Episode 3.6: Relic

When Clark has an experience in the cave he starts to see flashbacks to a previous life. That life just so happens to be Jor-El's. Through these flashbacks Clark learns that Jor-El was once sent to earth as a test by his own father. These memories are also connected to a murder investigation that Lana is trying to solve because it is linked to her own relatives. Meanwhile, another murder investigation is about to begin by Lex, that of Lionel's own parents.

Relic is an interesting story that sheds a little more light on Jor-El's decision to send Clark to earth, and to Smallville in particular. Unfortunately, the decision to have Tom Welling and Kristin Kreuk play both their usual roles, as well as those of Louise and Jor-El, does not work for me. It feels too gimmicky and the only valid reason for having them do so is to have the Mayor character at the end of the episode believe he is seeing a ghost.

I would have liked to have seen more interaction between Jor-El and grandpa Kent, and maybe a little less of the Jor-El/Louise relationship. The Louise character comes off as rather selfish and hollow when we should instead be feeling sympathetic for her with the predicament that she is in. I don't like the Hollywood trope of trying to make viewers side with the person in a marriage who is having an affair. Louise made her choice. Her little pity party about wanting to "be a star" does not make me root for her. In the end, I can't help feeling she gets what she deserves.

I love what they have done with the period setting though. It looks beautiful and authentic, if somewhat romanticized, in typical Smallville fashion.

We get to learn more about the Luthor family history, and find that there is a link between the Kents and the Luthors that existed, long before Jonathan and Lionel ever met. Finding out how Lionel's parents died makes for a well played scene between John Glover and Michael Rosenbaum. The sense that Lionel is not telling the whole truth gives way to a tantalizing prospect. Of course, the question isn't truly raised until the next episode. Did Lionel kill his own parents?

6/10