The seventh season of the CW�s Smallville is full of twists, and I�m happy to report will be back for its eighth season next year.

After watching the most recent episode The Traveler, viewers are left with a lot of questions. In this episode, Lex Luther�s (Michael Rosenbaum) father Lionel (John Glover) has Clark Kent (Tom Welling) kidnapped and held in a Kryptonite cell at a Luthercorp facility. At the first part of the episode we see Lionel opening up letters that he seems worried about. Does this have something to do with why he has Clark kidnapped? Is he trying to protect Clark or is he trying to protect his own interests? Having known Clark�s secret for a while now, why would he try to trap Clark now? Many times in recent episodes, he has proven as a strong ally for Clark. And Jor El (Clark�s Kryptonian father) at one time was inhabiting Lionel�s body.

Lionel�s mistake is using the militant head of security from Luthercorp�s former 33.1 facility, Pierce (guest star Aaron Douglass) who has seen one too many meteor-infected freaks and thinks Clark is dangerous. Given the power button to control Clark�s pain while kidnapped, Pierce is willing to kill Clark and doesn�t want to release him.

But why is Clark kidnapped in the first place? That would be because Lionel is concerned about Dr. Virgil Swan�s (played by Superman Christopher Reeve, in the early seasons of Smallville) daughter Patricia Swan (one of Lex�s childhood friends played by guest star Gina Holden) who is back in town with conspiracy theories that Lionel murdered her father and other members of the Veritas� secret society Lionel was once a part of in order to keep �The Traveler� � Clark � to himself.

With Clark missing and after finding a Krytonite-filled electric probe in the barn, Chloe (Allison Mack) and Lana (Kristen Kreuk) begin their search for Clark and confront Lionel, who throws suspicion on Lex. Regardless of who is behind the kidnapping scheme, the girls realize the only way to save Clark is to have Kara�s memory and powers restored by Jor El at the Fortress of Solitude.

At present, Lex has taken in Clark�s super-powered cousin Kara (Laura Vandervoot) who has amnesia. Lex is pressuring her to see his doctors to get to the bottom of her memory loss. Of course, Lex doesn�t bother to tell her that he has her under 24-hour surveillance in his mansion while he tries to figure out her secret.

This season Lex has really become a cold-blooded murder. In a previous episode, he killed his brother Daily Planet editor Grant Gabriel, played by the OC�s Michael Cassidy, which it turns out Lex cloned in one of his many Luthercorp super-secret experiments, driving a permanent wedge between him and his father.


In the preview for the next episode Veritas, Kara decides to teach Clark how to fly in order to strengthen his chances against Brainiac (guest star James Marsters). The preview also shows Lionel trying to convince Clark that he has been protecting him for years.

The twists, the turns. Who is the most evil? Lex or Lionel?