Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Smallville People: Clark Kent's Wedding!! Beware of Spoilers

Any of you SpongeBob viewers ever notice how Mr Crabs, when surprised, yanks out his eye stalks, polishes them up, and then puts them back in. Big blink. Is he really seeing what he thinks he's seeing?

That bit?

I did that last night during Smallville.

Clark Kent in the wedding chapel? His 'Hell yes!' to 'Do you take this woman?' And I'm squirming and thinking, you know, I love how Smallville twist and bends the canon, I totally do...but Yikes!!

Things I loved: Chloe and Jimmy! Actually, loved and hated that. Thought it was clever and funny, but again, alas, poor Chloe...sigh.

The Luthors. Not enough of them, but still, the good Lionel cautioning Lex against going over to the dark side. And MR's facial expressions during their every exchange. How closely he is watching, trying to get a read on the 'new man' his father is. Love them. Have I ever mentioned?

And I like that we don't really know what Lionel is up to here. IF he is up to anything. But if he is, what an awesome con.

Also, we have no idea who sprung him from jail. Any guesses?

Lana and Jason. Well. Whatever.

Lots and lots of TW torso. No complaints from me whatsoever. I loved when she said to him, "But I don't have a commitment from you," and his very enthusiastic, "No one is more committed to making this happen than I am."

Favorite stand-out scene, though. The very end. When Clark's so sad and wonderfully nervous, "Is dad still mad?" Love that Martha wouldn't let him use the Red-K to excuse what he'd done. That he was back to looking like a teenager, lonely and uncertain, listening to his mom fuss and knowing he'd let his parents down...and the tear? Oh, poor Superman!! The two of them just played that so well.

And everytime Martha reassured him there would be someone for him, someone out there who would love him, weren't you just waiting for Lois to take up her cue and stroll in?

Reactions? Impressions? You Smallville fans still out there? And next week: Some.One.Finds.Out.

I wish it was Chloe. But my money's on Lana. Because that would annoy me most.

CC

Oh, Daddy Mac, it's been so long since you and I have had a good old fashioned smack-down!! And now I see from your evaluation that we're in for a long overdue treat.

Yeah, wowsa!! What an episode. After nearly two months of starvation, I feel a bit appeased that they gave us something so juicy to make up for it. I know this epi is going to be panned by a lot of people who like to snark about Smallville because it did kind of have that exploitive "teenage sex after-school-special" vibe (mostly thanks to the Lana/Jason stuff) but I loved it!

What I loved:

Amen and Allelujah!! This was the best line of the entire night. I loved it, loved it, loved it.

BTW, speaking of TW torso, did you happen to notice how very nicely his biceps bulged in just the right way - very Supermanish - not steroid-bunny overkill but just big and strong and mannish? I'm just saying.

Also, I loved the Chloe/Jimmy thing. Although because I want to like the future Jimmy, I wish Chloe could have thrown in something like - "he got kind of serious and I'm just not ready for that" so it was she that ended it. I don't like thinking that Jimmy is a user of innocent high school girls. Too, I'm kind of glad that they didn't make Chloe a virgin. I think one virginal Lana is enough for any show.

Have to give the writers props for their portrayal of Alicia. I didn't like her much the first time around and was all set up to hate her this time. But they actually gave her enough depth that I saw some of her torment and didn't flat out think of her as an evil, skanky ho. She had motivation and she seemed genuinely regretful.

Things I was very meh about:

Lana and Jason. Kind of bummed that they actually went with the whole cliché of Lana thinking her college boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't have sex. But then, after I heard what Jason gave as his reason, I actually changed my mind and wanted it to be something as normal as a college boyfriend wanting to have sex with his not-ready girlfriend. Of course, that would have made Jason a jerk. But they could have handled it better - had him be apologetic about it. Tell Lana "I don't want to pressure you, it's not fair to you, so maybe it's best if we break up." or some other such bs. It makes me want to scream, this whole Lana-as-mysterious-witchy-woman thing.

The Luthors - sadly, they bored me last night. There seemed to be no reason at all for their scenes (other than to let us gaze upon the glory that is Lex and to marvel how much better John Glover looks with short hair IMO). If they aren't going to use these guys for good purpose, why bother? Or at least get Lex more naked for some gratuitous Michael Rosenbaum skin.

What I hated:

OK, here we go, CC. Last night I hated Martha. Hated her. Thought she should be written up in the book "How to Scar Your Children For Life and Other Poor Parenting Suggestions."

For crying out loud, her son was drugged against his will. Drugged! With a drug so powerful it makes him steal, run away from home, and generally have no moral center at all. It makes perfect sense to me that Clark would do what he did while under the influence of Red K (actually - not so much, but more on that in a second). It's like blaming a girl who was tricked into drinking a drink with the date rape drug in it and then sexually assaulted of being irresponsible. How could any loving parent do that to their child?

And doesn't the fact that the second Alicia took off the necklace he put a full stop to everything count for something? The second he had his wits about him he knew what was going on was wrong and he stopped. Shows some pretty mature levels of restraint, IMO.

Because he could have gone through with it. He had a naked and willing girl in a hotel room and a huge excuse - the Red K - but he stopped everything. Doesn't Martha see that he did exactly what she wanted him to do - to make a good decision about what's right and wrong? Clark did do the right thing once he was capable of making a free choice. Until that moment, though, he wasn't making free choices.

Back to what I said about Red-K Clark - the one plot device I didn't buy at all was the whole wedding thing. Red-K Clark has no morals. He wouldn't bat an eye about sleeping with a girl and then walking away without a look back. He didn't think twice two years ago when he was tearing his parents apart (people he loved) while on the Red-K, so why would he care about the feelings of a virtual stranger enough to offer her more than the hollowest of promises? Why the whole "I want to marry you" thing? They really fell off of it there by pushing him so OOC. I felt like the wedding sham was the writers'/M&G's way of appeasing the WB. "Yeah, we're going to have Clark almost have sex with Alicia, but since this is a family show, we'll have them be married." Stupid on so many levels.

And too, that adds to the supreme stupidity of Martha's reaction. Shouldn't that count for something - that Clark married Alicia first? As it was, I could have better bought her outrage if he'd almost slept with her without any sort of commitment at all.

The whole drugging thing - okay, how in the hell did Alicia know about the Red-K? I mean, Clark even asked her that very question and her answer was some lame "I know everything about you, Clark." Does that mean that at any given moment in any show or movie or book that any character can suddenly possess knowledge about another character simply by invoking the "I know everything about you" answer? Dumb. Really lazy writing.

So, bring it on, CC. Try to convince me how in the world what Martha (and Jonathan) did, how they reacted, was anything more than cruel to their son who for all intents and purposes had nearly been raped. Because that's what it would have been - Clark doing something while under the influence when he wasn't capable of making a conscious choice. Clark was a victim X 2 - once by Alicia then again by his parents.

And I'll just leave with this. The tear rolling down Tom Welling's cheek. *sigh* I wanted to lick it off...

Lynn

PS - I know who it is who finds out. Do you want to know? Do ya, do ya? I can tell you...for a small fee...

Are you trying to start a flame war, missy?

Because using words to describe the Luthors like: Well, that's just asking for it!!

No reason at all?? How about I suggest one?

P-L-O-T.

I could break that down if it's unfamiliar to you. Plot means that more happens on the show than TW taking off his shirt (shout out on the muscle observation, though, duly noted, whole-heartedly agreed with). But what keeps this show from being Dawson's Creek on steroids? Don't know? It's the Luthors. Whilst our CK journeys towards a life of wearing the cape. Our yummy, yummy, yummy Lex (and MR is worth way more than 3 yummies) is headed towards world domination and general evildom. How do they both get there? Well...that's in that Plot-thingy I was telling you about.

I love that good Lionel may be what finally pushes Yummy Lex over. In his suspicion and skepticism. And the paranoia that will have to come from having his dad move into the guesthouse. Keeping him close, the better to watch him. How soon will that drive him mad?

Oh, MacDad. I weep for you, sometimes.

As for Martha. Hey! Just...hey!! I liked that she didn't let him use Red-K to wiggle off the hook. Because you know what? I really think that if Alicia (and thanks, couldn't remember her name) hadn't used it, she still could have talked him into Vegas. Seriously. Might have taken a few weeks or months, as opposed mere seconds. But the beginning scene- when he is uncomfortable with the two twinkies flirting with him, because, what's the point?- established he feels he'll never be with someone. He is fundamentally lonely, certain he is exiled by his differences. Remember when Alicia first asks him in the loft, "Why are you here by yourself on a Sat. night?" And he says, "Maybe I like to be alone." The hurt in those words.

She is as different as he is. Knows all about him and won't tell. And she takes her clothes off a lot when he's around. I think the real CK- not on RedK- could be talked into marrying her just based on that. On the sureness there is no one else out there, and it's her- who he genuinely likes- or no one.

Now the RedK definitely takes away his inhibitions. And...pause for a moment...Yowza. When she says, "I'm Mrs Clark Kent" the look in his eyes when he says, "Let's make it official."

Where was I?

Oh. If she hadn't manipulated him with it- I think that scene might have played out. She used it to push him there faster than he would have, that's what stopped him cold, but I still think he would have gotten there on his own. And it was more than about sex. It was about belonging. Marriage being the ultimate expression of that, in his mind, someone to be bonded with.

And I think that's what Martha was coming down on him for. Marriage? Just...well...because she likes you? Takes her clothes off a *lot*? Is as different as you are?

There has to be more.

He knew that. You could tell by his face. But, oh, he wants it. The way he couldn't let her walk away from him at the end, despite everything.

There. Tell me I've fixed these delusions you have, ok? And I'll even forgive the Luthor comment. In time.

CC

So you know who finds out? Is it Chloe?? Please, please tell me it's Chloeeeee!!!

For those that need it ...

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I do believe it is Chloe who finds out, at least that is what I have heard from many different 'sources.' Don't quote me 100% but that is my understanding.

OTOH, I agree with you, right now the most interesting characters on Smallville, IMO, are the Luthors. MR is yummy! I think I'm more engrossed in them than anyone else, except maybe Lois ... just LOVE her! And even though I wasn't expecting to see Lois Lane in Smallville, they're almost making it work. And Erica Durance is awesome, ALMOST as good as Teri's Lois IMHO! Still, as much as I love the Luthors and Lois, that's as much as I am sick of Lana ... could she BE more dull (the character, not KK)? Okay, that's my .02 ...

Thanks, SuperGem! Whoop!! So hope you're right, as that would really save Chloe's character for me. She's such a punching bag right now, but if she gets to be the Keeper of the Secret, that would be really cool.

And ditto, ditto, ditto on everything else you said, too.

Now. This just came to me as I was really, truly leaving this thread and going about my day.

Chloe and Jimmy. In the comics, as well as in all the shows and movies, Jimmy is a good bit younger than Clark.

And since Chloe and Clark are the same age...I just had a kind of uncomfortable thought.

What if he's 12?

No. Ok. Smallville bends canon as if it were overcooked pasta, so our unseen deflowerer is probably a good, legal 18.

Still...

CC

OK, OK, I take back what I said about the Luthors. Sheesh. Some people are so touchy when you dis their bald-headed anti-heroes.

They did accomplish some things with the Luthor scenes, to be sure. I love what's going on with Lionel - is he really good now? Because he's really acting like he is. I mean, even when he was acting blind it never was as convincing. And what a fitting punishment if he has turned toward the light - watching his son continue down the dark path knowing he's mostly responsible.

And yes, I can see how having Lionel the way he is would drive Lex crazy with paranoia. It's clear that the poor guy doesn't know what to think. I was kind of surprised that he offered the guest house to him - one last bit of compassion left for his father. Even more surprised that Lionel took it without any protest.

And I am intrigued to see what happens next. And I'm glad that they are showing a Lex that has nothing to do with Clark - starting to build up the distance between them. Let's just hope they don't do a whole lot more of those "Lex, how could you?!"/"I'm sorry, Clark. Forgive me?"/"Okay, sure, best buddy!" flipflops.

So...I've given a bit on the whole Lex thing. But I'm not budging an inch on the Martha-was-a-tool thing.

Because all of those points you made - the prospect that even without the Red-K eventually Clark would have followed the (almost always naked) Alicia anywhere - we'll never know.

The Clark I saw last night before he got a fix of Red-K seemed pretty well grounded. He didn't immediately jump on Alicia's bandwagon, and I'm not sure he ever would have. I mean, if they'd spent lots of time together and had actually fallen in love, then maybe. But that's a whole other situation entirely.

Even so - even if deep inside Clark wanted to follow Alicia - it gave Martha no excuse to freak out at him the way she did about what had occurred in Vegas. I mean, Clark has done some really stupid things while on Red-K, and this was no different. So why all of the sudden does she seem to think that he still has control over himself enough to not get married just to have sex? If he had maintained his faculties enough to make that call, then I would have agree with her.

You know what I think about the whole marriage thing - I didn't buy it. So I guess that's why it was hard for me to get behind Martha giving him crap for getting married. Like I said, if anything, she should have been proud of him for getting married to avoid having premarital sex.

What I do think is that it was utterly heartbreaking at the end, when Clark looked so lost. It's so hard for me as a viewer because I know that it's only a matter of time until Lois, but poor Clark doesn't know that.

Along those lines, the little fangirl in me just wants the writers to give him (and us) a little taste of Lois lovin'. Just some high-chemistry flirting, some looks that bring out the sparkle in TW's eyes. Something that gives him a bit of hope. Otherwise I'm afraid poor Clark's going to go the way of Yvonne's "Addicted" AltClark and swallow a hunk of kryptonite.

So, still luv ya Daddy Mac, even if you are the toughest parent on the face of the Earth.

Lynn

Hey, I didn't even see the episode and I ain't buying it either....

<stir stir>

LabRat (who thinks these conversations are more entertaining than the show...)

Oh, Lab, it was so dumb. Basically, a girl from Clark's past (who was a psychotic freak totally obsessed with him) was released from the asylum because she was cured. She came back to Clark to tell him she was sorry for all the trouble she had caused, and he forgives her and they go on a date. While on that date, turns out Alicia still has some problems, namely a psychiatrist who's disturbingly obsessed with her. She asks Clark to run off to California with her, and he says no, he can't do that. Up until this point, I can buy everything.

So what does Alicia do? She makes a necklace with Red-K beads in it and gives it to Clark as a "gift". Immediately upon putting it on, he goes all Red-K Clark, completely uninhibited. Next scene we see, a nearly-naked Alicia and a shirtless Clark are going at it full force. When Alicia demurs, saying she's not sure they should go all the way because they don't have a commitment, what does Clark do? Make empty promises of "I'll call you tomorrow, baby, honest!"? Noooo...he tells her he wants to marry her. Whaaaa???

Zip, zip, they're in Vegas, getting married.

I can't tell you how many ways this is so ridiculous. Like Red-K Clark needed to be married before taking advantage of the naked girl throwing herself at him like so much cheesecake.

So you don't need to see it to believe it - it's beyond belief.

Lynn

Hel-lo. Now, where is this plotline familiar from...um...nope, thinking...

The whole married thing definitely sounds like a executive decision to me. Especially when combined with the fact that they had to have Chloe appear at the end to explain to the audience in very slow sentences that sex without the ring was AVeryBadThing.

You guys had me intrigued enough to briefly skim the episode guide at TV Tome earlier, you know. <G> While I was there I was struck by another plotline that echoed LNC, but now I'm danged if I can recall what it was. Oh, no, wait, I'm fibbing. I do remember. It was an episode about Lionel switching bodies with Clark, discovering he has superpowers and going on the rampage. Again...rather famliar. Do they do this often? <G>

LabRat

That is so not how it happened, Lab!

He likes her. The first time he met her way back in whatever season that was, he comes home and describes her to his parents with this breathless, "She's just like me."

So, see? They have this 'differences' thing in common. Very powerful bond. Alicia points it out on their first meeting in last night's epi. She knows why he's alone- because he feels he has to be.

And...he likes her. She also tends to drop off her clothes when they're together. And she loves him, has told him so. And will never betray him. Has proved that by keeping what she knows quiet all this time. And he has been fretting to Martha *again* that he'll never find a girl he doesn't have to lie to.

So here is a girl he doesn't have to lie to. And they have this date- cute skating and 'oops, I fell on top of you' sort of stuff. He is so completely into her.

Then the RedK. Here is our sticking point, MacDad. The crucial one:

Does it really, really make him do what he *doesn't* want to? Or does he do what he would only dream of doing, but never really go through with in his normal frame of mild-mannered mind? There's a big difference.

They argue over that very thing. When he 'wakes up' from its influence, he says it makes him do things he doesn't want to. And she says no, it just lowers his inhibitions (like 1000%) but he is still Clark Kent even on RedK. And he pauses and says, "Maybe Clark Kent made a mistake."

I liked that. He left that open, maybe he has some culpability here.

And Martha- a very good mother- agrees with me! Why else put the tough-love smackdown on him?

I think he was ripe for the marriage plucking. That the issue wasn't 'let's get married to have sex,' but more 'let's get married so we won't be alone...and then have sex! Lots!'

Well. I can keep posting here as long as it takes<g>.

CC

Oh yeah, Lab. The body switch was one of their best episodes ever. And they've done the equivalent of PML as well.

Often? No. Only about every third episode. Not often at all. Some of them are disturbingly close.

I don't have much time so here's what I'll fuel the fire with:

Good things = lots of shirtless TW, the tear on his cheek, Chloe/Jimmy

Bad things = Clark getting married, Martha freaking out about it, Lana and Jason breaking up (for *any* reason! ), no ED to speak of

One last thing. Did anyone notice that Clark made Chloe look up dirt on Alicia and her psychiatrist? Just a few episodes ago Chloe admitted to him that she still has feelings for him and now he says, "Hey Chloe, can you look up this girl for me? Cause I think she's hot and I want to date her, but I want to make sure she's not still crazy. Oh, and btw, I still don't want to date you, in case that wasn't clear." Insensitive much??

~Anna (who's always looking out for Chloe)

Oh! Okay, I promise this is really the last thing. When Clark said to Martha that any girl would have to be crazy to date him, I wanted to make an icon of him saying that with an arrow pointing to Lois saying she was crazy. Know what I mean?

CC why are you wasting your time watching that horrible show when you should be working diligently on a new Lois and Clark fanfic.

It's been a while, my dear, and we need to read some of your peerless prose.

How about tomorrow.

Tank (who has been a bit starved for fic lately)

Smallville has become my new favorite show that's currently airing. It will NEVER replace LNC as my favorite show...but I have been watching Smallville since it's beginning.

I have to admit that some of the episodes have me cringing, and last night's episode wasn't an exception. I'm GLAD that Clark Kent didn't go all the way...and it's not because I'm against "pre-marital sex" (because I'm not.) I just tend to be a LNC purist. I understand that this is a different incarnation of the Superman story, but I'm hoping they'll wait for Clark's first to be with Lois....even if they aren't married when it happens. I want him to be committed to Lois. I can't really see him with anyone else, and I too I'm very impressed and enjoy Erica's portrayal of Ms. Lane.

I also think Smallville gets too soap opera like with all of the "sex" and who's after who bits. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE reading nfic, but I started watching Smallville because I was interested Clark's teen aged years.

Anyway, I hope that the person who finds out is Lois. When Clark said he didn't think there was anyone out there for him...I actually yelled, "Yes there is, it's Lois!" at the TV. But if it's anyone other than Lois, that's kewl too. I just don't want anyone of them to freak out on him so much that they don't want to be friends with him anymore. He's lonely enough as it is.

[One last thing. Did anyone notice that Clark made Chloe look up dirt on Alicia and her psychiatrist? Just a few episodes ago Chloe admitted to him that she still has feelings for him and now he says, "Hey Chloe, can you look up this girl for me? Cause I think she's hot and I want to date her, but I want to make sure she's not still crazy. Oh, and btw, I still don't want to date you, in case that wasn't clear." Insensitive much??]


Yeah, I wondered why Chloe was so kewl with looking up information on someone that it was apparent Clark wanted to pursue a relationship with. I wouldn't think her feelings for Clark would fade or her wounds heal up so fast. lol!

[Chloe and Jimmy. In the comics, as well as in all the shows and movies, Jimmy is a good bit younger than Clark.

And since Chloe and Clark are the same age...I just had a kind of uncomfortable thought.

What if he's 12?]

I had to think about that as well. At first I thought Jimmy would be older than her because I was getting him confused the Jimmy Olsen from the Supergirl (and Superman?) movies. He wore a bow tie in those. lol!

Then I thought about how Jimmy was a couple of years younger than Clark in LNC...so I thought Chloe had hooked up with a younger guy.

LOL! I'm so confused...

There's a big debate going on over on the Television Without Pity forum about whether or not what Alicia did was considered date-(almost) rape. And I think that this discussion plays into what you've brought up, CC.

Exactly what does Red-K do to Clark? I don't think even the writers know exactly because they seem to change their minds every time they use it.

But...for the sake of argument, I'm going to suggest that Red-K acts like super-alcohol on Clark. It makes him lose his inhibitions as a person who has consumed too much booze will do.

So, once those inhibitions have been severly lowered or are gone altogether, Clark will do things that he might not otherwise do if he is not so influenced. For example - he really wants to sleep with Alicia but knows he shouldn't. While sober, he is able to say no and hold himself to his moral standards. But while on Red-K, he no longer has that ability to just say no. Sure, deep down he wants it, but unless he's on the Red-K, he is able to control his impulses.

What you are saying is that Clark is guilty simply because he *wanted* to do something, even though he had no intention of acting on those desires.

What this equates to, IMO, is if a girl goes to a frat party. She sees the really good-looking football team quarterback and would love to get closer to him, if you know what I mean. But she knows that she shouldn't - that he doesn't love or respect her and that it would be wrong. She stays as far away from him as possible. Someone slips some vodka into the punch and she's really thirsty. All of the sudden, hanging out with the QB seems like a pretty darn good idea, and when he suggest they head upstairs for some privacy, she goes along with him...

Who's to blame here? The girl, because she *did* think the QB was cute? No. The person who spiked the punch bowl and caused her to lose control of her faculties.

Clark would have never run off and marry Alicia no matter how lonely he was or how worried he was that he'd never find someone. Only after she had drugged him did he go along with it.

So I still put forth that Martha was blaming the victim in this case. What she should have been doing was hollering at him for being so bloody stupid as to having trusted Alicia in the first place.

Lynn

Ditto to everything Lynn said. Sorry CC, but I am in total agreement with Lynn over Martha's "disappointment" with Clark. He was drugged! It wasn't his fault.

Even if the Red K lowers his inhibitions (like the pheremone compound in PML), the difference is that without the Red K Clark is in full control of his facilities. And he didn't CHOOSE to be drugged, unlike in season 2/3. On Red K, he's missing a vital piece of what makes Clark Clark -- his "superego" if you like. Like Lynn said, he CHOSE to stop as soon as he was in control of himself. I can't believe that the writers made Ma and Pa Kent react so harshly.

It brings up the whole question of what exactly love is. And what role love plays in marriage. I noticed that Martha didn't mention the word "love" at all. A common concept of marriage is that it's based on love. Is love having similarities (being different)? Intimacy (the getting'-naked-at-lot thing)? Trust (keeping his secret)? Passion (hmmmm, no example with Alicia springs to mind)? What is it that makes Lois and Clark's relationship so right? What brought *them* together?

Frankly, it was Clark's decision to get married and Martha should have respected his ability to make his own decisions. Just because marriage for her is "about two people who trust each other and are willing to go through life together no matter how hard it gets" doesn't mean that that's everyone's view of marriage. It doesn't seem to be as "sacred" anymore as it used to be. I mean, my parents and a lot of my friends' parents are divorced and a couple of my friends got married to keep one of them in the country. People get married for different reasons, and break up for a plethora of reasons. (Sidenote: according to Australia's definition of marriage, it's to have kids, apparently. If Johnny Howard were to take Martha's POV, then two people of the same sex could marry -- but that's completely off topic.) ...And I am not too sure where I'm going with this from here...

Again, (chanelling Ross "we were on a break!" Gellar) he was on Red K!

Regardless, it was a great scene. Martha's emotions came through clearly in that...I though that it was a really well acted scene. How did TW get that tear to *do* that? Have we ever seen Clark cry before? With tears?

I think that I missed something. How was the marriage "not legal?"

The Luthor scenes made me yawn. To me, the Luthor scene is reminiscent of Shirtless!Spike scenes in Buffy; they're just there to please the audience, but of no real meaning. Well, yes, Good!Lionel could be what pushes Lex over, but it wasn't the appropriate episode for the scene to be in.

Yeah, quite a few episodes in Smallville are paralleled on LnC eps, and in s1 Smallville there were a lot VERY similar to BtVS.

Lana + Jason = Meh.

I loved the Jimmy/Chloe revelation. I mean, it doesn't gel with Jimmy ex LnC (but hey, what does on Smallville?) and Chloe wasn't happy but it was a realistic situation with an added bonus of a canon character connections. (I've always liked Chloe, btw).

Hmmm.... Didn't see the episode, so I don't know what was said about it not being legal. Most states have an age range in which marriage requires parental consent; that's possible.

Another one being an annulment -- if both parties want out before they've had sex, the marriage can be annulled, rather than having to go through a divorce. Sounds like this would apply.... Doesn't make the marriage illegal, but from a legal perspective it's treated as if it never occurred.

Ohhh, this got interesting overnight!! Yay!

Frankly, the date-rape scenario never occured to me while I was watching. And I can see how if this held up, that would make Martha appear to be blaming the victim. BUT I don't think she was. And if Clark felt he was nearly raped, I don't see him forgiving Alicia as he did. Chasing her down at the end to hold and comfort her when she was leaving.

So...ok. Here I will wax on with my pet RedK theory!

(Actually, as much I've enjoyed all the RedK shows, I think the writers have now played out this particular shade of kryptonite, and must move on. Invent another. I vote for lavendar.)

I don't think of it as alcohol or even a drug. To me, when Clark is on RedK, he is much closer to being who Jor-el wants him to be. He takes what he wants. Does as he pleases. Gleefully. RedK kind of...peels off the sweet, mild-mannered, farmboy layers, and gives the inner Kal-el a chance to come out and play. I think that's why the stuff is so scary to him. Even under its influence, he is still *him*, just a him he doesn't want to be.

Still with me?? I've got more!

When he isn't near the stuff, Clark is able to filter this part of his personality through his upbringing and the influence of his parents. But he is still the product of both sets of parents, so the Kal-el part of his personality is always there.

I think the overall theme of Smallville is how he struggles with these two parts of himself- and how one day he'll reconcile both to become Superman.

Any takers? No? Well...last thing:

When those artifact thingies are unearthed, he goes totally and completely Kal-el. The human Clark Kent is completely wiped away, and he is pure Kryptonian. (Sort of love him that way, but that's beside the point.) RedK just turns up the volume on Kal-el, but our CK is still in there- his wishes and wants and desires are the ones he is grabbing for.

How's that?

CC

Oh, PS, Tank, I don't have a big enough buffer yet. But thank you for the nag. I'm touched!

Edit: On the marriage not being legal. I figured they were underage? They sort of glossed right over the reason why, didn't they? But I was so relieved!

I barely saw glimpses of this Smallville except to say "Who the hell is Alicia?" before turning back to my monitor, so I got nothing on this discussion....NOTHING.

What I did notice was your new quote CC...Douglas Adams...WOW!!! I was reading "Salmon of Doubt" two days before that Smallville episode and came across that quote. And here you are with that quote sitting at the bottom of your post. Cool!

Just sayin' it's a small world.


TEEEEEEEEJ

PS: Hitchhikers Guide the Movie is being released MAY 6th!!!!!

TJ