She's A Luthor, Baby: Cassidy Freeman Talks About This Week's Episode - "Luthor!"

Interview by Craig Byrne

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Cassidy Freeman's Tess Mercer has had a bit of a character transformation during the tenth season of Smallville. In just the first half, Tess has been brought back to life; she's allied with the good guys in Watchtower; she's been raising the clone of Lex Luthor, determined to keep him from becoming evil; and she's also learned a bit about her past... that she was born "Lutessa Lena Luthor" and is the daughter of Lionel Luthor.

To promote this week's episode of Smallville, which airs Friday night at 8PM on The CW, Cassidy talks about the episode's returning guest star, what she's gone through this season so far, and even offers some hints as to what's to come in Tess Mercer's future. Enjoy!

How cool is it to work opposite John Glover (whose Lionel Luthor appears in the alternate-reality episode "Luthor" which airs on Friday)?

It's been cool. Absolutely fun. He's a joy to work, and really, really inventive, and just a pretty awesome guy all around.

Can you tell us what the interaction between your characters is like so far?

We interact in the alternate world, so it's a different Tess; the alternate Tess. But he's my dad, and as we all know, Lionel Luthor is not the greatest guy in the world, so I totally have a beef with him. You'll see that come to fruition on your screen tomorrow night.

Before the cameras started rolling, what was your first meeting like with Mr. Glover?

It was great. We had heard a lot about each other. Everyone had said that we would really get along, and so it's really funny when you meet someone. They say "you'll really like this person," and then when you finally meet them, you feel like you already know them, but you don't. But he loves going through the scene, and he was totally open to talking about it, and figuring out different ways to approach it before the cameras rolled, which to me, is really refreshing, and it makes me feel at home, because that's how I've always worked.

Judging from the preview clips, I see that Tess - or at least a Tess - has a romantic scene with Clark, or a Clark. Is this something that you had been hoping to see on the show for a while?

No. I always want Tess to have love, but I never wanted to mess with the story. Clark has a pretty clear and previously known trajectory in his romantic life. I'm always for the betterment of the show. But it definitely was fun to get to play a different side of these characters.

What are you allowed to tell us about what exactly is going on in the "Luthor" episode?

All there is to tell is what you already know. It's a different universe. It's as if Clark were raised by Lionel Luthor. It's really different. It's kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure/What If? episode, which was really an opportunity for all of us to get to explore different sides of characters that we've been playing for years.

Interview continues on the next page!