This episode is definitely one of the few high points of the season. I mean, there was the most continuity EVER in any episode, tying together loose storylines and bringing in elements from the Pilot on. Hell, they even got the whole mystical stones arc from S4 (something I’m sure they wouldn’t repeat if given the chance) making sense.

Lois and Jimmy teaming up was arguably one of the best parts of the episode, giving us a tantalizing taste of how Smallville could be if they were more Planet-centric, and had the characters actually going out and investigating. Chloogle is never again going to be adequate due to the undercover situation presented in this episode- if it ever was.

John Glover gave an amazing performance in this episode, even if it did seem like Lionel went off the deep end when he confronted Chloe. Lionel, by far, had the most range of emotions and moods in this episode, from totally crazed to concerned to power-hungry. And somehow, it seemed to flow together.

The flashbacks were extremely interesting- the idea that Lionel was in with the Teagues, Queens, and Swanns helps add even more ambiguity to the Luthor family, which just makes the Veritas plotline all the more interesting. And although I know for a fact that the Veritas stained-glass window was NOT there beforehand (I was looking through old caps for arts-related purposes), the PTB are at least making the effort to incorporate it into the show even more. It reminds me a bit of how Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report expressed his interest in eating a hot dog with President Bush like John McCain did, and then said it was in his opening credits- “President Bush please have a hot dog with me.” And, while it was there for that episode on, beforehand it read “warrior-poet.” (Yes, I recognize that my knowledge of that is a bit obsessive). But his commitment to that joke- even though it was only for one show- still stands.

But really- the entire Veritas arc is reminding me more and more of a Dan Brown novel, what with secret societies, conspiracies, cover-ups, and various keys. This may be a good thing or a bad thing, but all I know is that The Da Vinci Code was a bestseller for an extremely long time, and I suspect that TPTB are trying to echo the success of that novel by adding twists and turns into the plot.

Any episode with Brainiac is a good episode, IMO. And although his screentime was relatively small, it really worked well. The entire teaser just creeped me out, even though I had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

The ending in the completely random hallways with no doors and the lone- and random- angel statue by the window was actually quite touching. If you just forget for a moment that the person in the chair is Lana, and just take that parting shot for what it was- the silhouettes of a girl in a chair and Clark kneeling down next to her, wrought with emotion- its extremely moving. The music helped with it quite a bit (although the ad for the music right after the credits began to roll completely ruined the mood).

But the absolutely best part of this episode? Lana had fewer lines than Clark did in Noir. And in Noir, Clark had 23 lines- I counted. Hell, I had more lines than that in my first grade play (I was a goose). Point is- little Lana makes me happy.

Overall, you can tell that this episode was supposed to be the finale- it was written a lot tighter, a lot better, and a lot more compelling than most episodes this season combined. If they wrote every episode like this- and remember, they were under a serious time crunch when they wrote it back in October/November- Smallville would have a hell of a lot more viewers than it does now.