(S05E20) Now, I know you guys miss me, but this is just a temporary thing; Lacy had some technical difficulties and I'm just stepping in to help her out for this episode. We'll be returning you to your regularly scheduled reviewer next week. I think I somehow missed an episode somewhere along the way the past couple of weeks, because I was just as shocked as Clark to find that Lana and Lex were now an item. I knew that they would end up together, but I thought they would tease the issue a while ala Clark and Lana. I know they share some traits and bonding moments, but how gullible and lame is Lana to just jump together with Lex? I had more faith in her than that, apparently, so did Clark. On with the show!

We had a blatant Saw ripoff last week which turned out to be a fantastic episode, so this week the producers apparently decided to pull out Hollow Man from the inspiration archives. Who would have thought that both would end up working so well. This season is really going to go down as one of, if not the best season for Smallville; the stories no longer focus solely on the freaks of the week, but instead use them as devices to move the plot ahead. This is a Clark Kent story; we want to learn about him. I wish they would have spent a little more time with Clark wrestling with the fact that he saved the bad guy in this. He's done it time after time with Lex and Lionel, but they are a step closer to the Kent family. Some random guy that he saved on the street turns out to be a world class assassin. Is every person that he murders from here on out going to weigh on Clark's conscious? Again, I would have like to have seen him deal with that more.

As I said in the opening, Lana's bugging me. I think Kristin Kreuk is a decent young actress, but Lana's become a parody of herself at this point and it's just getting old. I really wish the staff behind the show would have had the cajones to kill Lana off instead of Jonathan during Reckoning. I think that would have been the ballsier move, and could have led to a lot of the same stories they're still telling but with a much fresher pace for the show. Clark is surrounded by a female supporting cast now and it just feels off-balance now. The moment where Lana thanked Lex for saving her life when Clark had the bullet in his hand was a very poignant scene. Hopefully Clark taking down the telescope from the barn truly was the symbolic end for he and Lana. Hopefully they, us and the show, can finally move on now. Let me know what you think.

Comic Book references of the Week:
"Ask anyone in the hero business."