Fight Club - Whose Story Was It?

[Ania]

The fight club - who found the story, who investigated it better, who should write a story?

[meteor]

i woulda voted for both Chloe and Lois. i think they both had legitimate reasons to claim the story.

[Deana]

Oliver was the main source. Chloe was Clark's source for expanding on the info.

I'd say Lois and Clark's story. If Clark was a reporter at this point. I guess I can say it was his case, that he investigated.

[InLove_with_Chloe]

Clark, probably....

[msleggie]

It was Chloe's and Lois's story b/c Chloe started it and Lois basically finished it.

[xrayvision]

Clark. He put himself in harm's way and even exposed his secret to get into the fight club. His connections with Ollie got him the video.

[MidgardDragon]

Chloe was only researching it to help Clark, *NOT* for a story. Lois snooped it out as a story, it is her story and her's only. She did look at some of Chloe's research to get a start, but that was only a single photograph and she did the rest of the leg work.

[SSX]

It's Jimmy's story. No doubt…

[hanemg]

It was Lois' story because Chloe wasn't working on a story she was just being Clark's search engine for his own private mission. It could be argued that it was Clark's as well, but he wasn't interested in the story just shutting Titan down.

[NEWPORT]

Its my story. ..

.. .damnit

[Saviour of Earth]

Its Lois's, Clark wasnt doing it for a story neither was chloe.
Bottom line Lois Lane wrote it so its her story.

[Ania]

I'd say it belongs to the Oliver-Clark brotherhood. But since none of them is reporter, Lois was first to pick it up, especially after digging it in the trash, as oppossed to being presented by Clark.

[freefall]

I'd say it's everyone's story :D Oliver provided the password, Clark saved the day, Chloe printed the picture and got info from her friend down the precinct, Lois went undercover and ultimately wrote the story.

Again, very reminiscent of Exposed. Lex gave the Windgate pass card to Clark to snoop about his Uncle Jack, made calls to let off Clark and Chloe from the police questioning, Clark saves the day (of course), Lois went undercover and kicked butt on the bad guy, Chloe called the Interpol to put him in jail and ultimately writing the story.

Just like in Reunion. Lois sniffed a story but couldn't get through Oliver, Oliver tried to get through Lionel but couldn't, Clark could get through Lionel and got the info, Lois rummaged through the Inquisitor archive and read about the astral projection stuff, Clark and Lois put two and two together, and enabled Clark to save Lex and Oliver from certain deaths just in the nick of time.

It's a wonderful partnership and teamwork. Alas, when it comes to Smallville there'd always be that whole "rivalry" nonsense, and pitting characters against the others.

[Peat Moss]

Ask Perry who gets to write it...

[Atomic girl]

Don't Lois and Chloe write for different papers? Since they both had a hand in the story they should each get to write a story for their respective papers. They can collaborate or not, since they would both ultimately need Clark to tell them the "end of the story".

[freefall]

Originally posted by Atomic girl
Don't Lois and Chloe write for different papers? Since they both had a hand in the story they should each get to write a story for their respective papers. They can collaborate or not, since they would both ultimately need Clark to tell them the "end of the story".

Another good point. Since when newspaper stories have been exclusive to just one reporter anyway? All of them can go hound the story out in their own ways. Just because one reporter gets to know about the same story from a different angle, doesn't mean he/she is stealing the story, scooping or whatever.


Originally posted by xrayvision

Clark. He put himself in harm's way and even exposed his secret to get into the fight club. His connections with Ollie got him the video.


In the context of Combat, he definitely didn't put himself in harm's way or exposed his secret. He was confident he'd beat up Titan before he came into the club, and he knew his abilities would come in handy. This is in no way saying that he's less than a hero just because of his powers or downplaying his own efforts in stopping Titan, but taking into consideration his actual motivation (driven by anger over Lana/Lexana) it's not really something to make a big deal out of it.

I'm missing the Clark who'd save people and stop crimes simply because he wants to, because he knows it the right thing to do and because he's courageous, not because he knows he's indestructible.

[do3mire]

Originally posted by seacrystal
but taking into consideration his actual motivation (driven by anger over Lana/Lexana) it's not really something to make a big deal out of it.

I'm missing the Clark who'd save people and stop crimes simply because he wants to, because he knows it the right thing to do and because he's courageous, not because he knows he's indestructible.

Combat reminded me of Clark when Pa Kent died, when he took his anger out on street criminals. I'm a latecomer to SV and have been watching the S1-S2 DVDs to fill in. The current shows lack the family angle which was, imo, a great part of the story-telling. Clark is messed up without his family. Granted, he's grown up, but I would've thought they'd use Chloe in this role in more interesting ways than just sidekick.

[freefall]

Originally posted by do3mire
Combat reminded me of Clark when Pa Kent died, when he took his anger out on street criminals. I'm a latecomer to SV and have been watching the S1-S2 DVDs to fill in. The current shows lack the family angle which was, imo, a great part of the story-telling. Clark is messed up without his family. Granted, he's grown up, but I would've thought they'd use Chloe in this role in more interesting ways than just sidekick.

Combat is way harsher. He was going out there beating up criminals for days and using them as his punching bags, which didn't happen in Vengeance. And it took Martha being robbed and his dad's watch stolen before he got angry.

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by seacrystal
Combat is way harsher. He was going out there beating up criminals for days and using them as his punching bags, which didn't happen in Vengeance. And it took Martha being robbed and his dad's watch stolen before he got angry.

Where are people getting he used them for punching bags? The only fight we know of was between him and Titan. All we know about the other criminals is that he rounded them up, right? I could be forgetting as I've only been able to see the epi once, but I remember Martha reading the paper and I don't recall it saying he beat them to a pulp.

Whereas in Vengeance he actually was ready to kill someone for revenge, in Combat he was channeling his frustration into something he's good at, catching the bad guy.

[freefall]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
Where are people getting he used them for punching bags? The only fight we know of was between him and Titan. All we know about the other criminals is that he rounded them up, right? I could be forgetting as I've only been able to see the epi once, but I remember Martha reading the paper and I don't recall it saying he beat them to a pulp.

Whereas in Vengeance he actually was ready to kill someone for revenge, in Combat he was channeling his frustration into something he's good at, catching the bad guy.

His scene with his mother at the beginning implied the punching bag thing that much. His mom recognized right away what he was doing when he dropped off those freaks unconscious at the police station. She even called him upon it and he snapped at her.

He was out there in full rage mode since the beginning, unlike in Vengeance which the feelings were initially only grief and guilt. He only felt anger after his mom got robbed and his dad's watch was stolen. Quite a difference there between Vengeance and Combat, even though both are similar in terms of showing a Clark flying off his handle.

Also in Vengeance, he indeed want to kill for revenge but nowhere near the level when he proclaimed outright in Combat that he wanted to kill someone.

[xrayvision]

Originally posted by Ania
I'd say it belongs to the Oliver-Clark brotherhood. But since none of them is reporter, Lois was first to pick it up, especially after digging it in the trash, as oppossed to being presented by Clark.

That's a good call. If Clark was a reporter, then the story would be his. As to whose business or fight it was, it was definitely Clark's. He was the one who probably asked Ollie to look for stuff related to craters created by the zoners and other signs of zoners since Ollie knows nothing about them. That's why Ollie sent the video to him that he later watched with Chloe. So Clark knew that he was looking for zoners from the beginning and once he had proof of one, he stuck with it till the very end. I really liked the way they portrayed him this time. This episode was the anti-Static. Now all he needs to do is learn how to become a good journalist like Chloe so that he can rely on himself from start to finish and not need Chloe anymore so he can become the hero we all know.


Originally posted by seacrystal
Combat is way harsher. He was going out there beating up criminals for days and using them as his punching bags, which didn't happen in Vengeance. And it took Martha being robbed and his dad's watch stolen before he got angry.

I don't think he used anyone as punching bags. I'm guessing that your opinion is based on Martha's disapproval of the citizen's arrests seen at the beginning of the episode after the credits. I think Martha overreacted. She doesn't know about his previous bouts with freaks. The ones that live usually end up unconcious after fighting him. Examples:

Tina Greer (X-Ray)
Eric Marsh & his 2 buddies (Witness)
Jed McNally (Subterranean)
Ian Randall (Dichotic--heck one of him even died)
Emily Dinsmore clone (Forsaken)
Justin Gaines (Crush)
Uncle Nicholas (not a freak, Slumber)
Jodi (Craving)
Jeff Palmer (Shimmer)
Roy Rothman (not a freak, Zero)
Shannon Bell (not a freak, Bound)

And there were several more. The only difference was that he brought them to the police instead of just leaving them there or calling the cops to pick them up.

[hanemg]

I think people got the idea that Clark was being a bit...ah...agressive because Martha said, "Some of them were hurt pretty badly." Clark's response was that they were meteor infected and put up a fight, but I think considering the context of the episode and his confession to Martha regarding Titan at the end that we are meant to infer that Clark was using excessive force due to his own mounting anger and frustration.

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by seacrystal
His scene with his mother at the beginning implied the punching bag thing that much. His mom recognized right away what he was doing when he dropped off those freaks unconscious at the police station. She even called him upon it and he snapped at her.

He was out there in full rage mode since the beginning, unlike in Vengeance which the feelings were initially only grief and guilt. He only felt anger after his mom got robbed and his dad's watch was stolen. Quite a difference there between Vengeance and Combat, even though both are similar in terms of showing a Clark flying off his handle.

Also in Vengeance, he indeed want to kill for revenge but nowhere near the level when he proclaimed outright in Combat that he wanted to kill someone.

How is knocking them out and delivering them to the authorities using them as punching bags? That's precisely the type of patrolling that Superman would do. He might be doing it for the wrong reasons but he's still doing it the right way. He's not going out and beating them to a bloody pulp or punching them around unnecessarily judging by Martha's comment. He's simply knocking them out and delivering them to the police. Pretty sure I could dig up several issues of comics and other Superman TV shows where he's done precisely the same thing.


Originally posted by hanemg
I think people got the idea that Clark was being a bit...ah...agressive because Martha said, "Some of them were hurt pretty badly." Clark's response was that they were meteor infected and put up a fight, but I think considering the context of the episode and his confession to Martha regarding Titan at the end that we are meant to infer that Clark was using excessive force due to his own mounting anger and frustration.

And I don't get that at all. If some of them were hurt badly because they put up a fight, and his word is the only thing we have to go on, then it's not logical to assume that there was any other reason IMO. Titan was his excessive force, really need to vent, gonna go punch something until it's almost dead guy. That was the whole point of the episode, Clark's frustration had taken on a new level. Why would they have it already have had that level in Offscreenville? That would defeat the episode's purpose.

[hanemg]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
And I don't get that at all. If some of them were hurt badly because they put up a fight, and his word is the only thing we have to go on, then it's not logical to assume that there was any other reason IMO. Titan was his excessive force, really need to vent, gonna go punch something until it's almost dead guy. That was the whole point of the episode, Clark's frustration had taken on a new level. Why would they have it already have had that level in Offscreenville? That would defeat the episode's purpose.
No, the purpose of the episode remains intact, that purpose being to show the END RESULT of all of his anger and misplaced aggression. The opening scene with Martha was merely to set up that this is a thing that had been building since "Promise". It would seem to be somewhat out of place for him to have gone from 0-60 in a single episode. It's much more realistic (if you'll forgive my use of this term in regards to a show like this) to have his anger and acting out to be a building thing and budget conscious for the studio to have the minor stuff played off-screen.

[freefall]

Originally posted by hanemg
No, the purpose of the episode remains intact, that purpose being to show the END RESULT of all of his anger and misplaced aggression. The opening scene with Martha was merely to set up that this is a thing that had been building since "Promise". It would seem to be somewhat out of place for him to have gone from 0-60 in a single episode. It's much more realistic (if you'll forgive my use of this term in regards to a show like this) to have his anger and acting out to be a building thing and budget conscious for the studio to have the minor stuff played off-screen.

Word. Like I've said before, I have no problems with Clark/Superman knocking down the bad guys unconscious or giving them one hell of an uppercut, he's a pacifist at heart but he also can't be a softy all the time. But taking into consideration his motivation in going out there to stop freaks and Zoners in Combat, it's reasonable and not that far-fetched to come to the conclusion he has indeed used them as a punching bag, in some way or other. Intentions and motives go a long, long way here, not just the deeds themselves.

And for the record, I do like Clark in this episode. A lot. He's on the wrong train, but definitely on the right track.

[STFanatic]

It is Chuck Palahniuk's story.

At least he wrote the original novel for "Fight Club". :p

But I voted Lois :D

[Sweetie]

It was Clark & Lois's story.Both were working on it.I think Lois will inspire to become a reporter.

[All about Clark]

I think all 3 could have written a story and had published at 3 different papers if they wanted to. Each had enough info to bring it down.

[MidgardDragon]

I disagree with much of the two posts after mine, but here's what it comes down to for me: All we know is that Clark used his frustration and channeled it into delivering bad guys to the police. He knocked them unconscious and/or beat them up if they put up a fight. We don't know that he was channeling the anger by beating them up, his word is all we have and he says they put up a fight. We do know he channeled his anger by fighting crime. And I don't think he had to have been blatantly beating on them in order for the offscreen scenes to be the buildup. Titan was the first one he blatantly beat up and wanted to kill, that was the point, he took it to a new level. So rather than just fighting the bad guy to channel his anger, now he really wanted to hurt someone. What he did to Titan was using him as a punching bag. Otherwise he was, as far as we know, doing what is healthy and channeling the anger into something useful.

[RedKRules]

Well Chloe was only helping Clark, and Clark wanted to find Titan......but Lois was the one who wanted to get a story out of it ... ........

[jazel]

the person above me said.:)
Chloe was helping Clark, but Lo was looking for a story.
Watched a clip from Combat......it was too funny how the few people there, weres making a run for it. in the same second we see Lois jumping on Titan's back.