Smallville (TV Series) Rogue (2002) User Reviews

Exhilarating!

[Jerique · 8/10 · 9 August 2010]

Along comes dirty cop, Sam Phelan, who learns Clark's secret and blackmails him into helping him do dirty and illegal things. As the episode progresses, twists and turns pop up, increasing the already dramatic plot.

This is a great episode for drama, not as much action, as Clark's enemy is not superhuman or a person afflicted with some meteor rock induced power. Clark's enemy is his struggle to keep his family, more specifically his father, safe. However, there is some action and we do get to see some of Clark's abilities used once again. We also get to see Clark's intelligence come into play.

Chloe and Lana seem to be in some kind of contest for Clark's affections in this episode and it all comes to ahead when Chloe loses her job as school newspaper editor and Lana wins the title. They develop their friendship a bit, while still developing the already existing friendships between Lana and Clark, Chloe and Clark and especially Clark and Lex.

All the characters get a boost in development as well and family values comes into play. It's an inspiring episode in some aspects. It's more of a thrilling episode in a dramatic sense than an action sense. Visual effects are substantial as ever, such as when Clark has a five hundred pound (or more) generator fall on him and he throws it off himself with ease.

Costumes are still great and the dirty cop is easily a hated character and the girl, Victoria (Kelly Brook) comes along to presumably do something with Lex in a future episode. This quick hatred for a new character is proof of good writers. If Sam Phelan isn't hated by the audience during this episode, the writers haven't done their job. It's a great episode and one of my favourites.

Blackmailed by a Dirty Cop

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 18 March 2006]

While visiting an exposition sponsored by the Luthor Corp. in Metropolis, Clark Kent saves a homeless from an out of control bus using his powerful body to stop the vehicle. The dirty detective Sam Phelan (Cameron Dye) witnesses the event, and blackmails the Kent family, promising to disclose the secret unless Clark steals his files from the internal affairs. Meanwhile Lex Luthor is visited by his former lover Victoria Hardwick (Kelly Brook), the daughter of the greatest competitor of the Luthor Corp.

"Rogue" is a very tense episode, one of the best of this series. Unfortunately the way the plot is resolved is quite predictable. Cameron Dye has an excellent performance in the role of his disgusting character, and the extremely beautiful actress Kelly Brook is another attraction. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Mau-Caráter" ("The Bad Character")

Clark, Meet Corruption!

[gab-14712 · 9/10 · 27 November 2021]

"Rogue" is an excellent episode of Smallville. The producers admitted that the whole villain-of-the-week storyline is growing a little stale. They decided to come up with original, relevant storylines to explore the Superman mythology. I also liked how someone else was a witness to the extraordinary powers of Clark Kent. Not just Lex Luthor but someone else. A corrupt cop of all people. Michael Rosenbaum continues to deliver an excellent performance as Lex. He has great lines (loved how he uses history to drive towards his ultimate goal) and guest star Kelly Brook is an interesting foil for him and his future plans. The characters continue to be well-developed. Chloe, in particular, is given lots to work with when Lana takes over the one thing she loves to do. Also, I need to credit the special-effects team. The VFX for the bus crash sequence is harrowing and realistic which is saying something for an episode that came out in 2002.

In this episode, Clark is in Metropolis visiting a LutherCorp exposition. He saves a homeless man from a bus spinning out of control. Sam Phelan, a corrupt cop, witnesses Clark in action. Phelan blackmails the Kent family forcing Clark to steal a valuable object from Luther Corporation or else he will release his secret. Meanwhile, Lex is visited by a former flame, Victoria Hardwick. She comes at him with an offer where they both take over their father's companies and work together. Chloe is fired from the Torch, so Lana and Clark must run the paper.

Overall, this is an excellent episode with an original story that will have future implications. We learn more about Metropolis in the process. Also, the symbol "S". I wonder what it could mean, hmmmmm. Each character has time to shine. Clark is never going to kill anyone, so it took restraint not to go over to the dark side with Phelan. Lex Luthor is up to no good and I wonder what plans he will have cooking. Great episode!

My Grade: A.

The most underrated episode of Smallville ever

[vyperman7 · 10/10 · 29 October 2008]

Smallville S1E09 - "Rogue"

Plot - While in Metropolis, Clark is forced to use his powers to stop a bus from crashing. A dirty cop on the Metropolis P.D. witnesses the event and uses it as leverage to blackmail Clark into working for him.

My Thoughts :

People often overlook the first season as a whole, and when people talk about S1, Rogue is never discussed. In my opinion, Rogue is one of the best episodes of the entire show and is definitely the most underrated episode ever.

• Great Superman mythology and foreshadowing : The scene with the "S" breastplate is fantastic. "I don't really see myself going into battle with that on my chest". The reason the first season is one of my favorite overall seasons is because of the great dialogue the show had back then. The episode also features Clark's first visit to Metropolis. There is a great scene on the outside steps where Clark takes in the city.

• Awesome FX : These days CGI has become a common factor. However, Clark stopping the bus was one of the best and most realistic FX spots of the show. It looked realistic and there wasn't a lot of CGI used to sell it. Very effective.

• A fantastic villain : The main theme for S1 was the FOTW (Freak of the Weak) syndrome with Clark taking on a variety of meteor infected people. However, Sam Phaelon is a crooked cop who uses his wits to terrorize Clark. Even though no powers were involved, Phaelon posed a legitimate threat to Clark's way of life. It brought a nice change of pace from the usual FOTW.

• Clark's relationship with his parents : One of my favorite aspects of the early years, was Clark's relationship with his parents. This episode has many great scenes with Clark and his parents. My favorite being the emotional jail scene between Johnathan and Clark in which Johnathan talks to Clark about not giving into his temper and using his powers to kill.

• A great cliffhanger ending : Although I won't go into details to avoid spoilers, I will say that this episode has a fantastic cliffhanger ending to it that makes you excited for future episodes.

10/10

Dirty cop to expose Clark Kent

[Brettyboy007 · 10/10 · 16 September 2014]

This would be the perfect headline to this episode, summing up the entire episode. Sam Phelan is a corrupt cop who finds out his secret after he witnesses Clark perform one of his abilities. There are many twists in this episode with Sam vs Clark and his family. Just watch the episode to see how it turns out.

Lex is visited by Victoria Hardwick. Kelly Brook is so beautiful. I just get so many feelings watching her. Lol. Had to say that. She has a proposal for Lex that possibly they could both take over LuthorCorp and her father's company. We'll see how that plays out. Hopefully she'll be around longer.

Exciting episode.

Blast! Those corrupt cops!

[Rcwilkinson123 · 9/10 · 12 September 2007]

The story of Season 1 progresses nicely in this ninth episode.

Clark saves a homeless man from a wild city bus, but a corrupt cop named Sam Phelan witnesses the event. He tells Clark that he will reveal his secret to the public if Clark does not steal a precious relic from the museum in Metropolis. Clark refuses, so Sam frames Jonathan, Clark's father, for murder. Clark has no choice but to steal the relic, a combination of shield and sword, from the building.

In addition, Victoria Hardwick, daughter of the president of Cadmus Labs, a corporation dedicated to the science of cloning and revitalization through DNA processes, visits Lex Luthor, pretending to want to re-ignite their relationship but really aiming to discover secret files of LuthorCorp for the benefit of Cadmus. Chloe is also fired from the Torch, the school newspaper, as its editor, causing a rift when Clark and Lana are asked to take over the position and causing jealously to well up inside Chloe.

Another great episode. This episode marks the first time that someone outside of Clark's earth parents and Kryptonians have discovered Clark's secret, though it ultimately doesn't matter by the end.

A very manipulative antagonist

[felipeandresrodriguezberrocal · 10/10 · 30 August 2019]

This is a very good chapter in great part thanks to a veri manipulative antagonist that put Clark Kent in trouble.