Smallville (TV Series) Hourglass (2001) User Reviews

Turn Back Time!

[Jerique · 8/10 · 9 August 2010]

Definitely one of the best episodes to come from the first season of Smallville is Hourglass. Eric Christain Olsen guest stars as Harry Volk, a serial murderer in the forties who turns back time and becomes his young self again to take revenge on the people who killed his dreams.

Clark befriends an old woman, Cassandra, who is known at the retirement home for being able to see the future and Lex becomes skeptical about having a destiny decided for him already. When Martha and Jonathan become the next target of Harry's, Clark has to show himself that Cassandra is right about his destiny of saving people.

It's a great episode and very inspirational. I especially like character of Harry, as he is very evil and good at being exactly that. With a small glimpse of Lex's possible future, we are given more suspicions about his true character. He's a very well developed character.

Special effects do not let up as we get to see Clark use his X-Ray ability as well as his super-speed. His super-strength isn't used as much, aside from one scene. I think it's one of the better episodes of the series, I think. Visual effects aren't given much of a backseat compared to special effects. Plot and storyline along with character development are given primary seat. It's more of a theatrical episode than an action packed, although the writers never leave out action completely.

The Future Enemy of Mankind

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 15 March 2006]

Clark Kent applies to community work in an institute for the aged to be close to Lana Lang. Clark's favorite patient is Cassandra Carver (Jackie Burroughs), an old lady that foretells the future. Lana takes care of Harry Bollston (George Murdock), an unknown former murder. When Harry falls in a lake full of kryptonite nearby the institution, he becomes younger again. The young Harry Volk (Eric Christian Olsen) revenges the descendants of the members of the jury that sentenced him in the past trying to kill them. One of these descendants is Jonathan Kent.

"Hourglass" is a reasonable episode of "Smallville", but not my favorite. The story has some flaws, like for example how the Kents could explain the death of old Harry Bollston in a pit for corn. However, the scene when Cassandra Carver sees the future of Lex Luthor is very impressive. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Destino" ("Fate")

Compelling Episode

[Rcwilkinson123 · 8/10 · 12 September 2007]

The main draw from this episode is the brief glimpses of the future that the episodes' story allows the viewers to see, foretelling destinies that won't be seen until later seasons at least, but especially in the more distant future.

What I mean is this: the audience gets to see what Lex Luthor will become, thanks to Cassandra, an old lady in the rest home, and her ability to touch others and tap into what their future holds. She sees Lex as the U.S. President- an event that does occur in recent DC Comics series and particularly in the series Lex 2000- and then standing in a field, beautiful, full of flowers. But his presence in the field causes the flowers to die, and the field to eventually be scourged with blood, indicating the deaths that will be on Lex's hands due to his evil doings.

And, oh yeah, Clark saves many people in this episode, continuing to compel him about his knack to save- and have the desire to save- others. This includes his father Jonathan, who is being hunted by an old-man-turned young man named Harry due to his being a descendant of a jury who sent Harry to jail for murder years and years previous.

"Hourglass" is the best episode of the season thus far with the exception of the pilot.

Future revelations

[Brettyboy007 · 10/10 · 13 September 2014]

This episode was fantastic. Perfect everything. The writing, acting, and the action were all amazing. "Hourglass" had a lot of revelations. Clark meets a blind lady called Cassandra Carver who can supposedly tell the future of anyone they touch. Through many visits to her, Clark finds out his destiny is to save people. Foreshadowing anyone? Haha.

The other side stories are that another resident in the retirement center was a murderer in his earlier days and finds a place where he connects with the meteor rocks and reverts to his former self and decides to kill the children of the parents who convicted him. Also Lex wants to know his future after hearing about Cassandra from Clark.

The episode overall was perfect with revealing the futures of Clark and a glimpse into Lex's future. Lex is starting to become Clark's archnemesis as he won't give up why he survived that bridge accident in the pilot. He is trying anything to figure out Clark's mystery. Lex's future looks like there could be a lot of betrayals and deaths. Will he ever become the President? Lots of questions arise after this episode.

The Future is Coming!

[gab-14712 · 9/10 · 10 November 2021]

Oy, was "Hourglass" ever a fine hour of television...and perhaps the best Smallville episode yet? We have a different type of villain, one who is not after Lana or Chloe. We get a little bit of inspiration as we glimpse the future of both Clark and Lex both of whom take different trajectories as we all very well know. Saving Lex in the car crash continues to haunt Clark. Lex is never going to let this mystery go. So, we can see the seeds being planted on how these two men became archenemies. This a very exciting episode that has implications for all involved and the ending is fantastic.

In order to be close to Lana, Clark and Pete apply to volunteer at an institute for older people. Clark gets to assist this old, blind lady named Cassandra. She has the power to foretell the future and realizes Clark is not from this world. Meanwhile, Lana works with this former murderer named Harry Bollston. He falls into a lake filled with kryptonite and becomes a young man again (played by Eric Christian Olsen). He seeks revenge against the jury that sentenced him by killing their descendants. One of these descendants happen to be Jonathan Kent. Finally, Lex approaches Cassandra to ask about Clark and is given a future not of hope, but one of despair and hurt.

Overall, this is a fantastic episode! I was not expecting much to be honest, but it ends with a bang. Clark's situation with Lana takes a backseat for once as this storyline plays itself out. Even though we know what happens eventually, it's nice to see the show giving us reminders about their futures. And the villain is not a cookie-cutter one. He was a legit villain. Definitely ranks as one of the best episodes in this early season.

My Grade: A.

Stay out of the water in Smallville

[Rob-369 · 6/10 · 22 February 2016]

This episode wasn't bad, but it is literally the second episode in a row where someone fell into a kryptonite infested lake and then transformed into the bad guy of the week.

I found the plot line with the blind woman to be the best part of the episode, and it's what saved it for me. The villain's reasoning didn't make a lot of sense.

The kryptonite plot is starting to get repetitive. Six episodes so far all have the exact same plot line: "Townsfolk is surrounded by kryptonite and it mutates them into the villain of the week, only to be stopped by Clark."