Smallville's 8th season

Warning: contains spoilers!!

The last season's finale left us (again) with great changes and a big cliffhanger. Lionel died, Lana left Clark, Chloe got arrested, Kara was sent to the phantom zone, Lex and Clark were in a collapsing fortress. The new season actually brought a change for a change (pun intended)! Lex, Lana, Kara and Lionel are still absent, in the show and in the opening credits. I did read on Wikipedia that Lana will return for 5 more episodes and Lex is "open to appearing as an occasional guest", but nothing on Kara and Lionel. I guess Lionel could actually be really dead, but what about Kara? Hope she makes it out, I liked her.
There are however three new entries in the opening sequence. Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow (yay ^^ if only I were gay... XD), Tess Mercer and Davis Bloome. We already know Oliver, but who are the other two? Tess is the new CEO of LuthorCorp, so I guess she'll take Lex's role, while Davis is a paramedic with some secret.
As for this season't main plot, in episode 2 seems like Tess is organizing some kind of "anti justice league" and pyrowoman will be a part of it. And I hope this means also more screentime for the justice league, maybe new recruits too ^__^
In the end, I wonder what Lex's and Lana's leaving the show will do to the series in general. I hear Lex is/was quite popular, so he might take a share of viewers with him. And we all know that a big loss of viewers can in the end mean ending the show (another intended pun). I hope they'll at least try to refresh the show with some new ideas.