In the mean time, don’t forget you can pick up your season 7 DVD’s on standard definition and BluRay that will release just in time for the 8th season in mid-September, with 20 episodes, deleted scenes, documentaries, and episode commentary. Also, your order will help support this site so it’s win-win!

Enhanced AAC | Subscribe with iTunes | Discuss
Running Time: 1:34:18;
Podcast Record Date: May 15th, 2008

Standard MP3 | Subscribe with iTunes! | Discuss
Running Time: 1:34:18;
Podcast Record Date: May 15th, 2008

After the episode make sure to post your reactions on the finale in the forums. If you find that the site has become unavailable, please bare with us, as we are expecting a high volume of traffic, since the site usually crashes on finale night.

While we haven’t heard from our sources at Warner Bros or the CW yet, this appears to be pretty legit as the decision was made only hours ago, so it looks like Chloe will be returning in the fall! More on this story as it develops.

Take a look around, you’ll see a new streamlined look here at the main site, as well as our forums, our enhanced AAC cards, and even our new t-shirts which will be available for pre-order very soon.

We’d like to thank Evan Agee of Agee Design and Graham Hancock for putting together the new site! Also, a big thank you to Stuart (Narsil) for providing the sweet fortress logo you see up at the top.

All this means we’re looking ahead to a new year, a new eighth season of “Smallville”, and beyond. Thanks for sticking with us for two years, we’re here because of you guys and we’re staying put because of you too!

Returning for its eighth season, this new interpretation of the enduring Superman mythology and its classic characters blends realism and adventure into an exciting action series. Last season, Clark Kent and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) became the sworn enemies that comic book aficionados have always known and loved. The season also brought storylines of Krypton and the El family, including the arrival of Clark’s cousin Kara, a.k.a. Supergirl (Laura Vandervoort), and the return of Brainiac (James Marsters).

There were also exciting guest stars from the Superman mythology, including Dean Cain (”Lois & Clark”) and Helen Slater (”Supergirl”). Clark discovered more about his home planet, who his parents were, what his future holds and why he was sent to Earth. The series stars Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, Erica Durance as Lois Lane and Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen. Reinterpreting the Superman mythology from its roots, SMALLVILLE was developed for television by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (”Shanghai Noon,” “Spiderman 2″), based on the DC Comics characters. The executive producers are Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer, James Marshall, Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola. The series is produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Right now the standard version is only about $2 less than the BluRay but rest assured that price will drop soon, and if you’ve already pre-ordered the set, your pre-order price will drop with it. While you’re at it check out the seventh season companion or the all new Justice League figures from the sixth season episode, “Justice”.

So why not go ahead and be one of the first to pre-order your seventh season set, and support SHoE and Smallville while you’re at it!?

Download Episode AAC | Subscribe to AAC with iTunes!

Download Episode MP3 | Subscribe to MP3 with iTunes!

Also, feel free to send Angell feedback here.

Here we are again with another review. I apologize if this one is slightly abbreviated. This week has been insane, but what this one lacks I will make up for with “Quest” and “Arctic”. First of all, SHoEligans I need to tell you that I am going out of town today (Thursday), and have decided (upon the suggestion of Derek) to make “Quest” and “Arctic” one giant monster review.

But back to this week…I cannot wait to talk about this episode. Let’s get right into it:What else is there to say about “Apocalypse”? It was outstanding. Tom Welling did a remarkable job of handling double duty. Neither of his performances suffered. The script for this week’s episode was excellent, and brilliantly brought to the small screen by Mr. Welling.

This is the closest to Superman Clark has been so far. Everything about it was aimed more toward classic Superman. Even Jimmy.

Every performance seemed to amaze me. Laura did a wonderful job. Her performance improves with every episode. Aaron Ashmore was quite amazing this week as well. This alternate Jimmy more closely resembled the Jimmy we’re all used to. Allison was outstanding even though her screen time was significantly less than what we’re used to.

The performances I want to talk the most about though are those of Erica, Tom, and Michael.

I was very impressed with Erica. I enjoyed seeing her play the Ace Reporter Lois. I was thrilled by every single one of the Clark and Lois scenes. The rate in which that relationship is growing only makes me more excited for season eight.

Michael Rosenbaum will be sorely missed next season. His portrayal of Lex Luthor is one of the deepest darkest portrayals to ever hit any screen (big or small). He’s allowed Lex slowly develop into the role of the villain, and yet still managed to keep him human. It takes an amazing actor and an awesome person to successfully pull of the bald head, white suit, and black glove. Michael managed to do that. And, by the way, how wickedly cool was that gun with the Kryptonite bullets?

I sincerely hope that James Marsters is brought back in a larger capacity next season. He adds so much to the show and the tone it takes. Brainiac has always been one of my favorite Superman villains. He’s just impossible to destroy, and he’s very manipulative. Not only did he deceive Lex in the normal Smallville continuity, but he deceived him in the alternate reality as well. It’s very important to see that Clark is the only one who can truly fight Brainiac. If Clark is not around Brainiac pretty much has the run of things. He would achieve whatever goal he deemed necessary with no trouble what so ever and in this case his goal is the revival of Zod. Marsters is a masterful actor who portrays Brainiac beautifully. He never fails to impress me whenever he is on screen.

Last but certainly not least, let’s talk about Krypton. I was personally surprised to see it so soon. I felt for sure they were going to explore that in “Quest”, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw on the screen. The visual effects and general look of Krypton was amazing! The fight between Kara, Clark, and Brainiac was phenomenal. I loved seeing Clarks’ ship again, and seeing it heading away from the exploding Krypton.

All in all, “Apocalypse” was a wonderful side step from the show’s building tension. It didn’t step too far though, and in the end was able to slightly resolve one conflict (although it more than likely caused another one for Clark and Kara). It was entertaining, and a wonderful breath of fresh air. Tom Welling should be extremely proud of himself. I give this episode five Kryptonian crystal daggers out of five.

This is the last episode before the season finale next week. Be sure not to miss it! After this episode, be sure to head to the forums to discuss tonight’s episode.

Download Episode AAC | Subscribe to AAC with iTunes!

Download Episode MP3 | Subscribe to MP3 with iTunes!

Hear it on iTunes | Download Video iPod Format | iTunes Profile

Here’s a flash player of the video for faster results:

Hear it on iTunes | Download MP3 | iTunes Profile

Alan potrayed Arthur Curry (AKA Aquabro) in 2 episodes of “Smallville” including “Aqua” and “Justice”. Derek will be in attendance with the guys from the GeekLand podcast.

Needless to say this will put a time strain on getting this week’s epiosde out early; but don’t worry, we should have some goodies to go along with it. To find out more about Free Comic Book Day, you can visit this site.

Michael Rosenbaum will be bowing out as Lex Luthor at the end of this season of Smallville.

Click the jump to read a special message from Michael to his fans and co-workers, and a message from the studio regarding his departure care of the CW and Kryptonsite:

Dear Smallville Fans,

Well, it’s been seven wonderful years. Your support is what has made Smallville so successful, and I appreciate you all more than you know.
That being said, it is time for me to start the next chapter of my life and career. I hope that I gave you some enjoyment over the years, and that you found my portrayal of Lex Luthor to be satisfying. I am truly grateful, as Smallville fans are the best fans out there. I sincerely hope that you will continue to follow my career through my hair growth period and beyond.

I’m very excited about what the future holds, but certainly, Smallville will always be a part of me. I will definitely miss the greatest crew in the
world, and the wonderful cast that has been like a family to me. Thank you Al and Miles for creating the show. Thank you writers, producers, directors and editors. Thanks Tolin, Robbins and Davola for being there for the pilot. Thank you Peter Roth for employing me for ten years. Lisa Lewis, I Miss you already. John Glover, thanks for helping me feel more comfortable touching other actors, while acting. Bizarre, but helpful.

Mostly, I want to thank Greg Beeman for directing the “Oh Sherry” video, by Steve Perry, back in the 80’s.

Thanks crew. Thanks fans. Thanks Smallville.
I love you all,
Michael Rosenbaum

“It has been an honor and pleasure to work with Michael for the past six seasons. He is one of the best actors on television and has never failed to bring a new layer to the character of Lex Luthor in every episode. While Michael won’t be a series regular and we won’t have the pleasure of working with him on a weekly basis this fall, we like to think that we haven’t seen the last of Lex Luthor. Stay tuned.”

-Smallville Executive Producers

Tonight, Clark finds out first hand what Smallville would be like if he had never come to earth. Lex is President, Lana is married, Chloe and Lois are ace reporters at the Daily Planet, and Kara has been adopted by the Luthors!

After this only one more episode until the season 7 finale! After the episode, check out the forums for a discussion of tonight’s episode.

It’s unclear if they will release the entire series at once or just the first five seasons for viewing, but regardless; there will finally be a legal and acceptable way to view “Smallville” online if you’ve missed an episode! Look for it soon!

Download Episode AAC | Subscribe to AAC with iTunes!

Download Episode MP3 | Subscribe to MP3 with iTunes!

Also, feel free to send Angell feedback here.

Here we are again, SHoEligans. I once again get the privilege of sharing my thoughts with all of you. So let’s talk about “Sleeper”.

I really feel like jumping right in with this one. I loved this episode. I thought it was adorable, and one of the best post-epic episodes the Smallville crew has ever come up with. Jimmy Olsen really came off as lovable in this episode, and credit for that goes to not only Aaron Ashmore, but Caroline Dries as well. The minute I saw Jimmy fumbling around to cook Chloe a “Wholesome Olsen” breakfast I knew he was going to be extremely likeable in this episode.

Aaron Ashmore’s comedic timing was phenomenal as usual, but this time he really had a chance to show it off. Allison Mack had a chance to showcase her comedic skills as well. I was thrilled with seeing Allison and Aaron play off of each other and seeing their characters interact. Their chemistry is wonderful and refreshing when compared with the other super tense relationships on the show. The Chlimmy Dance (as I like to call it) was wonderfully hysterical and even a little bit romantic. Chloe’s reaction to Jimmy’s sudden Tango skills was priceless. She saw a whole new Jimmy, and you could tell she really enjoyed it.

One of the things that was masterful about the script for this episode is how they still managed to move this seasons continual plot. I felt like this episode was wonderfully paced and kept my interest. The scenes that dealt with the ongoing “Veritas” plot were well written and skillfully acted. Lex’s scene in Zurich felt very “Bourne Identity” to me, and Michael’s performance was outstanding as usual. Like I said last week Tom Welling knows his character so well that an excellent performance is almost a given when it comes to Clark’s scenes, and this week was no exception. His scene in the Fortress was not only acted wonderfully but written ingeniously as well. The visual effects in the Fortress impressed me as well especially with how much they intensified Kara’s transmission.

Let’s talk about Vanessa. Our lady spy definitely resembled a Charlie’s Angel gone mental. Anne Openshaw’s portrayal of the character was superb, and I loved the gadget briefcase she gave Jimmy. The prop department out did themselves with this episode. I also loved how amazed Jimmy was by all of those weapons, and how it still showed AS he was using them. I also loved that it was Jimmy who got to save Chloe, and that Clark didn’t come rushing in at the last minute. Jimmy got to save his girl, and that made the scene much more entertaining.

All in all, the episode was handled very well. I thought it would either go one way or the other especially when it concerned Jimmy. Jimmy was either going to come off as a jerk or as a truly and genuinely nice guy. In my opinion he successfully came off as a boy next door type, and credit for that achievement goes to Aaron Ashmore, Caroline Dries, and the director for this episode Whitney Ransick. The direction was beautiful and artful which seems to me would be difficult to do while making such a humorous episode. I think “Sleeper” was a nice break from the heavy storyline surrounding it.

I’m going to give it four covert cufflink darts out of a possible five.

If you’re not sure what Twitter is, it’s a status update service where users “follow” other users to see what they are up to. So if you are following our official SHoE account you’ll know in an instant when news updates or new episodes of the podcast are posted on our site. We’ll also use our twitter account to interact with our listeners from time to time. So join up and follow us!

After the episode be sure to head back to the forums to disscuss tonight’s episode.

I am not going to summarize the episode. If you’re reading this then I am going to assume you’ve seen the episode. The gist of the plot is explained by the title. This episode follows the “descent” of Lex Luthor, and allows us to witness Lex finally become the Luthor of the future. I knew the minute I saw the trailer that this was going to be a huge episode, and I wasn’t disappointed. This was one of those episodes that immediately took off (we’re talking zero to sixty in two seconds). I immediately knew I was in for a treat. This season has been a very solid season, and this episode was no exception.

First off I’m going to talk about the lighting and colors in the very first scene. Why this specific scene you ask? Well, because it just looked so perfect and fit so well with the context of the scene itself. The shadow and light in each shot seemed to contradict and struggle against each other. It illustrated the battle between good and evil that had gone on between and within both Lionel and Lex. There was one particular shot of Lionel that made the most significant impression on me. After Lex asks about the “Traveler” the elder Luthor’s face was shown half consumed by the darkness and the other half illuminated. I thought it was an excellent reflection of Lionel’s journey on Smallville. His path on the show was full of half-truths, betrayal and ultimately redemption. The contrast between the light and the dark just seemed to represent the change in Lionel Luthor.

I believe you should all know that I am a huge fan of dialogue. For me the dialogue is what I anticipate the most and we wouldn’t have story or dialogue without the writers. They were at the pinnacle of their game this week. It would have been very easy to let the teaser be the climax of the episode, but lucky for us the writing staff on Smallville is phenomenal. Everything in this episode was handled brilliantly. The struggle between Lex and Alexander, the confrontation between Lex and Chloe, The argument Clark and Lex have, and every scene in between was written brilliantly. Every scene seemed different than anything else we have ever seen on the show. I think Don Whitehead, Holly Henderson, and the rest of the writing staff deserve several standing ovations for the quality of this episode’s script.

The direction by Ken Horton was outstanding. What sticks out to me the most is the shot of Lionel’s eye while Lex was indentifying the body and the shot outside of Luthorcorp where we see Alexander speaking to Lex for the first time in this episode. Both of those particular shots stuck with me. The idea of looking any corpse in the eye disturbs me, but it effects me even more so when the person viewing the eye is the murderer. The shot with Alexander really felt like you were inside Lex’s head. It felt like time was standing still for him, and the reality of his crime finally came crashing down. There were several other brilliant points of direction in this, and Lionel’s funeral scene was one another one of those brilliant moments. There was no dialogue, but there also wasn’t a need for any. Everything could be said with glances and expressions. The initial visual of the scene automatically sold it for me. The layout of it with Clark and Lex standing on either end of Lionel’s grave was a moment that will not be forgotten any time soon nor will the look the two of them exchanged as Lex walked away. I half expected a shoulder bump to happen between the two characters. The entire scene had a “Lex Luthor versus Superman” vibe that could not be ignored.

Let’s talk about the performances in the episode.

I’ll begin with Aaron Ashmore and Erica Durance. I thought the two gave very good performances as Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. I enjoyed the team up, and was thrilled to see Jimmy get a moment in the spotlight (however brief it was). In this episode Lois was her usual sarcastic self, and had several of my favorite lines. I have to say my favorite line of hers from the episode had to be her line to Jimmy about readjusting his focus (“The school boy crush is sweet, Jimmy, but you need to readjust your focus in more ways than one.”). Both Erica and Aaron have great comic timing, and that seemed to be showcased in their scene with Gina (Mercy Prototype 1.0).

John Glover’s one scene was more than I could have ever hoped for. His expressions were believable and effective. Mr. Glover really pulled off the after effects of Lionel’s desperate attempts to talk to Clark. I will miss John Glover on the show as his performances always kept you guessing about a character. It really says something that there were still fans of the show who were unsure about where Lionel Luthor stood. There were people who still believed Lionel to be evil and selfish, and that were never sure of his loyalty to Clark. The fact that John Glover achieved that amount of mystery for his character says a lot about his talent.

Allison Mack did her thing as usual, and she was outstanding. I have decided that not only is she talented with carrying the technical babble, but she’s also the best at giving pep talks. So many great lines came from her pep talk to Clark toward the end of the episode. Her confrontation with Lex was also one of the highlights of the episode. Allison Mack is one of the best actresses (if not one of the best then she is the absolute best) on the show. While it was sad to see Chloe fired from the Daily Planet it now opens up a lot of different possibilities for the character, and I am excited to see how that is handled (by Allison and the writers).

At this point in his career Tom Welling knows his character inside and out, and it definitely shows in his performance. It is clear that Lex and Clark are far from the friends they used to be, and Tom did an excellent job of portraying that. Tom made it clear in this episode that Clark is very suspicious of Lex and will be from this point on. This episode brought Clark as close to being Superman as he’s ever been. Tom Welling has been doing an excellent job of showing Clark Kent’s transformation from small town farm boy to international hero. The highlight of his performance for me was his scene with Michael outside of Luthorcorp. The way Clark followed Lex across the police barricades just looked so perceptive and powerful at the same time.

Finally let’s talk about Michael Rosenbaum. We’ve always known he was a wonderful actor, and if you didn’t then I hope you do know. I’m going to miss Michael when he leaves the show because of his amazing portrayal of Lex Luthor. He’s made the character extremely accessible and easy to relate to. We’ve seen Lex fall from who he used to be. Michael has managed to make an evil mastermind seem human, and to make his transformation gradual. Michael’s performances as Lex have been and continue to be masterful. My favorite scenes of his in this episode were all of the scenes with Alexander. Michael did a wonderful job of interacting with the embodiment of his good side. It was a very complex scene and Michael pulled it off with flying colors.

All in all, this episode was Smallville at its best. The entire cast and crew was on top of their game, and garnered this episode a five out of five rating. Even Roger Ebert would have to agree with that.

Download the Video! (59:42)

• iPod Compatible (352MB)

We know the file sizes are large, so here’s a Flash Video Player with the Episode for faster results :)

Download the Audio (MP3 Only / 56:22)

CLARK MEETS THE LAST MEMBER OF VERITAS — Lex is attacked by a cloaked stranger who carves kryptonian symbols into his chest - a message for Clark. Chloe and Clark investigate and discover one member of the Veritas clan has survived and is hiding in a church. Clark and Lex race to be the first to find this mysterious Veritas member, who holds the key to Clark’s survival. Aaron Ashmore also stars. Ken Biller directed the episode written by Holly Harold.

“Quest” airs May 8th, 2008 on the CW

After the episode head back to the forums to disscuss tonight’s episode. Also be sure to check out a very special edition of SHoE that will be up later this weekend due to it’s magnitude”

CLARK SEES WHAT LIFE WOULD BE LIKE IF HE HAD NEVER ARRIVED ON EARTH; TOM WELLING DIRECTS — Clark (Tom Welling) discovers that Kara (Laura Vandervoort) sent messages from Krypton in the past that indicate that Brainiac (guest star James Marsters) wants to kill Baby Kal-El so Clark will not exist in the future. Clark is torn because he thinks the world would be better off if he had never arrived in Smallville.

Jor-El arranges for him to see what life would have been like if Clark hadn’t existed - Lex (Michael Rosenabum) is President of the United States, Kara is raised by the Luthors, Jonathan (John Schneider) is alive, Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is happily married and Chloe (Allison Mack) and Lois (Erica Durance) are ace reporters. Aaron Ashmore also stars. Tom Welling directed the episode written by Turi Meyer & Al Septien

Thanks to the CW for providing us with this description.

Steve and Derek talk you through Lex’s journey of good and evil with some insights to this week’s upcoming “Descent”.

Follow instructions in the beginning to sync up your season 4 DVD with our episode.

Download Episode MP3 | Subscribe with iTunes!

Download Episode AAC | Subscribe to AAC with iTunes!

Download Episode MP3 | Subscribe to MP3 with iTunes!

If you missed it the first time around, here’s your chance to catch it again, and to check out (hopefully) an all new trailer for “Descent” towards the end. And be sure not to miss James Carrington’s “Ache” featured on tonight’s first post-strike episode of E.R. at 10pm (9pm central) on NBC.

James has been busy recording his full album, and even has two videos of the making of the record available on MySpace, you can see the first of those by clicking here.

Head over to James’ MySpace and let him know you heard about it from the House of El!

Later on this summer, we’ll be giving away the CD through a SHoE contest on the show, but this is your chance to pre-order from Amazon right now and support SHoE! While you’re at it, why not pick up some other great soundtracks?

JIMMY HELPS THE DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SECURITY ARREST CHLOE — Clark (Tom Welling) desperately searches for Kara (Laura Vandervoort) and Brainiac (guest star James Marsters), as Brainiac is the only one who can reverse Lana’s (Kristin Kreuk) condition. Clark asks Chloe (Allison Mack) to check any large power surges in the area, so she breaks into several government computers, setting off alarms. Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore) is caught between the Department of Security - who threatens him with jail time unless he helps them arrest Chloe - and Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), who offers to help clear Chloe if Jimmy agrees to be in his debt.

Thanks to the CW for providing us with this description.

KryptonSite has posted a letter to the fans of Smallville from Al and Miles themselves, delivering this sad sad news to us.

The letter has been handed down to us and is after the jump:

UPDATE: Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin, and Darren Swimmer have been named as the show runners for season 8.

As the creators of “Smallville” we look back at 7 amazing years. We look back at 152 episodes. We look back knowing that the show will continue into Season 8 without us. After much heartache and debate we have decided it is time for us to move on.

Over the last 7 years we have had the honor of working with a remarkable team of people here in Los Angeles and in Vancouver. We have been blessed with a wonderful cast who we have watched mature with admiration and affection. We have been rewarded with a fan base that is as loyal as it is vocal.

We are incredibly proud of our work on this show. We achieved what we set out to do. We never compromised our vision. We leave knowing that “Smallville” is the longest-running comic book based series of all-time. The show was featured on the covers of Rolling Stone, MAD magazine, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. The pilot had the highest-rated premiere in the history of the WB. Even in its seventh year it is still the #1 scripted show on the network. “Smallville” is watched by millions of people in hundreds of countries and in dozens of languages around the world.

The show’s success is a credit to a fantastically talented group of people. We wanted to take this chance to single some of them out. Our writers – your work speaks for itself. James, Jae, Rob, David – the backbone of our team in Vancouver. Joe Davola, Chris and Shelly – remember those Friday night brainstorming sessions? Len Goldstein and Steve Pearlman – thanks for believing we could do this. David Nutter – for giving the show your magic touch. John Litvack – when the knives were out, you always had our backs. Ken Horton – our Yoda. Peter Roth – Smallville’s biggest fan. Melinda, Michael R., Paul M., Susan and Suzanne – for steering us through 152 episodes. Greg Beeman – your passion is an inspiration. Jordan, David, Garth, Carolyn, Bob & Lew – and everyone at the much-missed WB. Paul Levitz, Greg Noveck and the guys at DC Comics. Lisa Lewis – our very own soccer mom/mafia accountant. Michael Gendler – aka mega-counsel. David Lubliner – we can finally focus on features now. And last but in no way the least, Renee Kurtz – the smartest TV agent in town, we would be nowhere without you!

Finally, to the fans who have stuck with us through the highs and the lows: know this – we never stopped fighting to make this show great. Thanks for watching.

Alfred Gough & Miles Millar

Podcasts as popular as SHoE tend to end up costing a quite of bit of money: bandwidth costs, website hosting, equipment, etc. With that said - there are two great ways you can support SHoE if you’ve always wanted to!

The fastest and easiest way to do this is probably PayPal - you can put in the amount you want to donate, which goes directly to paying our costs and buying new equipment to keep the show at the top of it’s game - you can donate to SHoE via your PayPal account by clicking here.

Another great way to help support us, is by buying great Smallville/Superman merchandise from Amazon via SHoE. You’ve probably seen these style links on the site before, forwarding you to the product. Buying these items helps support the show as well, and if you’re going to be getting them anyways, why not help us out in the process? Here are some great items you can get right now:

Was it all he could’ve hoped it to be? Did the strike help or hinder the episode for him?

Wow, what an episode this was. I know that I say that every week after an episode, but every episode this season has really been solid. I think it was really good. It had really great pacing, and left all the characters in very interesting places for when the show comes back in a couple of weeks.

Now it is a well-known fact among the general fandom that this episode was meant to serve as the season finale for the series had the writer’s strike still been in place. I, for one, glad it wasn’t. Like any fan, I am glad that we are getting a nice batch of episodes to stretch the story of Smallville a little bit more. Having said that, I would’ve liked to see what this episode would’ve been like, had it not been changed up as it was.

But I still enjoyed the episode for what it was. I kind of envision this episode as part of a 3-parter, though. With Traveler being the part that sets everything up, but Veritas was that second chapter, and Descent I feel is going to be that third chapter that has us all screaming.

One thing this episode seemed to be about was teamups. The first teamup that I was really glad to see was the teamup with Clark and Kara as they took on Brainiac together. I hope we can see more of this kind of teamup in future episodes. Their teamup has a certain family element to it, which in my opinion is what Smallville has always been about.

Another teamup that we saw in this episode was the classic teamup of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. In the comics and TV series, you see Lois and Jimmy teaming up a lot to take on the big story. Now, this is not the first time that Lois and Jimmy have teamed up. If you recall, in the episode, “Hydro,” they teamed up to try and reveal Oliver Queen as the green Arrow in season 6, but of course, Clark and Ollie put their own leather stamp on that teamup. This episode was different, as it was Lois and Jimmy teaming up in the Daily Planet, whereas before it was Lois in the Inquisitor and Jimmy in the Planet. So it felt more iconic and classic to me. Although, Jimmy and Lois didn’t uncover anything that we, as an audience, didn’t already know, it was still fun to see them together. I also think that the respective actors really pulled this off, as well.

Another thing that Superman has kind of carried with him in all his interpretations from the strip to the screen is his Christian parallels. This episode was no exception to that. Now, I may be alone in this, but I thought this episode had quite a few.

One that stands out in my mind is Veritas itself. Veritas, at its core, are men who anticipated the arrival of a Traveler, who would come to Earth and thus bring great change to it. In the Bible, there are many prophets who prophesied the coming of a Savior namely Jesus Christ. Throughout Superman’s long history, he has been called a “savior.” So there is that parallel . . .

Another parallel that I saw was in actually my favorite scene of the episode – the Chloe and Lionel scene. Lionel says that they can trust him because Jor-El chose him to be his vessel and emissary, and that has been the way that he finds forgiveness and atonement for all of his past sins. That is a way many Christians like myself find ways to repent, through serving God. This is a bit far-fetched, but there have been comparisons of Jor-El to God before (see Superman: The Movie and you’ll see what I’m talking about)

I think one thing that this episode promised but did not deliver on was the fact that Kara was supposed to teach Clark to fly in this episode. I know that we have this rule that says we may never see Clark Kent fly in Smallville. But I, for one, actually believed that he was going to fly in the episode at some point. I was waiting for it, and it never happened. I was a little disappointed in that. I do think that sometime soon Clark Kent has to fly. I mean, we as fans know from avid watchings of this show that Clark Kent knows how to fly, as he’s done it before. Whether he’s afraid of heights or afraid of too much power or whatever, something is holding him back and sometime in the near future I would love to see him fully conquer that fear.

One thing that this episode had to offer was the return of Brainiac after him being off the show for 5 episodes. It was really nice to see him again and back to his old tricks. I simply love James Marsters’ portrayal of Brainiac in the series. He is the first live-action actor to tackle the role, so to see him portray this character as an evil master-manipulator is pretty refreshing.

Now, we see from this episode that Brainiac, after being sickly in Persona, has repaired himself. Obviously, the information from Dax-Ur helped him to do that, but how? I would like to know how he was able to do that. I hope in future episodes we will see this happen. I have so many questions regarding Brainiac’s actions in this episode, though.

I think the question regarding Brainiac that we all have is: What the frak is Brainiac’s plan? Why did he need Kara for it? It seems that Brainiac can never do anything by himself. He always needs some member of the House of El to accomplish his means. But I think he knows how to make those certain Kryptonians tick. It shall be interesting what Brainiac’s overarching master plan is this time if it is not to release Zod like last time.

Throughout this episode, as Brainiac was doing his thing with Lana, and all of the other stuff he was doing, this got me thinking. I would love to see Brainiac continue as a recurring villain in season 8. I think he really interacts with all the cast of characters really well, and could bring much more to the show than he brings now and he brings a lot.

Now, the vehicle of this episode was the Veritas flashbacks. I, for one, enjoyed these, and thought they were very well-executed. They not only revealed a lot about Veritas itself, but also brought many aspects of the series full-circle to me as a longtime viewer and fan. I also love the way these flashbacks were brought about. Lex, in the episode, mentions that ever since he got shot in Fracture that he was remembering more and more. I loved that. I do not think that it was just the blow to the head that caused Lex to recover these lost memories. I think that Chloe’s healing power also had something to do with that. I think that Chloe’s healing power mended those parts of his brain that had blocked out those childhood memories that he had blocked out. And, who knows? It could have been a combination of both the healing power and the memory-extractment” treatments he took years ago.

But the first flashback is worth noting. The first flashback was one of many meetings of the Veritas secret society. It revealed quite a bit about Veritas. In fact, we know from this flashback that there was kind of disputation of power and knowledge in the Veritas group, and that seed was planted into some by Lionel Luthor. There also was a division of ideas between groups within Veritas. Swann and Queen believed in protecting and nurturing the traveler when he arrived, while Luthor and Teague (mostly Genevieve probably) believed in controlling him.

Also, you can believe this kind of attitude from Swann because this is the attitude that Swann carries in his two appearances in the series. In fact, if you watch Rosetta and Legacy closely enough, the whole Veritas thing makes a whole lot of sense. That was what I loved about the flashback was that it seemed to bring that whole storyline with Swann to a nice conclusive end. The Swann storyline was one storyline that I would’ve loved to see wrapped up and it was wrapped up nicely. Although, it makes you wonder where would that storyline have gone in the series, had Christopher Reeve (who played Virgil Swann) lived on even unto this point?

One thing that I felt was lacking from that flashback was the appearance of Genevieve Teague. Now I understand that Jane Seymour could not be on the set to film this episode, but I still would’ve loved to see her character return. I actually enjoyed Genevieve during her small run on Smallville. I really thought that she could’ve added much more to that scene than was already there. But I did like the fact that we got Edward to stand in her place. I still think it would’ve been cool if Genevieve and Edward were there together.

I also found it interesting that this meeting seemed to give the idea that this secret society was just a kind of passing down the legacy of something called Veritas and not just something they came up with. Sure, Veritas was formed and founded by Virgil Swann, but I think that Earth had been preparing for the arrival of the Son of Krypton for a long time before that, as we know from the caves and the stones. I liked that the stones were talked about in concordance with Veritas. It definitely brought season 4 back into my mind, as that was probably where Veritas had its early beginnings.

One thing that I did not like in this whole flashback sequence was the addition of an unnecessary wheelchair in the whole sequence. It didn’t seem campy or unneeded to me at all. It just kind of took away from my mental image of Virgil Swann. I always saw Swann as a man very much like Christopher Reeve. I imagined that he was paralyzed in an accident very much like Mr. Reeve was. The wheelchair definitely added a feeling of wonder in terms to Virgil Swann that is very fitting to Mr. Reeve and it is a feeling that Swann had in his short time on the series.

We also learned from this flashback that there is an envelope that was in the possession of Swann and Queen that was locked in a vault in Zurich. This also leads to the question, what is in this envelope? I hope that we can get the answer to this soon.

The second flashback that is worth noting is the second flashback. This second flashback was just as intriguing. While the first flashback revealed a lot of information about Veritas, this second one seemed to bring everything full circle with the series. After all, the flashback revolved around the famous newspaper headline from the Pilot. It also confirmed that Lionel had a hand in murdering many of the charter members of the Veritas society. It also brought things full circle with Lionel’s lines at the end: “Are you ready for an adventure, son? We are going to fly in a helicopter to a friendly little town . . . called Smallville.” When Lionel said Smallville, I had chills. It really brought the whole series to a nice little round; as we know those two characters would never be the same after entering this small town ever again.

We also learned from this flashback that Lionel did indeed have one of the keys to the vault in Zurich, that Virgil Swann also had which he passed to his daughter Patricia. But obviously Lionel did not have the fortitude to trust his son the way Swann trusted Patricia.

But those were the flashbacks. I thought they really added a lot to the series and to the season in general. It’ll be interesting to see how these particular flashbacks that Lex had play out throughout the Final Five episodes.

One thing I liked about this episode was that it continued where Traveler left off. All of the characters were still reeling from the events of Traveler, including Clark Kent. Clark, at the end of Traveler, had concluded his “alliance” (if that’s what you’d call whatever Clark and Lionel have) with Lionel Luthor. This episode saw the continuation of that. I really enjoyed the scene that Clark and Lionel had, as it reminded me a lot of Clark’s attitude towards Lionel in season 3. Clark’s attitude to Lionel in that season was that Lionel was the bad guy, and now having trusted Lionel, and left him in the dirt, so to speak, he is back to that attitude that he had towards Lionel in those early seasons. It was really nice to see a return to that kind of rival relationship. But Lionel is desperately trying to make Clark see that he was indeed telling the truth.

This episode also saw the desperate Lionel Luthor that we saw a bit of near the end of last week’s episode. But this seemed to be to the point of madness. Some people wonder why Lionel is so desperate that Clark listens to him now, more than ever. It’s not like Clark has him in a choker hold or anything like in times past. If you look b