Smallville: Luthor Review (4/5)

No, that image is not a deception- Lionel Luthor is back in Smallville. In Episode 10 of Season Ten, Luthor, Clark is sent to a parallel world where he was found by arch-enemy Lex's father and not the Kents, becoming a mass murderer under the alter-ego 'Ultraman' (apparently he was once a foe in the comics too). I won't spoil much more than that as the episode is months away from airing in the United Kingdom, however sufficed to say there are some exciting alternative fates for key characters such as Oliver, Lois and Tess, all intertwined towards the story's climax to show Mr. Kent why he has to avoid giving into the oncoming darkness if he hopes to achieve his destiny. The black-and-white noir style of filming works in Luthor's favour, and director Kelly Souders must have had a great time working to juxtapose the parallel world's grey tones with the real world's brighter colours of hope for Superman. Without spoiling anything, the ending, involving Lionel's future on the show, is also done masterfully, sparking tension for the second half of this final season. The episode still wasn't perfect, though: an excuse rather than a fully fledged justification is given as to why Lex makes no appearance (obviously it's due to Rosenbaum only having time to film the much later series finale), and I didn't really buy the relationship Clark Luthor supposedly has with one of the main characters, but other than that Smallville is on much stronger form here.