Luthor-heavy episodes: Good.

And it isn't just John Glover; indeed, he barely had a presence in this episode. But there's something about the clear cut "good vs. evil, Luthors vs. Kents" that brings out the best, or at least the better in this show. It taps into the comic book roots and makes the narrative interesting, not just in general but visually as well. Things happen when the Luthors clash with the Kents.

They don't necessarily happen with regard to the continuity, and they don't necessarily stay happened, but at least they happen.

Sometimes, that's all you can ask from an hour of television.

Lionel Luthor is mysteriously shot in his study, and a suspect is taken into custody immediately. It's Jonathan Kent, found drunk and insensible in his truck on the highway, clutching a gun and a bottle of tequila. The gun is the right caliber, and our old friend Sheriff Ethan claims he blew a 2.0 on the blood alcohol test.

(Oh, how I wished for a TiVo right about then. Yes, it mattered later.)

Though Jonathan admits stopping for a beer at the Wild Coyote, he doesn't remember getting drunk and claims that he must have been drugged. The bartender says he got pretty ripped, and Lana confesses to having witnessed an altercation between Jonathan and Lionel at the Luthor mansion earlier in the day.

They were yelling about Lionel's rather extravagent gift to Martha, which I should have mentioned last week. (Look, I'm not used to the details being important, so sometimes I leave a few out in the interest of brevity. Or did you want to be here forever?) It was a fancy engraved watch, declared Lionel's deep and thinly veiled affection for her. Evidently Jonathan found it, smashed it, and confronted his wife's boss about it.

Because he lost his temper, Jonathan feels that he may already be proven guilty in the eyes of a jury if not the law. Lana tries to convince Henry Small to take the case, given how much he hates the Luthors, but he refuses. Chloe, in a welcome if brief appearance, tries to deduce why he might have declined.

Eventually, he does come clean about why, a reason I can barely remember, because I tend not to pay attention to scenes that have Lana in them. Henry agrees to take the case, but by that point it's almost pointless. Lionel's other personal assistant, Dominic, thinks Lex is guilty, because he argued with his father earlier that day as well.

Of course, arguing with Lionel is hardly a unique trait. Dominic himself argued with the man immediately after Lex did, so maybe he's the guilty one. Given Lionel was shot the day after LuthorCorp bought out LexCorp, his son certainly has motive. Given that Lionel did so to bring Lex back into the LuthorCorp fold, into a position that Dominic had been eyeing for himself, he's got motive too. They do agree that Jonathan isn't the man.

Clark, of course, knows that his dad didn't shoot Lionel, and he's got X-ray vision and a bitchin' Camaro to help him crack the case. Well, the Camaro is Pete's, and it's completely totalled after they have a run in with a masked trucker. They had just determined that the bartender at the Wild Coyote, a joint well known for its lenient carding policy, must have been involved in framing Jonathan, when they're run off the road and shot at. Super slo-mo Clark rescues Pete and protects him from the blast, in a decently-budgeted effects sequence that seems neither stupid nor contrived.

The true shooter reveals himself eventually, in an actually shocking shocking plot twist: Sheriff Ethan. The non-threatening, stalwart arm of the law in Smallville was bought out by Lionel Luthor, and another honest man has been destroyed. The bartender did drug Jonathan, and Ethan faked the BAC results -- which should have been a clue because a 2.0 would probably kill a man.

"The Luthors are like a cancer," Ethan tries to explain. But the Luthors didn't kill anyone, at least not outright, and never threatened anyone's life, at least not with a gun.

Lionel recovers enough to tell the whole story to Lex. Much like Jonathan himself did 13 years ago, Ethan gave in to the powerful Luthor pull. He sold the names of LexCorp's primary stockholders to the man who wanted to buy them out, and then immediately regretted his price.

Clark and Lex fight and then make up, in a cycle that's getting almost as tedious as the saga of Cheekbones and Shiny Hair. "I don't trust you, Lex!" "Stay out of it, Clark!" … "I'm sorry I didn't trust you, Lex." "It's okay, Clark, just stay out of it next time because there are things in my life you will never understand."

Wow. Flip the speakers and substitute some names, and it's pretty much verbatim for every argument between Lana and Clark. Maybe that subtext thing isn't so far off.

Next week: return of red kryptonite Clark. Yeeeeawn.

Sarah Stanek