Clark is back in his cell and he meets Lionel's roommate, a strange mathematician who is an expert at pattern recognition. He says he was framed for embezzling from the Princeton Faculty Pension fund, but swears he was framed. He tells Clark that Lionel was researching a number of artifacts and had teams all over the world looking for them. The one used on Clark came from South America, and the symbol on it stood for water, but had the greater meaning of transference. Being the great pattern recognizer that he is, this crazy guy also deciphered symbols for fire and air, and had an idea that if you brought all of them together, they would lead to some source of knowledge that would rival no other. Clark quickly realizes that this guy's conviction of embezzling, transfer to maximum security prison(shouldn't he be at some Martha style nursing home?), and assignment to Lionel Luthor's cell was not some sort of string of unfortunate events. He also quickly learns that he is going to have a hard time simply surviving in prison, as it turns that Lionel owes money all over the place.

Lionel had only wanted to leave prison to get a hold of his money, but his ambitions seemed to grow as he got used to life in Clark's body. He started to give himself a makeover, ditching Clark's plaid for some khakis and a blue oxford. He also begins the process of moving his money out of his account, all $57 million of it, and buying bearer bonds, but needs to give his mother's maiden name, the account number, and pass a voice verification. Since Lionel is inhabiting Clark, and has Clark's voice, the voice recognition obviously fails, and Lionel has to spend some time in Smallville while he thinks of something to do. Martha happens upon Lionel in Clark's loft and asks him about what happened earlier. Right away she can tell something is wrong, but Lionel tries to pass it off and says he simply needs a hug. Now, if you aren't familiar, Lionel once had Martha Kent working for him as a personal assistant, but always had dreams of something more than a business relationship. As he hugs Martha, he gets a little too excited, but instead of pitching a tent, his heat vision bursts and he sends wagon of hay into flames. When you think about it, it is actually less embarrassing than the other scenario.

The strange Lionel in Clark's body moments do not stop there. Besides making Clark appear hot for his own mother, Lionel also manages to quit the football team. But it gets better. He is in the Torch offices, and just as he discovers Lex has changed his password on the Luthorcorp servers, Chloe walks in, and he takes great pleasure in leading Chloe on about Clark's feelings. Lionel did have a clue as to Chloe and Clark's history, since it was Clark's rejection of Chloe that inspired her to look into Clark's background for Lionel a few seasons ago. He says he has feelings he has never had before and leans in for the kiss. Chloe, despite her better judgment and past history, falls for his act (maybe it was the lack of plaid that threw her off), and just before their lips meet, Lionel pulls back and says "You wish". If there was anybody still holding out hope that Chloe and Clark would get back together, this little exchange took care of that possibility for at least the rest of the season.

Happy at devastating the girl that put him in jail, Lionel overhears Lana's voice(I guess he knows about the super hearing) and walks in on Lana and Jason having a little moment. All of this means nothing to Lionel, so he takes it in stride, but Lana and Jason surely have a problem, since a student and faculty relationship is forbidden at the school and will likely mean Jason's job. Lionel has bigger problems and decides to visit Clark in jail to get a voice verification. He knows Clark is waiting with the water artifact to make a switch, and tells him that he will kill Lex if Clark doesn't give him what he wants. It also becomes entirely obvious that Lionel is aware of Clark's powers, and he can't do anything about it. Lionel tells him not to worry though, as that "true power is left concealed".

Lionel eventually gets the voice recording, but when he tries to one again make the money transfer, he finds that all of the money is gone, and it was transferred out of the account on the day he was convicted, the obvious work of Lex. Lana walks in on all of this wanting to have a little conversation with Clark about what he saw with her and Jason earlier. She apologizes and says that she didn't want him to find out the way he did, but that she knew Jason in Paris and he came half way around the world to be with her, and she wants it to continue. Lionel picks up on the sexual tension and tells her that he has more to offer than she could ever imagine, and that he is older now and knows his mistakes of the past. He says he can understand why somebody would come across the world to "pluck her succulent fruit" and then tries to kiss Lana, but she slaps his and walks away. He's doing a damn good job at messing up Clark's life, but he still needs to get his money, and goes to get it from Lex.

Posted by J-Unit on October 28, 2004 1:10 PM