while it was an awesome episode the best part was.... no "countess" bullshit!!

No one mentioned Lana's final comment right as the 'good' Lex was leaving, when he said he was sorry and then she whispered to herself 'So am I'. It seems that the writers are trying to tell us that Lana is also attracted to Lex now. It will be interesting to see where they take that.

But overall, the first 3/4 of the the show was good, then we get the typical quick resolution to all of the problems. It wasn't made clear how the bad/good Lex was able to combine again at the end. It seemed like it was a little too convenient to me.

Chris

I'm kind of disappointed by that. Not that I would expect it from this show's writing staff, but I was hoping Lionel would find out about Clark's abilities, and he'd be all over him for using those powers for the good of mankind. Then Lionel dies som episodes later, sending Clark in the direction of heroics and Lex in the direction of evil.

See, that's where the writers/producers always fuck up. So far, everything Clark thinks is going to happen when he tries to reverse, does as he expected. "I think I can get Lex back together making the black Kryptonite." Yeah, whatever farm boy.

What would have really made it a better ending, if Clark had created four Lex's instead of merging the two. That woulda been the shit!

The biggest plot hole in the show was Chloe's use of the cameras to determine that there were 2 Lex's, yet the authorities couldn't do the same (to look for the last person in the room) after a patient is murdered in the hospital?

i love how chloe can just hack into the security camereas..... pssst yeh right..

Heck yeah, Smallville is advanced. Screw recording onto video tape (which you can't "hack")... Smallville apparently uses digital video connected to their network.

Cops don't care about that sort of thing in Smallville. Just how how government forces (both good and bad) aren't interested in coming to Smallville to uncover/exploit all the mutant powers.

The cops probably don't know the person was murdered because the doctors didn't tell them. And the doctors didn't tell them probably because they thought the patient died 'naturally' without any help from a person.

Evil Lex - gooooood
Evil Lionel - goooood

Now the bad:
The writers really have to quit it with those stupid quips that Chloe keeps giving Clark to hint at his powers.
And then that "er, uh, er [insert convenient cover up story]" look that Clark gives to explain it away.

As for the :
Billionaire Lex goes to County?

No offense taken, but there are two things that I think this show needs: longer story arcs, and darker characters. I hate how every show ends with everything being wrapped up and hunky-dory. There's no drive to tune in for the next week to see what happens.

Yup, I like that idea. At least then, the story PROGRESSES. Basically after all this crap that they went through, we're back to square one. Every character is still the same person they were back in Season 1 or 2. I really think that that is the difference between why a show like Smallville is dying while shows like Buffy and Angel only got better and better through each season. They weren't predictable, the characters didn't stagnate, and nothing was sacred (e.g. major characters getting killed or turning evil). The writers of Smallville have got no guts to take any kind of risk and that's why I stopped watching last season. I only watched yesterday because Lost was a repeat. And the only reason I care enough to come in here and bitch about it is because Smallville had GREAT potential, which is why I watched for the first two seasons.

Damn, I loved this episode. Great to see the potential of evil Lex, and I also liked the Kryptonite ring reference to the comics. Evil Lionel is back no Jason this episode no countess . One minor gripe I had with the episode was when Lex has Johnathan / Clark / Martha pretty much cornered in the barn, the show goes to commercial after Lex puts a cap in Johnathan's ass, and they're all of a sudden at the hospital.

Rosenbaum was great as usual. Liked seeing the evil come out of Lex. But WTF, it's already wrapped up. Another clone/amnesia episode. Jesus, how many times are the main characters gonna have some evil clone pop up? Is this the only damn idea the writers can come up with?

I loved parts of this episode. Rosenbaum with great despite horrible dialogue ("I am the villain of this story!") and I'm glad I actually saw Lionel at all. (I swear, ever since he became good he practically disappeared from the show.) No Countess or whatever-the-heck-Lana's-boyfriend-is-called (you know, Wittney 2.0) is also another big plus.

The ending was awful and we got another silly effect of Clark's super hearing. I'm also sick of all forms of Kryptonite and how the show is inconsistent with how much it affects him. Given the distance Clark had from Lex's ring in some scenes, he got way too sick way too fast. Heck, if he's that weak against the stuff, when Lex opened the vault early in the episode, Clark should have died due to the large amount of Kryptonie present. And the whole surveilance part was laughable too.

Still, it's better than the rest of this crap season combined.

I am the Villian of this story

that line made the show

was pretty good but still not totally totally awesome

The kryponite is a huge huge weakness for Superman, he's not really that tough at all with that weakness.

I know Kryptonite messes him up and it doesn't take much. But taking that into consideration, his being in close proximity to such a huge amount during the beginning of this episode should have messed him up way more (read: it should have killed him) than the little ring did.

And "I'm the villain of this story" didn't make the epsiode. Rosenbaum's flawless delivery did.

The last shot of Lex's face after his father said "We are Luthers" and then left, showed how Rosenbaum can act without words. His face was like the evil twinn came to the surface and gave his approval to the comment. He seemed to have a little smirk going on as his father was walking out the door.

I took that as meaning that she never knew about his feelings for her, and she was sorry for him because they would remain unrequited.