1x14 Zero
It's not quite finished.  I'm terrible!!!  But the unfinished portions are just fill-in-the-blank type things, which I will add after I return from my trip this week.  Sorry!  *winces*


Airdate: 12-Mar-2002
Writers: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Story: Framed by a series of flashbacks, a part of Lex's past is revealed as an old ghost begins to haunt him.  Jude Royce, a man shot in a Metropolis nightclub three years prior, seems to have risen from the dead to make Lex explain what happened the night of the shooting. Also, a school assignment for Clark and his friends threatens to expose Clark’s secret.

Director: Michael Katelman

How the title of the episode figures in, and how/if it’s referred to in story

"Zero" is the name (or part of the name) of the club which is the central setting of the episode.  The catch-phrase "zero consequences" gets bandied about a fair bit, too, referring to Lex's (father's) ability to buy Lex's innocence and freedom from consequences.  It's also the slogan of Club Zero.

Regular Cast
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Sam Jones III as Pete Ross
Annette O’Toole as Martha Kent
John Schneider as Jonathan Kent

Featured Cast
Corin Nemec as Jude Royce
Michasha Armstrong as Max Kasich
Eric Breker as Roy Rothman
Judy Tylor as Amanda Rothman
Mark Gibbon as the Deputy
Mr. Raines (Lex’s head of security)

Recurring Cast
Cameron Dye as Sam Phelan
Mitchell Kosterman as Sheriff Ethan

VOTW/FOTW , their special power/ability and how they got it
Jude Royce, or rather a double that the villain of the week hired to play him.  The true villain of the week, as we learn at the end of the episode, is the brother of Amanda Rothman, who was Jude Royce's fiancee.  The villain has no powers, and is perhaps noteworthy for that reason in this point in the series.  He's simply a crazy ex-con with a gun and a grudge.

Firsts
This is the first time we hear about Lex's apartment in Metropolis (actually, specifically referred to as 'in the city', so open for interpretation), which has since become infamous in the fandom.

The Talon is about to reopen as a coffee shop under Nell Potter's management.

Chronologically, we are given the point of Lex's first contact with Toby, the somewhat suspect doctor seen earlier in the season.  Sam Phelan was the one to give Lex Toby's number. However, Toby doesn't appear in this episode.

Thanks to Chloe's investigations, we get our first non-pilot glimpses of Clark's childhood years -- we learn that he hates peas and that he beat up a fourth grade bully in Pete's defense, back in the first grade.

Locations

Other than the usual locations, there are two unique sets in this episode.  The first (and more prominently featured) is the Club Zero set, which is alternately shown in its 2001 status -- as an active nightclub -- and in its present-day form -- abandoned and creepy.  The other unusual and unique set is the gym where Lex is boxing.  The exact location of this gym is a bit of a mystery -- it is not, apparently, part of the mansion, because Lex's office told Clark that Lex was at the gym.  We are not told whether the gym is in Smallville or in Metropolis. Another location is outside an apartment in Metropolis where Kasich's body is discovered.


Gadgets, Objects, Accoutrements
Since this is an episode that features the Lex arc, there is little in the story that relates to the arc of Clark's origins.  One of the more memorable recurring objects in the episode is Max Kasich's hand (and its ring), which we see twice attached to Max, and then, not.

Others:
Matchbook with the slogan “Zero Consequences”
100 bill that gets Lex and Amanda into the VIP room at Club Zero
Two apple martinis (Lex and Amanda’s drinks at Club Zero)
Purple cd player installed illicitly in Lex’s car.
“Zero Consequences” card and gift-wrapped package containing Max Kasitch’s hand.
Old photograph of the Talon (a gift to Lana from Clark)
Inquisitor article with photo of Jude Royce in the newspaper and Chloe’s photo of the Royce imposter

Featured Characters
This one is all about Lex.  Lex Lex Lex Lex.

Lex.

Discoveries (made by characters, etc.)
Clark discovers that his adoption may not be legal, but his parents don't elaborate at this point.  They only say that it would be better if Chloe didn't investigate his adoption.

Exposition
This episode is all about Lex's past, filling in a few (but not all) of the broad hints about his shady youth, made in the first 13 episodes.  The Club Zero incident took place 'three years ago', which sets the flashback scenes in early 1999.  If we accept Lex's statement in the pilot that he was nine years old at the time of the meteor shower (in 1989), then Lex is eighteen or nineteen at the time of Jude Royce's death (depending on when Lex's birthday falls in the calendar year).  He is obviously not of legal drinking age, in any case, but seems able to get past security, at least partly because of his relationship with Kasich, who is the head of club security.  Lex is pursuing Amanda Rothman, entertaining her when her fiance is supposedly out of town, but it appears that Lex knowingly takes Amanda to Club Zero, expecting that they will find Jude Royce cheating on Amanda -- which they do.

The theme of 'zero consquences' recurs.  For all we are told that Lex has a bad history, by the conclusion of the episode, it's clear that Lex took the blame for Royce's death to save Amanda, the real killer.  He knew that his special status with the police (aided by his father's employment of Sam Phelan) would exempt him from any consequences.

This is, of course, all the more interesting in light of later revelations in the third season's Memoria.

Clark's adoption was handled through Metropolis United Charities, and at this time, Chloe tells us that his was the only adoption they handled.  This is later contradicted in the second season.


Relationships (highlights, tone, progress)
Ah, this is back in the days when Clark was pretty much unquestioning of Lex's honesty and fundamental goodness.  Clark is Lex's solid supporter in the debacle, becoming (of course) his saviour at the end of the episode.  Despite Lex's financial backing, Lana seems to blame him for the difficulties in the opening, including the appearance of Kasich's hand.  She is more skeptical of Lex than Clark.

Lex's relationship with the elder Kents, however, takes a serious downturn in this episode, as Amanda Rothman's brother (we are led to believe) spills toxic LuthorCorp waste on the Kents' land and kills an entire herd of cattle.  It's never completely clarified if Rothman was indeed the culprit, and if he was, what his motivation would have been for such an act.  Jonathan and Martha, especially the former, are visibly shaken and are extremely cool towards Lex when he comes to apologize and offer compensation.  Clark (again) defends Lex, but Jonathan is unmoved and blames Lex.  Martha later tells Clark to 'cool things off' in his friendship with Lex.

Clark and Chloe have an argument over Chloe's investigation of Clark's past for an English project.  Clark makes the argument that his biological parents are of no interest to him, because they didn't want him.  Chloe finally agrees to stop investigating Clark's adoption, but in the end, we see that she doesn't delete the file on Clark's adoption agency.

Clark is helping Lana with the Talon opening, filling in for Whitney, according to Chloe's observation.  Whitney is apparently preoccupied with his father's illness.

Memorable Lines and Passages

Lex says, to Clark, in explaining his actions at Club Zero: "I'd do anything to protect my friends."

Martha, to Clark, referring to his friendship with Lex: "I want you to cool it off."

Jonathan, to Clark, just before discovering the dead herd: "The cows aren't going to feed themselves!"

Martha, to Clark, referring to Lex's youth in Metropolis and her experience growing up there: "The kids grow up too fast."

Clark, shouting to Lex, as he bursts into the gym when he hears the click of a hammer on 'Royce''s gun: "Clex!"

Accidents, Explosions, Random Acts of Destruction
Kasich's hand is chopped off.

Lex is pushed off of a balcony at Club Zero, but lands on the cushy couch Clark thoughtfully set out for him.

Otherwise, fairly calamity-free!

Injured/hospitalized
In the flashback, Lex is stabbed by Jude Royce's knife (looks like a chest wound).  He seeks treatment from Toby, staying away from the hospitals at Phelan's orders.

In the present-day, Lex is hung upside-down in a straitjacket, but doesn't appear to have any major injuries from his ordeal.

Deceased
Kasich, killed by Rothman.

Amanda Rothman -- committed suicide 'a year ago' i.e. 2001?

Jude Royce -- shot by Amanda Rothman in 1999

Royce's double -- shot by Amanda's brother in present day.

Literary/Historical References
None, unless you count Lex's past as history.

Pop Culture References
None noted.

Superman myth references
None noted.

Noteworthy Use of Clark’s Superpowers
Superspeed, to push the couch under Lex as he's falling, as well as to knock Rothman out.  Clark is then all sneaky and pretends to burst onto the scene all over again.