That scene didn't bother me as much -- I just found it creepy, and I'm okay with creepy. (I'm also assuming that Helen has a red shirt on underneath anything she's wearing.) As someone else said, Lex's whole treatment of Clark would make more sense in Season 4 or 5, but still I like the Bluebeard room.

Your snippet was great; I especially like the idea of Lex dropping hints. It's when he stops doing that that he'll be dangerous enough to destroy the world.