I feel so bad for Lionel. Yes, his methods seemed cruel, they were unorthodox, unconventional, you name it. But Clark should have asked himself, "Why would Lionel protect my secret this whole time, and suddenly betray me now?" He just shut down and stopped listening to anyone.
Catherine CRC his anger got the better of him Lionel was indeed just trying to protect him. The thing about Clark is that he was too stubborn for his own good.
He didn't really changed. He was still the narcissist manipulator and those weren't methods, it was the ultimate display of cowerdice. Hollowing Lex so he could become the ultimate successor while undermining him in every turn. All on the notion that Lex would not get out of his shadow. Lionel is balanced by doing that, Lex is not.
If clark had listened to people who tried to talk to him, lionel may still have survived, jonathan would not have died etc. He made misstake after misstake, and never learned anything.
Nevertheless Johnathan was right even though he is trying to redeem himself the fact is it’s too late because he killed innocent people who wanted to protect Clark while Lionel wanted to control him Lana and Chloe when someone grabs you at the throat like that that’s a clear sign to back the hell off
