Smallville: Promise

Very powerful. The episode seems to be contradicting itself, then turns out to be presenting some of its scenes from different points of view. This is a technique more easily deployed in prose fiction. We see Clark receive a phone call from Chloe, then later see Chloe make that phone call. The dialogue is the same so we realize what is happening.

Lex commits murder on his wedding day. He is concealing some terrible secret about Lana's pregnancy. Lionel knows how to blackmail Lana to go through with the wedding, how to detect then cover up the murder and how to collect from Lex later. Lionel welcomes Lana into the family. When it comes to promoting the Luthors' fortunes at any cost, he remains as manipulative as ever. Lionel and Lex can live with a total contradiction between social appearances and reality.

The consistent theme of Smallville is dishonesty and deception, all stemming from the original idea of Superman's secret identity.