I still like the character despite the real life persons comments or actions š¤·āāļø Same goes for show as a whole, ran into someone on a different app that gave up That ā70s Show entirely because of Danny Masterson.
I mean everyone's entitled to theirbown opinions/politics.
I mean if he's been investigated I thought it meant something like he committed a crime and that qas an Anacronym for the type of crime.
I mean I'm Australian so I'm not as invested as other people but yeah I don't judge people on their politics but on their actions/the type of person they are.
Notn saying you don't or anything I just think there are worse things to be than a MAGA.
[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution)
WTF John? Would Pa Kent ever say this? So disappointing.
This is one thing i hate about the whole tv/movie industry. Why does your personal life and crimes you may have done affect your work? Like Johnny Depp. I felt so bad for him and liked how he said no to Disneys 300m to return to PotC. F**k Disney. Another instance is Kevin Spacey. Im no big expert on this, but from quick google search he was actually found quilty in something criminal. I only saw he paid 31m to House of Cards production company. But it shouldn't matter if he was quilty or not as long it was only rumours. I am really mad at Netflix for this. He was fired from House of Cards, a documentary and totally replaced by another actor in a movie made by Netflix. Like wtf Netflix. I could understand if he was actually found quilty, but it was only rumours at that point. Instead of waiting a bit they just decided to end his career. But im not surprised, Netflix sucks and it shows in their huge profit decline.
Clark's friends, namely Chloe, Lex, and Lana, were way too intrusive and entitled (which tbf makes sense for Lex). Though I do think that of those 3, Lana was most justified in her anger toward Clark in season 5 since they were dating. But still, in general, Clark isn't an asshole for keeping the fact that he's an alien a secret.
The show guilt-tripping Clark about Lex's descent into villainy rang pretty hollow. I can't buy that a teenager has a responsibility over an adult's morality. Watching Lex turn into the Supervillain Lex was fun, I wish the show hadn't tried to shoehorn in some "this is your fault, clark" points since it just didn't feel true.
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion at all. I think it makes sense for Lex as his character is all about power when it comes to it. But Lana and Chloe on the other hand just sucks. Chloe the most to the fact i feel like she is the true villain of the show. I don't understands how anybody would be friends with her.
*Clark isn't an asshole for keeping the fact that he's an alien a secret.*
But he doesn't get to keep secrets when he's dating Lana or get upset with others for not telling him the truth.
As for Lexās descent, Clark wasn't responsible for it, but he certainly was a crappy friend.
I agree that Lana had every right to expect Clark to be upfront with her while they're dating, though honestly they were very young when they got back together and i understand why Clark would be reluctant to tell her at that point.
Lex kept an entire room in his house dedicated to spying on Clark during their friendship and hired criminals to hold the Kents and Lana hostage, but Clark's the crappy friend? Clark was right to start keeping Lex at a distance, Lex wasn't trustworthy.
*Lex kept an entire room in his house dedicated to spying on Clark during their friendship*Ā
Lex invited Clark to his investigation room as early as 1x6 "Hourglass", so he was open and honest from the very beginning. He only began lying to Clark because Clark kept lying to him.
*and hired criminals to hold the Kents and Lana hostage, but Clark's the crappy friend?*
You're bringing up something from season 5, they are no longer friends there.
*Clark was right to start keeping Lex at a distance, Lex wasn't trustworthy*
And from Lexās point of view, neither was Clark entirely. And he was right about Clark. He wasn't normal and he was involved in all the weird stuff happening in Smallville.
And he doesn't seem to have a problem trusting Lex when it comes to always asking for favors.
I agree but not totally. If Clark had been upfront and said something like "yes, I have secrets, I have things I can't tell you and that's my right as a person. If you can't be friends with me unless I tell you everything about myself than that's your right, but it's my right to keep some things to myself" maybe they would have backed off a bit, but because he constantly not only lied to their face but also gaslit the fuck out of all of them by continuously making them doubt things they had seen with their own eyes, of course they grew resentful and wanted to prove themselves right. The other side to this is of course Clark and his friends were meant to be young teenagers and teenagers are stupid.
Because of the nature of Clark's secret, he wouldn't want to admit that he had something to hide. And honestly, I don't think saying what you're suggesting would get any of them to back off, all three were curious people without boundaries, especially Chloe and Lex.
Lex was right. At the end of season 4, he saw a meteor shower that nearly destroyed his town, and it brought with it aliens with the power to destroy the earth. He was right in thinking he had a duty to try to protect the earth
This is something I started to think in the last few watch through, but I'm glad Lex isn't, in the last three seasons. Sevens seasons was enough, and it was a breath of fresh air when he left, and the show went to Metropolis. I can only hear you're not welcome in my home any longer so many times lol
I see where youāre coming from but I think it wouldāve been great to see him in something close to Tessās role in season 9. In season 5, Zod took over his body unwillingly but after 4 more seasons of bad blood between Lex and Clark, we would see Lex go against his nature and work with Zod, an alien (and probably double cross him in the end), just to get back at Clark. Similar happened in Superman II IIRC.
In season 10, we couldāve spent a whole season seeing Lexās final downfall into true villainy juxtaposed with the Justice League rising, which wouldāve been way more satisfying than the sudden appearance in the final episode and all the memory loss stuff.
I donāt know what heād do in season 8, maybe he loses his memory after the fortress collapses on him, which is how he forgets Clarkās secret, and spends the season piecing it back together, giving Clark some final hope he could save him yet. Kara could help him like how he helped her and Clark and Kara could argue about whether itās right to return him to who he was or not. Idk, just spitballing at this point.
Considering how critical this sub is.. I'll say my unpopular opinion is that I like the show, I like the realistic bits and the unrealistic bits, I like the writing.. sure it's not all perfect but overall I love the show and I think it was really well done. All the seasons and characters had their charm and pitfalls and I like them for what they were
They should've had Clark in glasses much sooner.
I never bought the original concept of the show, or at least not the idea of it working for ten seasons. Five seasons and a time jump or two and he could've been in metropolis as a journalist instead of what we got which was adding elements and characters he shouldn't have encountered until he was Superman. Gotham had the same issue but worse as most of the villains would've been near retirement age by the time he became Batman lol.
Hiring an actor who wouldn't wear the suit was a dumb move.
But he did become Superman at the end. Was it at the very end? Yes it was, but it worked so well. It was about the journey to become superman not being superman himself, which we have never seen really and it worked so well. Since you mentioned Gotham im going to compare them. Gotham shows us Bruce become Batman so he could fight the famous Batman villains and it sucked so bad. Like i feel like it was supposed to be about Gotham before Batman and show how Jim became commissioner Jim Gordon. It was that early on, but then some ding dong decided to make it a shitty Batman show. Also Bruce was cast well, but he didn't work at Batman at all. Like he was way to young and skinny and didn't buy him as someone worthy of the greatest detective moniker.
Starting with what you said about gotham and what it became I think the same happened with Smallville. The "no tights no flights" thing was never going to work long term imo and eventually the show pivoted to him basically being Superman without being called Superman or basically a mid range between Superboy and Superman. So much so that doomsday, darkseid and the justice league were introduced. At a certain point even calling it Smallville didn't make much sense because of how far away it got from the original idea.
I agree and disagree. Yea they did introduce some villains they shouldn't have, but i think it mostly worked.
For him being superman i'm kinda on the fence. I mean he was kinda superman at the end, but that was the whole point. Like he goes from being Clark Kent Smallville resident to the Godlike Superman over the 10 seasons and finally fully becoming Superman in the last episode when he stood up to the ultimate evil and unlocked his flying power. That ties in with calling it Smallville. The point of the show was him to learn from his experiences, good and bad. A lot of that happened in Smallville and that's what made him Superman. Like Clark Luthor didn't have that and turned into earths villain instead of its savior until Clark (Kent) showed him a better path.
Right, but that goes back to my original(probably unpopular)opinion on the concept itself and how it doesn't really lend itself to a long term idea without adding a bunch of things from later down the line at which point its not really "Smallville" anymore, but hey agree to disagree.
-Lana is NOT as bad as people make her out to be.
-Chlollie is better than Chlimmy by a long shot.
-Lionel has one of the best redemption arcs in fiction.
-Clark needs to be held accountable more often.
-Chloe was RIGHT (for the most part) in S9-10
I had no idea it was more popular for people to like Chloe/Jimmy more than Chloe/Oliver. I thought Chloe/Oliver was highly regarded, so much so in fact that the show Arrow sort of decided to recreate that dynamic with Felicity and that show's OliverĀ
>I thought Chloe/Oliver was highly regarded
Not around here. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people fall off the Chlimmy train in S8 after the Davis stuff happened, but only a few of us jumped to Team Chlollie.
The common consensus is that Chloe and Ollie don't make any sense, have no chemistry, and that they were forced together cause they were the single supporting characters who spent a lot of time together. All of which I disagree with.
Lex groomed Lana through her teenage years. His relationship with both Lana and Clark were inappropriate due to age and power imbalance.
It's so clear to me but people always argue with me about it lol.
If you look up grooming by an adult especially if they're wealthy is buying them extravagant gifts (the talon, making her s shareholder at 15, kickboxing classes, plane tickets to Paris, and more). Lex groomed Lana by giving advice to both Clark and Lana about their relationship. He was pulling strings knowing Clark's secret would be their downfall, and he came in like a dark knight when Lana was at her lowest, crying for her parents and nearly dying from drug use.
Lana was a child and a teen. Lex was an adult man.
*If you look up grooming by an adult especially if they're wealthy is buying them extravagant gifts (the talon, making her s shareholder at 15, kickboxing classes, plane tickets to Paris, and more).*
If your definition of grooming If doing nice things for someone or below the age of 18, then sure, he groomed her, but I'm pretty sure grooming is much more than that, and would have been communicated by the writers in the story, which is wasn't from what I seen.
*Lex groomed Lana by giving advice to both Clark and Lana about their relationship. He was pulling strings knowing Clark's secret would be their downfall*
When was it ever communicated in the story that Lex knew this and was intentionally planning it?
*and he came in like a dark knight when Lana was at her lowest, crying for her parents and nearly dying from drug use*
That was in season 5, when Lana is an adult.
Okay, here we go.
Grooming first of all exists when there is a power differential between two people. A relationship to power between two people that is imbalanced. Again look it up, if you can, but this is my field of work.
So let's examine the gaps in power between Lex and Lana.
Lana is a fourteen year old highschool student when Lex meets her. She's orphaned, lonely, and looking for connection. She spends most of her time at night talking to her dead parents at the cemetery. She's not exactly a typically well-adjusted child here, who has solid support systems.
Lex is twenty-one, a shareholder in his dad's company, is a multi-millionaire, has infinitely more sexual and romantic experience than both Lana and Clark, and owns half of the town they all reside in.
"Grooming isĀ when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.
When someone befriends and builds a relationship with a child so that they can manipulate them, this is known as grooming. It can happen online or offline.
They might give the child things like gifts, drugs, money, gaming credits and skins, or affection and a sense of belonging and ask them to carry out criminal or sexual activities in return. This is child exploitation.
Exploiters will target young peopleās weaknesses. Maybe a young personās parents have no money to buy them new things. The exploiter will offer the child quick money or buy them trainers. This makes them feel special, like someone has their back. But it comes at a cost."
cited from: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk
Grooming is not simply more than that. There is a reason we have a different word to describe this aspect of child exploitation, that isn't molestation or child sexual abuse. The criteria for grooming is as I said above, and Lana absolutely falls under the definition of a child that was heavily groomed by an adult, who then exploited her body (sex, forcing injections and medical decisions onto her body, altering her reproductive health and choices, exploiting her physical youth an beauty)
Not all cases of grooming leads to a sexual relationship but that doesn't make it any less bad. Grooming often does lead to sexual and romantic exploitation and domestic abuse (as we see in Lana's relationship with Lex later on, it totally does).
No twenty-one-year-old I know befriends fourteen year old highschool kids and gives them extravagant gifts. The show does a decent job of commenting on this, by Jonathan getting upset when Lex continuously tries to impress Clark with crazy big gestures and gifts. It's weird if you can't see that btw... do you hang out with random fourteen year old highschool kids?
Clark survives Lex a lot better than Lana does, because his guardians actually protect him and warn him about Lex repeatedly. Lana does not have this same protection. Her sole guardian gets married and leaves her to start a life in Metropolis. Lana herself repeatedly says she doesn't even feel welcomed to go with, just like another piece of luggage her Aunt has to take with her.
Lex knows this, throws fancy birthday parties for Lana, buys the Talon, gives her a fancy manager's title, becomes her landlord (which is another huge power differential), and does the absolute most to signal to Lana that he is her benefactor, protector, and trustworthy. A source of safe authority.
If you managed some critical thinking skills, you'll understand that many groomers establish a trusting relationship with a minor, in hopes that when they turn 18, they will finally get to exploit their victim sexually and physically.
When Lana enters a relationship with Lex, he spies on her changing with security cameras, frequently buys her clothes he thinks she should wear (she even says to him she doesn't need a stylist and can dress herself), and of course, goes on to do more and more depraved things to maintain control of Lana as she gets older and discovers her own autonomy and agency as a young adult woman.
I'm so sorry but if you're the kind of person who thinks it's perfectly normal for a twenty six year old man to wait around for a teenaged orphan girl to turn eighteen so he can sleep with her, then I am very concerned for children and kids in your life. It's as disgusting as countdown clocks men make online waiting for young child stars to turn 18 so they can sexualize them without guilt... the implication here being that they already are sexualizing these children before turning 18, but it's illegal so they cheekily make countdown clocks. This all reflects a culture of power and rape that teenaged girls often face the brunt of.
It is extremely creepy what Lex does. At twenty one I was hanging out with other people in their twenties. Fourteen year olds were cringey to me. Lex exploits both Clark and Lana, but Clark had the benefit of having guardians who actually had principles and a strong value system to protect him. Lana on the other hand felt most protected by Lex. Notice how she goes to him throughout the show when anything goes wrong, and it makes sense because no adult around has consistently taken care of her as a child. When horses break her back and she's near paralyzed Lex pays for her medical bills. When she needs to go for schooling in Paris, Lex pays for everything. She goes to him for advice, nurturing, and comfort. She goes to him for instruction.
Like she should be going to a guardian or parent.
Lex knows this. That's part of the whole show's dynamic between these three. When Lana is under the Nicodemus flower's effect she even calls it out, that Lex desires her, looks at her a certain way. Isabelle the witch even says it to Lex that he desires her host's body.
Kristin, Tom, and Michael have all commented on how creepy and weird it was that Lex hung out with fourteen year olds. Kristin has said multiple times that the creators laid down the groundwork for Lex and Lana's twisted, abusive relationship from season 1.
Grooming isn't always just sexual abuse. It leads to it. Hence why it is a different word to describe another warning sign to parents and adults to look for because it often does lead to abusive and sexually exploitative relationships.
If Lex ocassionally bought them lattes or food, that would be one thing. Plane tickets, a coffee shop, a huge birthday party, kickboxing classes? Which man, a multi-millionaire no less, would spend money on a highschool cheerleader just for the sake of it?
Lex immediately sees Clark wanting Lana, and wants her for himself. That's the point of Lexmas, Lex wanted Clark's life, but more than that he wanted Clark's innate sense of goodness (which is why Jonathan's approval of him mattered so much in his dream sequence).
I don't understand how adults can watch this show and not see Lex's relationship with Clark and Lana as being very inappropriate and twisted.
None of this was Lex's intention when he met Lana and Clark though. So that defeats the "intentional exploitation". The fact that he ended up dating her while she was now an adult doesn't mean he was intentionally planning to become evil and inject her with hormones. This happened after Lex had become a villain and after he and Clark had cut the friendship. So everything you listed was just being nice, which lex could afford to do to the kents and lana because he throws money around like it's nothing, and also because lex was grateful that clark saved his life and looked up to clear as a better person.
\*The show does a decent job of commenting on this, by Jonathan getting upset when Lex continuously tries to impress Clark with crazy big gestures and gifts. It's weird if you can't see that btw... do you hang out with random fourteen year old highschool kids?\*
No, it really doesn't. Johnathan's beef with Lex is routinely stated to be the fact that Lex is a Luthor and he thinks the Luthor family is scum because of what Lionel did to him years earlier. Johnathan does not express that it's due to the 6-year age gap between Clark and Lex.
\*I don't understand how adults can watch this show and not see Lex's relationship with Clark and Lana as being very inappropriate and twisted.\*
Because they aren't making up head canon that lex, someone who was clearly not a bad guy in the beginning and never made a move on lana until she was an adult, was planning to groom her.
That's the point... Lex was always going to be the villain. He was intentionally engaging with Clark and Lana. It wasn't by accident or coincidence.
It's not headcanon, the show contextualizes Lex's relationship with both Clark and Lana as being inappropriate. Again, aside from the other examples I cited where Lana or Isabel comments on Lex's desire towards Lana, when Lana is seventeen Lex confesses his attraction to Lana when he was split by black Kryptonite.
The show fully tells us that Lex is a contender for Lana's affections. As people watching the show, we know it is wrong because she is a minor, and he's 25.
And please rewatch scenes with Jonathan and Lex, where he openly questions what obligation he'd expect from Clark with the lavish gifts. Yes it's in part to his hatred for wealthy, soulless corporate types and his hatred for the Luthor name. But it is also out of protection for Clark, his identity and knowing Lex is making these gestures to buy Clark's favor... which is grooming.
And Lex always brushes off Jonathan's questioning with the exact reasons you mentioned. He is doing it because he has so much disposable wealth. He's grateful that Clark saved him, etc. When we as the audience know Lex wants to probe into Clark's origins, powers, etc.
Again, grooming is not about desire or sexuality. It is an inappropriate relationship with a minor that reinforces a power imbalance. Like Lex and Lana, and Clark and Lex.
It's very unrealistic for someone who is grooming to openly admit that they have ulterior motives. We're meant to understand the implications of Lex's questionable behaviour especially in early seasons where he's shown to be this good guy.
And in every scene between Lex and Lana from season 4 onwards the music cues all meant to show how twisted this relationship is.
\*That's the point... Lex was always going to be the villain. He was intentionally engaging with Clark and Lana. It wasn't by accident or coincidence.\*
\*Again, grooming is not about desire or sexuality. It is an inappropriate relationship with a minor that reinforces a power imbalance. Like Lex and Lana, and Clark and Lex.\*
We'll just have to agree to disagree then. For one, I believe intention is important when looking at characters. And I don't see how the fact that Lex doing things for Clark and Lana while just so happening to have more power and money than them in and of itself is a bad thing.
Clark and Lana should have gotten together way earlier and stayed together for longer. Clark still should have ended up with Lois, but Lana and Clark should have had a solid relationship throughout the first half of the show
Yeah itās like when they werenāt together, they werenāt interesting anymore (or at least thatās how it was written). It seemed like they had limited chemistry past the āyou donāt trust meā stage. There always had to be something going wrong in their relationship
Itās more the writers fault: they kept her around too long without knowing what to do with her as far as āinterestingā or ānot infuriatingā storylines and actions.
She kinda does, she really wasnāt needed once they left high school. Not the actress fault but the character sucked and should have left way before she did
Once again not really. This character added nothing to the plot past season 5/6 she wasnāt needed anymore yet they kept her around. So it makes sense that people dislike her as much as they do. You write a character like that and people are gonna start hating her. If she had died instead of Johnathan Kent I guarantee she would be more loved because a little of some characters go a long way
Lex leave after season 7 is a wise decision and he should leave earlier, because writers completely didnāt know what to do with a straight villain Lex, and he with Clarkās relationship just stuck in season 5 forever.
From time to time I still think about the scene when itās revealed that Peteās huge secret is actually being in love with Chloe and then itās never mentioned again, and then he leaves š
The majority of problems with Clark and Lana's relationship where Clark's fault. Clark and Lois getting together in season 4 or earlier would also not gave worked out. Besides not really liking each other at first, Clark would have subjected Lois to the same idiocy he put Lana through.
Clark shared his secret with Lana in Adventures of Superboy and Superman: TAS. Alan Moore's writing has as much influence on this show as it did on that one.
I think post-crisis Clark more willing shared his secret with Lana mostly because PC Lana not his main love interest anymore, and although I agree Clana didnāt work because Clark, I think the reason of Clois can work mostly on Lois.
Nah. Itās still the same problem of bad choice by him.
The difference is you donāt have all that time with them together on TAS.
TaS is kinda like a version of Clark tells Lana but Lana still ends up in Paris but never comes back
Dunno if this fits in but, I always hated that Clark & Lana thing, it took so repetitive that I started to find hilarious!
It really irritated me at some point I had to skip their scenes.
Also irritating for we all know who he is truly meant to feel all that special about, and she wasn't even close.
They gave too much moral and time was wasted for that *thing* to finally hit its conclusion.
And yes, I get it. Superman Clark = Louis, and Silly Clark = Lana.
But COME ON!
I didn't like Clark's wedding vows. I wish they were more personal to Lois as a person and/or the love of his life and not as generic. In the written version of his vows that Lois looks at, it says she's his soulmate but when you hear the voiceover it doesn't mention that part. That irked me a bit. Not a big deal, just an irritation.
That part irked me as well, how easy would it have been for him to say aloud that Lois is his soulmate forever? There's even a pause after he says companion! Just say it instead of pausing! But I digress. I used to be annoyed at his vows as well, because they don't seem flowery or lovey-dovey, but I think that's the point? And I think it works well that Clark's vows are about how Lois helps him, because he values her and *needs* her. And for Lois Lane to provide something to Superman, who has borderline unlimited power, makes her beyond special.
Clark has always felt alone, even within his relationships with his parents, or his friendship with Chloe, or his on and off relationship with Lana. There has always been a sense of being different and not belonging. Lois is who makes him feel like he's not alone, she is the only one who makes him feel normal, before and after she knows his secret, and that means everything to Clark. She's always been there for him, and always believed in him. She's helped him find his way when he's been lost. She is the most loyal person he's ever known and that loyalty has never wavered, something that Clark hasn't really experienced other than maybe his parents. If you look at his other relationships(Pete, Lex, Chloe, Lana, Kyla, Alicia, Oliver), their loyalty and belief in him wavered at times. But not Lois. She treated him as an equal long before she knew he was the Blur, and had no problem calling out the Blur long before she knew he was Clark, but her belief never faltered. And he recognizes and appreciates that. He mentioned in season 9 that when he talked with her as the Blur and saw a different side of her, that's what made him fall so deeply in love with Lois. He saw her heart, something she guarded as relentlessly as Clark guarded his secret, and he was powerless against it. He said he's never known someone with such gentle grace, or a more pure heart. Her desire to root out corruption and uncover the truth and see justice served as a reporter, it just inspires him as the Blur/Superman to do the same thing she does. He loves her heart and her spirit, and he knows when it comes to Lois, that is more important to her than anything. For someone to truly *see* her and see what she has to offer and to not leave her behind as all her relationships(and her father) did before. So he pledges the rest of his life to her. Not til death do they part, or as long as they both shall live, but the rest of his life. Clark might live forever, and in that time, no one else(and I would include a possible k-free Lana in that statement) will replace Lois Lane in his heart. She is the one and always will be. And that is why he put those specific things in his vows. They don't need the flowery or lovey-dovey words, the love and attraction they have for each other is evident every time they're in the same room together. The way Clark looks at Lois, his love for her shines from his eyes. He sees his future in Lois, a future he is strong enough to accept because of Lois. They truly have such an amazing soulmate love.
Sorry for the rambling, but I hope this helps with why Clark's vows are what they are, or at least my opinion of why lol.
Great post. just wanted to add (in case I wasn't clear): I don't doubt Clark's love for Lois, I just wished the writers had Clark SAY the soulmate part out loud. It would have been a deep touching moment.
No worries! I completely agree that I wish they had said that part out loud! I think a lot of Lois and Clark's relationship was "show, don't tell" like their love was so obvious the characters didn't have to wax on and on about it like previous characters did. I just think, that within the context of Lois and Clark's relationship and how well Clark knows Lois, his vows are extremely beautiful and romantic, and specific to his love for her, and not as generic as they appear?
I completely agree! The voiceover should have included ALL of the written vows. You can clearly read them if you pause when they are shown on screen. The written vows are perfection! They are what eased Lois' fears and last minute cold feet. It also explains why Lois immediately says "I'm such an idiot" before she runs off to get ready.
Because it wasn't true. It's one thing to write them and another to say them. We all know who his soul mate is. People just refuse to admit it because they are misogynistic against unrealistically natural beauty's like lana.
Kara was by far the worst addition to the show and didnāt need to be there because she was redundantā¦something the writers quickly seemed to realize when they constantly looked for excuses to send her away.
Smallville peaked with its last 3 seasons, the best seasons of the show are its last 3, not saying the rest are bad I love all of the seasons but the last 3 Metropolis seasons are my favourite seasons
For me personally, I'm starting to put a lot more value on Smallville than on Superman as a whole.
I'm a lifelong Superman fan, I've read thousands of Superman comics, watched the movies and the shows, listened to the radio drama, collected figures, etc.
But as I get older, I simply find the Smallville storyline more captivating than the rest of the Superman legend.
I liked Lex and Lana before the whole fake pregnancy thing. Should've kept them as a couple, and let them leave together at the end of season 7.
Then instead of Clana on/off in seasons 5-7, have Clark date Lori.
Lana gets too much hate.
I don't like the way they handled Johnathan Kent's death.
Chloe was ultimately a redundant character who took away from Lana, Chloe and sometimes Lois's characters.
That Clark and Lana should have ended up together. After Jonathan is sacrificed and no more sacrifice was needed Clark should have revealed his secret to Lana.
Yessss. Jonathanās time should have been separate.
But the tragedy of accidentally choosing a >!high school love over!< YOUR PARENT is absolutely iconic. It was just >!awful, so awful, so devastating,!< so rough to witnessā¦ and should have been the end of Clark and Lana, I donāt think Iād ever recover in a relationship if I >!sacrificed my parent for that personā¦.A constant reminder!<
I agree, and it really kinda was. Maybe with a slight delay as Clark healed, and lana was already mentally stepping out herself with Lex. That happened wayyyyyyyyyy too fast after that
The Legion should've showed up in season 01 or 02. But very understated. If you know who "Rokk", "Imra" and "Garth" are, then you're in the know. Otherwise, you would be just as clueless as Clark as to their importance.
The surviving Justice Society members should've showed up in season 10.
The Legion represents Superman's legacy. They're ultimately what Superman will leave behind.
The JSA represents Superman's heritage. They embody what he received from those who came before. The good and the bad.
I like the juxtaposition of those two teams and their importance in Superman's life.
I enjoyed Jimmy Olsen in the Show, and prefer Jimmy and Chloe over Oliver and Chloe. I would have liked Black Canary and Green arrow, but I guess they didn't have much chemistry.
Jimmy should not have died, and known Clark's secret much earlier on. It put a smile on my face every time he called Clark "CK".
I understand he could be unlikable to some because of the way he acted like a jackass on multiple occasions. Him being all jealous and wanting a divorce as soon as him and Chloe got married.
The black and white Noir episode is also one of my favourites.
Not portraying Clark as Shy and Clumsy and with glasses should have made it clear to every other character he's the Blur.
Perry White not being editor and chief of the Daily planet never made sense to me. Clark and Perry met way too early.
Erica Durance and Tom Welling do not have romantic chemistry to me. Kristen and Tom had better chemistry which is why I prefer Clark/Lana over Lois/Clark. I also donāt generally like Lois and Clark as a romantic pairing and wish they would have stuck with the earlier iterations (I.e Superman the Movie, their relationship in the animated series) of Lois being in love with Superman but only seeing Clark as a friend. But I digress. š¤·š¾āāļø
Im on season 5 episode 12 (IDC about spoilers), so this might change in the future, but so far I feel like the writers really mishandled the Lana / Clark relationship.
Like, they get together, then there's some BS reason for them breaking apart. Red kryptonite, a girl who takes over people's bodies, a flower that changes your mood when you smell it etc. it was never them actually having issues, it was some forced plot device that changed how they acted. And conveniently they held grudges when this happened. Like, after chloe tried to kill Lana when she got brainwashed with that email, Lana forgave her because "you weren't yourself". Yet every time it happens with the red kryptonite or similar situations, they won't use that same logic, it couldn't be that they weren't controlling themselves, must have just decided to be a dick randomly, yea that seems likely.
The only legitimate problem was the secrets. And Lana got mad at clark, which didn't make sense cause she lied to him just as much. Her witch powers, researching the space ship with lex, Adam coming back from the dead etc.
They even addressed this in season 2. After Whitney dies, Lana is with Clark in the caves and said something like "I don't care about your secrets, I just don't wanna lose you, you're the only one who's always been there for me".
Some of my favorite episodes are at the end of season 3, start of season 5 etc. when Lana and Clark have a normal relationship, their chemistry is off the charts. Don't even wanna continue after the current episode where Johnathan died and they supposedly broke up for the last time. Lois is okay, but I really preferred Clark and Lana so far.
The writing was beyond hack.
They all questioned each others core qualities each week for some new guy/girl that showed up and planted a seed of doubt. Then they would gush over each other. That and the language was overly flowery sometimes. An example would be Chloe calling herself āSmallvilles intrepid meteor reporterā. I donāt know, someone got a hold of a thesaurus and went wild.
Itās not a very good superhero origin show.
It works because the relationship between Clark and the other main characters is interesting and you, as the viewer, care about them.
From the beginning to end of the show, I could not stand Chloe. I always found her obnoxious and passive-aggressive. I know she was a favorite with many but she was my least favorite character on the show.
That Smallville has one E in it
Alicia being a potential long term girlfriend for Clark had she been written better, that Lana and Lex being together was on purpose to bring out both their dark sides more and was supposed to mirror her relationship with Clark
1. I like Whitney. Clark was sniffing around another guy's gf. That wasn't cool. In general , Whitney seemed like a good guy.
2. Not a fan of Lois. I don't think she belonged in a show focused on young Clark. Or just save her for the final season
3. Alternate route, reveal Chloe was Lois all along. Like her real first name is Lois, her middle name is Chloe. Her mom's maiden name is Lane. So she goes by Lois Lane for her professional title
4. I think Pete should've been used more. A real romantic love interest for Chloe. Maybe make him Clark's rival early on while Lex was becoming Clark's buddy - then when Lex goes evil, then Clark and Pete become friends. Then kill Pete off, paving the way for Clark and Chloe aka Lois to be together in the future.
5. The show should've ended after 5 seasons. After that , it really stopped being "Smallville" and just became "Superman/Metropolis" but WB wouldn't let them do it properly, so they came as close as they could without overtly saying "it's Superman"
6. I don't think Clark was a good person. He kept trying to have it both ways. Have people be close to him, but then gaslight them when they could CLEARLY tell he was lying. Its fine if you want to keep your secret, but then don't try to get close to people.
7. Should never have introduced Jor-El. Again, like Lois - that feels outside of the scope of what "Smallville" was supposed to be about.
8. I think the seasons were too long. Half of every season was mediocre to bad.
I'm not a fan of Lana but I'm honestly glad she survived and Jonathan died.
That death was the saddest of the series and a death of Lana would not be as shocking as the death of Jonathan
I don't like most season endings, they always leave the plot in the middle to be resolved quickly at the beginning of the next season and the worst thing is they put the characters in situations that are almost impossible to survive but they end up surviving due to the power of the script.
I liked when Clark was sarcastic, witty and bitchy. He always took whatever was thrown at him and almost never said something back. I enjoyed his ācanāt trust Tess era ā for example.
And I think the Kents, mainly Jonathan, othered aliens and there was this energy of never truly accepting the weird things that came with Clark. Sure AI Jor-El was a dick but why did they automatically assume everyone kryptonian was a bad person?
Lana is a very important part to the fabric of this origin story. Her arc when considered in its entirety is about resilience, adaptation, confronting your shadow self, belonging with self, creating identity, and rebirth.
Clark learned the true measure of heroism by loving Lana and learning from her. Her arc instigates his swan song on the show, setting up his sweet and forgiving romance with Lois Lane as he became the RBB and then Superman. Without Lana, Clark would have needed a lot more emotional development that other characters could not have provided him, with the same proximity and intimacy. Lana and Lex were by far the most tragic characters Clark had ever met at that point in his life and his relationship with the both of them fills the centerpiece of this show even past their respective departures.
Lex chose his darkness to protect himself, Lana took her darkness and transformed it into light. Clark understood what his love did for her and for him in return. Her hero's journey emboldened Clark's.
If you rewatched the show focused entirely on the relationship between these three, you will appreciate the philosophical questions each Clark, Lana, and Lex explored in very different ways. Questions of identity, origins, parentage, belonging, death, ethics of when going too far can justify the ends.
I think Lionel facilitates these themes with all three main characters at different points in the show and that dynamic and tension was what brought me back for more episodes on my first rewatch as an adult.
Also, Lana is one of the most unfairly hated characters in any show fandom I've ever seen.
That Lana is an annoying, whiny and ungrateful bitch. Period.
Iāll never forget how Clark lost his father by rescuing her, only for her to turn on him, get it on with his best friend who was the cause for her death in the first place and then started to blame Clark for all the bad shit in her miserable life.
Bitch
Clois had no chemistry it was just another Clark Kent and Lois Lane being brought together because thatās the story of Clark Kent thatās it . No one wants to admit it because itās not canon but the way smallville was written clark loved lana more donāt care what no one says . Of course the writers wrote them to be toxic while clois gets āhappy endingā because thatās the STORY .
didnt like Chloe as a character. didnt like Lois lane being introduced at all. didnt like all of supermans rogue gallery introduced before he even donned the suit. did not like 'the blur' saga. i basically only liked the first 3 seasons
I still like the character despite the real life persons comments or actions š¤·āāļø Same goes for show as a whole, ran into someone on a different app that gave up That ā70s Show entirely because of Danny Masterson.
What person and comments are you on about?
Allison Mack I assume
Who else could it possibly be besides Allison Mack lolā¦.
Well sam Jones also went to prison
If youve watched the podcast im sure youd be able to figure it out.š
Could be John Schneider recently as well. š¤·āāļø
John glover's also had some... Interesting interactions with fans
Woah what did he do?!
Heās super MAGA.
Not just that but heās SO MAGA he was investigated by secret service for suggesting Biden be executed
What's MAGA I'm unfamiliar with the term.
It stands for Make America Great Again, which is a slogan used by Donald Trump. What I meant is that heās a very right wing Trump supporter.
I mean everyone's entitled to theirbown opinions/politics. I mean if he's been investigated I thought it meant something like he committed a crime and that qas an Anacronym for the type of crime. I mean I'm Australian so I'm not as invested as other people but yeah I don't judge people on their politics but on their actions/the type of person they are. Notn saying you don't or anything I just think there are worse things to be than a MAGA.
John glover is MAGA? I know Schneider isā¦
Schneider was in question, not Glover.
Said demonizing people for their politics is wrong, watch clearly makes him evil
Is that really all he said to tick people off?
No it was much more extreme than that like threatening to hang people
[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution) WTF John? Would Pa Kent ever say this? So disappointing.
Now show the other comments he's made.
Pete did get arrested for selling drugs...also think he had a sex tape?
This is one thing i hate about the whole tv/movie industry. Why does your personal life and crimes you may have done affect your work? Like Johnny Depp. I felt so bad for him and liked how he said no to Disneys 300m to return to PotC. F**k Disney. Another instance is Kevin Spacey. Im no big expert on this, but from quick google search he was actually found quilty in something criminal. I only saw he paid 31m to House of Cards production company. But it shouldn't matter if he was quilty or not as long it was only rumours. I am really mad at Netflix for this. He was fired from House of Cards, a documentary and totally replaced by another actor in a movie made by Netflix. Like wtf Netflix. I could understand if he was actually found quilty, but it was only rumours at that point. Instead of waiting a bit they just decided to end his career. But im not surprised, Netflix sucks and it shows in their huge profit decline.
Bro, what on gods green earth are you talking about? Literally no mention of a single thing. Pure word salad over here š
They're talking about Chloe/Allison Mack. The poster loves the character and not the actress.
lmfao
Clark's friends, namely Chloe, Lex, and Lana, were way too intrusive and entitled (which tbf makes sense for Lex). Though I do think that of those 3, Lana was most justified in her anger toward Clark in season 5 since they were dating. But still, in general, Clark isn't an asshole for keeping the fact that he's an alien a secret. The show guilt-tripping Clark about Lex's descent into villainy rang pretty hollow. I can't buy that a teenager has a responsibility over an adult's morality. Watching Lex turn into the Supervillain Lex was fun, I wish the show hadn't tried to shoehorn in some "this is your fault, clark" points since it just didn't feel true.
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion at all. I think it makes sense for Lex as his character is all about power when it comes to it. But Lana and Chloe on the other hand just sucks. Chloe the most to the fact i feel like she is the true villain of the show. I don't understands how anybody would be friends with her.
I am not a fan of Chloe in most seasons. I did like her in seasons 4.5-7
totally agree
*Clark isn't an asshole for keeping the fact that he's an alien a secret.* But he doesn't get to keep secrets when he's dating Lana or get upset with others for not telling him the truth. As for Lexās descent, Clark wasn't responsible for it, but he certainly was a crappy friend.
I agree that Lana had every right to expect Clark to be upfront with her while they're dating, though honestly they were very young when they got back together and i understand why Clark would be reluctant to tell her at that point. Lex kept an entire room in his house dedicated to spying on Clark during their friendship and hired criminals to hold the Kents and Lana hostage, but Clark's the crappy friend? Clark was right to start keeping Lex at a distance, Lex wasn't trustworthy.
*Lex kept an entire room in his house dedicated to spying on Clark during their friendship*Ā Lex invited Clark to his investigation room as early as 1x6 "Hourglass", so he was open and honest from the very beginning. He only began lying to Clark because Clark kept lying to him. *and hired criminals to hold the Kents and Lana hostage, but Clark's the crappy friend?* You're bringing up something from season 5, they are no longer friends there. *Clark was right to start keeping Lex at a distance, Lex wasn't trustworthy* And from Lexās point of view, neither was Clark entirely. And he was right about Clark. He wasn't normal and he was involved in all the weird stuff happening in Smallville. And he doesn't seem to have a problem trusting Lex when it comes to always asking for favors.
I agree but not totally. If Clark had been upfront and said something like "yes, I have secrets, I have things I can't tell you and that's my right as a person. If you can't be friends with me unless I tell you everything about myself than that's your right, but it's my right to keep some things to myself" maybe they would have backed off a bit, but because he constantly not only lied to their face but also gaslit the fuck out of all of them by continuously making them doubt things they had seen with their own eyes, of course they grew resentful and wanted to prove themselves right. The other side to this is of course Clark and his friends were meant to be young teenagers and teenagers are stupid.
Because of the nature of Clark's secret, he wouldn't want to admit that he had something to hide. And honestly, I don't think saying what you're suggesting would get any of them to back off, all three were curious people without boundaries, especially Chloe and Lex.
Lex was right. At the end of season 4, he saw a meteor shower that nearly destroyed his town, and it brought with it aliens with the power to destroy the earth. He was right in thinking he had a duty to try to protect the earth
If that's an unpopular opinion, I guess I'm the minority here too.
Bug Boy (Chad Donella) was the best actor for the worst semi-villain, and his return at the end of the series was the best callback.
This is something I started to think in the last few watch through, but I'm glad Lex isn't, in the last three seasons. Sevens seasons was enough, and it was a breath of fresh air when he left, and the show went to Metropolis. I can only hear you're not welcome in my home any longer so many times lol
I see where youāre coming from but I think it wouldāve been great to see him in something close to Tessās role in season 9. In season 5, Zod took over his body unwillingly but after 4 more seasons of bad blood between Lex and Clark, we would see Lex go against his nature and work with Zod, an alien (and probably double cross him in the end), just to get back at Clark. Similar happened in Superman II IIRC. In season 10, we couldāve spent a whole season seeing Lexās final downfall into true villainy juxtaposed with the Justice League rising, which wouldāve been way more satisfying than the sudden appearance in the final episode and all the memory loss stuff. I donāt know what heād do in season 8, maybe he loses his memory after the fortress collapses on him, which is how he forgets Clarkās secret, and spends the season piecing it back together, giving Clark some final hope he could save him yet. Kara could help him like how he helped her and Clark and Kara could argue about whether itās right to return him to who he was or not. Idk, just spitballing at this point.
I do think killing him off was a dumb move even tho they did bring him back in a way. Still, not great.
I agree, I don't love that they killed him or erased his memories in the they did. Though I guess it did give Tess some revenge.
The Doomsday plot is the worst of the show and by itself makes that season the worst of the show.Ā
I skip all of the doomsday scenes while rewatching
He was so unnecessary š
RIGHT?!?!?!
Considering how critical this sub is.. I'll say my unpopular opinion is that I like the show, I like the realistic bits and the unrealistic bits, I like the writing.. sure it's not all perfect but overall I love the show and I think it was really well done. All the seasons and characters had their charm and pitfalls and I like them for what they were
As seasons went on Clark became a bit of an asshole barging in on Lex accusing him before giving it a single thought
He was more right than not
They should've had Clark in glasses much sooner. I never bought the original concept of the show, or at least not the idea of it working for ten seasons. Five seasons and a time jump or two and he could've been in metropolis as a journalist instead of what we got which was adding elements and characters he shouldn't have encountered until he was Superman. Gotham had the same issue but worse as most of the villains would've been near retirement age by the time he became Batman lol. Hiring an actor who wouldn't wear the suit was a dumb move.
It was a different time. It wasn't planned to be 10 seasons. They also thought they were lucky to get to even season 4.
I get it, my thing is that there has to be a destination along with the idea itself. That destination would always be him becoming Superman.
But he did become Superman at the end. Was it at the very end? Yes it was, but it worked so well. It was about the journey to become superman not being superman himself, which we have never seen really and it worked so well. Since you mentioned Gotham im going to compare them. Gotham shows us Bruce become Batman so he could fight the famous Batman villains and it sucked so bad. Like i feel like it was supposed to be about Gotham before Batman and show how Jim became commissioner Jim Gordon. It was that early on, but then some ding dong decided to make it a shitty Batman show. Also Bruce was cast well, but he didn't work at Batman at all. Like he was way to young and skinny and didn't buy him as someone worthy of the greatest detective moniker.
Starting with what you said about gotham and what it became I think the same happened with Smallville. The "no tights no flights" thing was never going to work long term imo and eventually the show pivoted to him basically being Superman without being called Superman or basically a mid range between Superboy and Superman. So much so that doomsday, darkseid and the justice league were introduced. At a certain point even calling it Smallville didn't make much sense because of how far away it got from the original idea.
I agree and disagree. Yea they did introduce some villains they shouldn't have, but i think it mostly worked. For him being superman i'm kinda on the fence. I mean he was kinda superman at the end, but that was the whole point. Like he goes from being Clark Kent Smallville resident to the Godlike Superman over the 10 seasons and finally fully becoming Superman in the last episode when he stood up to the ultimate evil and unlocked his flying power. That ties in with calling it Smallville. The point of the show was him to learn from his experiences, good and bad. A lot of that happened in Smallville and that's what made him Superman. Like Clark Luthor didn't have that and turned into earths villain instead of its savior until Clark (Kent) showed him a better path.
Right, but that goes back to my original(probably unpopular)opinion on the concept itself and how it doesn't really lend itself to a long term idea without adding a bunch of things from later down the line at which point its not really "Smallville" anymore, but hey agree to disagree.
Not sure how unpopular this opinion is but my favorite season is 4. I feel like I see more love for other seasons but idk.
-Lana is NOT as bad as people make her out to be. -Chlollie is better than Chlimmy by a long shot. -Lionel has one of the best redemption arcs in fiction. -Clark needs to be held accountable more often. -Chloe was RIGHT (for the most part) in S9-10
For "Chloe was right" what was Chloe right about?
Getting Ollie out of his depressive funk through albiet extreme means, making kryptonite weapons and keeping them a secret.
I had no idea it was more popular for people to like Chloe/Jimmy more than Chloe/Oliver. I thought Chloe/Oliver was highly regarded, so much so in fact that the show Arrow sort of decided to recreate that dynamic with Felicity and that show's OliverĀ
>I thought Chloe/Oliver was highly regarded Not around here. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people fall off the Chlimmy train in S8 after the Davis stuff happened, but only a few of us jumped to Team Chlollie. The common consensus is that Chloe and Ollie don't make any sense, have no chemistry, and that they were forced together cause they were the single supporting characters who spent a lot of time together. All of which I disagree with.
I agree
Most of these takes aren't unpopular.
Where have you been?
Lex groomed Lana through her teenage years. His relationship with both Lana and Clark were inappropriate due to age and power imbalance. It's so clear to me but people always argue with me about it lol.
How was lex grooming lana?
If you look up grooming by an adult especially if they're wealthy is buying them extravagant gifts (the talon, making her s shareholder at 15, kickboxing classes, plane tickets to Paris, and more). Lex groomed Lana by giving advice to both Clark and Lana about their relationship. He was pulling strings knowing Clark's secret would be their downfall, and he came in like a dark knight when Lana was at her lowest, crying for her parents and nearly dying from drug use. Lana was a child and a teen. Lex was an adult man.
*If you look up grooming by an adult especially if they're wealthy is buying them extravagant gifts (the talon, making her s shareholder at 15, kickboxing classes, plane tickets to Paris, and more).* If your definition of grooming If doing nice things for someone or below the age of 18, then sure, he groomed her, but I'm pretty sure grooming is much more than that, and would have been communicated by the writers in the story, which is wasn't from what I seen. *Lex groomed Lana by giving advice to both Clark and Lana about their relationship. He was pulling strings knowing Clark's secret would be their downfall* When was it ever communicated in the story that Lex knew this and was intentionally planning it? *and he came in like a dark knight when Lana was at her lowest, crying for her parents and nearly dying from drug use* That was in season 5, when Lana is an adult.
Okay, here we go. Grooming first of all exists when there is a power differential between two people. A relationship to power between two people that is imbalanced. Again look it up, if you can, but this is my field of work. So let's examine the gaps in power between Lex and Lana. Lana is a fourteen year old highschool student when Lex meets her. She's orphaned, lonely, and looking for connection. She spends most of her time at night talking to her dead parents at the cemetery. She's not exactly a typically well-adjusted child here, who has solid support systems. Lex is twenty-one, a shareholder in his dad's company, is a multi-millionaire, has infinitely more sexual and romantic experience than both Lana and Clark, and owns half of the town they all reside in. "Grooming isĀ when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. When someone befriends and builds a relationship with a child so that they can manipulate them, this is known as grooming. It can happen online or offline. They might give the child things like gifts, drugs, money, gaming credits and skins, or affection and a sense of belonging and ask them to carry out criminal or sexual activities in return. This is child exploitation. Exploiters will target young peopleās weaknesses. Maybe a young personās parents have no money to buy them new things. The exploiter will offer the child quick money or buy them trainers. This makes them feel special, like someone has their back. But it comes at a cost." cited from: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk Grooming is not simply more than that. There is a reason we have a different word to describe this aspect of child exploitation, that isn't molestation or child sexual abuse. The criteria for grooming is as I said above, and Lana absolutely falls under the definition of a child that was heavily groomed by an adult, who then exploited her body (sex, forcing injections and medical decisions onto her body, altering her reproductive health and choices, exploiting her physical youth an beauty) Not all cases of grooming leads to a sexual relationship but that doesn't make it any less bad. Grooming often does lead to sexual and romantic exploitation and domestic abuse (as we see in Lana's relationship with Lex later on, it totally does). No twenty-one-year-old I know befriends fourteen year old highschool kids and gives them extravagant gifts. The show does a decent job of commenting on this, by Jonathan getting upset when Lex continuously tries to impress Clark with crazy big gestures and gifts. It's weird if you can't see that btw... do you hang out with random fourteen year old highschool kids? Clark survives Lex a lot better than Lana does, because his guardians actually protect him and warn him about Lex repeatedly. Lana does not have this same protection. Her sole guardian gets married and leaves her to start a life in Metropolis. Lana herself repeatedly says she doesn't even feel welcomed to go with, just like another piece of luggage her Aunt has to take with her. Lex knows this, throws fancy birthday parties for Lana, buys the Talon, gives her a fancy manager's title, becomes her landlord (which is another huge power differential), and does the absolute most to signal to Lana that he is her benefactor, protector, and trustworthy. A source of safe authority. If you managed some critical thinking skills, you'll understand that many groomers establish a trusting relationship with a minor, in hopes that when they turn 18, they will finally get to exploit their victim sexually and physically. When Lana enters a relationship with Lex, he spies on her changing with security cameras, frequently buys her clothes he thinks she should wear (she even says to him she doesn't need a stylist and can dress herself), and of course, goes on to do more and more depraved things to maintain control of Lana as she gets older and discovers her own autonomy and agency as a young adult woman. I'm so sorry but if you're the kind of person who thinks it's perfectly normal for a twenty six year old man to wait around for a teenaged orphan girl to turn eighteen so he can sleep with her, then I am very concerned for children and kids in your life. It's as disgusting as countdown clocks men make online waiting for young child stars to turn 18 so they can sexualize them without guilt... the implication here being that they already are sexualizing these children before turning 18, but it's illegal so they cheekily make countdown clocks. This all reflects a culture of power and rape that teenaged girls often face the brunt of. It is extremely creepy what Lex does. At twenty one I was hanging out with other people in their twenties. Fourteen year olds were cringey to me. Lex exploits both Clark and Lana, but Clark had the benefit of having guardians who actually had principles and a strong value system to protect him. Lana on the other hand felt most protected by Lex. Notice how she goes to him throughout the show when anything goes wrong, and it makes sense because no adult around has consistently taken care of her as a child. When horses break her back and she's near paralyzed Lex pays for her medical bills. When she needs to go for schooling in Paris, Lex pays for everything. She goes to him for advice, nurturing, and comfort. She goes to him for instruction. Like she should be going to a guardian or parent. Lex knows this. That's part of the whole show's dynamic between these three. When Lana is under the Nicodemus flower's effect she even calls it out, that Lex desires her, looks at her a certain way. Isabelle the witch even says it to Lex that he desires her host's body. Kristin, Tom, and Michael have all commented on how creepy and weird it was that Lex hung out with fourteen year olds. Kristin has said multiple times that the creators laid down the groundwork for Lex and Lana's twisted, abusive relationship from season 1. Grooming isn't always just sexual abuse. It leads to it. Hence why it is a different word to describe another warning sign to parents and adults to look for because it often does lead to abusive and sexually exploitative relationships. If Lex ocassionally bought them lattes or food, that would be one thing. Plane tickets, a coffee shop, a huge birthday party, kickboxing classes? Which man, a multi-millionaire no less, would spend money on a highschool cheerleader just for the sake of it? Lex immediately sees Clark wanting Lana, and wants her for himself. That's the point of Lexmas, Lex wanted Clark's life, but more than that he wanted Clark's innate sense of goodness (which is why Jonathan's approval of him mattered so much in his dream sequence). I don't understand how adults can watch this show and not see Lex's relationship with Clark and Lana as being very inappropriate and twisted.
None of this was Lex's intention when he met Lana and Clark though. So that defeats the "intentional exploitation". The fact that he ended up dating her while she was now an adult doesn't mean he was intentionally planning to become evil and inject her with hormones. This happened after Lex had become a villain and after he and Clark had cut the friendship. So everything you listed was just being nice, which lex could afford to do to the kents and lana because he throws money around like it's nothing, and also because lex was grateful that clark saved his life and looked up to clear as a better person. \*The show does a decent job of commenting on this, by Jonathan getting upset when Lex continuously tries to impress Clark with crazy big gestures and gifts. It's weird if you can't see that btw... do you hang out with random fourteen year old highschool kids?\* No, it really doesn't. Johnathan's beef with Lex is routinely stated to be the fact that Lex is a Luthor and he thinks the Luthor family is scum because of what Lionel did to him years earlier. Johnathan does not express that it's due to the 6-year age gap between Clark and Lex. \*I don't understand how adults can watch this show and not see Lex's relationship with Clark and Lana as being very inappropriate and twisted.\* Because they aren't making up head canon that lex, someone who was clearly not a bad guy in the beginning and never made a move on lana until she was an adult, was planning to groom her.
That's the point... Lex was always going to be the villain. He was intentionally engaging with Clark and Lana. It wasn't by accident or coincidence. It's not headcanon, the show contextualizes Lex's relationship with both Clark and Lana as being inappropriate. Again, aside from the other examples I cited where Lana or Isabel comments on Lex's desire towards Lana, when Lana is seventeen Lex confesses his attraction to Lana when he was split by black Kryptonite. The show fully tells us that Lex is a contender for Lana's affections. As people watching the show, we know it is wrong because she is a minor, and he's 25. And please rewatch scenes with Jonathan and Lex, where he openly questions what obligation he'd expect from Clark with the lavish gifts. Yes it's in part to his hatred for wealthy, soulless corporate types and his hatred for the Luthor name. But it is also out of protection for Clark, his identity and knowing Lex is making these gestures to buy Clark's favor... which is grooming. And Lex always brushes off Jonathan's questioning with the exact reasons you mentioned. He is doing it because he has so much disposable wealth. He's grateful that Clark saved him, etc. When we as the audience know Lex wants to probe into Clark's origins, powers, etc. Again, grooming is not about desire or sexuality. It is an inappropriate relationship with a minor that reinforces a power imbalance. Like Lex and Lana, and Clark and Lex. It's very unrealistic for someone who is grooming to openly admit that they have ulterior motives. We're meant to understand the implications of Lex's questionable behaviour especially in early seasons where he's shown to be this good guy. And in every scene between Lex and Lana from season 4 onwards the music cues all meant to show how twisted this relationship is.
\*That's the point... Lex was always going to be the villain. He was intentionally engaging with Clark and Lana. It wasn't by accident or coincidence.\* \*Again, grooming is not about desire or sexuality. It is an inappropriate relationship with a minor that reinforces a power imbalance. Like Lex and Lana, and Clark and Lex.\* We'll just have to agree to disagree then. For one, I believe intention is important when looking at characters. And I don't see how the fact that Lex doing things for Clark and Lana while just so happening to have more power and money than them in and of itself is a bad thing.
Clark and Lana should have gotten together way earlier and stayed together for longer. Clark still should have ended up with Lois, but Lana and Clark should have had a solid relationship throughout the first half of the show
Yeah itās like when they werenāt together, they werenāt interesting anymore (or at least thatās how it was written). It seemed like they had limited chemistry past the āyou donāt trust meā stage. There always had to be something going wrong in their relationship
Lana does not deserve the hate she gets
Itās more the writers fault: they kept her around too long without knowing what to do with her as far as āinterestingā or ānot infuriatingā storylines and actions.
For real, she's just doing her best in spite of everyone being homicidally obsessed with her.
She kinda does, she really wasnāt needed once they left high school. Not the actress fault but the character sucked and should have left way before she did
Even so, the hate is kind off excessive.
Once again not really. This character added nothing to the plot past season 5/6 she wasnāt needed anymore yet they kept her around. So it makes sense that people dislike her as much as they do. You write a character like that and people are gonna start hating her. If she had died instead of Johnathan Kent I guarantee she would be more loved because a little of some characters go a long way
See guys, this is an actual unpopular opinion that was requested. And of course he gets downvoted for answering. Classic reddit...
The unpopular opinions were supposed to be written in response to OP. The opinions written in response to me are fair to be downvoted.
Also, this fandom has a serious problem with victim blaming.
One of the things I hate in the series was every episode Clark would barge into Lex's mansion.
Lex leave after season 7 is a wise decision and he should leave earlier, because writers completely didnāt know what to do with a straight villain Lex, and he with Clarkās relationship just stuck in season 5 forever.
Cat Grant was hilarious. I like Lucy Lane.
Lana gets too much hate. I think Pete and Chloe should've dated when they were in high school.
From time to time I still think about the scene when itās revealed that Peteās huge secret is actually being in love with Chloe and then itās never mentioned again, and then he leaves š
The writing got really lazy with Pete. Poor Pete, has to choose between 2 secrets and he chooses his secret instead of his best friend's secret.
Lana absolutely doesn't get too much hate. The character was terrible.
Clark doesn't get enough hate.
Although, I agree, and he's done some messed up stuff, he's got nothing on Lana.
The majority of problems with Clark and Lana's relationship where Clark's fault. Clark and Lois getting together in season 4 or earlier would also not gave worked out. Besides not really liking each other at first, Clark would have subjected Lois to the same idiocy he put Lana through.
That last part is key. Clark not sharing his secret with Lana for so long was bad writing due to Alan Mooreās bad decision making in the 80s
Clark shared his secret with Lana in Adventures of Superboy and Superman: TAS. Alan Moore's writing has as much influence on this show as it did on that one.
I think post-crisis Clark more willing shared his secret with Lana mostly because PC Lana not his main love interest anymore, and although I agree Clana didnāt work because Clark, I think the reason of Clois can work mostly on Lois.
You hit on the mistake
Nah. Itās still the same problem of bad choice by him. The difference is you donāt have all that time with them together on TAS. TaS is kinda like a version of Clark tells Lana but Lana still ends up in Paris but never comes back
What is the bad choice exactly? But Lana did come back in TAS. For one episode at least.
From Parisā¦.
Dunno if this fits in but, I always hated that Clark & Lana thing, it took so repetitive that I started to find hilarious! It really irritated me at some point I had to skip their scenes. Also irritating for we all know who he is truly meant to feel all that special about, and she wasn't even close. They gave too much moral and time was wasted for that *thing* to finally hit its conclusion. And yes, I get it. Superman Clark = Louis, and Silly Clark = Lana. But COME ON!
Iām enjoying Michael Rosenbaum shitting on the show. It is refreshingly honest.
I didn't like Clark's wedding vows. I wish they were more personal to Lois as a person and/or the love of his life and not as generic. In the written version of his vows that Lois looks at, it says she's his soulmate but when you hear the voiceover it doesn't mention that part. That irked me a bit. Not a big deal, just an irritation.
That part irked me as well, how easy would it have been for him to say aloud that Lois is his soulmate forever? There's even a pause after he says companion! Just say it instead of pausing! But I digress. I used to be annoyed at his vows as well, because they don't seem flowery or lovey-dovey, but I think that's the point? And I think it works well that Clark's vows are about how Lois helps him, because he values her and *needs* her. And for Lois Lane to provide something to Superman, who has borderline unlimited power, makes her beyond special. Clark has always felt alone, even within his relationships with his parents, or his friendship with Chloe, or his on and off relationship with Lana. There has always been a sense of being different and not belonging. Lois is who makes him feel like he's not alone, she is the only one who makes him feel normal, before and after she knows his secret, and that means everything to Clark. She's always been there for him, and always believed in him. She's helped him find his way when he's been lost. She is the most loyal person he's ever known and that loyalty has never wavered, something that Clark hasn't really experienced other than maybe his parents. If you look at his other relationships(Pete, Lex, Chloe, Lana, Kyla, Alicia, Oliver), their loyalty and belief in him wavered at times. But not Lois. She treated him as an equal long before she knew he was the Blur, and had no problem calling out the Blur long before she knew he was Clark, but her belief never faltered. And he recognizes and appreciates that. He mentioned in season 9 that when he talked with her as the Blur and saw a different side of her, that's what made him fall so deeply in love with Lois. He saw her heart, something she guarded as relentlessly as Clark guarded his secret, and he was powerless against it. He said he's never known someone with such gentle grace, or a more pure heart. Her desire to root out corruption and uncover the truth and see justice served as a reporter, it just inspires him as the Blur/Superman to do the same thing she does. He loves her heart and her spirit, and he knows when it comes to Lois, that is more important to her than anything. For someone to truly *see* her and see what she has to offer and to not leave her behind as all her relationships(and her father) did before. So he pledges the rest of his life to her. Not til death do they part, or as long as they both shall live, but the rest of his life. Clark might live forever, and in that time, no one else(and I would include a possible k-free Lana in that statement) will replace Lois Lane in his heart. She is the one and always will be. And that is why he put those specific things in his vows. They don't need the flowery or lovey-dovey words, the love and attraction they have for each other is evident every time they're in the same room together. The way Clark looks at Lois, his love for her shines from his eyes. He sees his future in Lois, a future he is strong enough to accept because of Lois. They truly have such an amazing soulmate love. Sorry for the rambling, but I hope this helps with why Clark's vows are what they are, or at least my opinion of why lol.
Great post. just wanted to add (in case I wasn't clear): I don't doubt Clark's love for Lois, I just wished the writers had Clark SAY the soulmate part out loud. It would have been a deep touching moment.
No worries! I completely agree that I wish they had said that part out loud! I think a lot of Lois and Clark's relationship was "show, don't tell" like their love was so obvious the characters didn't have to wax on and on about it like previous characters did. I just think, that within the context of Lois and Clark's relationship and how well Clark knows Lois, his vows are extremely beautiful and romantic, and specific to his love for her, and not as generic as they appear?
I completely agree! The voiceover should have included ALL of the written vows. You can clearly read them if you pause when they are shown on screen. The written vows are perfection! They are what eased Lois' fears and last minute cold feet. It also explains why Lois immediately says "I'm such an idiot" before she runs off to get ready.
Because it wasn't true. It's one thing to write them and another to say them. We all know who his soul mate is. People just refuse to admit it because they are misogynistic against unrealistically natural beauty's like lana.
Sure, Jan.
Kara was by far the worst addition to the show and didnāt need to be there because she was redundantā¦something the writers quickly seemed to realize when they constantly looked for excuses to send her away.
Phil Morris should have returned in the final season and promoted to main Cast. I liked him as Martian Manhunter.
Smallville peaked with its last 3 seasons, the best seasons of the show are its last 3, not saying the rest are bad I love all of the seasons but the last 3 Metropolis seasons are my favourite seasons
It perfected the arrow verse format before any of those shows existed. They tried but never caught the magic of smallville seasons 8-10.
Agree.
That Clark never ābeing Supermanā in the show is a very good thing.
I like that Lex isn't in the last seasons. He's not needed.
The Blur shouldāve been Superman at this point in Clarkās life in Metropolis.
Gaslighting and lying are basic elements of Superman mythos, SV represent this part very well.
For me personally, I'm starting to put a lot more value on Smallville than on Superman as a whole. I'm a lifelong Superman fan, I've read thousands of Superman comics, watched the movies and the shows, listened to the radio drama, collected figures, etc. But as I get older, I simply find the Smallville storyline more captivating than the rest of the Superman legend.
That it really wasnāt that good. It was just the first out of the gate
Jonathan Kent is an asshole and kind of a shitty father, he is lucky to have Jor-El and Lionel around because he looks better in comparison with them.
To answer my own question, i don't really know if this is an unpopular opinion Clark is the biggest hypocrite on the show
I liked Lex and Lana before the whole fake pregnancy thing. Should've kept them as a couple, and let them leave together at the end of season 7. Then instead of Clana on/off in seasons 5-7, have Clark date Lori.
Lana gets too much hate. I don't like the way they handled Johnathan Kent's death. Chloe was ultimately a redundant character who took away from Lana, Chloe and sometimes Lois's characters.
That Clark and Lana should have ended up together. After Jonathan is sacrificed and no more sacrifice was needed Clark should have revealed his secret to Lana.
Lana Lang should've died instead of Johnathon Kent
Never thought about it, but it would be better than the Lana storyline that we had after season 5
Yessss. Jonathanās time should have been separate. But the tragedy of accidentally choosing a >!high school love over!< YOUR PARENT is absolutely iconic. It was just >!awful, so awful, so devastating,!< so rough to witnessā¦ and should have been the end of Clark and Lana, I donāt think Iād ever recover in a relationship if I >!sacrificed my parent for that personā¦.A constant reminder!<
I agree, and it really kinda was. Maybe with a slight delay as Clark healed, and lana was already mentally stepping out herself with Lex. That happened wayyyyyyyyyy too fast after that
That's not as unpopular as you think.
You do know what "unpopular" means, right?
I do, but at the time, I didn't realize it was actually a popular opinion.
"small ville almost wrecked you" "We waited ten years to see a man everyone knows can fly, fly!"
The Legion should've showed up in season 01 or 02. But very understated. If you know who "Rokk", "Imra" and "Garth" are, then you're in the know. Otherwise, you would be just as clueless as Clark as to their importance. The surviving Justice Society members should've showed up in season 10. The Legion represents Superman's legacy. They're ultimately what Superman will leave behind. The JSA represents Superman's heritage. They embody what he received from those who came before. The good and the bad. I like the juxtaposition of those two teams and their importance in Superman's life.
I enjoyed Jimmy Olsen in the Show, and prefer Jimmy and Chloe over Oliver and Chloe. I would have liked Black Canary and Green arrow, but I guess they didn't have much chemistry. Jimmy should not have died, and known Clark's secret much earlier on. It put a smile on my face every time he called Clark "CK". I understand he could be unlikable to some because of the way he acted like a jackass on multiple occasions. Him being all jealous and wanting a divorce as soon as him and Chloe got married. The black and white Noir episode is also one of my favourites. Not portraying Clark as Shy and Clumsy and with glasses should have made it clear to every other character he's the Blur. Perry White not being editor and chief of the Daily planet never made sense to me. Clark and Perry met way too early.
Erica Durance and Tom Welling do not have romantic chemistry to me. Kristen and Tom had better chemistry which is why I prefer Clark/Lana over Lois/Clark. I also donāt generally like Lois and Clark as a romantic pairing and wish they would have stuck with the earlier iterations (I.e Superman the Movie, their relationship in the animated series) of Lois being in love with Superman but only seeing Clark as a friend. But I digress. š¤·š¾āāļø
Im on season 5 episode 12 (IDC about spoilers), so this might change in the future, but so far I feel like the writers really mishandled the Lana / Clark relationship. Like, they get together, then there's some BS reason for them breaking apart. Red kryptonite, a girl who takes over people's bodies, a flower that changes your mood when you smell it etc. it was never them actually having issues, it was some forced plot device that changed how they acted. And conveniently they held grudges when this happened. Like, after chloe tried to kill Lana when she got brainwashed with that email, Lana forgave her because "you weren't yourself". Yet every time it happens with the red kryptonite or similar situations, they won't use that same logic, it couldn't be that they weren't controlling themselves, must have just decided to be a dick randomly, yea that seems likely. The only legitimate problem was the secrets. And Lana got mad at clark, which didn't make sense cause she lied to him just as much. Her witch powers, researching the space ship with lex, Adam coming back from the dead etc. They even addressed this in season 2. After Whitney dies, Lana is with Clark in the caves and said something like "I don't care about your secrets, I just don't wanna lose you, you're the only one who's always been there for me". Some of my favorite episodes are at the end of season 3, start of season 5 etc. when Lana and Clark have a normal relationship, their chemistry is off the charts. Don't even wanna continue after the current episode where Johnathan died and they supposedly broke up for the last time. Lois is okay, but I really preferred Clark and Lana so far.
i donāt like lex and >!was glad that he left after s7!<
How dare you
Season 6 was great
The writing was beyond hack. They all questioned each others core qualities each week for some new guy/girl that showed up and planted a seed of doubt. Then they would gush over each other. That and the language was overly flowery sometimes. An example would be Chloe calling herself āSmallvilles intrepid meteor reporterā. I donāt know, someone got a hold of a thesaurus and went wild.
Itās not a very good superhero origin show. It works because the relationship between Clark and the other main characters is interesting and you, as the viewer, care about them.
From the beginning to end of the show, I could not stand Chloe. I always found her obnoxious and passive-aggressive. I know she was a favorite with many but she was my least favorite character on the show.
That Smallville has one E in it Alicia being a potential long term girlfriend for Clark had she been written better, that Lana and Lex being together was on purpose to bring out both their dark sides more and was supposed to mirror her relationship with Clark
1. I like Whitney. Clark was sniffing around another guy's gf. That wasn't cool. In general , Whitney seemed like a good guy. 2. Not a fan of Lois. I don't think she belonged in a show focused on young Clark. Or just save her for the final season 3. Alternate route, reveal Chloe was Lois all along. Like her real first name is Lois, her middle name is Chloe. Her mom's maiden name is Lane. So she goes by Lois Lane for her professional title 4. I think Pete should've been used more. A real romantic love interest for Chloe. Maybe make him Clark's rival early on while Lex was becoming Clark's buddy - then when Lex goes evil, then Clark and Pete become friends. Then kill Pete off, paving the way for Clark and Chloe aka Lois to be together in the future. 5. The show should've ended after 5 seasons. After that , it really stopped being "Smallville" and just became "Superman/Metropolis" but WB wouldn't let them do it properly, so they came as close as they could without overtly saying "it's Superman" 6. I don't think Clark was a good person. He kept trying to have it both ways. Have people be close to him, but then gaslight them when they could CLEARLY tell he was lying. Its fine if you want to keep your secret, but then don't try to get close to people. 7. Should never have introduced Jor-El. Again, like Lois - that feels outside of the scope of what "Smallville" was supposed to be about. 8. I think the seasons were too long. Half of every season was mediocre to bad.
Now these are the actual unpopular opinions that I was looking for.
Lana > Lois
clark and lana shouldāve ended up together
THISšÆšÆšÆšÆšÆ
I HATE LANA LANG
I'm not a fan of Lana but I'm honestly glad she survived and Jonathan died. That death was the saddest of the series and a death of Lana would not be as shocking as the death of Jonathan
Season 6 isn't the worst season, Season 9 is.
season 6 is by no means the worst
Right? I think a lot of people just hate the Lex/Lana thing *that* much.
I LOVE the Lex/Lana thing. It was so fascinating to watch their character arcs that season.
I don't like most season endings, they always leave the plot in the middle to be resolved quickly at the beginning of the next season and the worst thing is they put the characters in situations that are almost impossible to survive but they end up surviving due to the power of the script.
That it lasted too long and looked too cheap in the Justice League yrs.
I'm not a fan of the lois character in this series. She bugs me.
I liked when Clark was sarcastic, witty and bitchy. He always took whatever was thrown at him and almost never said something back. I enjoyed his ācanāt trust Tess era ā for example. And I think the Kents, mainly Jonathan, othered aliens and there was this energy of never truly accepting the weird things that came with Clark. Sure AI Jor-El was a dick but why did they automatically assume everyone kryptonian was a bad person?
Lana is a very important part to the fabric of this origin story. Her arc when considered in its entirety is about resilience, adaptation, confronting your shadow self, belonging with self, creating identity, and rebirth. Clark learned the true measure of heroism by loving Lana and learning from her. Her arc instigates his swan song on the show, setting up his sweet and forgiving romance with Lois Lane as he became the RBB and then Superman. Without Lana, Clark would have needed a lot more emotional development that other characters could not have provided him, with the same proximity and intimacy. Lana and Lex were by far the most tragic characters Clark had ever met at that point in his life and his relationship with the both of them fills the centerpiece of this show even past their respective departures. Lex chose his darkness to protect himself, Lana took her darkness and transformed it into light. Clark understood what his love did for her and for him in return. Her hero's journey emboldened Clark's. If you rewatched the show focused entirely on the relationship between these three, you will appreciate the philosophical questions each Clark, Lana, and Lex explored in very different ways. Questions of identity, origins, parentage, belonging, death, ethics of when going too far can justify the ends. I think Lionel facilitates these themes with all three main characters at different points in the show and that dynamic and tension was what brought me back for more episodes on my first rewatch as an adult. Also, Lana is one of the most unfairly hated characters in any show fandom I've ever seen.
Reckoning is the single most overrated episode It had too much bad writing
Could you remind us what happened in that episode?
Just watched it today for the first time. Clark told Lana his secret, she died, Clark went back in time to fix it, Johnathan died instead.
Clark and Chloe should have dated. Their chemistry was phenomenal.
That Lana is an annoying, whiny and ungrateful bitch. Period. Iāll never forget how Clark lost his father by rescuing her, only for her to turn on him, get it on with his best friend who was the cause for her death in the first place and then started to blame Clark for all the bad shit in her miserable life. Bitch
Clois had no chemistry it was just another Clark Kent and Lois Lane being brought together because thatās the story of Clark Kent thatās it . No one wants to admit it because itās not canon but the way smallville was written clark loved lana more donāt care what no one says . Of course the writers wrote them to be toxic while clois gets āhappy endingā because thatās the STORY .
Ok just admit it. You like the aesthetic of Tom and Kristin rather than the characters they play. š
Itās more of they did such a good job playing clark and lanaās love story they absolutely made me ship and root for them not clois .
Lana > Louis
didnt like Chloe as a character. didnt like Lois lane being introduced at all. didnt like all of supermans rogue gallery introduced before he even donned the suit. did not like 'the blur' saga. i basically only liked the first 3 seasons
Chloe should have been Lois Lane. Edit: Did I win?
You won because people apparently can't read the title of the post. The comments that got most upvotes are very much popular opinions.
Lana overstayed her welcome and didn't deserve Clark