Previously on Smallville: Brainiac took Kara far, far away, Lex became more obsessed with Veritas and Lana "died."  But because of Tony Almeida and Sara Tancredi, it wasn't that sad because no one thought she was really dead.

Tonight on Smallville, someone will die.  For real.  No reversies, no takebacks.  Unless you've been living in a cave, the previews have given away exactly who will bite the big one. Heck, even those of you in caves probably know.  Here's a hint: the CW skews young, and only one series regular is over the age of 35.

Lionel Luthor (John Glover) makes his last walk up to his LuthorCorp office. Oops, did I spoil it? Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) is there, eager to find out about the Traveler. Lionel denies all knowledge, but Lex believes his father sacrificed his son's well-being for the Traveler. Finally, Lionel lies to save his own life by saying Lex is the Traveler. Not buying it, Lex whips out his big gun and demands Lionel give him the second key to the box in Zurich. He rips the key necklace off his father, and then he defenestrates his dad.  Finally, an excuse to use my favorite word ever!  Lionel falls to his death because there's no room on a CW show for a dude over 60.

Clark (Tom Welling) is at the Daily Planet, pushing Chloe (Allison Mack) to find Brainiac and Kara. Also, apparently, Lana isn't as dead as we thought. Their search is interrupted by news of the death of Lionel Luthor. At the scene, Lex is putting on an act to convince the police it was a suicide. Chloe speaks ill of the dead, but Clark doesn't buy that it was a suicide.

Back at the mansion, Lex's secretary Gina sympathizes with the murderer, but they're both distraught by the fact that the necklace is empty. Gina saw Lionel go into the Daily Planet earlier that day, so they're off to get that key. Before they can, Lex has to be haunted by his adorable child self. Good luck, show, but even a precocious red-head isn't going to make this patricidal baldie sympathetic.

Up in Lionel's office, Clark is snooping around for clues that the CSI: Metropolis team might have missed. He finds a Kryptonian metallic doodad (or maybe it's a thingamajig) that projects a message onto the wall. Lionel tells him from beyond the grave about the keys that open the secret within the box in Zurich that can control the Traveler's actions.

Lois (Erica Durance) is yelling at Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore), but he shows her a photo he took of her in her office. She thinks it's creepy until he reveals that Lionel's office was in the background, and they blow it up to reveal there was a second person in the room before Lionel died. Jimmy can't sharpen the image without some major computer help, so it's off to the Isis Foundation to use Coma Lana's computers, but first they need some help from Chloe.

At the Daily Planet, Chloe finds the magic key everyone is looking for when Lex sneaks up behind her. Chloe denies knowledge of anything Lionel may have given her. Lex opens her drawer and finds the key. He fires her and she's quickly ushered out of the office. Gina is positively giddy with excitement and promises to pack up her stuff when she sees a text on Chloe's phone from Jimmy and Lois about the photo. So Gina heads over to their office with a gun.

Gina demands to know where the backup server is that they storied the photo on. Lois tries to be a hero and gets shot in the process. I kind of love Gina. They tell her about the Isis Foundation, so Gina heads off after locking Jimmy and Lois in a freezer. Jimmy's big plan to save the day is to knock loudly on the door for some help. He's so adorably worthless.

Chloe and Clark are already at the Isis Foundation, and Chloe lets him know that Lex has the second key. It's going to take Chloe a few hours to sharpen the photo, but Clark already knows who it is, so he speeds off to confront Lex. Lex keeps trying to play up the grieving son card, though Kid Lex wants him to confess. Lex thinks his dad loved Clark more, so now he's gone mad with power. Lex wonders what a billionaire had in common with a “simple farm boy,” yet he still doesn't seem able to put the obvious pieces together.

At Isis, Chloe sharpens the image to see it really was Lex, but then is knocked unconscious by Gina, who wipes all the hard drives. Clark arrives and he and Chloe get worried, both about the missing Jimmy and Lois, and Lex's ownership of both keys to unlock the power to control Clark. Gina eavesdrops and sees Clark superspeed away. Too bad for her (and Lex), he has her killed before she can tell him. Too bad for us, Lois is rescued from the freezer.

Lex has his jet gassed up for the Zurich trip when Kid Lex tries to convince him there's still some good left inside him. Lex is done listening to his inner child because “You make me weak,” so he throws him into the fireplace. How metaphoric.

In the Kent kitchen, Clark is lamenting how his adopted dad John and his surrogate dad Lionel both died because they were protecting him. Chloe gives a little pep talk that gets Clark to confront Lex at Lionel's grave. Lex just walks away, but Clark gets some closure by dropping some dirt into the open grave.

Next week on Smallville: Lex opens the box and finds the Fortress of Solitude. Also, Brainiac returns to play puppet master to Coma Lana.


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