Chloe Sullivan's Biography

Introduced in the series pilot, Chloe spends much of her time helping her best friend Clark Kent (Tom Welling) stop the citizens of Smallville who have developed special abilities from genetic mutations, caused by the meteor rocks that fell to Smallville in 1989, from committing crimes. It is established that Chloe is the editor of the school newspaper the Torch at the start of the first season. Her journalistic curiosity—always wanting to "expose falsehoods" and "know the truth"[3]—causes tension with her friends, especially when she is digging into Clark's past in the season two episode "Lineage".[4] In the early seasons, Chloe hides the fact that she is in love with Clark, although the feeling is not reciprocated; she confesses her true feelings to Clark in season two's "Fever" while he is sick, but he calls out Lana Lang's name in his delirium.[5] Her feelings for Clark get in the way of her better judgment as she betrays his trust in the season two finale, after witnessing him and Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) sharing a kiss in his barn, and agrees to uncover information on Clark for Lionel Luthor (John Glover) in exchange for a job at the Daily Planet.[6]
Chloe and Clark patch their relationship in the season three episode "Whisper", after Clark discovers that she has been helping Lionel. When Chloe stops her investigation, Lionel has her fired from the Daily Planet, and also fires her father from his job at LuthorCorp.[7] In season three's "Forsaken", Chloe decides to assist Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), Lionel's son, with getting Lionel arrested for the murder of Lex' grandparents; Chloe's hope is to get out from under Lionel’s control.[8] In the season three finale, the F.B.I. place Chloe and her father in a safe-house until Lionel’s trial; unfortunately, the safe-house explodes once Chloe and her father enter and they are presumed dead.[9] Chloe’s cousin, Lois Lane (Erica Durance), comes to Smallville to investigate Chloe’s death in the fourth season premiere.[10] In season four's "Gone", Clark and Lois team-up and discover that Lex’s security team found the explosives in the safe-house, pulled Chloe and her father to safety before they detonated, and that he has been hiding her ever since. After Chloe’s testimony in the same episode, Lionel is convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.[11] In the season four episode "Pariah", Chloe discovers Clark’s secret when Alicia Baker (Sarah Carter), Clark's girlfriend, decides that Clark’s secret needs to be exposed to the world in order for him to feel more comfortable about who he really is. Alicia hopes that Chloe will write a story exposing Clark, but Chloe decides that Clark kept his secret for a reason and decides not write the story.[12]
Having kept the knowledge of Clark's secret to herself, Chloe finally reveals to Clark in the season five premiere that she has knows his secret, but that she wanted him to be comfortable enough to tell her on his own. At the same time, Clark reveals that he was not infected by the meteor rocks in Smallville, as Chloe initially suspected, but that he is in fact an alien who was sent to Earth as a baby during the meteor shower of 1989.[13] In season five's "Thirst", Chloe earns her dream job at the Daily Planet, starting in the basement.[14] In the season six finale. Chloe learns that she has special powers, created from exposure to the meteor rocks, that allow her to heal any wounds and even reverse death.[15] In season seven's "Descent", when Chloe attempts to keep information regarding "The Traveler" a secret from Lex, who is unaware that "The Traveler" is really Clark, he fires her from her job at the Daily Planet.[16] In the season seven episode "Sleeper", after Lana falls into a catatonic state, after being attacked by the Kryptonian artificial intelligence known as Brainiac (James Marsters), Chloe decides to spend her time running Lana’s Isis Foundation, a free clinic for individuals who have been infected by the meteor rocks.[17] In the seventh season finale, Chloe is attacked by Brainiac, but her healing powers prevent him from harming her. When she returns home, Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore), her on-again-off-again boyfriend since season six, proposes marriage. Before Chloe can answer the Department of Domestic Security (DDS) appear and arrest her for hacking into the government database.[18]
At the start of season eight, it is revealed that Chloe was not arrested by the DDS, but Lex’s security personnel who were impersonating DDS agents. Lex’s men have Chloe unwittingly track down the superhero Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), and his team of super-powered friends, whom Lex views as terrorists for destroying all of his experimental research facilities. While being subjected to their tests, Chloe discovers that after her altercation with Brainiac she has developed a second ability, super intelligence — which allows her to break hidden codes faster than LuthorCorp’s supercomputer.[2] In the season eight episode "Abyss", Brainiac begins replacing Chloe's memories with Kryptonian code, so Clark takes her to his biological father, Jor-El, so that he can restore her memory. In the process, Clark asks Jor-El not to restore the knowledge of his secret, so that she can live a life free of the burden and danger that comes with knowing his secret.[19] In season eight's "Bride", Chloe marries Jimmy in the Kent barn, but is kidnapped by Doomsday, a genetically engineered killing machine created by evil Kryptonians bent on destroying Earth, and carried to Clark's Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, which has come under the control of Brainiac.[20] In the episode "Legion", Brainiac possesses Chloe and attempts to drain the world of all its human knowledge. Brainiac is stopped by the Legion, who team up with Clark and help exorcise Brainiac from Chloe's body. Afterward, Chloe's memories of Clark's secret are returned.[21]