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The Worst Episodes of Smallville

Every episode of Smallville ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Smallville!

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The origins of the world’s greatest hero–from Krypton refugee Kal-el’s arrival on Earth through his tumultuous teen years to Clark Kent’s final steps toward embracing his destiny as the Man of Steel.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Smallville Season 5 Episode 5 - Thirst
    6.5/10(1570 votes)

    #1 - Thirst

    S5:E5

    Lana joins a sorority to get housing for her last-minute college registration, but the sisters have a deadly agenda which involves turning Lana into a vampire like themselves and sending her against Clark. Meanwhile, Chloe applies to become an intern at the Daily Planet and runs up against the editor-in-chief, Pauline Kahn.

    Director:Paul Shapiro
    Writer:Steven S. DeKnight

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  2. Smallville Season 6 Episode 9 - Subterranean
    7.0/10(1354 votes)

    #2 - Subterranean

    S6:E9

    An illegal immigrant comes to Clark for help, escaping from a nearby farm where he's working... a farm that houses a dark secret.

    Director:Rick Rosenthal
    Writer:Caroline Dries

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  3. Smallville Season 1 Episode 18 - Drone
    7.1/10(1794 votes)

    #3 - Drone

    S1:E18

    Clark gets into a class election and one of his opponents is a krypto-mutant who can control bees. Meanwhile a reporter from Metropolis visits to do a story on Lex.

    Director:Michael Katleman
    Writers:Michael Green, Philip Levens

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  4. Smallville Season 2 Episode 6 - Redux
    7.1/10(1626 votes)

    #4 - Redux

    S2:E6

    Martha's father William comes to town after many years of estrangement due do his disapproval of Jonathan. Meanwhile Clark must deal with a series of old-age deaths at Smallville High, and the new principal puts his foot down.

    Director:Chris Long
    Writers:Garrett Lerner, Russel Friend

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  5. Smallville Season 3 Episode 7 - Magnetic
    7.1/10(1487 votes)

    #5 - Magnetic

    S3:E7

    Clark is suspicious when Lana suddenly becomes attracted to a fellow student and begins to act rebelliously, which eventually lands her in jail. Clark's suspicions are confirmed when he discovers Lana's new boyfriend has magnetic powers that can move objects and alter human emotions, but when he tries to free Lana from the paranormal hold that is controlling her, she tries to kill him. Meanwhile, Lex discovers Chloe has been delving into Lionel's past and tries to get her to join forces against his dad.

    Director:David Jackson
    Writer:Holly Harold

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  6. Smallville Season 5 Episode 14 - Tomb
    7.1/10(1310 votes)

    #6 - Tomb

    S5:E14

    Chloe is possessed by the spirit of a young girl whose body is sealed in the Talon's walls, and goes searching for the girl's killer while Clark and Lois try to track her down.

    Director:Whitney Ransick
    Writer:Steven S. DeKnight

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  7. Smallville Season 7 Episode 13 - Hero
    7.1/10(1236 votes)

    #7 - Hero

    S7:E13

    Pete Ross returns to town and finds a number of surprising changes since his departure. Besides resolving his feelings toward Clark since he learned of his friend's secret, Pete has to deal with the acquisition of a superpower of his own.

    Director:Mike Rohl
    Writers:Todd Helbing, Aaron Helbing

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  8. Smallville Season 1 Episode 7 - Craving
    7.2/10(2169 votes)

    #8 - Craving

    S1:E7

    A weight-obsessed teen dieting on kryptonite-infected vegetables gains her fondest dream...but must feed on the fat of others to maintain her enhanced appearance.

    Director:Philip Sgriccia
    Writer:Michael Green

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  9. Smallville Season 1 Episode 17 - Reaper
    7.2/10(1793 votes)

    #9 - Reaper

    S1:E17

    Tyler gains the power to destroy organic matter with a touch, and resolves to put the dying out of their misery...and Whitney's father is his next target. Meanwhile Lionel and Lex spar over Lionel's rising success in Smallville.

    Director:Terrence O'Hara
    Writer:Cameron Litvack

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  10. Smallville Season 3 Episode 13 - Velocity
    7.2/10(1441 votes)

    #10 - Velocity

    S3:E13

    After Pete refuses to throw a street race, the thugs that run it threaten his life, so he asks Clark to use his powers to stop them. Furious that Pete would put himself in this position, Clark must figure out a way to save Pete and still protect his secret. Meanwhile, Jonathan begins to suffer the consequences of his deal with Jor-El.

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writers:Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer

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  11. Smallville Season 4 Episode 20 - Ageless
    7.2/10(1494 votes)

    #11 - Ageless

    S4:E20

    Checking out a crater in a cornfield, Clark and Lana discover a baby with no parents and take him back to the Kent farm. However, when the baby, Evan, ages from a newborn to a 7-year-old in less than a day, it becomes clear he is aging at a rapid rate and they turn to Lex for help. Meanwhile, Genevieve suspects Lex has the Chinese Kryptonian artifact and orders Lionel to either recover it...or risk putting Lex in danger of his life.

    Director:Steven S. DeKnight
    Writer:Steven S. DeKnight

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  12. Smallville Season 6 Episode 20 - Noir
    7.2/10(1418 votes)

    #12 - Noir

    S6:E20

    Lana and Lionel have a secret meeting, after which Lana is shot. While Jimmy is observing photos of the encounter, he is knocked unconscious. While unconscious Jimmy dreams about what life in Smallville would have been like in the 1940s. Clark is a reporter at the Daily Planet, Lana is a siren who planned the demise of her magnate husband Lex, and Lois is a singer at a bar that Lionel owns.

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writers:Brian Peterson, Kelly Souders

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  13. Smallville Season 7 Episode 17 - Sleeper
    7.2/10(1167 votes)

    #13 - Sleeper

    S7:E17

    While Clark seeks out Brainiac to force him to fulfill his side of their bargain and restore Lana, Chloe and Jimmy go up against the government.

    Director:Whitney Ransick
    Writer:Caroline Dries

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  14. Smallville Season 8 Episode 13 - Power
    7.2/10(1311 votes)

    #14 - Power

    S8:E13

    Clark discovers that Lana is missing; Tess reveals what really happened to Lana when she woke up from her Brainiac-induced coma; Tess is shocked by what she discovers in a secret LuthorCorp facility.

    Director:Allison Mack
    Writers:Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer

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  15. Smallville Season 1 Episode 2 - Metamorphosis
    7.3/10(2487 votes)

    #15 - Metamorphosis

    S1:E2

    Clark must deal with Greg, a nerdish bug collector with a crush on Lana who gains the ability of various insects and uses them to lash out at anyone who opposes him.

    Directors:Michael W. Watkins, Philip Sgriccia
    Writers:Miles Millar, Alfred Gough

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  16. Smallville Season 1 Episode 3 - Hothead
    7.3/10(2330 votes)

    #16 - Hothead

    S1:E3

    An abusive and hot-tempered football coach gains the ability to control and project fire.

    Director:Greg Beeman
    Writer:Greg Walker

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  17. Smallville Season 1 Episode 5 - Cool
    7.3/10(2160 votes)

    #17 - Cool

    S1:E5

    A jock named Sean gains the ability to absorb heat from everything and everyone around him, and begins preying on people to gain the heat he needs to survive.

    Director:James A. Contner
    Writer:Michael Green

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  18. Smallville Season 1 Episode 10 - Shimmer
    7.3/10(1967 votes)

    #18 - Shimmer

    S1:E10

    Lex and Victoria are victims of a suspected household poltergeist. As the disturbances become more violent, suspicion lands on Amy, the daughter of a house servant who is obsessed with Lex. Not is all as it seems...

    Director:D.J. Caruso
    Writers:Mark Verheiden, Michael Green

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  19. Smallville Season 1 Episode 13 - Kinetic
    7.3/10(1860 votes)

    #19 - Kinetic

    S1:E13

    Whitney falls in with some former jocks who have kryptonite tattoos that give them the power to walk through walls. Meanwhile, Chloe is seriously injured and Lex has his own plans.

    Director:Robert Singer
    Writer:Philip Levens

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  20. Smallville Season 2 Episode 5 - Nocturne
    7.3/10(1669 votes)

    #20 - Nocturne

    S2:E5

    Lana has a new stalker - a boy imprisoned in his basement by his parents who sneaks out at night to visit her. Meanwhile Lionel hires Clark's mother as his personal assistant.

    Director:Rick Wallace
    Writers:Brian Peterson, Kelly Souders

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  21. Smallville Season 5 Episode 17 - Void
    7.3/10(1305 votes)

    #21 - Void

    S5:E17

    Distraught over her break-up with Clark, Lana goes to a rogue medical student who experiments with a dangerous kryptonite-based serum that allows people to flat-line but see their dead loved ones. Lana attempts to see her dead parents using the serum and when Clark returns from Honduras to help her, the doctor injects him with the serum and Clark speaks with his dead father...who warns him that Lionel knows his secret. Meanwhile, Lionel continues working to get closer to Martha, and Lex has a near-death vision of his mother.

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writer:Holly Harold

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  22. Smallville Season 6 Episode 8 - Static
    7.3/10(1274 votes)

    #22 - Static

    S6:E8

    One of the escapees from the Phantom Zone has killed the crew of a ship in Seattle. Clark confronts the killer who feeds on the bones of his victim. In Smallville, a patient in LuthorCorp Labs escapes experimentation and seeks revenge on Lex by trapping him in a dimension where he can see and hear those around him, but they cannot see him.

    Director:James L. Conway
    Writers:Shintaro Shimosawa, James Morris

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  23. Smallville Season 6 Episode 14 - Trespass
    7.3/10(1254 votes)

    #23 - Trespass

    S6:E14

    Lana has a stalker which leads her to an unexpected hideout. Also, Chloe has to reevaluate her feelings for Clark after she and Jimmy break up due to Jimmy's belief that she isn't really over Clark.

    Director:Mike Rohl
    Writer:Tracy Bellomo

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  24. Smallville Season 2 Episode 20 - Witness
    7.4/10(1515 votes)

    #24 - Witness

    S2:E20

    Clark runs up against super-strong robbers who are apparently tied to LexCorp. And Chloe begins to ally with Lionel, while Lana and Henry Small bond.

    Director:Rick Wallace
    Writer:Mark Verheiden

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  25. Smallville Season 3 Episode 15 - Resurrection
    7.4/10(1402 votes)

    #25 - Resurrection

    S3:E15

    While his father is awaiting surgery, Clark befriends a young boy, Garrett whose brother Vince just died from liver failure. However, everyone is shocked when Vince shows up alive and seemingly well - until his liver starts failing again. In a desperate attempt to keep his brother alive, Garrett straps a Kryptonite bomb to himself and demands that Vince be given Jonathan's liver or he will blow up the building.

    Director:Terrence O'Hara
    Writers:Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Thirst" is the worst rated episode of "Smallville". It scored 6.5/10 based on 1570 votes. Directed by Paul Shapiro and written by Steven S. DeKnight, it aired on 10/27/2005. This episode scored 0.5 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Subterranean".