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"Quest" is the nineteenth episode in the seventh season of Smallville, and the one hundred-fifty-first episode overall. It aired on May 8, 2008.

Summary[]

Lex is attacked by a cloaked stranger who carves Kryptonian symbols into his chest - a message for Clark. Chloe and Clark investigate and discover one member of the Veritas clan has survived and is hiding in a church. Clark and Lex race to be the first to find this mysterious Veritas member, who holds the key to Clark's survival.

Recap[]

→ see also Category:Screencaps from episode 7x19

000061

The mans cuts symbols into Lex's chest.

Lex calls in an antiquities expert, Milash, to examine the cryptograph he found in Zurich. Lex is reluctant, but finally lets Milash take it with him to his shop for further study. Lex orders a security detail to watch Milash, then contemplates the fire. He's interrupted when the attacker from Zurich, the same one who killed Gina, comes at him. The man beats Lex in a brief fight, stabs Lex in the left side, and then cuts symbols into Lex's chest and flees as Lex's security guards return.

000118

The symbol.

Later, Lex is recovering in the Smallville Medical Center and sees the symbols, and realizes his attacker is looking for the cryptograph.

Jimmy returns to Chloe's apartment and reveals that he got a shot of Lex being admitted to the hospital. Chloe tells Jimmy that there are other ways for him to make up for standing her up. Chloe presses her body on Jimmy and begins to kiss him. He shows Chloe the symbol, which she recognizes.

Chloe goes to the medical center to meet Clark who identifies other symbols within the symbol which mean "Traveler" and "Savior". Chloe figures someone involved with Veritas is trying to get hold of the cryptogram and that Lex hasn't figured out that Clark is the Traveler yet. Clark goes to get answers from Lex, but the latter has already left.

000241

Milash is attacked.

The attacker has followed Milash to his shop and calls his superior to inform him he's found the cryptograph. Milash realizes what he's looking at, but the mystery attacker comes in and kills Lex's two guards. Before he can finish off Milash, Lex arrives and kills the attacker.

Clark and Chloe go to Isis and examine the camera footage. Clark feels guilty for endangering Lex, then notices that the two symbols overlap and form a third symbol: "sanctuary". Since St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers, Chloe locates St. Christopher's Cathedral in Montreal.

Milash reveals to Lex that a German watchmaker who catered to European nobility made the cryptograph, and was hired by a mysterious employer to make a clock. Only one sketch of the clock existed and it disappeared during the second World War and reappeared as a donation from Dr. Swann to St. Christopher's Cathedral.

000511

Edward Teague weakens Clark.

At St. Christopher's, Clark goes in and finds Kryptonian symbols inscribed on the basin. They direct him to other symbols underneath, but as Clark turns, he finds a mysterious hooded figure who has been expecting him. The man identifies himself as Edward Teague, the last surviving member of Veritas, and now he wishes to serve the Traveler. He explains he went into hiding after the death of his wife and son, and he warns that Lex is too close to finding Swann's secret for controlling Clark. Swann's secret was scattered across the globe, and one clue is in the cathedral. Teague had his man carve the symbols into the chest so Clark would see them and reveal himself. Teague wonders why Clark hasn't taken care of Lex and realizes Clark doesn't want to fulfill his destiny. Teague reveals a piece of kryptonite in his lead-lined cane and says no one can be allowed to control Clark, despite the cost.

Lex is flying to Montreal in his personal jet with Milash, who demands the truth. Lex explains that Lionel was part of the secret society and the cryptograph will give him the answer to what he needs to find out that was so important.

000620

Jimmy shows Chloe the drawing.

Chloe tries to call Clark when Jimmy arrives with info on how the symbols have been appearing around Smallville for years. Chloe tries to dismiss his suspicions, but Jimmy notes that one of the drawings shows a human sacrifice.

Teague has strapped the weakened Clark to an altar surrounded by liquid kryptonite and prepares an ancient Kryptonian ritual, believing Clark can be turned into a destroyer as easily as a savior. Jor-El himself sent a device to Earth to control Clark. Teague then carves a symbol into Clark's chest.

000767

Lex sees a clock.

Lex arrives at the cathedral where he finds a clock. He places the cryptograph in the clock and it plays a tune and a five-sided key appears from a hidden compartment. Teague arrives and is impressed that Lex has risen to become the Traveler's nemesis, then insists that without a Traveler, there can be no Destroyer. The two men fight while below, Chloe makes it to Montreal on Oliver Queen's private jet, gets to the cathedral, and finds Clark. She drains off the liquid, allowing Clark to heal and break free. He super-speeds up and stops Lex from killing Teague at super-speed, pinning Lex and Teague to the floor and destroying the clock in the process, then gets away before Lex can see him.

000901

Chloe saves Clark.

Lex sends Milash back to his home, and then sets off for Scotland, having identified the tune that played as Birks of Saint Kilda which he played on the piano as a child. Then his aide tells him that there was a castle on the island of St. Kilda, until it was bought by a wealthy American and transported back to the U.S. He shows a picture of the castle to Lex who recognizes it as the Luthor Mansion. He orders the plane to change course for Smallville.

Chloe returns to her apartment and Jimmy announces that he sold his first story: he's determined that the Kawatche symbols of good and evil portray a resolution of the conflict between Naman: the Savior, and Sageeth: the Bringer of Darkness. He says that the journey Naman must take is that of the Hero's Journey described by author Joseph Campell. He's also discovered that the image of Naman's final battle depicts resolution in the pictogram through a final battle. Chloe coyly asks Jimmy who is supposed to win the final battle and in response, Jimmy just shrugs. Jimmy sold the story he wrote to Lex.

001235

Lex observes the map of the world.

Chloe takes the information to Clark, who is worried that his abilities in the wrong hands could destroy everything. Chloe suggests that Clark kill Lex. Clark says that if he were to kill him, he would become just like Lex.

Meanwhile, Lex has his researchers taking apart the Mansion. Suddenly deciphering the musical clue himself, he tells everyone to get out, then breaks open the fireplace mantlepiece  and finds a control device in it with a slot that matches the symbol he found in the clock in Montreal. He inserts the symbol and an orb floats into the air and generates a holographic globe of the world and it indicates a location in the Arctic.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Mentioned[]

Featured Music[]

  • "Loch Lomond (Music Box Version)"

Title[]

  • A quest is defined as a "search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something".
  • In this episode, Clark and Lex are both on a quest to find a device that can control the Traveler (Clark Kent).
  • A quest also has significance to Medieval times; it can refer to an expedition specifically made by "a knight or knights to secure or achieve something: the quest of the Holy Grail." In this episode, Edward Teague dresses as a medieval monk who is a member of Veritas, an organization dedicated to protecting the Traveler.

Notes[]

  • Antagonist: Edward Teague
  • Clark’s Abilities: Healing factor, Super-Strength, Super-Speed
  • Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Kara Kent and Lionel Luthor do not appear in this episode.
  • When Clark's chest heals, the healing factor gives off a yellowish glow similar to solar energy/the color of the sun.
  • This is one of the few episodes that portray the level of Lex's genius. He had been able to figure out the answer to a mystery that no one could, not even his father. (Not necessarily true. Lex was given far more clues than his father was - the song, the pentagon with a matching symbol on it, and the lyrics. It was stated that Lionel moved the "castle", implying he knew something was hidden there, but not that he had the same amount of information that Lex did.)
  • The Birks of Saint Kilda was supposedly the melody played by the clock in Saint Christopher's cathedral in Montreal. However, a song of that title does not actually exist. It is in reality the song The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond.
  • The real island of St Kilda is now a bird sanctuary, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides and about 100 miles from the mainland of Scotland. There is also a British military base. The island's native population was voluntarily evacuated in 1930. There has never been a castle there.
  • This is the last episode in the series in which Lex has the most screentime.
  • The shot of Metropolis after Lex has gone missing from hospital is the narrows of Gotham taken from Batman Begins.
  • This episode first explores how people may literally worship Superman, like the recurring problem in the comics.

Trivia[]

  • Robert Picardo, who guest stars as Edward Teague, is best known for his roles as The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager and Richard Woolsey in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. He also is Amazo in the DCAU Justice League animated series. Kenneth Biller produced, wrote for and occasionally directed for Star Trek: Voyager.
  • Picardo also provided the voice for A.M.A.Z.O. in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, in which Micheal Rosenbaum provided the voice of The Flash.
  • Picardo is the second person to portray Edward Teague: Rick Ravanello filled the role in Veritas.

Continuity[]

  • This is the second time Clark has had the symbol for the House of El marked into his chest. The first time was when Jor-El used his powers to brand the symbol onto his chest in Season Two's Exodus, when he was trying to force Clark to go into training (Exile). This symbol disappeared after Jonathan Kent removed Kal's red kryptonite, and he had fulfilled his deal with Jor-El (Phoenix).
  • The Naman and Sageeth mythology of the Kawatche from Season Two is discussed.
  • When Jimmy tells Chloe that he discovered Lex is in the hospital, Chloe shows no journalistic interest in the story at all. This continues a recent trend; in Descent, when Clark mentioned the Veritas locket shortly after Lionel's death, Chloe said, "What does a locket have to do with Lionel falling 40 stories from his office window?" and walked away. However, shortly after, both Clark and Chloe go to the crime scene outside of LuthorCorp to search for clues to Lionel's murder.
  • Chloe references an article Clark wrote at Smallville High.
  • The symbol was last seen on Kal-El's chest in Season Four's Crusade.
  • This is the second time St. Christopher has been mentioned as having to do with a "Traveler". The first time was in Slumber.
  • The Luthor mansion being shipped brick by brick from Scotland was mentioned by Lex in Pilot.
  • Teague asserts, like Patricia Swann did in Traveler, that Lionel Luthor killed the Queens and Virgil Swann. While it's highly likely Lionel did have the Queens killed (since he ended up with their key) it's highly unlikely he killed Swann. Swann died during a period in which Lionel was undergoing a conversion experience, trying to be a better person than what he was. While this conversion experience did end, it wasn't until sometime after Swann's death.
  • The man listed only as Mysterious Attacker makes his third and final appearance here, having previously appeared in Descent and Sleeper. He was played by actor Don Broach, whose last name the Smallville closing credits always misspelled as "Broatch".
  • This episode marks the 74th appearance of Clark's red jacket & blue shirt outfit, which he wears frequently throughout the series.
  • Regan Matthews was last seen in Sleeper.
  • Chloe refers to herself as a "hero hag". She referred to herself as Clark's "Krypto-hag" in Fanatic.

Allusions[]

  • When Jimmy comes into Chloe's Talon apartment late for their date, she is reading the book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell.
  • When Chloe feigns skepticism at Jimmy's talk of crop circles, he comments that she goes "Scully on him'". This is a reference to The X-Files protagonist Dana Scully, played by Gillian Anderson; Scully is a voice of skeptical and rational thought, in contrast to her partner Fox Mulder's belief in the unknown and supernatural.

Locations[]

Quotes[]

Chloe: (to Clark) Sorry I couldn't get here faster but, you know... I have to drive.

Clark: (skeptically) You dragged me out of bed because someone hurt Lex.

Chloe: As far as I can tell, you're still steering your own ship, which means that whatever was in that box hasn't taken the wheel. Yet.
Clark: Well, that's comforting.

Clark: (pacing around photos of symbols carved into Lex) Savior. Traveler.
Chloe: I guess that skywriting is passé.

Chloe: People have been playing with the Kawatche Cave paintings for years, just trying to get on the 6 o'clock news.
Jimmy: Wow. Get a little competition in the story department and suddenly you go all Scully on me.

(after Chloe turns up unexpectedly in Montreal)
Clark: Chloe. How did you...
Chloe: Oliver's jet — fringe benefit of being a hero hag.

Edward Teague: People want to see you as their savior but you can't be so naive. For every beacon of light in the universe, there is a pit of darkness. We must fight to keep that darkness from overwhelming us.

Edward Teague: Lex Luthor cannot be allowed to control you! No one can. No matter the cost.

Lex: You have no idea what its like to live every day of your life feeling like an afterthought. I've sacrificed too much.
Edward Teague: No. Your sacrifice has just begun. The world can exist only in balance. If there is no Traveler, there can be no Destroyer.

Edward Teague: I suppose you know what it feels like to be worshiped.
Clark: I didn't ask to be worshiped.

Edward Teague: Swann was an idealist. He said you would rule us with strength. But for every passage Swann quoted of the Traveler coming to save Earth, there was another interpretation that cast you as our Destroyer.

Clark: What does this have to do with Jor-El?
Edward Teague: He had high hopes for you when he sent you to the planet. But your father understood the risk of setting a god among men. If you were ever to turn against humanity, we wouldn't stand a chance.

Lex: My father's obsession made me an orphan, long before he died.

Clark: That's the last thing I need. Someone going around killing people in my name.
Chloe: That's probably how God felt about the Crusades.

Jimmy: The symbol of good versus evil is common in primitive cultures. It embodies the push, the pull of the two sides, the yin and yang.
Chloe: The hero-antihero conflict.
Jimmy: Exactly. But here's what got Lex all jazzed. This particular image portrays a resolution of that conflict.
Chloe: Remind me how you resolve a conflict that has existed since the beginning of mankind.
Jimmy: Well, in the Kawatche legend, the hero's journey ends in a final battle.
Chloe: So, according to your professor, who's supposed to win?

Chloe: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Clark, but the writing is literally on the wall.

Chloe: (to Clark) Whether you like being on this pedestal or not, you were put in this position. And some day, you're gonna have to play God.

External links[]


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CategoriesMain Characters · Relationships · Villains

ComicsThe Comic · Season 11 · Miniseries


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