Clark's close friends attend, as well as the Luthors. When the funeral is over, Clark picks up a handful of dirt and sprinkles it into his father's grave. Production Writing Originally, the writers developed two potential plotlines for the episode: one in which Clark and Lana would get married, and another in which one of Clark's parents would die. The producers eventually chose only to kill one of the parents. The producers also debated the idea of other characters dying, but realized that none would have as much resonance as one of Clark's parents. Once the basic plot was decided, a group of Smallville writers used whiteboards to flesh out the story, and the details were arranged. After the main story line was developed, the supervising producers presented it to several of the executive vice presidents at The WB Television Network. The executives enjoyed the story: Michael Roberts, a senior executive, called the episode's plot "great" and noted that "the conceit is really cool". According to writers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, "Reckoning" had been chosen as the episode's title before the script had been finalized. Peterson explained that the theme revolved around the idea that "you reap what you sow". This idea was an expansion of the theme from "Hidden", in which Clark was resurrected by his biological father Jor-El, only to be informed that the life of someone he loves would be exchanged in the future as payment for bringing Clark back. Peterson expounded further that the plot of the episode would show that "Clark is not God". According to Souders, Jonathan Kent's death had been requested by executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar at the "beginning of the season", and that the idea was specifically planned to be featured in the show's 100th episode. Gough explained that the reason Jonathan Kent was chosen to die was because "going into season five, this is the year the boy becomes the man, so at some point the mentor/father figure has to die, in order for Clark to ultimately step up and really embrace his destiny." Schneider was happy with how the show wrote Jonathan Kent's death, arguing that his character exited the show "like a hero". Furthermore, he drew comparisons to the death of John Wayne's character Wil Anderson in The Cowboys (1972), arguing that both were examples of "empowering death[s]." Originally, a scene had been shot featuring