Redux first aired on 29 October, 2002 and was written by Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner. There’s lots going on in this episode!

It seems a number of Smallville High students are aging rapidly. What’s causing that? And if Clark (Tom Welling) didn’t have his hands full with that, there’s more trouble at the school. It seems the new principal, Mr. Reynolds (Richard Gant) isn’t keen on Clark’s friendship with Lex (Michael Rosenbaum). Reynolds and Lex have a previous history – he was headmaster at one of the schools Luthor attended.

Chloe (Allison Mack) does her own investigation into the aging issue, and unlike Clark, tends to get along well with the new principal. Reynolds for his part wants to challenge Clark and see him grow into a well-rounded person.

And at the Kent farm, there are family issues. Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha (Annette O’Toole) are having financial problems, and thinking about reaching out to Martha’s estranged father, William Clark (George Coe). There’s a rough history between John and William, and they haven’t spoken since John asked to marry Martha.

Clark tries to help out, but things get worse and worse on the family front.

And Lana (Kristin Kreuk) finds a picture of her mother, with someone who is not her husband, just after Lana was born. Aunt Nell (Sarah-Jane Redmond) doesn’t offer much in the way of help. She turns to Lex to help her investigate. She learns that her father may be the man in the picture, and not the one she thought.

So the aging thing… would you believe it’s a freak-of-the-week deal? Course you would. There’s a new student on campus, Chrissy (Maggie Lawson) who is eager to be involved in all aspects of high school life, almost like she wants to relive the best years of her life…

I love the character and family stuff, but the Chrissy story isn’t my favorite so far. Having said that, it feels like the freak-of-the-week aspect isn’t the A storyline, the family and character stuff seem more frontline than the aging story.

Lineage explores more of the Clark family history which dovetails nicely with the previous episode. And this time we learn that Lionel Luthor (John Glover) may have had his hand in helping the Kents and the ‘adoption.’

Written by Kenneth Biller from a story developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. It was first broadcast on 5 November, 2002.

Things are complicated by the arrival of Rachel Dunleavy (Blair Brown). She shows up in Smallville claiming she’s Clark’s biological mother. And that his father is Lionel Luthor. To force him to confess, she kidnaps Lex!

She’s obviously not Clark’s mother (I mean the breaking and enteering at the top of the episode is a huge clue), and there is something very wrong with her, but how was Lionel involved in Clark’s joining the Kent family?

The whole thing causes a bit of grief between Chloe and Clark, she’s the one who has been posting info looking into Clark’s adoption (against his wishes), and she is the one who learned that the adoption agency that saw over the adoption was created by Lionel Luthor.

It all goes back to that day of the meteor shower. We see the recovery of the ship, the collection of young clark, and thee Kents encountering Lionel and Lex . They all end up in the Kent truck together.

And Lana is trying to learn the location and all the info she can get on the man in the photo with her mom. She meets Henry Smalls (Patrick Cassidy) and her life gets more complicated as well.

Great character episode! So well-crafted and well-written, and Greg Beeman, the director, has done some stand out episodes of the series.