Clark's lack of concern about Chloe

[Deana]

It seems more of a lack of concern than it is because of Ollie's over-the-top, obsessive, mental institution, OOC overreaction to her disappearance.

No one can compare to that insanity.

[bennyjr123]

actually i didnt admit anything i just didnt give any examples

but since you ask

Pheonix: clark told his parents sorry for what he did to leave

Obsession: clark opens up to his parents and tells them how alicia makes him feel

Crimson: clark spoke to martha regarding how red-k made him open up even though what he said hurt those he spoke to

theres a few more but im not gonna keep reading through the ep guide all night to give examples

Okay I think you were just confused about what I was saying. I was saying Clark normally DOES show his feelings and it's very rare for him not to. And I was saying it's hard for me to think of examples when he does NOT show his feelings. Which is why I asked for examples.

I think it's just sloppy inconsistent writing that does not do Clark any favors.

I don't think it makes the character terrible because like all OOC moments, I see it more as a function of writer convenience than actual story line.

Chloe apologized for Clark about not telling him her plan to put on the Dr. Fate helmet because she knew he would stop her. And yet the VERY NEXT EPISODE Clark has a laissez-faire attitude regarding her safety. It was OOC from my perspective.

I DO think that a strong show of concern upon her return will ring false given the lack of reaction since her disappearance. I also think that if Clark is all "meh, welcome back, please research this for me" when she returns it'll do the 10 year relationship a disservice.

So... at this point, the writers are kind of damned if they do, damned if they don't. If I have to pick, I'll take a warm reaction when she gets back as the more consistent 10-year response.



- I DO think Clark has shown great concern for Chloe in the past.
- I DO think the new show runners have a completely different perspective than Al/Miles on the Chlark friendship and this is jarring/disappointing to those who felt that teamwork was something extraordinary.
- Personally I reject the notion this is all "natural" progression but rather a different direction by the new show-runners who never met a retcon they didn't like.

JMO

One more point: This isn't over yet. Never underestimate the writer's ability to dig an even deeper hole for themselves in this regard. JMO#

THIS!!! ITA

[Dor el]

LOL This is the most bipolar thread on the forum. I love it. Clark is damned when he meddles in other peoples' business and he's damned when he doesn't. I want a thread on why Clark is my favorite fictional character ever. I want to delineate the wonders that are Clark Kent. But I digress.

Chloe made a willful decision and she planned and executed it extraordinarily well. Ollie is free and Chloe is presumed safe. Maybe Chloe saw that Ollie ends up with BC and not her and she didn't want to be the third wheel again. Maybe she saw that Ollie was happy and wanted that for him. Whatever her choices, she wanted to do it her way. Clark is respecting her decision. As is Ollie. He's thinking about her, but is it out of guilt or love? He doesn't appear to be looking for her. Where would either of them start to look for her? Both Clark and Ollie believe Chloe to be alive, and they both believe her to be safe. They trust her plan, and Clark knows she saw the future so why would he not trust her when she says everything is gonna be OK? He saw the future and based on his glimpse of a future that's OK, why would he doubt Chloe's glimpse. Plus, it's clear the SS thinks Chloe is dead and are, therefore, not hunting her. Chloe is well versed on the use of a computer and cell phone. If she wants Clark, or Ollie for that matter, to come help her, she would contact them. Somehow she would find a way to contact them. She knows where they are, yet she chooses to keep her location a secret. It's her prerogative to do so. Clark is trusting his friend to have a very good reason for that. Like when Clark didn't fly off to Africa to bring Lois back, he is showing restraint when he lets Chloe have things her way by letting her go if that's what she wants. A difficult but perhaps a considerate thing. Sure, he could just barrel-jack into Chloe's business and invade her privacy while belittling her wishes. But, should he? I, for one, think he should let Chloe be.

[luckycloisfan]

^^ But they weren't made to attack him. If you agree with it or not, Clark even admitted that if the Kandorians had taken over their only chance would have been the only thing to defend the human race, AND Clark. In the future it was actually what ended up saving them.

I agree it was a tough decision that came with consequences but in the end it was the right one.

Yes, but she could have TOLD Clark about it BEFOREHAND... what did she think he wouldn't agree with her arsenal of Krpto weapons... and she could have informed Oliver before she stole his money to fund that project... sorry, that's for another topic

-------------------------------------

It seems more of a lack of concern than it is because of Ollie's over-the-top, obsessive, mental institution, OOC overreaction to her disappearance.

No one can compare to that insanity.

This is probably the real answer. Clark looked at Oliver when Ollie was lamenting Chloe and dissing Tess like "yeah, you've got the lock on Chloe-disappearance-induced-grief, I think we are all stocked up here"

Clark didn't need to say, 'Yeah, me too man'. *tear*

Clark has NEVER been like that. Lois goes on and on about things and Clark just listens. He barely expresses his emotions, unless he feels he will lose someone if he doesn't... consistent through out the years.

And he definitely isn't going to indulge in a bromance with Oliver over Chloe

[doodie8808]

It does seem in general when it comes to {my favorite female character} and Clark, that Clark gets the short stick when it comes to double standards in how one views what they do to eachother.

In the same breath when it's Clark and {female character I don't like as much as Clark}, Clark usually gets the benefit of the doubt.

This is true, these double standards,but still it has to stop. If it would have stop like in season 5 i dont think these questions would be coming up. i mean i can say where has chloe shown concern for him. All she seems to be focused on was ollie so why should she be his problem. He can and will /has focus on lois as should be like they are doing from the chollie angle. If it applies to her for Chollie then it should to Clark for clois. like they can tell Clark to suck it but when he catches them in a lie they have all these"excuses" as to why they did it and he should understand because of the burden. I dont remember him asking anyone to carry that. it was their choice. How about trying to understand him for once and look past the powers which i feel Chloe does not do.

[hellokitty]

This is probably the real answer. Clark looked at Oliver when Ollie was lamenting Chloe and dissing Tess like "yeah, you've got the lock on Chloe-disappearance-induced-grief, I think we are all stocked up here"

Clark didn't need to say, 'Yeah, me too man'. *tear*

Clark has NEVER been like that. Lois goes on and on about things and Clark just listens. He barely expresses his emotions, unless he feels he will lose someone if he doesn't... consistent through out the years.

And he definitely isn't going to indulge in a bromance with Oliver over Chloe

OMG, this post just made my day. Just picturing dialogue between Oliver and Clark about this kills me!

[Penumbra]

Al Septien was asked on Twitter about Clark's "lack of concern" according to some fans and he answered:

"Because he trusts her choice. She's being treated like one of the heroes now, which is the way she wants it."

I mean, really, to me this has been painfully obvious. Chloe was asked to be trusted, to be treated as an equal and this is exactly what is being done. Nothing else is going on here beyond that. However, because Oliver keeps going on and on about her (in some strange attempt by TPTB to keep Chloe present in the season, I have no doubt) it feels as though Clark doesn't care about her when in reality from all that we have seen he cares about her more than Oliver and trusts her more too.

[Jade4813]

Yes, but she could have TOLD Clark about it BEFOREHAND... what did she think he wouldn't agree with her arsenal of Krpto weapons... and she could have informed Oliver before she stole his money to fund that project... sorry, that's for another topic

Yup. Besides which...were they, really? Because it seems to me like they weren't. What saved them in the future was Chloe shutting off the red-sun device (which she could have done at any time and didn't require green K weapons). That took out the powers for most of the Kandorians. They were also used to try to defeat Zod, though it ended up being Clark who was stabbed with them and dying. So, really, the thing that stopped the future seemed mostly to be Lois going into the past, to be the catalyst for getting Clark to see the future in order to stop it.

This is probably the real answer. Clark looked at Oliver when Ollie was lamenting Chloe and dissing Tess like "yeah, you've got the lock on Chloe-disappearance-induced-grief, I think we are all stocked up here"

Clark didn't need to say, 'Yeah, me too man'. *tear*

Clark has NEVER been like that. Lois goes on and on about things and Clark just listens. He barely expresses his emotions, unless he feels he will lose someone if he doesn't... consistent through out the years.

And he definitely isn't going to indulge in a bromance with Oliver over Chloe

Yeah, there is that. I mean, we've got all the wailing and rending of hair from Ollie; Clark doesn't really need to join in so we can have people moping all over the place.

It's been clear to me that Clark misses her but trusts her to make her own choices and come back when she's ready. That's sufficient to me. And Ollie's histrionics are more than sufficient.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

Al Septien was asked on Twitter about Clark's "lack of concern" according to some fans and he answered:

"Because he trusts her choice. She's being treated like one of the heroes now, which is the way she wants it."

I mean, really, to me this has been painfully obvious.

Yep, don't understand why this is such a big deal. If you watch the ending scene of "Shield" with Clark and Oliver it is pretty clear. Besides the two have more important things to do than look for someone who voluntalery went MIA. Chloe even faked her death and isn't a hostage to Suicide Squad so only reason she's gone is because she has a plan.

Oliver should stop moping around and now build a positive public image around superheros and show that they can be trusted. Clark should make more saves than ever in the new red Blur suit to accomplish the same. Clark let Lois decide whether she wants to spend her life with him at the end of "Shield". Oliver should do the same and let go of Chloe for a while. That's why they are the heros, not some broken up mopey people that think world is a bad place and need a shoulder to cry on.

[DJ Doena]

Clark assumes she's save because she faked her own death and disappeared. He thinks that her opponents think she's dead.

He could have simply let her go.

Let's face it, relationships change. Real ones as well as fictional ones. And if you look really objectively at their relationship you can see that their friendship in S8-S9 is not the same as it was in S4-S6 (I can't speak for S7, I ignore it for the most part).

Maybe because of Brainiac, maybe "just because"; but at the beginning of S8 they began to drift apart. Clark went over her head to get the names of the freaks and she accused him of not seeing how much time she spends protecting his secret (though except for the occasional lie I didn't see any onscreen proof of her covering for him). Then they disagreed on how to proceed with her Brainiac knowlegde.

Then they were on good terms for a while (Hex was a great episode IMHO [ignoring the fact that ED played Chloe]) but then the drift returned with that whole Davis/Doomsday issue.

And from Doomsday on it really went downhill. Not just because Chloe lost Jimmy, Lois & Clark that day but also because she shifted all the blame for that whole disaster onto Clark. The only time she admitted having screwed up was in Savior. After that it seemed to be all Clark's fault. Not Oliver's, not hers, just Clark's. She retreated into Watchtower, her leitmotif for the 9th season.

She spied on Ollie and Clark; agreed with Ollie that Clark had somehow led a different life that they had; buried the info about the Book of Rao (for reasons never explained on the show); claimed that Clark's morals had gotten lost more than once.

She didn't trust Clark anymore because of Doomsday/the Kandorians and Clark became distant because her becoming Big Sister (he [and Stargirl and John Jones] tried to talk about Watchtower multiple times but she didn't listen). And whenever something went wrong Clark was the one who had to apologize (even for getting angry under the influence of RedK because she built secret Kryptonite arsenals).

And when he might have left forever all she could say was "I'm proud of you.". And when he managed to stay she didn't even hug him but again left him in the dark to get Dr Fate's helmet.


So, no, this is not the same friendship it was when she guided him in Blank or when he comforted her in Freak.


She wanted to leave and to the best of his knowledge she's somewhere save and hidden. So why should he go search for her?

[hellokitty]

However, because Oliver keeps going on and on about her (in some strange attempt by TPTB to keep Chloe present in the season, I have no doubt) it feels as though Clark doesn't care about her when in reality from all that we have seen he cares about her more than Oliver and trusts her more too.

I'd argue that because we have Oliver going on and on about Chloe on more than one occasion, that by contrast, Clark comes off as uncaring.

My personal take on it, is what Al said himself in that tweet. Makes sense to me.

[jon-el87]

Homer Simpson: "Whenever Poochie's not onscreen, all the other characters should be asking 'Where's Poochie?'."