Episode 5.19: Mercy

A man in a mask kidnaps Lionel Luthor and puts him through a series of trials designed to either kill him or make him learn something about himself. But things get more personal for Lionel once Martha becomes part of the masked man's games. When it comes to a choice between killing Martha to save himself, or allowing himself to die, he decides to take a bullet. As it turns out, the gun he is given ends up not being loaded, but that doesn't stop the masked man from trying to kill them anyway, forcing Clark to exhibit his powers in front of Lionel in order to save his mother. Lex, who helped Clark in finding them, hears his father on a video telling Martha that he knows Clark is a special boy, igniting his suspicions about his former friend once more. In the final scene, Clark warns Lionel in no uncertain terms to stay away from his mum, but once he leaves Lionel begins to receive messages again that he then scribbles onto a piece of paper.

So this episode blatantly riffs on the Saw movies, there's no two ways about it, yet it is far better than anything from that franchise. The traps are of course a lot more toned down but, given I'm not into the whole torture porn thing anyway, that's really not a bad thing. Given that we know these characters so well I am far more invested in what is happening here than anything that Jigsaw put people through.

My only real negatives are that, 1. You know right away who the killer is going to be because the actor playing him is too recognizable from other shows to just be playing a bodyguard that randomly pops up in the first act, and 2. It takes Lionel far too long, for a man of his intelligence, to realize that one of the games is just about rearranging letters. If not for these minor quibbles this episode would be perfect.

I love how Clark reaches the most obvious conclusion, that Lionel set all of this up himself to gain Martha's trust, even though the episode, while never giving us a definitive answer on that one, certainly presents Lionel as having nothing to do with this scheme.

There are a few really great character moments. At one point Lex tries to extend an olive branch to Clark, hoping they might patch things up at some point, but Clark just remains silent, which kind of says all that it needs to. There is not an ounce of trust for Lex left in Clark. But this rejection cuts much deeper, once Lex asks Lionel what he meant when he referred to Clark as a "special boy", with Lionel telling him that, "Clark is the kind of son that a father can be proud of". Ouch! That's gotta sting!

I love when Clark threatens Lionel as well. He seems to be channeling more than a little of Jonathan Kent here as he gets super protective of Martha. And he looks like he really means it. It's one of those rare moments where Clark seems truly threatening.

9/10