This is the second part of my (obviously overlong) response:
We don't truly know who killed Jude, and probably never will. I tend to believe Lex when he said Amanda shot the man, but it is entirely possible that Lex himself pulled the trigger. Either way, I saw the shooting as something done in defense of innocent lives: Jude had already attacked Lex with a knife while Lex was unarmed and offering no physical threat to Jude whatsoever, and Jude seemed about to attack Lex again when he was shot. Consequently, I don't consider that shooting an immoral or unethical act, no matter who was actually responsible. (True, Lex set up the initial situation to let Amanda find out Jude was cheating on her, but -- in all honesty -- she did have a right to know that. Jude turning violent was his own choice; it was not something Lex forced on him.)
Admittedly, Lex does manipulate people; he learned that under Lionel's tutelage while growing up, and the vast majority of people he's known have done their best to use Lex to their own advantage, so I cannot entirely fault Lex for tending to see the world as a case of 'use or be used.' Despite this, when Lex and Clark first met, Lex was (for the most part) surprisingly honest and open with Clark...until it became so clear that Clark was lying to him that Lex turned more wary and, of course, more curious. Again, I can't really blame Lex for that.
Finally, you mentioned the "Mortal" setup. There was no proof whatsoever that Lex deliberately set that situation up. Yes, he was at Belle Reve that day; Lionel had just been admitted as a patient, and Lex wanted to personally check on his father's condition and to personally discuss Lionel's treatment with his doctor. And, yes, Lex bumped into one of the metahumans in the hall -- but I can personally attest to having bumped into any number of people in my life, without ever having been involved in a criminal conspiracy with any of them. The metahuman may well have bumped into Lex on purpose in order to free himself from his manacles, but there's no reason to think Lex had anything to do with that beyond happening to be the first person the guy was able to bump into. Lex had security at the Luthorcorp plant, which is only natural, and he had some of the cameras on different power sources, which is a perfectly understandable precaution. When he arrived back in town and was told there'd been a security breach, he naturally checked the video footage on the working cameras...and was surprised to see Clark and Chloe breaking in, and further surprised to see Clark injured when Lex had good reason to suspect Clark was a lot harder to hurt than that. Clark and Chloe jumped to the conclusion that Lex had set the whole hostage situation up, just as they have jumped to many similar conclusions of Lex's guilt in situations where we, the audience, know for a fact that Lex was perfectly innocent. To me, this looks like just another case of Clark wrongly accusing Lex, and physically assaulting him into the bargain. I credit Lex with great restraint that he waited so long to use force to defend himself, and that he didn't report Clark to the police afterwards. (Not that he ever has, no matter how much Clark has deserved it.)
And, no, I wasn't offended by any of your comments. I hope you're not offended by any of mine.
Re: quibbles are fun :-)
We don't truly know who killed Jude, and probably never will. I tend to believe Lex when he said Amanda shot the man, but it is entirely possible that Lex himself pulled the trigger. Either way, I saw the shooting as something done in defense of innocent lives: Jude had already attacked Lex with a knife while Lex was unarmed and offering no physical threat to Jude whatsoever, and Jude seemed about to attack Lex again when he was shot. Consequently, I don't consider that shooting an immoral or unethical act, no matter who was actually responsible. (True, Lex set up the initial situation to let Amanda find out Jude was cheating on her, but -- in all honesty -- she did have a right to know that. Jude turning violent was his own choice; it was not something Lex forced on him.)
Admittedly, Lex does manipulate people; he learned that under Lionel's tutelage while growing up, and the vast majority of people he's known have done their best to use Lex to their own advantage, so I cannot entirely fault Lex for tending to see the world as a case of 'use or be used.' Despite this, when Lex and Clark first met, Lex was (for the most part) surprisingly honest and open with Clark...until it became so clear that Clark was lying to him that Lex turned more wary and, of course, more curious. Again, I can't really blame Lex for that.
Finally, you mentioned the "Mortal" setup. There was no proof whatsoever that Lex deliberately set that situation up. Yes, he was at Belle Reve that day; Lionel had just been admitted as a patient, and Lex wanted to personally check on his father's condition and to personally discuss Lionel's treatment with his doctor. And, yes, Lex bumped into one of the metahumans in the hall -- but I can personally attest to having bumped into any number of people in my life, without ever having been involved in a criminal conspiracy with any of them. The metahuman may well have bumped into Lex on purpose in order to free himself from his manacles, but there's no reason to think Lex had anything to do with that beyond happening to be the first person the guy was able to bump into. Lex had security at the Luthorcorp plant, which is only natural, and he had some of the cameras on different power sources, which is a perfectly understandable precaution. When he arrived back in town and was told there'd been a security breach, he naturally checked the video footage on the working cameras...and was surprised to see Clark and Chloe breaking in, and further surprised to see Clark injured when Lex had good reason to suspect Clark was a lot harder to hurt than that. Clark and Chloe jumped to the conclusion that Lex had set the whole hostage situation up, just as they have jumped to many similar conclusions of Lex's guilt in situations where we, the audience, know for a fact that Lex was perfectly innocent. To me, this looks like just another case of Clark wrongly accusing Lex, and physically assaulting him into the bargain. I credit Lex with great restraint that he waited so long to use force to defend himself, and that he didn't report Clark to the police afterwards. (Not that he ever has, no matter how much Clark has deserved it.)
And, no, I wasn't offended by any of your comments. I hope you're not offended by any of mine.