Felt I'd better read the story, given I'd commented.
I was quite surprised. Clark Killed Lois!!
And yet that was a possibile outcome of the risk he took in freezing her in the actual episode. Have to say that I had thought of this episode as an example to use in one of my comments above to show that Clark's feelings for Lois aren't as profound in the earlier part of the show as fanfic makes them out to be (well most fanfic
) I remembered when I first saw that episode how shocked I was by his willingness to play Russian roulette with her life.
Perhaps Superman was coldly rationale at that point, and saw it as purely a numbers thing - one life for two.
He has a horrible choice to make at the point when he freezes Lois (let's leave aside the surprsing fact that neither he nor Lois could think of another way out of the dilemma) He has to choose between the parents he loves and the woman he loves. He chooses his parents, and with that decision he lets us know the shallowness of his love for Lois. As well, he doesn't even have the compasssion to tell her he's Clark at this point. He still holds out on her.
Of course he's guilt ridden afterward, in this story, haunted by his memories of Lois. Terry writes these bits very movingly, I was quite convinced that there really was a ghost.
And genuiinely convinced that Clark felt remorse for killing Lois.
And yet, I kept thinking - he's like the guy in the joke who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan.
Like others, I was surprised that Superman wasn't charged with manslaughter - maybe it's true that some people are above the law.
I was a bit discomforted by Lois's video before she died - it seemed a bit over the top. Sadly, too, I was reminded of those tragic martyr's videos we've seen all too often on the news, and that too made me squirm.
Anyway - it was an interesting read and reminded me of what I'd forgotten about the show - that in S1 and 2, Clark wasn't as much in love with Lois as I sometimes like to think.
I'm wondering, if that was your real purpose, Terry, to remind us of that, and if so - well done!
c. (really should stick to my rule about not reading deathfic -am now depressed)
edit: (just saw CC Aiken's post and I too liked that bit she quoted about the cateloguing - it showed us that rational Clark, letting us know that he would move on - it was a good way to put it. CC's quote also remindeed me that I was touched by Henderson and Jimmy's grief - understated, and so we knew it was real)
