Post-Echo, Pre-Roulette thinky thoughts
Just checking, but is everyone remembering to vote in theclexfactor 's SV poll?
I'm going to Atlanta this weekend, and I won't be home until sunday night, so there will be a slight delay on the screentime totals for this week.
Actually, I think its a good thing that I'll be watching Roulette on the computer, since I anticipate a lot of FF'ing. ;)
Having now had a few days to think about Echo, and also having read a lot of well thought out, and well articulated reviews of the episode, I find myself having to get some of my own thoughts off my chest. But I'm going to focus on my biggest problem with the episode, and in fact, my biggest problem with SV at the moment. And thats Oliver and the relationship between Clark and Oliver. I guess I'll issue a warning that this post isn't at all sympathetic to Oliver, so if that offends you, you may want to skip it. Its also rather critical of how this reflects on Clark, so ditto to what I just said.
All my mental junk will be going behind the cutType your cut contents here.
So, I find myself definitely on an island here. Or, mostly on an island anyway.
I've read lots of very stirring, very heartfelt posts about how Clark's empathy towards Oliver was so inspiring, and how it even made them feel sorry for Oliver, since Clark did. I've read how people weren't bothered by Clark apologizing, Again!. And I've definitely read, more then once, about how much this was "Superman".
Now, granted, I don't read Superman comics, so perhaps I'm no expert. Perhaps I've created a false perception of Superman in my head.
So, Superman is A-OK with murderers, as long as they feel really, really badly and wallow in self pity? See, this was a Superman trait I was not aware of.
Lets review....Oliver is a murderer. Sure, we all know Lex is alive, but that does not change Oliver's intent. In fact, evidence would suggest that he did blow someone up in that truck, it just wasn't the real Lex. Oliver's first attempt to murder Lex had him trying to shoot an arrow into the back of Lex's head. Lets think about this for a minute....our "hero" stood in the shadows, from a safe distance, in no peril himself, and tried to put an arrow through the back of another mans head for, what would've been, a truly gruesome death. Now, having failed in this attempt, his second attempt (successful, as far as he knows) was to plant a bomb, and then frame a psychopath for his crime. Completely premeditated.
So, our Oliver Queen is not only a murderer, he's a cowardly murderer without the guts to face his victim, face-to-face.
Now, don't get me wrong. I've never been someone who thought Lex was a saint, or a misunderstood woobie. He did bad shit. He did evil, heinous crap to people. He turned into a very bad guy. And I want the bad guys to go down. I just don't want our heroes to shoot them in the back, or blow them up. Am I being unreasonable? I mean, do Superman and the other heroes in the comics go around taking out the criminals, Punisher-style?
Now, of course I've ranted at length about what Oliver did to Clark in Doomsday. Much to my surprise, and dismay, I've also found this act largely dismissed and hand-waved away in SV fandom. For reasons I'm not entirely clear on, apparently you can do really nasty crap to Clark, and its easily forgiven and forgotten. I don't entirely get that. But, anyway, for me, this is just more reasons for me to have problems with the Oliver character.
Lets review again....Oliver crafted an arrow out of kryptonite. Something he knows can subdue Clark, and cause him great pain. In fact, something that can kill him. He then decides that he will lure Clark out into the open by telling him they found Davis and Chloe. Then he will shoot Clark in the back with the arrow that causes him great pain (and Oh, can actually kill him), then leave him there, bleeding, completely vulnerable, then walk over, look down on him in contempt, claim this is just to "get his ego out of the way", then leave him there. And go fuck everything up, but we'll leave that part off. Not posting someone there to watch over him, or ensure that he wouldn't be injured, or, in the case that Oliver might know jack shit about what can, and can't, kill Clark, have someone there to remove the arrow in an emergency, or if Clark was in real distress. Wasn't it Oliver that was bitching out Zatanna in Hex for leaving him out in the open, vulnerable? I guess it only counts for him.
So, now that we've gone over the "hero" that is our Oliver Queen, lets talk about Clark for a second. Dealing with the latter Oliver stuff first, the former later (since thats really the biggie). Is it OK that Clark just got over what Oliver did to him in Doomsday? I guess. I think it gives Clark a doormat quality that I'm not especially fond of, but I guess its OK. Its certainly not the first time Clark has let someone walk all over him. But, do I think Clark should be able to trust him and work with him again after this incident? Hell To The No! Because really, how do you establish trust with someone who takes your greatest vulnerability, and uses it against you when you disagree? And if you can just trust them again so easily, doesn't that call ones judgement into question a bit? I think it does. So, what happens next time Clark and Oliver are at odds as to how to solve a problem?
But thats a minor detail when you are looking at the bigger picture of what Oliver has done. And to me, Superman, as I understand the character, isn't just Okey-Dokey with a murderer because they feel really, really bad about it. Yes, he can want to help an Oliver who has gone so far off the path. He can show him compassion, and urge him to get help, and to turn himself in. I'm all fine with that, because that is Superman, as I understand him. But with whats happened? With the circumstances as showed to us in HD (where available)? Should Clark really ever be a buddy and ally to Oliver again? And if he is, which I have no doubt he will be, then how does this reflect on our Clark?
And its not as if this is even the first instance of SV doing something like this, I know. Surely the situation with Lionel allied with Clark was always a very dubious situation. So, there is a precedence of it with SV. But I guess the difference for me, at least, is that Lionel was never a "hero", and in the end, he got his comeuppance, and no justice. It makes a difference.
I do also want to make the point that when Clark was so willing to forgive Lana in S7 for going down a dark path, he got torn to shreds. And as far as I remember, Lana wasn't trying to shoot anyone in the back of the head. But Clark was a wimp, or a pussy, or he was just stupid and useless because it was Lana. Any number of things. But with Oliver? Apparently he's Superman. I'm confused..
And I guess, in the end, I know I'm supposed to just hand wave this all away, and just think "But Ollie is so cute, and he has a nice chest", or something along those lines. Since I seem to be one of the few SV viewers that doesn't think its perfectly OK for Oliver to just be forgiven and embraced back into the bosom of herohood with a contrite "My Bad!", I guess I'm just missing something. I won't go deep into spoilers, but they certainly indicate that Oliver's wallowing is going to have a happy, hopeful ending for him. And Clark will just smile and go along. And this is Clark being "Superman"? For me, not so much. For me, I think Superman, as I perceive him would've taken a much firmer stand, and stood up for himself a bit more. Perhaps I simply have no understanding of the character. *shrugs*
I guess I know that this is just the way SV rolls. I think, for me, I just don't have the tolerance for it I once did. And it makes me incredibly sad, because I've waited, and watched this show for so long, to see Clark take his final steps towards Superman, and be a proactive hero, and be strong and confident, and, well, this is kind of ruining it for me. :(
Now, a little bit of Spoiler stuff for Roulette follows, so look away if you are of the Unspoiler variety
I warned you..
Still looking?
OK....
I guess I'm sort of amused, though not in a good way, that Echo wasn't even Oliver's rock bottom. That even after being confronted with his past sins, and even after contemplating suicide (and really Oliver, just jump off a building if you're suicidal), and even after being shown such compassion by Clark, he's STILL going to have another week of being a wallowing dickweed. Yeah, I really feel that sympathy dial being racheted up for me. How about all of you?
And I know for sure. FOR SURE. That if Clark was on this sort of downward slide? People would be tearing him a new asshole.
I was going to say more about Roulette, but I should probably wait until I see it...at least the stuff I don't FF through, anyway.