Improbably, Lex, Lois, and Kara are all in Detroit together. Lex has apparently befriended the amnesiac Kara (who"s been living as a waitress named Linda), while Lois has come to the rescue to expose Lex"s charade. The whole thing is derailed, however, when a busboy who likes Kara tries to defend her from Lex, and the two shoot each other. Lex comes out of the deal worse off: he gets shot right in the head, which should kill him instantly, right? Not so fast. Thanks to the miracle of television narrative, Lex is anonymously transported from Detroit to Smallville Medical Center with a bullet lodged in his head and somehow, dude survives. What follows is even sillier: Lois and Kara are being held captive by the busboy, and Clark, Chloe, and Papa Luthor decide that the only way to find them is either to revive Lex or to use dangerous LuthorCorp technology to burrow into his memories. Say whaaaaa!?
Clark decides to go into Lex"s brain to recover Kara and Lois"s location. He"s told that several people have died trying to use the technology. Clark thinks he"s immune because he"s super, but we all know his brain"s not so invulnerable. Inside Lex"s brain, Clark finds a sad little boy named Alexander, the last bit of humanity left in there. Alexander witnesses some pretty intense fighting between Mama and Papa Luthor over something called "the Veritas project." Clark finds Lois and Kara"s location, but not before BrainLex discovers Clark in there and forces him to watch BrainLex do the nasty with a very willing memory of Lana. Dude, that"s fucked up! Just as he"s about to find his way out, Lex dies, taking Clark with him. Chloe uses her healing power to bring them both back, right in front of an amazed Papa Luthor. Clark is about to exit the brain, but little Alexander begs him not to go; the evil, grown-up Lex has been trying to kill Alexander off. Clark promises to look out for him and that they"ll meet again. He goes to rescue Kara and Lois, which takes all of ten seconds.
Chloe -- dead for eighteen hours from using her healing power -- returns to life at the Talon apartment. She tells Clark that she"s more confused than ever about her abilities, and doesn"t know if she"ll use them again. Clark visits Lex and tries to advise him to follow his good side. Lex isn"t too thrilled with that idea. Papa Luthor -- still rattled by Lex"s close call -- tells his son that he loves him. Lex, long-abused, isn"t hearing much of that, either. But Lex does warm up to Kara, who still has amnesia and doesn"t know about her own powers yet. She thinks that Clark is hiding something, and trusts Lex much more. Lex tells her that he"s got a team of researchers who"ll help her to recover her memories: he plans for them to find the truth together.