Why has Lex turned evil at this juncture?

[unPTC]

Owing to some thin character development last season, this episode suggests that we are just supposed to recall that Lex has an insatiable hunger for knowledge and power (search for the stones)without really exploring what makes him tick now and why now...S1-3 went into his inability to be in a trusting love relationship, saddness over his mother's death, harsh upbringing by Lionel and kept that storyline going (Shattered, Asylum and Memoria story arc was superb)...now, the struggle with in is over and we've not really been shown why...though MR's acting is always great,i t's not enough...while the final conversation wtih Clark showed where their relationship is going...it lacked dramatic impact...Lex's turn has no traction ...they've wasted so much time on silly stuff, that couldn't have been spent exploring Lex's evolution...

[DGreen]

i think they did plenty development. as u sited the search for the stones showed us a different side of lex. then when he realized everyone around him is lying, boom. he wants the truth. it's why he tested clark in "mortal" and why he captured AC in "aqua". plus a lot of ppl think that something was awakened within lex during "onyx". this makes some sense. remember how with red k clark felt as if there where two of him and he didn't know which one was the real one. what if it's the same for lex after what happened with the black k. maybe he doesn't actually remember what happened, but that evil side of him is still a lot stronger than it use to be. probably because he's letting it control him because of his thirst for knowledge.

[unPTC]

yes, all valid points, but that's because you're thinking hard about it...the dramatic moments have just not been there as they were in previous seasons...

[MrsTomWelling]

I agree unPTC. It seems some switch was flipped within Lex, and suddenly BAM! evil Lex. I would have liked to see him struggle a little more, or have more explanation as to the final push.

[MBCorp]

Originally posted by unPTC
Owing to some thin character development last season, this episode suggests that we are just supposed to recall that Lex has an insatiable hunger for knowledge and power (search for the stones)without really exploring what makes him tick now and why now...S1-3 went into his inability to be in a trusting love relationship, saddness over his mother's death, harsh upbringing by Lionel and kept that storyline going (Shattered, Asylum and Memoria story arc was superb)...now, the struggle with in is over and we've not really been shown why...though MR's acting is always great,i t's not enough...while the final conversation wtih Clark showed where their relationship is going...it lacked dramatic impact...Lex's turn has no traction ...they've wasted so much time on silly stuff, that couldn't have been spent exploring Lex's evolution...

I agree 100% with this. They've certainly done a terrible job with Lex's character development.:\

[smalltowngal]

In the past 5 episodes Lex has been thru a lot, with the people he thought were his friends all betraying and lying to him, with his father becoming "good" and "crazy" and having to deal with where LuthorCorp is heading financially and creating new projects that will be the best. That's hard on a normal person let alone Lex who wants to know everything!

[bluegayle]

he always thought other people were lying to him, which he accepted. but in season4 he feels clark is lying to him too, this helps take him over the edge that he can't trust anyone.

starting of season4, he tried to make amends with clark. as the season went on, he feels that clark is hiding something.

the finale of season4 definitely draws this out as he sees clark in the cave, and yet clark and chloe both pretend like nothing strange happened.

he also knows, from before and definitely from last week's episode, that chloe is in tune with some of the adventures that clark has. he thinks she knows more about clark than either of them are letting out.

in this episode, there is also the implication that Luthercorp/Lexcorp, and the owner, namely Lex Luthor, have always been involved in projects and other dealings with immoral side-effects.

so you could say, we have seen Lex trying to be a good friend to Clark. what we're forgetting is, his upbringing, the way people treat him, the way he thinks life is, has always been there to lead him towards a dark path.

[last man of krypton]

I agree partially, in that Lex has been led down a dark path and we can see various situations that would make him the supervillain of the future, but it seems like since the last 10 mins of Season 4's finale, we went from a "happy, trying to do good" Lex to a "mwuhahaha, I'll keep you away from water, Aquaman" Lex. Yes, he's always had a desire for knowledge (as shown as far back as the Pilot), but that desire hasn't had him putting the Kents in danger or cause suffering to someone he doesn't even know (ie Aquaman).

[Basest Rue]

I always expected the turn toward evil would feel abrupt because Lex kept having these golden moments. As late as "Lucy" he tells Clark that he considers them closer than blood brothers -- and I believe he means it. So the change does seem a little jarring.

I don't know... maybe the transition feels abrupt because until Commencement, I still liked Lex as a person (as opposed to as a character). Now I don't like him (as a person, still love the character) -- which is how I'm supposed to react. But it seems like I didin't have enough of a chance to feel ambivalent about him -- to make that crossover in my own mind.

[cain]

I didn't think it seemed all that abrupt at all. I've been seeing Lex getting more and more evil since about half way through season 4. The tipping point was in Commencement when:
- He knew Lana had one stone,
- He was certain his father had one stone,
- He suspected that Clark had the third stone,
- He knew where they needed to go once they were all together.

He suddenly realised that he pretty much knew where all the stones were and all he needed to do was get them. He felt so close to what a part of him had always wanted - knowledge and power - and that (evil) part of him started to take a bigger hold.

Then there was the meteor shower and the events in the cave and he missed his chance to get all the stones and it all became too much for him and evil Lex was finally out there. All this season it's been evil Lex and he's just been pretending to be good to try to stay close to Clark because he hopes to learn something (to quote Lex quoting someone else "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer").

Maybe he's just realised that evil people seem to see more of Clark than everyone else (although they usually end up in the asylum soon after) and he figures he's been trying to learn more about Clark by being his friend for the last four years without too much success, maybe it's time to try something a bit different. So what appears to be an abrupt change from good Lex to evil Lex is just evil Lex suddenly giving up pretending to be good.

[tejdog1]

This theory means evil Lex was pretending since the Pilot, and I just don't buy that. Lex of Season 1 would NEVER do what Lex of Aqua did. He would be horrified, in fact.

[Lord_Balthaazar]

Lex is turning darker, he doesnt seem to see the wrong in it. All his life hes been taught certain things and though he tries to fight becoming his father and wants to do good..it never turns out well, his good intentions turn to naught.

So now weve got Lex having done questionable things in the past, seeing his attempts at good turn to ill, and his friends and people he knows all around him lying to him, making him feel untrustworthy and at times, realizing he is.

He saw his darker side, he cant deny its existance, and now hes accepted it to a degree, he wants to know the truth of things, wants to gain knowledge, power.

Hes been pushed and pushed and hes finally starting to snap back at people, using any meathod it takes to get revenge, find knowledge or further his goals.

Lex may have a desire to do good but it conflicts too much with what his life has been like and lines have been blurred in his mind, so new possibilites are opening up and he doesnt see why people shouldnt do as he is starting to do, he was, just trying to find the truth..

Near the end of the episode, I felt that Lex got a shock, a sort of reflection of himself and realized hes been doing exactly what he fought against doing for years.. but will he turn from his path? or will he in the near future, see a situation, note the right and wrong way to go about it, and choose the wrong way willingly, because its the only way.

When Clark was smiling kind of far off, sad, remembering when he had faith in Lex Luthor, even if that faith was lessened as of late, "..you know, the other day, my new Professor was going on about Lex Luthor, made you out to be nothing short of the Devil.." *Lex smirking, shrugging, walking closer and saying uncaringly, "Did you tell him about my pitch Fork?" *sneering* *Clark looking not angry with Lex, just sad, saddened and dissapointed.." ..I defended you.." looking down and walking away, " Guess I am Naive.."

Lex had a look on his face, the very familiar look, where he has a moments doubt, sees that darkness within him and it scares him, but as time goes on it scares him less and less and he accepts more of it.

Now he has to make a concious decision, do I do the right thing? or do I do the wrong thing..because it gets me what I want, what I need.. its the only way for finding knowledge, the truth..'

And so he will be faced with many situations, and slowly but surely, hell choose how he will face them, and Lex Luthors worth will be decided, is he pure? or horribly wicked.. does he even see the difference?

Lex has a ways to go to become truely Evil, but hes starting to tip the balance that way..

[Drew]

Lex always said the only thing keeping his demons at bay was Clarks friendship. When Clark beat up Lex, I think he kind of lost it.

Also, Aqua was trying to break Lex's military deal which was in high millions. It is understandable why Lex would go to such extremes to prevent that from happening.

[juiceb0y]

yeh i know what you mean its like lex just have a total character change and hes know super villian

[Chesay]

Seems a bit light switch to me and I would have preferred for it to have been done as gradually as making him sympathetic was, but MR is doing an excellent job with the material regardless and that is what keeps me watching.

I would really like for Clark and Lex to be in a situation where they were forced to cooperate with each other to get out of it. To remain victims as long as they were not willing to work together and then once resigned to the task find they were confiding and talking to each other as they never had before would be a good episode. Clark always comes toward Lex on the defensive and lately Lex has been protective against Clark. I think Clark could be around Lex and be friends if he didn't always feel Lex was watching him and waiting for a slip or crack to show up. I'm not willing to give up on them yet, but it appears they won't ever be anywhere close to friends if they ever were really friends at all.

[Lord_Balthaazar]

you know, ive never really seen Clark and Lex just, being friends. Itd be nice if wed have seen just them hanging out, talking, putting Lex's spending cash (near unlimited!) to good use and doing whatever he and Clark wanted to do. Concerts, any sporting event there is, traveling by private jet anywhere in the world, video games and surround sound (im sure Lex has a room with a huge screen and surround sound somewhere in that mansion ) Get into any Clubs they want, race each other in highly expensive dream cars, just go out driving in general with all Lex's toys.

But eh, I guess that stuff is more behind the scenes..still, it would have been nice to catch a glimpse, being best friends with Lex Luthor had to be more fun than just lieing to each other and shouting out acusations, asking for favors, digging a little too deep..

[last man of krypton]

There was quite a bit of Clark & Lex hanging out in Season 1, followed by the occasional game of pool in the odd episode.
I agree though, I would've liked to see more of their friendship.

[Basest Rue]

Originally posted by cain
He suddenly realised that he pretty much knew where all the stones were and all he needed to do was get them. He felt so close to what a part of him had always wanted - knowledge and power - and that (evil) part of him started to take a bigger hold.

I missed this. It makes the season-long search for the crystals a backdrop for a season-long Lex turning toward evil. I just didn't experience the season that way. But I'll go back and look at it again with this in mind. (Any excuse to watch the DVD....)

[ryb]

Here's a thread I wasn't expecting to see this week, but I'm glad it's out there.

I think Lex's seemingly "abrupt" turn to evil has not been abrupt at all. One of the reasons I may like Season 4 so much is that I think it had the perfect symbolism for the season's purpose. Everyone's quest for the stones was a fight for or against their individual destinies. In Lex's case, his search for the stones was his way of seeking the thing he has always wanted most (knowledge and power). In his quest, he became more and more obsessed with the stones, and his character deterioration was prevalent near the end of the season. I think this is especially true with the episode Blank, where Lex uses Clark's amnesia to learn more about the caves. To me, this was one of the final pieces of the Lex-turns-to-evil puzzle, where Lex uses a self-proclaimed friend for his own purpose. He's done this before, certainly, but this event I think led to the strong deterioration we see in Commencement/Arrival. The Clark/Lex scene in Arrival makes sense because Lex knows Clark is lying about the caves (He can't prove it, but he *knows* it). I think it is at this point where Lex is positive that Clark is hiding something, but now his mission is to prove it.

I agree that Lex's obsession/quest for the stones is the metaphor for his character's deterioration. Now Lex will go to almost any means necessary to obtain what he wants. I thought his comments to AC in Aqua were appropriate: He has a thirst for knowledge that has never been quenched. So Lex is taking much more drastic action for his causes.

Season 4 also has a great Lex character analysis episode in Bound. I especially like the scene at the end where he discusses his actions with Clark. He's not entirely sure why he does things, but he asks Clark to not give up on him yet. I think Clark has given up on him now, so this may be an even greater impetus for Lex's more malicious behavior.

I found it interesting that someone commented on the "blood brothers" statement from Lucy. I just watched that episode the other day, and I got the distinct impression that that was more sinister than it at first appeared.

I guess what I am saying in all of this is that I think Lex's turn has been more gradual than many of you make it to be; it's just that the turn is a bit more subtle than it at first seems.

[xrayvision]

I think Lex was getting more curious every season; there's no doubt about that. I know Lex shouldn't have kept that secret room in S2 and S3 (started in S1 when he showed the car to Nixon), but this is that curiosity thing again (didn't show that he wanted to harm Clark). He has always been obsessed with finding out why he survived the Porsche crash.

But the thing was, he always went back and showed that he really cared. In S4, he hunted info in Gone when he was trying to find out info on what happened with his jet. In Devoted, Lex stopped Jason from beating Clark and showed his friendship. In Run, there was a time where it seemed like he was going to be ruthless against Bart (he had the right to after the scroll he bought was stolen), but when the time came, he outright refused to harm Bart and risked his own life trying to protect him. In Transference, Lex was exposed to yet another bizarre occurence when his father and Clark switched bodies. He got curious as to where Lionel got that strength from while in Clark's body. But at the end, he was very grateful to Clark. Jinx ended with him smirking after Clark knew he was the one to get Jason fired. I don't know if this was a result of him liking Lana or really having the morals to not want to see a student dating a faculty member. In Spell, Lana lashed out at him at the end when she found out that he was the one who got Jason fired. Though he values her friendship (or maybe companionship), Clark's is more important to him.

Bound was where they tried to make Lex look like a bad guy. But I just didn't buy it. I saw him as a victim of gold diggers. He shouldn't have treated them like that, but they were simply in it for the money. That scene with him burning the evidence just showed him as being desperate and not wanting to go to jail for something he didn't do.

Scare was interesting. Even though his company's project went bad, Lex truly showed that he cared for his employees. He didn't even want that project since it was started under his father's rule of Luthorcorp. He even injected himself with the serum to test it.

Lex did show a changing attitude in Unsafe toward Lionel, but that was mainly due to all the bad things Lionel did to him. He still did the right thing in Pariah by refusing to partake in Genevieve's deal. He kept being a good friend to Lana in Recruit by giving her info on the Teagues' involvement with Isabel.

In Sacred, Lex started becoming obsessed with the stones again but not to the point that he would later be. He did want the Chinese guards to get info out of Jason, but also didn't want them to hurt him (similar situation as to what happened in Insurgence). Lucy was the last episode where he was still doing things to help out Clark and his "friends".

Finally, Onyx is where the "lightswitch" seemed to happen. The black k split Lex in 2 and his evil side dominated his good side. Before the accident, the experiment he was doing was mainly for helping the world (the doctor who was working on it was the one who mentioned profit as a good outcome of a suucessful run). By the end of this episode, his good side was weakened so much after all the torture, that during the re-merging, it lost control of his body & mind. So what was probably 70-80% good Lex and 20-30% evil Lex at the beginning of Onyx switched to what it seemed like 65% evil Lex and 35% good Lex at the end of this episode. You can sort of see an evil smirk in that face he had at the end of Onyx (which is my avatar).

From then on, there is a different Lex we are exposed to. It's not that apparent in Spirit (though he does take care of Bridgette Crosby's body without alerting the cops even though he didn't kill her), but in Blank, he lies to Clark to take that drawing and to get info that Clark would not have told him before. Something tells me that the good curious Lex would also do this. But if you look at the ending of Ageless, you start to see that he wants to use the research he gained from Evan to profit Luthorcorp way before it's used to help prevent future cases of what Evan had.

In Forever, Lex stops himself from killing Jason just to hear what he has to say about Clark. He's furious at his father for shooting him. By Commencement, he just doesn't care anymore. He puts Chloe's and his own lives in danger during the meteor shower just to find the stones. He definitely knows something about kryptonite to have put so much of it in his safe (he stole it from that crypt in China). He also tries to put on a face where he cares for Lana, but you can easily see that the stones are more important.

So my theory is that Onyx was definitely when it happened. It was a great episode, but I think it was a little too drastic how he changed. I think there should have been a major blowout from someone (either Lana or Jonathan Kent) that sent him reeling and put him in a state of mind where he slowly became more evil. By now, Clark definitely realizes who Segeeth really is (would be interesting to see Joseph Willowbrook in a followup episode dealing w/ this). Willowbrook teaches at the same college Clark is attending, so it would be awesome to see Clark seeking advice from him on how to deal with Segeeth.

I'd love to see an episode where the 2 Lex's split again and we see the return of good Lex for a short time. It would be cool if they had Brainiac publish and release that book on Luthorcorp while good Lex is back. The book would do horrible damage to Lex's image and reputation, and then Lex would blame Clark for helping Brainiac write the book as his research assistant. Now that would be a great way to revise the evolution of Lex's evil.

[Ultron]

I'll also put my vote for fairly consistant transition. He was more evil than ever in S4 and basically he's been running out of good. It's like his tank has gone dry and he's running on fumes now. I think you guys are noticing the part where the car suddenly stops, not realizing that the gas tank was gradually emptying the whole time. :)

[NotTodayPete]

I would like to have seen something push him over the edge. I know he was frustrated with Clark and Chloe withholding the truth but, he's been there before and still kept his marbles. They are handling it like Lionel's change back to evil, too sudden and unreasonable. There needs to be a dramatic event that creates a turning point.

[xrayvision]

Yeah, I just don't see any rock solid evidence before Onyx that Lex was evil. He did do some bad things, but many of them were due to other factors that were not his fault that he was responding to. With what his father did to him in S3 and him knowing that his only real friend is keeping secrets from him, I thought the way he behaved throughout most of S4 was good.

[KristinIsAwesome]

Another thing that is turning Lex is that he knows something is up with Clark. He cant explain it and he has no evidence, but he knows there is something unusual with Clark. And he will do whatever it takes to figure it out. There are other reasons for why he is becoming more evil, but this problem pisses him off even more.

"Normal people don't rise from the dead."

[gameface25]

No one has mentioned it, but it could have something to do with the Crystals in Commencement. If you rememebr, he touched the Crystal (The water or transferrence one) in LL's coat, and got knocked back into the bookshelf. When he came to, he told LL that he finally got the son he always wanted. Maybe that is the instance that Bad Lex took over.

[Ultron]

Nah I think that was just good dialogue. We've seen evidence of Lex turning bad many episodes before that.

[Tacosupes]

unPTC, you answered your own question. After Asylum, the good person that was Lex was destroyed. The drugs Lionel Gave him, combined with the electroshock therapy that destroyed part of his brain was the turning point for Him. His morals were loser and he was more prone to do unethical things.
It was gradual up until shattered, but after Asylum his downward spiral was accelerated. Why it seems so sudden change to you is because diffent writers write LEX diffently. Its like some of the writers of this sho havent watched SV since season one, so they still write Lex as Clarks Friend. In other episodes other writers write him as the devil incarnate.

the dilema is that the producers dont want to write Michael Rosenbaum out of the show, or have him sent to prison at this stage, so they have Clark( BDA) as he is forgive Lex for stalking him and setting up a shrine to him in his house or nearly getting his mom killed (Insurgence) or kidnapping Chloe ( Commencement) Endangering his whole family (MORTAL), or continually experimenting with Kryptonite (every damn episode of SV). The writers, while excellent at dialog, suck when it comes to plotting, and invariably have Clark Go to Lex for help when he is in a jam, or nine times out of ten have Luthorcorp behind everything that goes wrong in SV, so Lex and Clark have a little terse converstaion about it in one scene.

It's like they are in a rut and cant come up with any new ideas, so they invaribly have Clark come to the same solutions to every problem. That and its convient for them to use the Luthor mansion set , rather than spend money on a new one, or new ones every week. (HAvent they ever heard of Greenscreen?)

The whole "Lex Luthor and SUPERman are buddies" angle Smallville plays up is really trite at this point, and if it continues the show may Jump the shark. (If it didnt already with the lame Girl power episodes of season 4, and Lana going Vampiric in season 5).

To answer your question, Lex didnt Just turn evil in AQUA, he really turned evil over a slow arc in season 3. The problem is the writers are so inconsistent that they vary displaying this change or not from week to week.