Smallville: Quest (Episode 719)

In the grand tradition of Smallville, we end the previous episode on a dramatic and puzzling note, only to ignore it completely in the current episode. Kara doesn't even rate a mention this week, much less an appearance. Golly, I can't imagine what part she could have played in the events of this episode, can you? No reason our heroes might have thought to call on her.

We begin at Luthor mansion, where a wizened old man fresh from sick bay on the Galactica examines the device Lex retrieved from the safety deposit box in Zürich. Doc Cottle is fascinated by the intricate gears in the "cryptograph," but cannot discern what it does. He wants to take it back to his workshop, and Lex instructs his security head -- a nameless, attractive guy we've seen a few times now -- to put Cottle under constant surveillance.

As soon as he is alone, however, Lex is attacked by none other than Robot Bank Employee -- the dude who tried to garrot him in Zürich -- who engages Lex in a few bouts of fire poker fencing before stabbing him in the side with a knife. Lex hits the floor, and rather than making sure he's good and dead, RBE takes this opportunity to practice his carving. He splits at the sound of people coming, and security finds Lex bleeding on the floor with krypto-symbols carved into his chest.

Later, Lex wakes up shirtless in the hospital, his wounds stitched but not bandaged. Bandages would defeat the purpose of the shirtlessness, you see.

I think this extends out of the realm in which scars are sexy and into the realm of keeping a plastic surgeon on retainer.

Lex tells his Curiously Attractive Security Head about RBE, and CASH points to Lex's chest and suggests the assailant wanted to do more than just kill Lex. Lex grabs a medical tray and uses it as a mirror to look at his sutures. He realizes RBE must be after the cryptograph.

At the Talon, Jimmy sneaks into the darkened apartment, only to have a fully-awake Chloe turn on the bedside lamp and tease him about standing her up. Unable to contain his excitement, he takes a running leap onto the bed beside her, thrilled with the unexpected spoils of his evening ambulance-chasing. Ignoring Chloe's attempts to seduce him -- you're a stronger man than I would be, dude -- Jimmy shows her the pictures he took of Lex arriving at the hospital, including a highly unrealistic angle featuring a close-up of the symbols on his chest. Did he pose as an orderly, or what?

Later, Clark meets Chloe at the hospital, wondering why Lex's injury warrants dragging him out of bed. Heh. Chloe shows him Jimmy's picture, and Clark translates the two interlocking symbols as "traveler" and "savior." I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that the cruciform symbol denotes the latter. They deduce that someone connected to Veritas ("the saviors of the Traveler") must have done it -- except all the members of Veritas are dead. Chloe has tracked Lex to the safety deposit box containing the device to control Clark, but since Clark is still under his own steam, she figures Lex hasn't used it yet. She wonders if that's because he doesn't know who Clark is. Clark: "There's only one way to find out." He stalks toward Lex's hospital room, only to find it empty. Just as well, Clark. Lex is in no shape for angry sex at the moment.

At an antique shop in Metropolis, Doc Cottle spots something illuminating in the construction of the cryptograph. Rather endearingly, he attempts to get Lex's security people to come have a look through his magnifying glass, but RBE chooses that moment to burst in, guns blazing. He takes out Cottle's security detail, and Cottle is just about to hand over the cryptograph when Lex arrives and shoots RBE in the back.

At ISIS, Clark and Chloe have Jimmy's shots of Lex's chest playing as a slideshow on the ginormous monitors lining the walls. There are more subtle methods of fannish observation, guys, but I suppose if you have the technology... Clark bemoans that there is someone out there willing to kill in his name. Chloe: "That's probably how God felt about the Crusades." Word. Also, this isn't the first time Chloe has compared Clark to God, and what with certain events and locations in this episode, it seems this is a comparison we're going to be exploring for a while.

Personally, I see it as a graph depicting Lex's general hotness factor as the series has progressed.

Clark suddenly notices that where the two symbols intersect, they form a third symbol standing for "sanctuary," which is the closest the Kryptonian language comes to a word for "church." In that context, Chloe guesses that the symbol for "savior" could denote "saint" instead. At this point anybody who's ever seen television or movies before should be shouting "Christopher!" at the screen, but Chloe has to look it up. Sure enough, she finds that St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers, and that the only cathedral on this continent named for him is in Montreal.

Here we go to commercial, in which Chloe demonstrates the full QWERTY keyboard and spectacular mapping skillz of the Sprint LG. That way Clark won't have to stop for directions as he superspeeds his way past customs.

In the back of Lex's limo, a shaken Doc Cottle explains that he found a symbol etched on the cryptograph, marking it as the work of a famous European watchmaker who mysteriously vanished from the public eye and was rumored to have been commissioned to design a magnificent clock. A set of gear sketches from this clock match the cryptograph exactly, and after decades of its unknown whereabouts, the clock was donated to -- you guessed it -- St. Christopher's Cathedral, by a wealthy philanthropist named -- shocker -- Dr. Virgil Swann.

Clark arrives outside St. Christopher's and, checking his trusty Sprint LG to be sure this is the right place -- I wish I were kidding -- proceeds inside the empty church. In front of the altar is a large stone basin of holy water, inside which are Kryptonian symbols that instruct the reader to "cast your eye beneath the surface." Clark looks around and, seeing no one, simply lifts the (impossibly heavy) bowl to reveal another symbol on the underside. Suddenly a cloaked man behind Clark declares that he's waited his whole life to find the one person who could not only read the inscription, but follow the instructions. He introduces himself as Edward Teague, the last surviving member of Veritas, and kneels before Clark to begin his service to the Traveler.

I believe I mentioned something earlier about a theme of comparing Clark to God. Oh hey, Jesus, how's it hangin'?

Clark is obviously uncomfortable with the whole worship vibe Teague has going on, but Teague explains that the Queens, Swann, and Teague's wife and son were happy to give their lives to protect the Traveler. "That's the difference between Believers and Non-Believers," Teague says, increasing his creepiness by a factor of ten every second. He does not know what the device to control the Traveler does, as Dan Brown Dr. Swann kept that secret to himself and scattered clues around the world to prevent the device from falling into the wrong hands.

However, Lex's hands are definitely the wrong ones, and Teague admits he tried to kill him rather than let him get any closer. And come to think of it, Teague is a bit cheesed off that Clark knows what Lex is and yet hasn't "taken care of him before." Well, Edward, theories on why that is differ wildly, depending on whether you're a slash fan. Clark does not answer, and Teague takes that to mean that despite Veritas' sacrifices on his behalf, Clark has no desire to fulfill his destiny. He flips open the knob on his walking stick to reveal a piece of kryptonite, and declares that Lex must be prevented from controlling Clark -- at all costs.

On the Lexjet, Lex downs some painkillers and asks whether Cottle will have some conclusions about the cryptgraph before they arrive in Montreal. Cottle, showing more spunk than your average Lexentist, points out that given the circumstances, he doesn't expect to make it off this plane alive -- so why should he continue to help? Lex tells Cottle about his father's obsession with finding "The Truth" effectively orphaning Lex long before Lionel died. Lex is in turn obsessed with finding out why that was, and the cryptograph is the answer. Cottle is moved to get back to work.

At ISIS, Chloe leaves a voicemail for Clark to warn him that Lex is on the way. Jimmy enters with the "revelation" that symbols like the ones carved into Lex have been sighted all over Smallville for years. Alarmed that Jimmy's curiosity is getting dangerous, Chloe shrugs off his enthusiasm, but he shows her a drawing from the Kawatche caves that pictographic experts say depicts a human sacrifice:

S marks the spot.

Sure enough, we catch up with Clark in a similar situation, strapped to a stone table bathed in a green krypto-glow. Clark is all, VERITAS SCHMERITAS, WHAT THE HELL KIND OF PROTECTION IS THIS, YO. Virgil Swann, Teague says, was an idealist who believed the Traveler was earth's savior; but other interpretations of Jor El's transmissions called him the Destroyer, and Jor El sent the device to safeguard against the possibility that the Traveler would turn against humanity. Teague pours from a vat of krypto-liquid into a kind of narrow trough along the edge of the stone table, filling in the shapes of Kryptonian symbols at the corners. He then carves the symbol for the House of El into Clark's chest.

Elsewhere in the church, Lex has found the large grandfather clock. Exposing the gears, he lines them up with the cryptograph and snaps the device in place. Sure enough, the dials on the face of the cryptograph align to form the Veritas V, and -- of all things -- a music box within the clock begins to play what sounds like a lullaby. Lex listens, transfixed, until the lullaby ends and the clock's hands swivel in opposite directions to land at 1:55. Panels revolve in the clock face to reveal a small, shield-shaped object with the watchmaker's symbol on it. Lex removes the little shield just in time for Edward Teague to appear behind him.

Proving that he's creepy no matter who he's talking to, Teague remarks on how much "little Alexander" has changed, and that without the Traveler, there can be no Destroyer. They fight, and the little shield goes flying under a table.

Back in the crypt, Chloe arrives and drains the krypto-liquid from the table back into its vat. Clark's chest markings heal instantly, and he sits up, wondering how she got here. "Oliver's jet," Chloe explains. "Fringe benefit of being a hero hag." Heh.

Clark zips into the clock room and finds Lex about to deliver a killing blow to Edward Teague. Clark knocks them to the ground and deflects the knife from Lex's hand into the clock, destroying it. He catches Teague's eye, but zooms away before Lex can look round. A nun enters, demanding to know what's happened. Read the recap, honey.

Lex retrieves the little shield, and we catch up with him on his Lexjet, minus Doc Cottle Milash, who finally has a name. CASH sent him back to Metropolis, and they are now headed to Scotland. As instructed, he has found Lex a book about St. Kilda, a small island off the west coast. Turns out Lex recognized the lullaby played by the clock as a Scottish folk tune his father made him memorize when he was first learning the piano. CASH shows Lex a picture of a small town that was once built around a castle there -- until "a wealthy American bought the castle and shipped it back to the U.S."

Wow, writers. There are plenty of times when I suspect you are smoking the bad crack, but the continuity has been pretty stellar of late. Luthor mansion, Lex's piano -- these are things I haven't thought about in years. The symmetry isn't lost on Lex, either -- he realizes that even in shipping the castle over stone by stone, Lionel must not have found what he was looking for. He orders a course change for home.

Chloe arrives home to find that Jimmy has set up candles and champagne to celebrate the sale of his first article -- to Lex. In a refreshing twist on exposition, since he tells the story thinking Chloe doesn't know it yet -- serving also as a refresher course for those of us who haven't thought about the Kawatche caves since Season 2, or whenever the hell they were featured -- Jimmy explains about the battle between Naman and Sageeth. He shows Chloe a familiar image from the cave wall showing Naman and Sageeth entertwined, which is apparently what was interesting to Lex. I'll bet. Anyway, the image is supposed to depict a resolution to the epic battle, but no one knows who wins.

Is it just me, or is the overall shape a heart with an arrow through it? I'm just sayin'.

Chloe shows the image to Clark the next day at the farm, but Clark is unimpressed with the possible mythical origins of his story. He's more caught up in the notion that in his twisted way, Teague was trying to protect the world from a Clark gone wrong. Chloe points out that Lex does not share Clark's hesitance to take down his enemy.

Clark: "What do you want me to do, Chloe? Kill him?"
Chloe: *says a lot by not saying anything*

Clark is all, "DUDE, WTF," but Chloe basically tells him to man up: someday he's gonna have to play God.

At Luthor mansion, Lex barks at a scanning crew to work faster in their search. At the piano in his office, he plunks out the melody to the lullaby and murmurs the first lyrics: "On the shores of St. Kilda, the birks sway in the wind, from the left to the right again." Thinking thinkily, Lex confirms with CASH that the castle faced the south, but to see the shore one would turn right. He recites the next line: "Above the heart of home shines the north star." Coming to a realization, he orders everyone out.

Alone, Lex stares into the fireplace, and in particular at the decoration on the hearth above it, which includes a four-diamond symbol in the shape of a star -- just like the watchmaker's mark. He digs the little shield out of his pocket, which bears the same symbol. Crossing to the hearth, Lex uses a poker to bust through the star, out of which he pulls a multi-faceted crystalline sphere. One of its faces has a recess into which Lex places the shield.

The shield glows, and the sphere floats out of Lex's hand. It projects a holograph of the earth around itself, and draws a bead on what can only be a Very Special Place near the North Pole. Dun dun dun.

Hmm. To pack: sleeping bag, condoms, extra matches, talking points for world domination, condoms, military rations, and condoms.

Screencaps courtesy dj_capslock