How Did the Series End?

The official end of the series was a two-parter called "Rite of Passage"; as Clark approaches his 21st birthday (Gerard Christopher was actually 34, incidently the same age that Tom Welling will be when his "Young Superman" show ends) his powers start to go haywire. At the same time, the lights in the ship that brought him to Earth start blinking and beeping... they're just blinking and beeping... I can't stand it anymore!(What? I liked Airplane II) Anyways... so Clark decides to go back to Smallville and see if he can find out what is going on. He goes up to the ship and a hologram tells him that to progress me must insert a purple crystal into the computer, but said crystal fell off when the ship crashed to Earth. Because it isn't there, the hologram strips him completely of his powers until it can be found.
It turns out that the purple crystal was found by Dennis Jackson 21 years earlier, who has been holding on to since. Now it is blinking and beeping as well (insert Buck Murdock reference here), so he enlists the aid of Lana Lang and Matt Ritter to go to Smallville to find out what is going on. Lana has pretty much figured out that Clark is Superboy, and when she comes across Clark, procedes to repeatedly stab him with a hat pin. But since he's lost his powers he bleeds.
In the guise of Superboy, Clark talks the purple crystal out of Matt Ritter and takes it back to the ship, which zaps him to give him back his restored and normal powers. Shortly afterwards, Lana who has deduced that Clark is Superboy, but lost his powers, procedes to try and stab Superboy with a hat pin, which then just bends against his skin. The hologram tells him that he is ready for the "next stage" in his development.
There are various subplots of how all the other characters find a resolution to their own character issues, for example Mr Jackson learns to relax and take it easy. And Lana, who has deduced that Clark is Superboy, that he lost, then regained his powers procedes to stab Clark in the ass with a hat pin. The series ends ona freeze frame of the pin going right for his backside.

So all in all, that has enough resolution to be a finale. Originally there were plans to end the 4th season on a cliffhanger where Superboy has apparently died, then resolve it either as a series of TV movies or a Fifth Season. But by that point, WB had gained the upper hand in their legal wrangling with the Salkynds and filed a lien on the show, essentially forcing its end. Oh well... At least we got 100 episodes, 2/3 of which are reasonably good (if cheaply made).


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