Smallville: Why Lex Luthor Forgot Clark Kent's Secret So Many Times, Explained

Smallville stands as the longest-running TV series based on a DC (or Marvel) property ever made, running for a staggering 217 episodes across 10 seasons of television that aired from 2001 to 2011 on The CW. That's a colossal achievement, offering fans the fullest depiction of the DC universe they've yet to see in live-action, despite the best efforts of Zack Snyder's DCEU. Even so, a TV show can't run that long without repeating itself a few times, and one of Smallville's most notorious tropes is its reliance on characters developing convenient amnesia.