I would have liked it if Seth were a mutant, but instead of his mind control, he was just content to play around with metal, and Lana dated him of her own volition.

That would have worked, too. The plot could have unfolded much as it did, except for maybe instead of stealing money from the Talon she would have emptied her bank account. (okay, it might still be a bit out of character, but indulge me here.)

mostly, this is what bothered me:

The point of the episode seemed to be that since Clark broke up with Lana, she'd be seeing other people and he'd have to deal with that - but then he doesn't if every other single guy (except for Pete) is evil in some way.

Lana had a very good point in what she told Clark -- he was stalking her, and she has a right to go on with her love life rather than mooning after him. She especially has the right to want to be with someone who will be honest with her. It undercuts that to say "Lana has that right, but the guy is going to be evil." Because that puts her back at Square Mooning After Clark, which is just pathetic.

Lyra & Madrigal -- I think it would have worked better if Lana were dating Seth voluntarily.

Lana's pretty much stuck as Clark's "maybe someday" girlfriend - or she has to set her sights on Pete or Chloe.

Maybe I'm crazy - but in the comicverse doesn't Lana end up marrying Pete?

And agreed 100% that it would have been better if Seth wasn't a mutant. I hate with a big HATE every FotW ep of Smallville and can only survive them if they are generous with the Lexness.

Tina, yep.

I saw someone on LJ (rosenho, maybe?) speculating very convincingly that the reason that this ep felt like something out of S1 may essentially be that it was -- the writer is a freelancer they've never used before, and the whole ep really does feel like it was a spec script based (as spec scripts pretty much have to be, since you never know where in a longer arc you'll be when someone finally gets around to reading them a year later) on very standalone, formulaic stuff.

The Lex-Chloe stuff, which did have something to do with what's currently happening on the show, felt very different -- better written, and not just better acted (as you'd expect given that it's Lex and Chloe). But, notably, it was also completely separate from what was going on in the A-plot. It would've been very easy to leave the MoTW plot as it was, and rewrite only the intrigue plot to catch it up to the current season.

As I said, speculation. But it feels right.

Lana and Pete???? I see no chemistry there, but a) he gets about four lines per episode, so not much time to develop chemistry and b) stranger things have happened.

I don't necessarily mind fun FotWs, but this one bothered me because Clark SHOULD have been wrong about Seth, dammit!

I think Smallville needs to break from the kryptonite->evil formula. They could have done this episode without Seth really doing anything wrong at first, other than the minor stuff like turn on the Ferris Wheel. And Clark would have been all paranoid and stalkery, and that would result in the two of them taking off together.

Oh, and if Seth can move metal with his mind, why couldn't he move the car when it was stuck? Plus, how much money does a coffee shop keep in the till? Unless Lana is secretly selling vials of crack in the muffins, odds are it'd be a couple hundred dollars, tops. And if Seth could influence people through touch, why would they even need store money? He could convince others to give him whatever he wanted. They could just walk the streets of Metropolis getting cash from everyone Seth shook hands with.

It would've been very easy to leave the MoTW plot as it was, and rewrite only the intrigue plot to catch it up to the current season.

Hmm. Interesting theory, and it may be exactly right. I know I liked the Lex/Chloe blackmail conversation much better than the rest of the ep.

I haven't finished the Smallville ep, and it looks like the last half hour is more interesting than the first.

Doesn't Clark know what stalking looks like?

And Chloe has rocked. She's saucy.

On Lana and Pete and the comicverse from what I recall Pete and Lana don't end up together until way later into their adult life - so it makes sense that there is no chemistry between them.

Chloe is totally growing on me. Which is a 100% surprise because I loved her in the scripts and hated her on the show (I got into Smallville buy reading shooting srcripts - not actually watching).

I noticed this was a freelance writer - and yes - it felt totally like a S1 ep. Except the Lex and Chloe bits.

Wait wait wait. You guys are saying that last week's mutant of the week could manipulate metal and influence people's minds? Huh. Somebody didn't calibrate the FreakPower scale correctly. That's, like, archvillain power.