Previously on Smallville: Lex killed his dad to get the key to open the safety deposit box to get the Krytpo-Graph to start the clock to get the pick to put in the device that gave him the map to the Fortress of Solitude.

For the first time I can remember since I started watching Smallville, there's a “previously on” package, so you know this is big. Edward Teague is on a jet to South America and the flight attendant is Kara (Laura Vandervoort). She wants to know where the device is and when he refuses, she picks him up and knocks him through the window. He tells her to ask Lex, then she takes off as the jet goes down, Oceanic 815-style.

Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) is dealing with a team of explorers in the Arctic when Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore) busts in wanting to talk about his Krypto-Symbol story. Lex asks Jimmy to get Lois Lane off his back, blackmailing him because of the deal Jimmy and Lex made to save Chloe from the government. Jimmy meets Lois and misleads her about Lex's plans, and she seems to be gullible enough to buy his awful lies.

At the Kent farm, Lois (Erica Durance) shows up, excited over a job opening at the Daily Planet she wants Clark to take. He assures her it will never happen. Chloe (Allison Mack) rushes in to tell Clark about Teague's plane crash. Chloe plays him the tape from the Black Box, and Clark (Tom Welling) recognizes Kara's voice, though he's reticent to accept that his cousin is a cold-blooded killer.

Kara heads over to Luthor Manor to try and steal the device. She finds it but it's being protected by some force field. Clark speeds in and then whisks her back to the barn. Kara defends her actions as necessary to protect Kal-El and Earth, and Clark is worried that there's something wrong with her. They have a quick super fight which Kara wins.

She goes back to Lex and lets him know she knows quite a bit about Veritas. She drops the bomb that she and the Traveler are from the same planet. To prove her alien credentials, she uses her heat vision to light a fire. Kara tells him that she must have saved Lex so he can fulfill his destiny and control the Traveler. She claims she learned the Traveler is fated to destroy mankind back on Krypton, which is why she wants to help Lex. He asks who the Traveler is, and Kara says he should already know. Yeah, like seven seasons ago.

Clarks enlists Chloe to help in a trap for Kara by using a box of Kryptonite to sap her of her power. Chloe lures Kara to the farm, but the Kryptonite doesn't work. That's probably because Kara is actually…BRAINIAC! He uses his black finger to try and put her in a coma, but Chloe's Krypto-Powers act up and it scares Brainiac. She still winds up in a coma, and when Clark finds her, he's clued in to Brainiac's arrival.

Brainiac makes his way to a power station to recharge, but Clark arrives for some bad-ass violence. Brainiac says he did something worse to Kara than kill her (he stuck her in the Phantom Zone). He also says the only way to save Lana and Chloe is to kill Brainiac in cold blood, which Clark does. I wonder if Brainiac will return as a ghost at Wolfram and Hart.

Clark returns to the hospital and learns Lana (Kristin Kreuk) had a full recovery and already checked out. She left a Dear John video tape in which she says her presence is holding him back from fulfilling his destiny of saving the world, so she asks him not to come after her. She also says, “I love you, Clark. More than you will ever know.” The video ends and Lois arrives to console him.

Jimmy picks Chloe up from the hospital, and he's freaked out over his elicit dealings with Lex. He throws caution to the wind and pops the question. He gets down on one knee, busts out a cheap ring her got at the hospital gift shop, and asks her to marry him. Sadly, it's interrupted by the Department of Domestic Security entering and arresting Chloe. Jimmy rushes to Clark for help and tells him all about his deal with Lex, als mentioning Lex's arctic adventure.

Which brings us to the moment seven long seasons in the making: Lex enters the Fortress of Solitude. He sees a glowing light in the crystals, pulls out the device and Clark shows up. The two men stare each other down and Lex finally understands everything. Lex claims that he would've helped had he known all along, shouting that his birthright is to control the Traveler.

Lex places the device on the crystals and the Earth trembles. Lex says, “I love you like a brother, but it has to end this way. I'm sorry.” Then the whole Fortress comes tumbling down.


That does it for Smallville season 7. Next season: new showrunners, no Rosenbaum and Kreuk in the opening credits, and the arrival of Doomsday. And with any luck, plenty of Oliver Queen.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
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