Smallville Season 1 |link| May 2026

The season centers on Clark Kent discovering his superhuman abilities while navigating the typical struggles of a 14-year-old in a small Kansas town. The Meteor Shower

: Clark struggles with his feelings for Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), whose parents died in the initial meteor shower. His pursuit is complicated by her boyfriend, Whitney Fordman , and the fact that Lana's meteor-rock necklace physically weakens Clark. smallville season 1

Before the Arrowverse, before gritty reboots on Max, and before Robert Downey Jr. donned a suit of armor, there was a dusty cornfield in Kansas and a teenager named Clark Kent. When Smallville premiered on October 16, 2001, on The WB, nobody could have predicted its impact. Smallville Season 1 was not just a TV show about Superman; it was a revolutionary rethinking of the origin story. It traded the phone booth for the loft, the cape for a red jacket, and the "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" mantra for a far more human question: "What if the world’s most powerful being just wanted to be normal?" The season centers on Clark Kent discovering his

, and maintains a "Wall of Weird" to track meteor-related occurrences [5.8, 5.12, 5.23]. : Later in the season, Lex helps Lana reopen Before the Arrowverse, before gritty reboots on Max,

8.5/10 (Essential viewing for superhero fans)

The pilot, directed by David Nutter, set a high cinematic bar for The WB. With its golden-hour lighting, sweeping shots of the Kansas horizon, and a quintessential early-2000s soundtrack (Remy Zero’s "Save Me" remains an all-time great TV theme), the season captured a specific "Americana" nostalgia that felt grounded yet magical. The Verdict

There’s something magical about watching a teenage Clark Kent stumble through high school, secret identity barely intact, while meteors, kryptonite, and teenage drama collide in the most 2000s way possible.