Last night's Smallville

Ok, so after Lineage it was almost certain that this week's SV was gonna suck in comparison. For me, Ryan delivered the suckage.

I honestly didn't remember the kid, which shows how much last season's Stray made an impact on me. I'm just glad he was pretty young, or else it might've seemed like way-too-underage HoYay...

This ep just felt weird to me. Out of place perhaps. I groaned when they made all the comic book parallels, especially with that story about the hero and his best friend, who turns, and just b/c the hero won't go with him to dominate humanity the friend decides to hate the hero and all he stands for. Ok. Yeah. If they go that route with Lex I'll kill something. I just don't believe it, not with the Lex they've been showing us. He *adores* Clark, and like the kid said, he admires him, too. Any plausible reason for him going dark-side at this point would make me love and feel sorry for him all the more. He'd be the victim then, not the villian.

Ok, enough meta discussion, back to the ep...

Lex was great and sexy as usual. I love how he's willing to do almost anything to help Clark. He was also really good with Ryan, he and Clark both had this almost parental thing going with him.

Pete continues to be a nonentity. If they're not going to do anything with him, they should just get rid of him, ya know? And, not to offend any of his fans, I don't think the kid can act. Of course, that didn't stop them from giving Lana storylines, but hey.

Speaking of Lana, does she ever talk about anyone but herself? All we *ever* hear from her is me this, me that, my problems, blah blah blah. For all her lecturing to Clark about being a friend and sharing, she's a sucky friend.

So, Chloe and Lana are gonna be roomies. That should make the Chlana fans happy. Next week seems to feature them together, so we'll see how it goes.

The whole brain tumor thing bored me. We've seen that so many times before with characters who have ESP or other powers that it's become cliché. It was nice that Clark almost had a little brother, but we knew it wasn't to be. Ryan's death was inevitable. I liked him a little better at the end, though. He certainly got into the whole "I'm dying" thing, what with the teary-eyes and massive lip-trembling. Lana should take lessons.

One thing that made me curious was the whole kidnapping thing. I know Clark looks like he's 25 but he's still a minor himself. Can you commit kidnapping if you're a kid yourself?

Bo and Martha didn't have much to do beyond be parental, and I didn't want to smack Bo upside the head even once. Go Bo.

I missed Lionel! Where was the Magnificent Bastard through all of this? I want to see more of him, especially now that Martha's working for him.

I'm not holding out much hope for next week, what with another psycho boy going after Lana. Honestly, do they think Lana is *that* beautiful and perfect that every guy who sees her wants to have her? Bloody hell, people...

Btw, hard to assign a GAYLE this week. I'm gonna give it to Clark when Lex shows up with the legal papers. Clark just looks so adoring there.

Discussion welcome.