Today, we will be positive. We will not dwell on those few things that sucked. We will not discuss the reasons why a Luthorriffic episode smacks a bit of desperation, too little too late. We will talk about how much fun it was to see an almost entirely angst-free edition of Smallville.

We will focus on how lovely it was to hear Julian Luthor's name again, even in passing, and thrill a little bit to Lionel's insinuations that Lex was somehow involved in the baby's death. We will applaud the bravura speech from John Glover comparing Clark to the equally insane Sancho Panza to his son's psychotic Don Quixote. We will rave about Michael Rosenbaum going operatically insane while chewing only a minimum of scenery.

Hell, we will even throw a bone to Tom Welling, because he was pretty fun to watch being super with the right writing.

Taking advantage of Lex's documented insanity while stranded on the island, Lionel has, it would seem, orchestrated an elaborate plot to discredit his son and heir, fortuitously timed as the latter is about to implicate the former in the death of Mr. and Mrs. Loch-Ness Luthor.

Or has he?

The episode hinged on the questionable veracity of Lex's insanity, and walked the line admirably well. When relying on events as portrayed through the eyes of a compromised narrator, what you see isn't always what you get. That everything we saw really did happen isn't the point; the point is that we wondered.

Honestly, the only problem wasn't even a problem so much as a dubious acting choice. By the second time Lex rubs his neck, indicating that something is wrong physically and not merely mentally, it's clearly intended to be meaningful. By the third, it's obvious, but the problem is it was overly telegraphed the first time he did it, too.

Clark, naturally, believes Lex, even after learning that this isn't his first psychotic slip, although his faith is understandably shaken when Lex repeatedly flips out, even striking out at Lana and putting her in the hospital. When Clark learns that Lex's staff has been poisoning his scotch, it's not even a revelation or a relief. It's just a given. However unstable or insane they may want to paint the "real" Lex, that level of violence against someone as innocuous and uninvolved as Lana is something they'd never be able to write away with genuine insanity.

There's no doubt that Lex has some problems, which Lionel has chosen to exploit for his own mysterious purposes. There's no doubt that Lionel and Edge are still in cahoots. And when confronted, the "new" Morgan Edge -- after plastic surgery, no longer played by Rutger Hauer, sadly -- fingers Lionel as the mastermind in Lex's drug problem.

In a desperate ploy to save himself and his friend, Clark demonstrates his full superpowers in full view of Edge, who already knows, and Lex, who's insane.

Lex will recover, without his short-term memory, of course. Edge, well... who knows? They certainly didn't make a point of showing his body, which leaves an open door policy for, frankly, any guest star they want, now that they've established a plastic surgery angle.

Although she will recover as well, Lana might stay away from Clark for her own safety, to which all I can say is "Whaaaa?" Despite the fact that this is one time she really doesn't have an annoyed leg to stand on, as she's the one who threw the hissy about not learning of Lex's problems earlier? If that's the five minutes I shouldn't have missed, well, time will tell.

But the genuinely touching ending, as Lex writhes in a straitjacket and his father looks on enigmatically, set to Johnny Cash's rendition of "Hurt" -- that, honestly, is the first time in a long time that I'm glad I didn't miss it.

Sarah Stanek