Whee! We're back! And right into the thick of it, as the ship swoops through a field and into the funnel cloud. It loses that crucial octagonal piece and dies again, making me doubt the strength of Kryptonian technology. Clark jumps into the fray to shield Lana from her splintering truck with his nigh-invulnerable body.

Determined to stop the evil reporter from breaking his story, Jonathan chases Roger Nixon into the storm, cornering him and threatening him until he gives up the video camera that captured the ship bursting into life. Nixon, naturally, keeps the all-important tape, and Jonathan isn't going to give up until he has a promise of silence. They fight their way into a crypt of some sort, and are suddenly trapped when the tornado drops a trailer home over them.

Though he who hesitates is often lost, Lex is in time to save his father from certain death. So very in time, in fact, that John Glover is now a permanent fixture in the opening credits! Can I get a "WHOO!" from the audience? Lionel, however, is not doing well, having suffered major damage to his optic nerve, and a spinal injury paralyzing his legs.

Just as quickly as it sprang up, the tornado has passed, and the town begins to recover, bringing to mind for many the days after the meteor shower. Lana is fine, with a mild concussion, but she's aware enough to place Clark as her rescuer. Chloe, making the requisite Dorothy jokes, is less than thrilled to learn about his involvement, but foolishly sucks it up.

Clark is momentarily worried about the ship's disappearance, but more immediately concerned that his father is still missing. Lex comes to check on them, and confesses his own uncertainty about saving his father. Together they set out on a search; Lex recognizes Nixon's car in a tree, and furtively calls the reporter's cell phone.

They're connected only momentarily before Jonathan angrily smashes the phone. Despite his son's best efforts, the name Luthor still raises his hackles, especially in conjunction with Nixon. The two of them continue to fight about Clark, the steretypical journalist babbling about the public's right to know and how Clark is the answer to "what's out there," and the father repeatedly saying that his son had a right to live in peace and make his own decisions.

Nixon's primary allegation is that Jonathan is a small man whose son's destiny is too big for him to handle. I really don't think anything could be further from the truth; Jonathan may be proud of Clark's abilities, but he's prouder of the potential good Clark can do under the mantle of anonymity. But it's an interesting accusation to level at him. Is Pa Kent really so unflappable that he won't start to question his choices about his family?

Though Clark is none too happy about Lex being in alliance with Nixon, either, he accepts the help of a cellular zone map, on the hopes that Nixon and Jonathan were trapped together. But the foundation of the trailer is mixed with lead, so Clark cannot see into the crypt even when he's right on top of them.

They can hear him, though, and scramble to dig their way out, after Jonathan has safely destroyed the tape. The walls of the crypt collapse on Nixon as we head for the commercial, and Jonathan gets buried trying to save him. It was about this point that I realized we were halfway through the episode and the kryptonite had yet to make an appearance. "How nice," I mused, "to have a good action-y episode without that thrown in."

Then, I swear, as if my very thoughts had summoned them, the glowy green rocks glinted out from the dirt and the menacing music played. Dammit!

Chloe, treading blithely down the passive-aggressive trail, brushes off Clark's apology for ditching her. She goes so far as to suggest that they back off the "something more" and remain good friends; Clark is a bit surprised but agreeable. Which, of course, breaks her heart. (People, note bene: Don't play games with reverse psychology. Chances are you're not playing with a mind reader.)

Both trapped under glowy-green meteor dirt, Jonathan and Nixon resign themselves to death. Jonathan confesses that they are scared of losing Clark by exposing him, and always have been. After he first demonstrated his powers, they planned to take him to a doctor-scientist-type for experiments, but turned around at the last minute. (Then what's with the talk about "clearance" in Zero?)

But their death sentence is pretty short; Pete, playing the role of contrivance, has brought some old zoning documents so Clark can discover the crypt and rush to his father's rescue. He's immediately weakened by the teeny tiny meteor fragments, and Nixon, capitalizing on the incapacitation of Kents Jr and Sr, drops a few rocks in Clark's pocket and drags him away. Jonathan tries to rescue him, but Nixon is willing to kill for his story.

Lex is willing to kill for Clark, though, and saves the day. That's a pretty pat solution, but how does Clark customarily deal with people learning his secret? I bow to the expertise of the Fanboy editor on this one, but I'm curious how the question will be answered on this show.

Having learned a lesson from his earlier hesitation, Lex does not hesitate to pull the trigger nor to send his father in for immediate eye surgery. While it remains to be seen how the former will play out, in terms of Jonathan's attitude and the long arm of the law, the latter is settled: Lionel will recover use of his legs, but he's blind. Does he blame Lex for trying to help? Oh, you bet he does. Delicious. (Really, I was just hoping for "blind in one eye" because what's cooler than John Glover? That's right, John Glover in an eye patch.)

Chloe sadly deletes the pictures of the Spring Formal from her computer, in a digital update of the classic despondent act; because we're dealing with a forgiving technology designed to protect idiots, however, she can go through the cathartic process of "OK"ing every delete but can still "cancel" the prompt to empty the Trash. Lana thanks Clark for the rescue, and claims she saw him in the truck, and heard him telling her everything would be all right. She's embellishing an already impossible story (he didn't talk that we saw, except to call her name out a lot), so Clark doesn't feel bad telling her she sounds crazy. But you can sign her up for the Skeptics Club now, I'll bet. And the once-again incomplete ship rests quietly its own little crop circle, somewhere in Smallville.

Considering the producers chose to end the first season on a cliffhanger, this is about all we could expect from a season premiere, and it does a fine job of answering the important questions and raising some new ones. But it's still little more than an extension of the first season, and the real second season won't begin until next week, with super-hormones and fire!

Sarah Stanek