In the most unsurprising plot twist in history, Lionel Luthor met his end in Descent. It was both vastly overdo and all too soon. I loved to hate Lionel Luthor, but I adored John Glover. His performance as Lionel was one of the strongest points of the show.

Even when the writing for Lionel was not. Alas, that was often. Enjoy your time off, John. You definitely earned it and then some. Thanks for all the malevolent mischief over the years.

I wasn't surprised that Lionel died, between spoilers and the simple fact that it had to happen, there was no other option. From the moment we first saw Lionel onscreen, patricide was the only outcome. In one version of comic history, Lex was raised in Suicide Slum (aka Hobbs' Bay) and murdered his parents for the insurance money. In Smallville, with Lex's revered mother Lillian long dead, Lionel became the beneficiary of that storyline. As we saw in season three, he hired his old friend Morgan Edge to do the job, using the insurance money to found LuthorCorp.

That meant Smallville had to find a different way to do the job. I'm not sure if they succeeded or failed with it. In one way, the murder itself was perfect. Very Lex. The problem is the window dressing around it.

It seemed as if the writers went into the story with that one event crystal clear in their minds, then built an episode around. They just didn't build very well. There was a lot of wasted time and, sorry to say, a lot of it belonged to Lois and Jimmy. Descent was a very dark episode. It was supposed to be. With John and Lionel off screen, Michael and Lex picked up and ran with it. We saw both sides of Lex on full display. The dark, powerful magnate who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of power and we saw the abandoned son grieving for the loss. His struggle in the aftermath of his father's murder, even knowing he committed it, were fantastic.

Jimmy and Lois weren't. To be honest, I don't know what they were doing in this episode. I'm assuming Smallville is trying to position Lois to anchor the investigation and lead the charge against Lex. With the CW trying to save money, thus cutting back on its long term major players (one of the chief reasons we'll be seeing less of Allison Mack and co next season), they're going to be depending on her - and Erica's smaller salary - next year. The problem is, they're not setting it up well at all. The writing for Lois has been spotty since her introduction, there's not much of a foundation there right now. Tis a pity we can't transplant Erica into the Warner Brothers' movie division. Against Brandon Routh's Superman, she'd make a fantastic Lois. She can certainly act circles around Kate Botsworth, but alas...

The change in tone from Lex's scenes to Jimmy and Lois was far too jarring. They weren't exactly comic relief, but in an episode like Descent, the tone of their scenes was just wrong. Sorry, Smallville, but an episode that starts out with patricide isn't one you should even try to lighten up. You do a disservice to the story and to the actors involved.

Theirs weren't the only scenes to not quite fit. Some of the others felt disjointed. Rushed. Take the murder of Lex's assistant for example. She must've set some kind of speed record from discovery to death. Not to mention Lex's confrontation with Chloe and the discovery of the key. The writers needed Chloe fired, they needed to set up the assistant to find out about Clark, and they knew they needed a scene between Chloe and Lex to do it.

Unfortunately, not any old scene would do. Allison and Michael did a good job with what they were given, pity they weren't given much.

About the only part of those exchanges that truly interested me (other than the interpersonal dynamic between Chloe and Lex, one of the many unappreciated ones connected to Chloe) was the person behind Gina's murder. I"m curious to know if there's a new player on the scene, or just the re-emergence of an old one.

Can I just say, watching Tom and Michael play scenes together is a thing of beauty. I am going to miss that. A lot. Even when the dialogue is a disaster, their personal interplay isn't. It's a pity we'll never get to see them on the big screen doing the job. I vastly prefer Michael's Lex to many of the movie versions that came before. His Lex isn't a two-dimensional, comic book caricature.

It's something the movies haven't caught onto yet and it was one of Smallville's greatest strengths. God, I'm going to miss it. If there was one thing Descent did right it was Lex. He was no holds barred Lex Luthor. Lex - I raise my voice, and Satan himself is on bended knee. - Luthor.

Warner Brothers? Satan shouldn't be the only one taking notice.