Episode #7
Writers: Doris Egan
Directed By: Chris Long
Other episodes by the same writer: Hug

Summary:

Clark, Pete and Lana all volunteer to carry out their community service at the local retirement home. There, Clark befriends Cassandra, a resident who is said to be able to see the future, while Lana meets Harry Bollston, who consequently disappears, after falling into a koi pond laced with meteor rocks that winds back the effects of time.

Cassandra tells Clark that someone close to him will die soon and being young again, Harry is determined to enact revenge on the jurors who convicted him for the murder, sixty years ago. Harry goes after his first victim, while Clark, unable to forget what Cassandra has told him, visits her again. After telling him the visions started when she lost her sight in the meteor shower, she offers to tell him of his future. Clark sees himself surrounded by gravestones, as the last person on Earth and immediately speeds off.

The next day, Lex visits Cassandra and asks what she saw in Clark's future, she tells him that she can only tell the future of the person she touches and offers to tell Lex his. But Lex refuses her. Clark, Pete and Chloe discover Harry has killed the first of the descendents of the jurors and go to the retirement home to investigate. There Clark sees another vision of people who need his help, when he rejoins Pete and Chloe they show him a newspaper clipping of Zoe Garfield. Clark recognizes her from the vision and reaches the Beanery to save her before it's too late. Old Harry protests that he was kidnapped by young Harry and back at the retirement home he throws himself back into the pond to make himself young again. Clark figures out his father is next on the list and rushes home to stop Harry. But he's already arrived and is attacking Martha. The two get buried in corn in a silo and Clark and Jonathan resuscitate Martha.

The episode concludes with Cassandra's final visitor. Lex is finally ready to let her tell him his future. He takes her hand and we see Lex in a white suit in the Oval Office, as the President of the United States. Standing in a field of sunflowers, Lex runs his gloved-hand over one and it withers and dies at his touch, the rest of the field follow suit and change into human remains. As he looks up into the cloudy red sky blood rains down on him and he smiles. Lex pulls away his hand and asks Cassandra what she saw, when she doesn't reply he realizes she is dead. Clark arrives just after she's died, and realizes the person she had predicted would die was Cassandra herself.

Freaks of the week: Cassandra Carver (Jackie Burroughs)
"Old" Harry Volk/Bollston (George Murdock)
"Young" Harry Volk/Bollston (Eric Christian Olsen)

Co-stars:
Lisa Calder as Zoe Garfield
Alf Humphreys as Jim Gage
Mitchell Kosterman as Deputy Ethan Millar (recurring character)
Reg Tupper as Doctor
Lois Dellar as Nurse

Notable Quotes:

Cassandra (to Clark): Someone close to you is going to die....very soon.

Lana: Do you know anyone else who's lost an entire old person in a wheelchair?

Clark: You might consider rounding those curves at a speed that won't actually break the sound barrier.

Lex: Life's a journey, Clark. I don't want to go through it following a road map.

Lex (to Clark): I have you as a friend. You changed my future once, right?

Cassandra: What I can show you are signposts on your journey. What you do with them is up to you.

Clark: What if it *is* my destiny? To out live everyone that I love? I don't want to be alone!

Lex: I believe we make our own destiny.

Cassandra: Because, we both know... you're not like other people.

Cassandra: I think that's your destiny, Clark--to help people. To save them from fear and darkness.

Cassandra: You can fear the future, or...you can *embrace* it. The choice is yours.

Harry (to Zoe): It's Euripides. “The sins of the father are visited on the children."

Lex: I come bearing gifts.
Cassandra: So did the Greeks.

Lex (to Cassandra): I don't want to do good things. I want to do great things.

Clark: She saw it.
Nurse: Saw what?
Clark: Her future.

Various uses of superpowers:

Superspeed: Runs home from the retirement center to ensure Martha and Jonathan are ok, and runs out of Cassandra's room , after seeing a vision. Uses his superspeed to appear in front of Harry and Zoe, after they left the Beanery. Zips around the corner, after saving Zoe to confront Harry. Uses his speed to get to the Kent farm, stopping in front of his dad's truck. Superspeeds to the barn.

X-ray vision: To see inside the silo.

Invulnerability: Harry stabs him with the butcher's knife, and it shatters.

Clark's excuses (for leaving quickly or using superpowers):

Clark was supposed to meet Pete and Chloe at the Torch. Pete asks where Clark was, he apologizes and says he didn't mean to blow them off.

When Chloe, Clark and Pete go to the retirement home to check Harry's room Cassandra calls Clark over. He tells them where Harry's room is and says he'll meet them there. Cassandra tells him that they both know he's not like other people. Clark insists that he is. Cassandra, again insists that he's not. Clark does not protest at this. After Clark has seen another vision Cassandra tells him that his secret is safe with her and he smiles gratefully.

Clark sees the picture of Zoe Garfield in the clippings they find in Harry's room. He recognizes her Unicorn pendant and tells Chloe: "I gotta go."

Saves Zoe from his being ran over by the truck, helps her up and passes her to the driver and tells him to take care of her, before running off.

Props list:

- Harry's Zippo lighter
- Harry's electric wheelchair
- Name tag worn by Lana at the retirement home
- Newspaper clipping with the headline: “Murder trial continues: Harry Volk on trial for murder”
- Harry's list of jurors (with the names: Eva Garfield - Zoe Garfield, Randolf Gage - Jim Gage)
- 'Kent Organic Produce' crate
- Two bottles of Ty Nant in an ice bucket (Clark drinks one, Lex the other)
- "Young at heart" wall, containing pictures of the retirement home residents, now and when they were younger, with Harry's younger picture missing
- Harry's piano wire
- Graveyard headstones for Jonathan, Martha, Chloe, Pete and Lana. A notable absence of Lex’s headstone.
- Braille edition of the Daily Planet
- Chloe's "Wall of Weird":Time magazine with Little Lana on the cover, also featured in the Pilot
- Ledger clipping with the headline: "Local Waitress Saves Customer With Heimlich Maneuver" with a picture of Zoe Garfield, the waitress from the Beanery with a plaque
- Zoe's Unicorn pendent necklace
- Napkin with a Euripides quote in Greek on it (written by Harry)
- Butcher's knife Harry uses against Zoe's throat
- Clark's dark blue jacket, ruined
- Lex's ruined Porsche 911 SC from the Pilot
- Old copy of the Ledger with a list of the jurors at Harry's murder trial
- Large machete knife on the table in the Kent barn that Harry uses to threaten Martha
- Bouquet of white roses for Cassandra

Character Revelations

Lana: The Langs moved to Smallville in 1938 and they brought a few farms, because they knew a bargain when they saw it

Jonathan: His father was named Hiram.

Pete: He drives.

Superman References

Lana: "But all they do is remind you of the most painful moment of your life. How would that make you feel, Clark?"
Clark: "Like I wish I could go back and erase that moment from time forever."
In “Superman: The Movie,” Superman spins the earth backward to save Lois.

In Cassandra's vision of Lex in the future, Lex is in the Oval office; this represents his eventual destiny as President of the United States, as he is in the comics. Also in the same vision, as Lex reaches his hand out to touch the sunflowers in the field around him (as he does so they all start to die) he is wearing a black leather glove on his right hand. This is a reference to the comics, when his hand had been amputated became of the radiation being given off by a Kryptonite ring he wore.

Platitude Count:

Jonathan: "Even if she can predict the future, there's nothing she can do to control it. Nobody can."

Cassandra: "It's amazing how one moment can change your life forever."

Jonathan: "The only person who controls your destiny is you."

Jonathan: "Your destiny may be to protect people, but ours is to protect you."

Clark (to Lex): "Maybe fate has something else in mind for you."

Production Notes:
NBC's “The West Wing” Oval Office set was borrowed for Cassandra's vision of Lex as the President of the United States.

Eric Johnson (Whitney) does not appear in this episode.

Production Goofs

When we last saw Lex's wreaked Porsche (in “Cool“) the right-hand door was resting against the side of the car, when we see the car in this episode (the next in the sequence), however, the door seems to have vanished.

Nitpicks

- When Harry falls into the pond and becomes young, the clothes that he is wearing fit him exactly, yet as an old man he was a lot heavier and bulkier. Surely the clothes would be a little big on him. Especially as they are weighed down by water.

- Lex's number plate on the Porsche in the accident has a Metropolis license plate. But number plates are printed, by STATE, not CITY; the same mistake also occurs on the burning car in Cassandra's vision of the people Clark will save, which also has a Metropolis number plate (see Miscellaneous).

- This is perhaps due to a mix-up with the writers, but when Lana starts her job at the Beanery (Hothead), Clark asks where her necklace is and Lana replies that there's a strict dress-code of no jewelry. So why is Zoe allowed to wear her unicorn necklace while she works? Yes, this is essential to the plot, because otherwise she wouldn't have been recognized from Cassandra's vision, but it does contradict the script. We can only assume she has been working there for so long that the rules are relaxed for her.

- Lex's number plate on the Porsche in the accident has a Metropolis license plate. But number plates are printed, by STATE, not CITY, the same mistake also occurs on the burning car in Cassandra's vision of the people Clark will save, which also has a Metropolis number plate (see Miscellaneous)

- When the Smallville "Scoobies", Clark, Pete and Chloe, hunt around in Harry's room aren't they worried about getting caught? (Chloe: What happens if someone sees us searching Harry's room? Clark: How about we don't get seen?). They are so worried, that neither Chloe nor Pete watch out for anyone who maybe walking past and could see them, and they don't appear to be scared when Clark joins them, even though he could easily have been someone else

- When Clark goes to the Beanery to save Zoe Garfield from Harry he smashes the glass door. Wouldn't it have been simpler and easier just to break the lock or door handle off?

- In the same scene Harry grabs a Butchers' knife off of the Beanery counter to threaten Zoe with. What was it doing there? Surely this is a health and safety violation

- What do you do when a serial killer is attacking you? Well, obviously, you run for your life. Why is Martha worried about the car tires being flat? The car will still get her far enough away from Harry so that she can be safe. She also calls for Jonathan to help her. Isn't that a little silly, calling for your husband, who is a farmer, when your son is Superman?

Fashion Police: Firstly, Pete. What is he wearing in the first scene? A green parka, light blue shirt and yellow pants! Pete, get some dress sense. Please.

Clark is as Superman-color coordinated as ever, wearing red and blue outfits all the way through. Throughout the episode Chloe sports her "flippy hair," rather than a calmer, straighter look that she has at the end of the season

Lex wears a lavender shirt. Later, when he visits Cassandra, he wears his nicely tailored, long black jacket, which many Lex fans have expressed an interest in getting their hands on.

Clark is also seen wearing his dashing "curtain" shirt (a shirt that seems to match the material that the curtains in the Kent kitchen are made of).

Where have I seen them before?

Among her numerous TV, movie and mini-series appearances, Jackie Burroughs (Cassandra) also wrote, directed, and starred in "A Winter Tan."

George Murdock (old Harry Volk/Bollston) has also appeared in many films and guest-starred in many TV series, such as “The X Files” and “Judging Amy,” but most notably played God in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.” He has also appeared in an episode of “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”

Eric Christian Olsen (young Harry Volk/Bollston) was a regular on Fox TV's “Get Real” and has also been a guest-star on “ER,” “Millennium” and starred in “Not Another Teen Movie.” He was also considered for the role of the teenage Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Episode II.”

Miscellaneous:

Symbolism: Hourglass is an episode full of symbolism. The name Cassandra is symbolic in itself. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a Seer. The God Apollo taught her to foresee the future. She warned the Trojans about the wooden horse, but was ignored. Another famous Greek, Agamemnon (of whom Clark is symbolic of in this episode), cursed her with a future prediction no one would believe (in the episode this is that someone close to Clark would die), he prophesied Cassandra's death and Cassandra also foresaw the death of Agamemnon (we saw Clark in the middle of a graveyard with all the people he loves all around him)

When Lex visits Cassandra in the last scene he brings her a bouquet of white roses. These are representative of death. He even tells her that he 'comes bearing gifts', his gift is death, and his vision reveals that his gift of death will not be exclusive to her. She replies that 'so did the Greeks', further references to the significance of her name.

But Cassandra's last vision of Lex's future, is perhaps the most symbolic and meaningful scene in Smallville, to date. Lex in the White House is a literal reference to his future as President, as is his gloved hand. His white suit indicates that Lex considers himself innocent, as he keeps saying to people, he's not his father. It could also indicate that he sees himself as a [Smallville's] savior. The sunflowers are representative of Kansas (they are in fact, the state flower of Kansas) and heartland America, of which Smallville is a typical town. The field of sunflowers, combined with his white suit, seems to suggest that Lex is going to sacrifice Smallville to gain his vision of the future of America, as he sees it. The sunflowers dying at his touch, indicate the pain and deaths he will inflict along h path to his perfect vision. As the blood rains down on him Lex appears to be confused, showing he did not at first, realize how he was losing his innocence. When he embraces the blood, he relaxes, revels in it. When the blood covers him, it represents the murders of thousands on his hands. He's covered in it. Everyone knows he's responsible, but he wears it proudly because no one can do anything about it. (Of course, symbolism is very open to individual interpretation, so people may see this scene as representing something else.)

Smallville clichés: "Please. Call me Lex." (Lex to Cassandra)

"Maybe I should just accept my destiny. All I'm ever gonna be is a little girl in a fairy princess costume who lost her parents." (Lana to Clark)

Lex's cars:
Porsche 911 SC (gemini blue), license plate: Metropolis - LEX 01
Ferrari F355 (midnight blue), license plate: Kansas - LEX T

Dead parents moment: "I thought high school would be different... that I could finally start putting it behind me. But everywhere I go... there it is. Maybe I should just accept my destiny. All I'm ever gonna be is a little girl in a fairy princess costume who lost her parents." (Lana to Clark in the Torch office when they see the Time magazine cover up on the wall of weird)

Other Trivia: The burning car in Cassandra's vision had Metropolis plates (This is also a production goof, since plates are printed by STATE, not CITY) with 5773RTS.

Additional Commentary:

"It was a lot of fun shooting on the West Wing set. It was the morning after the Emmys. Some of the winners walked into the trailer and asked me who I was. Some watched the show and told me they enjoyed it." - Michael Rosenbaum, on filming the scene in the future.