Luthor Mansion. Tess regards a vial of purplish fluid she holds in her hand. A cozy fire burns in the fireplace, but Tess doesn't seem comforted. "Is this all you were able to make?" she asks. Dr. Lamell is standing behind her. "Considering we only just found the research," she says, "we were only able to synthesize a small amount." She promises it's just a start. Tess looks thoughtful and drinks some whiskey. She thought Alexander's condition was supposed to be irreversible. Lamell mentions "scouring the LuthorCorp database" and finding Peter Dinsmore's work. She should have just looked it up in the Smallville recap archives like I did. "He cloned his own daughter," Lamell says. "And encountered the same accelerated mitosis complication." Damn, Emily Dinsmore was creepy. Remember that tea party she had with that bunny and Lionel Luthor? Shudder. Tess pours herself some more booze and contemplates saving Alexander. "This could be the redemption we've both been praying for," Lamell says. Tess walks to the fire, tells Lamell of how badly she wanted to save Alexander. Her eyes brim with tears. She wipes them away with an agitated flick of her hand. Then, to Lamell's horror, Tess throws the vial of serum into the fire. "Destroy all of your research," Tess tells her. "And in the morning, he'll be locked up again for everyone's safety." Why wait till morning? If you're convinced he's irredeemably evil, why would you wait? Lamell argues that Alexander will be dead within six weeks without the cure. "That's the point," Tess says. "Because he's not just a clone, he is Lex Luthor." Yeah, but... you have a cure! If you stop the accelerated growth, you have more time to show him life's not so bad! There's no need to become a supervillain! Also, Clark's less of an asshole this time around! He probably wouldn't jerk you around so much! Alas, I am in the real world and they are on TV, so they don't hear my silly words of logic or see my many exclamation points of persuasion.