On his birthday, Clark visits Jonathan's graveside and receives a ghostly visit from the man himself. Jonathan tells Clark that he must kill Lionel to save millions. He visits Martha, telling her the same thing, and that Lionel had something to do with his death. Jonathan is then revealed to be Milton Fine. Chloe confirms through Lionel's cellphone records that he was at the farm the night Jonathan died. Clark confronts Lionel and Jonathan shows up once more to encourage him to kill Luthor senior. But Clark, trusting that his father would never say such a thing, turns on him and he reveals himself to be Fine. This version of Fine is destroyed when Lionel, inhabited by Jor-El, touches him. Lionel tells Clark that Lex has been working with Fine to gather the world's deadliest viruses. Clark sets out to destroy them but the only person who might know where they are being kept is Lana. She tells him, reluctanly, after catching him snooping in her room. Lex, it turns out, has been using the viruses to manufacture a vaccine. Fine injects him with it before destroying the rest and Clark arrives too late to stop him. He talks with Lex afterwards telling him that he should never have been working with Fine. But Lex defends what he was doing then tells Clark he crossed a line and that it was his own fault that he lost Lana. Later, Lionel visits Martha to make a confession and Lex cuts himself on a glass, only to find that he heals in seconds.
I feel that more could have been done to highlight that Fine was unable to touch Lionel. Obviously, once Lionel becomes inhabited by Jor-El, it becomes clear that he has the power to stop Fine. However, it hasn't been entirely clear that Jor-El is always there inside Lionel, but this is the only explanation for why Fine didn't simply kill Lionel himself. I'm not usually one of those people who needs everything explaining to me. I'm fine with a little ambiguity. But I do feel like I had to spend too much time afterward thinking about it rather than having plainly understood it. I think a lot of that is down to how much they are having to fit into this episode. It is pretty crammed.
It also seemed a mistake to me to show that it was Fine just after he had finished talking to Martha disguised as Jonathan. Surely it would have been better to have that reveal made during his fight with Clark in the barn.
Despite these minor flaws it's a highly entertaining episode. One of the great things about Lex in this series is how his villainy often feels justified. When he tells Clark that he crossed a line, he's not wrong, but you can understand the predicament Clark was in and why he didn't want to ask Lana directly for the information.
Since Jonathan died he has appeared in 3 episodes. I wouldn't say it lessens the impact of his death but if he keeps making more appearances it might get that way. It's kind of justified here because it's all about Fine manipulating Clark and Martha through the man they loved and trusted most. I just don't want to see Jonathan keep popping up, when his death was handled in such a great, impactful way.
A lot of the elements of Fine's character feel very reminiscent of stuff that was done in The X Files, as have plenty of other elements of the show, but all the stuff with the vaccine definitely feels cribbed from that show. If you are an X Files fan you know what I'm talking about. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but as an X Files fan myself, I just feel it's worthy of being highlighted.
You can tell that Lionel's confession to Martha at the end of the episode is a painful moment for both characters but it really does feel like Lionel is attempting to turn over a new leaf. The crazy thing is that, deep down, I kind of want him to. I love a good redemption story. But whether Lionel is on the level here remains to be seen. Either way, Glover's performance has me rooting for him.
9/10
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