Writers continue to denigrate Superman

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

(if Lex in Fracture didn't die after getting shot in the head at point blank range & was not treated until after being flown to Smallville, then I could believe Edge survived what happened to him in Shattered). They could & should bring him back & make him the man in charge of starting up & running Intergang and getting Bruno Mannheim out of prison while also setting up a deal between his organization & one of Darkseid's minions so he could acquire the weapons from Apokolips so they could arm themselves & rise in power. Intergang not only hates Superman but also hates Clark and since in Smallville Edge knows about Clark, that would make things even more interesting. I suggested an idea where Edge uses his knowledge of Clark, which would've grown since Shattered if they bring him back & explain him to be watching Clark from the background, and have his men throw a Blur party in Metropolis where Clark would be the reporter invited to cover it. His men would spike the punch with liquid red-k which would only affect Clark & afterwards, they would meet up with him & make him an offer to join their "elite" group & have him execute a transaction with an agent of Apokolips (I suggested Desaad) for the weapons in exchange for a briefcase containing vials of fluids from a variety of species (humans, metahumans, meteor freaks, Clark's own blood, and fluids from various Phantom Zone corpses Edge got his hands on over the years) that Darkseid would seek as the key to the Anti-Life Equation. Then Clark would say he'd do it & would take the case, meet Desaad, exchange the case for the weapons & then violently attack Desaad (in his vessel) & take the briefcase back too & screw over both Desaad & Intergang. Following this, still affected by red-k, he would as the Blur secure the weapons by transporting them to the military & destroy the briefcase & its contents to become Intergang's & Darkseid's #1 target. He would go back to the Planet & write several headlines on the Blur's recent saves & activities & prop/pimp out his hero identity as a result of the red-k, which would wear off and leave him realizing that he's been ignoring his love for journalism for too long & would finally address it.

This would have been a much better episode and a nice callback to the third season and sixth season. The weapons of Apokolips in the hands of Intergang would be sweet. Only thing I don't want is red kryptonite. I think that's overdone and doesn't serve any purpose anymore.

They should just write Clark super proactive. For example in "Prey" Clark got so caught up in his superhero persona he kinda lost touch to everyone and started to put his identity in jeopardy. Here Clark could learn not to forget Lois and his job as a journalist and that there's more than one way to change the world.

I think the Isis plot could have been done in some ways in the later episode with Hawkman. I don't know what happens in "Icarus" but now the Isis plot seemed kinda pointless without him and Lois didn't learn much from this experience.

All in all "Isis" felt like a blander version of "Crossfire" from S9. "Crossfire" was good kind of filler that really taught Clark to pursue what he wants, namely Lois. The episode itself was really fun. Im comparing the two episodes because of their final scenes.

[xrayvision]

This would have been a much better episode and a nice callback to the third season and sixth season. The weapons of Apokolips in the hands of Intergang would be sweet. Only thing I don't want is red kryptonite. I think that's overdone and doesn't serve any purpose anymore.

They should just write Clark super proactive. For example in "Prey" Clark got so caught up in his superhero persona he kinda lost touch to everyone and started to put his identity in jeopardy. Here Clark could learn not to forget Lois and his job as a journalist and that there's more than one way to change the world.

I think the Isis plot could have been done in some ways in the later episode with Hawkman. I don't know what happens in "Icarus" but now the Isis plot seemed kinda pointless without him and Lois didn't learn much from this experience.

All in all "Isis" felt like a blander version of "Crossfire" from S9. "Crossfire" was good kind of filler that really taught Clark to pursue what he wants, namely Lois. The episode itself was really fun. Im comparing the two episodes because of their final scenes.

I think using red-k to signify the danger that Edge's knowledge of Clark's secret as well as using it to bring out Clark's inner passion for journalism & make him realize it once the effects wear off would be an entirely different way than it was used in the past, which many times starting in Unsafe was as a love potion (I always hated that use of red-k).

This is similar to how red-k at the end of Red, when Clark was no longer wearing the ring, made him question where the feelings & desires he showed while under the influence of red-k came from. Here it would make him question where the streak of headlines he would write under red-k's influence came from. And unlike in the past, I would have Clark not show the darkness he did in the past while under red-k but rather show a reaction of Clark where he puts his focus to more positive things while under red-k than he did in the past, while at the same time showing him to be more extreme/less reserved than his usual self. That would in turn show that Clark has let go of the darkness & anger that was previously plaguing him where even under red-k his intentions are pure, though as I said before his actions are more extreme/brash. The reason why I say this is because in such a plot, Clark making the members of Intergang think he was on board with them right after drinking punch at the party spiked with liquid red-k would not participate in the deal to work with them but instead would do so because his intention from the very start would be to screw them over & secure not only the Apokolips weapons but the vials of biological fluids from the spectrum of species I mentioned. Even though this would also be his Superman goal, his Superman approach would be different---such as him not making it appear he joined Intergang. This is why I say his intent would be unaffected by red-k this time around though his tact at going about achieving his intent would as usual be affected.

On top of all this, using red-k in such a way would be a great way to kick off a Clark vs. Intergang plot & would put him in their crosshairs very quickly in a significant manner.

It would accomplish all these objectives:

1. Brings Morgan Edge & Bruno Mannheim back into the picture as both are bigtime villains

2. Starts the Clark vs. Intergang plot

3. Gets Clark to realize he loves journalism, has ignored it for too long & how it's another weapon in his arsenal to save humanity

4. Brings in other New Gods like Desaad (as Darkseid's operative)

5. Introduces Intergang's weapons from Apokolips

6. Gives Edge a motive to strike back at people close to Clark like Lois

7. Given that Edge would remain in the shadows until Clark exposes him, it sets up a Morgan Edge-General Lane collaboration where Edge would use the negative publicity of costumed vigilantes/superheroes to sway Lane, who would have custody of the Apokolips weapons that Clark screwed Intergang over in the deal after Clark gave them to the military, into giving Edge the weapons to stop the Blur after further blackmailing Lane by showing proof he has that Sam Lane's own daughter is deeply involved with the Blur & is in serious danger

8. #7 above gives a reason to get Martha Kent involved with the storyline since she's a senator & would be paying attention to Sam Lane's activities & would be the one to alert Clark that something is up, which would start his investigation that would oust Morgan Edge's return

All these 8 things would be very intelligent & proper plots given the main enemy of the season. I think it would be a travesty not to do this & to weigh the season down with more fillers.

I agree they should write Clark super proactive, though as I pointed out above, I don't think doing 1 episode where he's involuntarily exposed to red-k would hurt his progress. I think Isis was certainly more watchable than Escape from last season since Isis had some good elements that were sandwiched by all the boring filler plot (Tess' scenes, Cat's scenes, and the reveal at the end) whereas Escape had nothing I liked & was just a huge boring shipfest with no redeeming qualities for me.

[Dubb]

----- Added 34 Seconds later -----



Exactly. I LOVE the fact that the past few seasons have introduced so many DC Comics characters from outside of the immediate Superman family. It means they've really created a fully-fleshed out DC Universe. And if you think about it, this is the first time that that has EVER happened on-screen, in either TV or movie form.

Yes, that has been good; however, it would have made for better episodes if they had developed the storyline around some of these characters rather than provide filler episodes. I would've like seeing more references (ie Flashbacks) to Dr. Fate or Hawkman last season.

[galatians221]

Yes, that has been good; however, it would have made for better episodes if they had developed the storyline around some of these characters rather than provide filler episodes. I would've like seeing more references (ie Flashbacks) to Dr. Fate or Hawkman last season.

Again the show is about Superman. Flying Hawk people just make an incredible story less credible. Writers who are true Superman fans wouldn't bring others in who diminish the uniqueness of the Man of Steel.

[galatians221]

I agree. If I'm watching a show about the Justice League I assume many people will have many powers. If I'm watching Smallville I don't want to see every actor and their mother fly before Clark is actually doing it. That should be his most awesome ability when he gains it and not an ability that other characters have had time after time. I don't want to see Clark truly fly for the first time only to bump into multiple people. "Pardon me, excuse me, sorry to bump into you but I finally figured out how to fly and if you could just move a little to the left I can get around you. Yeah, Superman here."

Great points. Superman as conceived as a singularly amazing "super" man. Now he's part of mythological creatures that are more interesting than the star of the show

[FlyingHigh]

The original point is that the Justice League characters and Hawkman is a great example, are based on mythology which is at it's base polytheism. Siegel and Schuster I believe based Superman on the Jewish concept of monotheism: one God and the Messiah (Christ) being the focus. I didn't say Jesus. Moses was a prototype of the Messiah and a singular deliverer is at the heart of Judaism which is of course monotheistic. I was asked to explain what I meant by that and this is what I meant. I wish the SV writers were more loyal to the origin of Superman rather than the DC comic world.

To be fair to the Bible, the story may be about God, but with the exception of the first few chapters of Genesis, He is not the primary focus of the plot. The vast majority of the action involves a host of humans who at best speak for Him and who at worst are indifferent to Him, and it is His relationships with those characters, and the relationships the characters have with one another, that form the theme of the story and give it direction. As an instance of the latter, I believe Moses' story would have been significantly less interesting if it weren't for his relationships to his sister, his adopted mother, his wife, his brother Aaron (the guy who was picked to be high priest), his protege Joshua, etc. (Similarly a huge chunk of the Gospels involves the recruitment of the Disciples and Jesus' intimate (non-public) conversations with them.). Obviously I don't know what Siegel's ideas were about the Moses narrative, but in my opinion if the producers of Smallville wanted to mimic that narrative they would do best by showing us Clark's relationships.

[abbaspice1]

Again the show is about Superman. Flying Hawk people just make an incredible story less credible. Writers who are true Superman fans wouldn't bring others in who diminish the uniqueness of the Man of Steel.

And who are YOU to say who is or isn't a TRUE fan of Superman. You, who don't like the comics. Yet, where has Superman appear the most? COMICS.

You would like to ignore decades of SUPERMAN because it doesn't fit your particular view.

And you think you are qualified to decide which fan is a true fan?

The comics are legitimate. I happen to love the comics. I love having Superman work with other heroes. I love the different kind of heroes...some mortal, some with powers, some magically (and therefore can do a lot of harm to Superman).

The thing I find lacking is the act that Clark hasn't shown himself to the THE leader.

But then again, he is n't Superman...YET.

[Dyanara]

I get what the OP is talking about, this is not a new trend this has been happening a lot since perhaps season 5 or 6. The writers and producers poo poo Clark to make others look better. They made Clark a BDA to make Chloe look better, they made Oliver have to scold him into becoming a more proactive hero, every inhabitant of Krypton has made a pit stop in Smallville or Metropolis and they always know how to fly. Kara has to teach Clark to fly, Lana becomes SuperLana, every body on the show has Kryptonite in some form and Clark is too oblivious to notice when he is walking into a room full of it etc. I think this show has turned from a show about Clark Kent to Clark Kent's comic book friends.
The good news I suppose is that Isis was the epitome of filler and we can just pretend it didnt happen.

[JeanneKent]

It's been 10 seasons. I have nothing to do with the writers any more. I'm used to them, used to their styles. Forget it!