- Clark Kent: [to his mother, after seeing Lana kissing Whitney with his X-ray vision] What would you do if you could see anything?
- Martha Kent: Learn to close my eyes.
- Lex Luthor: I promise I'm not a criminal mastermind.
- Clark Kent: I know. A criminal mastermind would have worn a mask.
- Lana Lang: The "Torch" prints the graduation speech every year, right?
- Chloe Sullivan: Having transcribed last year's snore fest, that's an unfortunate "yes". What year?
- Lana Lang: 1977.
- Chloe Sullivan: That's P.C.
- Lana Lang: P.C.?
- Chloe Sullivan: Pre-computer, when disco ruled the earth. Anything we have before then's gonna be H.C.
- Lana Lang: Hard copy.
- Chloe Sullivan: You catch on fast. Uh, let's see... '77, here we go. "Saturday Night Fever" was their prom theme, Styx won "Group of the Century", and... wow. Someone got in the administration's collective face.
- Lana Lang: "Due to the controversial nature of this year's graduation address, the editors have elected not to run the text in this issue of the 'Torch'."
- Chloe Sullivan: Meaning, ironically, it's probably the only one worth reading.
- Clark Kent: You go through life with a gift you have to keep a secret. When you see everyone around you being normal, you get jealous. You just want to be somebody else.
- Jonathan Kent: I've seen some strange things in my life, but this definitely takes the cake.
- [Looks at Clark]
- Jonathan Kent: Well, almost.
- Pete Ross: How'd you know she was in there?
- Clark Kent: Because I can see right through the door, Pete.
- Pete Ross: Very funny, Sherlock. How do you think she died?
- Clark Kent: Broken neck.
- [Pete looks at him]
- Clark Kent: I'm guessing.
- [exercising Clark's new x-ray vision]
- Jonathan Kent: Yeah, you could start with something small.
- [reaches into pocket]
- Jonathan Kent: Try to tell me what I have in my hand right now.
- Clark Kent: Your pocket knife.
- Jonathan Kent: You could see through my hand...
- Clark Kent: No, you always carry your knife in that pocket.
- Chloe Sullivan: If I told you, I'd have to kill you, and it looks like you've had enough trauma for one night.
- Pete Ross: So you're telling me that Tina Greer can bend her bones like a contortionist and become anybody she wants?
- Clark Kent: I saw it with my own eyes.
- Pete Ross: [laughs] I'm sorry. This is usually Chloe's territory. I cover girls, football, and general guy stuff; she does the "Tales of the Unexplained". So why don't you give her a call?
- Clark Kent: I did. She said she was busy with something else.
- Pete Ross: You realize that's like getting turned down by the National Enquirer.
- Clark Kent: Tell me again why we're friends?
- Pete Ross: Because even when I think you're whacked, I show up ready to rumble.
- Lex Luthor: If you walk out that door, I will make you disappear.
- Roger Nixon: What're you gunna do? You gunna have me killed?
- Lex Luthor: [laughs] No. You'll be very much alive. But there'll be no evidence of your existence.
- Roger Nixon: What are you talking about?
- Lex Luthor: Driver's license, passports, social security number, bank account, will all be erased. With one call, I can be sure that there will be no record that you actually walk this earth.
- Roger Nixon: You're bluffing.
- Lex Luthor: Call your bank, see if your account still exists. That is, if your cell phone hasn't already been disconnected.
- [Roger tries his phone but notices it's not working]
- Roger Nixon: What did you do?
- Lex Luthor: Don't worry, Roger. I'm going to give you a new identity. One that's a little less upstanding. Maybe a murderer. Maybe a drug dealer. Either way, you'll lose your job, your house, and your family.
- Roger Nixon: Look, I'll give the money back. Then we'll be even.
- Lex Luthor: No, we won't. Because I also know your brother works for juvenile court. What'd you tell him? "Steal the records and you can make some quick cash"? He could do time for that.
- Roger Nixon: Leave him out of this.
- Lex Luthor: I didn't get him involved, Roger. You did. You came into my life thinking you could shake me down because I was some spoiled rich brat who needed his daddy's protection. Trust me. When I make things disappear, they stay buried.
- Roger Nixon: What do you want from me?
- Lex Luthor: Your help. My father's obsessed with the Daily Planet. But I know the Inquisitor is read by the people. They're the ones I'm interested in. I will feed you stories and you will print them. Any negative stories about me you will kill. You'll be at my disposal 24/7.
- Clark Kent: You guys ever notice anything strange about Tina Greer?
- Chloe Sullivan: Nothing that would require the intense concentration you're exerting to look at her.
- Pete Ross: Mm-mm. The only thing weird about Tina is the amount of time she spends idolizing Lana.
- Chloe Sullivan: Yeah. She's practically her clone.
- Rose Greer: Tina, where did you get this?
- Tina Greer: Promised I'd solve all of our problems.
- Rose Greer: Oh, please tell me you didn't rob the bank yesterday.
- Tina Greer: I didn't.
- [shape-shifting into Lex]
- Lex Luthor: Lex Luthor did.
- Jonathan Kent: Well, there's-there's no sign of Tina or Lana or...
- Martha Kent: Are you positive you saw her turn back into Tina?
- Clark Kent: I think the meteor shower did something to her bones.
- Jonathan Kent: So she can change appearance at will?
- Clark Kent: Yeah, and it gives her strength. That's how she threw me out of the loft.
- Martha Kent: [more to Jonathan] What should we tell the police?
- Clark Kent: Nothing. Tina can turn into whoever she wants, and I'm the only one who can tell the difference.
- Nell Potter: Lana, I didn't lie to you. I told you your mother would have been proud of you, and she would have. She loved you.
- Lana Lang: You told me a fairy tale about a woman who led the perfect life, but that life was a lie. You said she loved cheerleading. She hated it, but was afraid to quit. She didn't even wanna stay in Smallville. She wanted to see the world.
- Nell Potter: What should I have told you? Your mother was unhappy?
- Lana Lang: I would have liked the truth.
- Nell Potter: I told you what I thought you could handle.
- Clark Kent: [discussing his new x-ray vision ability] I just wish I could control this.
- Martha Kent: What if you try focusing it? You know, like a telescope?
- Tina Greer: What's your glitch, huh? Why do you keep staring at me?
- Clark Kent: Uh... I don't know. Sorry.
- Lana Lang: [unaware of his powers] Clark, what are you doing?
- Clark Kent: [holding a football-shaped piggy bank] I'm just trying to figure out how much change I have inside.
- Lana Lang: You could always take it out and count it.
- Clark Kent: Where's the fun in that?
- Martha Kent: So when you have these flashes, you can see through anything? People, objects?
- Clark Kent: Sometimes I see through things. Other times, it's like an x-ray.
- Jonathan Kent: And there's no warning? It just happens?
- Clark Kent: Well, I get a headache, and then it hits me. I mean, the first time, I thought I was hallucinating, and then it happened again.
- Martha Kent: Clark, I-I'm sure there's some way to control this.
- Clark Kent: You guys, I can see through things. How do you control that?
- Martha Kent: You gotta practice, Clark. Your eyes have muscles, just like your legs.
- Jonathan Kent: Your mom is right, son. Look, all you have to do is you have to figure out a way to, uh, condition them so that you don't get these random flashes.
- Clark Kent: Well, that sounds great. How am I gonna do that?
- Martha Kent: [reading about "Lex's" bank robbery in the paper] He got away with $100,000.
- Clark Kent: I know Lex. It wasn't him.
- Jonathan Kent: Clark, I know that he's a friend of yours, but come on, you saw him with your own eyes.
- Clark Kent: I don't know what I saw.
- Martha Kent: There must be some kind of reasonable explanation for this, I hope.
- Lex Luthor: [outside on the patio] Me, too. I hate to think I have an evil twin.
- Martha Kent: Lex, we didn't hear you pull up.
- Lex Luthor: May I come in? I promise I'm not packing heat.
- Clark Kent: Lex, how come you're not in jail?
- Lex Luthor: Because I was hosting a reception for 200 fertilizer distributors in Metropolis at the time of the robbery.
- Martha Kent: Clark, what are you doing home so early?
- Jonathan Kent: Having more vision problems?
- Clark Kent: I controlled it. Once. Sort of. I concentrated, and it worked.
- Martha Kent: That's great!
- Jonathan Kent: What'd you concentrate on?
- Clark Kent: Tina Greer's locker.
- Martha Kent: What'd you see?
- Clark Kent: The money from the bank robbery.
- Jonathan Kent: Do the police have any leads?
- Lex Luthor: None. That's why I wanted to talk to you, Clark. Your name was on the witness list. Did you actually see this person?
- Clark Kent: Yeah. He looked just like you.
- Lex Luthor: [laughing scoff] Except his fingerprints and signature didn't match mine. You sure your eyes weren't playing tricks on you?
- Clark Kent: What's gonna happen now?
- Lex Luthor: Well, hopefully, the money will turn up. In the meantime, the Metropolis tabloids will have a field day, and I'm sure certain people's opinions of me will be cemented in stone.
- Jonathan Kent: [ignoring the jab] I gotta get to work.
- Tina Greer: So, you quit cheerleading and Nell banishes you to the garage.
- Lana Lang: [amused] She's got clutter issues. I'm trying to help resolve them.
- Tina Greer: Has she forgiven you for quitting the squad?
- Lana Lang: Not yet.
- Tina Greer: Well, at least now you have some more time for your unpopular friends.
- Lana Lang: Tina, you're not unpopular. Besides, what happened to the girl who didn't care what people thought about her?
- Tina Greer: She went to high school.
- Nell Potter: Your mother was like any other teenager. She had her ups and her downs.
- Lana Lang: I feel like I spent my entire life trying to measure up to a Laura Lang who didn't exist.
- Nell Potter: You're reading the diary of a 17-year-old girl. It's a snapshot. It's one time in her life.
- Lana Lang: It's like I wrote this myself.
- Nell Potter: The truth is, your mother was the brightest, most beautiful girl in her class. Do you know she was picked to give the graduation speech?
- [Lana shakes her head]
- Nell Potter: I guess the diary ended before that happened. You should have heard the speech she gave that day.
- Lana Lang: What did she say?
- Nell Potter: Everything that had been bubbling up inside of her for 18 years. She said she felt suffocated in Smallville.
- Lana Lang: Do you have a copy?
- Nell Potter: No. But I'll never forget the first line. "I never made a difference here, but maybe my children can."
- Jonathan Kent: Police found the truck. Abandoned out by the Stewart farm.
- Clark Kent: Anybody else see the driver?
- Jonathan Kent: No.
- Martha Kent: I could have sworn it was you, Clark.
- Clark Kent: I guess I'm not the only one with a vision problem.
- Jonathan Kent: Look, I don't understand. Whoever it was, how did they get your keys?
- Martha Kent: I have no idea. I only went into the antique...
- Clark Kent: [she realizes something] What is it, mom?
- Martha Kent: Nothing. It's just that Rose Greer was acting very strange. I found $5,000 in cash under a dresser. It had a Smallville Savings and Loan band on it. She said a customer paid her, but...
- Clark Kent: You think it's from the bank robbery?
- Martha Kent: It crossed my mind.
- Mr. Ellis: Well, Mr. Luthor... may I see your driver's license, please?
- Lex Luthor: Why?
- Mr. Ellis: This signature doesn't match our records. I... I just need to verify your ID.
- Lex Luthor: I'm standing right here in front of you. What more do you need?
- Mr. Ellis: I'm sorry. It's bank policy.
- Lex Luthor: [taking out a gun instead] I need the money now. Fill the bag!
- Roger Nixon: It's a hell of a picture, Lex. You know, it really boosted our sales.
- Lex Luthor: I've read comic books with less fiction than your rag.
- Roger Nixon: Well, how about this? Is this fiction? It's your juvenile record. Fascinating reading. That must have taken a Brinks truck of your dad's money to keep those people quiet.
- Lex Luthor: Those records are sealed.
- Roger Nixon: I'm a resourceful guy. You know, I saw that picture yesterday and it got me thinking of a follow-up. "Lex Luthor's Wild Youth in Metropolis." Does the name Club Zero ring a bell?
- Lex Luthor: You print one word about that, I'll sue.
- Roger Nixon: Lawsuits take years. The genie'll be out of the bottle and all the people will know that the new and improved Lex Luthor is nothing but a facade.
- Lex Luthor: You know what I think, Rog? If you wanted to print that, it would already be in the paper. I think you're looking for a payoff.
- Mr. Ellis: Mr. Luthor, what can I do for you today?
- Lex Luthor: I want to close all my accounts.
- Mr. Ellis: May I ask why?
- Lex Luthor: Is there a problem?
- Mr. Ellis: No. No, no, no, of course not. It's... it's just that the Luthors have been banking here for twelve years. It's... quite a shock.
- Lex Luthor: I'd like it all in cash.
- Jonathan Kent: So, wait. Rose took your keys, turned into Clark, and then tried to run you down?
- Martha Kent: You're right, it... it's crazy.
- Clark Kent: I don't think so.
- Jonathan Kent: What?
- Clark Kent: I saw a flash of Tina Greer's skeleton. It was weird and green. It didn't look human. You know, like the ones you see in anatomy books?
- Martha Kent: That's probably because Tina was born with a soft bone disease. They had that poor girl on all these experimental drugs. Doctors didn't believe she'd live to see first grade.
- Jonathan Kent: She did get better, right around her third birthday.
- Clark Kent: It was right after the meteor shower, wasn't it?
- Jonathan Kent: Yeah.
- Martha Kent: Clark, what do you think Tina's doing?
- Clark Kent: I don't know. I saw the same weird skeleton flash just after the robbery... I think.
- Lana Lang: Did you hear about Tina? They found the money from the robbery in her locker.
- Clark Kent: Really?
- Lana Lang: She actually cornered me today and asked if she could come live with me and Nell.
- Clark Kent: Just what you need, a bank-robbing roommate.
- Lana Lang: I told her it wasn't such a good idea. I've got enough problems with Nell without adding more to the mix.
- Clark Kent: I always thought you and your aunt were really close.
- Lana Lang: She wants me to be something I'm not. It's like having a dual identity. There's the person that everybody sees, and the person that you wanna be.
- Clark Kent: I know the feeling.
- Lana Lang: That's why I came here. I think you're the only person who sees me for who I truly am. I wanna thank you for that.
- Clark Kent: [taken by surprise as she kisses him] What about Whitney?
- Lana Lang: Forget Whitney. I've had my eye on you just like you've had your eye on me.
- Tina Greer: [shifting back into herself] I don't know how you found out about that money, but you should have stayed out of my life, Clark.
- Lana Lang: This week's editorial?
- Chloe Sullivan: My semi-annual "where are our priorities?" rant.
- Lana Lang: For what it's worth, I really like what you've done with the paper this year.
- Chloe Sullivan: Well, that puts you in the majority of one. I'm sorry about the pom-pom crack. Once I hit "take no prisoners" mode, it's kind of hard for me to shut it off.
- Roger Nixon: What happened to your car?
- Lex Luthor: I drove it off a bridge at 60 miles an hour.
- Roger Nixon: Then how are you still alive?
- Lex Luthor: That's the mystery I need your help solving.
- Lex Luthor: Can I fix you a drink?
- Roger Nixon: If it's all the same to you, I'd just soon get my money and get out.
- Lex Luthor: Of course.
- Roger Nixon: I assume I don't have to count it?
- Lex Luthor: I've even supplied the bag.
- Chloe Sullivan: Hey, I heard what happened.
- Clark Kent: Did you come by to see if I was okay?
- Chloe Sullivan: Actually, as concerned as I always am about your personal well-being, I'm not here to see you.
- Lana Lang: Found my mother's diary. Discovered that a lot of the things that I've been feeling, she felt, too.
- Clark Kent: That's great. Isn't it?
- Lana Lang: It's great, and it's frustrating, and it's scary. It's like she could see right through me. Do you ever feel like that?
- Clark Kent: More than you know.
- Lana Lang: When I was reading her words, it was like she was talking to me. And then she was gone.
- Clark Kent: Well, you're lucky. You're lucky you got at least that.
- Lana Lang: Have you ever tried to find your parents? Your biological parents, I mean?
- Clark Kent: Not really. I figure they're a million years away from my life now.
- Lana Lang: If you could ask them a question, what would you ask?
- Clark Kent: What happened? Why'd they let me go? How do I make sense of all the strangeness in my life?
- Lana Lang: I guess neither of us will ever get a straight answer.
- Clark Kent: I hope you find what you're looking for.
- Lana Lang: Clark, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?
- Clark Kent: Sorry, it's nothing. I wasn't sure it was you.
- Lana Lang: This is a bad time.
- Clark Kent: No.
- Lana Lang: I was out jogging, didn't wanna go home, kind of ended up here.
- Clark Kent: You and Nell are still fighting.
- Lana Lang: How'd you know?
- Clark Kent: Uh, just perceptive, I guess.