Clark and Andrea decided that they were going to check out this 13th street gang, and although I love the way the writers do things, didn't this gang seem a little bit old-fashioned? I mean, what kind of organization gets anything done when its employees are outside milling around garbage cans, lighting fires to keep warm? Isn't there some sort of business that they can set up as a front? Doesn't one of their mothers have a basement? Whatever the case, when they get to "headquarters" Clark and Andrea begin to question the man who was with the tattooed guy. They only say to let the guy know that they are looking for him, and as they are walking away, the guy immediately calls his friend, who had been laying low, and Clark rushes in and grabs the phone.

Now that he has something to go from, Clark starts investigation phone records back at the Daily Planet. The cell phone was stolen, which doesn't help their case, but the guy did order pizza using the cell phone, and Clark is able to get an address from them. Andrea, who had just finished changing inside the phone booth (the janitors were in the bathroom) hears all of this, but Clark runs off before she can follow.

Andrea changes once again, and as Vigilante, she is not too far behind Clark, who made it to this mugger and is just about to choke him to death, when he realizes that he can't do it. Andrea doesn't have the same problem. Since she received the heart of a meteor shower victim, she always kept some kryptonite around her neck. She used it to knock out Clark and do a little investigation of her own. The thug recognizes her, and quickly starts talking. He said he was paid to kill her mother because she was opposed to a corporation that was about to tear down the slums. The corporation? Apex? The only name that he recognized? Lionel Luthor.

Although she got what she needs, Vigilante decides that the man who killed her mother can't continue to live. She stabs the man in the heart just like he stabbed her, and with Clark lying on the ground paralyzed by kryptonite, he can't do anything. There had been some joking about how she could have used a sidekick in fighting crime, and all of that stuff, but Andrea crossed a line that was very important to Clark's nature, and while she may not be his enemy, he wouldn't just be able to let the memory go from his mind. It was

Lionel continued wasting no time getting his things in order for his return to Luthorcorp. Lex thought he could pull some strings, but Lionel was able to cut all of them off before they would do Lex any good. Lex still has one ace up his sleeve, however, and he tells his father that he will make sure that Martha Kent knows about the secret meeting Lionel had with Jonathan just a little before he died. She might be the most levelheaded person in the state, but if there was anything that would send her over the edge, that would be it.

Lex leaves his father to think about that, but Lionel is not alone for long. The Vigilante comes crashing through his window. She killed the person who took her mother's life, and now it was time to get rid of the person who ordered the kill. Andrea was just about to drop Lionel out of the window of his office, when Clark came in. Clark believes that there is still good in her, and tells her to think about her mom and what she would do. Andrea desperately wants revenge, but she is already troubled by the one life she took. At the same time, she knows that she'll never be able to go back to her old life after what she has done. She jumps out of the window, leaving Lionel to fall to his death, but Clark makes it there in plenty of time. Saving Lionel was a testament to Clark's character, but he didn't know that Lionel had that fight with his father. If he had known, I wonder if Lionel would still be alive today.

And there ends the story of Vigilante. Of all of the "superheroes" that have passed through Smallville, she had the most edge to her. I give Denise credit for the role. She didn't look nearly as wooden as the guy who played Aquaman, and they are thinking about giving him his own series. There is no word whether she'll be back, however, as the next day, her desk at the Daily Planet was empty, and the whole experienced convince Clark that he hopes to find a way so he won't have to hide who he really is.

Posted by J-Unit on February 6, 2006 11:44 PM