The CWWhat would life be like for Clark Kent (Tom Welling) on Smallville if everyone knew that he is actually a Superman? What if there were a journal that held every detail about Kal-El, Krypton and Clark Kent? Well, in an upcoming episode Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) discovers there is such a journal, and it's not at all clear that she can be trusted with that info...
We just chatted up Cassidy about Tess' arc this season, and not only does she hold the key to Clark's secret but she's in grave danger herself and may not even be back next season...
Tess and Clark are going for a little flight, and the episode is called "Turbulence"—plane crash anyone?
Ding, ding, ding! It's me and Clark. I approach him in a very different way than Lex did; I see Clark as an opportunity for security in a way that I've never felt before. I, like everybody else, need a hero, and I'm looking to Clark for that.
Does Tess know about Clark's powers?
She knows what she's read, she's knows what she's seen, she knows what she's heard, but she wants him to trust her.
Wait, read?
Tess uncovers Lionel Luthor's diary, and she learns everything.
Clark shouldn't trust her then, right?
That's a good question. We've seen that Tess can kill people, but she's not predictable. You can't really count on her to be one way or the other, but she does things she feels she needs to, even if that means doing a really, really evil thing.
Fans want to see more of Tess this season—what can they look forward to?
There's another episode coming up which is called "Eternal," directed by James Marshall. It's super Tess-heavy, probably the most I've ever been in an episode. I say more words than I've said the entire season, and Tess and Davis finally meet.
Davis Bloome or Doomsday?
Both.
Is she in danger?
Yeah, she gets bitch-slapped. She definitely presses buttons. She's out there; she's like f--k all, I want to know the truth.
It's nice to see a little love connection with Oliver and Tess as well.
We do have an interesting relationship. We haven't touched on the romance of that; I think their romantic relationship lives in a certain time, and it may live again, but right now she's trying to live her life without a man or a father figure or anyone telling her what she should or shouldn't do.
Is Lex really dead? Could he show up in the finale?
No one is ever really dead on Smallville, just like no one is ever really human.
They've taken to humanizing you, though.
I am one of the only humans on the show, really, or the only person who hasn't been affected by Kryptonite or Brainiac. I love that about Tess; when she's doing bad things, you're rooting for her, and then when something horrible happens to her, you kind of feel bad for her in a way.
The finale is still untitled, but do the writers have a plan now that they've been picked up for a ninth season?
They were doing "choose your own adventure." They were doing either a series finale or season finale. So now that we know that we're going another season, they've had to pull things over to a season finale.
The show is picked up for the ninth season, but are you?
I officially have not had the invite back, but I hope that I'm back. I think that it would be awesome to have Tess back. That scene when she's talking in the mirror to Lex and she shuts him off, that was really her turning point for me, because before she was this character that was always looking for Lex. She was really in the show to take on that role because Michael Rosenbaum left, and that's the moment she starts to build her own character.
Promise you will not die this season.
I hope not. If they don't bring me in [for the next season], I will promise you that I will storm into the production office, and there will be a beatdown until they put me in the show.
Should Tess Mercer come back for the ninth season? What do you make of the elusive Lionel Luthor diary? Hit the comments with your thoughts.
Smallville airs Thursdays on the CW at 8 p.m.
—Reporting by Natalie Abrams