Season 4, Episode 15: Sacred

"Sacred"

Episode 15

Air Date: February 23rd, 2005

 Sigh....well I guess I can commend Al and Miles for seeing through their "vision" for this season's main story arc no matter how contrived, over the top and damn near satirical the show has become with taking said story arc so seriously.  But honestly, the biggest problem with this stone search plot is that Clark is merely a secondary plot point to an arc that is mainly focused on Jason/The Teagues, Lex/The Luthors and of course, Lana aka the vessel of Isobel Thoreaux.  While I appreciate the writers for paying their respects by killing off Virgil Swan (Who passed a in between this and last season) by continuing him to guide Clark even in death by bringing him back the octagonal key, once again, this is Clark's mission yet he is along for the ride instead of being the one leading this storyline.  I find it funny how Jor-El just lays this bomb on Clark about the stones and their importance when he confronts him in the caves with the key.  This is a major witch hunt (no pun intended! -_-) for these stones yet Jor-El never really emphasized said importance until Clark had to confront him again with the key.  Nice visuals of Jor-El communicating with Clark in that energy vortex but seriously, the kryptonian aspect of this storyline is being handled like an afterthought in favor of this backstabbing, relationship drama between Lex, Jason and Lana in particular.

I also don't like that Lionel has pretty much become the exposition character, giving clues to characters to continue their own personal arcs within the story instead of being a major player in it.  While this reformed Lionel story adds grow to Lionel in his overall journey in the series, so far, John Glover feels so underutilized as some wise unlikely ally for Jason last episode by giving him the map that brings our characters to Shanghai in the first place and then Lana, by sending her there as well to confront Jason and Lex about the mysteries behind her part in this aka Isobel.  Clark just tags along with Lana out of convenience instead of really tracking down the stones himself.  Honestly, why even have Clark apart of this story arc now??? O_o It feels very reductive! Like the writers remembered this is Clark's show and he has to be apart of the bigger picture this season in terms of stakes and storytelling.  I mean Clark just feels out of place in all this as you can tell the writers are putting way more effort in the Teagues and Luthors clashing; not to mention the awful witch storyline.

Yes, Isobel unfortunately returns this episode and Kristin Kreuk just seems to be getting more and more uncomfortable in the role.  Also, the whole magical martial arts fight she gets into with Clark......ummmm.....it's both laughable yet ambitious for this show.  O_0  I do give that crew back them immense props for....welll, the props as well as costuming and art direction to make these characters really feels like they are in China.  The direction and location shots are actually very nice, even stunning at times.  But still, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Lana vs Clark is anything but epic; feeling both imaginative and embarrassing but good on Tom and Kristin for selling that fight sequence as best as they can when Smallville was never known for the best fight scenes..... Of course, another stone is uncovered and Jason happens to save it for Lana as a way for her to trust him again....ehhwwww!!! Whatever! Tho, it's a shame that Bridgette Crosby has been written out of the show....as Clark tells him parents about Swan's last message to him about the stones and Bridgette of course has the last but appears to have never existed when Clark tries to reach her.  This is because of behind the scenes issues with Margaret Kidder and the showrunners which made her leave the show prematurely before the writers could really make this storyline more coherent.  It's bad enough we lost Swan because of Reeve's untimely death as like I said before, there was clearly more story to tell with his connection to Krypton but we're left with this last tribute to the legendary actor and his passing of the torch mentor role to Clark on this show.  I guess I should just be grateful that Sacred is just as entertaining as it is overtly silly and overly serious with a story arc that's more outlandish spectacle than a truly epic, engaging story. It moves the plot of the overall season heavily and sets up some things for the rest of the season to wrap up....even if Clark is so clueless in the end to a story that is developing everyone apart of it but him. Meh!

Final Kryptonite: B-