Aside from being COMPLETELY PREPOSTEROUS, this episode wasn't bad. I was about to say it might be my favorite episode of the season, but then I realized I couldn't really remember any episodes of this season so I had to go looking through the archives, where I found out that there were at least two other episodes I evidently liked quite a bit.

Couldn't prove it by me, but there it is.

Jonathan's fate was, ah, dispensed with early enough to leave room for multiple ludicrous storylines to weave in and out of one another, but not abandoned entirely (at least not this week). I'm pleased that Jonathan doesn't seem to be dying (at least not this week) so we can continue to grasp at the straws of believing that somewhere, someone gets what Superman is all about.

As Clark has convinced himself that Jor-El, and therefore Clark himself, is responsible for his Earth father's heart attack, he subsequently blames himself for this, not unlike the way a more ordinary teenager might blame his bad grades and backtalking for a parent's stresses and illnesses. Seeing straight to the heart of the matter, Jonathan reminds his son that he is more human than he realizes: "Not everything that goes wrong in Smallville is Clark Kent's fault."

It's apt advice to any teenager prone to carrying the weight of the world around, whether alien or not. It would be even more apt if every episode didn't largely revolve around things going wrong in Smallville that are, if not Clark's fault, exacerbated by his presence and interference.

In that vein, however, I hope that Clark's misplaced krypto-teenage guilt makes him stick a little closer to home in coming episodes so I can enjoy Pa Kent's swan song in more than 30-second platitudinal bursts.

Although the rest of the episode is nothing spectacular, with glowy-green drag racing, mysterious molecular biology experiments, and an unsettlingly unresolved death, it is reasonably inoffensive.

Pete gets into rice rocket road racing, suffering from a (Clark-related) inferiority complex heretofore unrevealed or even hinted at. It seems out of character for him at first, but then again, who knows what's in or out of character for Pete? We know nothing about him except that he is allegedly Clark's best friend -- practically a brother. Of course, we've never seen evidence of this, but goodness, why show when you can tell?

Ahem. When Pete's mentor/mechanic/bookie/thug asks him to throw a race, Pete is naively against the prospect, which lands him in serious trouble. It's up to Clark, of course, to save the day, although for a change it's at Pete's behest.

Well, eventually; as well he should, Pete initially resents Clark's interference. Despite the fact that what Pete is doing is stupid and potentially destructive, Clark has (join in if you know the words) No Business Getting Involved!

It's another misplaced Batmannerism, one that Clark may struggle with in all continuities, but ultimately his decision to not interfere is what makes him who he is. After three years, this particular Clark hasn't made much headway yet, but this episode may be changing that. Hallelujah.

To help Pete, Clark first tries the law, as bookie-boy has a stable of hot cars and counterfeit plates; that plan backfires. Then he 'borrows' Lex's Porsche as collateral, showing in some way that he does value Pete as a friend, but that doesn't work out either.

In an unsettling, unresolved and unusually ambiguous scene, the bookie dies -- I guess -- as his car crashes in a race with Pete. And although Pete is apologetic and remorseful, it's more for hurting Clark than for the death of a (relatively) innocent person.

Clark, for his part, is stressed, irritated, even angry. Which are at least new emotions for him, so I'm happy to see it. From irritation to introspection to irrevocable change; maybe Clark can examine why he's so angry with Pete and why Pete felt the need to be an idiot to "compete" with his "best friend," and then maybe do something to change that.

Maybe. Okay, I said I liked it, I didn't say there weren't ways I would improve on it.

Adam continues his mysterious descent into madness without really descending or acting particularly mad. His character strikes me as a bit of a Cousin Oliver ploy, a cheap way to detract attention from the other flaws of the show, and as such not worth the time that could be spent fixing those things.

But oh well. Adam may in fact be a dead genius named Chad Nash, revived by supersecret molecular biology experiments conducted by one Dr. Tang, the next potential Mrs. Lex Luthor. Lana discovers most of this, and Adam freaks the hell out on her, threatening her with horrible fates if she tells anyone what she knows, although what she knows at all is unclear.

As for me, I suspect -- nay, I dread -- that the nature of the molecules in question (as revealed by Chloe to be unlike anything on this earth) will explain a lot about what happened to the missing vial of Clark's blood.

And like the farmer said, that'll do.

Sarah Stanek