Smallville 2.15 - Prodigal

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This is an episode that starts off with a bang. A young man is playing poker in a Chinese gambling den. He's cheating with the help of someone in an adjoining room spying on the other players' cards and electronically relaying what they have to his partner. It's the same sort of trick that's used the James Bond film "Goldfinger". The cheating is uncovered, and everyone tries to kill the man, but he escapes. When he runs into the street, Lex Luthor pulls up in his car and tells him to jump in. The man asks why, and Lex replies, "I'm your brother".

It's the most exciting opening scene in "Smallville" so far.

The young man is Lucas, a son that Lionel Luthor gave up for adoption. He was previously mentioned in the episode "Lineage" as the illegitimate son of Rachel Dunleavy. Lex's motives in searching for him aren't purely brotherly love. Lucas has just turned 18, and a family contract states that any son of Lionel will be given 10% of Luthorcorp's shares on his 18th birthday. That's a strange clause for a contract, whether family or business. What's important is that in combination with Lex's shares, Lex will have a controlling share of Luthorcorp, enabling him to oust his father.

But Lionel Luthor is a skilled tactician. He offers Lucas $10 million for his shares, so Lex can't rely on his help. Lionel freezes Lex's bank accounts, leaving him penniless. He was silly that he didn't have at least a few thousand dollars cash in his safe. Lionel orders Lex to leave the mansion. Everything that Lex used to own, including the Talon, is given to Lucas.

I admit that I don't fully understand this. Lionel already had the majority of Luthorcorp, and he already bought out Lexcorp in the episode "Suspect", so couldn't he have done this to Lex any time without waiting for Lucas?

In a sub-plot, Clark answers the ad for a part time job at the Talon. He must be very insensitive to do this after he hurt Lana Lang in last week's episode. In fact, it was only last night in Smallville time. The rose is still in the waste paper basket where Lana threw it at the end of "Rush".

But let's get back to the main story. Lex is now homeless, so he turns to Jonathan Kent for help. He asks if he can have a room in the farm. Once more, this is strange. Couldn't he have asked his girlfriend Helen Bryce for a bed? She would have been only too happy to take him in. Apart from this, why is Jonathan so fast to accept Lex into his home? They've had heated arguments more than once in the recent past.

Despite being slightly illogical, it helps the story to see Lex at the Kent farm. Lex proves that he's a hard worker, getting up early to do chores. This impresses Jonathan, who says that he could be a good farmer.

In this episode we find out that Lionel Luthor is no longer blind. He says he's been able to see for about three weeks. How many episodes is that? He's been pretending to still be blind, because he can find out more about people. When dealing with a blind man they're not as likely to hide what they're doing. They let their guard down.

One of Lucas' old acquaintances, possibly the man who was helping him cheat at poker, ambushes him at the Talon and attempts to shoot him. Clark saves Lucas, knocking some bullets out of the air, then leaping between Lucas and the remaining bullets. Lucas didn't see what happened, because his back was turned, but he's puzzled that Clark could move so fast. When he asks Lionel about it, Lionel merely replies that Clark is an unusual young man.

The would-be killer is arrested when trying to leave Smallville, but he dies while in police custody. Somebody evidently wants to stop him talking, someone who's wealthy enough to buy off the police. Lionel Luthor is the obvious suspect. Lex thinks that Lionel wants Lucas out of the way.

The next day there's a confusing scene in the Luthorcorp headquarters. Lucas is holding Lex prisoner. He's tied to a chair. Lucas has a gun, but he says he wants Lionel to shoot him. He gives his father a gun, then holds a gun to Lionel's head to force him to act. Lionel refuses to shoot Lex. Unknown to them, Clark is hiding in an overhead air vent. Clark uses his heat vision to burn Lucas' hand and make him drop his gun. Lionel uses the opportunity to shoot Lucas, but his gun is loaded with blanks. Lucas picks up his gun and reveals that it's also loaded with blanks.

Lex and Lucas planned this show, but what is it supposed to prove? Did they want to see if Lionel was prepared to shoot Lex? I don't understand what it was all about.

The next day Lionel gives Lex his company back in exchange for Lex keeping quiet about Lucas. Keeping quiet about what? About Lionel having a son? About Lionel trying to have Lucas killed? Probably not the latter, because Lionel never admitted it. Lex says that Lucas is now under his protection, but what's strange is that we never see him again. His absence for the next eight years of the series is unusual.

Getting back to the Clark-at-the-Talon sub-plot: Lana fires him because he walked out in the middle of his shift. Maybe he could have kept his job if he'd told her that he has to leave sporadically in order to save the world. For Clark it's more important to keep secrets than to keep a job.

Tom Welling has remarkably good memories of this episode, even though he admits that he never watched the episode when it was completed. He remembers the scene where he blocked bullets to save Lucas, in particular the advice from members of the crew about how to make it look good. He also remembers that it's an episode in which Michael Rosenbaum appeared a lot as Lex Luthor.

There's a lot of semi-off-topic chatter in the podcast. They talk about how Paul Wesley's role as Lucas was his springboard for becoming the main character in "Vampire Diaries". They say that the CW network was famous for having young, good looking characters. So Paul Wesley is good looking? Not as far as I can tell. He's not my type. He looks like another actor in the line of dopey love-sick vampires that started with David Boreanaz. Michael thinks that even though Paul Wesley had to audition for "Vampire Diaries", he had preferential treatment as an actor with CW experience.

There's no guest star in the podcast, but Al Gough is on the phone for seven minutes. He calls himself Talkville's third host. Ryan Tellez sat up in shock when he heard that.

Michael has no lack of praise for Smallville's fans, the ones he meets at comic conventions. They know the series inside out, although he and Tom have trouble remembering the smallest details. It's hardly surprising if they haven't watched the episodes themselves. That's something I don't understand. If I'd been the star of a television series, I'd want to watch every single episode as soon as it was completed. I'd want to know if I'd made any goofs in front of the camera. Actors (and musicians) are their own toughest critics.

Maybe I should write more about the podcast itself in my future reviews. It's so enjoyable, although it's not so much what's said, it's the way that it's said. I have the feeling that Tom and Michael are having a private party with their friend Ryan, and viewers like me are spying through the keyhole.

The best place for a party is the Talon. Live music to make you want to dance.

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