Smallville s1e2: Metamorphosis

Rating: 10/10

Greg, a boy at Clark’s school, is really into collecting bugs and spying on the neighbors. When he’s bitten by insects infected with Kryptonian radiation, he begins turning into a human-sized butterfly, and loves every second of it as he starts a rampage across the town.

Something I didn’t realize was that the music was done by Mark Snow, the same person who does the music for the X-Files. It makes sense as his atmospheric stylings perfectly match the weirdness of the show. I also really like the title of the episode as it refers to both the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka as a tale about a man recently turned into a bug who’s name was also Greg in an obvious reference, and also refers to Clark as he begins to realize the extent of his new powers. As they say in the episode, both men are going through great changes.

I suppose those are odd things to compliment first. Anyway, this was a big step up from the first episode showing that Superheros can exist in a high school setting without also being Spiderman. Though the teenage drama is still there it’s put to the side to make way for Bug Boy as Superman faces his first real threat. I also really like Lex Luthor as a character and I’m glad he’s in this right from the beginning, even though it’s not quite canon to the comics, this is the beauty of alternate universes, I suppose.

SCORING:

+10: A great episode that I hope is an indication of things to come