Am I the only one who found the future on Smallville perplexing? Maybe I am alone, but I am not entirely comprehending the whole 'Kandorians Regain Powers Through Solar Tower' headline the writers sold during "Pandora." The episode aired two whole weeks ago and even now certain pieces of the puzzle are not melding together for me--which is significant, since the over-arcing storyline this season revolves around the Kandorians' quest for power and that freaky tower. 
Exhibit A:

Blue kryptonite. The meteor rock that neutralizes Clark's unique abilities, rendering him essentially human--a rule that obviously applies universally for all Kandorians. So then why the solar tower?

As I understand the sequence of events so far, the orb held individual DNA, indicating that when Jor-El corrupted the orb using blue kryptonite, he effected a molecular change within that DNA. So I ask again, why target the sun as the solution, when the real barrier lies among strands of macromolecules comprising chromosomes buried deep within your own body? Can you connect those two dots because I cannot. Unless?

Exhibit B:

Future Chloe and Oliver claimed the tower gathered solar radiation and thereby turned the sun red. So I thought, perhaps the blue kryptonite only reversed the genetic composition of the DNA--instead of needing a yellow sun, these Kandorian clones naturally develop powers under a red sun (the opposite of Clark).

But then why beam the radiation from the towers through the Luthorcorp satellites and back down to earth? Is the radiation, rather than the red sun the source of their power? Is the red sun merely an unfortunate side effect of collecting the radiation? Or are both the red sun and the radiation necessary? Whatever the answer, none properly explain the following.

Exhibit C:

Zod catapulted a powerless Clark across a street, through a wall and into a pile of concrete. Yet within literally two seconds of the sun turning yellow again, Clark stood alive and rejuvenated. Then, despite Zod impaling him with green kryptonite, Clark thrust the general across the street into a mere aluminum van and still knocked him unconscious--a result reflecting not only Clark's strength, but suggesting the Kandorians' powers evaporated with the red sun. Otherwise, it should similarly have taken Zod mere seconds to recover, right? Or not.

Case and point: Alia. The "assassin woman" who followed Lois from the future not only retained her abilities long enough to piggyback a ride on the legion ring, she continued to retain those abilities under the yellow sun of present day Metropolis. Super speed. Heat vision. Super strength. She used all of these after the sun turned from red to yellow. Assuming Zod and the other future Kandorians truly lost those same abilities with the red sun, what makes Alia the exception to the rule?

Another intriguing point? Future Clark recognized Alia across the street, perhaps even recognized her intent, yet attempted no prevention of her first-class pass to the present with Lois. Was he too weak from the green kryptonite? Did he fear the arrival of more Kandorians? Did he simply trust his present day self with stopping her? Or did he hold a piece of the puzzle we lack? After all, despite serving Zod, murdering Chloe, hunting Lois and attempting the assassination of Clark himself, Alia's final words were a sincere, "I am so sorry."

So tell me your theories! What pieces of the puzzle am I missing? What part of the mythos did I misunderstand? Am I overanalyzing? Am I just crazy? The floor is now yours...



-Trish Neale, BuddyTV Fan Columnist