Episode 6.19: Nemesis

Lex and Clark are trapped inside a vast underground tunnel system that's part of one of Lex's schemes. The woman responsible for trapping them believes that Lex knows what happened to her husband, a former military officer who supposedly died in a helicopter crash.

I don't usually like it when Lana "goes to the dark side" as I'm not often convinced that she really means it. The scene where she threatens Lionel in the hospital, however, is an exception. It's a great scene and I buy Lana's threats because she has every reason at this point to truly hate both Luthors.

This is one of those episodes where Lex gets to see Clark appearing to be just as human as anyone, little realizing that it is the meteor rock, which is all around them, that causes Clark to suffer injury. But it's always fun watching Lex's reactions to these moments as he looks at Clark in total disbelief that anything could have made him bleed. Clark is a total contradiction to Lex. He knows he has powers. But then these moments totally screw with his head, which is awesome!

I love all the stuff between Clark and Lex down in the tunnels but, no matter what Lex says or does at this point, there's just no sign of anything that could bring him redemption. He talks of his genuine love for Lana, but he has absolutely no idea what genuine love truly is, as evidenced by everything he's done to her.

I've never been the biggest fan of Clark and Lana getting together but, when Clark and Lex are met by Lana when they first get free from the tunnels, I genuinely wanted her to give Lex the finger and walk away with Clark.

Lana's final words to Lex, "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you", really do feel spoken in sadness and anger at being so unfortunate. It's another great scene, in which she is essentially telling Lex that she knows everything, without telling him that she knows anything. The whole time Lex looks like a man about to break under the weight of all his own guilt. Once again though, it is not lost on me that Lana, who spent so long getting pissy with Clark for keeping secrets, has now become quite adept at telling lies.

At one time I would have said that Clark was partly responsible for the path Lex has chosen. But sooner or later people have to accept responsibility for the choices they make and, at this point, Lex has made all the wrong choices. It is nice though to see Clark address the possibility that he may have given up on Lex too soon. But, as the final scene shows, Lex just isn't to be trusted. He's very good at playing the wounded animal. But, ultimately, he's always got his own agenda.

10/10