Clark roughing up the Krypto freaks

[sithius]

I found this pretty pathetic. I mean, on the whole the episode was absolutely awesome but Clark roughing up the krypto freaks more then neccessary? That isn't the Supes I know. (Well ok, he isn't superman yet but I would think at 19, I think he's that old, his morals would be in place now and his continuing natural love of fellow human beings).

So did this part annoy anyone else?

[wraith808]

Not really. They didn't even really conclude that he did so... they were just beat up, and clark said they resisted and were Krypto freaks...

[jimmyolsenblues]

I am actually very happy clark is showing anger over depression.
I am tired of clark in the barn moping around with tears in his eyes.
Using his powers to catch criminals and they got hurt. I am all for it.
If any of us had superpowers god knows what we would do with them if we were in clark's shoes.
So long as he is beating up criminals I really don't mind if they are freaks or not.
I love the vigilante clark.

[sithius]

Originally posted by wraith808
Not really. They didn't even really conclude that he did so... they were just beat up, and clark said they resisted and were Krypto freaks...

Actually it was pretty much implied he had hurt them more then was needed.

[idunowinks]

the mans got anger issues as of now..i think it was good that he was taking an approach, whatever the reasons may be. roughing them up a little isnt that bad if they were resisting, it takes clark a lot of time to learn things lol, he will learn eventually...

[freefall]

Originally posted by sithius
Actually it was pretty much implied he had hurt them more then was needed.

ITA. Martha flat out commented from the newspaper people are being dropped off at police stations unconscious.

[Ginx]

Originally posted by wraith808
Not really. They didn't even really conclude that he did so... they were just beat up, and clark said they resisted and were Krypto freaks...

Exactally - I was thinking it was the JL and not Clark because they were meteor-freaks and Clark has been working on the Zoners - too diff things.

But Clark was justifing the methods because he's helping the JL and he was a bit on edge because he had a lot on his plate and guilt to top it.

[wraith808]

Originally posted by seacrystal
ITA. Martha flat out commented from the newspaper people are being dropped off at police stations unconscious.

And he'd drop them off conscious? It might have been implied that he was using force, but too much force to be considered "roughing up" and "pathetic" can't be implied from the statements that were made IMO. Perhaps he used a bit more force that was absolutely needed. But in order to be on "bully" status, they would have to be people with no powers, and even then, depending on what they were doing (illegal, I might add), I wouldn't consider it pathetic.... You kill someone and someone punches you a bit harder than expected- be glad they didn't kill you in return is what I say...

[freefall]

Originally posted by wraith808
And he'd drop them off conscious? It might have been implied that he was using force, but too much force to be considered "roughing up" and "pathetic" can't be implied from the statements that were made IMO. Perhaps he used a bit more force that was absolutely needed. But in order to be on "bully" status, they would have to be people with no powers, and even then, depending on what they were doing (illegal, I might add), I wouldn't consider it pathetic.... You kill someone and someone punches you a bit harder than expected- be glad they didn't kill you in return is what I say...

It is pathetic, in a way. I don't deny it's good for him to be actively stopping crimes but it's for all the wrong reasons. Meteor freaks or not, bad guys or not, usually Clark doesn't have any intentions at all to hurt anybody. But it's evident in Combat that that's what he set out to do when he stopped the freaks, since he needed to channel out his anger.

Just look back at examples from earlier seasons. When Clark knocked down a meteor freak or accidentally made them unconscious, he still stayed with them at least, from which we can assume he's going to take them to the hospital first or something. He also usually takes the approach of trying to talk with or calm down the freaks instead of all just punching and smacking them down.

In Combat, his motivation was purely anger not because he really wants to help. I'd even go as far as saying that he's not actively helping out, he's simply wanting looking for a fight with someone.

But even with all that, I still think Clark is the man in Combat. He may have done it for all the wrong reasons, but in the end he finally came to his own senses, he even felt regret and remorse about Titan. It could be a really good character growth for him, in learning how to deal with his emotions as long as TPTB doesn't screw this up again. They already did when Jonathan's death still did nothing to spur him on.

[SpeedDemon77]

I think Clark's just basically sick of taking sh*t. That was his attitude, but that darker emotion will be very useful to Superman in the future. He'll eventually find the right balance between tempering his anger and dealing with those in need of being brought to justice.

After all, I've seen and read quite a few Superman stories where the bad guys don't come out looking so hot after a rumble with the Man of Steel....and he's dropped a few of them off to the authorities in an unconscious state. Hopefully by the time he starts these crime-fighting feats in adulthood the stupid criminals will have learned, for their sakes, to stop resisting being taken once they recognize the familiar red and blue. :lol:

[Supes4Ever]

The whole reason why most of the criminals fear Superman in the comics is because he is A) Not human with an insane amount of powers, and B) Not afraid to rough people up.

He is known to use intimidation and additional force if necessary. Oh....and acting on anger and impulse he did a lot. That is until Batman (ironically) taught him how to channel the angry energy into a better fighting method.

Is it just a tiny, tiny bit pathetic that it took him this long to react this way, and it was because of a woman? Yeah. But is it out of character??? No!!! I just hope the writers continue to have Clark make mistakes and grow, because he is on track to be Superman.

[freefall]

Originally posted by Supes4Ever
Is it just a tiny, tiny bit pathetic that it took him this long to react this way, and it was because of a woman? Yeah. But is it out of character??? No!!! I just hope the writers continue to have Clark make mistakes and grow, because he is on track to be Superman.

I'd say you've hit the nail right on the head here, what makes this whole angry Clark in Combat as pathetic. It's simply because of Lana/Lexana.

I initially likened it to the way Bruce Wayne almost splattered Joe Chill's brains on the floor, if it wasn't for Falcone's own henchwoman shooting Chill first, but now that I think of it, Bruce's anger was derived from his guilt of his parents' murder (even though he was only a child at that time), not because of issues and neverending hangups over a woman.


Originally posted by SpeedDemon77
I think Clark's just basically sick of taking sh*t. That was his attitude, but that darker emotion will be very useful to Superman in the future. He'll eventually find the right balance between tempering his anger and dealing with those in need of being brought to justice.


The only sh*t that he has to take right now is the whole Lana mess, nothing more. That actually what makes him fly off the handle in Combat. Even with the Zoners problem, we still could see dealing with it in a level-headed way, Sneeze thru Subterranean, as well as Justice. Even Static, one of the worst episodes of this season, still managed to show Clark as being concerned with the people of Seattle regarding the Zoner and decided to deal with that first before saving Lex for the nth time.

[Peat Moss]

Clark was acting wrongly at the beginning. But the important part was that by the end, he felt remorse.

[SpeedDemon77]

Originally posted by Peat Moss
Clark was acting wrongly at the beginning. But the important part was that by the end, he felt remorse.

Exactly. Which is him moving toward finding the balance between two very opposing sides of himself. It's a struggle he'll go through for years, but it always gets easier. Doesn't mean that when he's Superman he never roughs up a bad guy though. He just knows how to temper himself into doing it without causing them any permanent injury......and he can still drop them off at the police station unconscious when it's necessary. :lol:

[freefall]

I don't mind Superman using force and intimidation or knocking down villains unconscious when it's necessary, of course he can't be a softy and a boyscout all the time, but it should be nothing to do with him wanting to make the bad guys as his punching bags when he's in a bad mood, which was exactly what Clark did in Combat.

[wraith808]

My main issue with the first post was the pathetic part. These were people who could and did fight back, and were career criminals as stated in that same article. Perhaps his reasons were wrong, and he was not acting like superman (which he still isn't, btw). But pathetic? I'll have to agree to disagree on that point...

[SpeedDemon77]

Originally posted by seacrystal
I don't mind Superman using force and intimidation or knocking down villains unconscious when it's necessary, of course he can't be a softy and a boyscout all the time, but it should be nothing to do with him wanting to make the bad guys as his punching bags when he's in a bad mood, which was exactly what Clark did in Combat.

And by the end of the episode he realized that it was the wrong way to channel that anger. He'd learned from it, hadn't he? That was the whole point of showing that side of him at the beginning. It was meant to show that he's NOT Superman yet, but he's on his way to becoming the man who will be.

The entire point of this whole series really.

[freefall]

Originally posted by SpeedDemon77
And by the end of the episode he realized that it was the wrong way to channel that anger. He'd learned from it, hadn't he? That was the whole point of showing that side of him at the beginning. It was meant to show that he's NOT Superman yet, but he's on his way to becoming the man who will be.

The entire point of this whole series really.

I agree with you partially, and I also think his feelings at the end are indeed very significant and I hope TPTB doesn't screw that up anymore, since this whole "I'm angry and pissed off at the world and want to punch the bad guys because I can't deal with my own emotions" has been done in Vengeance. And the pathetic part is that it took his hangups over Lana/Lexana for him to be this proactive and determined and more affected compared to his own father's death.

Jonathan's death should be more than enough to spur him on, but just watch again the rest of S5 after Reckoning. He's still the same mopey guy whose major concern is still about Lana, Lana and Lana. Even after he knows Milton has regrouped after being "killed" at the FOS, he still did nothing to search for him actively but just waited on the farm until all hell broke loose and it was already too late.

[do3mire]

Originally posted by seacrystal
He's still the same mopey guy whose major concern is still about Lana, Lana and Lana..

And, it's still about Lana. How many times have they done Clark and Lana? Anyone keeping count?

At first, I sympathized with Clark and Lana. Each time it did not work out, he had a glimpse it was not meant to be and that his destiny was elsewhere. But his continued obsession with Lana (and I think obsession is an appropriate word) has made Clark, imo, unsympathetic. It colors even his efforts at fighting the bad guys. Yuck!