'Smallville': Martha Kent returns as the Red Queen

It's been three years since Annette O'Toole last graced the screens of "Smallville," and boy did she drop a whopper of a secret in the end.

Clark loves the Farm, but I'm pretty sure he'll destroy it if it means obtaining the Book of Rao. Lois also has a certain drive to figure out life now that she's out of a job.

Part of her reorganization plan is to take a break from Clark, what with her life "falling apart." Just before she can leave, who should arrive but Mama Kent... with a man in tow! But this isn't any ordinary man. Oh no, this is THE Perry White. She felt that three years in DC was plenty of time to spend before returning to the Farm. She's been in a relationship with Perry for months, and he's practically ready to pop the question. Clark doesn't warm to the idea as much as Perry had hoped. Instead, it's Lois who bonds with her future boss because as it turns out, they're both following the same story about the Blur/Red Queen/Checkmate.

You can almost hear the Little River Band's "Reminiscing" playing throughout the scenes where both Martha and Clark long for Daddy Kent to walk through the door. Perry, if only briefly, fills that need when he inadvertently wears Jonathan's jacket. Seems it was because of Clark that he went sober and got his career back on track. Clark tries to believe that he's really treating his mother well. That's good on his part, because once Dinner for Four commences, the nervousness of the whole scene overwhelms Lois to the point of dumping Clark then and there. Perry offers to escort Lois home, but accidentally shows Martha a sketch of the Book of Rao, which gets them both worried.

Meanwhile, Tess is under a great deal of stress. See, everybody thinks she's the Red Queen. Maxwell Lord thinks she knows where the Book of Rao is, so he does his patented mind control to extract the information, but when the Oliver facsimile is a bit too needy, she calls his bluff and overpowers Maxwell to escape.

Lois and Perry arrive at her apartment to find it trashed, so she digs out the cell phone given to her by Checkmate, and calls Taco Dan's to grab the Red Queen's latest coordinates. This eventually leads the duo to the Blur's roof, where they climb the fire escape to meet her... except poor Perry very nearly bites the dust when the fire escape ladder fails. Lois ultimately saves him, while Clark stops a resulting falling sign from crushing onlookers below. This puts him in a position to confront the Red Queen, but she whips out a batch of Kryptonite to weaken him long enough to escape.

In the end, Martha turns out to be the Red Queen, who re-acquires the Book of Rao from Tess, who in turn gives it to Clark, but only after he calls her out on her Red Queen ways. She was only doing it to protect her baby boy. Mama Kent also tells Clark that if the Kandorians get their hands on Rao, they can transport to another plane of existence, meaning the threat will be gone, but so will the Kryptonians... including Clark. Thanks to a sparkling recommendation from Perry, both Lois and Clark get their Daily Planet jobs back. Lois also gets an invite to meet the Blur.

Oh, and Chloe had Watchtower fixed all along. She just didn't want to play Superheroes anymore.
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Photo credit: The CW