellent ending.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Tom Welling	Clark Kent/Kal-El of Krypton
Kristin Kreuk	Lana Lang
Michael Rosenbaum	Alexander ('Lex') Joseph Luthor
Allison Mack	Chloe Sullivan
Sam Jones III	'Pete' Ross (Seasons 1-3)
Annette O'Toole	Martha Clark Kent

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Sarah Carter	Alicia Baker	Guest Star
Lynda Boyd	Mrs. Baker	Guest Star
Paul Perri	Mr. Baker	Guest Star
Camille Mitchell	Sheriff Nancy Adams	Recurring Role
Françoise Yip	Dr. Lia Teng	Recurring Role
Ian Somerhalder	Adam Knight	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (16)
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- When Alicia runs her hand across Clark's torso, you can see a scar on his stomach. How would Clark end up with a scar? Not even the Kryptonite bullet he's shot with in "Extinction" left one!! Of course, he's also got that unexplained scar on the underside of his chin. He must not be as invulnerable as we think.
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- The crash landing of the elevator probably covered up the hole that Clark punched through it, but what about the steel support pole that he grabbed? It was giving off sparks, so it probably had scratches or even indentations the whole way down. Yet the elevator car was too far away from it to have caused them, something that a trained investigator would notice right away. So how would they explain the finger-shaped and -spaced marks in the steel?
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- How did Alicia get the photos into Clark's locker? It's not large enough for her to get fully into, and it's not like she can teleport just part of her body. Nor does she display enough precision to hold up an object and teleport itself so the object itself appears in a precise spot (with the lock bar through a small hole). Or is she just an expert lockpicker and managed to get past his padlock?
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- Clark is smart enough to burn out the security camera in the elevator - why didn't he do that at the asylum in "Asylum" when he was rescuing Lex? At least we never saw him do it.
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- Aren't there any cameras in the lobby? That would get Alicia and Clark on tape as they teleported there?
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- The rescue team gets to Clark and Alicia's elevator (before it falls the second time) within a few seconds - this seems unbelievably fast.
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- Clark didn't mention Kyla Willowbrook from Skinwalkers as one of the girls that he loved too - odd, since she knew about his powers and also had a tragic ending.
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- When Clark and Alicia are walking to school the day after the accident you can see mountains in the background.
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- Why doesn't anyone wonder how Clark and Alicia got to the ground floor before the elevator crashed as they said they did? When the class asks if they were okay they said they got out before it crashed.
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- When Lana was reading Adam's diary, the dates she announced were different than the dates provided by the Closed Captioning. This is fixed in the DVD's subtitles.
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- Once again the kryptonite doesn't affect Clark until it's pulled out. It happened several other times with Pete, Clark's dad, and others. Does everyone have lead lined pockets?
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- The elevator seems to fall far too fast to only go from the 38th to the 19th floor in the time we see.
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- Clark and Alicia teleport to the the ground floor. Then they tell the others it crashed when they got out. Ummm, so how will anyone think it crashed on the ground floor? Even if there are a couple of basement floors, the speed of impact and resulting wreckage is going to be substantially different. Also, the rescue team on the 19th floor not only might have seen them in the elevator, but knows that the elevator started to crash before it got to the ground floor.
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- Clark's pretty lightly dressed for a Kansas winter. Compare his clothing to Alicia's as they're walking together after the first commercial break. Even if he doesn't feel the cold, wouldn't he dress appropriately to avoid suspicion?
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- Alicia asks if Clark is ready for a boring, complicated physics explanation for her powers - he says he is and she says, "Basically, the meteor shower affected my body and allowed me to teleport myself." Did she really think that was boring and complicated?
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- There in fact seems to be enough room for Clark and Alicia in the elevator (although it might be a little crowded). And it's pretty unlikely a teacher would leave two students, particularly male and female, off on their own during a school trip.
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QUOTES (8)
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- Martha: Clark, honey. Someday, you'll find the person who's right for you.
  Clark: You know, for a while, I thought that person was Lana, but I could never be honest with her. And then I thought it was Alicia because she was like me, but...
  Martha: Oh, sweetheart, there's... there's nobody like you. You're...
  Clark: Maybe that means I'll always be alone.
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- Chloe: (about Alicia) I'm really sorry she went all Glenn Close on you.
  Clark: I should have told you about Alicia's ability before. But she'd asked me to keep it a secret.
  Chloe: Yeah, and I respect you for keeping her confidence. But once she went psycho, all bets are off.
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- Lionel: Traditional rules, supply and demand--they're secondary. But to rise above those rules, to know when to break them, requires absolute personal commitment. I consider it a prerequisite for success.
  Chloe: (quietly to Clark) And I consider it despicable, immoral, and possibly illegal.
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- Alicia: So can you do anything else...besides punch through steel?
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- Chloe: What do you say we make a break for the fire escape?
  Clark: I could crawl down all thirty-nine stories if this field trip didn't count towards our final grade.
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- Lex: You go on one date with this girl, and already she's sneaking into your bedroom, putting sexy pictures of herself in your locker, practically asking her parents to book the wedding chapel . . . what's your secret, Clark?
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- Jonathan: What'd she do, Clark, climb out the window?
  Clark: Actually she teleported out.
  Jonathan: You're going to have to run that by me one more time.
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- Chloe: Welcome to the Lionel Luthor exhibit. Next floor, victims, sycophants, and hatchet-men.
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NOTES (2)
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- Injoke: Crew member Theron Layne, who works on construction, appears in the Smallville High yearbook, right after Lana.
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- Music: "Setting Of The Sun" by Ben Jelen, "Echo" by Blake Hight, "One Thing" by Finger Eleven, and "Parking" by The Fuzz.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Chloe: I'm really sorry she went all Glenn Close on you.
  Referring the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction, where a man is stalked by an obsessive, murderous woman.
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