Lionel can see!

Lucas Luthor is a borderline sociopath who can't be trusted in the slightest but I don't care; I will love him forever because he made Lionel admit that he can see again!

See what I mean (no pun intended) about Luthor-heavy episodes being the good ones? Stuff happens!

Lucas Luthor, the missing scion of Lionel's ill advised affair with crazy Rachel Dunleavy, once believed to have become Clark Kent, has been unearthed. Lex rescues him from some certainly nefarious fate in a Coast City gambling den and brings him home to meet the folks. The titular son pretends to be shocked to meet his father, though of course we know better.

It's the beginning of an elaborate multiple cross scheme, with Lionel trying to overthrow Lex, Lex trying to overthrow Lionel, and Lucas in the middle, trying to take them both for all they're worth because he's already in trouble up to his thick, luxurious hairline.

Part of Papa Luthor's mind game includes booting Lex out of the mansion, and so the disinherited playboy ends up at the Kent farm. They take him in without question, and put him to work doing chores. Yet again, the subtle differences between the Luthors and the Kents are underscored well in the "show" category, then ruined by too much "tell."

Clark and Lucas have some jealousy issues to work out after they meet; even though Clark knew he couldn't have been Lex's little brother, he still fancies himself a surrogate in the role, and he doesn't take too well to the "usurper." But he's still Clark, underneath it all, and he saves Lucas from a motorcycle assassin in a very nice slow-motion scene.

(I know I've said it before but I love this effect. It's perfect for Superman's abilities, and would be put to great use should we ever see a member of the Flash Family on this show. Backgrounds could move even slower, frankly.)

Lionel realizes that his illegitimate boy has a very legitimate criminal mind, especially after Lucas throws a pool ball at his blind father's head to prove that he's no longer blind. I can't say I saw this coming, at least not so soon, but I can't say I'm surprised either. I was kind of hoping for exotic ocular implants or something else from Cadmus Labs, but miraculous recovery will suffice. It's been a few weeks since his sight returned, but we're left to wonder how much he's actually seen.

After the twists and turns are over, Lucas ends up spirited away under Lex's protection, kept somewhere safe away from the various mobsters and fathers who might like to see him disappear again. Lionel wants to write the boy off as a sociopath, and put his eggs in Lex's basket again, but Lex very snottily wonders where that lack of morality came from.

Given that we've met the boy's mother and she's certifiable, I'd actually doubt he gets it from the Luthor gene pool. Which again doesn't make a convincing argument for Lex Luthor, supervillain, but this show is young yet.

Lana, despite being SO angry with Clark last week, is perfectly pleasant to him and even selects him for a part-time job at the Talon. This does NOT fit in with the throwaway bits from last week that Clark wasn't doing well in school and needed to stay under house arrest until he could stop being so cavalier about his attendance times, nor does it fit with Lana's resolutions. Don't worry; it ultimately means nothing, because he quits by the end of the episode, realizing that it's hard to fit a job in with saving the world.

For his sake, I hope he learns to type fast. In the journalism world, deadlines are paramount even if attendance isn't mandatory.

Sarah Stanek