Will "Descent" be decent? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Some thoughts:

1) Hell, yeah!

2) The scene between Clark and Lex at the mansion is the first time I've seen Tom Welling as Superman, not just mopey Clark. Well done.

3) Only Definitely Not Mercy's bad aim prevents me from calling this the best episode ever.

Aw....Michael stop making me weep for the "villain." *rubs eyes*

Farewell Maybe!Mercy, aka Gina. You overstepped your boundaries but you went out with style!

Lois: You shot me?!
Gina: You weren't co-operating

I am highly intrigued by the possibility of Clark-controlling keys. Lex would explore the naked option first, I think.

A fine swan song for JG but the deification of Lionel irks.

Chloe: "He died for all of us!"

Er, Lionel = Not Jesus and I'll take my saviors a little less on the child abusing, mass murdering side, thank you very much.

Lovely performances all round and YAY! for no Lana.

I foresee the various factions in the fandom exploding after this. There's something for everyone both to cheer and attack. Clark was adult and supermanly including the music. He was also guilt-moping in the barn. There was competent Lex, Woobie Lex, Psychotic Lex and Lack of Long Term Planning Lex. There was Lois and Jimmy and talk of a Pulitzer. There was Clark rescuing them. There was a recurring character and attempts at continuity and the Vile Ret-con of Good!Lionel and Veritas. There is the continuing worry over Chloe's fate.

MR was having such a good time doing this and every one brought their A-game.

I knew Gina was doomed as soon as Lex knew that she knew about Lionel. Lex you need to still keep working on the whole long term thing. It does no good if you kill them before you find out what they know.

This episode epitomizes everything that is right and wrong with this show. The acting can be superb as can the relationships between the characters. The writing can sizzle. When it’s done correctly, the pacing or camera work is first rate. But then they thwap you over the head with things like the background lion roar at weird moments, the heavy-handed anvils and the bizarre out of character moments. Additionally, there is a shipload of good actors in Vancouver - it would have been so easy for them over the years to have recurring characters that would have added so much to the layers of the show. It makes me crazy that they can do stuff like this and then give us “Hero”.

“He knew I loved things that could fly.” We all know it, Lex, and he just needs to work on the flying thing. Maybe you could give him the motivation.

ETA PolarB I just assumed it was Lex who had her taken out by another minion. But if it was someone else, particularly Edward, that's whole different kettle of fish.

Man. I unfortunately was only 3/4 paying attention (I'll have to rewatch later without distractions!) but what I got out of it was pretty good, imo.

The Clex!

The Chlex!

Gina-who-is-not-Mercy! And was that Edward Teague who took her out?

The ... what do we call it, Jois? Lommy? Okay, so not romantic, but still.

Lionel's "will" left for Clark in Kryptonian!

But really, it was the Clex. Their non-verbals at Lionel's death scene and the funeral at the end killed me. And their actual conversation at the Mansion? Awesome.

Maybe!Mercy. We loved you.

But hey Lex. Since Gina didn't off Lois, you'll just have to finish the job.



Has to be in order to explain his sudden reapperance in Quest.

Bless their angsty-sexy l'il hearts! Tom & Michael were fabulous - what a waste so many Clex scenes were squandered on Lana-bickering last season. And even with all the seriousness, MR managed to fit one helluva GAYLE in there, giving Clark a head to toe body scan at one point. I love the tiny smile Lex gives Clark at the end: so long as Michael's playing the role, there'll always be soul in Lex.

Chloe did succinctly nail the answer to "why would Lex kill Lionel." Chloe: "A total absence of love...."


Ooh! Interesting: I thought it was Lex but I hope it's Edward. I want him to be a proper Veritas-player.


Excellent!


I sometimes defend Lois but I found her completely useless in this episode. Jimmy finds the photo, Chloe blows it up....Lois talks a lot and is hella irritating. Not ED's fault but Lois sure seemed extraneous.

I think TW and MR were so great in this, but MR - DAMN. If they promise him more eps like this, maybe he'll be back for sure! DAMN. Also, i LOVED that the final scene over the grave was silent. No bitching, accusations and so forth. They *ARE* enemies.

Didn't mind Lex's smirk as he walked past though.

re: Jimmy and Nois - Jimmy is the brains of that operation again, seeing the story whereas Nois wants the headlines. he's the one that realizes what he's inadvertently caught while snapping Nois bending over Lex's desk (boob shot anyone? Jeez). She suggests going to Isis because Lana has *big* computers (or something to that effect) but according to Jimmy, they'll need Chloe to do it.

Oh YAY, more Action, Nois gets shot by the best Lex minion around, Gina :) Lex is next, I guess to shoot her. Interesting that this would have been the final ep.



I don't think he was. I think it was a time for him to grieve, and you know, he's allowed a little. But Chloe helped support him through that, which I thought was very ILL-like. She helped him see the bigger picture as he was grieving, and that's not a bad thing, I think - showing him that those men helped shaped the good man he is? That's kind of what I got out of it.

What I am thrilled about - no mention of Lana, and yay a Chlark barn scene! I'm not liking that Chloe brushed aside her firing, but that's par for the course with her - big emotional upheavel? don't talk abot it. Besides which, I think from Clark's reaction, he's going to bring it up. I guess it will come back in Sleeper? Maybe or next episode, who knows. But the DP? Is totally under Lex's control, and Nois is the person left there wanting to keep her job at said Black Hole. What I can't figure out is who is going to publish their storyu about LEx? Not the DP, that's for sure, under Lex's control.



Not really. She got knocked out and Nois got shot. Nois is alone at the DP, with Jimmy possibly on Lex's side, so not much help for her - I see her slowly getting in over her head. This episode pretty much isolated Nois from our heroes.



Durq, I love this line to bits. Nicely put!

ALSO - what can control superman? Something about mind-control, I guess.

Awesome epi! I was on the edge of my seat for most of the time!

It's supposed to continue basically from where Veritas left off-- they talk about it being a long day, Chloe's wearing the dark teal blouse-- but I think the timeline is off a bit since she wasn't wearing that when they saw Lana in the asylum, in the day. But continuity, schmunity.

I'm so sad Lionel is gone! Maybe he can haunt Lex. I'm going to miss me my John Glover.

Good to see L'il Lex again! He's a gem! But his last scene is disturbing to watch. No wonder MR wants out. He has to go to very dark places to play this role now.

Goodbye Gina/Not Mercy! I liked you and I was pretty sure you were "in like Flynn" for a moment there with Lex. Oh well...
I figured her killer was either a Lex assassin or Lionel had orders in place to kill certain people if he wound up dead.

Lois accomplishes nothing but being reckless with an armed person and gets herself shot!

Chloe is going to be in Lex's crosshairs again. Oh noes!

MR is absolutely brilliant in this episode. Everyone does well actually.

Not only that. She goes to Isis wthout anyone and heads up coming across Gina who than shoots her. A reporter in over her head I say.

Now that is why I still tune in every week (provided it's a new eppy) Good Show! Very Good Show!

So long MB we hardly knew thee. (Although in a way his story line had completley run it's course)

I was hoping for a kick ass ED Lois Not-Mercy! fight. Oh well dissapointment abounds.

I guess Lil' Lex was supposed to rep Lex's soul or the last of his humanity. So much for Clark protecting that.

Lex is really gonna kick himself for having Not-Mercy! killed before she had a chance to spill the beans to him (why do I see whatever phone he gets that message on sailing into a wall, or out a window?)

So now Clark wants to mope over being the indirect cause of Lionel's death too? DramaQueen!

I was going to say that Chloe is a potental target being the only person to actually see evidence that Lex killed his father, but since Lex fired her any accusations will come across as a bitter ex-employee out for revenge.

Be curious to see what the rest of the season holds. Hopefully the next frew episodes are as good.

It's no different then Lionel rewinding the security footage of Clex with Lex going "It's ok, I know your secret" and him upset that he had Lex's memory wiped.

There was a tiny mention from Clark at the very beginning of the first Chlark scene. It was one of the reasons he had Chloe still searching grids and was hesitant to leave the computer when news of Lionel's death hit the bullpen.

*vomits* Boo and hiss, show. I honestly fail to understand why they thought of this storyline for Lionel. If they were going to ruin his character so completely, I'd rather they just killed him off at the end of S4. *fumes* And Maybe!Mercy gone too? Ahh, the cherry on top. Looking forward to everything else though, esp. Michael.

I suppose the good news is that if Lionel "mindrape is awesome" Luthor can be redeemed, it's possible for anyone.Nice!

Haven't seen the epi yet, but saw the Clex and Chlex clips posted on the spoiler section. What an excellent Clex performance! If MR is really gone for most of next season, it is truly a profound loss.

Chlex. Ha! That firing was so random and un-work related, that it's just so wrong!

Lex: Boohoo! My father gave you something...
Chloe: Lex, he was in a state..I don't...
Lex: I hate you. You annoy me and piss me off. You're fired!
Chloe: Huh??!

Let the re-hiring begin! (hopefully)

So long MaybeMercy. You will be missed.

Jimmy is much less annoying when he is not around Chloe, and much much smarter than Lois. Those two can be a team - he's the brains, she's the... well, he's the brains.

Damn, Lex is kicking ass and taking names. Why was he not this impressive after all the other shootings? I guess head trauma really can change your personality.

I still think Chloe "curing" him has somenthing to do it.

Man I just love Chloe's last words to Lex as they force her out of the Planet "If anything is missing Lex, I swear to god, you won't hear the end of it"


So much word to that. She complained because Jimmy was going through files and memos, actually getting evidence, and he's the one who discovers Lionel was pushed, but of course, Lois doubts him. I mean seriously... she only believed him when he mentioned the Pulitzer!

I really liked this episode although I wasn't too fond of Jimmy and his if-Chloe-can-tear-herself-away-from-Clark bit. Eh, whatever, Jimmy.

A review/recap can be found here.

Hey nzs, thanks for the recap. I went to post my comment but the internets ate it, so I thought I'd say it was very nice here, instead. :-)

And apart from all the interesting stuff that happened, Lois actually said that Chloe has the same DNA as she does! Interesting...

Interesting for sure. But is that really a good thing? LOL

Thanks, nzs! I do like to be prepared. Lionel's message to Clark had me cringing. All of our work in the Lionel thread seems to be for naught. :( Not feeling much love for Clark in the Clex scene (I think between the two of them, Clark's the one with delusions), but I'll rant on that later ("Lionel deserves better"?! Oh my gawd!). Lex, however...Ahhh, it sounds so good. I think I'll even be happy with the Alexander stuff.Clex = canon, imho.

Which means that if Lois dies, Mother Nature won't even notice!

Fantastic recap nzs! Worth getting up at 4am to read. I'm really really curious now as to what can control Clark. Why would Swann even figure it out, let alone put it someplace that others could get. Once he met Clark, he should have destroyed it. I suppose he was waiting to make sure Clark didn't go dark but .... yeesh.

I'm so sad Maybe!Mercy is gone. Woobie should have taken some comfort there. I'm not convinced Lex had her killed, but I hope she gets a mention next week.

I also wish we had more than a cut-off comment dedicated to Chloe losing her job. Again, hoping for next week.

Still, this looks to be THE episode of the season .... S7 is looking epic to me. The Lionel/Lex scene was so powerful... I felt like Lionel was happy dying because it was a sacrifice for Clark. I wish he would have had a greater remorse over what he did to his own son. Lionel was not a good guy --- I think the show was saying that his relationship w/ Clark was changing Lionel but he wasn't there yet. He should have taken responsibility for the abuse he heaped on Lex. The Clex was just raw and epic. I'll rewatch that scene dozens of time. The heatvision defroster was great --- very angelic. And I cried over the final grave scene. So much pain. And clearly a pauper's grave --- plain pine box and all. Yet two giants at the funeral.

I think Sleeper will deal with the repercussions of Chloe's firing more severely. What I'm bothered by is the timeline problems here. Some parts were obviously filmed as a continuation of the Veritas plot. Are we supposed to believe Chloe changed clothes to go to Belle Reve and then changed back for work again? In this whole show, couldn't somone have been on continuity?

Ah, but this is Smallville. Never mind.

Even worse, it was dark when Lionel begged her to listen, then light at the asylum, then dark when Lionel was defenestrated. Clearly, they let the asylum bit be the last piece for Veritas when they reedited because of the drama.

Well, considering Clark once stopped to change clothes on the way to keep his father from being assassinated, it's par for the course for this show.


Seriously, though, you're right. Moving things around like that is often noticeable to viewers, especially if they are paying attention or watch eps multiple times.

Wow. Just wow. I had to scan the review/recap pretty quickly because I'm at work, but what jumps out (actually, punches me between the eyes and sucker-punches me in the chest) is the Sanctification of Lionel. You called it, Orestes--they just blew us off. I hope it airs better than it reads, because it reads like one long What a Great Guy/Hero Lionel was.

The rest of the ep sounds decent, but at first glance, I can't get beyond the deification.

And I've been screaming for months, no - years, that I was going to be majorly po'd if they didn't reveal the full on MB Evil Lionel before his demise. And after Traveler I was reluctantly calling for a crap out on that point. I was holding out hope because we had gotten spoilers for that episode calling for a return of the MB, but after watching it I knew we'd never see a return of evil Lionel. Can't tell everyone here how utterly disgusted I am with that part of the storyline. So now we've had Clark - and remember we are supposedly talking about Superman here - misjudging Lionel twice. We had some nice build up in the second half of Season 5 that pointed to some evil plan of Lionel's to weasel into the Kent home. Heck, we've got him being responsible for Bo's death. And to top it off, we've got a first in television history: A person comes back from Heaven and lies to their son (intentionally or unintentionally, doesn't matter because it's bad storytelling either way) about protecting his mother from the evil bastard. Talk about losing faith in the writers to ever do the right thing by any of these characters. I'm severely sick now.

Because I have absolutely NO willpower I caught most of the ep on YT and, well, my first thought is that if the writers are willing to retcon such a wonderfully evil character like Lionel Luthor and trash the show's history so terribly simply to move him out of the way and use him as a vehicle to propel Lex to absolutely villainy...well, my hope for Chloe is waning more and more.

I don't think Lionel comes across as a "good guy" at all. He was a MB all his life and after interaction w/ Clark he began to realize he needed and wanted redemption. But his inner nature still put Clark in that krypto-cage less than two weeks ago show-time. I think the peaceful look on Lionel's face as he plummets is because he thinks he's dying while protecting Clark -- which gives him redemption. But Clark knows this guy was no Jonathon Kent. Clark knows he was a bad guy who was trying to change. The operative word is trying --- he still whacked the crap out of Marilyn in cold blood only months before. Clark is all about hope. The only "mistake" he made was to think Lionel was hopeless. Lionel was not to be trusted -- even at the end. Clark said that Lex and Lionel only do the right thing if they can benefit from it. Lionel sensed his own impending demise and started looking for redemption.

Lionel's will basically made him seem like his whole life was about protecting Clark, so basically Lex killed his hero father.

A 'hero' who abused,schemed,blackmailed and killed.Lex and Lionel were both villains in this show but at some point Lex had to walk out of the shadow of his father.Lex doesnt want redemption in contrast to his father imo.He throwed his soul into the fire the one good thing that was left of him.

Yeah, I get why Lex had to off Lionel and agree it was necessary. I just don't think the latter needed to be martyred. Lex aside completely, Lionel was an awesome character and he was, for me, ruined for no great reason.

Ok, so Lionel is the Anti-Hero. He's actions are going to be justified. It's basically, Lionel had those people killed so they wouldn't harm Clark. It's a recon yeah, but Lionel didn't die as the MB, he died as an old man no one is listening too.

So the theme of this episode is that Jonathan Kent was a simpleton who died for nothing?

As great as the MB was, he was still a part-time character at best whereas Chloe isn't.

I would have rather seen Lionel go out as a Bastard than a sad, broken man. He was kidnapped and tortured by Lana, ignored by Chlark and killed by Lex. IMO, Lionel deserved better.Or, Jonathan Kent was a man who died becasue he started a fist fight when he had a serious heart condition?

Retcons - got to love them.

Honestly, what this episode did was, Jonathan Kent died over a misunderstanding.

OR, Jor-El screwed with Jonathan again and made Lionel more of a good guy then bad, thus making Jon's death meaningless.



You know, I sort of laughed at that scene. I hardly laugh when people get hurt but it's just... I was seriously expecting Lois to say

Lois: You Shot Me?! But I'm the General's daughter

I don't think Lionel was really redeemed in all of this. I think Lionel thinks he was redeemed by all of this, but the fact is he was a bad guy his whole life. At the beginning, he used bad means to achieve bad ends that he perceived to be in his interest; at the end, he just switched sides and used bad means to achieve good ends that he perceived to be in his interest. The commonality is that he always used bad means to achieve his interests, which makes him a bad guy in my estimation.

If they meant for us to think he was really redeemed, I think he would have said something to Lex (actually, he should have begged for Lex's forgiveness) during their final confrontation about how sorry he was for mistreating Lex all those years. Also, Chloe's reaction to his death would not have been, "He ruined a lot of lives, Clark [so don't weep for him]", it would have been "OH NO! Clark, I'm so sorry your almost step-father is dead".

Chloe's speech at the end doesn't take away from this, in my opinion. It doesn't make Lionel a hero or a martyr that his actions happened to be better for Clark than they might have been. The "right" thing for Lionel to do would have been to get the box from Zurich about three years ago and give it to Clark to destroy. What he actually did is just one jump above the worst possible thing, which might be positive but is certainly not heroic.

That's how I always saw it.

I didn't get that from the episode. Yes, Lionel was trying to do the right thing and was protecting Clark, but he also never hesitated to "abuse, scheme, blackmail and kill". I think it's natural for Clark to think about the good Lionel's done after his death.

It occurs to me that in trying to protect Clark/make Lex stronger Lionel succeeded in making the Numan/Sageeth legend reality.

I noticed that Nois and Jimmy never mentioned the pic of Lex and Patty's chauffeur/killer. Do you think that was retconned away?

ETA: Word, kenm.

They found out someone was already on the story, so they dropped it, and waited for something better.

That's how I saw it.

Well then we agree to disagree because I don't think his actions were justified.Neither were Lana's or Chloe's for that matter.

I also think that every glorification of Lionel as the villain is hurting Lex as a character and I don't want that.Now he could've died as the big MB but what is left for Lex then?A Lex who's trying to follow in his fathers footsteps?Thanks but no thanks.

They had Lex for murder (although really they didn't because that picture could have been Photoshopped). What is better? And just because someone else was on the story doesn't mean they sit on evidence. *confused*

I think there is a continiuty problem with this episode. Lois does mention going to the Luthor mansion to get evidence about the Swann murder right before Jimmy shows her the pic of Lionel. They already had evidence (the pic). Unless she wanted to get something more concrete. IDK.

Yep, that's exactly what Lionel's endpoint does. It makes Bo Kent's death utterly meaningless and it also makes Clark a jackass for misunderstanding the man, not once but twice! He didn't trust him through the 2nd half of Season 5, then slowly began to trust him in Season 6 and 7, and then didn't trust him again after TRESPASS. And it's now all utter BS because Superman - a person who's traditionally been pretty good at reading people, screwed this one up two times in the course of 3 years! But it's even worse. What DESCENT does is tell us that a man coming back from heaven to warn his son was lying!!! That's a first in television history. If you can't trust your own adopted dad when he comes back from heaven to warn you about an evil SOB, then who can you trust? God I hate this retcon or morphing of Lionel from evil MB to misunderstood babbler looking for redemption. I call so much bull spit on this one it's not even funny.

The rest of the episode is phenomenal from every indication, but I can't just look past this monumental writing blunder.

I haven't seen "Descent" yet, but I think "Void" was a manifestation of Clark's worries more than Bo actually coming back from heaven.

I love Not!Mercy.

Really?!!! Wow, I never got that from VOID at all. Lana and Clark both died for a few minutes, and then were brought back to life. I don't think anything in that episode pointed to it being in their heads because of worry. I saw it as a legit encounter from someone coming back from the "other side" [i.e. Heaven]. That seemed very clear to me.

Yeah, I think it was intended that way, but I also don't think it makes any sense. I think there's enough wiggle room to believe that it was indeed just a manifestation of their own beliefs. There was a discussion about Void and Lexmas on All Seasons a while back and the whole real vs. hallucination thing was discussed at legnth.

I disagree that it makes Clark look like a jackass. Lionel was a very enigmatic character, and I just can't see how it relflects badly on Clark that he couldn't read him. Even in death, I'm still not sure anyone can read him. He was good, he was evil, he helped, then he did something underhanded, and so on. Any person would be damned confused on what Lionel's motivations were. I can't really see blaming Clark for not having it figured out. Even to the end, and even if you believe that Lionel was trying to protect Clark, the way he was going about it was fucked up and confusing. Why not just tell Clark about the big, bad box that can control him? Why wait to tell him after you're dead, and he isn't able to ask you any questions. Its messed up.

With that in mind, I cant see blaming Clark for having a very muddled reaction to Lionel.

I also thought that Clark's reaction to Lionel's death was probably mitigated by a lot of the other things that are going on in his life, and about how Bo's death was brought back up. If Clark had not been beaten down nearly all season, and if he wasn't already feeling guilty and responsible for Lana and Kara, and if he hadn't just found out about the whole Veritas thing, and met Patty Swann (who was promptly murdered), then all the stuff with Lex, I think he may have had a more measured reaction to Lionel's death. He'd still feel grieved by it, but he might also have a better perspective. But Clark is just in a tailspin of despair lately, and so losing someone else, whose last actions seemed to center completely around him, is probably another blow when he's already on his knees. Or at least thats how I saw it. JMHO