SMALLVILLE 2:17 ("ROSETTA," 2003)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*

With "Rosetta," it becomes evident that the apparently slow build of the mystery of the Kawatchie Caves was not the result of careful planning, but was just a device to tantalize viewers. Alfred Gough's script is riddled with dumb luck and fortuitous coincidences, as if he or someone above him was told to get off the stick.

So for weeks (if not months) the Key has been rattling around different places on the Kent Farm as well as falling into the clutches of Lionel Luthor for an indeterminate time. It's back on the farm at the time when Clark starts having dreams about flying, and then wakes up miles away from his home. He's lying in the road and is almost struck by a speeding car, not coincidentally driven by Lex, in a scene that's a probable callback to the first episode. Apparently the Key is responsible for jump-starting Clark's dormant flying power. I have no idea what message the computer intelligence in said Key is trying to send Clark, or if this has come about in response to the device being placed in contact with the natal ship.

So a day or so later the Key sends out an ultrasonic wave that only Clark can hear, and this prompts him to pick up the mysterious octagon and go visit the Kawatchie Caves. The Key imbeds itself in one of the cave-walls and downloads a subconscious knowledge of Kryptonese into Clark's brain. Lex and his language expert Waldman find Clark in the caves. While Waldman thinks Clark is interfering with the project of analyzing the possible alien language, Lex theorizes that Clark may somehow lead them to some revelations. However, in a later scene Waldman makes the mistake of fiddling with the Key, and he's struck by an energy wave that renders him catatonic. Lex learns that Waldman was felled by an "information overload," which may mean that the Key mistook Waldman for Clark.

Yet the Key's first download wasn't the end of its manipulations of Clark (and of Alfred Gough's script problems). While Clark is on the farm, thinking the Key disintegrated during the first download, the artifact hits him with the ultrasonic wave again. This time, this stimulation causes Clark to activate his heat vision so that he burns the Kryptonian symbol for "hope" in the Kent barn. The Key also gets extraordinarily lucky in that Chloe Sullivan happens to be on hand to snap a photo of the symbol, though not knowing Clark created it. She later conveniently prints the photo in the student newspaper, and this, as if ordained by the writer-gods, comes to the attention of the one Earth-man who can unveil the mysteries of Krypton to Clark Kent. 

Even allowing for the fact that SMALLVILLE is a soap opera, "Rosetta" sets a new record for bizarre distortions of logic. Yet despite all these transparent narrative manipulations, the story still carries a fair myth-resonance because of the relationship crafted between the Clark character and that of reclusive, wheelchair-bound scientist Virgil Swann, played by paraplegic performer Christopher Reeve. In Reeve's SUPERMAN films, he had to learn his alien history from a hologram of his late father. Though SMALLVILLE could have taken that course as well-- and indeed, such a hologram does appear in Season 3-- the showrunners scored points with fans by having a former Superman actor perform this paternal duty to the younger performer Tom Welling. This also sets up a conflict original to the TV show: the intimation that this Jor-El may wish his offspring to become a draconian ruler of the lesser mortals of Earth. 

All of these revelations cause Clark grief at realizing that he's the Last Son of Krypton, and that his biological father may be a turd, and of course neither concern wraps up at this point. Clark is so busy that the two young woman competing for his affections have to play off one another. Their tension does not prove very compelling, though Chloe does reveal to Lana that she confessed to Clark during his illness, and that, though he doesn't recall hearing her, Chloe heard him call Lana's name. 

So, while "Rosetta" has long-term consequences for SMALLVILLE's ongoing narrative, it's a pretty shallow piece of work that needed a second, maybe even a third draft to make it more cohesive.