Lionel Luthor: Magnificent Bastard Extraordinairre!

[GHScorpiosRule]

Sure, he didn't exist in the comics (right?), but John Glover was just amazing in this role.

 

He was EVUHL, then good, then evil but with good intentions, then good...

 

I never rolled my eyes whenever he would plot or plan or execute.  Well, except for that stupidass Veritas storyline.

[ElleryAnne]

John Glover was just outstanding as Lionel.  His scenes with every character were always great, but his scenes with Lex were the best thing in ten seasons of that show.  Deeply demented, because believed he was doing what was best for Lex, even when what he was doing could kill Lex or cost him his sanity or his future. Love him.

 

Also I kinda shipped him and Martha, not lying.

 

ETA: Forgot to mention, but the way Lionel and Lex would throw around classical literary lines when they communicated was awesome.

Edited May 8, 2014 by ElleryAnne

[BkWurm1]

Also I kinda shipped him and Martha, not lying.

 

It was all kinds of wrong, but yeah, me too.

[DisneyBoy]

Also I kinda shipped him and Martha, not lying.

 

 

Me three!

 

I'm amazed by their chemistry, honestly.  It was the one thing I wish we could have seen in the Alternate Universe that wasn't there.  I mean, come on - perfect opportunity to show Martha and Lionel together, right?

 

It was one of those things the show stumbled into that worked but...well, couldn't work because of what it would mean for the series overall.  If they'd gotten together, it would have really tainted people's opinions of Martha, so...no dice.

 

At least we got that one scene of her and him together in season ten, where she shuts him down before the mansion is burned to the ground!

[Athena]

Also I kinda shipped him and Martha, not lying.

 

 

It was all kinds of wrong, but yeah, me too.

 

 

Me three!

 

I'm amazed by their chemistry, honestly.  It was the one thing I wish we could have seen in the Alternate Universe that wasn't there.  I mean, come on - perfect opportunity to show Martha and Lionel together, right?

 

It was one of those things the show stumbled into that worked but...well, couldn't work because of what it would mean for the series overall.  If they'd gotten together, it would have really tainted people's opinions of Martha, so...no dice.

 

At least we got that one scene of her and him together in season ten, where she shuts him down before the mansion is burned to the ground!

 

Me four. They had such good chemistry. She had more with him than she had with Schneider I think. I would have kept watching just for them. He was less evil when he was around her and she was much more interesting.

[DigitalCount]

Can I just say I loved John Glover? I mean, that ability to make Lionel so Lionel even when he was indecipherable was perfect. I still love all the little hints that he comes from humble beginnings in his dialect and bedfellows. And of course in Transference when Welling puts them in too, it's pretty astounding to see him playing Lionel that well too (seriously, that part where he says "Shore" instead of "Sure" and the other part where he says "your good friend, Lex" as a laughing aside with the little pause in the jail cell--I just about died).

 

The other amazing thing about Lionel was how he had such a veneer of civility to him, but there were moments where he allowed the facade to drop, such as when Meteor went all stompy on Lana's legs in S3, or when he belittled Lex after his wedding. Of course, there are still things that feel strange about Lionel, even after all these years; why did he deny the murder of his parents post-reform in S4? That one storyline is probably the most perplexing of early Smallville (in comparison, late SV would stymie me in Doomsday with "How did you survive?" "...I don't know"). Every indication was given as time went on that he had done it, Chloe got proof, and he admitted it under a truth-telling geass. So why did he say he wasn't guilty to SPN!Ellen? Was it supposed to be an indication that dark Lionel was always under the surface? I never understood it.

[AndySmith]

If there was a Mt. Rushmore of magnificent TV bastards, Lionel would be on there for sure.