Episode Summary: Lex kills Lionel and confronts his conscience. Villains are vital to Superman, because otherwise, we end up with him walking across America for some reason (see Superman: Grounded for proof that this happened). Descent sees Lex Luthor complete his transition from sympathetic loner to big bad. In the first five minutes, he murders his father, the magnificent Lionel Luthor who was played positively gleefully by John Glover with the chilling words, "No one will even remember your name." Lionel had been a moustache-twirling villain worthy of Bond prior to his semi-redemption, but we watched Lex almost as closely as Clark. The final moments of this episode, in which he and Clark exchange stares but no words over Lionel's grave, are equivalent to a declaration of war. Rosenbaum carries the episode and gets the best out of Welling too, leaving the audience with no doubt that Smallville had a handle on its legendary villain.
