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Quest: Still Searching for Meaning- an Episode Review
QUEST review by Baudyhallee, OSCK Moderator,
Editing and additon of multi-media by Kate Blake, Admin OSCK
Serial television at its best carries the storylines forward in each episode. If it’s excellent serial television, each episode can stand alone in its own right. Quest, not filler, not exactly a stand alone episode, but it did carry the storyline straight into the season finale next week and it did continue Clark’s growth in APOCALYPSE. For THAT I am truly grateful. No backsliding this week for our hero. A major feat in itself.
This episode was written by Holly Harold (FIERCE).
My lame CW affiliate screwed up the first minute of the show by pausing on their local bozo’s plug for the CW. So I missed the introduction of Donnelly Rhodes character, the antiquities expert.
SV has some amazing actors come on the show to play these one shot vital parts. Tim Guinee (IRON MAN), Aaron Douglas (BSG), Robert Picardo (CB & ST), etc. I remember Donnelly Rhodes from the Young and the Restless and SOAP. He’s done Wonder Woman, X-files, Supernatural and BSG since then. Before that he did Maverick and Wagon Train (what was he, 12?) There’s a comfort level that’s achieved when you see him on screen. He’s taken you on a journey before and he made it believable.
Lex has “hired” this antiquities expert to examine the cryptograph (on this show you want to spell it ‘kryptograph’) he brought back from Zurich. Milasch, the expert, wants to take it with him to study it. Lex refuses saying it’s priceless. Milasch says, “If there is not way to decipher its meaning then your priceless heirloom has no value at all.” Good words to ponder. A security detail is assigned to the expert so he can examine the cryptograph further in his shop.
Lex is attacked in his own home and carved with a knife. A diamond with a cross is sliced into his chest. Very graphic. Queasy graphic. A minion calls an ambulance.
Smallville Medical Center. Lex is sewn up. Also very graphic, but we have to have a close up of these symbols. The assailant was the bank manager in Zurich, who presumably was guarding the safety deposit box. Lex realizes his attacker is after the cryptograph.
Jimmy has a key to the Talon apartment. (Clark usually just walks right in.)
Chloe is in bed and has fallen asleep reading “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” by Malcolm Gladwell. Maybe someone should have read this at the beginning of season 7. She turns on a light and makes a comment about being stood up and where’s the cheesecake?
Jimmy informs her that he has been to SMC when they brought Lex in and he has a picture of Lex’s symbolized chest. She’s frisky up until this point. She’s not a reporter at heart – with hearing Lex Luthor the billionaire has arrived in the ER all carved up. But after seeing the pic, Chloe knows the symbols and how they relate to Clark. Sidekick, not reporter. Jimmy, on the other hand, is very excited about the event. He smells a story.
Chloe arrives at SMC and we see our hero for the first time. I can say that in this episode. He’s thinking for himself now. Clark’s cranky because Chloe woke him up. “You dragged me out of bed because someone hurt Lex?” I don’t know if he’s still reeling from having a cold one with Lois or if he’s come to realize Chloe expects him to heel when she calls. She has a pic of Lex’s chest carving. Clark reads the symbols as Traveler and Savior.
Chloe exposition. Clark finds out Lex has been to Zurich and used the keys while he was gone . . ? When was Clark gone? She saw him after the AU. Awww that’s right SHE was gone when he was saving his infant self from Brainiac’s evil plan and his talk with Kara and his night out with Lois.
Are you starting to see Chloe’s expectations of this relationship? Don’t worry, there’s more.
“Maybe Lex doesn’t know who you are.” A determined Clark says, “There’s only one way to find out.” He starts walking towards Lex’s room. YEA!!!
“You’re not serious.” Oops, K9 is off the leash.
We see there is no backtracking for Clark’s determination and confidence. It is clear the AU and perhaps his night out with Lois has kept him out of boy mode and he’s become decisive. Ready to face Lex. Lex has left the hospital.
The Antiquities shop. The bank manager is outside and makes a call. Someone tells him, “Retrieve the cryptograph.”
The expert recognizes something in the mechanism. The attacker arrives and shoots the security detail. When he has the gun poised on the expert, Lex shoots him in the back from the doorway. His hand is bandaged to remind us that he’s been wounded.
At Isis, Chloe and Clark are looking at the Lex ER pics on the megalotron. Clark is thinking. YEA!!!
So the Metatron (DOGMA reference, see Voice of God. Also, Kal-El means Voice of God in Hebrew) begins to tell her resident deity that if someone did kidnap Lex, they did it to save him. “That’s the last thing I need. Killing people in my name.” To which Chloe replies, “That’s probably how God felt about the crusades.”
Uhhh, okaaaay. Clark looks as weirded out by that remark as the rest of us. Where is she going with that?
Clark sees something in the pics that his sidekick didn’t. The symbols overlap and create the word, sanctuary. There’s no Kryptonian word for church. (this is a confusing point as we will see later – if there was a sacrificial altar – there probably was a temple of some kind, right?)
Chloe gets the idea to look up the patron saint of travelers, which most people know is St. Christopher. A saint who was kicked out of the Catholic church after Vatican II along with St. Barbara. Way to go Ms. Know-It-All.
“Hand me your phone.” Apparently the Kryptonian brain can’t handle the intricacies of a digital cell phone. Clark dutifully hands her his Sprint phone. Clark’s character denigrated for sponsor shilling. A few ad endorsement words by Chloe and then Ms. Choogle makes another error. “There’s only one St. Christopher Cathedral on this continent and it’s in Montreal.” Actually, there are 13 Catholic, 19 Episcopal and one miscellaneous church who are named after St. Christopher in the United States, but who’s counting.
Expert and Lex on plane to Montreal. Milesch explains that the cryptothing was made by Deitrich Brower, a renowned watchmaker. There are Brower timing systems in skiing and there is a Brower molecular clock. Don’t know about the Deitrich. Brower disappeared after creating this clock masterpiece of which there was only one sketch. Dr. Swann donated it posthumously. Surprise for Lex – the pieces are falling into place.
Filming actually took place at St Andrews Wesley United in Vancouver. That’s St Andrew of Crete who wrote the Great Canon of Repentance spoken during Lent – at least that’s who the portrait represented behind the altar in the episode. There was even an imp (demon) on his shoulder. Anyways. . . ( Kate note here: For those of you who are Dark Angel fans this was the church used in the episode Pollo Loco where Max fins Ben ( Jensen Ackles) leaving the teeth of his murder victims on the altar )
Clark enters the church and sees kryptonian writing in the holy water basin which at the front of the church near the altar. Okaaay. “Cast your eye beneath the surface,” translates Clark. Must be a dialect. Clark lifts the basin and we see the kryptonian letters for TRA (corrected since DESCENT). Then the evil Emperor (played by Robert Picardo, YEA!!!) appears, sorry Edward Teague. “Only one with the ability to follow the instructions.” So Clark should be looking beneath the surface – that would include people and their motivations. Look into their hearts . . . Yea, Clark needs to be showing some discernment.
ET (this guy is definitely not Yoda) kneels and bows before Clark. “I’ve waited a lifetime for this moment . . .to serve the Traveler.” Clark weirded out moment. First Chloe, now this guy!!!
“I suppose you know what it feels like to be worshipped.” Uhhh, are we talking about the same alien farmboy??? Clark tells him that Veritas put him on a pedestal. “I didn’t.”
ET tells Clark that he went into hiding after the death of his wife and son. Stop. Rewind to COMMENCEMENT. Lex is talking to Lady MacBeth Lana while she washes Genevieve’s blood from her hands. He tells her to let him take care of the body, etc because Edward Teague will never give up on finding his wife’s killer. Yeaaaaa. Looks like ET turned tail and ran!
ET tells Clark that his family sacrificed themselves for him. Clark looks shocked and perplexed. “Why?!”
Now this is where it turns paralleling belief with fanaticism. The object of their worship is not related to the reality of what they are doing in its name. They’re taking oaths under Swann. They believe that Clark is the “next savoir “ Is there a procession line? “Your way of protecting me was by attacking Lex?”
“Lex is a non-believer. He cannot be trusted and his intentions are harmful.” That all might be true, but ET’s actions show that he is not a believer of what the Traveler supposedly represents. Clark wants to know what will control him. Swann never told anyone what that was. One of the clues that Swann scattered was in the church, but not known where.
ET carved up Lex so Clark would see it and come to find him. Okaaaay.
“You must believe how evil Lex is.” Clark replies still confident and assertive. “I know who Lex is. I know what he’s done.”
Edward can’t believe Clark hasn’t “taken care” of Lex before. Now he goes into how they have sacrificed for him – and this time it’s not a noble thing, happy to be done. It’s about not having Clark act the way they think he should. Clark will probably deal with Lex in his own way – and it will probably be the right way for all involved – but since ET wants Lex dead then he’s going to turn on Clark.
“You don’t want to fulfill your destiny. You don’t even want to save yourself.” Uh, ET I thought it was about sacrifice. What if Clark has to make a sacrifice for a change? But Ed’s not thinking clearly. He’s all emo at the moment. Feeling put upon and unappreciated. So he opens up the top of his staff and of course there’s the green glowing k-rock. Clark stumbles to the floor in pain.
“People want to see you as their savior but you can’t be so naïve.” Uhhh, yea, he can. Being a little judgmental there, Eddie. “For every beacon of light there is a pit of darkness . . . Lex Luthor cannot be allowed to control you. No one can. No matter the cost.” Says the guy with the kryptonite hovering over a downed “savior.”
This isn’t tough love, this is insane! Clark passes out.
Lex jet. Oooo pills and alcohol, the cocktail of evil. Milesch and Lex again. “You have practically abducted me.” Uhh, he’s fully abducted you. They’re heading for Montreal. The expert knows that Lex will kill him after he is done needing him. “The history of an object, the reason why it was made – that is its true value.” Think of some of the things that Lex has created and will create. Their only real value is why he made them – and if that is for the wrong reason then they are a curse rather than a blessing. No matter how “noble” Lex’s motives – it is his actions and reasoning for those actions that define him as evil. “Cast your eye beneath the surface.”
Lex confesses that his father was one of the wealthy patrons who ordered the clock. And although Lionel’s motivation was finding the truth no matter what the cost – it made Lex an orphan even before his father died. Which is Lex’s way of rationalizing his father’s murder. He thinks the cryptograph will give him answers.
Chloe at a laptop ten feet away from the megalotron. Whatever. Oh, sorry, Dell sponsor? She’s calling Clark –leaving a message that Lex’s jet left for Montreal. Jimmy enters all excited about the symbols and Lex’s interest. They are everywhere around Smallville. Ms. Wall of Weird pooh-pooh’s it as a hoax. X-files reference. Chloe is NOT Scully!
Smallville is the site of ritualistic killings. Jimmy shows her a pic of a “space man” with an S on his chest and his websurfing has told him that, “It’s actually a human sacrifice.”
Clarkie strapped to the altar with the k-rock nearby. He wants to know why ET is doing this. “You let the secret of Veritas fall into the wrong hands.” Uhhh, shouldn’t that be Clark’s secret? Now the cult following rules apply?? There’s a V, P and S on the altar. Clark tells Ed that he won’t let anyone control him.
“I will now bestow upon you.” Bestow??? Like you’re doing him a favor??? “An ancient Kryptonian ritual.” Yea, right. The last son of Krypton needs you for ancient Kryptonian secret . . ritual. Okay, the ancient warrior people of Kryptonian had this ritual as a sign of respect for their mightiest enemies. Is there logic to this??? Or is Ed on a fanatical tangent? “You don’t know anything about Krypton!” shouts Clark. There’s still fight in the guy. Yea!!!
“I was Swann’s disciple. He taught me everything.” Okay, who’s the savior here, Swann or Clarkie? “He wouldn’t want you to kill me.”
“Swann was an idealist.” Okaayyy, that makes Ed a disciple of a fallible idealist then? Here comes the murkiness and confusion. For every passage Swann quoted, there were two interpretations. One Savior, One Destroyer. Ed’s a little mixed up so Clarkie’s in dire straits here.
“Something that your father couldn’t have foreseen.” Dude. Jor-El knows everything!!! You’re delusional. Ed opens up the basin of liquid kryptonite. Always handy when your savior comes to call.
So supposedly Jor-El sent the device to control Clark if he ever decided to go against humanity. Actually I think they’re confusing Jor-El and Zod – they’re getting their signals crossed and Clark is paying the price. Plus the fact that Jor-El has taken Clark out a few times – popscockle anyone?
Don’t know who Ed is prayin to . . . but it’s really F’d up! He slits open Clark’s t-shirt. 
Best part of the show. But then he proceeds to start carving. GROSS! Do not like seeing Clark’s blood. Always bad.
Lex with a bag containing the device enters the church. One portrait of Christ and the other in a long shot looks like Clark when he stood up in the cornfield in front of Lois. Just sayin. Lex takes the device and puts it on the mechanism of the clock. Wheels turn. Cogs spin. Great effect. The melody sounds like ‘Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond’ but Lex identifies it later as some other song. More about it soon.
The hands of the clock twist the wrong way and Brower’s mark is revealed in a pentagon when the clock is at 1:55. Ed shows up telling him he’s too late. Warrior Angel mention. Ed seems to know Lex killed his dad. Lex wants to know why ET tried to kill him. “The prophecy states that the Traveler would have a powerful adversary. . . The Travelers identity is no longer relevant.” Lex ain’t buyin those goods. He’s sacrificed, too. “No, your sacrifice has just begun.” So in order to maintain balance Ed is going to take out Lex. Because if there can be no Traveler, there can be no Destroyer. Ed seems pretty convinced he can take Lex out even though he’s failed before. The fanatical insane – never think things through. Lex sword fight!
Mary Sue* enters. Me rolling my eyes. She sees Clark on the altar and saves him. Yawn. Not with meteor freak power, but by taking a crucifix down from a wall and smashing it into concrete. Niiiice. After saying, “Oh my god Clark.” Coincidence? With incredible strength, not leverage, Mary Sue covers the basin of contained liquid k-rock. Clark wakes from a nap. His awesome healing powers are displayed. Nice effect. Even half conscious he pulls his manacles from the concrete of the altar. When he begins to question Chloe, she says,” Oliver’s jet. Fringe benefits of being a hero hag.” I kid you not! Well, at least she admits it.
ET and Lex are still fighting. Clark with his red jacket zipped watches for a bit and breaks it up with superspeed. Lex knows the Traveler has been there. Lex picks up the shield with Brower’s mark.
Lex jet. Expert is on his way to Metropolis. Lex is drinking and going to Scotland – maybe for single malt. Okay, fictional history here. There is a St. Kilda. It’s a island in the Outer Hebrides. But there is no folksong called the Birks of St. Kilda. There’s a Weeping Birks of Kilmarock. Birks means Birches, that’s true. The castle at St Kilda was supposedly brought to Smallville by Lionel, stone by stone. Turn the plane around. “We’re going home.”
Talon apartment. Chloe has a key. Jimmy has candles. He’s celebrating that he’s sold an article about the cave drawings. Lex is interested in the symbols, too. The article is about the hero’s journey. Good and Evil. Naman and Sageeth. Savior and Bringer of Darkness. “Clark did an article about it in high school.” Nice support, Chloe.
Apparently Naman and Sageeth each had their own symbol, but we’ve only seen the combination one. The one that shows the hero and antihero conflict. Lex was excited by this symbol because it shows the resolution of that conflict. In the legend the hero’s journey ends in a final battle. (of course!) But they don’t know who is supposed to win. (of course)
Kent farm. Chloe is there with the cave drawing of Naman and Sageeth. Clark is chuckling about her shoving the pic at him. He’s amused. “It wasn’t a myth that tried to kill me. It was a man.” Clark realizes that people might think they need protection from him. I love it when he thinks. He’s definitely seeing the big picture now. “In the wrong hands, they (my abilities) could destroy everything.”
She’s adamant that he take care of Lex. He tells her it’s not about him because he x-rayed him. He didn’t have anything on him. She presses that Lex will take him out if he has the chance. “What do you want me to do? Kill him?” He’s not believing that is her intent, but he sees she’s serious. “If I do that, I’d just be turning into him myself.”
“Whether you like being on this pedestal or not, you were put in this position. And some day you’re going to have to play God.” WHOA!!! Run Clark run! Find Lois. She’ll at least listen to what you have to say, not try and direct your life!
In the comics, there was a one shot alternate universe story where Lois was dead and Clark married Lana because he didn’t want to be alone. He literally took over as ruler of the world because of all the evil on the Earth. And Lana encouraged him in his efforts but she didn’t like that he was away from home so much. Also, there was a series in 1999 called Superman: King of the World. Dominus had taken over Clark’s mind when he was awake and changed his reality. Clark tried to police and master everyone on the planet. Lois protested in person and in the Daily Planet about his actions. It was their great love that pulled him out from under Dominus’ hold on him.
Remember in DESCENT Clark and Lex’s conversation about power and control? Lex tries to take control convincing himself that he’s protecting the world while Clark protects the world always conscious that he must not take control. QUEST is the beginning of these inner struggles for Clark.
Lex searches the mansion for whatever his father wanted to find. He plays the tune on the piano. Still sounds like Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. You know the one, “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland before ye.” Lex is definitely taking the low road . . . to the FOS. He says some lyrics (to a song that doesn’t exist) which help him find where the “treasure” is buried. He clears the mansion of people and hits the fireplace mantel on the diamond symbol that Brower used as his mark. Behind it is a sack that contains a sphere. It rises into the air and shows a globe of the world and marks a spot. Lex knows where he’s going.
Very contrived plotting. Nice tie up of the Luthor Mansion and the purpose behind it being brought over stone by stone. Some really confusing views by Veritas. Again, I think they got their wires crossed. Sometimes the communications talked about the Destroyer and sometimes they talked about the Savior. Next week will tell the tale. Can’t wait!!! Terrific trailer.
3.0 out of 5.0
Screencaps available in the Multipleverses.com gallery full sized, video clips by Kate and courtesy of Smallville Starpoints.
Filed under: Essays, Smallville | Tagged: quest clips, quest screencaps, Smallville 719 Quest Episode Review
nice blog!