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For the eponymous character, see Victor Stone.

"Cyborg" is the fifteenth episode in the fifth season of Smallville, and the one hundred-third episode overall. It aired on February 16, 2006.

Summary[]

A sympathetic doctor releases a half-human/half-machine subject named Victor who was being held captive and experimented on by LuthorCorp. While making his escape, Victor is struck by Lana's car. After watching him walk away without a scratch, Lana calls Clark to investigate. Clark befriends Victor and promises to help him find his girlfriend, but Lex traps Victor and takes him back to LuthorCorp.

Recap[]

→ see also Category:Screencaps from episode 5x15

A young man, Victor Stone, is suspended in a cage in a dark laboratory. Dr. Hong gives him an injection and when Victor wakes up, Dr. Hong apologizes for what they did to him and hands him a photograph of a girl. Victor tries to make his way out of the building, setting off alarms. Guards and agents go after him, but Victor escapes by breaking through a metal door. He runs into the street and is hit by Lana Lang's SUV. The car wraps around his body and Lana is stunned, but he is completely unharmed.

Cyborg1

Lana crashes her car into Victor.

Victor takes Lana to the hospital but quickly leaves. She calls Clark to come get her and tells him how she hit Victor at 30 mph but he wasn't even hurt. Clark leaves to go find him and when they meet, he recognizes him as a Metropolis High School football player, but he supposedly died with his family in a car crash. He tries to get away, but Clark grabs his arm and Victor throws Clark into a wall with unintentional force. He is surprised that Clark is unhurt. Clark X-rays his body and sees his skeleton is made up of metal parts.

At the Kents, Martha receives a package secretly delivered at her doorstep. It contains a DVD player that shows the explosion at Warehouse 15 and Clark emerging unscathed from the flames. She later gets an anonymous call demanding money. When she hangs up, Lionel Luthor arrives on business. She doesn't tell him anything, but he notices her distraction and makes sure she knows she can count on him.

Cyborg2

Lionel offers to help Martha as a friend.

Clark takes Victor to his barn, where Victor explains that his whole family was in a car accident and died, but he was pulled from the wreckage barely alive and a company called SynTechnics experimented on him until he was successfully restored with bionic parts. He tells Clark that one doctor helped him escape. He asks Clark if he is bionic too, since he seems to be indestructible. Clark just says he is "different." Victor asks Clark if Lana knows he's "different" and Clark admits that she doesn't. He shows Clark the photograph of his girlfriend Katherine and Clark asks if he is going to tell Katherine that he is alive. Victor says she probably wouldn't love him now, and Clark admits that he can't really offer any useful advice about that subject. He offers to help Victor get away from SynTechnics and leaves Victor in the barn while he goes to talk to Chloe.

Cyborg3

Victor explains to Clark how he came to be bionic.

Chloe and Lana are at the Daily Planet and Lana is describing Victor to her. When Clark arrives, she explains that her research on SynTechnics did not turn up anything untoward- they are known for making prosthetic limbs. She also discloses that SynTechnics is owned by LuthorCorp. Clark goes to talk to Lex, who does not appreciate his accusations. He breezily says that he owns a multi-billion dollar corporation and it's very possible someone is abusing their power without his knowledge. He unconvincingly says he'll get to the bottom of it. Clark reiterates that so will he, and storms out.

Cyborg4

Clark demands answers from Lex.

Lana goes to the barn to talk to Victor and tells him that Lex Luthor owns SynTechnics, but she is sure he had nothing to do with it. She asks him if he's going to tell Katherine he's alive and that he shouldn't lie to the woman he loves. He decides she is right and turns to go find Katherine. Suddenly, a beam of energy burns into his shoulder from agents from the company, who also push Lana down. However, before they can apprehend their target, Clark arrives and knocks them out. Lana is all right, but a black viscous fluid is pouring from Victor's arm. Clark and Lana take him to Lois Lane's empty apartment at the Talon, because she is out of town. Victor explains that the bionics are connected to his human biology. The fluid is leaking from his power cell and if the leak isn't staunched, he will die.

Clark tells Chloe Victor's predicament and is still blaming Lex. She tells him that maybe Lex didn't know, because the lead scientist on the SynTechnics project, Alistair Kreig has a history of clashing with his supervisors. She helps Clark locate Dr. Hong and Clark goes to his house. He finds Dr. Hong in the garage and tries to save him, but Dr. Hong is already dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. Clark is surprised to be approached by Lex. Lex says Dr. Hong was going to blow the whistle on the project, but he either couldn't live with the guilt or someone wouldn't let him live. Dr. Kreig is searching for Victor, and if Clark knows where he is, he needs to tell him so they can save his life.

Cyborg5

Victor's bionic arm is badly damaged.

Victor is weakening and Lana admits that Dr. Hong is dead. Victor begins to lose hope and says at least he will get to see his dead family again soon. She pleads with him to wait for Clark and Lex but he says he wants to see Katherine before he dies. He arrives at Katherine's house but only finds Dr. Kreig and more agents. They force him to go with him or they will harm Katherine and he agrees. When he exits, it is revealed that Lex set him up, knowing he would show up.

Martha arrives in an alley with a briefcase full of money, prepared to turn it over, but Lionel drives up and the blackmailer runs away. Martha tells him that there is a lot at stake, but he says he was protecting her from blackmail and that she should let him help. He promises he has no interest in the package and just wants to help.

Cyborg6

Lex continues the experiment on Victor.

Clark arrives back at the Talon apartment and is annoyed at Lana for letting Victor leave. She says he went to see Katherine and she couldn't stop him. Clark realizes that they took him back to the lab and super speeds away to save him. Victor wakes up in the laboratory and Lex says he just has to be patient while they repair him. Lex says he just wants Victor to have a normal life, but Victor doesn't want his help. Lex tells him that he is helping Victor take the edge off of his anger, loneliness, or any other emotion. He leaves so the workers can start the procedure and they begin to point a drill at his temple. Clark arrives just in time to throw the doctors out of the way and they escape by jumping off the roof.

Cyborg0647

Lionel watches a video of Clark using his powers

Clark goes back to the Luthor Mansion and demands answers from Lex, because Victor told him that Lex was spearheading the procedure. Lex doesn't admit guilt; he claims he was trying to stop Kreig's renegade experiments, but Clark doesn't believe him. Lex says that all miracles have a price and tells Clark to let himself out. Victor is in the Kent barn and thanks Clark for saving him, but Clark is modest. Lana arrives with Katherine in tow. They reunite and when Katherine asks what happened, Victor seems reluctant, but Katherine just says she has time to hear it. Lana is visibly touched by their reunion and looks expectantly at Clark, but he avoids her gaze. Later, Clark is in his loft going through old high school stuff when Lana arrives. She asks him why he quit football since he loved it so much. Clark shrugs that it was just a game. She then asks him why he always hides what he's feeling. She admits that she thinks Victor and Katherine's relationship is a lot like theirs was at its best, but usually it always just goes around and around. She asks him if he still loves her and Clark tells her the truth—that he always has and always will. Unsatisfied, Lana leaves without another word.

Martha is worriedly viewing the DVD again when Lionel arrives at the front door. He says the blackmailer has agreed to never contact her again and says he was happy to help. However, he also points out that she risks a lot as a Senator by being involved with him. His graciousness wins Martha's trust and she tells him that she doesn't turn her back on her friends because of what people think. In Lionel's LuthorCorp Plaza office, he is seen paying off Martha's blackmailer. Martha is seen burning the DVD in the fireplace, while Lionel watches a copy at the same time. He freezes the frame on Clark's face and mutters that Kal-El's secret is safe with him.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Mentioned[]

  • Silas Stone
  • Elinore Stone
  • Victor Stone's Sister

Featured Music[]

  • "Life After Love" - Colored Shadows
  • "Casta Diva" - Maria Callas

Title[]

  • A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts.
  • Victor Stone is reconstructed as a cyborg by Dr. Hong.
  • Victor Stone is Smallville's version of DC Comics character Cyborg.

Notes[]

Cyborgskeleton

Victor's bionic skeleton.

  • Antagonist: Lex Luthor and Alistair Kreig
  • Clark uses the following abilities in this episode: super strength, super speed, and X-ray vision.
  • Lois Lane and Jonathan Kent do not appear in this episode.
  • After being thrown against the wall, Victor asks Clark "What are you made of?". Superman, is also called "Man of Steel"; ironically Victor is half made of metal.
  • Clark and Victor generate enough momentum to break the ground under their feet when they jump off the hospital's rooftop.
  • During filming of this episode, Tom Welling fell ill for the first time in five years and production was halted for four days while he recovered.[1]
  • When Clark is confronting Victor outside the hospital, he demands to know how Victor destroyed his girlfriend's "Jeep", but she has actually been driving a GMC Envoy since Forever.
  • Despite Lana's claims, a collision at 30 miles per hour is only fatal 45% of the time.[2]
  • It is revealed in this episode that Lionel knows that Clark's Kryptonian birthname is "Kal-El". However, it is not clear if he obtained this knowledge through his work with Veritas's "Traveler" theory, or if he learned it while functioning as an emissary for Jor-El.
  • Regardless of the advanced technology possessed by LuthorCorp, it is not feasible to believe that they would go to the expense of using ultra-high speed cameras (capable of preserving video that can be viewed at 1/500th speed (500 frames per second)) as simple security cameras. Even if one were to suspend disbelief, and acknowledge that LuthorCorp would spare no expense, and such cameras were used, the storage requirements (in hard-disk drive space in the case of CCD cameras, or inches of tape in traditional tape-based cameras) would become unfeasible too quickly to make it practical.
  • Clark and Lana still have some friction caused by Lex's seeds of discord in the previous episodes, as seen in Clark's anger towards Lana when Victor leaves the apartment. At the end of the episode, we can see that they seem to come to better terms and slowly rebuild their relationship.
  • In this episode, Clark was late for three disasters, despite his use of super speed:
    • Lana hitting Victor.
    • Victor getting shot.
    • Dr. Hong being killed.

In Other Media[]

  • Victor Stone is Smallville's version of DC Comics character Cyborg. Cyborg first appeared in DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980) as a young man whose parents were experimenting with portals to different dimensions. A creature was released that killed his mother and badly injured Victor. His father rebuilt his son's body with bionic parts, but Victor harbored deep resentment for his father and left to join the superhero group Teen Titans. Victor's bionic enhancements are both endo- and exoskeletal, but his outward appearance in Smallville is normal. However, Clark's X-ray view of his metal skull plate is similar to what Cyborg's head looks like in the comics. Unlike on the show, in the comics, Victor Stone goes by "Vic."
  • Victor Stone is the 27th DC Comics character adapted into the series.

Trivia[]

  • Christie Laing, who plays Victor's girlfriend Katherine, also played Mindy in Truth.
  • The code to open the cage Victor was kept in was 246.

Continuity[]

  • The DVD with which Martha is being blackmailed is of Clark rescuing Lana from the warehouse explosion in Lockdown.
  • This episode marks the 31st appearance of Clark's red jacket & blue shirt outfit, which he wears frequently throughout the series.

Allusions[]

  • Victor remarks that half of his body is "out of a Sharper Image catalog". The Sharper Image is a retail company that sells high-tech gadgets and electronics.
  • Lex mentions to Victor that the cost for all Victors work is "a lot steeper than six million dollars." Interestingly, this is a direct reference to the TV series, the The Six Million Dollar Man, that ran from 1974 to 1978 on the ABC Network. Ironically, the title character Col. Steve Austin first appeared in a novel named Cyborg (novel). Still further, as Dr. Kreig is prepping Victor for the implant, the background music reprises the sound effect heard when the The Six Million Dollar Man used his bionic arm. Lastly, Dr. Kreig's comment, "Your arm is even better than before," alludes to the line in the opening credits of the The Six Million Dollar Man, "Better than he was before. Better… stronger… faster". Also, Lex claims that he can save Victor's life, by saying "I have the technology", mimicking Oscar Goldman's speech at the beginning.
  • Chloe asks Lana what Victor looks like, on a scale of "one to Taye Diggs." Taye Diggs is an actor memorable for roles in stage, film, and television.

Quotes[]

Lex: Look, all I'm doing is giving you a future. A chance for a normal life.
Victor: Normal? Half my body is straight out of the Sharper Image catalog.

Chloe: So on a scale from 1 to Taye Diggs, where exactly are we?
Lana: Um, he's definitely up there.
Chloe: Yeah? Tall, dark and bionic. You think he likes blonds?
Clark: His girlfriend's a brunette. Sorry.

Victor: How could she ever love a thing like me?
Clark: I'm really not the best person to be asking about that.

Clark: She said she hit you full on and you're not even hurt. How'd you manage that?
Victor: Milk, it does a body good.

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.

Dr. Kreig: You'll be happy to know that we've replaced the tubing. We calibrated a few of the servomechanisms. Your arm is even better than before
Victor: I can't wait to use it to smash your skull in.

Lionel: Your secret is safe with me, Kal-El.

External links[]

References[]


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