The Torch. Clark greets Chloe. She says she and her dad aren't good at being depressed together. Clark says that if she doesn't want to go to the spring formal, he'll understand. Chloe does an "Are you kidding!?" and says it's the only thing she has to look forward to. What a sad life. She says she wants to enjoy all the quaint Smallville High customs. Like back-seat sex, for instance. She says her dad is talking about having them move back to Metropolis permanently. Clark asks what about the newspaper and Chloe's friends. How many friends does she have exactly? Two? Two and a half? Clark stops her in mid-track, putting his hands on her shoulders. She says she doesn't fancy fighting all the high-school BS again. She asks if Clark will miss her. "You even have to ask?" Clark says. Um, that's not really an emphatic "Yes." Chloe makes Clark promise the formal will be great. "It'll be a night you won't forget," he says. Pesky foreshadowing! He smiles big and bright. Chloe picks some lint off his collar. That's real love right there.

Lair o' Lex. Lex is talking to the elders from the plant who were just fired. I'm amazed they haven't strung him up by his bald balls yet. Lex holds a secret meeting for them. He opens by saying that when he started at the plant, people assumed it was nepotism (it wasn't?) and that he was promoted over more deserving people. No indication here of how that isn't true except that nobody stabs him in this scene. Lex says that the workers can stage an employee-led buyout with their own capital. Lex says he can raise 90\% of the cash. As for the rest.... "Are we supposed to mortgage our houses?" one of them asks. Well, there is the exciting world of late-middle-aged male prostitution to consider, too. One of the workers says that Papa Luthor will never go along with it, and he's the head of the board. Lex says he knows some people who will vote in their favor with some convincing. Sexy convincing. Lex tells these sub-sub-sub-sub-captains of industry that he's offering them a chance to control their own destiny. "Stand with me and we will win," he says. These guys look like they can't control their own bladders, much less their destinies.