Smallville: Descent (Episode 716)

Lionel arrives at Luthorcorp on what turns out to be later the same day as the events of LAST EPISODE. As he sits with his head in his hands, Lex suddenly steps out of the shadows, wanting to know if Lionel has already found the Traveler. Lex accuses him of going to Smallville on the day of the meteor shower with the express purpose of meeting the Traveler there -- and being willing to sacrifice Lex in order to do so.

Lionel: "Well, truth be told, Lex, you were portrayed by a much less awesome child actor back then, so you can hardly blame me."

Lex demands to know who the Traveler is. Lionel tells him that he, Lex, is the Traveler. He told Lex the day of the meteor shower that he was destined for greatness, and has been relentless in developing and training Lex ever since. Lex isn't buying it, though, and predicts all his questions will be answered when he opens the Veritas box in Zurich. Lionel warns him that the attraction of the Dark Power will lead him to Mordor destroy him, and that he mustn't open the box.

Lex shoots out the window behind Lionel, demanding to know the location of the second key. He yanks the chain off his father's neck. Lionel warns him desperately that if he opens the box, there will never be any redemption for him. Lex grabs Lionel by the lapels.

Lex: "I was raised in your shadow. Now you're gonna die in mine. No one will even remember your name."

And he pushes his father out the window. Lionel falls, an expression of peace on his face, as his reflected image grows smaller in Lex's eye. Credits.

At the Planet, Clark hovers as Chloe combs satellite data for any sign of Kara and Brainiac, with no luck. Chloe is distracted by the sound of sirens just outside the building, and Lois and Jimmy burst in to announce that Lionel Luthor just jumped out his office window. Clark hesitates, but joins Chloe to go outside.

In one of the only non-stock images of the Daily Planet exterior I've ever seen, we get to see Chloe and Clark exit the revolving doors of the newspaper and cross the street to the steps of Luthorcorp, where they join the throng of photographers and police surrounding the scene. A detective confirms that Lex was working down the hall from Lionel, and respectfully requests a positive ID. She pulls back the tarp, and Lex stares into his father's dead eye. He nods and walks away. Everything slows down and the lights glow as Lex hears a familiar voice behind him: "You killed Dad?" It's little Alexander.

As Lex turns away and the scene returns to normal, he finds himself staring at Clark, who stares right back. Lex starts to leave, looking over his shoulder at Clark, who keeps pace with him for a bit on the other side of the barrier. Chloe reminds Clark that Lionel was certainly no angel, but Clark argues that no matter what he's done, Lionel would never commit suicide. They both agree that he was pretty disturbed earlier in the day, and Clark remembers that Lionel was desperate to give him some sort of locket.

At the mansion, Lex sits by the fire alone. His lady aide enters to offer her condolences, and no doubt is honored when Lex chooses to tell her about the time Lionel took him to the Air and Space Museum in Washington because Lex was fascinated by things that could fly. In fact, Lady Aide nearly comes on the spot when she places her hand on his shoulder and he covers her hand with his. She notices he's holding the locket, foolishly assuring him that she'll never tell anyone what he's done. Oh, Lady Aide. Rule number one in the Handbook for Evil Sidekicks: never indicate that you know anything about the boss's crimes, even to the boss.

She pries the locket from his hand and opens it, only to find there is no key inside. "It was empty," Lex explains with bitter irony. Lady Aide (Gina, we finally learn) recalls that Lionel visited the Planet just before going to Luthorcorp. She goes to order a chopper, and suddenly Alexander is there again, behind Lex: "You killed Dad for a necklace?" Lex tries to tell Alexander to get out of his head, but the little boy screams that Lex shouldn't have done it. Lex wheels around in a rage and throws his glass, but Alexander is not there, and the liquor explodes in the fire.

The camera pans Lionel's desk, indicating that he's recently been listening to Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung, about a war between gods bringing about the end of the world. Nice. Clark stands in the (somehow police-free) office staring out the broken window. He goes to the safe, presumably looking for the locket, and is about to give up when he spies something behind an encased leather-bound edition of Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche. Again, nice. Who wants to bet that Lionel had several aphorisms memorized, including the one that inspired the title: "Whatever is done from love is done beyond good and evil"? Anyway, Clark spies a silver hexagonal cylinder with Kryptonian symbols on it, which he translates aloud: "For Kal-El, in the event of my death." The symbols light up at Clark's touch. Not that I blame them. Ahem.

Clark twists the ends of the cylinder so that more symbols fall in line with the first set, and the end of the cylinder suddenly illuminates like a flashlight. He points it at the wall, where it casts a projection of moving Kryptonian script. Lionel's emissary voice explains that of all the power he's known, his greatest accomplishment and honor has been to protect and serve Kal-El. But since Lionel can no longer do that, Kal-El must find the two keys and prevent them from unlocking the secret of controlling him.

Here's an idea, Lionel: destroy the key, rather than try to hide it! I'm just thinking out loud here.

At the Planet, Jimmy works excitedly at his computer, while Lois stomps around, annoyed that Jimmy wanted to scour Lex's office here at the PLANET instead of going after real news. Jimmy finally gets her to take a look at the photo he's so excited about:

Jimmy Olsen: Redefining paparazzi.

Lois is quick to patronize Jimmy for snapping random photos of her at a time like this. Jimmy's point, however, is that Luthorcorp can be seen through the window behind her, and lo and behold, the photo was snapped just as Lionel's body was falling. Nice save, stalker boy. Still further, a blurry image of a person standing just inside the window indicates that someone was in Lionel's office with him. Ooh de lally! They decide to forward the image to the more powerful computers at the ISIS Foundation and wrangle Chloe's help to sharpen the image.

Over in the deserted bullpen, Chloe opens her desk and finds Lionel's key folded up in a piece of paper with the symbol for the house of El on it. Seeing Lex coming down the stairs, she quickly stashes the key back in her desk and puts the symbol through the paper shredder. That's my girl. Lex gets straight to the point: did his father give anything to her when he visited that afternoon? Chloe denies it, but Lex reaches into her desk and retrieves the key. Chloe remains remarkably calm in the face of Lex's furor, insisting that she doesn't know what the key is or why Lionel would give it to her. She doesn't even flinch when Lex fires her on the spot, but she does raise holy hell when he has his securo-thugs remove her bodily from the building before she can collect her personal items.

Lady Aide -- what? it sounds better than "Gina" -- volunteers to pack up Chloe's things and send them to her, and tells Lex he should go home and rest. She places a "comforting" hand on his shoulder and smiles: "We did it, Lex." Lex stares at her. Oh, Lady Aide. Rule number two from the Handbook for Evil Sidekicks: there is no "we".

After Lex leaves, Chloe's phone indicates she has a text message from Jimmy. Lady Aide reads that he and Lois have photographic proof that Lionel's death was no suicide, and that Chloe should meet them in the archive room.

In said archive room, Lois is getting antsy waiting for Chloe. She opens the door to leave, only to find Lady Aide brandishing a rather persuasive gun. She forces them down to the cafeteria kitchen, explaining that she's already deleted the photo from the Planet servers, but demanding to know where they forwarded it. When Lois tries to escape, Lady Aide blasts her in the shoulder. Itchy trigger finger, much? Jimmy finally tells her the location of the ISIS Foundation, and Lady Aide locks them in the walk-in freezer until she gets back. Well, nice to know she doesn't want Lois to bleed to death, but unfortunately she's not going to be back. Oh, spoiler alert.

Jimmy sets Lois on the floor and covers her with his jacket, while Lois bemoans her own sketchy intelligence for taking on one of Lex's "fembots." Heh. Jimmy goes to the door and begins pounding on it, shouting for help to the deserted kitchen.

Chloe and Clark meet at the ISIS Foundation, having gotten other messages from Jimmy. Clark tells her about Lionel's Krypto-marquee, and that Lionel was protecting him from something that can control him. Chloe explains that Lex took Lionel's key and fired her, and Clark notes that he's pretty sure who's going to turn up in Jimmy's photo. He superspeeds off while Chloe gets to work on the image.

In Lex's study at the mansion, Clark examines the empty locket. As he puts it away, Lex storms in to berate him for breaking and entering at a time like this. Clark states baldly that Lionel would never kill himself, and that he's not going anywhere. Alexander appears, advising Lex to confide in his friend Clark about what he did, but Lex ignores him, challenging that Clark should know what it's like to lose a father. In fact, he says, their fathers both thought of Clark as a son to be proud of, and Lex wanted nothing more than to be Clark's lover friend, until Clark abandoned him.

Clark: "So you're the person you are today because of me."

That's one of the basic morals of this whole story, no? Glad to see you're catching on, Clark. Lex contends that far from being power-hungry, he's merely been stepping up to the plate -- someone needed to protect the world from whatever alien menace is clearly at work in Smallville. Clark calls him delusional, but Lex wonders what his father -- a "worldly billionaire" -- could have in common with Clark.

Lex, near tears, seethes: "You're the perfect son. So -- so why did Jonathan Kent always seem so stressed? I mean, was raising the perfect son really that much work? I wonder how much of a strain it put on his heart."

Ohhhh, snap. Clark is outraged at the suggestion that he was responsible for his father's death, but he insists that Lex will pay for Lionel's. Lex tosses the "delusional" accusation right back at Clark, but when Clark says he has proof -- which, as the audience knows, he doesn't yet -- Lex's eyes change. That's enough for Clark. He leaves.

At ISIS, Chloe finally sharpens the image to get a good look, and sure enough, she can make out Lex's unmistakable pate. Just then, Lady Aide enters and clocks Chloe from behind. She inserts a flash drive which wipes out the photo, but just as she's about to leave, she hears Clark calling for Chloe and hides.

Clark helps Chloe up, but after she tells him what happened and confirms that it was Lex in the photo, he says he X-rayed the whole mansion with no sign of the key. They realize that Jimmy and Lois must have been waylaid at the PLANET, and Clark makes to head out, but Chloe warns him to be careful, since if Lex has both keys, he could unlock the secret to controlling Clark: "And that's not just your worst nightmare, it's...everyone else's, too." Awww.

Oh, and Lady Aide has overheard all of this, by the way. She watches, hidden, as he speeds away.

Down in the Planet's kitchen freezer, Jimmy and Lois make like human popsicles, covered in cardboard boxes to try to keep warm, and Jimmy mumbling a pep talk to try to keep them awake. Upstairs, Clark hears Jimmy's voice with his super-eardrums and blasts open the freezer doors. He warms them up with his heat vision and speeds away before they open their eyes.

As she's leaving ISIS, Lady Aide calls Lex and leaves a message, saying she knows who the Traveler is, and he should call her back. Unfortunately, someone surprises her at her car with some kind of inhalant, which appears to work quickly on her nervous system. She is barely able to struggle as her assailant places her in the driver's seat, fastens her seatbelt, and puts the key in the ignition. By the time he settles her eyeglasses back on her nose, she's clearly dead.

Oops. Rule number seventy-four in the Handbook for Evildoers: always do a final debrief of your Sidekick before you have her whacked.

At the mansion, Lex orders an assistant to have his plane ready to fly to Zurich after the funeral. But as Lex is left alone with his thoughts, little Alexander appears again. He begs Lex not to go to Zurich, that their father was right that opening the box would destroy Lex.

Lex: "It's all I have left."
Alexander: "That's not true. You still have me."

OMG, this kid is so good, y'all. Lex, however, disagrees. He drags the poor kid down the stairs by the scruff of the neck, growls that Alexander makes him weak, and stuffs him into the fire. The last vestige of goodness in him burns. Criminy.

At Kent farm the next morning, Clark sits at his desk in the loft, regarding a picture of his father and the silver cylinder from Lionel. Chloe enters, remarking that it was a long night and it's good to see the sun again. I could totally interpret that in a shippy way, but since there are other interpretations that make me feel less lame, I will refrain. Lionel's funeral is today, and Chloe notes that it is closed to all guests, meaning that Lex is the only person invited. Clark remarks that Lionel deserves better, which I suppose is true; but to be fair, he and Chloe are really the only ones who know that.

Chloe tries to comfort him with the fact that Lionel thought of him as a son. Clark: "Another person who treated me like a son and died because of it." He cites Jor-El, Jonathan, and now Lionel, as three father figures who all died protecting him. Chloe takes the non-victim track: yes, they all died for him, but they all helped make him the man he is, as well. Clark wonders how Lex could kill his own father. Chloe: "Total absence of love. Some say that's the definition of evil." Hmm, more shades of Nietzsche? Anyway, Chloe reminds Clark that he must get those keys away from Lex before he kills anyone else. Clark vows not to give him the chance.

At a cemetery at the edge of Metropolis, Lex stands alone in a sea of flat grave markers, before the open grave of his father. We watch as Clark climbs the hill to stand across from Lex, not looking at him. They stand in silence, Lex looking from the grave to Clark. Clark finally looks up, staring with intent anger at Lex for a moment before returning his gaze to the grave. Lex has the smallest glimmer of a smile before striding straight past Clark to leave.

Clark kneels and takes a handful of dirt from the pile, scattering it over Lionel's coffin, a mixture of sadness, anger, and determination on his face. Mournful but driving piano music plays, and as the camera goes back to a wide shot of Clark standing alone in the sea of graves, the sun comes out from behind a cloud.

Suuuuuuuunny days, keeping the - clouds awaaaaaaaay...

Awesome. More of that, please, Smallville. And goodbye, Lionel Luthor. You were the best and worst son of a bitch ever.

screencaps courtesy dj_capslock