lex luthor

(S07E07) Okay, this was the first time I ever watched Smallville and had my jaw drop. Seriously. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's examine the facts: Lana and Clark are deep into dating mode. Plus, she's been staying at the Kent farm with him ever since she's returned from the dead. However, they've apparently not be able to um ... consummate that relationship because of Clark's superpowers. I guess if he gets amorous with someone, he might accidentally hurt them. Not to mention burn the place down, which he used to do when he'd get turned on.

While it's not clear how they've been getting around this, they sure didn't have to worry about it on this episode. Clark gets struck by lightning while close to some kryptonite, and his powers get transferred to someone else. Yes, again. However, this time he gets to keep his powers, and Lana is the beneficiary of the souped-up abilities. How do they celebrate this event? By knocking boots. Literally. They have such powerful sex that it causes seismic waves across Smallville. In fact, they practically destroy the Kent farm in the process. Holy cow.

(S07E06) Shades of Superman past! Kara getting sent off-world by her Dad Zor-El while Krypton starts to come apart around her? Egads. Plus all of that crystalline Kryptonian architecture that the Superman: The Movie provided us with. Then snap cut to Kara almost getting run down in the sky by a jetliner in a really nice special effects shot that probably blew their budget for a show to come later in the season featuring nothing but talking heads. Yes, this episode of Smallville begins with a bang.

However, that bang turned until a turning stomach once I had to witness that Lionel / Clark hug. Is it me or was that a pretty bizarre and awkward man-embrace? Clark's gone from hating to loving the Luthors more times than I can count, but hugging Lionel? I never thought I'd see the day.

(S07E04) Okay, I have to admit, it took me a good long while to wrap my brain around this episode of Smallville. Not because of the schlocky "Cure" plot, but because of you-know-who. That's right ... Dean Cain. It was just more than a tad freaky seeing him go toe to toe with Clark, wasn't it? While this show is about a billion times better than Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was, Cain was still Superman. Throw in the fact that Christoper Reeve has been on this show, and you're just a couple of cameos away from having all of the living actors who have played the man (or boy) of steel on Smallville.

According to a press release from The CW, Supergirl will be joining the cast of Smallville next season. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Some people might call this a possible shark-jumping moment ... but for me that already happened back when Jonathan Kent kicked the bucket *sniffle*.

Straight from the network -- "On Smallville, the seventh season premiere kicks off with the arrival of Supergirl, whose name is Kara, as Clark's (Tom Welling) 19-year-old cousin. She was born on Krypton and is the daughter of Zor-El, Jor-El's brother. Kara possesses all of Clark's powers and one he doesn't yet have ? she can fly! Kara also has a strong, rebellious streak that puts her at odds with Clark, and puts her onto Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) radar. In addition, she takes a romantic interest in Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore)."

(S05E17) As I got into this episode, two things occurred to me. First, since next week is the season finale, when did they decide to cut this season to 18 episodes? More importantly for our purposes here though, this episode felt very familiar. It took a minute, but when Lois and Mayor West got to the debate, I remembered what it was. The main story was very similar to the season two episode, "Running Mates."

(S06E21) Okay, before we get much further, can anyone tell me why Lex's super-powered project Ares can turn invisible, has super-strength, can deflect bullets, but has to use a knife? Did that strike anyone else as weird or was it just me? I'm trying not to digress here because I really enjoyed this episode, but a couple of small things nagged at me.

Chief among them was the fact that ... Ares is Helo from Battlestar Galactica! Tahmoh Penikett is a terrific actor who lives in Vancouver, where both Smallville and Battlestar Galactica are shot, but I have a rule of thumb that if one actor is on a fairly popular sci-fi show and then jumps across to another, it's going to rattle a few fanboy brain cells, mine included. If Helo suddenly appeared on say ... Law & Order, it probably wouldn't feel so jarring, but this was a bit distracting for me.

(S06E19) Alternatively titled "Welcome Back, Lionel" ... or the "Clark and Lex Tunnel Exploration Power Hour". Was that some pretty heinous underground action or what?

Okay, right off the bat I have to admit ... this was a pretty darn cool episode of Smallville. I'll get to the bones I have to pick with it later, but for the most part it really rocked. You've got Lex and Clark sort of facing off, sort of friends again, Clark wondering if he gave up on Lex too early, Lana being pretty hard-nosed and kick ass ... and all of this without any super powers at all and they kept me interested the whole time. I'm sold.

(S06E18) Wonder Woman on Smallville? Only in our wildest dreams. Still Lynda Carter is about as close to the real thing as we'll probably get. If you ask me, she still looks like a Wonder Woman. Hubba hubba. I kept hoping she'd spin around and then have her tights on and take Lex to town. No such luck.

So, speaking of Lynda Carter ... yes, she's Chloe's mom. Yes, she has meteor powers. Yes, she was in Smallville during the original meteor shower. So why hasn't Chloe found out any of this stuff before? Has she been turning a blind eye where mommy dearest is concerned? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Can you smell it in the air? That's right, the strong scent of May sweeps. Some things are always true, April showers bring May flowers, and May sweeps bring big events on TV. Smallville hasn't been immune in the past, which is why Jonathan Kent is (sadly) no longer with us. But who else is going to kick the bucket?

Sources say that one of the four major characters, Clark, Chloe, Lana or Lex will die by the end of this season. Now, through simple deductive reasoning, I think we can assume that it isn't going to be Clark, since that would end the series pretty quick. We know Lex has to be Clark's eternal nemesis, so that takes him out of the running as well.

(S06E16) The wedding bells that have been ringing in the promos for this episode also sound like funeral bells ringing, is that a coincidence? We may never know. Anyhow, it's finally here, the Lex & Lana wedding that we've all been dreading/waiting for.

Did that scene of Lex and Lana watching the ultrasound creep anyone else out? It's scary to know what might come ripping out of that womb. I keep picturing that scene from Alien over and over in my head. I also hope that the photo Clark whipped out the window didn't end up decapitating someone in Malaysia. He really put some heat behind it.

According to the site Associated Content, Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Lex Luthor on Smallville, is planning on leaving the show at the end of next season.

There aren't many more details, other than the fact that Rosenbaum "confirmed" the report. The rest of the article just summarizes the development of Lex and speculates on whether the show can survive his departure. Considering the show is already in its sixth season, and Rosenbaum isn't going to leave until next year, it would seem that there wouldn't be much life left in the show beyond a seventh season, anyway. So this announcement, especially coming so early, is a curious one to me. Maybe Rosenbaum is looking for some sort of "farewell tou" or something. Not sure.

Can the show survive without Lex? Let me know in the comments.

[via digg]

(S06E13) Valentine's Day comes to Smallville about two weeks before the rest of the country. Why can't these episodes come on closer to the actual date of the holiday? Okay, I'm griping too much. We've got the return of Red Kryptonite, and it's about darn time. It comes at the right time, too ... given the fact that Lois has gotten a bit itchy in her relationship with Oliver Queen, and Lana is about to go fully over to the dark side and marry Lex Luthor, not to mention have his baby. That's getting a bit too close to the whole Anakin/Padme relationship, ain't it?

The whole little Zoltar machine slash Gypsy slash matchmaker woman who just gives Lois the magical lipstick was wayyyyy to much of a plot device for me. It's like the writers were in a post-Chinese food coma and decided to just have some character waltz in and hand it over. Was it too convenient? Am I griping about the small stuff too much again? Most likely. Granted, the alternative was probably having a department of LuthorCorp working on cosmetics, and some wacky scientist decides to add meteor rocks and yadda yadda yadda. K-powered shampoo and shaving gel for the world.

(S06E12) Or as I like to call it, "The Martian Manhunter Show!" All Martians, all the time. Either that, or "One Flew Over the Clark Kent's Nest," except we didn't get a Nurse Ratchett, unfortunately. You can tell right from the beginning that this is all taking place in Clark's mind, so it has the ring of "ripoff" to me. Basically, it's like holodeck episode of Star Trek: TNG. Although some good things came out of those (Dixon Hill, Moriarty, Minuet) so I'm not going to declare full shenanigans ... maybe only halfsies.

Someone needs to YouTube together all of the scenes of Clark working on farm equipment and make it a commercial for Clark's Tractor Repair. We must have seen him work on that thing a million times, but I don't remember him ever turning over any soil in the north forty. What gives, Smallville? The writers need to think about dropping the whole Kent Farm charade and just have them live on the land. Martha's a senator, which must pay fairly decent wages, right?

(S06E10) Winter break is over folks, and Smallville is back with ... Tori Spelling? Yes, you read (and probably saw) that right. Miss 90210 herself has broken out of Beverly Hills and made her way to Smallville. She brings Clark yet another double L connection, playing snarky gossip columnist Linda Lake who tries to blow the lid on Lex Luthor and Lana Lang (butting heads with Chloe SuLLivan in the process), and Lois Lane thinks that OLLie Queen might be the Green Arrow. Leapin' lizards, there's probably a whole crate of extra Ls being ordered by the production team in order to keep up with everything.

So, with Lana still reeling from Lex's marriage proposal, she's hoping to "revisit her past" to seek answers. Which is female code-word talking for "I'm going to see if there's someone better that I might regret not going out with again, so just hang on for an answer." Of course, poor Clark has to read it on the Daily Planet gossip page, which makes me wonder whatever happened to Perry White and The Inquisitor. This sort of drudge is much more suited for their pages, not for the newspaper of Metropolis.

(S06E09) Is this Children of the Corn, or Smallville? Some kids are being forced to work on a farm, and if they try to escape something that looks like Sonic the Hedgehog chases them down and snuffs 'em down in the dirt. Talk about a motivation to keep on digging. They were smuggled across the border to work ... in Smallville? Since when is the Mexican border near Kent and company?