SV5:17 -- Void
First off, was there no music in this episode? There wasn't any of the usual hawking of the artists' wares at the end of the episode.
There were way too many plots going on in this episode and none were really served well. Clark runs off to fake!Honduras (without a passport -- AGAIN) to search for Professor Fine. Did Chloe's picture include coordinates or information about where it was taken? Because otherwise Clark's little search mission was just an exercise that served to take him mostly out of the episode so that Lana can take center stage and to remind us that Professor Fine was still missing. Indeed the big spoiler that Clark would be injected with the serum and see Jonathan is almost an afterthought in this episode rather than the big tada.
And just how did freshman Lana fall in with a couple of creepy medical students experimenting with kryptonite and near-death experiences? (I guess the same way high school freshman Lana was dating senior Whitney.) Did she see a flyer on a campus bulletin board? " Dumb coed with money wanted for illegal drug experimentation. Chance to see dead parents."
I was glad to see that Lex is stashing weapons in easy reach these days, what with his unreliable security. Now if he can just learn to shoot Lang women on sight...
Dear Lex. Mama Lillian was no comfort was she? Just more dire warnings. His refusal to deal with his visions of the future are going to to lead him to ruin as surely as the dysfunctional relationships he continues to have with Clark and Lana. Clark who lies to him and feeds his insecurities. (Find a chunk of Kryptonite and sit on Clark while forcing the boy to tell you the truth. It seems to work for everyone else.) And then there is Lana who is like adding sugar to decaying teeth and foregoing dental hygiene. Eventually you are left with nothing but rot and a bad taste in your mouth.
Chloe actions seemed a bit more mature this week. Actually calling ambulances. Telling Clark about Lionel being her source. But she wasn't completely on the ball. But even Chloe gets a "duh" moment every once in a while.
Martha Kent needs her head examined. Or have "Lionel Luthor is an untrustworthy bastard" branded on her forehead.
And speaking of Lionel Luthor. Something is up with the Magnificent Bastard. His actions aren't exactly consistent with the Lionel of old. True, the Machiavellian elements are there in how he's handling Martha, but how he's treating Clark just screams that there's more going on than his simple knowledge of Clark's origins. He's alternately protective and challenging. He's still attacking Lex, but his actions toward Clark are almost fatherly. That is, if the father is Jor-El or Lionel.
And then there was Jonathan's appearance. Even dead he's still insufferable. Symbol of justice and helping so many people in the future? Destiny? Give it a rest Jonathan and go back into the light if you haven't learned anything since you've been dead. Clark needs a slap upside the head not a pep talk. And you needed to tell Clark that you were wrong about so many things. But I suppose in your little piece of the afterlife you don't have to see your failings or even feel sorry for them.
And that brings me to a final comment about "the afterlife" that Lex, Clark and Lana saw. Seems to me that they each saw what they expected to see of the one individual they'd want to see in the the afterlife. Lana wanted to see her parents and hear them say they loved her. Clark wanted advice from Jonathan which turned out to be just as much a platitude as any Jon ever delivered in life. And Lex saw his mother, who had not one kind word for him -- because deep down Lex knows he's on the wrong path. Strangely, only Clark really heard anything that he didn't already know, leading us to believe that his experience might have been real whereas Lex and Lana's may have only have been illusions.