Rosetta

## "Rosetta"Season 02, Episode 17

**"Rosetta"** is the seventeenth episode of Season Two of The CW's *Smallville*. It was written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and directed by James Marshall. It is the thirty-eighth episode of the series overall, and premiered on February 25, 2003.

## Synopsis

Clark travels to New York to meet Dr. Swann, a brilliant scientist who holds a message for Clark from his home planet. Meanwhile, Lana decides to move out of Chloe's house after they get into an argument about Clark.

## Recap

Clark is having a dream of flying through the skies of Smallville into the Kawatche Caves. He stops in front of the circular etching surrounding the keyhole, stands upright, and puts the key into the hole. When he touches it, a burst of light wakes him up and he is confused to find himself in the middle of the road in his pajamas. A car speeds toward Clark, stopping just short of hitting him. Lex gets out, confused to find Clark in the middle of the road.

He gives Clark a ride home, and when Clark tries to sneak in his parents catch him and ask where he's been all night. Clark tells them about the strange dreams and says he believes the caves are calling out to him, trying to give him answers. Jonathan tells Clark that it is dangerous, but Clark wants to find out more.

Dr. Walden arrives at the Luthor Mansion, and Lex questions his decisions regarding the caves, thinking Dr. Walden is cutting him out of the process. He says the State Preservation Society is objecting to Dr. Walden's intention to remove a section of the cave wall and is on the verge of revoking LexCorp's custodianship of the caves. Lex believes his father is behind it. Dr. Walden says he is on the verge of a major breakthrough and Lex gives him three days to show results before he fires him.

At school that day, Pete is enthusiastic about a family tree project they've been assigned, but Chloe, Clark, and Lana are all collectively objecting because their families are so complicated. Lana suggests they get together at the Talon to start on it, but just then, Clark begins to hear a high-pitched ringing. He clutches his head, but Lana and Chloe don't hear anything. The noise continues and Clark doubles over in pain, says that he has to leave, and stumbles out. Looking worried and puzzled, Lana and Chloe watch him go.

Clark follows the noise to his barn where he finds it emanating from the key, glowing in its hiding spot in the tackle box. It stops glowing and ringing when Clark picks it up. He then goes to the caves and stands in front of the octagonal recess. When he holds the key out in front of him, the key flies into the recess and the symbols around it realign while shining red, yellow, and blue. A burst of energy shoots through Clark, lifting him into the air. When the beam stops, Clark collapses. Once again, Lex discovers Clark under unusual circumstances. Lex shakes Clark awake. He is disoriented. Dr. Walden appears and asks Clark how he got past the guard. Having found Clark unconscious twice in one day, Lex is worried and tells Clark he needs to get checked out. Clark says he just needs to get home and leaves. When he's gone, Dr. Walden tells Lex that Clark surely knows more than he admits.

Chloe is just finishing up at the Torch when Lana asks to borrow her computer. She leaves and Lana starts downloading her homework. She sees a download labeled "CK." Lana clicks it out of curiosity and finds photographs of Clark and Chloe at last year's spring formal. Chloe returns to see Lana looking at the pictures and gets upset that she is snooping. Lana is genuinely sorry, but Chloe is too upset to listen. She declares the Torch office off-limits and Lana leaves. As she is walking away, Chloe tells Lana that she did tell Clark how she felt about him when he was sick, but he murmured Lana's name in his sleep.

While Clark and Jonathan are loading hay in the pickup, Clark reports that he stopped having the dream. They talk about the new baby and Jonathan assures Clark that it will be a big adjustment, but a happy one. Martha comes out and Jonathan turns to go when Clark hears the ringing again. Suddenly his heat vision activates and he burns the side of the barn uncontrollably. When it stops, he and his dad rush to put the fire out just as Chloe drives up to take Clark to school. All four are shocked to see a Kryptonian symbol burned into the barn wall. Chloe takes a photograph. Jonathan covers the symbol up with boards and they send Chloe away. Clark feels guilty for almost burning the barn down and informs his parents that the symbol means "hope". Martha and Jonathan are surprised that he can read it, and Clark reluctantly admits that he put the key in the wall and it "downloaded" him with the language. Clark thinks that the key disintegrated. Jonathan is concerned that Lex and Dr. Walden found him down there, but Clark says that to find the truth is worth the risk.

At the Talon, Clark is ostensibly doing his family tree worksheet, but he is really practicing his Kryptonian writing skills, putting symbols in the blanks for "father" and "mother," when Lana approaches. She admits that she and Chloe are not talking right now over a breach of privacy. Clark quickly assumes that Chloe is at fault, but is surprised to learn that it was, in fact, Lana snooping. Lana still feels guilty and says the incident reminds her that she isn't part of anybody's family. Clark tells her that he's been researching his roots and Lana advises he shouldn't stop. She notices the symbols on his family tree and Clark abruptly crumples it up, throws it away, and leaves. Lex arrives, and he and Lana are confused at Clark's hasty exit. Lex sees Clark's crumpled drawings and takes it with him. He shows it to Dr. Walden, who doubts that Clark could have deciphered the symbols. Lex shows him a photograph of the burned barn on the cover of the Smallville Torch but Dr. Walden says it's a hoax. Lex insists that something happened to Clark and tells Dr. Walden to work with him, saying he might be the Rosetta Stone he needs to decipher the language.

Clark is annoyed at Chloe for publishing the story because people have shown up to see the barn symbol. Chloe is not very apologetic because she thinks it is intriguing and deserves to be investigated. Clark myopically says he'll let it go if Chloe forgives Lana for snooping. Chloe refuses to let Clark save Lana from this. Their argument is interrupted when Chloe discovers she has dozens of identical emails from someone named "V. Swann", but they are all for Clark. They open the email, which is Chloe's picture of the barn wall, the word HOPE under it, and the message "I have something for you". Clark gets Pete to bring his laptop to his loft so he can contact Swann without Chloe or his parents looking over his shoulder. He gets an instant message back from Swann that says "I'm a friend" in Kryptonian.

Dr. Walden finds the key wedged sideways in the wall of the cave and puts it in the hole. Clark arrives to see a burst of energy throw Dr. Walden back and when he rushes over to revive him, he quickly pockets the key. Dr. Walden is taken to the hospital completely catatonic, with cataracts over his eyes. Lex is there and questions Clark about his involvement with the three recent strange events in the caves. He is convinced Clark can read the language, showing him the family tree worksheet. Clark doesn't admit to anything, but Lex admits he believes that language is alien. Just then, a courier arrives with a letter for Clark, but Clark waits until he is alone to open it. It is a postcard from Virgil Swann, with another Kryptonian symbol and Swann's address in New York. Lex later learns that Dr. Walden's brain was fried from a sort of "information overload" and he will likely not regain consciousness.

Chloe informs Clark that Dr. Virgil Swann is a brilliant but reclusive physicist and has a company that maintains extensive space communication devices. He sold his company, donated his millions to charity, and currently devotes himself to searching for intelligent life in the universe. She tells Clark that the address is the New York Planetarium. Chloe guesses that Swann thinks the symbol on Clark's barn is important and urges Clark to find out why. Later, Chloe finds Lana at their home packing up her things. She doesn't want her to leave and apologizes for overreacting. She shows Lana her family tree, in which she has put Lana's name under the blank titled "sister," saying her family tree should contain the people that love her, instead of the people that aren't there. Lana is touched and she and Chloe make up.

Clark's parents object to his going to see Dr. Swann, saying that all anybody wants to do with Clark's secret is exploit him, but Clark insists that he can't rest until he learns more about his origins. In New York City, Clark meets Dr. Swann, who received a message thirteen years ago, the day of the meteor shower in the form of an encrypted transmission. He found the mathematical key to decrypt the message. Since then, he has been wondering what happened to the infant until he saw the symbol on the barn in Kansas and learned that couple who lived there had adopted a little boy. He assures Clark that he does not want to expose him, he just wants to know the truth. Clark turns to leave and Dr. Swann tells him that if he is satisfied, that's fine, but he will not have another opportunity to learn the rest of the transmission.

Clark is unable to contain his curiosity and Dr. Swann shows him the rest of the message. Swann reveals that he followed the message's origin from a planet called Krypton, but found nothing, only a space where it used to be. Clark is dismayed to realize that he is probably the only Kryptonian left.

Back in Smallville, Jonathan finds Clark in the storm cellar contemplating the ship. He offers to listen if Clark wants to talk and Clark admits that he now knows that he's totally alone. Jonathan tries to reassure him and Clark tells him that he figured out the other piece to the ship—it is the heart, but he didn't want to try inserting it alone. He puts the key into the ship and it opens. When he inserts the heart, another Kryptonian message appears. Clark says it's a message from his biological father, but he must be reading it wrong. Clark is horrified to learn that he was sent to Earth to conquer the human race. He starts to panic and Jonathan repeats Dr. Swann's advice that Clark must write his own destiny. Despite Jonathan's reassurances, Clark looks uneasy.

## Cast

* Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
* Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
* Sam Jones III as Pete Ross
* Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
* John Glover as Lionel Luthor (credit only)
* Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
* John Schneider as Jonathan Kent

Guest Starring* Rob LaBelle as Dr. Fredrick Walden

Co-Starring* Barclay Hope as Doctor
* Joe MacLeod as Delivery Guy

## Trivia

### Production Notes

* Christopher Reeve's character's name, "Dr. Swann", is a reference to the Superman artist of the 70s and 80s, Curt Swann.
* At the end of the episode, inserted between the fading producer credits and the end credits, Tom Welling and Christopher Reeve appear in a public service announcement for the 'Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation'. The segment is also present on the DVD-release, but unfortunately sometimes omitted during syndication. Sadly for the viewers since it shows Reeve in a good spirited mood, smiling, and even adding a final ad-libbed punch-line not present on the scripted cue cards, causing the entire crew behind the camera to burst out into a loud laughter. The segment is repeated in the season 3 episode 'Legacy', in which Reeve made his second and last appearance on the show, and final acting appearance altogether, before his death.
* This is the first time where Clark gets to know the names pertaining to his origin. Krypton, his birth place and his real name Kal-El.

### Goofs

* When Clark opens the tool box and finds the key, the objects around the key change position without Clark having touched them.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/Smallville/Season-2/Episode-17