on the subject of criminal charges: I did a bit of reasearch on this issue when I was writing about Corban's death. The likely charge would be manslaughter (criminal negligence). It would be very odd for the DA's office to overlook that. (that's not to say they wouldn't
) Then, it would be for the judge (and jury if present) to decide, of course.
I didn’t want to freeze her. I didn’t want to risk her life, not even for my parents’ lives. But, idiot I am, I let her convince me.
Again, that's a really interesting quote becuase it cuts to the heart of the issue.
Does it show a CK/S who is rationalizing after the fact? Regardless of how he feels, he did the deed. So while he is telling himself one thing about how he felt about Lois, his *actions* indicate subconscioulsy he felt differently. I think, because Terry has written about Clark's feelings so beautifully, we're tempted to forget about the horror of what Clark actually did do.
How much more honest would Clark have been if he had said instead:
"I didn’t want to freeze her. I didn’t want to risk her life, but I had to save my parents’ lives. But, idiot I am, I let her convince me."?
Also, I'm not sure I buy the "she made me do it, it's not my fault" argument - probably because I don't want to admit that CK/S is so weak-willed (unethical?) that he would accept her offer.
But, in the show, he did accept.
You ask what else Clark could have done? Well, maybe take a bullet for his parents and Lois? True, it's Lois that the bad guy wants dead. But up the offer of a dead Superman and any crook's heart would beat a tad faster. Get some Kryptonite, etc.
Surely that's what a gentleman would have done? He wouldn't have let the woman he supposedly loves make the grand sacrifice. That that thought doesn't automatically appear to have crossed his mind makes me wonder how deep his feelings for Lois really went. Isn't that our intsinctive reaction when someone we love is threatened? "Take me, instead."
It's interesting that it was Lois who was prepared to make the sacrifice and not Superman. To him, deep down, Lois is expendable. Sure, he'll miss her, but...
Terry does well to remind romantics like me who've forgotten the darkness of Clark Kent in that episode.
c.
