Rosenfest 2007 Continues: It's Lex Day!
Welcome back, Rosenbuds! It's Wednesday, and today Devoted to Michael Rosenbaum salutes the man upon who evil never looked so good: Lex Luthor.
There have been several incarnations of the character of Lex Luthor, from Gene Hackman to John Shea to Kevin Spacey. However, it wasn't until the WB cast Michael Rosenbaum out of 700 other hopefuls that the iconic and complex character we all knew was reborn. When million of viewers tuned into Smallville's premire in the fall of 2001, they were introduced to a young, intelligent and sensitive man who wasn't the evil super-villain they all expected to see. This Lex was very young, very urban, and simply oozed sexuality unlike any other version of Lex we'd ever seen.
Since then, Michael has added layers to the character as he's grown closer to him, making him even more complex. In fact, Michael's portrayal of this tragic character has so enamored some fans that they (including yours truly) have turned their focus away from the fledgling superhero Clark Kent and have begun to instead identify with Lex. Moroever, some people (again including yours truly) believe that the hero of the story is indeed Lex, and that Lana Lang, not Lex, is the villain.
When Lex first moved to Smallville, he was sent there in exile by his father, the powerful business mogul Lionel Luthor. (Played to delicious bastardliness by John Glover!) Lex wasn't happy to leave Metropolis, but after his iconic and destiny-changing meeting with Clark Kent, Lex's live was forever altered. He became obsessed with the second chance that he had been given, and with Clark himself. Depending on which storyline you believe, Lex either fell in love with his savior, or was obsessed with him simply out of am insatable drive to know the truth. Since then, mistakes have been made on both sides, and now Clark and Lex find themselves at odds. What does the future hold for Lex? No one can be sure, but what we can be sure of is that he will always remain a presence in Clark's life.
A look at Lex's Journey:
Season One
Lex is sent to Smallville by his father to run a fertilizer plant and meets Clark Kent, the young man who saves his life after his car goes off Loeb Bridge. Soon after, Lex gets a hint of his dark future after prophet Cassandra Carver dies while viewing it. It is then that Lex gets the first inklings of his father's duplicity concerning his investments in Smallville when Level Three is discovered.
His past comes back to haunt him as his involvement in the Club Zero murder is brought to light, nearly causing his death. (Sidebar- whether through accident or prank, you can clearly hear Clark yell "CLEX!" instead of "LEX!" when he rushes into the warehouse to save him!) Lionel then closes the fertilizer plant, blaming Lex for poor managment, in order to lure him back to Metropolis. Lex refuses to leave, and during a tornado, pauses in saving Lionel's life when he is pinned beneath a bookshelf during the storm. He does help in the end, but that hesitation is the first hint of true darkness we see in Lex, and what he might be capable of.
Season Two
Lex is wracked with guilt over his father's blindness, and allows him to move into the mansion. He then marries Deserrie Atkins and falls prey to her meteor-enhanced charms. She nearly kills him in her attempts to take over his fortune. Soon after, Lex rebels against his father once again, kicking him out of the mansion. When Rachel Dunlevy shows up in town claiming to be Clark's mother, she also tells Lex that Clark is his half-brother. Lex is pleased by this idea, but then soon discovers that is is Lucas, not Clark, who is his true half brother. Later, Lex bugs his father's office when he discovers that Lionel has comitted industrial espionage, but gets more than he bargained for when his thugs take his father and Martha Kent hostage. While Lex denies involvement, Lionel knows full well who the culprit was. Lex then recovers his long-lost brother Lucas and uses him in a ploy to buy out his father's share of the company. But it soon becomes clear that Lucas isn't to be trusted, and Lex soon finds himself ousted from his own company, forcing him into a dangerous cat and mouse game with both Lucas and his father. Soon after, Dr. Helen Bryce comes into Lex's life, and they marry. On the honeymoon trip, however, the plane goes down and only Helen returns, claiming that Lex gave his life to save hers.
Season Three
Lex, trapped on a small desert island with a madman named Louis, must confront his own personal demons in order to survive. While searching for food, he comes across the skeleton of Louis's father, who the other man killed. He and Lex confront each other and Lex kills the man, but then comes to discover that Louis was no more than a manifestion of frustration, rage and guilt over his own father, and he is rescued by fishermen. After returning, Lex tells Lionel that he would have died on that island of not for Lionel's lessons, and he returns to work at Luthorcorp. Soon after, Lex begins to have spells of parinoia and the fear that someone is after him. Barely surviving, Lex flees and asks Clark for help. However, when Clark returns to the mansion to investigate he finds nothing amiss, and begins to wonder if it really happened, especially after Lionel announces Lex has had a psychotic break and must be institutionalized. While in the asylum, Lionel orders the doctors there to give Lex electro-shock therapy. Clark tries in vane to prevent this, but is attacked by the former meteor freaks who he'd sent to Bell Reve in the past. In the end, Lex forgets that he'd seen Clark use his powers, and Clark keeps his secret from Lex once again. (This is the episode where many of Lex's fans feel that Clark begins to betray him.) Believing that key information about his father's past was lost when his memory was erased, Lex decides to join an experimental program with Dr. Garner to regain the information so he can turn his father over to the FBI. Knowing that Lex will discover his secret if he regains his memory, Clark tries to stop him, but is caught by Lionel after he tries to get him to stop Lex's treatments and the doctor and exposed to the same radical treatment so that Lionel can solve the mystery of Clark's past. It is Lex who saves Clark this time, but Clark's betrayal of Lex to Lionel is the beginning of a rift that will only grow as the days pass. Lex then goes to the FBI with information about his father, who eventually ends up in prison for the murder of his parents, but after his conviction, Lex is poisoned and nearly dies.
Season Four
Lex, still weakened by the posioning but determined to discover the answer to the riddle of the caves, travels to Egypt to find one of the elements. He finds it, but it is stolen in mid-flight by Kal-El. He later obtains a piece of a manuscript with a map underneath that is supposed to lead to the other elements. Lex is then sidtracked in his search when he is accused of murdering a young woman in a fit of anger and passion during a one-night stand. The murder instead is a woman he spurned, and she attempts to kill him; however, he is saved by Clark, although he does not actually see it. Later, he goes to see Clark to try and explain himself, and asks Clark not to give up on him. This is where the rift between them deepens, as Clark demands that Lex changes his ways and Lex is not sure that he can. A short time later, a black kryptonite explosion splits Lex in two and his evil side - Alexander - is released. Alexander imprisons Lex in the mansion then gives full vent to his evil side. Alexander brings out the evil in Lionel once again, shoots Jonathan Kent, and threatens to kill both of Clark's parents unless Clark joins him in his bid for conquest. Clark brings the two halves together again with his heat vision, but afterward, Lex ponders which side of him is indeed the real Lex Luthor. Then, when the second meteor shower hits Smallville, Lex helps Lana, who is in poseesion of one of the elements, to escape the shower, but the helicopter is taken down by a meteor, and both he and Lana discover that a spaceship has landed along with the meteors.
Season Five
Lex's quest to discover more about the spaceship continue, and eventually begins to manufacture weapons to fight what he percieves as a threat to the world- the people who came down with the spacecraft. He faces off with Dr. Milton Fine, who in reality is a braniac construct from within the ship. He later captures and tortures A.C. Curry to try and discover his abilties, but A.C. escapes. Soon after, Lex decides to run for Congress, and soon finds himself running up against Jonathan Kent after Jonathan's old friend Jack Jennings drops out. Lex must make a choice whether or not to use dirty means against Jonathan, and after he is shot during a robbery, his mother Lillian shows him what life could be like if he married Lana and became a decent man. However, in the dream Lana dies after giving birth to Lex's daughter, and when Lex wakes up, he decides to use the dirty tactics, therefore setting himself on the dark path. Clark blames Lex when a crazed denzien of Lex's assaults Jonathan when he refuses to drop out of the race. Later, Lex is shot again when two cops who saw the spaceship on the day of the second meteor shower demand that he takes them to it. Both he and Lana are saved by Clark. The senatorial race soon comes to a head and Lex loses to Jonathan, who dies only days later, leaving Martha to fill his seat. Meanwhile, Fine has created a virus that will kill millions of people, and Lex creates a cure. Shortly after, he is kidnapped by the Kryptonians and used as a vessel for Zod.
Season Six
Zod, in Lex's body, advances his plan to transform Earth into a new Krypton, while using Lana to produce an heir. When Zod is once again banished, Lex must deal with the fallout of Dark Thursday, and he and Lana grow closer. After a costume ball that Lex hosts for the victims of Zod's fury, he and Lana connsumate their relationship, and Lana later discovers she is pregnant. Lex proposes to her and she accepts, but on the wedding day, Lana discovers Clark's ability and tries to duck out on the wedding. Lionel discovers her intentions and threatens to kill Clark if she doesn't marry Lex, as her running from him will destroy him. Lana marries Lex, but still longs for Clark, which in the end will no doubt bring Lex to an ultimate reckoning when he discovers that the only woman he's ever truly loved has betrayed him.
This has been Lex's journey so far, for better or for worse. No one can really say what lies ahead of him. As for Michael, he has said that season seven will be his last, and the future of Smallville without Michael's enigmatic, intense and yet wounded Lex Luthor seriously remains in doubt.
Here's some shots of Lex from over the past six seasons:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/lex08.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/lex07.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/PDVD_043.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/PDVD_071.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/PDVD_116.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/49687.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/49930.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/MR_season4_promo077E0.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/svpromos6_003.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/svpromos6_005.jpg
I hope you've enjoyed today's tribute to Lex Luthor. Many thanks to tv.com for some of the episode info. Enjoy the pictures, my Rosenpeeps, and join Devoted to Michael Rosenbaum tomorrow for Mike's!Likes Thursday, where we'll discuss Michael's hobbies, pastimes, and lesiure activivites! (Thanks to my bud Chris for coming up with the title!) See you then, and please leave comments if you visit.
There have been several incarnations of the character of Lex Luthor, from Gene Hackman to John Shea to Kevin Spacey. However, it wasn't until the WB cast Michael Rosenbaum out of 700 other hopefuls that the iconic and complex character we all knew was reborn. When million of viewers tuned into Smallville's premire in the fall of 2001, they were introduced to a young, intelligent and sensitive man who wasn't the evil super-villain they all expected to see. This Lex was very young, very urban, and simply oozed sexuality unlike any other version of Lex we'd ever seen.
Since then, Michael has added layers to the character as he's grown closer to him, making him even more complex. In fact, Michael's portrayal of this tragic character has so enamored some fans that they (including yours truly) have turned their focus away from the fledgling superhero Clark Kent and have begun to instead identify with Lex. Moroever, some people (again including yours truly) believe that the hero of the story is indeed Lex, and that Lana Lang, not Lex, is the villain.
When Lex first moved to Smallville, he was sent there in exile by his father, the powerful business mogul Lionel Luthor. (Played to delicious bastardliness by John Glover!) Lex wasn't happy to leave Metropolis, but after his iconic and destiny-changing meeting with Clark Kent, Lex's live was forever altered. He became obsessed with the second chance that he had been given, and with Clark himself. Depending on which storyline you believe, Lex either fell in love with his savior, or was obsessed with him simply out of am insatable drive to know the truth. Since then, mistakes have been made on both sides, and now Clark and Lex find themselves at odds. What does the future hold for Lex? No one can be sure, but what we can be sure of is that he will always remain a presence in Clark's life.
A look at Lex's Journey:
Season One
Lex is sent to Smallville by his father to run a fertilizer plant and meets Clark Kent, the young man who saves his life after his car goes off Loeb Bridge. Soon after, Lex gets a hint of his dark future after prophet Cassandra Carver dies while viewing it. It is then that Lex gets the first inklings of his father's duplicity concerning his investments in Smallville when Level Three is discovered.
His past comes back to haunt him as his involvement in the Club Zero murder is brought to light, nearly causing his death. (Sidebar- whether through accident or prank, you can clearly hear Clark yell "CLEX!" instead of "LEX!" when he rushes into the warehouse to save him!) Lionel then closes the fertilizer plant, blaming Lex for poor managment, in order to lure him back to Metropolis. Lex refuses to leave, and during a tornado, pauses in saving Lionel's life when he is pinned beneath a bookshelf during the storm. He does help in the end, but that hesitation is the first hint of true darkness we see in Lex, and what he might be capable of.
Season Two
Lex is wracked with guilt over his father's blindness, and allows him to move into the mansion. He then marries Deserrie Atkins and falls prey to her meteor-enhanced charms. She nearly kills him in her attempts to take over his fortune. Soon after, Lex rebels against his father once again, kicking him out of the mansion. When Rachel Dunlevy shows up in town claiming to be Clark's mother, she also tells Lex that Clark is his half-brother. Lex is pleased by this idea, but then soon discovers that is is Lucas, not Clark, who is his true half brother. Later, Lex bugs his father's office when he discovers that Lionel has comitted industrial espionage, but gets more than he bargained for when his thugs take his father and Martha Kent hostage. While Lex denies involvement, Lionel knows full well who the culprit was. Lex then recovers his long-lost brother Lucas and uses him in a ploy to buy out his father's share of the company. But it soon becomes clear that Lucas isn't to be trusted, and Lex soon finds himself ousted from his own company, forcing him into a dangerous cat and mouse game with both Lucas and his father. Soon after, Dr. Helen Bryce comes into Lex's life, and they marry. On the honeymoon trip, however, the plane goes down and only Helen returns, claiming that Lex gave his life to save hers.
Season Three
Lex, trapped on a small desert island with a madman named Louis, must confront his own personal demons in order to survive. While searching for food, he comes across the skeleton of Louis's father, who the other man killed. He and Lex confront each other and Lex kills the man, but then comes to discover that Louis was no more than a manifestion of frustration, rage and guilt over his own father, and he is rescued by fishermen. After returning, Lex tells Lionel that he would have died on that island of not for Lionel's lessons, and he returns to work at Luthorcorp. Soon after, Lex begins to have spells of parinoia and the fear that someone is after him. Barely surviving, Lex flees and asks Clark for help. However, when Clark returns to the mansion to investigate he finds nothing amiss, and begins to wonder if it really happened, especially after Lionel announces Lex has had a psychotic break and must be institutionalized. While in the asylum, Lionel orders the doctors there to give Lex electro-shock therapy. Clark tries in vane to prevent this, but is attacked by the former meteor freaks who he'd sent to Bell Reve in the past. In the end, Lex forgets that he'd seen Clark use his powers, and Clark keeps his secret from Lex once again. (This is the episode where many of Lex's fans feel that Clark begins to betray him.) Believing that key information about his father's past was lost when his memory was erased, Lex decides to join an experimental program with Dr. Garner to regain the information so he can turn his father over to the FBI. Knowing that Lex will discover his secret if he regains his memory, Clark tries to stop him, but is caught by Lionel after he tries to get him to stop Lex's treatments and the doctor and exposed to the same radical treatment so that Lionel can solve the mystery of Clark's past. It is Lex who saves Clark this time, but Clark's betrayal of Lex to Lionel is the beginning of a rift that will only grow as the days pass. Lex then goes to the FBI with information about his father, who eventually ends up in prison for the murder of his parents, but after his conviction, Lex is poisoned and nearly dies.
Season Four
Lex, still weakened by the posioning but determined to discover the answer to the riddle of the caves, travels to Egypt to find one of the elements. He finds it, but it is stolen in mid-flight by Kal-El. He later obtains a piece of a manuscript with a map underneath that is supposed to lead to the other elements. Lex is then sidtracked in his search when he is accused of murdering a young woman in a fit of anger and passion during a one-night stand. The murder instead is a woman he spurned, and she attempts to kill him; however, he is saved by Clark, although he does not actually see it. Later, he goes to see Clark to try and explain himself, and asks Clark not to give up on him. This is where the rift between them deepens, as Clark demands that Lex changes his ways and Lex is not sure that he can. A short time later, a black kryptonite explosion splits Lex in two and his evil side - Alexander - is released. Alexander imprisons Lex in the mansion then gives full vent to his evil side. Alexander brings out the evil in Lionel once again, shoots Jonathan Kent, and threatens to kill both of Clark's parents unless Clark joins him in his bid for conquest. Clark brings the two halves together again with his heat vision, but afterward, Lex ponders which side of him is indeed the real Lex Luthor. Then, when the second meteor shower hits Smallville, Lex helps Lana, who is in poseesion of one of the elements, to escape the shower, but the helicopter is taken down by a meteor, and both he and Lana discover that a spaceship has landed along with the meteors.
Season Five
Lex's quest to discover more about the spaceship continue, and eventually begins to manufacture weapons to fight what he percieves as a threat to the world- the people who came down with the spacecraft. He faces off with Dr. Milton Fine, who in reality is a braniac construct from within the ship. He later captures and tortures A.C. Curry to try and discover his abilties, but A.C. escapes. Soon after, Lex decides to run for Congress, and soon finds himself running up against Jonathan Kent after Jonathan's old friend Jack Jennings drops out. Lex must make a choice whether or not to use dirty means against Jonathan, and after he is shot during a robbery, his mother Lillian shows him what life could be like if he married Lana and became a decent man. However, in the dream Lana dies after giving birth to Lex's daughter, and when Lex wakes up, he decides to use the dirty tactics, therefore setting himself on the dark path. Clark blames Lex when a crazed denzien of Lex's assaults Jonathan when he refuses to drop out of the race. Later, Lex is shot again when two cops who saw the spaceship on the day of the second meteor shower demand that he takes them to it. Both he and Lana are saved by Clark. The senatorial race soon comes to a head and Lex loses to Jonathan, who dies only days later, leaving Martha to fill his seat. Meanwhile, Fine has created a virus that will kill millions of people, and Lex creates a cure. Shortly after, he is kidnapped by the Kryptonians and used as a vessel for Zod.
Season Six
Zod, in Lex's body, advances his plan to transform Earth into a new Krypton, while using Lana to produce an heir. When Zod is once again banished, Lex must deal with the fallout of Dark Thursday, and he and Lana grow closer. After a costume ball that Lex hosts for the victims of Zod's fury, he and Lana connsumate their relationship, and Lana later discovers she is pregnant. Lex proposes to her and she accepts, but on the wedding day, Lana discovers Clark's ability and tries to duck out on the wedding. Lionel discovers her intentions and threatens to kill Clark if she doesn't marry Lex, as her running from him will destroy him. Lana marries Lex, but still longs for Clark, which in the end will no doubt bring Lex to an ultimate reckoning when he discovers that the only woman he's ever truly loved has betrayed him.
This has been Lex's journey so far, for better or for worse. No one can really say what lies ahead of him. As for Michael, he has said that season seven will be his last, and the future of Smallville without Michael's enigmatic, intense and yet wounded Lex Luthor seriously remains in doubt.
Here's some shots of Lex from over the past six seasons:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/lex08.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/lex07.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/PDVD_043.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/PDVD_071.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/PDVD_116.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/49687.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/49930.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/MR_season4_promo077E0.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/svpromos6_003.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/svpromos6_005.jpg
I hope you've enjoyed today's tribute to Lex Luthor. Many thanks to tv.com for some of the episode info. Enjoy the pictures, my Rosenpeeps, and join Devoted to Michael Rosenbaum tomorrow for Mike's!Likes Thursday, where we'll discuss Michael's hobbies, pastimes, and lesiure activivites! (Thanks to my bud Chris for coming up with the title!) See you then, and please leave comments if you visit.