Perry

Season 3, Episode 5, Aired
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Episode Summary

Perry White, a once promising journalist whose career was destroyed by Lionel Luthor, arrives in Smallville in search of alien stories for a tabloid news show. In spite of being constantly inebriated, Perry believes he has witnessed Clark using his extraordinary speed, so he devises a dangerous scheme to expose Clark's superpowers. Meanwhile, Lex learns that Perry has powerful incriminating evidence of Lionel's shady past.moreless
9.3
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Fan Episode Reviews (14)

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  • Great Ceasar's Ghost an excellent episode!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By foggygirl, Jul 11, 2011 Report Abuse
    I loved Michael Mckean's Perry White. His portrayal is of a once world famous reporter who has fallen on hard times and hit the bottle as a result. He has the right amount of hardbitten boozer yet still has the ability to be a likable character. His chemistry with the rest of the cast was excellent and as a result Mckean's White was one of my favourite guest stars on Smallville. It was too bad that the writers/creators didn't bring him back to be in more episodes as he was one of the more interesting guest stars to appear on the show.moreless

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  • Move over Chloe, Perry's in town.

    6.5
    "Fair"
    By MovieMark, Jul 08, 2010 Report Abuse
    An improvement over the last episode, "Perry" is another one of those watchable episodes of Smallville that never amounts to anything other than average fare, yet never stoops so low its unbearable.

    Frankly, the strong DC ties with the comics manage to make this one an episode to watchif you're a geek, of course. Not only do we get Perry White, but we also get some insight into Clark's powers and how they react to the sun in sporadic ways.

    As many have commented already, there's an extra oomph in the dialogue this time around. I especially enjoyed the rapport between Chloe and Perry, with his interaction with the rest of the Smallville lot proving to be just as entertaining at times.

    Unfortunately, there's very little here that's not signposted 15 minutes before it happens. The minute Clark's powers began to fluctuate, it was evident that Perry would indeed spot Clark using his powers, only for the finale to have Clark lose them and endure some "human" injury. Then again, this is Smallville, and routine is its middle name.

    Elsewhere, the politics between Lex and Luthor - as always - prove to be interesting. I always liked the character of Lex and an episode that attempts to explore the complexities of his character always seem to do well, especially his mental state (a future episode will prove this). While things are only touched upon here, it's the beginning of an interesting arc.

    Overall, yup, you guessed it, another average episode from the show. Hardcore fans of the Superman will surely dig all of the juicy references, though; so pending on your geek status, you'll either enjoy it or love it.moreless

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  • this was a good ep

    8.5
    "Great"
    By cube2k8, May 10, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this ep of smallville it begin with a washed up reporter comes to smallville and his name is perry white is doing a story on the meters that hit smallville and the werid things that have been happing in smallville. clark is the guy that has to follow him around becasue clark saved him from his car crashing into a pole and the guy supposivle sees and still sorta rememers him walking through the electric to save him. and he goes to the talen to talk to lana it makes her upset because he brings up bad memories and she goes to lex for help and he drives him out of town to the bus stop but as he is waiting clark is having problems with his abilties due to s asolar flar and its making his ablites get out of hand and he tossa tracter all the way to the bus stop and it drops right infront of perry white and it starts to get him interested in clark and he goes on and on thinking clark has powers but then perry thinks of away to be saved by clark to get him to show his powers but at the time he has no powers and he has to get pulled up by pete and lana. this was a good ep and clark bring him to the buss stop and he says i will ow you one in the future clark.moreless

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  • A washed-up reporter appears in Smallville - it's Perry White - not ready for editorship at the Daily Planet, but in a precursor to possible plot developments much later in the series. He detects Clark's abilities and tries to get a story.moreless

    8.5
    "Great"
    By cxtasy, Sep 04, 2008 Report Abuse
    A hard-drinking man is booted from a bar, drives off drunk, and swerves to avoid speed-runner Clark, who handily rips off the car door and rescues none other than Perry White, the Daily Planet editor in all prior Superman comics and movies, played here by popular character actor Michael McKean. Turns out he's a washed-up reporter in town to research meteor phenomenon for a tabloid, and enlists Clark as a local guide as compensation for the accident. McKean gets some excellent dialog, playing the part in a convincing fashion. Perry offends both Lana and Chloe with his brusque manner, but Chloe clues Clark in to Perry's history - a former ace reporter in Metropolis.

    Lana enlists Lex to help fed off Perry's probe of her background, and at a bar with Clark, Perry leaves with Lex, and we learn that Perry was investigating the Luthors years ago. Lex drops Perry off in an unidentifiable silver sports car (plates "Lex XX"), giving him until sundown to get out of town. Fun scene - Clark tries to lift a tractor for Jonathan, inadvertently tossing it into the next Section, where it plummets to the road in front of Perry. Turns out a solar flare is making Clark's powers erratic. While the wrecker and Sheriff Adams are on the tractor-bomb scene, we see the Kents have yet another red Dodge pickup, somehow replacing the one wrecked in last week's episode, "Slumber."

    Perry's suspicions of Clark grow, and he starts to fill Chloe in on how his career hit the skids. At the mansion, Lex is resisting probes by a psychologist played by Lorena Gale, as part of his agreed-on exam for Luthorcorp. This subplot has Dr. Foster refusing to sign off on his psych evaluation and Lex first dismissing her, then finally agreeing to submit to examining his feelings. Perry tries to make a deal with Lex - Lionel's information for Lex, in exchange for Clark's information for Perry - but Lex throws him out.

    Clark and Pete hide from Perry, but they find him poised above a gorge, trying to force a rescue by Clark, who is temporarily powerless. Pete and Lana step in to perform the rescue using Pete's mid-60s Ford Falcon convertible. Seeing Clark with ordinary strength, Perry drops the notion that Clark is something special. Clean-shaven and sober, Perry leaves town, hinting of things to come - he tells Clark he has journalism potential and offers to return some favors one day in Metropolis.

    If the Smallville producers had followed up with the Perry White character, McKean's portrayal would have been an important precursor to later episodes, but they didn't, even five years later. McKean would still be a good choice to play Perry. But the lack of follow-on episodes isn't all bad - some Smallville fans don't want the classic Superman story line to progress too rapidly - keep the show going! Re-run rating B-.moreless

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  • Perry White annoyed me !

    7.5
    "Good"
    By Kadodian, May 06, 2008 Report Abuse
    After Clark saves a reporter from car which crashed into an electric cable the reporter starts getting suspicious about Clark and how he could do these things like super speed and ignroing the electric cables. The reporter was Perry White. A washed up reporter who used to be a great Metroplilis newspaper journalist. First Perry White goes after Lana. The Lana goes to Lex and tells him that she wants something to be done about Perry so Lex goes after Perry and tells him to stay away from Lana so Perry tries to presuade Lex into giving him information about Clark in exchange for a dark secret about Lionel Luthor. Clark is experiencing problems with his power which were due to the Solar shower which either have his powers put into over drive or take his powers completely. After many failed attempts Perry finally does something crazy. He risks his own life and Clark's so he can get the story he wants. He tied his foot to a rope and threw himself into a fountain but Clark who had his powers taken away from him couldn't do anything but go after him so the reporter and a powerless Clark were hanging from a single rope so Pete grabs another rope which Clark holds on to and then Pete connectes the rope to the car and drives so that Clark and Perry are pulled up. That was an exciting scene. Also in this episode : Lex dosen't want to open up to his therapist but after her writing a bad report about his phsycological problem he finally agrees to go on with his sessions. This episode was all about the character's lives and what they are going through. Lana wants to bury her past and Lex needs to revisit his pastso he can relive his bad experiences inorder for him to recover. I think this episode was pretty average. I wasn't that excited during it. I mean I knew all along that Clark was going to have problems with reporters and the media so it was only a matter of time. I saw Perry White as a very annoying character. Chloe had a very small part in this episode. All in all it was pretty good. Favorite part of this episode : When Clark's tractor falls right infront of Perry and Perry empties his alcohol bottle due to his surprise. Favorite character from this episode : Pete !!! I liked how helpful he was and what a good friend he was by finding out what was wrong with Clark's powers and driving Clark to a safe place so he dosen't burn the farm and expose himself to the reporters. Good stuff !!!moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Just before Pete backs his car out to pull the rope up, the rope can been seen to be slack, when Clark and Perry are supposedly hanging on to it for dear life. Edit
    • As Clark rushes (superspeed) to the crossroads where their truck fell from the sky, surely he would have seen Perry standing there, and if he did, why didn't he react i.e., not continue or at least continue at a normal speed? Edit
    • Perry had a rope attached to his ankle before he jumped. But when he was standing on the handrail, it was clear that there was nothing attached to his foot. He couldn't have hidden the rope because it would be drooping down. Edit

  • Notes

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    • Music: "Blue" by LeAnn Rimes, "Walking In Memphis" by Lonestar, and "I Love This Bar" by Toby Keith. Edit
    • This is not McKean's first time adopting the character of Perry White--he played the role in an SNL sketch "The Nightstalker" which aired on March 18, 1995. Edit
    • The gym mats article that Perry mentions was posted at the real-life Torch website. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Clark: It's been a weird day. My light speed gave out around Lake Tahoe. Jonathan: That's gotta be a thousand miles. Clark: I know. One second I'm racing across the country, the next I can barely jog. I tried to make it home. My super speed gave out again around Colorado Springs. I barely had enough money for a bus ticket. Edit
    • Perry: "It fell off a truck." That's not an explanation, that's a punch line. I spent the morning combing through police records and newspaper stories. You're Johnny-on-the-Spot, Clark. You're Smallville's own hero on deck. Clark: Trust me, Mr. White, there's nothing special about me. Perry: Oh, that's where you're wrong, kid. So far I got you pegged as really strong and shock-resistant. The question is, what other tricks have you got up your sleeve? Edit
    • Perry: (to Clark) I don't get you, kid. I strong-armed your parents, picked on your girlfriend, and ticked off your lady editor. And still, here you are trying to play the hero. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Chloe: ...our resident Ghostbuster. Referencing Ghostbusters, the 1984 Ivan Reitman sci-fi comedy movie about four ghost hunters/exterminators in New York City. It had a sequel in 1989 and two succeeding animated TV series versions. Edit
    • Pete: You know I'm always up for a little Undercover Brother.
      Reference to the satire movie Undercover Brother. Edit
    • Sheriff Adams: And don't call me chief!
      Line often said by Perry White in the comic books and movies, usually addressed to Jimmy Olsen. Edit

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