After Clark took over Lionel’s body in the early season 4 episode Transference, he was a truly changed man. No longer the near sociopath he once was. Then after becoming the emissary of Jor El, he became a true friend, ally, mentor and even somewhat of a father figure to Clark.
The Change in Lionel in the show was amazing. He took the exact opposite course as Lex. Lex started as someone who wanted to be good and for the most part was, but turned very bad. In part because of what he saw as Clark's betrayal and loss of faith in him.
Lionel started off the series as pure evil or at least unquestionably dangerous but become a truly good man by the end. How did you feel about Lionel’s transformation from enemy to ally?
I think Lionel's redemptive arc was one of the most beautiful, powerful and important parts of the whole series. I HATE that after all of that, Clark and his friend called Lionel a liar, Jor'el an idiot and dismissed him without a thought. So much so that Lionel died alone and friendless STILL protecting Clark's secret.
They only 'learned the truth about him' after he died. Or they only learned these last three years weren't a lie, after he died. At which point they -Clark and Chloe- acknowledge they had lost a friend and a loyal ally, but they never actually admit they were wrong about him, that they shouldn't have jumped to those conclusions/assumed the worst about him after everything he'd done for them. Lionel was on his knees PLEADING to Chloe to be heard. 'think what you will of me, you have to listen to this warning from Jor'el'. She dismissed him 'can't you find any new material'. Because he'd said basically the same thing at every series finale since learning Clark's Kryptonian name. And the only reason a small man like him was helping Clark was because it was the closest he could come to being with God. This comes after someone Lionel hired to keep Clark out of the way, disobeyed his instructions and kept him in a kryptonite lined cell. but even that man while he was there tormenting Clark cleared Lionel as not having the stomach for it and only doing it out of a misguided sense of humanity. And it turns out that not only was Lionel's redemptive arc, the changed man he had 'created' entirely genuine, but the reason Lionel was giving the same dire warnings they'd heard the last 3 years but far more intense was because all hell was breaking loose in a way it hadn't before. THAT is why he didn't care what they thought of him as long as they listened to his warning.
And things that had already been going on that Lex has been involved with for months were placed solely at Lionel's feet for no particular reason except they had finally realized the truth about him. Lois and Jimmy were investigating this on their own, knowing nothing about Lionel at all. And these two sincere intrepid reporters found unquestionable proof that Lex, not Lionel was responsible. While never having condemned Lionel for anything, they had red faces for having assumed it was Lionel. And Chloe and Clark's faces were never even red from it. It actually kind of strained credulity a bit. And strained likability a lot. That all of the sudden Clark was so certain of what he knew. When Lionel went to Clark to try to explain he couldn't give a defense for the parts they had actually found out about, the things he had actually done including something when Clark would have been 8 years old. A part of the Luthor-Queen-Swann past. A group that had dedicated themselves as protectors for a savior from the stars and saw Kal-el as that savior. Or at least were waiting for him and the surviving members of thier group 'Veritas' are trying to fulfill their mission. They were the main bad guys of season 7. With Lex already being a super-dedicated villian but having no clue anything like this was going on. When Clark demanded of Lionel why he should still trust him 'after everything' (which I found that a painfully ironic question anyway) Lionel gave the only reply he could.
"Jor'el chose me, doesn't that mean I'm worth listening to?"
"I guess my father made a mistake." Clark replied coldly.
And he never took that back. Not even after Lionel died as a hero and an ally. Chloe and Clark never admitted e3ven to each-other that they had been wrong to judge him to quickly and they should have listened to him and to Jor-el's warnings. I found it infuriating that the man we were supposed to cheer for and believe in, the hero that more than anyone in the DC universe is the king of giving everyone second chances -- as Superman is no matter the variation and Clark Kent is known by this even more than his alter-ego. -- Never admits he was wrong. About one of his most dedicated allies. It's like the writers decided he all of a sudden has to be infallible in order for us as the audience to cheer for him...and can no longer admit he misjudged anyone. Because that would be too human. And not heroic enough.
After going through so much together they dismissed him out of hand. And certain things that were going on, that they assumed Lionel was doing behind there back turned out to be Lex's handiwork, which should have been obvious to anyone. Lionel had always been afraid of what Lex would do, he knew his son better than anyone. And by then Lex was the big bad in everyone's mind, especially Chloe and Clark's. So for the 'home team' to not only assume the worst about an ally but never actually admit fault or error sucks to watch. But these three years -Jor'el inhabiting him at the beginning of season five to Clark and Lionel actually embracing learning Lionel wasn't dead earlier in season 7 - were still beautiful.
Season 5 is worth sitting through just to see the transformation Lionel had undergone and try to guess what he transformed into. He was still enigmatic, Clark and Martha didn't really know what to make of him and neither did we as the audience. Near the end of season 5, after going through a game of hangman with a masked shadowy figure Lionel Luthor calls Clark by his Kryptonian name and admits he's known for over a year. It was truly a WOW moment! And the literal next thing I saw was Clark and Lionel embracing each-other in that very same room. Obviously time had passed. And I thought it could not have been more awesome. And as it turns out all of this...was about 5 episodes after that embrace.
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