The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to life in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman.

This season, Clark finally learns who he is and where he comes from, but must also acknowledge a potential destiny set into motion by his biological father that could change his life and the lives of those around him forever.

[16] For the second season, Gough and Millar brought in Christopher Reeve, who portrayed Superman in four feature films, as a guest star for a pivotal role in Clark's life, that of Dr. Virgil Swann.

[18] In addition, Jeph Loeb requested the introduction of Superman's future ally, Metropolis Police Lieutenant Maggie Sawyer, for the episode "Insurgence".

Jeph Loeb and the other writers had already been trying to develop a story that involved a hostage situation, and after Millar made his announcement the team suggested that they also pay homage to the Bruce Willis action film Die Hard.

Loeb was given the task of writing "Red" by Gough and Millar, and one of the things he decided on was that the ultimate pay off with the kryptonite would be Clark finally kissing Lana.

This became the basis in "Rush", where Pete slips a shard of red kryptonite into Clark's pocket; it also gave the network what they wanted, but in the form of a single act instead of the entire episode.

As Greg Beeman points out, Tina's ultimate goal was to take over Whitney's life and live forever with Lana; the character also "lusted over Chloe" during a portion of the episode.

Although Jonathan Kent was also a suspect, it was clear to at least Greg Beeman that they could not pin the crime on a series regular, so they decided to try to surprise the audience by making it Ethan.

A scene involving Clark inadvertently using heat vision in his sexual education class was originally scripted for the pilot, but was cut when the budget became too large.

In the end, the court angle was dropped from the storyline, with Clark making an anonymous phone call to the Sheriff and eventually having to battle the three kryptonite powered thieves that he had witnessed stealing.

The main story would focus on the reporter attempting to assassinate Lex Luthor, but it eventually evolved into what Biller refers to as "a metaphor on trying to super-achieve at high school".

"The production crew attempted to use money saving techniques when it came time to film scenes in locations other than the usual spots—the Kent farm, Luthor mansion, Smallville High, and the Talon.

Pitt Meadows, in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, subbed for the Indonesian landscape the crew needed for the sequence of Whitney Fordman's ultimate demise during battle "Visage".

[33] In "Visitor", David Willson and his production crew built a "practical, functioning" tower for the scene in the woods where Cyrus attempts to call for his alien transport.

While working on the project, Willson met a man named Bowler Simpson, who had built a 10-acre (40,000 m2) memorial, to his deceased daughter, out of old license plates and STOP signs.

Greg Beeman, who directed "Lineage", worked off the same inspiration as Ken Biller, who used John Sayles' Lone Star when writing the flashback sequences for the episode.

Visual effects supervisor John Wash filmed debris hanging from a green screen, like loose straw and mailboxes, which he would "swirl around" the stage.

[29] John Wash explained what the creators were looking for:"[Gough and Millar] wanted to be fairly accurate in terms of what you might see from something that was searingly hot traveling through the air, like a disturbance of the atmosphere.

Entity FX had an extended period of time to research the kinetics of the cemetery scene, where Clark would speed through rain drops, because there were limited effects done for the episodes "Precipice" and "Witness".

While creating the alley scene in "Prodigal" where Lucas Luthor is attacked by an assassin with an Uzi 9mm, Mat Beck had to "cheat" the realism on the special effects used.

For instance, in a flashback sequence from "Lineage", where Lionel finds his son in a field of flattened corn, Entity FX had to step in and adjust the scene based on executive producer Ken Horton's request.

Entity FX created the image of Metropolis by using a computer to combine CG buildings, matte paintings, and real elements from the Vancouver streets.

In "Fever", time constraints forced the production team to rely on Entity FX to create the Talon marquee that hangs outside of the building, something that they typically do not do.

Faris, however, did not move in a manner that they could use, so the effects team created a pair of CGI hands on the skid, and performed the action they needed with the computer model.

Mat Beck and his team wanted to be as realistic as possible when digitally crafting the anatomy of the lungs, but they also decided to take certain liberties with the structures in order to "make [them] look cool".

Entity FX created a beam of light that shot vertically up from the ship's location and then fell back down expanding into a "ripple that spread across the land".

[14] In "Precipice", John Wash assisted the digital effects team when the production crew was filming a scene that was going to involve Clark X-raying a car with a group of teenagers in it.

Though the cost of using a greenscreen was saved, Entity FX still had to digitally remove all the wire harnesses from the scene, which is an effect that goes unnoticed in the final product of the majority of episodes.

Gough contributes much of the second season's success to the family dynamic between Clark and his parents, whose emotional core provided a large part of the appeal, as was the move away from the overused "freak of the week" story lines.