Cadmus Labs. It's not so much on fire as it is wrecked. Jillions of wires and tubes hang from the ceiling. The tube chambers are broken, their residents dead inside. Clark zips inside, looks at the damage, then follows the sound of rattling to the lab. Tess is handcuffed to a table. Clark is surprised to see her there, out of the hospital with her face looking purty again. Tess tells him she doesn't know what happened or how she got there. Clark moves like he's going to release her, then stops. "Everyone else in the building is dead," he says. "Who did this?" "It was Lex," she says. When he looks doubtful, she goes on: "It was one of his clones." She tells him there were dozens of clones being incubated, waiting to be used to heal Lex's body. He breaks the cuffs. He wants to know why Tess is still alive. "He wanted me to give you a message," she says. Bad Lex knew Clark would come to save her and then it would be time for them to face off. "He's in Lawson's field," she says. Clark moves his eyes around for a while.

Lawson's Field. Lois is strung up on Clark's old crucifix, her tank top emblazoned with a big red S. Bad Lex stands before her, quoting literature to her as Original Lex was once wont to do. He reminisces about finding Clark tied to the same post all those years ago, back when the show was better and more homoerotic. Lois is surprised to hear this bald stranger knows Clark. Bad Lex seethes about how Clark betrayed him, which makes Lois realize who she's dealing with. "What happened to you?" she asks with undisguised revulsion. "I've evolved," he says. Also, why is he bald? Original Lex's baldness wasn't a genetic trait that would be cloned. Why am I even wondering this? Lex calls Lois Clark's (and thus the Blur's) greatest weakness: "Your death will break him." He takes out a pocket lighter and sets the base of the cross on fire. Lois is left roasting through the commercial break.

Clark zips into the field, right up to Bad Lex, somehow missing the conflagration nearby. Clark and Bad Lex regard each other in silence for a while. "Where's the real Lex?" Clark asks. "The Creator died two years ago," Bad Lex says, then adds, pointedly, "A nasty truck explosion." He created the clones, but died before he could be healed by them. They talk about the time Clark saved Lex from the bridge. "Lex would have died if I hadn't pulled him from the car," Clark says. Bad Lex dings him for his pride, then touches the "self-righteous symbol" on Clark's chest. So that's what the "S" stands for! Bad Lex says they both have a darkness in their hearts. "Just like me, you are your own worst enemy." Clark pulls Bad Lex's hand away from his chest. "I'm nothing like you." Oy. This is another one of those talky scenes this show is so fond of, filled with back-and-forth closeups of people's faces. Bad Lex bitches about Clark some more while Clark's expression grows increasingly twitchy. "The only reason why anyone ever calls you 'hero' is because you clean up the disasters you unleash." Clark's twitch explodes into a full rage as he grabs Bad Lex by the throat and forces him to the ground. He chokes Bad Lex for a while then notices a trickle of blood coming from Bad Lex's nose. Clark freaks out and lets go. He backs away. Bad Lex admits he's dying: "But don't flatter yourself -- you didn't do it." Bad Lex says he's just sorry he won't live to see the world turn on the Blur. Clark gets back down in Bad Lex's face. "What did you do?" Lex tells him there's an explosion at the Daily Planet going on right now (how he timed it, no one will ever know) but Clark will have to choose between saving the people of Metropolis or Lois. "Even you aren't fast enough to save both," Bad Lex says. Clark shouts, "Where is she?" Bad Lex tells him it's where he first saved Clark. Just follow the overpowering smell of barbecue; you can't miss it. With that, Bad Lex lets out a little gasp and expires.