"Onyx" Review!
Written by Triplet

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SHORT RECAP

Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) gets split into good and evil Lexes in a Luthorcorp kryptonite experiment gone awry. The evil Lex imprisons the good Lex in the mansion's wine cellar and finally turns Lionel (John Glover) back into the Magnificent Bastard we all love. Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe (Allison Mack) gets attacked in the lab and the bad Lex witnesses Clark using his powers and tries to take advantage of the situation using kryptonite.

REVIEW

Wow. All I gotta say is. Wow.

What a great episode, it has all the little geeky comic references that make the Superman fan inside me sing and it was some fantastic TV to boot.

Rosenbaum was brilliant. As an actor, he has been perhaps a bit too constrained by the limits of Lex Luthor has he has been written. Lex is stiff, serious, and (frankly) doesn't have much fun. While it's delicious to watch him work, I would guess that perhaps Lex isn't as wide ranging a character as Michael Rosenbaum would like him to be. The chance to play this dual role, and to let the "real" Lex out, has given Rosenbaum the perfect opportunity to show what he's got.

From the pitch perfect evil twin taking joy in finally being free, to the fear and doubt clouding the good twin's trying to deal with the unexpected after effects of the failed experiment, he played both halves perfectly in what could have easily devolved into scenery chewing camp. Other actors have dealt with similar storylines in genre TV but probably none as well as Rosenbaum.

One particular example of this genre staple that comes immediately to mind is the classic Star Trek episode, The Enemy Within. That's the one where Captain Kirk (William Shatner) gets split into good and bad Kirks by a transporter accident. Shatner was at the height of his campy overacting best.

Rosenbaum, on the other hand, takes this all too common plot device and makes it his own. His evil Lex is deliciously so. He smiles and laughs and enjoys the new found freedom of not being burdened by a conscience. What fun and what a great nod to the comic version of Lex Luthor. The evil megalomaniacal Lex that all Superman comic book fans know and love to hate: the perfect arch-nemesis of the heroic Superman.

Rosenbaum also played the good Lex so well. He was even pathetic at points. Weak, weepy and fearful. I think the only wrong note for Rosenbaum in this episode was when the chained up good Lex was screaming in frustration at the bad Lex. It just seemed forced.

It was a brilliant writing job by the newest writer on the team, Steven S. DeKnight, late of Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although the evil Lex Bad Lex was probably a little more over the top than he would be when otherwise tempered by his more cautious good half, I feel DeKnight got to core of what is probably the best portrayal of Lex Luthor ever in live action media. The daily struggle of Smallville's version of Lex Luthor, a friend of Clark's who fights to keep the good in him from becoming overwhelmed by the evil we all know that will win out, is externalized by being split into two. In the final confrontation evil Lex told the good Lex, "I drive you. I give your life meaning. I'm your soul..." For a man destined to be the ultimate superhero's foil and arch nemesis, that line brilliantly hits the nail on the head.

As extraordinarily stellar (and far above even his normal excellent work) as Rosenbaum's acting was, the entire cast (with the possible exception of John Schneider) all shone in this episode. John Glover totally sold the change from the goodie-two-shoes Lionel to the Magnificent-Bastard Lionel. In the early scene with good Lex there was remarkably subtle work on his part. Later, after bad Lex pushes him in that great fencing scene, without a single word spoken Glover perfectly portrays Lionel's dismay, shock and cold realization that Lex is right. Realizes that maybe he's not such a good a man after all ….

And I have to believe Glover's relieved that the MB Lionel is back and in full swing. He was so much fun to watch, and I would imagine very fun to play, so I'm ecstatic the Magnificent Bastard is back.

Tom Welling has really grown this season as an actor. Even though he wasn't in this episode as much as more Clark centric episodes, he showed possibly the most Superman like moments in the series so far. Clark's voice was deeper than ever and he seemed more sure of himself. That was sexy, as well as being very supermanly. Excellent.

John Schneider, on the other hand, seemed all wrong in this episode. Especially in the scene where he confronts evil Lex in the barn. He seemed flat. Also, wouldn't he have fallen down completely after getting shot in the leg? Yet, there he was kneeling on one knee as if getting shot hurt little more than getting punched in the stomach…

I would think his leg would be totally useless at supporting any weight at all after getting shot, so that seemed odd to me. The other thing is that John Schneider has made it clear he's not happy with the direction of his character in particular, and the show in general. His apparent increasing lack of enthusiasm might be effecting his normally spot on performance as the moral center of the show. That's a shame. Hopefully this isn't a sign that Schneider is going to start phoning it in.

Oh, and I'm getting bored with the interminable oblique references Chloe keeps making to Clark's secret. Hopefully that song and dance will be over soon. From the spoilers for the upcoming episode Blank, it looks like that it will. Thank Goodness.

The episode was beautifully shot and directed. The lighting was striking in this episode and well framed. And the blocking was perfect in the loft scene between the evil Lex and Clark. The fact that Lex was above Clark for large parts of the scene was a nice touch, underscoring the upper hand that Lex had in that scene.

I think ultimately, I'm excited about the possibility of the newly combined Lex remembering more of what he did and found out about Clark than he claimed. It would finally put Lex's feet more onto the path of the evil that we all know he will one day follow.

All around excellent episode, it's one of the best episodes not just for the season but of the series. Five stars out of five.

Major Episode Faux Pas:

I think Steven S. DeKnight needs to watch The Pilot again.

In the first wine cellar scene Lex refers to having been accidentally locked in the wine cellar as a child after "Dad" warned him to not play down there. It is actually a very effective scene highlighting the differences between the two Lexes and how the bad Lex has always been there. However, according to dialogue in The Pilot, Lex told Clark that his father had never even been in the mansion.

"My father never intended living here. He's never even stepped through the front door."

If that's the case, how in the world did he tell the child Lex not to play in the wine cellar? By fax?

Oops.

Note: The views of Triplet don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback - Talk about this review on the KryptonSite Forum!

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