I suppose another explanation could be that Jor-El is influencing him on a subconscious level, even though he is not consciously aware of what is going on. But as much as I love Lionel, if he ends up being redeemed after everything he has done....I will be very angry.
Well, I love to hate Lionel, as it were, but we're on the same page as far as *this* actually being a redemption arc. And I realized, this morning as I was driving in to work, that it bothers me *so much* because it's a redemption that has *nothing* to do with Lionel himself, and everything to do with Kryptonian machinations.
To break it down: Even if one believes, as some people do, that Lionel was not only transformed thanks to his soul possession of Clark's body in Transference but that he also never reverted back to his old self in Onyx (but was instead using that as a ruse to exert a different type of influence over Lex), that's still something Lionel hasn't *actively sought*. The only reason he and Clark traded bodies was because Lionel was inexcusably trying to trap *Lex's* soul inside Lionel's *dying and imprisoned body*. Lionel was attempting an unquestionably evil act and unexpectedly got a moral bonus in the bargain. But he didn't *want* redemption back then; he didn't seek it out. It was conferred on him through, apparently, the magical healing powers of Clark's physical form.
Alternatively, if S5!Lionel is being entirely or regularly controlled by Jor-El, or Jor-El has been subconsciously working on him even when he's not actively being used as Jor-El's avatar, again, none of the temperance or mercy of compassion we're seeing in Lionel, at least towards the Kents (and possibly Chloe), is coming from or about *Lionel qua Lionel*. It's not Lionel actively trying to be a better person because he *wants* to be; it's because someone else is influencing him, quite literally, in that direction.
We've talked about this before, but many of the things Lionel's done are well-nigh unforgivable, but certainly, if he's supposed to be racking up moral credits towards redemption, then surely those credits should be *his own doing*. And they're not. If Lionel isn't fully in control of himself and hasn't been since Commencement, then his soul doesn't and *shouldn't* get the benefits.
There's also how facile it is: All if forgiven because Lionel's willing to help Clark and protect Clark? I'm sorry, but the question of moral righteousness doesn't *just* come down to whose secrets one is willing to protect. And it also doesn't just come down to whose *side* you're on, if the tenets and principles of that side aren't somehow *actively* your own. Lionel not sending Clark to a lab *now* doesn't somehow completely and totally undo all the other truly awful things he's done *before* now.
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Well, I love to hate Lionel, as it were, but we're on the same page as far as *this* actually being a redemption arc. And I realized, this morning as I was driving in to work, that it bothers me *so much* because it's a redemption that has *nothing* to do with Lionel himself, and everything to do with Kryptonian machinations.
To break it down: Even if one believes, as some people do, that Lionel was not only transformed thanks to his soul possession of Clark's body in Transference but that he also never reverted back to his old self in Onyx (but was instead using that as a ruse to exert a different type of influence over Lex), that's still something Lionel hasn't *actively sought*. The only reason he and Clark traded bodies was because Lionel was inexcusably trying to trap *Lex's* soul inside Lionel's *dying and imprisoned body*. Lionel was attempting an unquestionably evil act and unexpectedly got a moral bonus in the bargain. But he didn't *want* redemption back then; he didn't seek it out. It was conferred on him through, apparently, the magical healing powers of Clark's physical form.
Alternatively, if S5!Lionel is being entirely or regularly controlled by Jor-El, or Jor-El has been subconsciously working on him even when he's not actively being used as Jor-El's avatar, again, none of the temperance or mercy of compassion we're seeing in Lionel, at least towards the Kents (and possibly Chloe), is coming from or about *Lionel qua Lionel*. It's not Lionel actively trying to be a better person because he *wants* to be; it's because someone else is influencing him, quite literally, in that direction.
We've talked about this before, but many of the things Lionel's done are well-nigh unforgivable, but certainly, if he's supposed to be racking up moral credits towards redemption, then surely those credits should be *his own doing*. And they're not. If Lionel isn't fully in control of himself and hasn't been since Commencement, then his soul doesn't and *shouldn't* get the benefits.
There's also how facile it is: All if forgiven because Lionel's willing to help Clark and protect Clark? I'm sorry, but the question of moral righteousness doesn't *just* come down to whose secrets one is willing to protect. And it also doesn't just come down to whose *side* you're on, if the tenets and principles of that side aren't somehow *actively* your own. Lionel not sending Clark to a lab *now* doesn't somehow completely and totally undo all the other truly awful things he's done *before* now.