Episode 2.17
“Rosetta”
“Rosetta” helped bounce the show back to it’s upward trend. Again, it furthered the unique Smallville mythology, while at the same time really tying it back into the Superman universe as a whole in a few interesting ways.
In a bit of a tease we see Clark flying through the skies over Smallville. We quickly learn that it is a dream when Clark wakes up disoriented on the road, where Lex almost runs him over. It’s a dream Clark has been having recently whereupon Clark flies down into the caves and puts the octagonal key into the slot. Clark feels as if he is being drawn to follow suit in reality. His parents fear him actually doing this, noting they don’t know what will really happen if he follows suit.
Semi-related, the teens are given a family tree project for homework, which of course leads Clark to wanting to know his history even more. It also eventually leads to a sidebar subplot of Chloe and Lana having a spat when Lana invades Chloe’s privacy by looking at the pictures of Clark and Chloe that Chloe kept from the spring formal.
Clark defies his parents, which is good to see as it makes Clark a little more relatable and puts the key in the slot. A white light flashes knocking Clark down until he is discovered by Lex and Dr. Walden. Upon getting home, Clark discovers he can read the Kryptonian symbols. At home, Clark suddenly loses control of his heat vision and burns the Kryptonian symbol for hope into the side of the barn.
Soon after Chloe reports this since she was on scene almost immediately afterwards, a Dr. Virgil Swann contacts her with a message for Clark…in Kryptonian. If he can read this, he should contact him. Clark hesitates and his parents again tell him not to, but he openly defies them, telling him that he needs to do this.
Clark visits Dr. Swann and we see a scientist in a wheelchair who knows a lot. Played by Christopher Reeve, it is a great throwback to the classic Superman films. And if that’s not enough as Swann gives Clark a little more solid information on Krypton and the message from his parents, they throw in clips of the classic John Williams score. I know it isn’t just me, but music can add so much to a film or television show and the feel of nostalgia as well as the powerful feel of destiny rose to the top during this sequence. It made the sometimes too 90210 story much more epic and worthy of watching.
That may be an exaggeration, but it did work very well. Clark learns that there is a possibility that his father sent him to conquer Earth and rule with strength although it seems that it would be a misunderstanding of the message, but in this ever carving out it’s own identity show…you just never know.
In the meanwhile, Dr. Walden finds the key that Clark lost in the cave and tries to enter it in the slot, only to get overwhelmed with information and put into a coma.
Overall it’s a great episode, that really stands as a defining moment of the series.
A
References:
- Christopher Reeve plays Dr. Virgil Swann. He played Superman in four Superman films
- John Williams classic score from those movies is also used\