NEXT ON SMALLVILLE 8x01 Odyssey- Sep 19, 2008 8/7c THE JUSTICE LEAGUE RETURNS TO FIND CLARK AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE FORTRESS; THE NEW CEO OF LUTHORCORP COMES TO TOWN — The Justice League, lead by the Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), hits the Artic in search of Clark (Tom Welling), who disappeared after the fortress collapsed. The team immediately has a confrontation with the new CEO of Luthorcorp, Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman). Meanwhile, Chloe (Allison Mack) is being held prisoner by a suspicious group who has discovered she has a new power, and Clark has been stripped of his powers by Jor-El. Erica Durance and Aaron Ashmore also star. Kevin Fair directed the episode with the story by Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders and teleplay by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer QUICK LINKS DI on MySpace: / ZodCast on MySpace: / Fans Around the World / Lois Lane's Daily Journal / Redboots / The Clois Fanfic Archive / Christopher Reeve Foundation / Guestbook FEATURED CLIP TOP AFFILIATES { All Affiliates } BANTER LOG Lois: I've known alot of guys who want to own the world. I just haven't met very many who wanted to save it. How am I ever going to meet someone like that again? Clark: Lois, I promise some day, you're meet someone even more special. { All Quotes } SEARCH FOR SMALLVILLE @ Amazon.com @ eBay.com @ AllPosters.com SITE STATS Clois fans online You are visitor # Since 11/27/04 CONTACT US For any news and information or to contact HappyEnding.Org Staff, you can e-mail one of the following: Webmaster: Jerilee Co-Webmasters Nautica7mk, ZodCast and Arwen DISCLAIMER We are in no way affiliated with Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Smallville or The WB. This site is strictly a fansite and nothing monetary is gained. SUPERMAN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics.

Reviews

5:18 Fragile

by Zoomway

Before the episode began the announcer let us know it was the directorial debut of Tom Welling. If no announcement had been made and I'd seen some name I didn't recognize, I wouldn't ascribe anything very different from most of the other directors, but there were some differences and I'll point those out as I go along.

The episode opened with a woman, later identified as Naomi, talking on the phone to Martha. She said she had finished the proposal and charts for her senate committee meeting. Martha told her that Clark would be in the area and could pick them up. Naomi said that would be fine and as she ended her phone call, she set a plate of food in front of a sullen little girl.

The girl pushed the plate away and ran to a tablet and pencil at a nearby table and began drawing.

"Maddie, what are you doing? It's time for dinner, sweetheart, you can draw later."

The child continued to draw. Naomi approached her and reminded her of the rules about having dinner at the table like a family.

The child still did not respond. Naomi sighed. "Look, you might not want to talk, but you have to listen to me," she said, her former patient demeanor fading fast as she tried to tug the tablet away from the child.

At that moment a glass pitcher filled with water began to vibrate and then shattered.

"What just happened?" Naomi asked, but Maddie, again, said nothing. "You did that, didn't you? All those times I found broken glass, they weren't accidents," she said and became fearful of the little girl. "Nobody warned me about this. I think you need help."

Suddenly the glass in a framed photo shattered and Naomi ran for the phone. "I'm calling the foster care agency right now, I can't take this."

Maddie tugged at Naomi plaintively, but the woman was terrified. "No, don't touch me! Just go to your room."

Maddie ran upstairs and looked around frantically. She crawled under the bed when she heard Naomi scream downstairs as a large pane of glass shattered. The kitchen carnage continued as every glass object began to shatter and shards of glass flew everywhere. Interspersed with the destruction were shots of the little girl's eyes.

Here's a spot where I'll mention Welling's directing. By keeping a close-up on the child's eyes, she looked rather sinister and so the destruction seemed to be a deliberate act on her part, which I assume Welling intended. At least for the time being.

Naomi rose slowly amid the broken glass and seemed a bit disoriented. She heard a rattling noise and walked towards it. She saw a mirror shaking, but instead of instantly moving out of the way, or ducking, she just stared at her reflection and yelled, "Noooo!"

This is where Welling should have been a little tighter so the woman wouldn't look stupid or suicidal. If she had time to yell "nooo" she had time to duck.

After the opening titles Maddie was back drawing in her tablet, but this time at the Kent farm after Clark had found Naomi's body and called the cops. Martha thanked the deputy for allowing Maddie to stay the night with them rather than in a shelter and the deputy said someone from Child Services would drop by tomorrow.

I have to say after a child in their care exploded last year, you'd think the county would be a bit more picky who they leave kids with.

Martha turned to Clark. "It makes no sense. All Naomi wanted to do was help people. She was a foster parent and ran a youth center before she was my chief of staff."

It's also mentioned at this point that Maddie hasn't spoken since she was three years old after witnessing her mother being killed in a car accident. I cringed. Not because there's yet another mute girl in the Superman universe befriended by Clark Kent, but because Maddie's tragic history seemed like a natural cue for Lana to enter and form an instant bond and give Maddie a membership card in the "I saw my mother killed" club. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but Martha did mention phoning Lionel and letting him know what happened because Naomi used to run his children's foundation.

Okay, two things were made clear with this scene. One, Clark still hasn't told Martha about Jonathan's afterlife warning regarding Lionel and two, there was a connection between Martha's late chief of staff and Lionel. Had Martha picked Naomi, or had Lionel suggested her? Was she to feed information to Lionel about Martha's senate schedules and contacts? Or, as Georgia, my great editor pondered, was it a reminder that Lionel had a brush with goodness and has changed his ways? Or, am I ascribing too much complicated intrigue to this show? Yes, so let's move on.

Clark at least managed to get a smile out of Maddie when he claimed to be a great artist, but scribbled a stick figure self portrait instead. A small accomplishment, but important for Clark's character. There are too few scenes of Clark being patient or good natured when dealing with a problem. Admittedly dealing with a child makes that choice of approach easier, but finding the ability to take some things in stride and with good humor is important for any Clark Kent who hopes to evolve into Superman.

Meanwhile in Metropolis, Lex escorted Lana back to her dorm room after a night of spicy tuna rolls, squid brains and classified documents. Documents which Lana feared might get Lex in trouble if they were found in her possession.

"Lana, if Milton Fine is correct about an extraterrestrial threat, the last thing the government's going to be worried about is Lana Lang," he assured her. "Besides, you're the only one who knows about my transgression. I think my fate is safe in your hands."

"You must really trust me." Here we go.

"One hundred percent. I hope you feel the same way about me."

"I do," she said, complete with a starry-eyed expression.

At that moment Chloe walked in and blanked for a moment as she tried to absorb the intimate proximity of Lana and Lex. "Sorry, I ... forgot my pencil in the library," she said and left abruptly.

The next day Clark took Maddie to the barn and talked about jumping from the hay loft into haystacks when he was her age. He told her to turn around and close her eyes. "I've got a surprise for you."

As soon as Maddie closed her eyes, Clark whooshed around the barn creating a haystack, but she declined, apparently afraid of heights. Clark then told Maddie they had a lot in common, that he was an orphan too, but not in a tragic tone. He actually smiled at her and she smiled back.

Shelby ran into the barn and Maddie ran to him and hugged him.

With his super hearing Clark heard Maddie whisper, "Hey, boy. Good doggie."

"Animals are great, aren't they? They listen to you, but don't say mean things back," Clark said and promised Maddie he'd never say anything mean to her either.

Maddie considered a moment and then glanced up the stairs. "What's up there?"

Clark smiled. "It's sort of like my clubhouse," he said as he followed her up to the loft.

"You're so lucky."

"You can be lucky, too, Maddie." If you live through the episode. "It's not too late, we're going to find you a good family."

She began to spin a globe. "People don't like me."

"What? Those people are crazy. I like you."

Maddie picked up a photo of Lana. "Is this your girlfriend?"

Nooooo! Not this again. Not a child who will say how beautiful Lana is and how much Clark must love her and ... hey, Maddie said none of that. I must be dreaming.

He acknowledged that she used to be his girlfriend, but without a mopey tone. "We just kind of parted ways," he said, but changed the subject. "You want to go for a horseback ride? Just you and me?"

"You have horses?"

"So you can talk," Lois said as she entered the scene. "I knew that whole Marcel Marceau sound of silence thing was just a rumor." References to the French mime and the Simon and Garfunkel song means the screenwriter(s) must be at least 40.

Lois thrust out her hand. "I'm Lois Lane."

Maddie declined and backed up a step.

"She's a little shy," Clark said.

"I understand. A lot of artists are. I brought you some crayons and a coloring book, Maddie," Lois said. "Go ahead, check them out."

Lois then motioned for Clark to step away for a moment. "Your mom called from Topeka. With her chief of staff gone she's been in emergency meetings all day. She asked if I could help out."

"Actually, I think we've got it under control."

"I'm the one with the little sister," Lois said as she patted Clark's arm. She turned back to Maddie. "Okay, you ready for a few games of hopscotch? I'm a bit rusty, but you'll be the odds on favorite."

You'll recall in Season's Greedings when Lois regressed to childhood, she drew a hopscotch diagram on the floor of the news room. It's also the episode with a mute little girl. Hmmm.

"Actually we were about to saddle up and hit the trails," Clark said.

"Great, bust out the spurs, I'm game."

Lois was being surprisingly accommodating here, but it seemed to mask a discomfort she felt being around a child. She was too intense and too eager, which made Maddie feel overwhelmed. I assume this was also Welling's director's touch. It was at least a refreshing change from Lana being gooey and sweet around children. Don't forget that being Evan's 'mommy' in Ageless gave Lana's life meaning last year. This year it's astronomy.

Maddie glanced at Clark and Lois realized what was going on. "Oh, uh, how adorable. You want to be alone with Clark. Hey, no worries, I will be galloping way ahead of you guys."

Even though Lois was trying to arrange things to accommodate Maddie's wishes, this is probably where Lois should have just said it was fine if they went without her. Maddie scrunched up her face and all the lights in the loft exploded and then she bolted.

Clark followed her into the house. "Hey, what just happened out there?"

Maddie said nothing.

Clark pulled up a chair and spoke softly. "Did you break all those light bulbs?"

No reply.

"Listen, I understand you have powers. Abilities that normal people can't even dream of, but you can trust me. You can tell me the truth."

Maddie explained that she had the power to break glass and couldn't control it when she got upset. That naturally led Clark to ask if she had lost control with Naomi.

"Clark, I wasn't in the same room and I can't do anything through walls. I liked Naomi, I would never hurt her."

Lois entered. "Clark, can I talk to you a minute."

They stepped into the hallway. "I'm going to call the sheriff right now before we get sliced, diced and pureed."

"Lois, I'm not sure she killed anybody."

"Oh, yeah? So somebody else with the power to shatter glass just mosied on in and murdered her foster mom?"

"Just because she has this ability doesn't make her a killer."

"Clark, I always knew you were naive, but come on. Don't let her rosy cheeks and saucer eyes sway you. That girl is one step short of a demon seed."

"Just give me one hour to see what I can find out and then we'll call the sheriff," he said and began to leave.

Lois cut him off. "You want me to babysit that little glass smasher? Does my life mean nothing to you?"

"I don't think she's dangerous, but if you're scared, I can always call Chloe."

"Who said I was scared? I'm not scared," Lois lied.

"Great, thanks," Clark said and hurried off.

Clark went to the Daily Planet where Chloe had somehow gotten a look at Maddie's Child Services records. "I hate to break this to you," she said, "but there's more than one reference to broken glass. I think Maddie's not just accident prone, she's disaster prone."

Clark countered that none of that proved she was a killer. He said that if his parents hadn't found him in the field the day of the meteor shower, he could have grown up in foster homes like Maddie, scaring people with his powers.

"Yeah, Clark, and one of your greatest powers is your unrelenting faith in people." Which hasn't really been that true of this Clark even this season.

He instantly suspected Arthur of being a bad guy, though some of that might have been spurred by his brief tangle with jealousy when he found Arthur kissing Lois. However, they might be trying to align Clark more with his future iconic self, or at least L&C's version of Clark who believed there was good in everyone.

Chloe went on to say that Maddie's mother didn't just die in a car accident, she died in a freak accident. Is there another kind in Smallville? Witnesses said they saw the windshield mysteriously shatter just before the car crashed.

"So you think Maddie's responsible for her own mother's death?"

"Well, didn't she say she was having a hard time controlling her powers?"

Back on the farm, Lois and Maddie headed out to open pastures with a picnic basket. "Whoever said you have to be indoors to have fun?" Lois asked nervously. "The best times I've ever had have been out in the boonies as far away from breakables as possible."

Maddie looked back towards the farmhouse. "Where's Shelby?"

"I don't know, I'm allergic to him and let's just say he's not too fond of me." At least in this episode, since Shelby seemed to follow Lois everywhere in other episodes.

Lois suggested the enthralling activities of picking flowers or catching bugs. "I even packed that little picnic for us. Granted I'm not the greatest chef in the world, but how can you screw up P.B. and J?"

Maddie, as if psychically knowing that if anyone could screw up peanut butter and jelly, it would be Lois Lane, ran towards the house calling for Shelby.

Lois followed her into a part of the barn filled with ... yes ... a bunch of glass bottles, jars and large window panes. All of which began to rattle when Lois approached Maddie.

Lois bent down to Maddie's eye level and put a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we both just ease on out of here before one of us gets hurt?" she asked calmly, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Okay?"

Maddie closed her eyes and the breakables gradually stopped rattling. Lois smiled and nodded.

"What do you mean gets hurt?" a man asked as he entered the glass menagerie.

"Who are you?"

"Frank Colbert, Child Services. What's going on?"

"Okay, I know this sounds crazy," Lois said. "But I'm trying to keep her as far away from glass as possible."

The man ignored Lois's comment. "Maddie, why don't you go get in the car."

Maddie shook her head.

"No, not the car," Lois said. "You don't understand. I am telling you this girl can shatter glass just by looking at it."

"Thank you for your concern," Captain Sphincter said. "Maddie, I'm going to take you back to the shelter where you can be properly taken care of."

Maddie and Lois exchanged concerned glances.

At Luthor manor Lex was passively taking part in an AOL product placement commercial as video screens from AOL popped up showing Lex's operatives reporting conflicting sightings of Milton Fine all around the world.

Lex Luthor with AOL, who'd a thunk it? "You've got male ... pattern baldness." Sorry, MST3K knee-jerk reaction.

Quick, Lex, go to AOL keyword spam blocker. Too late, Chloe marched into his study, her thin lips pressed tightly together.

Lex smiled. "Chloe."

"I know your moral compass has a tendency to veer off course, but taking advantage of Lana when she's at her most vulnerable ... it's despicable."

Lex, drink in hand, sauntered over to the pool table. "I think your reporter's eye is getting a little cloudy. You're starting to see things that aren't there."

"I don't have to work for the DWP to know there was enough electricity in that room to light up the entire state of Kansas," Chloe said as she approached Lex.

"It's interesting how perceptive you are about affairs of the heart considering you've never actually been in a serious relationship." Ouch.

This dig at Chloe's love life was similar to his dig earlier this season when he compared Chloe to a third wheel.

And, as happened last time, Chloe ignored the insult. "Do you really think Lana would be remotely interested in you if she wasn't swept up in her own emotional tornado?" she asked and managed to look quite disgusted. "I mean honestly."

Lex gave her a sinister smile. "I appreciate you looking out for your friend. I'd do the same, but your concern is unwarranted. We're friends," he said and moved back to the pool table. "Nothing more."

"Lex, I know you're used to getting whatever you want without ever thinking about the consequences," Chloe continued down her doomed path of commentary, "but if you hurt my friend, there will be a consequence and you're looking at her."

Chloe began to storm off, but Lex called after her and she turned to face him.

Lex's sinister smile became absolutely slimy. "I think I'm getting an inkling why you've never had a boyfriend."

Lex's parting shot was probably meant to impart the notion that Chloe was too strident, or domineering in his opinion. That men would find her threatening in a relationship, but it almost seemed as though he was accusing Chloe of scaling the distaff side of Brokeback Mountain. That she was coming across as a jealous lover rather than simply as a friend. I know that's an 'out there' reaction to the line, but later Chloe's own use of a pop culture reference regarding Lana seemed to reinforce the image.

Meanwhile, Lois was still trying to convince the Child Services guy to keep Maddie out of the car. "Trust me, for your own safety, the girl can't be near glass."

"I heard you the first time," he sniped. "Would you get her belongings, please?"

Lois sighed and began heading towards the house, but heard the familiar rattling sound behind her. She turned around. "Maddie! Get out of the car!" she shouted and began to duck and turn away.

Maddie looked out the back window and saw a man standing behind the car. She ducked down in the back seat as glass exploded taking out the Child Services guy and then several shards hit Lois in the upper back as she was knocked to the ground.

Maddie tried to exit the car, but the mystery man slammed the door. "Stay there."

Lois tried to get up, but couldn't. Maddie watched Lois through the broken windows as the car pulled away.

Clark hurried into an examining room at the medical center (which hasn't gotten as many cameos lately) where a doctor had finished dressing her wounds. "Lois, are you okay?"

"I've screwed up a lot in my life, but this ranks up there," Lois said, her voice sounding almost tearful. "That little girl was on my watch." Notice the police/military wording.

Clark assured her there was nothing she could have done and asked what the man who took Maddie looked like.

"Mid-thirties, sandy blond hair. Good looking in that psycho killer kind of way."

"I just don't understand," Clark said. "Who would want to kidnap Maddie?"

"Considering her dangerous disposition, I'm guessing somebody pretty desperate to be with her."

The light bulb went on over Clark's head, burning away years of dust and cobwebs. Though to be honest, child mutants on this show are mainly kidnapped to be exploited for their powers rather than being nabbed by someone who is related to them and wants to be with them. However, considering Maddie's power is the ability to break glass and a bad guy would only have to kidnap a brick to have that power, then I guess it's a fair assumption the man who took Maddie wanted to be with her.

In fact in the next scene the man told Maddie he was her father.

"What?"

"All those years locked up, you're the only thing that kept me going. I would do anything for you." Except let her go.

Maddie struggled in his grasp. "You killed that man. You killed Naomi. You killed my real mom, didn't you?"

"Your mother didn't want me near you." Well, there's a surprise. "She thought I was some sort of monster." Another surprise. "I swear, all I wanted was for us to be together," he said and then pulled a crystal butterfly out of his pocket. "I made this for you."

Maddie concentrated on it and turned it into a tiny pile of broken butterfly remnants.

"That's okay," he said. "I know this is a big change. All I want to do is put our family back together." Sans the mother who died in a hail of windshield glass.

He held out his hand again and the butterfly was whole, demonstrating his power wasn't just in breaking glass. He could also create cheap shopping channel figurines.

"You belong to me," he said as he dragged Maddie to the car. "I've got a surprise for you."

At the Planet, Chloe speculated that a man named Tyler McKnight was Maddie's father because he had been dating Maddie's mother and he just so happened to end up in Belle Reve with the power to manipulate glass. "Which means Maddie's meteor powers are second generation."

Clark nodded. "So Maddie never met her father because he's been locked up most of her life."

"That's what happens when you use your powers to rob a jewelry store," Chloe said. Not necessarily. Clark never got locked up for robbing a bank or ATM machines.

Chloe went on to say that the seven diamonds he had stolen were never recovered and Clark asked what Tyler's last address was before his arrest. Then we got more AOL product placement as Chloe used AOL's White Pages feature to find out Tyler had lived at his mother's house.

Clark went to the address and Tyler's mother was surprised her son had been released from Belle Reve. "Why didn't he come and see me?"

"Because he went straight to his daughter."

"Daughter? Tyler doesn't have a daughter," the old woman said as she followed Clark into Tyler's workshop.

Clark was surprised Tyler's mother didn't know. "Her name is Maddie. She's eleven years old."

"I have a granddaughter?"

"Yes, ma'am, and it's very important that we find her. She could be in danger," he said and looked at a stained glass pattern on the table. "I've seen this before at the Talon."

Tyler's mother explained she didn't have the finished piece, that she had to sell it when her husband died.

"Those seven diamonds he stole, did they ever find them?"

"No."

This was redundant. Chloe had already told Clark that the diamonds were still missing, but apparently they needed the association of the stained glass and diamonds for a segue to the next scene.

Tyler took Maddie to the Talon and showed her the seven diamonds hidden in the stained glass. "I made this right before they threw me into Belle Reve, but I always knew I'd get out ... we'd be together," he said and rubbed his hands together. "Watch this."

He waved his hand in front of the stained glass and the diamonds dislodged themselves and flew into his hand. I'll pretend that when the little pockets of glass broke that the force sent the diamonds into his hand. Otherwise they'd have to be glass diamonds for Tyler to be able to manipulate them.

He told Maddie they were for her so that they could start their new life together. "Take them."

"No, you stole them."

"No, I didn't," he lied. "Take them."

Maddie shook her head. "You stole them."

Clark whooshed in. "Let her go!"

Maddie broke free and ran. Tyler tried to get the stained glass to break, but Clark threw him into the glass counter. Ironic, huh?

Clark hugged Maddie and told her that her father would never hurt anyone again. Don't bet on it.

Lana huffed into the Planet, but Chloe didn't read her miffed expression and so greeted her jovially. "Hi, what are you doing here? I didn't think the Daily Planet was on your weekend orbit."

"I just got a phone call from Lex. I don't understand, Chloe, why didn't you just talk to me?"

"Look, Lana, I'm sorry, but after the last couple of weeks, I didn't think you were interested in talking to me about your love life."

Lana looked flabbergasted. "My love life? With Lex? You've got to be kidding me."

"Lana, it's okay to be honest," Chloe pushed. "I'm not going to burn you at the stake." Not even if she's still possessed by Isobel?

"There is nothing to be honest about, Chloe, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop spinning your rumor mill before you humiliate me more than you already have."

Chloe continued being dense and intrusive. "Lana, I understand if you want to hurt Clark."

"What?"

"But don't hurt yourself in the process. Lex Luthor is nothing more than a predator."

"Well, I don't plan on being anybody's prey, so you have nothing to worry about," Lana said in a frosty tone and then exited.

Back in Smallville, Clark took Lois to her apartment. Her arm was in a sling. I don't remember her arm being hurt, but I guess it's the one she fell on when she was blown backward.

"Now remember," Nurse Clark said, "the doctor told you to take it easy so you might want to lay off the arm wrestling."

"My arm doesn't even hurt anymore," Lois said and sat on the sofa. "What hurts is how I treated that poor girl. I had no doubt she was a cold-blooded killer."

"Just goes to show you people aren't always who you think they are," Clark said, but without gloating.

Lois pulled a cover over her legs. "I have to give you credit, Smallville. Who would have thought you'd be such a natural with kids."

"Well, Maddie's pretty special."

"So what happens to her now? Can't be easy finding a family willing to live without windows."

"Maddie's going to be living with her grandmother. She couldn't be happier. She didn't even know she had a granddaughter till now," Clark said and handed Lois a glass of water.

"Wow, she must be pretty brave."

Clark smiled. "She's very excited. Kind of like my parents when they adopted me."

"Yeah, but they didn't have to worry about their house being destroyed."

Clark began to speak, but Martha walked in. "Well, he had his moments," she said and then handed Lois a folder. "Since you're going to be bedridden for a few days, I brought you something to read."

"Thank you."

"The chief of staff for a state senator needs to be fully informed on all sides of the issues."

"Wait a minute, you want me to be your chief of staff?"

Clark rose from his chair. "Mom, um, are you sure you don't want to think this through?"

"If it weren't for Lois Lane your father would never have been elected and I wouldn't be in office," she said and turned back to Lois. "It's clear your destiny lies far beyond a cappuccino maker. What do you think?"

Clark looked dubious at the prospect, but the corner of his lip finally ticked upward and Lois smiled as well.

I liked the scene with Clark and Lois for a few reasons and not the least of which is that they weren't ripping each other's throats out. It almost seemed for a while like the first four episodes last year were the only ones where the writers could strike the right balance of humorous teasing and sincere concern between the characters.

I think it's because the producers, and even the actors parroting the producers, wrongly label the Clark and Lois relationship as a 'love/hate' relationship. Hate is such a strong negative emotion that it leads to some of the worst writing where Clark and Lois just do nothing but slam and snipe at each other.

This episode had the couple interacting in a much more positive way. Some of that was the writing, but a lot of it was the directing. Clark was responding in a good-natured upbeat way compared to similar scenes in other episodes where he replied angrily, or with a condescending grin. Everything may revert to the status quo in their next pairing, but this was a pleasant reprieve.

Back at the medical center, the deputy seen earlier in the episode was escorting a handcuffed Tyler McKnight into an elevator. I guess he was getting patched up at the medical center after Clark threw him into a glass counter? Even before Tyler said "Nice glasses" to the deputy, I knew the deputy's glasses were going to do him in and they did.

The next morning Maddie was polishing a window at the Kent farm. I guess it's like petting a horse after you whipped it, but Clark told Maddie she was a guest "and guests always get a double helping of Mom's banana pancakes."

After Martha left to make the pancakes, Maddie asked Clark if he ever met his real dad.

"Sort of."

"Is he bad like mine?"

"Maybe worse, but just because he gave me life doesn't mean I'm anything like him," Clark said. "See, the thing is, Maddie, anyone can be a father, but it takes someone very special to be a dad. I wish you could have met the man who raised me. He was my real dad. He would have liked you a lot."

Believe it or not there were actually some Smallville fans who couldn't believe Clark said bad things about Jor-El. They believe that Jor-El isn't evil, he's just really strict. I guess I'd agree that branding your son, throttling Jonathan, brainwashing a girl and then killing her were all pretty strict measures. Oh, well.

"Clark, could I stay here with you?"

"Maddie, you have a grandmother. She's very excited about you coming to live with her."

Maddie said she didn't know her, but Clark said she'd just have to give it time and get to know her grandmother, but then the orange juice pitcher began to vibrate.

"Maddie, listen, I would never let you go with anyone who couldn't accept you for who you are, okay? I promise," he said, and just as with Lois, the rattling stopped.

That evening Clark and Maddie came downstairs looking for Martha, but noticed the pane of glass in the kitchen door had been broken and Clark heard glass breaking in the barn. Clark told Maddie to stay in the house and he rushed out to the barn.

Martha had a shard of glass poised at her throat. "Move a muscle," Tyler warned, "and Mom gets her throat slashed. Bring me my daughter. Bring me my daughter, now!"

Clark shot a blast of heat vision at the glass knocking it away, though it looked kind of like ribbon candy coming out of his eyes.

Martha ran for safety and Tyler began summoning all the glass in the barn. He willed it towards Clark, but it swerved around Clark without touching him and then boomeranged back to menace Tyler.

"Don't worry, Clark," Maddie said, her arm outstretched as she controlled the glass. "I'm not going to let him hurt any more people."

Then Maddie got the standard speech that comes with these types of situations. Clark told her that if she went through with her attack, she'd be no better than her father. It also segued into whether she's destined to be like her father, or be her own person, which was touched on in the kitchen scene.

"But I don't want him to hurt any more people."

Then Tyler got snively and dropped to his knees and promised he wouldn't hurt anyone. A nice prison cell with metal bars and no windows will help him keep that promise.

"Maddie, your father has already destroyed his life, don't destroy yours. You have too much to offer this world." More than a cappuccino maker?

Maddie let the glass fall to the floor and hugged Clark.

The next morning Clark and Maddie stepped out on the front porch to wait for her grandmother. Maddie expressed fear that she wouldn't be able to control her powers, but Clark assured her she would and that he'd seen her do it, but Clark promised if Maddie ever felt she was losing control to give him a call and he'd be right there to talk her through it. He was kind of like her AA sponsor.

Her grandmother finally arrived and Maddie handed Clark a drawing she had made and then ran to her grandmother. The stick figure in the drawing was Clark's self portrait from earlier in the episode. Nice use of shading and perspective by an 11 year old ... right.

In the home stretch, Clark visited Chloe at the Daily Planet. "So, the good news is," Chloe said as if we missed part of her line, "with Lois's love for gossip, I will always have the inside scoop at the state capitol."

"As long as she doesn't get my mom impeached."

"Yeah, I think Lois is the least of your mom's worries. Have you told her about your otherworldly suspicions that Lionel knows your secret?"

"She's got a lot on her mind right now," Clark replied and then changed the subject. "How's Lana?"

Chloe turned cranky. "I was wondering when you were going to bring up the L word." That also happens to be the title of a TV series about lesbians on Showtime. "Why don't you call her?"

"Actually I was just trying to give her some space. She met anyone yet?"

"Clark, look, if you don't want to talk to her, that's fine, it's your choice, but please don't make me your own personal covert spy," she snapped and began to leave.

"Chloe, is there something you're not telling me?"

She turned around, her expression pained. "No ...not at all."

Lastly, we visit Luthor manor again. Lex was back at his laptop as usual and closed it as usual when anyone entered. In this case Lana, who said she wanted to talk and set the record straight.

"I don't think the record could be any straighter," Lex said. "Chloe's working on a story where there is none."

"Lex, our friendship means a lot to me and I don't want any misunderstandings (or secrets and lies) to get in the way of that."

"We're on the same page. If I somehow gave you the wrong impression the other night, I apologize."

"You don't have to apologize for something that didn't happen."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time," Lex said and walked to the fireplace.

Lana followed him and sounded amused. "This whole thing, I can't believe we're having this conversation. To think there'd be anything between us besides friendship."

"Don't worry, talk is just a bunch of noise," Lex said, but the disappointment showed in his face. "As long as we both feel the same way ..."

"That's all that matters."

This conversation was shot with both of them facing the fireplace and thus both facing the camera since the shot was through the fireplace. So I'll give Welling extra credit on this one because it avoided the static foreground/background soap operatic placement of the characters and saved time by avoiding POV shots of the characters talking to each other.

Lex turned and faced Lana. There was a pause as they looked at each other and then Lex moved in for a kiss and Lana reciprocated. "You okay?" Lex asked.

Lana moved away a couple of steps and looked confused.

Lex moved behind her. "Look, it's just something that happened ..."

Then Lana spun around and started eating Lex's face. After the passionate liplock, Lana ran from the room. THE END

Oookay, well, there was a lot of stuff going on, but most of it was about character interaction. Clark, once again, was very good dealing with a child. I'll also say the child actress was very good. She thankfully didn't have the cloying sweetness of Ryan nor the creep factor of Evan, the exploding kid from last year. She played the part just right and again part of that could be due to Welling's direction.

I'm not sure what's up with Chloe. She shouldn't have gone to Lex and threaten him without so much as a kiss to confront him with. Then she kept pushing Lana in their conversation as if she wanted a confession. It seemed odd to me.

Then there's Lana, who admitted in the last episode that she always felt alone even when she was in a relationship with Clark. She denied having romantic feelings for Lex and then went into the passion pit with him. Some Lana fans are hoping that Lana is using Lex to get some kind of information, but that merely makes Lana seem devious if she's pretending to have deeper feelings for him when a non-romantic relationship would achieve the same goal. After all Lex gave Lana classified documents without swapping spit on the deal. I'm sure she'll gradually find out the truth about Lex, but I can't imagine she's entering into a relationship with him based on secrets and lies.

And, of course, there's Lois. As I mentioned earlier, I was glad she wasn't an instant perfect mommy and even seemed uncomfortable dealing with a child. I'm glad she admitted she was wrong about Maddie and felt bad about her snap judgment. As for Lois being made Martha's chief of staff, I think she would have been Jonathan's, too, since a chief of staff is basically a campaign manager with a more permanent job. After all Naomi had been Martha's chief of staff and her experience revolved around children/youth functions.

I guess it gets down to the conversation Lois and Jonathan had when he made her his campaign manager and Lois asked, "What do I know about being a campaign manager?" Jonathan replied, "What do I know about being a senator?" Martha didn't even have the goal of being a senator and had to step in. I guess we'll see what Lois does and I wonder if it creates some kind of rift with Chloe if Lois decides not to spill gossip to her as Chloe hoped.

As for the episode itself, the plot was fairly pedestrian, but it evolved the character plots. Lex and Lana are heating up. Chloe and Lana are cooling down and next week Lionel gets the 'Saw' treatment.

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