Clark couldn't get close to the omegahedron.

I think we can all admit that we are waiting for the day Clark "man's up" and really takes care of business. Rather than sort of taking care of business after his lack of action creates more problems. Although we did see a bit of that when he electrocuted Brainiac. Stupid computer, everyone knows you should always use a surge protector.

He couldn't have used his heat vision though to Destroy it?!? That's what I didn't understand.

Where was Jor-El @? He didn't help Clark at all.

I love the whomping that Brainiac caught after saying Clark couldn't take a life. Haha, sucks to be you, there nuts-n-bolts!

totally dude...i think that was my fav scene from the show

Well, the idea is that Jor-El created the device to stop Clark in the event he turned against humanity. If that's the case it would be silly if Jor-El didn't take things into account and ensure it couldn't be destroyed by Clark. Also, it would explain him not helping Clark as well.

And while Smallville may take some license with certain aspects of Superman lore, they obviously wouldn't have Clark and Lex in a battle to the death. That's just never going to happen in Smallville.

I was a bit disappointed that it ended the way it did, I expected a bit more. Overall the episode was pretty good. For those who think it seemed rushed... in a way it was. Keep in mind that they had to put this together post-writers' strike when CW ordered up 5 extra episodes.

However, I am hoping that they at least filmed part of the Season 8 opener with both Tom and Michael before he left so that there would be a proper conclusion to the events of Season 7, and also to explain why Lex wouldn't know Clark's secret down the road.

One other thought I had for season 8... even if Michael doesn't appear in episodes (not wanting to grow his hair back just to shave it again for a guest appearance), he might be able to do a bit of voice acting if they have Tess making calls to Lex for advice. Not the same as having Lex actually there, but they might be able to work that in a bit... depending on what happens to make Lex forget Clark's secret of course.

All in all I thought the episode wasn't that bad. I think that maybe they tried to fit in a bit much for only 42 minutes (agree with Derek and Steve that they should have done a longer finale), but given how little time they had to make changes from the writers' strike, film the new scenes, do the editing to the episodes that had to be adjusted, and still get everything out that fast... not bad.

As for season 8.... guess we'll have to wait and see. However, I highly doubt it'll be set in Metropolis. Would make it rather oxymoronic since the show is called Smallville. Granted, many scenes are set in the big city, but still. LOL

I thought this was a great episode. There were so many spots to choose from, not sure where to begin, so I'll just plow in:

First thing I noticed was IMO I thought Laura Vandervoort really stepped up in this episode. I don't know if she had Marsters coaching her the whole time or not, but I found it a good performance.

I was impressed with Chloe womaning up and agreeing to try to take out Kara. I was even more impressed with how she took ol' Brainy out without intending to ("What the hell are you?"....possibly one of the best lines of the series given the context)

The look on Clark's face when he found out it was Brainy that was behind Chloe's hospital stay was priceless. It was like "Jesus is coming and boy is he....peeved" Of course the fight was killer, especially when Brainy overplayed his hand about how Clark could never kill another man. That was the first time I seen a Superman look about him since Descent or the time he caught Lana falling out of the balcony.

Speaking of Lana, yes I teared up at the video goodbye too. IMO, I thought her excess of tears had a little bit to do with what happened to the last person she sent a video goodbye to along with the fact that she didn't want to let go even if it was the right thing to do. The worst part though was seeing Lois tear up too. Touching...

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.....when you make a deal with the devil, you should know you gotta pay up sooner or later son!...Sheesh....

And speakin of the devil, MR as Lex didn't have as much time in the episode as I would've preferred, but he definitely made up for it in quality. I've always thought the best (worst?) villains are the ones that are (or at least seem to be) seen as sympathetic. He played the wounded friend like a charm. Had me feeling for him, and then afterwards thinking "Smooth. You are a manipulative SOB".

All in all, not as good as some season finales, but not anything to complain about at all. I was trepidatious about Season 8, but this episode righted the ship for me. Is it September yet?...lol

I don't remember the show saying Jor-El was the one who created the orb device. The only information I remember hearing was through Brainiac, he said that the humans created the device. Now, I could be wrong since my attention was elsewhere during parts of the episode, but yeah.

Upon Second viewing of the episode (TiVo people, don't D/L it!!!) the way the episode ended was even better. I think the fact that seeing part of the very ending in the trailers kinda toned the surprise down a bit. I mean, they never showed scenes from the last minutes of a season finale before like that. But just the thought of Clark vs. Lex in the fortress and the fact that Lex knows Clarks secret was an amazing concept to grasp and could only be done in a finale. Awesome episode and one of the great finales.. definitely top 3! Also, I got to see Clarks face again as he watched the video of Lana... I almost cried myself (again) and I like to think of myself as a manly man...

We think a lot alike. lol What you said plus Laura V's portrayal of Kariac was like watching actors from Beverly Hills 90210 - completely unbelievable - she just can't pull off the evil Kara IMO. Now bratty, obstinate - most certainly. The first few episodes of her appearance on the show she did great; and anytime she plays the determined Kara, awesome. But evil - seemed too out-of-character for Laura, and not just "Kara".

Looooooooots of holes in this one, and I fully expected the "confrontation" between Lex and Clark to be completely lifeless, as it turned out to be. SV has a way of building things up (huge moments in the mythos/SV-based story) and then just falling flat. I'm not trying to be negative norman here - just calling it as I saw it. Shameful that the Lana-TV/Clark scene was the most interesting in the episode for me; and I've been a proponent of the destruction of "the Clana" since season 3.

In Apocalypse Brainiac said that he needed Kara to reproduce with Zod (Lex being the vessel again) so that they can repopulate the 'new Krypton'.

I thought they said that the orb was made for the humans not by the humans. And for the argument about why Clark didn't just blast it with heat vision... my guess is that it was sapping his strength too much for him to use his powers against Lex.

Yes, but that was in an alternate reality. That's what Apocalypse-Brainiac wanted to do with Kara, but it's never explained what regular Brainiac needed of Kara in order to go to Krypton. It's just hinted at in 'Vessel' when Brainiac stares at Kara's bracelet, that's it.

Haha, It's possible. My hearing likes to play tricks on me.

What I got out of it was that was the same Brainiac since he still knew who Clark was. And he looked at Kara's bracelet and noticed the house of EL symbol so he knew she was Kryptonian so he could use her. Thats what came to me to make sense. But I have to look at it again to get it all. The answers will come when the dvd's are available...

Michael Rosenbaum has stated that he doesn't want to come back to Smallville because he doesn't want to cut his hair anymore. I don't know why that's an issue. They can just make a rubber prosthetic to place over his hair, then place makeup over that to make him bald. It probably takes a little more time to do in the morning and might require regular maintenance between takes, but it can be done, and he wouldn't have to shave his head, and it'd only be for a few cameo's. Heck, just get Michael Westmore, who did the makeup on Star Trek to supervise it the first time around.

Also, does anyone have any theories on the scene at the end of Apocalypse with Kara collapsing to the floor? If it was Brainiac the whole time, why would he go for the milk and why would he be weakened? Probably the most disappointing thing for me with this finale is that I had so many unanswered questions with Brainiac and Kara, and now Brainiac is destroyed (probably), and Laura Vandervoort won't be back next season.