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What am I talking about? Well, I’ve been reviewing this show for one pop culture web site or another since the first season, and if there’s one thing I’ve been reiterating all along, it’s this: Lex Luthor’s final descent into evil—the thing that finally makes him go completely over the edge, never to return—should be killing his father. So, here we are in Michael Rosenbaum’s last season of the show, rapidly approaching the end of his run, and what do they name this episode? “Descent. “

They even showed Lex shoving Lionel out of his Luthorcorp office window in the previews, but I automatically assumed it was a ruse. I thought, “Surely Clark will somehow save the man who has been protecting him the past couple of seasons.” But no, Clark didn’t save him, and Lex even identified his body lying on the pavement below the Luthorcorp skyscraper.

The follow-up, with Lex seeing and hearing a young version of himself trying to talk some sense into him, was a good way of showing Lex’s attempt to bring back his humanity. And his “destruction” of this last bit of his conscience was proof that he was finally the super villain we’ve been waiting to see for seven years.

If only they had stuck with that plotline for this episode, it would have been so good.

Instead, they have Chloe shoving a really important key into her desk drawer to hide it from Lex, so it only took two second for him to find it. Then she leaves her cell phone on the desk so Gina sees the text that Jimmy and Lois sent saying they have a photo proving Lex killed Lionel; it was sent via email. Gina deletes it from the computer, then demands to know where the copy was sent. They tell her. Why couldn’t they lie to her to buy some time? Then Gina just waltzes into the Isis Foundation without any trouble, knocks Chloe over the head, and deletes the copy of the picture. So much for that subplot.

Speaking of Gina, I don’t know where they came up with that character, but she’s a piece of work. Is she a ruthless killer, willing to do anything for Lex or not? If so, why didn’t she just finish off Jimmy and Lois, and shoot Chloe once she got to the Isis Foundation? I will say, I love the irony of Lex having someone take Gina out just as she has the exact information he’s been searching for all these years.

But how stupid can Lex be not to already realize the answer? Let’s add it up: Lex knows there’s something “special” about Clark, but he’s not a meteor freak. Lionel was obsessed with the Traveler. The Traveler has something to do with Smallville. Lionel was obsessed with Clark. That equals what? Maybe that Clark is the Traveler? HOW CAN HE NOT SEE THAT? Every version of Lex Luthor, from the comics to the cartoons, to the movies, to the shows, to THIS show, has been super-intelligent, and yet he just can’t figure out this simple problem? Give me a break.

Now for Clark: First, he hesitates to even go check out who was lying on the ground across the street to see if it might be Lionel or Lex…because he didn’t even know someone had fallen out of a building close by. So he didn’t hear the gunshot the preceded it either? Then he goes into Lionel’s office, which is not only a crime scene, but probably has cameras and tape recorders everywhere, breaks into the safe, takes out a Kryptonian object, and PROCEEDS TO READ IT IN LIONEL’S OFFICE. He finally gets around to saving someone when he opens the door to the freezer and “thaws” out Lois and Jimmy, but neglects to bother taking Lois to the hospital for her gunshot wound. Plot holes? This episode was like Swiss cheese.

Despite the many things I found annoying about this episode, I have to give it an extra star just for going through with the completion of Lex’s character arc, and doing it pretty well. We just better not discover that the dead Lionel was another clone or something, or I’m taking it back.

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