Reviews & Ratings for
"Smallville" Traveler (2008)

13 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Revealing in the entire series' backstory, 21 March 2008

Author: Rcwilkinson123 from United States

Many questions concerning prominent, wealthy families that have one time or another been involved in Clark's life are answered in this very revealing and plot-progressing 146th episode of the series.

Lionel hires men to taser Clark and trap him in a kryptonite cell. What is Lionel's reason behind wanting Clark imprisoned? This is revealed when Lionel meets with Patricia Swann, daughter of the late Virgil Swann (played by Christopher Reeve), the doctor who told Clark his origins. Patricia believes that there was legitimacy behind a secret society among four prominent, rich families- the Luthors, Swanns, Queens, and Teagues- called Veritas, that discussed the coming of the 'Traveler' from a faraway galaxy. She accuses Lionel of killing these society members so that he could have the Traveler all to himself, and demands to see the Last Son of Krypton. She explains that Lionel has done his job as part of Veritas, and that she now must do hers.

Meanwhile, Lex is keeping Kara in his mansion, feeding her false facts about her past as to skew her memories. He is also monitoring her on camera, and wants to give her neurological treatment to try to regain her memories so that he may understand his questions about Clark. Chloe and Lana decide that they must try to save Kara and try to restore her memories and powers if Clark is to be saved.

This episode has everything that you want in a good episode of television: reveals, action, good writing, and fantastic acting. On top of all these qualities displayed in this episode, it also contains special effects that have come a long way on Smallville since its early seasons. A truly intriguing episode.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Quite possibly the best episode of Smallville in years!, 22 March 2008

Author: griffolyon12 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Traveler is the fourteenth episode of Smallville's seventh season. Throughout the first half of this season I had felt that Smallville was kind of losing its touch, but starting with the episode Gemini things started to go up hill and each episode since then has gotten progressively better, and now we reach this episode Traveler which is not only the best episode of season seven thus far, but quite possibly the greatest episode to air ever since the fifth season ended.

The story of Traveler begins with Clark in his barn loft. These men in uniforms rush in with guns full of Kryptonite darts and kidnap Clark, they then take Clark to an abandoned warehouse and put him within a Kryptonite Cage. Soon Chloe and Lana discover Clark is missing and begin doing some deep detective work to find Clark and save him, but they soon learn that the only one who can help them save Clark is his cousin Kara, who still has amnesia, and to make matters worse is living with Lex. Chloe and Lana must break into Lex's mansion and get Kara and try to help her get her memory and powers back so that she can help them retrieve Clark. Still, even after all of this, the big question is who is holding Clark captive? Lionel, Lex, or Patricia Swan, the daughter of Dr. Virgil Swan, who has come to Metropolis to see Lionel, accusing Lionel of her father's death and talking about some secret society known as Veritas, which somehow has a connection to the Last Son of Krypton.

As I said this is one of the finest episodes of Smallville I think I have seen ever since the WB turned into the CW. The episode's pacing was picture perfect, you never felt that anything was being rushed or was taking too long to develop, which is something I have felt that Smallville has had some trouble with for the past two seasons so I am glad that they seem to have fixed that problem with this episode. As well the writers and director of this particular episode need a huge pat on the back for creating a classic episode that has deep ties with the show's overall mythology. Within this episode we learn more about Dr. Swan and his mission in trying to help Clark, through his daughter Patricia. That particular part of this episode was definitely one of the most exhilarating, it made me feel like I was watching a season three episode in season seven, which might have been a large reason as to why I enjoyed this episode so much, since the third season is my favorite season of Smallville.

Overall this was a great episode that stands tall with some of Smallville's finest, and it is one of the first episodes of this show in a long time that I was simply blown away upon viewing it.

A picture perfect 10 out of 10!

we learn what veritas is, but not what it's for, 30 December 2012

Author: sam johnston from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Isn't it a little unfair to be criticizing Lionel for the things he did before he became Jor-El's emissary? Lionel's methods have been suspect recently, but not his intentions. He's always done what he could to protect Clark. Lionel has been saying for ages now that he's a different man. Is there any reason not to believe him? All the people Lionel is accused of murdering in this episode died long before he changed. (And when Patricia Swan is murdered, it seems to have been at Lex's hand, not Lionel's)

When Clark confronts Lionel about being kidnapped by him, Lionel says he had been getting threatening letters about people trying to kidnap Clark. Clark asks why Lionel didn't just tell him about the threats. Right? That makes sense. A little communication here and there would do this show wonders. Maybe Clark wouldn't have had to be kidnapped. Maybe Kara wouldn't have run off to Lex when her memory was gone. Maybe, maybe not. But at least I wouldn't be frustrated with every episode, constantly asking why no one is talking to anyone else.

So, anyway. We learn that Veritas is a secret organization of people who predicted the coming of "the Traveler." We learn that all the famous rich families in the series were part of Veritas. We don't quite learn what Veritas wanted with the traveler. All in good time, I suppose. The revelation of Veritas wasn't earth-shattering, but satisfying enough for one episode.

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