Anyone who is emotionally involved with the characters of this show will definitely feel those strings being pulled as they watch this episode of the eighth season. Clark and Lana both enjoy the opportunity to defend Metropolis together, as superpowered beings, one natural and the other surgical. At the same time, a surprising merger between LuthorCorp. led by Tess Mercer, and Queen Industries, headed by Oliver Queen, begins to be shaken from its outset by the mysterious Toyman. These developments lead to a confrontation of the two super-beings with the very villain behind the terrorist act itself, behind the Toyman's doings: Lex Luthor. As the episode's end proves, only Lex could pull a manueveur to separate Clark and Lana forever despite the fact that they share such a bond and secret with their abilities. Though many may have believe that the Clark/Lana relationship, something explored off-and-on with the show since season 2, ended fine at season 7's end, the way this separation developed is only more powerful, because it was severed by the very nemesis of not just Clark, but Lana as well, by this point. At the same time, the viewers can see the direction that Oliver Queen is going to, and probably already has, taken in his obsession with ensuring Lex's demise, especially since learning this season about the Luthors being behind the death of his parents. This is a shift, especially in the light of Tess Mercer lighting herself up since learning that she was a pawn in Lex's bloody hand. This episode acquires a 10 through its acting and emotional pull, but there should never be any way that any media whatsoever portrays Superman, or the one-to-be, as a fornicator, as he has been both on this episode, a season 5 episode, and a brief arc in season 4, not to mention Superman Returns with the hero's connection to the boy Jason. It's for this reason that a scene of that nature bumps the episode slightly lower than it might have been, not to mention the glaring question of why Chloe isn't more concerned about her fiancée, who has been in critical condition; lastly, who gave the Kryptonian knowledge crystal back to Clark, and how the sender was able to obtain it.
Review of Requiem
