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Relic (Smallville episode)

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"Relic" is the sixth episode in the third series of Smallville.

Lana's great uncle, who was convicted of murdering his wife forty years prior, shows her a picture of a drifter he believes really killed her aunt. The drifter looks just like Clark. Positive that the man is Jor-El, Clark's investigation leads him to a kryptonian medallion that allows him to see moments of the past,and also lets him see how human Jor-el was when he first came to Earth.

The episode was written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson and directed by Marita Grabiak. It first aired on 3rd November 2003.

Episode Guide

Lana has been called to a prison hospital to visit a great uncle she didn't know about. A family secret is revealed - that he was convicted of the murder of his wife, Louise - Lana's Great Aunt. He tries to convince Lana that he wasn't the killer and through a flashback relates the story of how he heard shots from their barn and came out of the house to discover a man running away.

He picked up the gun, then saw his dead wife. Sheriff Tate arrived at that point and discovered him with the murder weapon in his hand. He tells Lana that he decided to contact her when he saw her picture in the paper and the likeness between Lana and her aunt was striking. He passes her a paper with a sketch showing his descriiption of the killer - a man who looks like Clarke and has a Kryptonian symbol on a necklace.

Lana is stunned by the resemblance and takes the paper to Clarke, guessing that the person may be his grandfather or some relation. Clarke dismisses her idea, but goes with Jonathan to seek answers in the cave. They discover the Kryptonian symbol painted on the wall, but when Clarke touches it, he receives startling images of a passionate affair and a fight. When the vision ends, he is left with a version of the symbol on a metal medallion.

Later, Clarke tells Pete what has happened, but when he makes contact with a mailbox in town, he has a vision of himself in 1950's Smallville. Lana's aunt Louise is across the street and is set upon by a gunman. He races across to save her and sends the crook flying into a lamppost. Clarke's lookalike introduces himself to Lana as 'Joe' and says he's just passing through on his 'way home'.

Clarke theorizes that the medallion has downloaded Joe's memories into his head and that when he touches something Joe came into contact with in the 50's, the flashbacks occur.

He asks Chloe to retrieve a police file on the crime to investigate, and they discover a link to a relative of Lex Luthor's. Having been threatened by Lionel recently, Chloe is reluctant to do any snooping into their affairs. She visits Lex at his mansion and enquires about Lex's grandfather. However, Lex claims to know nothing of the matter and insists his grandfather never set foot in Smallville.

Lana visits Clarke at the barn that night with a box of Louise's belongings and they discover a letter signed with the initial 'J'. Lana finds a pearl necklace in the box and ask Clarke to put it on her. When he touches it, he has a flashback to Joe and Louise in a passionate clinch in a barn. Afterward, Clarke admits to Lana that he thinks the love letter is from Joe and that he and Louise were having an affair.

At Luthorcorp, Lex confronts Lionel about their grandfather's past and Lionel admits that Lex's grandfather was a criminal and that their background isn't as lavish as he leads people to believe - the Luthors originated in Suicide Slum.

Clarke and Lana visit the scene of the murder, and Clarke experiences another flashback when he touches an old car. In the vision, Louise is begging to leave with Joe, but he tells her he has to leave alone. However, the criminal from Smallville enters the barn at that point and fires a number of shots at the couple. Joe manages to block the bullets, proving he has secret powers, but a stray round hits Louisein the chest and she falls down dead. A stunned Clarke comes out of the vision and tells Lana he knows who killed Louise.

Meanwhile, Lex verifies his father's story, but the detective he has hired claims that an explosion blew up the tenement instead of a fire as Lionel claimed. The explosion killed Lex's paternal grandparents and a high-rise building was built on the same spot later by Lionel.

Clarke reveals to Chloe and Lana that he's been having visions, and Chloe's research shows that Loughlin Luthor was released from jail (serving time for armed robbery) on the day that Louise was killed. The person who signed the release was Sheriff Billy Tate, the present Mayor of Smallville.

Lana and Clarke visit Tate and he claims to have been close to Dexter and Louise. However, he claims not to remember Loughlin Luthor, and rejects Lana's notion that Dexter is innocent. However, Clarke discovers a certificate on display that has Tate's signature, the 'T' in the surname matching what Clarke initially though was a 'J' in Louise's love letters. Tate comes up behind Clarke and touches him on the shoulder, triggering another flashback..

In the flashback, Joe and Louise are in a car together, and Tate walks up to the window, shocked to discover the two together.They get out of the car and Tate tells Louise that she'd better be sure this is what she wants. Louise claims it's all innocent and Joe was only taking her home. Louise turns to Joe and confesses she doesn't love her husband and that her father orchestrated the marriage to stop her following her ambition to move to Hollywood. Joe admits that he was sent to Smallville as a punishment by his father and regrets that he can't stay and can't take her with him. He talks of the world he comes from, but Louise doesn't believe him. However, he lifts her into the sky and proves it.

Jonathan and Martha are talking about Clarke's visions when he walks into the house. He tells them he hasn't had anymore visions, but recognises a rifle mounted on the wall from a previous vision - Jonathan's father's gun. Jonathan hands the gun to Clarke and the touch triggers a flashback. In the flashback, Joe is being hit with the butt of the rifle, takes it from his attacker, but hands it over again when the two calm down. The man talking to Joe is Hiram Kent, Clarke's adoptive grandfather.

Jonathan retrieves an old chest of his father's things and Clarke touches a jacket inside it. He has a vision of Hiram preparing to take Joe out of town so he can meet his friends and go home. Jonathan is sceptical of Clarke's claims, but Clarke proves it by telling him that Hiram originally wanted to name him Gene and his mother wanted to call him Jonathan.

Clarke uses the old jacket to pose as Joe and pays a visit to Mayor Tate. Convincing him that Joe is still alive, Tate pulls a gun and shoots at him. Clarke dodges the bullets and gets a confession out of him. However, rather than confess to the authorities, Tate puts a gun to his head. Clarke stops him in time and disapepars just before Nancy Adams and her colleague burst into the room. A flustered Tate confesses everything.

At Luthor mansion, Lex shows evidence of a bomb at the Suicide Slum tenement to Lionel. Lex expresses surprise that his father didn't seek revenge against the people who planted the bomb. Lionel claims that he hadn't the funds back then, and that seeking revenge now wouldn't bring his parents back. However, Lex tells him that the past won't be buried until they find out and deal with whoever killed his grandparents.

Clarke revisits the cave where he has a final flashback to a conversation with Hiram Kent and sees Joe hiding the medallion in the cave wall. When the vision ends, he tells Jonathan that he believes Joe was really Jor-El sent to Earth in exile as a punishment. He believes that his own arrival in Smallville was no coincidence and that Jor-El may have sent him there knowing Hiram's family would take him in.

Cast