But in a way there is a difference between Samantha Drake and Winslow Schott. Samantha Drake was a college student,and at first doing everything to help Lex get votes but got too obsessed with him and in a way got in his way of getting Senator, he still had some good feelings for the Kents at the time. Winslow Schott on the other hand was a genius who used to work for his competition who was a person both Lex and Winslow admittedly hated and in a way Toyman served Lex's purpose at the time. As we see starting seeing(especially post season 8) with the people who worked for LuthorCorp: board members, scientists, assistant(Gina, Tess before Bulletproof, Regan Matthews) and workers and even Lionel Luthor from a Parallel Universe these guy revered and think the world of Lex and call him a genius pretty much loyal to Lex. Other people like Lana Lang, Carter Bowfry, Tess Mercer and Edward Groll (who even though he premiered in season 6 has been working with Lex since the first meteor shower) either knew Lex well enough who worked with or beside Lex they were willing to betray him and take him down. So the people we see were essentially Lex’s worshipers in a way with different purposes.
Yes he was declared dead when Lionel was in charge and they didn’t have any big falling out yet, with Lionel suspicious of Lex’s wife.
However per his written instructions, Tess was not only put in charge of LuthorCorp and the Daily Planet but she had access to all of Lex’s files, Journals, etc. She didn’t like or trust Lex so she closed up his bank accounts, declared him dead and took a merger that essentially left a man he hates in charge of LuthorCorp.
And look at the Lex in the comics at the time of Smallville Lex:
2008-2011: Lex Luthor (in fact what happened SV Lex also happened so this is being faithful to the comics at well as happened to DCAU Lex in, Lois and Clark Lex Luthor) was more or less broke and back in evil scientist mode before he gain his company back after the events of New Krypton/Blackest Night and Brightest Day
You’re right about one things the writers did make a consistent Lex (season 8 Lex was consistent despite your feelings)
Al Gough and Miles Millar description of Lex Luthor
Smallville: The Official Companion Season 5
Season 5-6 Lex:
2005 TV Guide "Returning Favorites" (http://z13.invisionfree.com/the_star...uad/ar/t32.htm) : Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) turn toward the dark side will pick up speed and isn't going to help his shaky friendship with Clark. Says Gough, "Lex has an insatiable need for power, which starts to overcome him."
Miles Millar
Miles Millar Interview - Smallville Magazine (#19)
Michael Rosenbaum description of Lex Luthor:
Season 5:
(http://www.people.com/people/mobile/...138251,00.html)
page 104 of season 6 companion book:
Caroline Dries said about Lex in Nemesis (wrote episodes like Cyborg, Oracle, Subterranean, Nemesis, Action, Fracture, Toxic and Infamous) on page 96 of season 6 companion book:
Smallville Writers and Executive Producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer Reveal Shocking Details of the Season's Final Episodes
The writer’s intent was to show a Lex Luthor who is going to be world’s greatest supervillains, a man who craves power (makes sense in season 8 since he lost power in a considerable way in the form of the Prometheus suit and Lex’s fortune so he’s trying to regain it), to be loved and had an obsession (especially with Clark and his secret, Clark’s alien ships) and shows his trials in becoming a power hungry supervillain from the comics. the pilot to Descent shows him becoming evil and Arctic and Finale shows his accepting his role as Clark's enemy and the villain of the story. Michael Rosenbaum described Lex as a “sinister, dark, ambiguous character on TV”, each season show Lex slowly becomes darker and more like the Lex of the comics and season 5 become more. In Descent and Arctic, Clark and Lex basically became mortal enemies, who Lex after learning was the Traveler and thought he was an alien threat probably easily connected/realized what Clark was doing like Evil Lex did in Onyx. Lex showed his hatred to Green Arrow and the Justice League members declaring them terrorists basically to Green Arrow, Lionel Luthor, and Black Canary. He was very consistent with what Lex become post Descent pre Arctic as well as season 5-7 Lex.
Yes he was declared dead when Lionel was in charge and they didn’t have any big falling out yet, with Lionel suspicious of Lex’s wife.
However per his written instructions, Tess was not only put in charge of LuthorCorp and the Daily Planet but she had access to all of Lex’s files, Journals, etc. She didn’t like or trust Lex so she closed up his bank accounts, declared him dead and took a merger that essentially left a man he hates in charge of LuthorCorp.
And look at the Lex in the comics at the time of Smallville Lex:
2008-2011: Lex Luthor (in fact what happened SV Lex also happened so this is being faithful to the comics at well as happened to DCAU Lex in, Lois and Clark Lex Luthor) was more or less broke and back in evil scientist mode before he gain his company back after the events of New Krypton/Blackest Night and Brightest Day
You’re right about one things the writers did make a consistent Lex (season 8 Lex was consistent despite your feelings)
Al Gough and Miles Millar description of Lex Luthor
Smallville: The Official Companion Season 5
Season 5-6 Lex:
Al Gough believes that Lex's political motivations are based on his lust for power. Rosenbaum echoes that opinion, believing that Lex can never get enough; "Lex is an insatiable character". Rosenbaum believes that nothing will satisfy Lex's hunger, and that he will keep going until he is president of the United States. Even then, he will keep trying to make the majority of people like and believe in him.
TV Guide: Anything else you can tease about Season 6?
Gough: The theme is the rise of Lex Luthor. You're definitely going to see the more ruthless Lex Luthor you know from the comic books really start to emerge.
Gough: The theme is the rise of Lex Luthor. You're definitely going to see the more ruthless Lex Luthor you know from the comic books really start to emerge.
Miles Millar Interview - Smallville Magazine (#19)
The priority of the show is always about Clark, of course, but Lex is certainly going to take a dark turn. This is the beginning of the end for him. His humanity is being worn down. He's becoming increasingly evil. His love for Lana has driven him crazy, really.
Season 5:
TV Guide: There has been some debate over what Lex's end-of-"Lexmas" declaration of war against Jonathan is really about. Care to shed some light on his decision to fight dirty?
Michael Rosenbaum: I have to let your imagination fly with that one [because] I can't leak such information! [But] I think he feels that if you have enough money and enough power, you can pretty much control anyone. It's bad enough when in real life it's not working out for you, but even when you dream...?! [Laughs]
TV Guide: Lex already has money and power. Why the need to be senator? Is it for the free postage?
Rosenbaum: I don't want to use the analogy of George Bush, but it almost seems that when you hold an office, you tend to have more power. In his last line [in "Lexmas"], Lex says he wants it all. If he gets to make all the big decisions and doesn't have to look up to anyone, he has the freedom to do more of what he wants.
TV Guide: Lex's decision could make him more like his father than he wants to be. Or does he want to be?
Rosenbaum: They always say that as a kid, you're a product of your environment, and Lex had been fighting that forever. The last person he wants to become is his father, but I think he's slowly accepting the fact that regardless of how much he tries to run, there's always going to be that part of him that resembles his father.
This has been a whole journey of Lex becoming the ultimate villain in comic-book history: His mother dies, his brother Julian dies and he's got this evil dad. To watch him grow up trying to do the right thing all the time, it's like, "He deserves to kick some ass right now!" There's nothing like telling someone off or having someone killed. On the show, of course.
Michael Rosenbaum: I have to let your imagination fly with that one [because] I can't leak such information! [But] I think he feels that if you have enough money and enough power, you can pretty much control anyone. It's bad enough when in real life it's not working out for you, but even when you dream...?! [Laughs]
TV Guide: Lex already has money and power. Why the need to be senator? Is it for the free postage?
Rosenbaum: I don't want to use the analogy of George Bush, but it almost seems that when you hold an office, you tend to have more power. In his last line [in "Lexmas"], Lex says he wants it all. If he gets to make all the big decisions and doesn't have to look up to anyone, he has the freedom to do more of what he wants.
TV Guide: Lex's decision could make him more like his father than he wants to be. Or does he want to be?
Rosenbaum: They always say that as a kid, you're a product of your environment, and Lex had been fighting that forever. The last person he wants to become is his father, but I think he's slowly accepting the fact that regardless of how much he tries to run, there's always going to be that part of him that resembles his father.
This has been a whole journey of Lex becoming the ultimate villain in comic-book history: His mother dies, his brother Julian dies and he's got this evil dad. To watch him grow up trying to do the right thing all the time, it's like, "He deserves to kick some ass right now!" There's nothing like telling someone off or having someone killed. On the show, of course.
May 19, 2004:
Michael Rosenbaum talked to SCI FI Wire about Lex Luthor's potential journey into evil. "The great part is that fans embrace the character," he said. "He's not just going from good to bad right away. It's the journey to try and prevent the inevitable."
Michael also confirmed that Lex will be taking a darker path. "Lex is just trying to stay focused and do the right thing," Rosenbaum said. "But he keeps going and drifting off. The powers that be—one of them being his father [John Glover as Lionel Luthor]—just push him further and further to the dark side. That's where they're heading. People always say, 'Oh, what's going to happen with Lex? We saw a little sparkle in his eye.' There's always that, and there's always finding out the truth. I think the finale is very important."
Michael Rosenbaum talked to SCI FI Wire about Lex Luthor's potential journey into evil. "The great part is that fans embrace the character," he said. "He's not just going from good to bad right away. It's the journey to try and prevent the inevitable."
Michael also confirmed that Lex will be taking a darker path. "Lex is just trying to stay focused and do the right thing," Rosenbaum said. "But he keeps going and drifting off. The powers that be—one of them being his father [John Glover as Lionel Luthor]—just push him further and further to the dark side. That's where they're heading. People always say, 'Oh, what's going to happen with Lex? We saw a little sparkle in his eye.' There's always that, and there's always finding out the truth. I think the finale is very important."
“I don’t think Lex is such an evil guy. I think he definitely uses people and their abilities to get what he wants sometimes, and I think that’s maybe a bit of foreshadowing to his inevitably using Superman’s powers to rule the world. But perhaps he’s using these things to, in a way, help people. Maybe he has the big picture. Maybe the big picture completely changes once he has given up on everybody always accusing him."
“We wanted the audience to think that Lex had walked away, and then it’s a surprise when he came back. The best part of that episode was Lex basically admitting Clark was his best friend, his only friend. And I think the way Michael played it was really good, you see that he still loves Clark a lot and he regrets how it has all turned out. We decided to do this episode here because Lex is really at his most evil ever. What better episode to do when Clark and Lex have never been more at odds? Let’s throw them in a room together and see what happens. It had got to the point, at the end of season six, where it’s like, ‘What else could Lex do to possibly be more evil?’ He’s definitely getting harder and harder, because how many times can you say your projects are for the greater good?"
Me: You've really veered into some heavy psychodrama with Lex and Lana in the second half of season six, especially when Lex gave her hormones to make her believe she was pregnant.
Todd Slavkin: That was so wonderfully depraved for Lex's character. We've always seen his dark side, but that depravity
Darren Swimmer: He's gone into the shadowy darkness
TS: of a psychopath.
Me: So in your minds the point where Lex totally turned the corner was the baby story and the fact that he was faking his own bride's pregnancy?
DS: Yeah, because he's so insecure he couldn't believe she would marry him otherwise. I always think, last year in Aqua, when Lex had Aquaman on that table and wasn't giving him any water, that was sort of like a new level of direct evil for him. This year it's almost to a level of depravity, because he's doing this with the woman he loves more than anything in the world. Lex truly does love Lana. It's the bizarre expression of love and the insecurities wrapped up in it that make his depravity really enticing. You know he's screwed up because of his father. You know where this came from. The show has done a wonderful job in showing what turned Lex dark in terms of his father. We always kind of feel sorry for him in the back of our minds.
TS: Michael Rosenbaum always carries that sense of a tortured soul that makes his character more likeable.
Me: You touch on that in Nemesis when Clark says that for a brief instant he saw something in Lex he hadn't seen in years: His friend.
DS: The notion of Lex having no friendship to compare his own relationship to Clark to is really powerful. Clark's truly the only friend he's ever had. At the end of the show Clark says to his mother, "Did I cause him to be dark? My rejection of him?" There are some really great, deep issues that they both have to face.
Me: It's interesting that you had Lex become totally dark in the pregnancy story, yet in Nemesis there are moments in which you remind us that he used to be a nice guy.
DS: The greatest villains in the world are the ones that we like. We will continue to illuminate Lex's humanity, like you have to do with any great villain. If he's just a mustache-twirling bad guy it's not interesting.
Todd Slavkin: That was so wonderfully depraved for Lex's character. We've always seen his dark side, but that depravity
Darren Swimmer: He's gone into the shadowy darkness
TS: of a psychopath.
Me: So in your minds the point where Lex totally turned the corner was the baby story and the fact that he was faking his own bride's pregnancy?
DS: Yeah, because he's so insecure he couldn't believe she would marry him otherwise. I always think, last year in Aqua, when Lex had Aquaman on that table and wasn't giving him any water, that was sort of like a new level of direct evil for him. This year it's almost to a level of depravity, because he's doing this with the woman he loves more than anything in the world. Lex truly does love Lana. It's the bizarre expression of love and the insecurities wrapped up in it that make his depravity really enticing. You know he's screwed up because of his father. You know where this came from. The show has done a wonderful job in showing what turned Lex dark in terms of his father. We always kind of feel sorry for him in the back of our minds.
TS: Michael Rosenbaum always carries that sense of a tortured soul that makes his character more likeable.
Me: You touch on that in Nemesis when Clark says that for a brief instant he saw something in Lex he hadn't seen in years: His friend.
DS: The notion of Lex having no friendship to compare his own relationship to Clark to is really powerful. Clark's truly the only friend he's ever had. At the end of the show Clark says to his mother, "Did I cause him to be dark? My rejection of him?" There are some really great, deep issues that they both have to face.
Me: It's interesting that you had Lex become totally dark in the pregnancy story, yet in Nemesis there are moments in which you remind us that he used to be a nice guy.
DS: The greatest villains in the world are the ones that we like. We will continue to illuminate Lex's humanity, like you have to do with any great villain. If he's just a mustache-twirling bad guy it's not interesting.
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