Smallville's 6th season offers 22 episodes.
1) Zod
It’s the aftermath of the collapse of society as we know it. Zod is in control of Lex, and Clark is trapped in the Phantom Zone.
-Quite the bleak beginning. There are several nods to the second Chris Reeve movie here.
2) Sneeze
New power alert! Clark feels responsible for the destruction wrought by Zod. Why didn’t he listen to Jor El? His stress and non-stop quest to right all the wrongs wear him down to the point of becoming sick. His sneezes pack a super punch. Meanwhile someone is stalking Lex, and when he’s kidnapped Clark is his best hope. Their falling out has made Clark reluctant to help. Clark and Lana are not getting along again, and Oliver Queen moves to town.
3) Wither
While Chloe and Jimmy work on their relationship boundaries their teen lives are interrupted by finding a murdered girl. Lex and Lana as well as he and Clark start defining their relationships as well. The villain wants a relationship, too, with whomever is unlucky enough to cross her path.
-This is a nice introduction to the pack of villains coming this season.
4) Arrow
Is the Green Arrow a crook? He crashes a party and steals a necklace off Martha’s neck which naturally puts him in Clark’s crosshairs. Meanwhile Lex has people involved with dangerous Kryptonian research, and Lana is pulled into it.
5) Reunion
Ollie is revealed to have been quite the bully in his school days. One boy he bullied, Lex’s only friend at school, met a mysterious fate. When others in Ollie’s group of bullies start dying Final Destination style Ollie suspects Lex, but both of them may be on a ghost’s hitlist. Meanwhile Clark turns to Ollie for help (sort of) in tracking down the Zoners (escaped phantoms).
-The mystery here is done much better than some of the other similar Smallville plots. I like the notion of Ollie going from being a bully to being a hero.
6) Fallout
Another Zoner is loose. It appears to feed on radiation and emits a wicked blast. How well can Clark handle concentrated radiation? Raya arrives on Earth and befriends Clark. Meanwhile Jimmy tries to play reporter and ends up facing off with Lex who is also butting heads with Lana over their respective deceptions.
7) Rage
Jealousy for Clark’s abilities leads Ollie to get addicted to healing serum that is driving him insane. Could it have gone so far as to make him a murderer? Lana, meanwhile, suffers from an unknown medical condition.
-This is a key episode in what I was saying in the review about Ollie having a human side rather than being a flawless hero. It’s a great character moment for Green Arrow.
8) Static
Lex vanishes in a burst of static. Instead of investigating Clark goes off to hunt a Zoner who is removing the skeletons of hapless victims. It’s up to the other Smallvillians to unravel what is happening. An unwilling participant in mysterious experiments done by Lex approaches Lana to blow the whistle on a secret lab.
-Martian Manhunter makes a cameo.
9) Subterranean
Some kids run away from a slave-driving camp only to be pursued by something that travels below the earth. One manages to escape and runs into Clark who, as usual, feels compelled to help. What he finds is horrific: a veritable graveyard hidden in the country.
-This episode tries to make the viewer contemplate illegal immigration and slavery, but it fails to do so well. The action part of the episode suffers with a lackluster final battle between Clark and the super villain. If that weren’t bad enough the audio mix is the worst I’ve heard in a Smallville episode. It’s so bad the music sometimes obscures the dialogue. This is easily one of the worst episodes in the history of the series.
10) Hydro
A reporter with no scruples is set after by a man she once destroyed, but she’s not the one that ends up on a cold slab. She has the power to liquefy and sneak into all kinds of odd spots (yes, there is a Spider-Man villain exactly like this except he’s not a reporter). She complicates everyone’s lives, but Lex smells an opportunity and sends her after Clark. Meanwhile Lois suspects Green Arrow’s identity, and she seeks Clark’s help to prove it which, of course, puts Clark in a strange position.
-The conclusion of the villain’s story is lackluster, but the other plot brings about a great moment with Clark and Lois. There is a strong and exciting nod towards the future of these two characters. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to have sparked any actual changes in the ongoing storyline.
11) Justice
Bart is back in town and is in cahoots with Green Arrow to bring down Lex’s research on people with super-powers. When Bart is captured the first unofficial Justice League team takes on Lex full-force.
-This is one of my favorite episodes with a great comic book action feel to it. I wish more episodes followed this concept.
12) Labyrinth
Clark wakes up in a mental ward with no powers. He’s told that the life he thinks he knows is nothing but a delusion. Trying to reconcile this is one of the toughest challenges Clark has ever faced. He does have an ally, though, a Martian.
-This is a very strange, surreal episode with very little super-heroing, but it is outstanding and showcases Tom’s acting abilities more than most.
13) Crimson
It’s Valentine’s Day and Jimmy wants to hook Lois and Clark up. (The start of something special after "Hydro?" Don’t get your hopes up). A red Kryptonite lipstick does cause her to fall hard for Clark, though, and a kiss infuses him with its usual effects redefining the pair as a pair, that is until Clark goes postal on the Luthor engagement party.
-Does anyone else think they overuse the red kryptonite story basis? Not nearly so bad an episode as "Subterranean," but not a great one either.
14) Trespass
Lana has begun to suspect Clark’s secret. In the midst of her contemplations she finds herself being stalked by a guy who can get by any measure of security without effort. With Lex out of town she turns to the Kents for help, only Clark is not around to protect her this time.
-This episode doesn’t have as strong a mystery as it tries to have. It would have been better served to reveal the villainous twist earlier since it’s pretty obvious long before the end. It might have been a decent episode if it weren’t so easy to get ahead of the mystery.
15) Freak
A guy at a bowling alley displays some special abilities and is abducted in front of Chloe’s eyes. She gets Clark to investigate. Luthor wedding preparations are thrown awry when Lex’s people also kidnap Chloe. What could they want with her?
-This is a very good episode with some particularly excellent acting out of Allison as well as a shining moment or two for Aaron.
16) Promise
As Lex and Lana’s wedding draws closer Clark finds he has a hard time accepting it (oh, there’s a shock). Suddenly Lana’s whole attitude about the event completely changes. Does she know something? Is she not herself (seeing as how that’s a common occurrence in Smallville)?
17) Combat
An underground cage fight gets out of hand with impossibly strong fighters. Clark is starting down the road of becoming a crime fighter, but at this point he is doing it as much out of anger as justice. When Lois is pulled in Clark must kill her in a cage match in order to get to the latest Zoner he’s hunting. Meanwhile Lana has a health crisis.
-This one has a nice emotional follow-up to the previous events.
18) Progeny
Flashback: Chloe’s mom is taken away to the insane asylum. Forward: Lex is nearly run down by an unlikely assailant. Chloe is having blackouts which are really starting to freak her out. Lex is after her mother who has managed to put Clark and Chloe on the villain’s trail. But how far is Lex willing to go for what he wants? Lana gets some earth-shattering news.
-This episode feels disjointed for a while but comes together nicely though it gets pretty slow towards the end.
-Lynda Carter plays Chloe’s mom.
19) Nemesis
A saboteur traps Lex underground and lands Lionel in the hospital. Lionel charges Clark with saving his son with the hidden agenda of stopping whatever nefarious plan Lex has in motion. Sounds easy enough until Clark finds himself trapped underground in a bed of Kryptonite. Clark and Lex really butt heads facing difficult truths and lies. Above ground Lana begins discovering some of Lex’s secrets.
-This one kicks off a string of episodes that culminates in Bizarro’s appearance.
20) Noir
Lana has been shot in the Daily Planet. Jimmy and Chloe are the closest to being witnesses. They actually know very little, but it may be enough to lead them to the truth. Jimmy gets whacked on the head and finds himself in a 40’s black and white movie. He’s the best reporter around and Clark is a bumbling klutz.
-It’s not the best episode but it works better than I thought it was going to. Other than some drama over Lana to sober it up it’s mostly a fun story.
21) Prototype
Lex now has a creation that can shrug off bullets as easily as Clark can, but Lex’s senatorial contact threatens both the project and Lex himself. As a witness to a crime Lois is now on Lex’s hit list. Lionel and Clark clash over Lana whose secrets bubble below the surface.
22) Phantom
Lex and Martian Manhunter are both after a phantom-infested man. Lois is obsessed with stopping Lex’s experiments. Clark finds out what Lionel has done and the full truth finally comes out.
-This is a creepy and violent episode. J’onn gets a little more screentime, and Bizarro is introduced. Throw all those elements in a big pot and you get a rather exciting episode.