For eight seasons, Chloe Sullivan has been the sweet girl-next-door on Smallville. She's Clark Kent's go-to gal, the spunky and smart chick who helps him out. In last night's episode, Chloe went off the reservation, committing cold-blooded murder.

When mind-reader Sebastian learned Clark's secret, Chloe paid him a visit in the hospital and used a reverse healing power to kill him to protect the secret. If this were actually Chloe, it would be one of the more shocking moments on Smallville. But this season the show has been setting up quite nicely the fact that Chloe is no longer normal Chloe, but a minion of Brainiac.

In the season 8 premiere, Chloe informed Clark that Brainiac's brain suck from last year jumped her hacking abilities from analog to digital. Now it seems it was a little more than an upgrade so much as a computer virus. Chloe didn't just get smarter, she got badder.

Fans have been suspicious of the new Chloe for a while, but last night's murder confirmed our suspicions that Chloe is different. A few episodes ago when hooked up to the psychotic jeweler's Love Detector, Chloe promised that Jimmy is the only person she's in love with. Now it seems more likely that it was a lie and her evil Brainiac brain tricked the lie detector.

Chloe's new evil nature also explains a disturbing scene from last night's episode. When Jimmy figured out that Clark has super powers, Chloe flatly denied it to him. If Chloe was really in love with Jimmy and wanted to marry him, it seems suspicious that she could lie so easily and convincingly to her fiance. But it was her Brainiac infection.

The danger is that this now becomes an excuse to dismiss everything Chloe has done this season. If Chloe has been infected with an evil Brainiac virus, none of the character development matters. Did Chloe really want to marry Jimmy, or was it the infection? Was Chloe really flirting with Davis?

Chloe's new rogue nature raises a lot of questions about her actions, but the more important thing is that her character is very compelling right now. The Clark-Chloe friendship is one of the cores of Smallville, and seeing Clark's reaction to this new, evil Chloe should lead to quite a few fireworks.


Read BuddyTV's Recap of Smallville, "Identity"


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)