(S09E17) Five episodes left in this ninth season, so General Zod needs to start putting together whatever his endgame plan is going to be. Steps were definitely taken toward that this week, but first we got the return of one of Superman's deadliest foes: Metallo.

It's always nice to see Brian Austin Green, and he's actually quite effective in this role. I was a little disappointed in how quickly they were able to re-establish his character in whatever way they needed him for this week, but I'll forgive it because it was so much fun seeing almost everyone else turned on their ears.

Checkmate and The Wall took a break from intimidating everyone and pushing Tess around, which freed Tess up to make an unexpected alliance. Also missing from the fun was Green Arrow, but there was plenty of action without them.

Who will bite it during Thursday's Smallville season finale? I'm ready to place my bets. Two major deaths have been teased for weeks, but I don't think we're gonna see a Smallville vet leave the show just yet.

Judging by this interview with actress Cassidy Freeman and this one with executive producer Kelly Souders, I'm pretty sure Chloe, Clark and Lana are safe.

Souders told E! Online that Tom Welling's Clark and Erica Durance's Lois are both pretty much a lock to return for season nine. (And I think Allison Mack's Chloe will at least survive until the final season).

Lead characters are extremely important for TV series, as they are the basis of the shows' storylines. However, to make said lead characters shine and make the storylines interesting, supporting characters must be introduced. Sometimes, those characters have a major impact on a series and even end up becoming leads. Just see how Ben Linus on Lost was set to appear in a few episodes, but ended up being so helpful to the storyline and loved (or hated) by the fans that he became an integral part of the series and is now a major player on the show.

That compelled me to make a list of new supporting characters who helped make their series better this season. Since my list only has 10 items and because I don't watch all current TV series, I will have missed tons of supporting characters, so feel free to add to the list by commenting below. However, note that I restricted my list to supporting characters that were introduced THIS season. So the Ben Linuses of the TV world are not on the list.

Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor is history, the great John Glover is no longer chewing the scenery, and the last few seasons seemed to stretch the "Young Man of Steel" concept about as far as it could go. If you're like me, you stopped DVR-ing Smallville even before last season's dismal Kryptonite gum episode, "Hero," which brought the show's penchant for product placement to an all time low. But, for me, Smallville has always been like a Quarter Pounder value meal from McDonalds -- cheesy, full of fat and empty calories, but wholly familiar and comforting. That's probably why I tuned in to watch this season's opener back in September, and I'm glad I did.

In early May, we told you that Smallville was looking at adding two new characters to fill in the void left my some major departures (read here Lex, less Lana, and no more Lionel, since the character got killed). The two characters were that of Doomsday, the only DC Comics character to have killed Superman, and Tess, a female villain set to take care of Lex's estate.

Gossip columnist Michael Ausiello reports on his website that the show finally cast both roles. Battlestar Galactica's Sam Witwer was cast as a reviewed/revamped version of Doomsday while newcomer Cassidy Freeman will play Tess.

Slight spoilers about both roles coming up!