As you can imagine, Lex is sort of surprised when who he thinks is Clark comes in, starts talking about $57 million dollars, and then threatens to kill him. God, if only Lex had some kryptonite to stop Lionel. Just when you think Lex is going to die (well, not really, because he has to survive to make some movies), Martha Kent walks in with Kryptonite and stops Lionel. Clark had earlier convinced her that he and Lionel had switched bodies with a story from his childhood that only he would know. She rescues Lex, but Lionel goes on a little rampage at the Kent farm, and is about to kill Jonathan, when he gets a call from his old cell mate letting him know that the body switch may not be permanent. At the prison, Lionel asks a few more questions, and the mathematician tells him that he has no idea when he will transfer back, but the switch may be permanent if he kills his old body. He gets the perfect chance when a prison riot breaks out after somebody tries to shiv Clark in the hall. In the melee that ensues, Clark and Lionel struggle, and Clark reveals the hidden artifact. (Don't worry, he kept it hidden in his armpit.) Naturally, Clark uses the artifact, switches back to his regular body, and runs off.

Back in their own bodies, things are quite interesting for Clark and Lionel. Lionel has just been examined by the doctor, when he gets the unexpected news that his liver is disease free. Apparently, the body switch had some unexpected side effects. Lionel death is no longer imminent, and it seems that he has some added incentive to spring himself from jail. With his knowledge of Clark's powers, he could be one bad mamma jamma.

Clark, on the other hand, has some work to do clean up the mess that Lionel made of his life. He and Chloe were just starting to have some normalcy return to their relationship, and Clark was getting used to having Lana around. Both of them were not about to let Clark try and talk his way out of what Lionel had done to them earlier. Lana probably wouldn't have even tried speaking to Clark, but wanted to beg him to keep her relationship with Jason a secret. This was Clark's first time hearing about it, but he didn't argue with her, knowing his status was going to be irreparably harmed. The last thing he had to was see about Lex, who was obviously apprehensive, since he saw who he thought was Clark nearly asphyxiate him the day before. Lex had an idea that Clark wasn't himself at the time, because Lionel was talking about things only Lionel would know, so it wasn't difficult for Clark to convince him that he wasn't there to hurt him. Clark used that opportunity to convince Lex to get the mathematician out of jail, but doesn't tell him why.

Clark's ploy seems to have worked, and the pattern recognizer is leaving jail, to be scooped up by a limo. Inside is not Lex Luthor, but none other than Margot Kidder, once again as Bridgett Crosby, who will be representing the Swann institute from now on, if you haven't guessed. Her recently sprung friend hands her the oft heard about artifact, and we have the beginning of what looks to be a very strange relationship indeed.

So I blabbered on a little too long about this episode, but there were a lot of details that had to make it in. I thought the idea of Lionel and Clark switching was genius. There needed to be a shakeup with the whole lovey dovey attitude everybody was getting for each other, and it introduced another villian into the mix. We also got a lot more mystery piled onto to the Krypton legend, and we can't be too sure who is working for who anymore. It seemed a little too convenient that Ms. Crosby knew about the artifact. It wouldn't surprise me if she was the document expert Lex consulted to get his information on his russian scroll last year. We also got more info on the symbol on Lana's back. It stood for transference, which explains why she received it when she had touched the engraving of the Countess Thoureau back in Paris. Speaking of the Countess, Lana dug up a little bit about her and found out that not only was she burned at the stake for being a witch, but she came from the same village where Lana's mom grew up. And here I was thinking she was half asian. The biggest change in everything was that Lionel knows of Clark's powers, and now has motivation, but not yet the means, to get out of prison and wreak havoc all over Kansas once again.

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