Smallville: Reckoning

"Reckoning" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the superhero television series Smallville and the hundredth episode of the overall series. It originally aired on The WB in the United States on January 26, 2006, and on E4 in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2006. The episode was written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, and directed by Greg Beeman. The series follows the adventures of the young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in the town of Smallville, Kansas, before he becomes Superman. In this episode, Clark reveals his secret to Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), but there are consequences. Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) learn the results of the senatorial election and the life of someone Clark loves is taken from him. There were originally two potential plotlines for the episode before it was decided that one of the main characters would be killed. This concept was positively received by studio executives. Schneider compared his departure to that of John Wayne in The Cowboys. The theme of the episode was that Clark had to accept the consequences of his decisions. To keep the identity of the imminently deceased secret, the script was given to fewer people and the network issuing promotional trailers that featured the possible deaths of both Lana and Jonathan. Upon its premiere, "Reckoning" earned a Nielsen household rating of 2.2, and was watched by approximately 6.28 million viewers in the United States; along with an estimated 375,000 viewers in the United Kingdom. The episode received generally positive reviews from commentators, who felt that Jonathan's death was both emotional and pivotal. One faction of fans was unhappy with the choice of Jonathan, preferring that Lana would have been killed instead.