The BEST episodes of Smallville season 1

Every episode of Smallville season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Smallville season 1!

Superman's teen years as Clark Kent find him agonizing over his shy, uncertain persona while dealing with his evolving powers and an infatuation with classmate Lana Lang.

Last Updated: 11/12/2024Network: The CWStatus: Ended
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Tempest
star
8.16
1019 votes

#1 - Tempest

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/21/2002

A reporter closes in on Clark's secret; Chloe may depart Smallville; LuthorCorp is forced to close. At least the school dance will provide carefree moments for Clark and his friends. Then the twister hits.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Stray
star
7.96
1079 votes

#2 - Stray

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/16/2002

A child who can read minds escapes his cruel parents and finds happiness with the Kents. But that joy may be brief when his parents come looking for the boy so they can use his psychic gifts in a life of crime.

Directors: Paul Shapiro
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Obscura
star
7.74
888 votes

#3 - Obscura

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/14/2002

Lana has eerie visions involving a kidnapping of Chloe. Lex's ongoing inquiry into the mystery surrounding Clark takes an intriguing turn when a crop duster reveals what he saw fall from the sky during the Smallville meteor shower.

Directors: Terrence O'Hara
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Pilot
star
7.72
2058 votes

#4 - Pilot

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/16/2001

The first episode tells the story of the meteor shower that hit Smallville and changed life in the Kansas town forever. Clark Kent meets Lex Luthor for the first time and encounters the first in a long line of humans mutated by the strange green meteor rocks that accompanied him on his journey to Earth.

Directors: David Nutter
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Nicodemus
star
7.68
1013 votes

#5 - Nicodemus

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/19/2002

Jonathan turns against his son, Lana becomes a sexy flirt and Pete sets out to settle a score with Lex. They all exhibit unusual behavior after coming into contact with a strange, toxic flower - and there appears to be no antidote to the flower's poison.

Directors: James Marshall
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Crush
star
7.65
1063 votes

#6 - Crush

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/7/2002

After a hit-and-run accident that destroys his drawing hand, a cartoonist is left with bitterness, pain... and an unexpected gift of telekinesis that he turns into an instrument of revenge.

Directors: James Marshall
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Hourglass
star
7.65
1219 votes

#7 - Hourglass

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/20/2001

A plunge into Kryptonite-infused waters acts like a fountain of youth for a retirement home resident, who is restored to the murderous ways of his sinister past. A fortune-teller foresees Lex in the Oval Office.

Directors: Chris Long
Writer: Doris Egan
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Zero
star
7.57
985 votes

#8 - Zero

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/12/2002

A nemesis presumed to be dead for three years resurfaces in Smallville and stalks Lex. Chloe uncovers intriguing information about Clark's adoption.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Leech
star
7.53
959 votes

#9 - Leech

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/12/2002

Let's see how the other 99.999999% live. After a fluke lightning strike, Clark experiences the joys and pains of a normal human existence, and a classmate suddenly has the powers once wielded by Clark.

Directors: Greg Beeman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
X-Ray
star
7.53
1299 votes

#10 - X-Ray

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/6/2001

Clark is startled to discover he has the power of X-ray vision - a power that may be useful when he confronts a changeling-like student who can take on the appearance and emotional traits of anyone.

Directors: James Frawley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Jitters
star
7.50
1172 votes

#11 - Jitters

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/11/2001

An ex-LutherCorp employee insists that the spasmodic rages that sometimes grip him are the result of an incident that occurred on the plant's secret Level 3. But if there is a Level 3, why doesn't Lex know anything about it?

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Craving
star
7.48
1158 votes

#12 - Craving

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/27/2001

A teen's amazingly successful weight-loss regimen gives her a crazed hunger for high-fat munchies! So she munches on a deer here, a boyfriend there - she's a fat-sucking fiend and a menace to all Smallville!

Directors: Philip Sgriccia
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Rogue
star
7.38
1088 votes

#13 - Rogue

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/15/2002

The secret is out - perhaps. Clark performs a lifesaving act of super heroism, thinking there are no witnesses. But a nearby cop sees everything, and he has blackmail in mind.

Directors: David Carson
Watch Now:Apple TV
Reaper
star
7.38
938 votes

#14 - Reaper

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/23/2002

Angel of mercy or deaths? After a Kryptonite-related incident gives a young man the ability to kill via mere touch, he sets out to use his newfound power on people who are gravely ill.

Directors: Terrence O'Hara
Watch Now:Apple TV
Kinetic
star
7.34
817 votes

#15 - Kinetic

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/26/2002

Whitney falls in with the wrong crowd - ex-jocks turned thieves whose Kryptonite-saturated tattoos alter their molecular structure so that they can pass through walls... and rob banks and Lex's mansion with ease.

Directors: Robert Singer
Watch Now:Apple TV
Cool
star
7.31
1221 votes

#16 - Cool

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/13/2001

He's the coolest guy in school - and a stone-cold danger to everyone he meets. A fall into icy, Kryptonite laced Crater Lake turns a student into a hypothermic monster who seeks to rob others of their body heat.

Directors: James A. Contner
Watch Now:Apple TV
Drone
star
7.28
957 votes

#17 - Drone

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/30/2002

Running on a platform of "truth, justice and... other stuff," Clark vies for class president. But a beekeeping rival contender vows Clark and the other aspirants will feel the sting of her candidacy.

Directors: Michael Katleman
Watch Now:Apple TV
Hothead
star
7.25
1379 votes

#18 - Hothead

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/30/2001

He has a burning desire for victory! A win-at-any-cost football coach turn deadly when unexpected exposure to Kryptonite gives him the power to cause his critics to be engulfed in flames.

Directors: Greg Beeman
Writer: Greg Walker
Watch Now:Apple TV
Shimmer
star
7.24
1055 votes

#19 - Shimmer

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/29/2002

A servant is supposed to be invisible to his employers. But someone at Lex's mansion takes that axiom literally when he uses an invisibility potion to cloak himself during a manor-wide terror spree.

Directors: D.J. Caruso
Watch Now:Apple TV
Hug
star
7.20
1131 votes

#20 - Hug

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/5/2002

His Kryptonite-infused handshake seals the deal! A manipulative, wheeler-dealer entrepreneur exerts a mysterious power over Smallville residents - and even convinces Clark's dad to sell the family farm.

Directors: Chris Long
Writer: Doris Egan
Watch Now:Apple TV
Metamorphosis
star
7.19
1556 votes

#21 - Metamorphosis

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/23/2001

Is Lana fated to a cocoon of doom? A nerdish bug collector is transformed into a monster by the irradiated bugs of Smallville - and he wants Lana for his bug-world queen.

Directors: David Nutter
Watch Now:Apple TV