Smallville Season 7 : The Superman Mythos Returns to the Forefront Part 3 of 3

Smallville Season 7 : The Superman Mythos Returns to the Forefront

Part 3 of 3

By Kate Blake

Aka SN66 Admin Operation Save Clark Kent

Episode 714 Traveler

This episode drips with allusions to earlier episodes and some real continuity in storytelling, something Smallville has not always been known for. I give the writers and producers credit for this. This season has been turbulent with the writers strike. Early in the season we saw some new talent enter the Smallville writing team including some from a variety of other shows including big name series in science fiction and drama. I feel this is a good thing as these new writers have obviously watched the entire series from beginning to end recently and thus are very much in touch with what has been shown in earlier seasons, whereas those early episodes feel like forever ago to the folks who have been on the show since the beginning.

Traveler opens with Lionel getting another letter which has him scared and making a call and giving orders.

714 Lionel Letter

We next see Clark in the barn, he is hearing some noises. He is caught unawares and attacked. This time though his attackers are prepared- they have stunners with charged kryptonite to disable him so he can be taken away.
714 Clark Kidnapped

Meanwhile another Luthor is making headway with another Kent. Lex has convinced Kara to undergo a risky procedure to retrieve her memory. After he leaves her room we see him watching her on the video cameras he told Lana a year earlier were only for security purposes….
714 Lex Kara

Back at the farm Lana realizes Clark is missing and she and Chloe go looking for him. They go to Lionel who lies to them and tries to implicate Lex. Lana tells Lionel that if Lex has hurt Clark she will KILL Lex. Chloe figures out that Lionel is hiding things when she discovers what is probably the new 33.1 . She and Lana decide they need Kara if they have any chance of saving Clark.

714 Lionel lying, 714 Chloe Lana

Chloe and Lana set out to get Kara away from Lex and take her to the fortress to get her memory back. Lana wisely stays out of the way of Jor-El and allows Chloe to act as Kara’s escort. Kudos for having Lana clueless about the key and the portal. I am glad to know Clark hasn’t shared every little thing with her and has some level of distrust and self-preservation still.

Clark is not having a good time. His captor Pierce was head of security for Lex at 33.1 and really hates meteor freaks and takes great joy in making Clark suffer. Lionel is appalled when he realizes what Pierce is doing and tells him to stop it or suffer the consequences.

Clark Torture 1 , Clark Torture 2, Clark Torture 3

Watch out Clark! He’s a frakking Cylon in another Universe!

We learn who has sent Lionel the letters that have him in a fluster. It is Patricia Swann played by Gina Holden. Patricia is Dr. Virgil Swann’s daughter and she is after the traveler whom the 4 families agreed to protect many years ago. She tells Lionel she knows he killed Edward Teague, the Queens and her own father and suspects he was involved with Genevieve’s death ( sorry- that was the ex-Mrs. Lex Luthor) , she tells him that if he delivers the Traveler to her she will give him her evidence against him as a fair trade.

Patricia and Lionel

When Lionel initially rebuffs her, Patricia visits her childhood friend Lex and gives him a painting of the symbol. Lex notices her locket and comments on it. Patricia says she got it from her father and never takes it off.

Lex and Patricia

Lex goes to his father next with the symbol and Lionel blows him off. Big mistake- Lex knows there is more to this than Lionel is saying and he wants the answers. Memories from his childhood are buried in his sub-conscience but he knows they are there and they are important. We saw how important Veritas was to Lionel when Clark toured Lex Luthor memory lane in Fracture.
Lex and Lionel

Lionel decides to give into Patricia not because he fears exposure but because he doesn’t want Lex to learn Clark’s secret. When he takes Patricia to the holding cell, she is appalled. Pierce is not going to hand over his prisoner to anyone and knocks her out before she can release Clark.

Luckily Chloe has been able to appeal to Jor-El who has restored Kara’s memories and she is able to get to the hanger where Clark is being held and break him out and save him. In the battle for his freedom Clark realizes Lionel was behind his kidnapping and no longer trusts him. He is shaken by the knowledge that his naivety for wanting to see the best in people has led him into murky Luthor waters again.
Handing over the Traveler & the Escape

Patricia has some very interesting things to share with Clark when he brings her back to the farm. She tells him that he is a force for good and she wants to help him and be there for him as her father had been. Clark is surprised as he reviews a journal she gives him that her father wrote in his last years. It is full of Kryptonian symbols and writings.

Patricia talking to Clark

This episode ends with Kara telling Clark how sorry she is that she was fooled by Lex and that she ever trusted him. He tells her not to feel bad- he was once Lex’s best friend and considered Lionel a trusted friend. Now he doesn’t trust either of them but he is glad they have each other.

Our final scene has Patricia Swann being gunned down Sopranos style by her limo driver and her locket being delivered to Lex covered in her blood.
Finale

Episode 715 Veritas


The stage is set for a series of confrontations and we have many unanswered questions.

What all is in Dr. Swann’s journal?

What is Lionel so afraid of?

What is Brainiac’s full agenda? What does he want with Kara and Clark?

What is the key in Patricia’s locket a key to?

How will Oliver react when we see him next and he learns that Lionel was responsible for his parent’s deaths?

How many secrets about Veritas remain that we haven’t even got any hints about yet?

What is Lionel planning to do to avenge Grant’s death- we know he hasn’t forgotten about that.

What will Lana do when she finds out it was Lionel who kidnapped Clark? The man who threatened Clark and his wellbeing to get her to marry Lex? She threatened Lex’s life in Traveler- will she take her anger out on Lionel?

How many times can Chloe heal people before it really does kill her?

How many people have to tell Clark that we need heroes before he decides that means him and he has the responsibility of taking the weight of saving the world on his broad shoulders and cannot sit around on the farm burying his head in the sand any longer?

What will be the defining event this season to get him back on the hero’s journey and off the romantic soap roller coaster?

CREDITS: Screen caps from JC at SVFan.com, video clips my own and from SmallvilleStarpoints