Does anyone else think that the writers assassinated Clark's character?

[BethHG]

I just discovered Smallville on Hulu in January, and I have watched most of the episodes 3 times. I really have enjoyed the show, but there are certain things that are bothering me.

I understand why Clark has to lie, but he never seems to try to find ways to distract or redirect focus onto other things so that he wouldn't have to that much. Or he even share what info he can, without full disclosure. Sometimes, he just stands there looking dumb, and his character is not supposed to be dumb.

Which brings me to the fact that Clark Kent is supposed to be extremely intelligent, as shown in one of the early shows, when his parents are tallying up all their finances, and Clark just does the math in his head. We really don't see that side of him very much at all.

Also, the whole thing with Lana should have ended by senior year, so that he could discover how to be self reliant without a girlfriend. Yes, I know that the writers loved KK. Now, I have met couples that have done the on off thing for years, but it really served no purpose in the show.

I know that there are other things, but I am spacing them out now. 😜

[DJ Doena]

I understand why Clark has to lie, but he never seems to try to find ways to distract or redirect focus onto other things so that he wouldn't have to that much.

At least in the early seasons Clark often manages not to lie while not telling the truth. Two examples from season 3 come to mind. First in Extinction when Lana comes to him at the end and says that it would be okay if he was a meteor freak (after blaming all bad stuff on the meteor freaks for the entire episode - but that is another story). Clark just replies that he'd wished it was that easy but he wasn't infected by the meteors - which is absolutely true.

Lana: You know, I, um, I believed Van for a minute when he told me you were bulletproof.
Clark: Is that what he told you?
Lana: It was really comforting to hear. Suddenly everything made sense. The tornado, all the times that you've been there... everything I can't explain...
Clark: I wish the answer was that easy. But I wasn't infected by the meteor rocks.

Then in Obsession Alicia explains to him that her powers come from the meteor shower and she asks him whether for him it was meteor exposure, too. He replies (while not actually answering) with a counter-question that everything was connected to the meteor shower.

Alicia: Basically, the meteor shower... affected my body and allowed me to teleport myself.
Clark: And anything you touch.
Alicia: And anything I touch I want to take with me. Yes. What about you? Was it meteor exposure, too?
Clark: Everything's pretty much connected to the meteor shower. Right?
Alicia: Right.

[Aurora Moon]

It does annoy me how many times they required Clark to play "The big dumb alien" just to advance the plot of whatever story they wanted to do.

[BethHG]

At least in the early seasons Clark often manages not to lie while not telling the truth. Two examples from season 3 come to mind. First in Extinction when Lana comes to him at the end and says that it would be okay if he was a meteor freak (after blaming all bad stuff on the meteor freaks for the entire episode - but that is another story). Clark just replies that he'd wished it was that easy but he wasn't infected by the meteors - which is absolutely true.



Then in Obsession Alicia explains to him that her powers come from the meteor shower and she asks him whether for him it was meteor exposure, too. He replies (while not actually answering) with a counter-question that everything was connected to the meteor shower.

I remembered thae Alicia quote, which is why I get annoyed more, especially with how often Clark just stands there listening to Lana complaining that he isn't telling her the truth. Of course, if it were me, I would probably be like " damn, I just don't want to have this conversation again." , or, " Look, you want me to tell you everything? Why don't you just tell me all about that bloody crystal that you gave me?", or "It's none of your business."
OR
"I don't trust you!"


Of course, they wouldn't have had the problem of Clark lying all the time to Lana, if they shortened the relationship.

[costas22]

There were instances where Clark looked really bad by lying. Especially in season 5 after he was resurrected and kept lying to Lana what happened. Lana in particular deserved better at that point. Things were getting serious between the two of them and he started avoiding having sex with her by using poor excuses. It's why I consider the writing for Reckoning one of the most damaging in the show's history. Not because Lana lived and Jonathan died. That made sense considering both characters' purpose in Clark's life. But coming out of that episode, Clark was trapped in a mindset of "If I tell Lana, something bad will happen to her" for another season and a half. Leading to more lies, the Clana break up, Lexana, the Clexana love triangle that hurt both Clark and Lex, etc etc. By the time we got to the end of season 6, Lana knew but the damage was done and Clark was a mess as a character.

On the other hand, I must say that during the first 4 seasons I thought Clark was getting a raw deal. Especially from Lana who would prod him every episode about hiding things from her. And of course Clark would stqand there dumbfounded, because the writing for those scenes demanded that Lana was in the right and he was in the wrong. At the end of the day, they were both still teenagers and Clark was no different than many boys his age that choose to be seclusive. Even with their girlfriends. Lana was acting like he owed her the truth about every part of his life. Which he didn't. And there was one episode where, in his defence, he flat out tells her "Do you ever think that some people are just better at opening up than others?" and she still guilt tripped him.

To the same degree, the same applies to Lex. In the first 4 seasons he didn't pressure Clark like Lana did (in fact, I believe the first time he accuses Clark of lying is the season 5 premiere) but after that, Lex became equally obsessed with Clark's lying. There's only one instance where I thought Lex had a valid point: The aforementioned resurrection and how poorly Clark covered it up. Other than that, the show would have you believe that Clark not telling Lex he was an alien was what caused Lex to turn on Clark and go dark. Which, IMO, is a convenient excuse for Lex's actions. Clark had every right to have a secret from his best friend, especially when that secret wasn't hurting his best friend. That's how real life works most of the time. If Lex couldn't handle that, the problem lied on his end and his trust issues that stemmed from his relationship with his father. But yeah, I agree that most of the time Clark just didn't have a good retort and just stood there speechless while Lex was chewing him out for lying. One of the rare times he did was when he and Lex clashed after Lionel got killed and it was my favorite Clark scene of season 7.

[jon-el87]

Which brings me to the fact that Clark Kent is supposed to be extremely intelligent, as shown in one of the early shows, when his parents are tallying up all their finances, and Clark just does the math in his head. We really don't see that side of him very much at all.

You know, I once sat down to watch Good Will Hunting. Never finished it. The character's supposed to be a math genius, but then he starts listing obscure laws in court (knowledge he could only possess by reading a lot). Sadly, the entertainment industry's portrayal of intelligence leaves a lot to be desired. Someone's said to have an IQ of 250 and, because of that, knows all kinds of information. Without the smallest piece of evidence that he/she has ever cracked upon a book on the subject. They have a high IQ and therefore they automatically possess all the knowledge in the universe.

When it comes to Clark, he's shown to be great at math. He can quickly do calculations in his head. No doubt a side effect of him being able to move at super speed. His brain is wired to process information at lightning speed. This isn't going to magically make him great at computers or hacking or forensics or any other field that requires actual training.

Also, the whole thing with Lana should have ended by senior year, so that he could discover how to be self reliant without a girlfriend.

This was a TV show. Traditionally executives have always pushed for there to be a love story or a romance in shows and movies. Have you ever seen the movie Adaptation? It centers around a fictionalized version of the film's screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicholas Cage), as he's trying to adapt a non-fiction book into a working screenplay. Tilda Swinton appears in a scene playing a studio representative, who is talking to Kaufman about the project, where she notes that the studio thought that the two main characters in the book (based on two real people) could fall inlove (which wasn't true about the real people involved in the story). Heck, the character of Jason Teague was created because the network requested a new boyfriend for Lana.

So, you couldn't do the show without romance added. Not without risking upsetting the network. And there aren't that many other love interests that they could've gone with. Viewers tended to obsess about canon. If anything in this adaptation didn't line up perfectly with the comics, someone would throw a fit (some seem to have had the misunderstanding that this show was supposed to be set in the current continuity of the comics. While some seemingly believed that it was supposed to lead up to the events of the Christopher Reeve movies). And the canon they obsessed about only allowed for three basic women: Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris and Lois Lane. According to Erica Durance, there were restrictions on doing a Clark and Lois romance, until they eight season. So, they couldn't do that for seasons 4-7. And when it comes to Lori Lemaris... She's a mermaid. Which creates logistical problems (like you have a woman with a fish tail, who is confined to a wheelchair. The fish tail means that you have a physical characteristic that needs to be applied, whenever the character appears onscreen. And her being in a wheelchair makes action scenes difficult), not to mention by introducing her you've now established that mermaids are real in this world. That's not a fact that can just be said and then forgotten about. And why is a mermaid living in Smallville, Kansas? With Aquaman, they introduced him not knowing his origin and then learn it in season 10, but didn't openly say that his mom was from Atlantis. Because such a revelation would've required further explaination and discussion. Back to Lori Lemaris, there could also be concerns that the concept of mermaids could be seen as too juvenile. They typically appears in things more aimed at small children, than teens and young adults. I guess she could've been reinvented as a meteor freak, who turns into a mermaid-like creature, when she's in water (allowing her to have feet, when on land and justifies her living in Smallville), but that feels more like a one-shot character. Not a regular, you could spend several seasons with.

So, you're not allowed to have Clark and Lois be a couple, nor is Lori Lemaris appearing as much of a possibility. This leaves you with one canon acceptable option: Lana.

Of course, I should point out that they barely date during her tenure on the show. They don't date in season 1. They almost get together at the tail end of season 2, but it ends when Clark runs off to Smallville. Then they don't date again until the start of season 5 and that ends with episode 16. Then they don't date again until season 7, which ends with Lana seemingly dumping him in the season finale. Then they don't start again until the end of "Power" and break up in the very next episode. So, Clark is actually single for most of her time on the show (occationally dating another girl for one or two episodes).

[Aurora Moon]

@Jon-El : then by that logic people like Alicia or Jessie shouldn't had ever come into Clark's orbit as possible love interests. besides, Clark Kent in the comics had other canon girlfriends besides Lana Lang, and I'm not talking about Lori the mermaid (although she was one of the most memorable ones).

There was the time Clark lost his memories as superman in the golden age and only ever remembered his life as "Clark Kent the human" and he had a long relationship with a woman named Sarah that lasted for two years in-story although in the real world it was only one issue of a comic book.

In fact There was times that Superman got married and quickly divorced to several human women, if we want to talk about people who's more than just a short-term girlfriend. and it wasn't a fake marriage neither... it was done with real priests, the works, etc.

Action Comics #143 (April 1950) – Superman married Nikki LaRue while an extremely sassy Lois watched.
Action Comics #289 (June 1962) – Superman married Luma Lynai (who looks exactly like his cousin Supergirl).
Action Comics #512 (October 1980) – Superman stole Lex Luthor’s wife, Angela Blake, while she was still in her wedding dress.
Action Comics #593 (October 1987) – Superman took Big Barda as his wife.
Superman the man of Steel #6 (December 1991) – Superman married the tribal chief’s daughter.


Then there's wonder woman of course. She's been Clark Kent's wife twice already.. in the kingdom come series, and in another else-worlds story. They also hooked up briefly in the golden age comics.
So to sum it up-- Superman has been married 7 times to somebody who wasn't lois lane or lana lang. and stole someone else’s wife twice.

So why not allow Clark Kent in Smallville to have official girlfriends that wasn't lana or Lois?? It can be made clear to the viewers that they weren't meant to be long-term, and they can break up with him because they thought he was too flaky with the way he kept on leaving with no explanation to do his superman stuff. And of course the girlfriends wouldn't know about him being a superhero.
If anything it would've given him some realistic growth and experiences like everyone else. It was one of the reasons why I kinda liked Alica.

[jon-el87]

Okay, it feels like you've gotten the impression that I've said that Clark shouldn't be allowed to date anyone whom he didn't in the comics, which I haven't. I was talking about how there were viewers who threw a fit, whenever the show did something that didn't line up with what they considered canon. Heck, I recall a few times when I was talking with someone here about the show and they started citing the Christopher Reeve movies (and not the comics) as THE SOURCE (where the only two girls were first Lana, then Lois...okay, and Lacy, if you wanna talk Superman IV). If you look at old posts, you'll find some complaining about how important Chloe was made and their reason for it is that Chloe was an original character.

Personally, I couldn't care less who Clark dated. The reluctance to officially move on from Lana could've come from a fear of change on behalf of the producers. That if they let any of the core three (Clark, Lana and Lex) go, it'd be the end of the show. Ironically, I personally think that Lex and Lana leaving gave the show a breath of fresh air. It allowed for new characters to come in and for the writers to explore other things.

Action Comics #289 (June 1962) – Superman married Luma Lynai (who looks exactly like his cousin Supergirl).

No, he didn't. Supergirl tried to set the two up, but it couldn't work as Luma couldn't live on Earth.

Action Comics #593 (October 1987) – Superman took Big Barda as his wife.

The plot of that comic was Superman and Big Barda being mind controlled into doing a porno by some guy from Apokolips. Not Superman taking Big Barda as his wife. I can't comment on the others, as I haven't read them, nor does the DC Database Wiki have a full plot synopsis for those issues.

[Aurora Moon]

I was googling the times people got married to superman and came across this site that had covers of superman marrying people. sorry, I forgot that sometimes the covers were misleading and didn't portray the story inside the covers.

[HalJordan4184]

You know, I once sat down to watch Good Will Hunting. Never finished it. The character's supposed to be a math genius, but then he starts listing obscure laws in court (knowledge he could only possess by reading a lot). Sadly, the entertainment industry's portrayal of intelligence leaves a lot to be desired. Someone's said to have an IQ of 250 and, because of that, knows all kinds of information. Without the smallest piece of evidence that he/she has ever cracked upon a book on the subject. They have a high IQ and therefore they automatically possess all the knowledge in the universe.

When it comes to Clark, he's shown to be great at math. He can quickly do calculations in his head. No doubt a side effect of him being able to move at super speed. His brain is wired to process information at lightning speed. This isn't going to magically make him great at computers or hacking or forensics or any other field that requires actual training.

You should have finished the movie. It does explain that Will pretty much has an eidetic memory, and reads just about everything he's ever come across. Robin Williams character explains to him though that knowing a bunch of stuff doesn't actually equate to being smart or having lived. He's just an encyclopedia that has a crap ton of psychological baggage. He can't use what he knows because of the messed up things in his life that keep him from making smart choices.

As far as Smallville goes, I feel they screwed Clark up a lot. Most of that, probably goes to not know what to do with him for years. A big problem is, how do you write a guy that should just be an all around great kid, who through necessity in the comics and stuff, didn't go through almost anything Smallville Clark did. The concept of the show itself, worked against it's very premise. They aimed to tell the story of how this kid grows up into Superman, then just flat out made him Superman-lite. Running around, juggling a double life, fighting super villains, etc. By Season 3 I was lost as I wasn't sure how this guy could be Superman, as he ceased to be inspiring to me.