They do know he's under the influence of a narcotic that makes him paranoid and delusional. If he's screaming about the superhero who stepped in front of a speeding car, it will only add to the fact that whether it's a naturally occuring psychosis or one brought on by chemicals, Lex was pretty wacked out when they carted him away.

The people of Smallville don't necessarily harbor the same good will for Lex as the viewers do. If he looks crazy, talks crazy and acts crazy they just may believe he is crazy. And just because Lionel says it, doesn't make it untrue. There was Lex's own behavior as corroborating evidence. He was acting loony to support Lionel's claim that he is loony. The why is less important than the what. A psychotic breakdown, whether brought on by drug use or schizophrenia, is still a psychotic breakdown. The treatment may be different but the need to hospitalize is the same.

Poor sweet BDA. I still don't think he chose to leave Lex. I think he just turned into a superpowered baby deer and ran. He probably regretted it as soon as he stopped running.

But I'd further speculate that this wasn't supposed to look like a good decision on Clark's part. I think they're doing a pretty good job of showing Clark making mistakes and facing the consequences this season. I think this is one of those things. Maybe it's situations like this that later prompt him to assume a second identity, so he doesn't have to choose between saving himself and saving someone else. He can let Superman do all the big heroics and Clark Kent can show up afterwards all unawares. Saving people as Clark is risky. He could have gotten caught saving Ryan, or Pete and Chloe, or anyone else. He needs to become someone else, but that's for after this series.


No, if they're in on the frame-up then they know he's not delusional. Paranoid, yes, but not delusional. And you know the old saying. "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really out to get you."

As I pointed out later, if he's blithering about an alien who stepped in front of a car...and that alien is gone...well, he could have ODd on the drug and had a psychotic breakdown. If someone's under the influence of a narcotic you can't 100% predict how his specific chemistry will respond to the chemical. There are side effects.

And what about him singing to the binkie in the barn? Sure, only Clark saw it, but it was an effect of the drug. That wasn't paranoia that was delusion. So the drug did cause both paranoia and delusional behavior, and those who administered it would know that.

Actually they made a pretty clear distinction between seeing Julian and the other behaviors. Seeing Julian only happened when Lionel was around. Lionel was the trigger. More specifically, Lex's fear of him.

Whether or not the doctors believe Lex, how would that have affected Clark's actions? Did Clark think these things through and choose to leave Lex? Because I would find that quite chilling behavior on Clark's part, to have the presence of mind to think through all those things and then still decide to leave his best friend in the hands of the people he knows are trying to destroy him. No, I still prefer to think he just bolted without thinking at all.

awwww, a superpowered baby deer! Lol. I totally agree with the rest of your post tho. I'm sure he regretted it.



It's being speculated on here that the singing to the blanket thing was because of stress, which I personally beleive, because the first time it happened it was also at a very stressful point in his life. I don't think we can be sure that it was an effect of the drug (I think Chloe pointed that out as well in "Shattered", but im not sure) All in all though, I also don't think that anyone in that van would have beleived Lex ranting about Clark.



I don't think Clark really thought at all. I think he just got hella scared and bolted (hee! babydeer, I still think thats hilarous:)

Yes, Chloe pointed out in "Shattered" that Lex had hallucinated Baby Julian before, in boarding school right after Julian's death. She said his House Master had found him singing a lullaby to a "rolled up blanket." He wasn't drugged back then, so stress is the more likely trigger for that particular hallucination now. I'm sure the drugs didn't help matters, though. But I agree that there is a distinction between that and the other problems Lex was having in the episode.

Oh yes, I remember now. I knew she said it in there somewhere. I'm just itching for an episode with more info. on what actually happened in the whole Julian thing. Anyone have any ideas?

Further cementing of Dr. Foster's complicity from the Beginning is shown in Smallville #6. (Which fits nicely between current events of the latest episodes before the break, Magnetic and Shattered.)

The A-Story, "ID," deals with Lex speaking to Dr. Foster about the island and the trip back, and finally, after much prodding...Louis.

(Louis shows up again on the boat ride home and accompanies Lex to America, "helping" him plot vengeance on everyone, until he goes too far by threatening the Kents and Lex has to "kill" him yet again.)

Afterwards--total betrayal. As they part, Lex says, "Dr. Foster? I trust our conversation falls within the bounds of doctor-patient privilege." Claire reassures him all their discussions are completely confidential. Then, once she's safely out of the mansion, she whips out her cellphone and makes a call...

"I think I've found the Chink in Lex's Armor we've been looking for. The childhood Episode you told me about? Seems it wasn't the Isolated Incident you thought it was."

Meanwhile, Lex is looking in a mirror and only sees Louis in his place.

What, what, what, is this?? Some like, lost ep. or something? Comics maybe? Someone (prefrably the person who posted), explain?

Yeah, I'm talking about Smallville, the comic book series. Issue # 6. Arrived in stores yesterday. The series is set in the televised Smallville universe. It tells unique standalone stories and also some that tie into and fill gaps in the televised storylines.

Like Chloe's summer internship at the Planet, Lex's time on the island, Clark getting established in Metropolis as KAL, Whitney's life in the Marines, etc.

Or like this week in the B-story: Pete takes advantage of Clark's powers to bring a little "Magic" to his two dates with two different girls in the same night... (Remember when Pete said, "This is gonna be Fun." at the end of Duplicity? He definitely had some Ideas.) Hilarious...! Great one for fans waiting for a Pete-centered story.

I think most of them have been written by Clint Carpenter, who also writes for the show. If you wanna catch up, most of these issues should still be available at your local comic-book specialty shop...

Or Wait...if I recall right, there's also going to be a trade paperback collection coming soon, February I think. I think it'll have the initial one-shot Smallville comic and the first 4 or 5 issues of the ongoing series.

Meanwhile, new issues come out bi-monthly. Of course. I knew they'd work the Bi angle in Somehow. ;)

ETA: Oops! I've been saying 7 all this time, but it's actually issue #6!

Ohhh ok. Thanks Trevacious Guy. The comics sound cool. There are definetly a few gaps I'd like filled in, maybe I'll check them out.

Thanks for that information, Trevacious Guy. That answers some of my questions. I wonder if we'll see Dr. Foster have a crisis of conscience and become the good doctor of the Supes comics, or if Smallville is just going to do its own thing with her and keep her in Lionel's pocket. Interesting...

It was immediately after. Lex saw Lionel talking to Clark and the Kents from the loft. Cut to Clark entering the barn to find Lex singing to "Julian".


If the primary motive for her actions against Lex was some form of blackmail, then she would presumably be free of that if Lionel is killed (which I firmly believe he will be, probably by Lex, before the end of Smallville's run). Maybe after that she would feel the need to not only go straight but perform some form of penance by dealing with unusual cases like Supes.

Except for the fact that Clark is supposed to be a 17 yr old kid, and if he disappeared for 3 days, someone would definitely notice. I mean, remember the horrified, shocked look on his face when the realization of what he did sank in? I think him stopping the car was in character, barreling ahead to stop someone from being hurt without thinking of the consequences. Only afterwards when he realized what he'd done, it seems like he simply panicked and fled. I really don't see how anyone can blame him. he's still a kid, and not superman yet, kids don't always do exactly the right thing...I mean this is the same Clark that fled to Metropolis hopped up on Red K

Except that Clark disappeared for 3 months in Metropolis, under everyone's noses, and nobody but Chloe apparently could find him. Certainly not Lionel. And Clark was standing in the middle of the street with bullets bouncing off his chest and on the front page of the papers and front and centre on the ATM happy snaps. Not trying to hide at all.

I'm sure if the Kents wanted to tell people that Clark was ill, or on an errand on the coast for his father, or at a bovine feeding conference, that they could get away with it. If they really wanted to. But I don't really see that the Kents are interested in putting out for Lex Luthor of all people, do you? It's all 'so long and thanks for the farm' over at Platitude Pastures if you ask me. No wonder Lex has bad dreams about sunflowers! At least you have to give Clark credit for standing up to his parents the way he did.

Within the series canon, you can no longer say that Clark is incapable of disappearing without consequence for a few days if he wanted to.



I definitely prefer to believe the thoughtless panic theory. Clark making an educated decision to leave Lex to his fate makes him as creepy as his parents.

Although, as Clark has a history of panicking and saving regardless of the consequences to his secrets and his health, I guess the romantic in me is saddened that this was not his instinct with Lex because I don't think Lex's friendship has been altogether deserving of such reticence. But it's done now. Perhaps Asylum will reveal small morsels of mitigation.

I just tell myself it's about the dream, where Lex hated him when he knew. ie. Clark disappeared to avoid what he thought he saw in Lex's eyes, not to avoid discovery. I think his face in that scene supports an argument that the approaching car barely figured in his panicked flight.

He's still dumb though. But I prefer sweet, loyal, wounded dumb, to big selfish prick dumb.

Yes, it does seem as though Lex falls into some other category with the men of the Kent family. (I'm not quite sure about Martha, since she's usually not given much chance to speak her opinions.) Jonathan prefers to believe "the best in people" but almost always expects the worst of Lex. I think enough of that kind of upbringing would affect Clark's instincts.


Word. When it comes down to it, I think his usual flamboyant rescue style was the main mistake he made. He pushed Lex out of the way and then stopped the car with his body. Hey, how about just rolling out of the way with Lex held protectively in your arms? He always means well but he needs to hone his rescue instincts better and I hope this gives him the impetus to do that. He's been using his body to stop vehicles since season 1. There are a lot of Clark-shaped dents out there now.

That was my one and only complaint about Shattered. There was no reason for Clark to stop Edge's car like that, but it was necessary to the plot so that Lex could witness him doing something amazing. It's still my favorite episode of all time, but that one point does bother me.

Thanks, PhantomChic. I couldn't remember if Lionel had already arrived at the Kents' or not when Lex first saw Julian. I think I still have "Shattered" on video somewhere. I definitely need to watch it before Wednesday.

And:



That would be an interesting character development. I also agree, by the way, that Lionel will most likely eventually die by Lex's hand. And that also could be the act that carries him past the point of no return. Although, after what Lionel has put him through so far, I don't think I'd think less of Lex at all for killing him. Hopefully that doesn't happen until the final season, because I'd miss seeing John Glover's delicious Magnificent Bastard.

I have always thought that it was the interaction with Lionel, that changes people. It the case of Dr. Foster, and Chloe, their realization of what he did to them, and what they did for him, was wrong. From this they decide to do what they do in the future, maybe as penance, or writing past wrongs, or to just want to be better, stronger, smarter, tougher, etc.

Although he may be dead(Lionel), in the future, they both grow from what they did for him, to become the better people, the people they will be. They may have succumbed when they were younger, but they grew from that experience, to be better at what they do, doctoring and journalism. At least that is how I imagine it will be. Their iron wills will be forged by their past experiences with the MB.

Yes, you're right. I guess what I should have said, given that both his parents know that he's with Lex, and MB knows and would be after Clark and Lex as well, hiding out this time would be different, and a lot more dangerous. Clark was only running from himself when he went to Metropolis, there was no real danger. (I'll still don't understand how he managed to rob ATM machines and didn't get caught)

Word. Someone would have noticed, he made enough friggen noise!

I really want to see Maggie Sawyer again.

Yes, if Clark was thinking, he would've just gotten Lex out of the way and left it at that. It would be an amazing feat, but still explainable as one a normal human might've managed. I felt Clark was simply taking out some Anger when he put his shoulder into Edge's car.

Even after he stops it, he doesn't straighten up and step back as he normally might. He disdainfully wrenches the car further apart to free himself and gives the heap a good shove backwards. I can almost hear him cursing Edge in his mind. No regrets on his face. Then he looks at Lex and THEN you get the big "what have I done?" moment.

Well, if Clark manages to get away with This one, I'd like to think there Will be some adustments made to his rescue style. He'll be more conscious than ever of the need to keep a low profile and try to use his powers more surrepticiously in these situations.

Heheh...do you think Lionel will now have a smashed-up car to add to His shrine to Clark? If I was Clark, I would've circled back around and cleaned up that mess of mangled metal.

Here's an excerpt from the John Schneider interview in Smallville #6, about how he sees Bo's attitude towards Lex:

--------------------------------------------
Smallville: We can't help noticing that, as supportive as he is of Clark, Jonathan tends not to cut Lex any slack on anything.

Schneider: Well, remember, we did sit at his wedding party, and I did shake his hand. There have been compliments there, though people seem not to see those moments [laughs]. Everytime Jonathan does come around to him, something happens almost immediately that jeapordizes Clark's health and well-being. It's not as if I'm constantly berating Lex; first time I shook his hand when we had him at the farm, and I told him, "You would've made a hell of a farmer." I think that's the biggest compliment Jonathan could've given him. "I gave you all these chores, and you never complained; you just did every single one of them." He said, "Thank you, Mr. Kent," shook my hand...and then somebody hit me over the head with a gun [laughs]!

At this point, I would rather distrust Lex and be wrong while protecting Clark, than give him the benefit of the doubt and be wrong, because it's Clark who lies in the balance. In a very real sense Jonathan, on a day-by-day basis, has to choose between Lex Luthor and his son, and there's just no way Lex is ever going to win there. I mean, Jonathan's the guy who also said Pete shouldn't know the secret, because with that secret comes an awesome responsibility, and people will try to kill you. It's not that he doesn't trust Pete; he just doesn't want to put him in that sort of jeapordy. But it's too late [laughs].

I find it wonderful that there are so many levels to the show. It's not just, "No, don't do it"; there's reasoning behind everything. At least, there is for me.
-------------------------------------------

That's a very true statement. Bo always gets so much flack for not accepting Lex, or giving him more latitude, but really, if you had been through what he has? If Clark was your kid? Would you?

It's totally Jonathan's prerogative to say, "I just don't want to deal with you, I'm sorry that's just my thing." It's not his prerogative to take gifts then give back attitude. I mean he gladly accepts the helicopter ride to Metropolis, financial help with the farm, legal help regarding Ryan, etc. then snarks to his face and behind his back. Doing that puts him on shaky moral ground.

I think a good parallel is the whole S2 Clark/Chloe thing. It was totally Clark's right to drop Chloe as a friend if he didn't want to deal with her any more but it wasn't right to keep going to her for information AND then forgetting to turn in an article, acting snitty, doing that stupid blackmail thing in Rosetta, etc.

I think ol' JS there is looking at it with more information than Bo has. Bo pre-judged Lex. (This is probably moving into the Smartassology territory but I'll try to keep it as on topic as possible.) It's not always an either/or situation. For instance, helping Lex in Shattered wouldn't have meant turning his back on Clark, or putting Clark in any more danger than Clark was putting himself in. It was Clark who had to make the choice between Lex and someone else.

They sort of started to explain Bo's behavior in season 2. Part of his hatred of the Luthors is actually hatred for himself and what he did, selling out the Rosses in order to adopt Clark. But instead of realizing that, he seems to just bullheadedly keep plowing ahead. He has accepted Lex on occasion but it's never consistent. You can never tell when he'll be nice or not. I mean, he agreed to consider Lex a part of the family in Phoenix, but didn't exactly treat Lex like family when it was needed.

I think JS said in another interview that Bo is partly responsible for how Lex turns out, which I agree with. But I also think that Lex, in desperation for a good loving family, has tied too much of his own self worth to the Kents. They're going to keep rejecting him in one way or another, and I speculate that Lex is just going to resent them more and more for not living up to his ideal family needs.

I don't remember that. Can anyone refresh my memory? Clark was a dick to Chloe so many times in S2, it was hard to keep up.

Oh, when he tried to emotionally blackmailed Chloe into forgiving Lana's snooping. Where he said he'd forgive her for taking a picture of the burning symbol on the farm wall (which he really didn't have a problem with before Lana blabbed about her problem) if she'd say sorry to lana. It was none of his business and he didn't even bother to get her side of the story before leaping to Lana's defense.

Yup, Clark's a dick. Thanks mobiusklein!

I personally think it's never constant because he's never really sure of who Lex is, or why he does the things he does. Almost every time he does open up, or give Lex some recognition, he later finds out something that makes him put up his guard again; like in Obscura (i think its obscura, anyway) after he takes the settlement from Lex for the cattle, shakes his hand, its all good. Later on in that episode he and Clark find Lex and Dr. Hamilton out in the field where Clark crashed with hazmat suits and metal detectors. In Insurgence, he accepts the helicopter ride, only to find Lex later talking on the phone with the men holding his wife hostage (granted, that wasn't really his fault). There was also the thing with Helen, Lex, and Clark's blood (even though he didn't actually know that Lex stole it, he did suspect, and he was right) Not that this in any way justifies his treatment of Lex, but I can sort of understand it.

MelanieMM


I thought the MB was after Clark the first time, wasn't he? Actively seeking information on Clark's whereabouts. Isn't that what the scene in the cave with Chloe was about? It was the day before Lex's funeral and Lionel was still chasing Clark Kent.

All comes down to they write whatever they damn well like, without much thought of what they've already established for the characters in previous episodes and that we as viewers have to work with those things. They have some wonderful ideas, but they really are lazy writers, and I repeat, Clark and the Kents come off looking like hypocrites all the time. They needed to find some way (and maybe they will, I don't know) to show that the Kents were making good on their suggestions that Lex was 'welcome back any time' (Prodigal) and 'part of the family' (Phoenix). Jonathan said he'd find a way to pay Lex back. That obviously didn't include listening to him when he claimed his father was trying to kill him.

If Jonathan Kent's history with the Luthors is such that he instincively feels he can't trust any of them then fine, don't shake Lex's hand and let him believe he's part of the family and don't take his money for your farm. Sure, Lex strays off the straight and narrow every now and again because of his struggles with his father or his desire for something elusive, like love or knowledge. But as we have already seen, Jonathan is well capable of falling foul of Lionel's manipulations and selling out a friend for something he wants more, so his distrust of Lex comes off as very hypocritical. Sure Lex lived a wild life and is guilty of substance abuse and has done shady and illegal things, but Clark has done the same and more and been forgiven.

I've never really understood what they were trying to do with the Jonathan Kent character. There is no other character on the show who would better understand how manipulative Lionel can be. And Jonathan was the one who plucked little Lex out of a field when his own father couldn't touch him. I thought at one stage they were trying to introduce the idea that Jonathan was visiting all his guilt about the adoption incident onto Lex -- which was a cruel and interesting twist. The mercurial give and take of Jonathan's acceptance contributing to Lex's downfall. And yet now they've gone the route of robbing the Lex character of self-determination and these interviews keep coming out supporting the idea that we are meant to like and respect Jonathan as a man and as a father.

I really did like the Dean Cain Superman and his parents much more as decent, honest, caring people.

This is probably straying from Season 3 speculation, huh? So I guess all I'm saying is I'm with Cyb and mobiusklein all the way <g>.

Here's a little speculation that has been briefly thrown around in the spoilers thread. Suppose sometime this season Clark gives Chloe an unplanned superpowers display, but instead of the usual memory loss on her part (see "Rush"), something happens and he's the one who dosn't remember that she's seen anything? The thinking in the other thread was that she woulden't tell Clark that she knew and would keep all knowladge to herself so as to preserve the friendship. What does everyone in here think?

I dunno. That sounds like something I'd enjoy watching. This sounds bitchy but in my mind, that means it'll never come to pass.

Unfortunatly, i think you'r right. How often do they really give us what we want to see?

If Lex becomes a bad guy as a direct result of his time in Belle Reve, then I'm just going to believe that the entire canonical future is just a delusion on his part. No rift, no big villain stuff. It's all just a horrible nightmare he had while in Belle Reve. The stuff Cassandra saw in "Hourglass" was actually just a look at one of Lex's nightmares. No, I'm not in denial.

Hey, it's your imagination, so that's as appropriate a coda as anything else. The Cassandra vision was purposefully metaphorical and subjective so it can be whatever you make it.

I think they started with this idea that as the series progressed, we would keep seeing more and more glimpses of Lex's evil nature. But every time they came to a turning point it seemed they pulled back. Lex didn't sack his workers or rat on Clark or leave his father to die. He didn't kill Helen's attacker when he had the chance. He didn't kill Helen. He didn't examine Clark's blood. He kept trying to make amends for his mistakes. So the Lex character has just taken on a life of its own and when given the chance, he didn't seem to want to go too far down that path and avoided his comic book destiny like the plague. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in making us like him, but I think they failed miserably to show us his inner evil. The character just wouldn't fit in that box any more. Every time they did try and make Lex behave in a manner that was dark and violent ( like the meter-maid incident) it seemed excessive or suddenly out of character.

If Smallville was a board game, then one object of the game would be to take your Lex token from the beginning of the series, where he was basically a decent and sympathetic character, and throughout the game you move him closer to the finish line, where he's the evil mad scientist and corrupt politician from the comic books.

I think in the end the Lex playing piece just wasn't making enough progress on the board. So I speculate that these episodes are like a "Chance" card, where you get to pick up your Lex token and move him much, much closer to the finish line in one easy step.

I reeeally wonder what he was planning to do with her up there though, if she hadn't jumped.



True, but just that fact that he took it tells you something. I do think that his confessing to Helen did redeem him, but I also feel that everything that happened between him and her was a turning point in it's own right. Like was said before, I think that was most true from "Calling" to "Pheonix." He seemed to be turning over a new leaf, starting a new life, he even seemed to have validation from all the Kent's. After all the ugliness though, I don't think he walked out of it with the same outlook (and rightly so) Like I'v said before, I really think that "Shattered" was ment to be a turning point. I'm not sure what's going to happen in "Asylum", but I think we'r going to see a different Lex, as well as a different Lex/Clark relationship. Granted, they have definetly chosen a strange way to show this trasition. It's very complicated. Unfortunatly though, while I love Lex as a character, I do beleive that he has that dark side to him, and despite protestations, no matter what he feels for Clark, his curiosity is always going to get the better of him. It has to.

I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea that if a person is *jazz hands* KerrAAYZEE, then they're more predisposed a) to eeevil or b) to not knowing what they do because they are wrong in the head. It always annoyed me that people in this show would just be packed off to the loony bin, nevermore to arise, and nevermore to be believed or accorded any rights, in this show. Asylum will address that; I'm quite excited about the potential there.

If Lex is consistently delusional in the future, then he can't become president (*looks away from current political situation*), or hold any kind of position of power. In order for Lex to become who he becomes, he has to have supreme control over the externals of his life. So, he *has* to get better, and he *has* to be able to function well enough to apply what appear to be reasonable moral judgements. It's going to be a combination of influences and choices that make Lex and Clark who they subsequently become, or at least that's how they sold the show; so "losing his mind and becoming dangerous and eeevil like all psychiatric patients are, yes, all of them, every single one" isn't an option, IMO.

Smallville always uses "crazy" as a kind of put-down; note how desperate Clark was to say Lana wasn't "crazy" when she was seeing ghosts.

tropicalgeko

But how are we ever gonna be able to say for sure what Lex would and wouldn't have done from now on?

A friend's mother suffered a bad stroke fairly early in life and she's never been the same since. Complete personality change. She can go from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde in a heartbeat and it always seems so unfair to my friend who never does anything to bring on the inexplicable anger.

Had another friend who suffered an horrific car crash near my place, and was in hospital for months with pieces of glass in her brain. She had no memory of anything and couldn't talk. We had to keep hanging photos of people she knew on the end of her bed and deciphering her strange language.

She made a significant recovery eventually but most of her friends said that they didn't know her anymore and that her personality had changed completely. After she had recovered, almost all of them drifted away.

It's gonna be tough from here on in to decide what is inate "eeeevil" and what is misfiring synapses (and what is plain old lazy writing <g>).

I don't think he'll be "delusional" in the future, exactly, but I can't help but wonder if the last few episodes are supposed to show us that the old Lex is gone. He's snapped in some way. First they showed us Lex having conversations with "Louis", then being drugged and seeing his dead baby brother when he fears his father. I think it's like Leaping Lucas said up there, they did too good of a job of making Lex sympathetic. He could blow up nursing homes with lazers and I'd probably still think he was a woobie. In fact, I'd have a far easier time believing that Lana is the Big Evil of the future. So I'm wondering if they're trying to use "mental problems" or something as an explanation for how a such a sympathetic character could become evil. Like suzycat, though, I'm not much fond of the "crazy"=evil idea.

However I think that since the writers don't seem to have that firm a grasp on psychology or the workings of the brain (I don't think "short term memory" means what they think it means) I could see them just turning Lex into sociopath because of his "delusions" and stresses. I hope this isn't the case though because they will have gone against their own line about how darkness is a journey not a lightswitch, or however that line went.

leaping lucas


Now this is the ultimatle question. Like I'v said before, I think you have very good insite. I really, really enjoy your posts because they seem to help me iron out kinks in my understanding of the show, reguarding Lex in particular. He's a very complex character. I hadn't thought too much about the above question, but it makes perfect sense. Really, they're feeding us the "inate evil" theory, but after thinking about your post, I readily agree with this comment:

It's too bad they won't devote more screen time in the episodes to Lex and the real development of his character. I can definetly think of one character who I'd vote to voulenteer their screen time .....

Oh, and word about the lazy script writing

I am wondering if the end of s2 and the beginning of season 3 are(were) supposed to be the high water mark of the "good" lex, the lex that could have been.

He seemed to have been in love(i know i know, but the writers and prods said he loved Helen), so, he was more self assured, had the admiration, loyalty, understanding, and friendship of the Kents, went out of his way to protect others(mostly Chloe from Magn(the only good parts of a crappy ep) for he did say he could and would protect her.

In similiar ways, Clark almost had what he wanted, normalcy, the pink demon, sorry pwintheth, a solid and somewhat normal family, a sibling, and that which he, and lex, can not have.

Lex may come out,normal, decent, seemingly ok, but he has hit the high water mark. He may try to remember the who, what and why of who he was, but he won't be able to.

I think this would make him more the anti-hero, than the villian.

Similiar in some ways to Macbeth, wanting to do good but with the moral elasticity to make it all fall apart in the end.

I would find that far more interesting that a crazed delusional lex, evil because of the mind sweep. I am not sure this is what the ptb are aiming for, but I think it would be deeper, and resonate with more people this way. However it might take away from the clarknlana4vr crap, so they would go with kwaaaazy lex instead.

ITA. Whatever he does in the future (whether it's 4 or 12 episodes from now, or 10 years from now) there's always going to be the question: Would he have done this on his own, or did something snap as the result of his father messing with his mind? Lex in the last 2 1/2 seasons has shown occasional moral shadiness and ambiguity but I haven't seen him show true, deep evil. It's hard for me to imagine true evil coming out of the Lex we knew previous to Shattered.

What about that Walls Around My Pants speech? If that wasn't pure evil, I don't know what is.

Lex is too well-beloved to turn straight-up evil and it's partly MR's fault. If it were anyone else intrepreting the script, Lex could/would have been OTT or 'underplayed'. Instead, we have a talented man with charismatic presence, who garners more sympathy than the leads.

The only way I see Lex turning 'evil' is being dead-on ambitious instead of the inhumane kind of evil, the way most supervillains have been potrayed.

All I can say is, good luck to TPTB. Hope they don't give some unreasonable or implausible excuse for Lex to turn to the dark side. Like love lost or by going crazeeey - that's just plain lame. Lex needs complexity.

Everyone raises really good points, and they all lead me to think... If Lex's memory is indeed messed with, he will be rather exposed and vulnerable when he comes out of the Belle-Reve... What if the MB starts re-educating his son? If Lex cannot remember Lionel's numerous betrayals, would he have any reasons not to trust his own father? I think this could work, provided it was done subtely... If Lex starts looking up to his father, for instance, as opposed to hating him, that could be a step towards "evil" that I would buy. But if the writers show the MB tutoring Lex on the proper way to kick puppies... well BOOOO!!! That would be stupid and unrealistic. To paraphrase what kwerkee said, Lex needs more complexity than that.

The main thing is, nobody wants Lex to turn evil overnight. Despite the trauma that Shattered and Asylum were for him, Lex shouldn't be pushed over the edge just yet. These things take time. Evil characters seldom (if ever) know that they are evil. In their minds, they are just very ambitious. To make Lex become evil all of the sudden... That's just insulting everyone's intelligence, IMO.

If Lex suddenly become the antichrist, the show will hit the wall fast--Clark realizing his destiny and truly becoming Supes will be no fun if Lex isn't going through his own metamorphosis simultaneously. Evil Lex would surely be interesting at first, but every episode will eventually be the same, and it'll be FOTW redux.

Plus, there's so much great Lex/Lionel/Chloe stuff going on and I really feel that the best way to go at this point is to have Chloe and Lex become close and bond over MB hatred...that can't happen if Lex is totally bad, b/c Chloe will never go for it in that case. A Chlex friendship adds another dimension the the Clark/Lex relationship and to the Chark one that currently exists. Obviously, Clark will find out about Chloe's deal with Lionel, and whether or not he forgives her, he will always be suspicious of her dealings with either Luthor once all is said and done.

So much rests on Lex's state of mind once he's out of the asylum. I just hope the writers are careful. But whatever, it'll probably somehow become all about Lana anyway.

I don't think they intend for Lex to become purely evil just yet. The show has another 2 seasons at least, with a possibility of 4 more, so they'll have to draw this out, which is better in my opinion. We cant have the next 2 seasons of Smallville with Lex hating Clark, that won't work, thiers is the most important relationship on the show whether they know it or not. I just hope we're not all disappointed now that its been discussed and speculated on to death for the past month--and I don't mean that in a bad way.

This is just speculation/horrible fear that I have, but I think that TPTB are going to start tearing Lex down just to make Clark and Lana look good, just like they did to Chloe is S2. Granted, Chloe now has her spine and snark back for the most part, but it doesn't change the fact that the writers seemed to deliberately sabotage her in S2 just to make Lana look good in comparison.

Of course, this tactic probably won't work. I personally loved Chloe more and more every time she suffered, and hated the Clana with the fire of a thousand suns. Tearing Lex down will probably make even more people love him than they already do.

I certainly don't think Lex will suddenly become "the crazy, evil person", but I do think he will become more malleable to suggestion and more prone to paranoia and this will cause him to react to circumstances in more dramatic ways. I imagine, at first at least, that the MB will be able to supplant Lex's missing memories with ideas of his own. But surely the MBs magnificent bastardry will out.

My problem with what they've now done to Lex is I fear they will have used electroshock to artificially release the brakes on his conscience.

Yes, Lex was (is?) a complex character and in MR's hands, a very sympathetic and much-beloved character. He had a grab-bag of horrific emotional experiences, great intellect and for all that it was damaged and ambiguous, a definite moral code. That was a delicate balance of faults and virtues, and I think watching him struggle with that balance gave the audience great affection for him.

My concern is now that messing with his brain will have upset that delicate balance. There are things the Lex we're used to would and wouldn't do, we know that now. When he loves someone and they let him down, he threatens all sorts of things about how dangerous he is and how he doesn't forgive -- but he does, did. Lex fancied himself as more ruthless than he really had the energy or the hatred to be, I think.

I just think this mental manipulation is their way of releasing the brakes on the tortured, vengeful, betrayed character that we knew lurked inside but that the "good" Lex always managed to keep in check. If the Smallville characters are a balancing act, then I think we will definitely see Lex's scales tilt in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, it was the great clumsy godly mitt of AlMiles, not of fate or clever writing, that reached down from above and did the tipping.

That's what I mean about how they've picked up the Lex playing piece and moved him further along the board. I wonder how viewers will now react when Lex suddenly starts to carry through with the sorts of things he only threatened before?

Question: What do you think would be a more appropriate catalyst? This is a question for everyone. A lot of people aren't keen on the electroshock changing him, so what do you think would be an appropriate (and less drastic) tigger for the scales finally tipping?

I ask because I, personally, prefer the idea that it was put upon him as much as it was his decision. Would people rather it be a simple character evolution? A slow slide downward? Or if it's too late for that, that they would have done it to begin with? Would you rather a precipitating incident? I agree that this (electroshock) isn't handling it with much finesse, but how could you actually conceive of our Lex becoming a supervillain?

And throwing in my opinion, I actually think we will see surprisingly little change in Lex once this is all done. The show seems to like to push things to their edge, then snap them back to the status quo like nothing happened. And I don't see Lex turning dark until the final season. If they do it now, they've played their best card and the driving tension of the show is lost. When all is said and done, I don't think Lex will be markedly different from before.