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I had just begun to think Pete had gone the way of the oldest Cunningham brother on Happy Days or Carrie’s sister on King of Queens. (What’s up with shows doing that anyway? If you want to get rid of a character, fine, but please don’t insult us by pretending they never existed!) I do have to give a shout out to the writers for actually explaining why Pete hadn’t been seen or heard from in three years, even to the extent of Clark asking him why he didn’t return any of his phone calls. It’s even a good explanation: He was so burdened by trying to keep Clark’s secret that he had to put his entire time in Smallville completely behind him.

So it’s pretty understandable why Pete was upset when he discovered that not only do Chloe and Lana know Clark’s secret, but so does Lionel. You know…the guy who ruined his Pete’s life by stealing away his dad’s factory, causing his parents to divorce and him to have to move away from his friends and school. No biggie, right?

But Pete has a secret of his own now, although it doesn’t stay one very long…he chews some Kryptonite-infected gum, and suddenly he can stretch like some kind of Plasti—er, Mr. Fantas—uh, Elongated Ma—um…how about Elastic Lad? Yeah, that’s right, part of the Superman mythos, except oldsters like me know it was Jimmy who gained those powers in the comics, not Pete. (By the way, I’m not even going to get into how lame it is that they made the gum the same brand that was sponsoring the show.)

As much as I was looking forward to Pete’s return, I was generally disappointed with this episode. The last thing I expected was for Pete to end up being your typical freak of the week. I’m not a big fan of the Kara-losing-her-memory subplot either. The character seems pretty flat, and her attitude has always been kind of annoying. At least Jimmy and Chloe seem to be back together. That’s one relationship on this show that really seems to work.

They finally announced that Smallville is returning for an eighth season, and I have mixed feelings about it. When this show is good, it’s really good, but it still feels like it may be running out of steam. Worse, Michael Rosenbaum won’t be back as Lex (except for maybe some guest spots), and he, along with John Glover’s Lionel, has always been the best part of the show.

That may not be all bad, though.

Lex was such a great character when he was walking the line and beginning his slow descent into evil. Now he’s becoming a little over the top…deceiving young amnesiac Kara with the apparent intent to sleep with her. This is after he already showed how evil he’s become by beating and kicking the crap out of Pete to find out where the bracelet was. Well, he always was jealous of Pete’s relationship with Clark.

So, I just have one question left: Does this mean Pete Ross isn’t going to be Lex Luthor’s vice president when Lex is elected president, like he was in the comic universe?

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