FBI Agent Loder warns Lionel there's nothing he can do for him, but Lionel is more concerned about Clark and his secrets. Then Lionel reveals to Lex he's dying of his liver disease and nothing can save him, but Lex doesn't buy it. Lionel gives him the medical records but Lex is still determined that he and Chloe put him away, and Chloe vows to testify no matter what.

Kara takes Clark flying to the cave and reveals she's been in the cave waiting until the time is right. Clark declines her offer to go into a passage to find out everything. The next day she tells Jonathan that he "broke the covenant" and reveals that in return for the power he got to bring back Clark, he'd return Clark to his father Jor-El . . . as Loder listens in. Kara senses him and kills him, disintegrating him and his car. Martha is upset that Jonathan made the deal and kept it secret from her. Jonathan goes to Chloe to run Kara's fingerprints, while Lana asks Clark to take her to the airport and tells him to say whatever he has to say before she's gone. Of course, then Kara shows up before Clark can tell her his secret, and puts it off until the next day. Kara warns that he and she are the last ones left and they must repopulate Krypton.

Clark receives a package from Lionel with a key – he confronts Lionel who sends him to the room Lex has been using for his investigation of Clark. Lex explains that he's been concerned with his seeming indestructibility – Clark doesn't buy it and leaves, angry. With everything going on he forgets Lana – Lex is there to say goodbye instead. Clark gets there in time to witness their goodbye hug and leaves without seeing her. Clark testifies against Lionel, but announces his friendship with Lex is over.

Kara is there to comfort Clark and take him to his birth mother. Clark and Kara prepare to "leave" but Chloe identifies the fingerprints as Lindsey Harrison, a girl who was killed on the day of the meteor crash. Jor-El has been using Lindsey as a "shell" to lure Clark in – Jor-El speaks up but when Clark refuses him, Jor-El dissipates him and then hits Jonathan with a bolt of energy and threatens to kill him if Clark doesn't agree. Despite Jonathan's pleas, Clark enters the light and disappears. Martha runs outside to see a Kryptonian symbol burned into the fields, the Sullivans go into protective custody but their new house blows up with them in it, Lionel gets shaved bald, and Lex chokes after drinking a glass of wine. Clark floats in a void while Jor-El promises "He shall be reborn."
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You know on TV shows when they say in the promos, "And tune in for the last five minutes, when everything will change!" and you just roll your eyes and go, "buuuuuullshit!" because you read spoiler threads and you already know who didn't get signed on for next season. Well, this week, Al 'n Miles pulled it off. They created a true cliffhanger. Most of the episode deals with a girl named Kara who tells Clark she's from the home planet and is looking to take him back. Never mind that it got blewed up but good; she's really talking about taking him to the Caves of Contrivance so that Jor-El can give Clark solar noogies or play comet catch, or whatever it is fathers and sons do on Krypton. It's revealed that the girl is merely a teen who got caught in the meteor shower and was stored in the caves like broccoli in Tupperware by Jor-El for just such an occasion. Just to be safe, Clark kisses the girl and gets sucked into the cave vortex anyway to save Bo Duke from getting strangled by an interstellar lasso. Seriously, folks, I can't make this stuff up. Meanwhile, Lana says goodbye in a schmoopy scene with Lex as Clark watches from across the street at the airpot, heartbroken. (This was before the lasso bit.) Also before the lasso, Clark breaks up his friendship with Lex after finding the Big Gay Room of Clark Love in the mansion. Then the big dumb alien testifies against Papa Luthor, who is now in jail and who earlier revealed to Lex his dire liver condition. Then, then, the five-minute bravura montage over Mozart's "Requiem," all this happens: MamaKent watches a huge Kryptonian symbol get burned into a field on the farm; Bo Duke lies unconscious, maybe from heart trouble, maybe from that flaming lasso; Lex drinks some liquor and chokes and falls...it was poisoned by Papa Luthor, maybe?; Clark gets naked with dad (ew) in the vortex; Pete is, uh, still gone; Chloe and her dad enter a pretty new house after getting out of an FBI vehicle, but as soon as they walk in, the house blows up (!); and all the while, Papa Luthor sits in jail. He tells a dude to "do it." Dude shaves Papa Luthor's head while all this is going on. Papa Luthor's bald! It's the biggest shock of the season!
By: Omar L. Gallaga (TWoP)

Things come to a head in Smallville when Kara, a beautiful girl with superpowers, who claims to be from Krypton, comes to entice Clark to fulfill his destiny. Overwhelmed by her appearance, Clark turns to his parents for advice but is shocked when the girl forces Jonathan to finally reveal the deal he made with Jor-El. Also, Clark makes a discovery that ultimately redefines his relationship with Lex, and Clark's relationship with Lana takes a final turn. Meanwhile, Lex turns the tables on Lionel with the FBI. Allison Mack and John Glover also star.

Clark: I thought he might kill you and I couldn't live with that.
Lex: You're a good friend Clark.

Loder: Our deals over Mr. Luthor.
Lionel: You're venturing into very dangerous waters, Loder.
Loder: I'm a pretty decent swimmer. Night night.

Kara (to Clark): If you join me, all your questions will be answered... come with me.

Clark: I can't fly.
Kara: Not yet... this is just the beginning.

Lex: Orange is a good color for you, Dad, although it might get a little old after 25 to life.

Lionel (to Lex): As a father, I have failed you. I realize that now and I'm sorry.

Lionel: Lex, please don't let me die in prison.

Martha (to Jonathan): What have you invited into our lives.

Chloe (to Jonathan): Something tells me you're not here for a tea party.

Lana: Clark, if you have something to say to me, say it before i'm gone.

Chloe (to Lex): Your father's intimidated me long enough. I'm not backing down.

Clark (to Lionel): Buy into this, you're a murderer.

Lionel: Clark, I don't want to harm you. I want to enlighten you.

Lana (to Lex): I don't know what I did to deserve such a great friend.

Chloe (to Lex about Clark): Ther he is just in time to save the day.

Clark: I didn't come here for you, Lex. I came because it's the right thing to do. This friendship's over... Ever since I met you I’ve been defending you, making excuses for you to people like Pete, like my parents — telling them ‘You can trust Lex Luthor. He’s a good guy, nothing like his father.’ I was wrong.

Clark: What did you do to her (Kara)?
Jor-El: She served her purpose, as has Jonathan Kent.

Jor-El: Kal-El my son, now you shall be reborn.

Meanwhile, Clark, Chloe, and her dad all agree to testify against Lionel at his arraignment to prevent him from being released on bail despite the obvious dangers of doing so. Lionel finally tells Lex about his fatal liver disease and asks him to make sure he doesn’t die in prison, but Lex is unsympathetic. Lana asks Clark to take her to the airport and, by the way, tell her his big secret. He almost does, but she spots Kara, who he says is his cousin (wink-wink), then he says they’ll talk in the car on the way to the airport. But he gets a key in the mail from Lionel, who tells him it’s for Lex’s secret room in the mansion, so he goes and sees it himself—the re-creation of the car accident when they met, pictures of Clark and the Kents, images of the octagonal key, and even a big hunk of Kryptonite. Lex walks in and tries to explain that it’s really about himself, not Clark, but Clark is sick of his lies and ends their friendship. While telling Martha about it, Clark realizes he forgot about Lana and rushes to the airport just in time to see Lex hugging her goodbye, so he drops the rose he had for her and disappears just after she spots him across the street. Clark almost shows up late for Lionel’s hearing, but, as Chloe says, he gets there just in time to save the day.

Clark decides Kara is right about everyone betraying him and agrees to go back with her, but as they’re about to enter the cave wall, Jonathan shows up with evidence that she’s not really Kara, but Lindsay, a girl who disappeared outside the caves the day of the meteor shower. Inside the wall all those years, Jor-El protected her and used her to lure Clark. Jor-El zaps her into oblivion now that he’s done with her, then puts Jonathan in an energy noose and threatens to kill him if Clark doesn’t come to him. Before Clark can even decide, he gets sucked into the wall. Finally, in a montage of silent scenes over an opera song I’m probably supposed to recognize but don’t, the following cliffhangers occur: (1) Clark, naked, is curled up in a fetal position inside whatever is in the cave’s wall; (2) Lex drinks some whisky, chokes, and falls to the floor, presumably poisoned by Lionel’s people; (3) Chloe and Gabe Sullivan walk into the safe house provided by the FBI to protect them, and it BLOWS UP right after Chloe walks in the door, presumably by Lionel’s people; (4) Jonathan is lying on the floor of the cave, unconscious or even dead; and (5) perhaps most shocking of all—Lionel gets his head shaved in prison. (more...)