How long before the complete disintegration, mewonders...

[JerryKing]

Drivel drives drivel, driven by more drivel...

The degeneration of the series continues. Just when one thought it could not possibly be any worse even if the producers hired Joe Eszterhas and Paul W. S. Anderson, in walks Whoever-It-Was with his concept: for the new episode, let us plagiarize last year's imbecilic, unwatchable quasihorror which itself was an inept plagiarism. [i]Then[i], for a change, let us be more original: namely, let us plagiarize a decent independent science fiction feature made a few years ago, but let us strip it of its philosophical subtext. Bravo, maestros. I expect "Smallville: the reality show" soon...

[LuthorRequiem2]

While the killer may have been A LOT like the one in "SAW", that wasn't the purpose of the episode. The episode was really about character, about Lionel, Martha, Lex, and Clark. It really established some unique and intriguing new dynamics and concepts between the characters.

As for plagirism, "Smallville" at times does their own take on movies and twists it around a bit. It may not be the most original thing to do, but think of ALL the other original things they give us, like the characters, the Movie quality special effects, the music, the opera (OPERA IN A TEEN SHOW!), SOOOOOO many unique, non-plagirized things. I'm just grateful for those things. Those are the things that keep me watching.

[zanos]

So what you're saying is stealing is ok as long as you sugarcoat it right?

[Fly by guy]

You can't expect originality from writers who can't even remember that Lana knows what kind of person Lex is, but conveniently choses to forget because they don't know what to do with her otherwise. Mercy ratings reflect the downward spiral to Lexana and not even Lionel can save the day.

[MamaK]

Ummm...I like to think of this epi as kind of a campy tribute to Saw et al. And there were some great plot continuations too.

[Fly by guy]

What's truly bad is that the previous episodes were so bad that Mercy never stood a chance ratings wise. Ending Clana and dumbing down Lana added to a Lionel/Martha coupling is not where SV has been the past 5 years. I am truly starting to very much dislike, maybe hate, the show which after the episode Hidden, I couldn't hardly wait for the next episode. I was constantly watching the past 4 season DVD's and since Reckoning, this is absolutely the worst SV has been and that includes the Adam arc, the witch, the exploding baby, and any other crap they used for filler. I don't expect season 6 to recover what they have lost, and will end up with season 4 or less numbers unless they bring in a DC comic character every other episode. Aqua, Solitude, and Cyborg did great numbers, what about Hypnotic, Void, Fragile, and Mercy? Lexana=low ratings that even Lionel can't overcome.