My finale thoughts on Lex in smallville

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

She doesn't have to predict Lex's actions, Tess only needs some vital piece of information that can crush the Luthor empire if published. Maybe it has to do with a will (she's a Luthor after all) or something similar. She wouldn't hand over the evidence to Clark or the authorities as a last favor to her brother. That, plus Lex's pride and his speech from the finale, plus his actions in S8 would ensure he'd stick to the deal (at least not publically outing Clark). Like I said, Lex knowing would only make things more interesting and would help justify this comic book version more imo.

When Clark destroyed the crystal I assumed Zod and his followers died. I really don't get what the PZ glass meant in Dominion. In Smallville it was what brought it's inhabitance to the Zone, not take them out.

[SnowBird]

I think the SV comic will do good with Lex not remembering Clark's secret but they could bring back his memories and your theory of blackmailing Lex would be interesting....I assumed the glass cube that took Zod and the other two away from SV PZ would be floating in space with the crystal destroyed. It would line up when Jor-El in the SM movie banned Zod & company from Krypton and they were floating in space in the cube.

[Exedore]

Ignoring the fact that it was FrankenLex instead of the real guy, I thought the final Clark-Lex scene was a pretty good Elseworlds set up where Lex, like Lois, knows the secret (along with everyone else....). But then they had to ruin with the mindwipe. :/

[Dagenspear]

Ignoring the fact that it was FrankenLex instead of the real guy, I thought the final Clark-Lex scene was a pretty good Elseworlds set up where Lex, like Lois, knows the secret (along with everyone else....). But then they had to ruin with the mindwipe. :/

It WAS the real Lex... just with clone parts.

[the jester]

Another big difference between Smallville Lex and Future Lex that I feel needed the wipe to happen was Smallville Lex knew he was the villain where as Future Lex has to believe that he is the hero it's the one of biggest traits that makes Lex so dangerous and if it ended with him seeing himself as a villain it would kind of leave Lex broken in a way but with how it did end Lex might blame Superman for Apokolips almost destroying the earth thus thinking it's his job to take Superman down

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

^ I think the writers used their mythos crystal ball a bit too eagerly in the Finale when they made Lex proclaim he's a villain (risking making him rather two-dimensional in fact). Sure a lot has happened since S7 where he thought he was doing the right thing by destroying the fortress but still.

And even after that you could argue that comic Lex is aware he is a villain or is just looking after his own interests. Lex is not like Sinestro who does evil things as a byproduct of truly believing he knows what's best for all. With Lex... He pretends to have lofty goals when he's just greedy, power hungry and vain.

If you think Smallville Lex is different from the comics (which he kinda is) then the point still stands. The finale still robbed him of what made him SV-Lex. His beliefs of being a hero turned into a realization he's the villain of the story (given his speech in the finale).

[the jester]

But if his core personality is that he does what ever it takes to do what HE thinks is right then thats all it takes to be Lex. As for his time in smallville. I believe Lex could have been the villain since day one but being friends with Clark was like his own villain "kryptonite" it was said in many ways that being Clarks friend buried his darkness and the times that Lex tried to be test Clark's friendship even after they stoped being friends he was always surprised by Clarks responses like: Aqua Clark defended him he was shocked to hear that in Labyrinth Clark said it was good to see Lex out and about Lex could have said thanks but he chose to say wow that almost sounded covincing in Trespass Clark said he was sorry for what happen in crimson Lex could have accepted it but he chose to tell Clark off and in Fracture Clark was really trying to reach Lex and Lex just blew him off. my point is as long as Lex remembered the friendship he would always have alittle of his true potential buried. Another thing is Yes future Lex is different from smallville Lex just like future Clark/Superman is different from smallville Clark/Blur but it took Lex's time in Smallville to get him to that turning point to future Lex thus making the show's events very important. It makes the show the journey from point A to point B which is what Smallville was about

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

I get what you're saying about Lex possibly holding himself back. Then again that's what sets SV-Lex apart from the comic Lex. Clark can reason with Lex in a whole different way. They were friends and old friends fighting each other adds another kind of a tension in the fights. Now Lex doesn't remember it so there's not so much at stake there.

I disagree with the journey aspect. A big part of it is that we as the viewers see how the characters mature and make new decisions based on their past experiences. Now Lex has lost all that and any future decisions he's making will be because of what's happening to him at the moment. He might get married again and make the same mistakes he did with Lana for example because he shouldn't have any prior knowledge about her. So in Lex's case it's not as much as a journey from point A to point B. It's skipping to point B. Like past Clark meeting future Clark in an elevator and wondering how he became so nerdy...except now it's the future Clark wondering where the glasses and jacket came from. That's what happened with Lex.

Or it could be that BQM will write Lex like he was from his SV-days and he'll have some sort of memory flashbacks but the problem is that it wouldn't be realistic solution. My fear is that BQM will pick and choose Lex's memories in a way that suits him. We'll see the evil Lex but he's just forgotten Clark's secret which kinda feels like cheating even if I will be glad that he hasn't totally forgotten his past. But you see that the mind wipe fails no matter what and that's what BQM called it himself, not some cognitive mumbo jumbo which just makes Lex disconnect the faces with the events or something like that.

[the jester]

I disagree with the journey aspect. A big part of it is that we as the viewers see how the characters mature and make new decisions based on their past experiences. Now Lex has lost all that and any future decisions he's making will be because of what's happening to him at the moment. He might get married again and make the same mistakes he did with Lana for example because he shouldn't have any prior knowledge about her. So in Lex's case it's not as much as a journey from point A to point B. It's skipping to point B. Like past Clark meeting future Clark in an elevator and wondering how he became so nerdy...except now it's the future Clark wondering where the glasses and jacket came from. That's what happened with Lex.

Your missing the point of what I'm trying to say WE saw his journey from point A to B isn't that what matters most now that the show is over? Sure the comics comming out but the true show is over. For seven years how many times did Lex say now I have a second chance and then still make the BAD choices. Lex finished his journey in the opposite way of Clark which makes sense since ya know hero/villain opposite sides of the same coin one embraces the memories the other loses the memories. Also not learning from your past mistakes is what makes a real villain it's called a repeat offender. And really Lex would have used Clark's secret against him and it wouldn't be more interstinting it would be like having smallville limp forward. I personally don't want that I feel the Smallville chapter should end and the Superman one should start.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

I agree that we the audience saw that journey and we can revisit it any time we want too. The thing is the journey was over after a decade and instead of a high note they seemed to end in a letdown. I haven't seen that many praises about the mindwipe and I can see why. It not only takes away from the story and the characters it takes away from us, the viewer. When we do rewatch Lex's journey on Smallville we'll know that none of it matters because Lex will not remember it.

Still stand behind the fact that Lex forgetting is like the future Clark in the elevator wondering how he got so nerdy. He doesn't understand the reason for his predicament thus he isn't the same character anymore. And I don't really have to go over how Clark in Blank would have FUBARed everything if it wasn't for Chloe.

I can understand that Lex can't know Clark's secret (although for a Smallville comic to stand out of the other Supes titles this would have been a good/interesting way to do so). Besides, a lot of people know Clark's secret (just check Belle Reve for starters). Lex just seems stupid for not knowing.

[the jester]

I agree that we the audience saw that journey and we can revisit it any time we want too. The thing is the journey was over after a decade and instead of a high note they seemed to end in a letdown. I haven't seen that many praises about the mindwipe and I can see why. It not only takes away from the story and the characters it takes away from us, the viewer. When we do rewatch Lex's journey on Smallville we'll know that none of it matters because Lex will not remember it.

But it will matter because every event/episode in the show lead him to where he ended in the finale it's that simple. Letdown? are you serious that scene was so epic and it was so "Luthor" the music the lighting the Luthor power stuggle that left only Lex alive and the way the music started to build as Lex walked towards the window said to me oh boy $hits about to hit the fan and then out of the ashes of Luthorcorp arises Lexcorp not to mention the scene after that was the birth of Superman. Also how often during the course of the show was it discovered that Lex had repressed memories heck he said himself that after the meteor shower he blocked out years of his younger life so why should his wipe at the end be a big deal seriously ever since asylum I knew he wouldn't know the secret at the end. Me personaly I wished it was the mind control formula made from Chloe's mother's DNA but a new batch that has the person carry out the command forever and Tess's command would be "I want you to forget all you know about Clark Kent" and in the flashes Lex sees the ones with Clark he's still there but his face is blured then Lex looks down at a dead Tess and his last words are "who was the alien traveler?".That way Lex would always know that he DID know who Superman was but killing his sister cost him the secret. thats just a thought.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

I did like the scene with Lex and Tess. They acted it well and it was shot well. The LuthorCorp sign changing to LexCorp sign was a brilliant twist...but in the context of what just happened...it doesn't make sense. If you think it logically it was nothing more than pieces of a company logo falling. Doesn't matter if it was meant as a wink to the audience it's still disconnected from what actually happened to Lex. I was half expecting Lex to say "WTF is going on, who am I, how did I end up here, what's that red thing in the sky?!"

The difference with the other mindwipes on the show as I have mentioned many times is that we saw the characters gaining their memories back and continue on their path. Lex forgot Clark's secret but he didn't forget about Clark. There's a huge difference if one of the show's main reasons to exist was to show how friends end up hating each other. Now Lex doesn't hate Clark, he can't, because he can't remember him. He can't be bitter about losing Lana (own fault but still) because to him she doesn't exist. His hatred for his father and how Lex killed him isn't present to shape his future decisions because it's wiped away...burnt like the scene showed us. That's how the show ended.

Smallville knew how the story ends, the crew knew this was their last season. They were supposed to tie up loose ends, not leave stuff open. And by open I mean is Lex a villain or not, not that Superman would kill Lex, there can still be a rivalry between the two. They didn't even address Superman's public display properly because he was just a blur to them. Even years later it's vague what's happened. Making Luthor president, no matter if he has the black glove of evil or not, doesn't show us that he's evil. Or if he is evil he isn't the same kind of evil that SV-Lex was. In the seven years he's been making new decisions based on the status quo he received from the mindwipe. The world before that moment doesn't exist to him.

We aren't shown otherwise so that's how Smallville ended. You can say he gains his memories back, I can say he doesn't. We're both right and wrong because the show was too lazy to tell us.

[the jester]

I don't think he should get his memories back. There gone as is his time in Smallville. The show did show us how there friendship turned to hatred for the first 7 years.Smallville was the journey before the superman story starts and everything was nailed Clark became Superman And Lex was left as owner of Lexcorp and left to his own means by being the only Luthor left Also we know now why Superman won't befriend Lex after he introduces himself to the world. The whole thing that we don't see how Lex becomes evil is a crock. We agreed that Lex's personality would remain the same and Lex is left with the things he choose in Lexmas money and power,plus he doesn't have the Clark influence and he already killed the good side of his mind. so to me if we use the mental picture they used in fracture the only one left in Lex's mind is the evil Lex and the rooms are now empty and ready to be filled. Lex is the villain and yes it was cool that at first he wanted to be good but he never really choose to be good. but hey if you want to choose to rip the ending up thats your choice but I find it was awesome

May smallville Lex Luthor RIP
so future Lex Luthor can rule.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

In any case I'm interested in seeing how Lex will act with BQM writing the comic. Will it be like comic book Lex, Smallville Lex or something in between?

[Exedore]

It WAS the real Lex... just with clone parts.

This is still up for debate? The finale made it very clear that the real Lex was dead and this was a composite clone, created from the best parts of his imperfect clones (only the heart could not be cloned perfectly). It had the original Lex's memories but even that was taken away from him in the end. Ultimately what remained was a new character entirely.