Welcome back to Rewatching Smallville, my weekly dive into the iconic series that explores Clark Kent’s journey before becoming Superman. Whether you’re a long-time fan or new to the show, you’re invited to join in each Tuesday as I revisit episodes and share my thoughts and observations. Be sure to share your own memories and theories in the comments below!

After the emotional simplicity of “Krypto” gave us a boy and his super-powered dog, Smallville swings hard in the opposite direction with “Sacred,” an episode that attempts to transform our small-town Kansas drama into a globe-trotting adventure worthy of Indiana Jones. The results are… well, let’s just say that while I appreciate the ambition of raising the stakes and expanding the season’s mythology to a grander scale, watching Smallville try to be an international action-adventure feels like watching your hometown community theater tackle Shakespeare—earnest, occasionally effective, but ultimately out of their depth.

Written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson and directed by Brad Turner, “Sacred” wants desperately to be the episode where everything comes together—the Kryptonian stones, the Isobel/Lana possession storyline, the Jason/Genevieve mystery, and Clark’s destiny all converging in an ancient Chinese temple. Instead, what we get is an episode that perfectly exemplifies Season 4’s identity crisis: is this a show about an alien learning about his heritage, or is it about a centuries-old witch’s revenge plot that happens to intersect with alien artifacts? The fact that I even have to ask that question tells you everything about where this season has gone astray.

The death of Dr. Virgil Swann, delivered via a news report that Clark happens to catch while pondering college choices, sets the stage for what should be a profound meditation on legacy and destiny. Christopher Reeve’s passing in real life necessitated some acknowledgment, and while I understand the constraints the show faced, reducing such a pivotal character’s death to a background news report feels insufficient for someone who fundamentally altered Clark’s understanding of himself. Dr. Swann deserved better—both the character and the actor who brought such gravitas to the role.

A Message from Beyond and a Father’s Warning

The episode’s opening effectively establishes the stakes through Swann’s posthumous delivery of the octagonal key and his message that Clark must find his father to complete his “mission.” Finally, we might think, Clark will get some real answers about his Kryptonian heritage. The scene in the caves where Jor-El warns Clark about the stones potentially destroying Earth if humans unite them carries genuine weight—here’s crucial information about Clark’s purpose, delivered with Terence Stamp’s commanding voice work.

Yet even this moment of Kryptonian mythology is undercut by what follows. Clark’s argument with Jonathan about whether to trust Jor-El feels recycled at this point in the series. Yes, it’s important to understand how Clark feels about not being normal, how he struggles with the weight of being a superpowered being from another planet with no one on Earth who can truly understand his experience. But sometimes it feels like the writers are beating a dead horse. We get it—he’s different, he’s isolated, he’s torn between two worlds. The show has made this point repeatedly across four seasons, and while Tom Welling continues to sell Clark’s internal conflict with conviction, the dialogue itself offers nothing new.

Martha’s attempt to mediate, reminding Clark that they “got the old Clark back” when he escaped his Kryptonian destiny, rings hollow when we know the show will never let him truly escape it. The more interesting angle—Clark viewing Jor-El’s trials as preparation rather than punishment—gets lost in the familiar family dynamics we’ve seen play out countless times before.

Everyone Converges on Shanghai (How Convenient)

The plot mechanics that bring all our principal characters to the same Chinese temple at the same time stretch credibility even by Smallville standards. Jason’s lying to Lana about overseeing a project in Metropolis while he’s actually in Shanghai chasing stones feels appropriately deceptive for his character, but the ease with which Lana detects his lie (hearing Asian dialect in the background during a phone call) and immediately jets off to China with Clark borders on the absurd.

The revelation that Lionel has been pulling strings all along, providing both Jason and Lana with information to get them to China, should feel like masterful manipulation. Instead, it highlights one of this episode’s core problems: Lionel’s behavior here seems oddly inconsistent with his post-body-swap development. We know that Lionel was permanently altered following his time in Clark’s body earlier this season. He’s seemingly been trying to take on a less antagonistic role, positioning himself as a guide rather than a threat. So why is he still playing puppet master, orchestrating elaborate schemes that put people in danger? The show wants to have it both ways—reformed Lionel when it suits the plot, manipulative Lionel when they need a chess master—and it undermines both versions of the character.

John Glover plays these contradictions as best he can, bringing his usual velvet menace to lines about Isobel and Duchess Gertrude’s ancient rivalry. The backstory itself—Gertrude was Jason’s ancestor obsessed with finding the stones, Isobel stole her map and was burned at the stake for it, and now their descendants are drawn together centuries later—has all the elements of compelling mythology. But it feels grafted onto the Kryptonian stone storyline rather than organically connected to it.

The Temple of Convenient Plot Devices

Once everyone arrives at the temple, the episode devolves into a series of increasingly ridiculous set pieces. Clark’s use of his X-ray vision to spot a secret chamber behind a wall marked with Ba Gua symbols and Kryptonian lettering is visually interesting, but the ease with which he accesses it (just wait for everyone to leave and push really hard) undermines any sense of ancient mystery or protection.

The chamber itself, containing a ceremonial dress, a dragon mask, and most conveniently, a statue with kryptonite eyes that immediately incapacitates Clark, feels less like an ancient temple and more like a prop warehouse where someone said, “What Chinese-looking things do we have that could also incorporate meteor rock?” The fact that kryptonite has somehow been incorporated into an ancient Chinese artifact raises questions the show has no interest in answering.

The arrival of soldiers who kill Professor Sen but spare Lana because they recognize her tattoo escalates the violence in a way that feels jarring for Smallville. The subsequent torture scene, with Lana being electrocuted while Jason and Lex watch helplessly, pushes boundaries the show isn’t equipped to handle. I understand the desire to raise stakes and create genuine peril, but watching Lana writhe in pain while being shocked feels gratuitously dark for a show that, just one episode ago, was about Clark playing fetch with a super-powered golden retriever.

The Return of Isobel (Again)

And then, of course, Isobel emerges. Because apparently, the writers decided that what this Kryptonian mythology episode really needed was more witch possession. Kristin Kreuk does her best with the dual role, shifting her physicality and voice to distinguish Isobel from Lana, but the fundamental problem remains: why is a dead witch from the 1600s the antagonist in a story about alien artifacts?

Isobel’s mocking of Jason and Lex for misreading the map provides some exposition about how the stone’s location was hidden, but it also highlights how convoluted this plot has become. We’re now dealing with ancient Chinese temples, Kryptonian technology, European witch trials, and modern corporate espionage all smooshed together into one unwieldy narrative. When Isobel later fights Clark with magically-enhanced weapons—a Chinese Jian sword and Japanese Sai that somehow can wound a Kryptonian when charged with magic—the silliness reaches peak levels.

If the writers were committed to bringing Isobel back as a character, they could have gone in so many different directions. She could have been a mystical guide helping Clark understand the stones’ connection to Earth’s history. She could have been seeking redemption for past sins. Instead, she’s simply an obstacle, a plot device to complicate Clark’s mission and provide action scenes. To be honest, the search for the Kryptonian stones could have—and should have—continued without Lana getting possessed by a dead witch… again.

Lex’s Continuing Descent

The one element of this episode that truly works is Lex’s characterization. His manipulation of the entire situation—secretly orchestrating his and Jason’s arrest to extract information, only to be double-crossed by someone with deeper pockets—shows a Lex who’s becoming increasingly comfortable with morally questionable tactics. Michael Rosenbaum plays these scenes with perfect calibration, showing us a man who believes he’s in control even as that control slips away.

His conversation with Lionel at the episode’s end contains the best writing in the entire hour. Lionel’s warning that “knowledge comes from finding the answers, yes, but understanding what the answers mean is what brings wisdom” feels like genuine father-son advice, even as we know both men are too damaged to truly trust each other. Lex’s response—that he’s not trying to get closer to God but to solve the riddles He’s laid out—encapsulates his character’s driving motivation while foreshadowing the hubris that will eventually destroy him.

This is Lex being Lex, continuing his path toward the Dark Side with logical steps that make emotional sense even as we watch him make the wrong choices. Unlike the mystical nonsense surrounding the stones, Lex’s journey feels grounded in recognizable human ambition and pain.

Lost Opportunities and Missed Connections

What frustrates me most about “Sacred” is how it squanders the emotional potential of its Kryptonian elements. I wish finding these artifacts gave Clark more joy, as they represent tangible connections to his true origins. In “Krypto,” we saw Clark’s pure happiness at finding another being with powers like his. The stones should offer a similar connection—pieces of his home, his heritage, his people’s legacy. Instead, they’re MacGuffins that everyone wants for vague reasons of power, their Kryptonian significance overshadowed by witch vendettas and family feuds.

I understand that Clark is still at a point where he’s unable to trust Jor-El, where every Kryptonian revelation feels like a threat rather than a gift. But the show has failed to make the stones themselves feel special or specific to Clark’s journey. They could be any magical artifacts from any mythology, and the story would remain largely the same. That’s a fundamental failure of imagination in a season that should be deepening our understanding of Kryptonian culture and Clark’s place within it.

The absence of Chloe in this episode feels particularly glaring. While it’s not strange that Clark doesn’t tell her about his trip to China—he’s still unaware that she knows his secret, after all—her complete absence removes one of the show’s most grounded elements. Even though Clark doesn’t know he can fully confide in her, Chloe has been proving herself trustworthy with the knowledge of his abilities. Her presence could have provided a counterbalance to all the mystical nonsense, someone to ask logical questions about why ancient Chinese temples have Kryptonian connections.

Writing Your Own Destiny

The episode’s final scene, with Clark standing in the Kawatche caves staring at the Crystal of Fire while remembering Swann’s last words—”Kal-El, you must write your own destiny”—should be powerful. It’s a thesis statement for Clark’s entire journey, the idea that prophecy and heritage don’t have to define him, that he has agency in becoming whoever he’s meant to be.

Yet the episode that precedes this moment undermines its power. How can Clark write his own destiny when he’s constantly reacting to other people’s centuries-old conflicts? How can he forge his own path when witches possess his friends and ancient rivalries determine his present? The show wants to have mystical destiny and personal agency, Kryptonian determination and human free will, but it hasn’t figured out how to balance these competing elements.

This is the central tension of Season 4, and “Sacred” exemplifies both the ambition and failure of this approach. The episode wants to be epic—international locations! Ancient mysteries! Torture and betrayal! Magic versus alien technology! But Smallville works best when it grounds its fantastic elements in recognizable emotions and relationships. A boy and his dog, both different from everyone around them, finding acceptance in each other—that’s Smallville at its best. A witch possessing a girl to fight an alien with magically-charged swords in an ancient Chinese temple—that’s Smallville losing its way.

As we move toward the season’s conclusion, I find myself hoping the show will remember what makes it special. It’s not about raising stakes to global levels or incorporating every piece of mythology the writers’ room can imagine. It’s about a young man learning to be a hero, discovering his heritage while choosing his own path, finding connection despite isolation. “Sacred” gestures toward these themes but gets lost in its own overcomplicated plotting.

Dr. Swann deserved a better send-off. The Kryptonian stones deserve to feel more alien and less generic. Clark deserves a journey to self-discovery that doesn’t require witch possession and ancient feuds. And we, the audience, deserve a show that trusts its core premise enough not to bury it under layers of unnecessary mythology.

But perhaps that’s the lesson of “Sacred”—sometimes the path to writing your own destiny requires wading through other people’s stories first. Clark will eventually emerge from the confusion of Season 4 with a clearer sense of purpose. The show itself will eventually remember what it does best. But for now, we’re stuck in that Chinese temple, watching Smallville try to be something it’s not, waiting for it to remember what it is.

What are your thoughts on “Sacred”? Did the globe-trotting adventure work for you, or did it feel out of place in the Smallville universe? How do you feel about the Isobel storyline at this point—is it adding to the season or detracting from what should be Clark’s journey? And what do you make of Dr. Swann’s off-screen death—fitting end or missed opportunity? Share your memories and opinions below!