Smallville 7.19 “Quest” review

Smallville episode 7.19: Quest
Airdate: May 8, 2008

A puzzle is solved, and another mystery is revealed in this pre-finale episode of Smallville. The opposing destinies of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor prepare to collide with the discoveries of more clues and puzzles.

At the mansion, Lex hires an expert in antiquities to find out how the cryptograph works. After the man leaves the house, someone breaks in knocks Lex unconscious. The mystery man carves a series of symbols on Lex’s chest - the diamond and cross intersecting. Lex recognized the man as the manager from Zurich, and he realizes that someone else is after the cryptograph.

Jimmy took pictures of Lex’s wounds and shows them to Chloe, and in turn she shows this to Clark. Clark deciphers the symbols to mean “traveler”, “savior” and “sanctuary”. There is only who group who consider the traveler their savior - Veritas, leading Clark to deduce that a Veritas member must still be alive. Using the Isis technology, Chloe’s search for the patron saint of traveler lead them to St.Christopher’s Cathedral in Montreal.

According to the antiquity expert, the cryptograph carries the mark of a German watchmaker who went into seclusion after an unknown patron commissioned him to make a magnificent clock. The clock later resurfaced again when Dr. Schwann posthumously donated it to St. Christopher’s. The gears on the cryptograph were a match to sketches of the clock.

Clark goes to the cathedral and sees Kryptonian symbols on the baptismal. A hooded monk appears from behind -  Edward Teague, the last surviving member of Veritas. He bows to Clark and begins to revere him as the new savior of mankind.

Clark refuses, and didn’t want to be worshipped. But he asks who would have the power to control him. Teague replies that Schwann kept that secret to himself, but he left scattered clues in the hopes that they won’t line up in the wrong hands. When Teague realizes that Clark knew about Lex and didn’t do anything to stop his adversary, the monk goes crazy and shoves a Kryptonite rock toward Clark, weakening him.

Jimmy discovers more about the symbols he saw on Lex - there are plenty of them in the Kawatche caves - the site of ritualistic killings. And there is one symbols that shows a man standing at a doorway, that could also be interpreted as a human being sacrificed on a table.

Back in Montreal, Teague ties Clark up on a sacred table and performs an ancient Kryptonian ritual - a warrior’s sign of respect for their enemies. He tells of how Jor-El had high hopes for Clark. But Jor-el understood the danger of setting a god among humans. So he sent a device that can control Clark, in case his own son turns against humanity. Weak from the kryptonite all around him, Clark could only watch as Teague branded the symbol on Clark’s chest - which is the symbol for ‘air’, or for the house of El, the mark of Clark’s ancestry, and later that of Superman.

When Lex arrives in the same church and finds the clock, he adds the kryptograph.  A melody begins to play, the gears turn and another pentagon emerges. Teague appears and taunts Lex that he was too late. A duel ensues between Teague and Lex.

Chloe arrives just in time to save Clark from being consumed by the Kryptonite liquid. Clark rushes back into the church just in time to save Teague from Lex.

Back in Smallville, Jimmy finds another symbol at the Kawatche cave- one that meant the fight between good and evil will come to an end, and the hero’s journey will end in a final battle. Clark confesses to Chloe that so long as something out there can control him, he is a threat. But he also realizes that in order for him to save the world, he must kill Lex.

Meantime, Lex finds another clue - in his own mansion. The melody played by the clock was a song that was a puzzle - and it pointed to a hidden compartment on top of the fireplace’s hearth. Inside it is a hologram of the globe, with a beacon that leads to a location on the arctic.

                 ********** to be continued ************

Next Thursday, Smallville 7.20 “Arctic” - the final episode of season 7.