Well, I consider myself something of an expert on the matter of altClark and misery.
I voted that I'd read it with an open mind (can't remember the exact wording) because that's how I always try to approach a new story: I'm willing to be persuaded by the author, so long as he or she can make the premise work for me. However, that said, I don't actually believe that the altClark we saw in the series would commit suicide. My impression of him, despite his chequered background, was of a basically stable, well-grounded personality. Of course, that might have been partly Dean Cain's reluctance to portray his character with unmacho weaknesses.
Even so, I can't think of a circumstance that would make him kill himself. If he thought he'd done wrong, for example, his response would be to stay alive in order to do penance. I, of course, made him a drug addict, but even I thought that was stretching things to the extreme limits of what I could get away with. His despair was overwhelming, but I just couldn't see him letting it consume him to the point where he'd want to stop living altogether. Even at his lowest, he knew he was doing wrong; he was ashamed to the point where he actually pretended it was someone else who was taking the drugs. Rather than commit suicide, therefore, I think the next step he could have taken would be to develop another personality. 'Bad Clark' would take the drugs, and 'Good Clark' would stand aside in abject disapproval. But all the time, the knowledge that taking his own life was just plain wrong at the most basic of levels would stop him from taking that final step.
However. I'm happy to be persuaded that I'm wrong.
Oh, and deathfics? Not keen; I much prefer a happy ending, but if you can give me
some hope while killing off my favourite alien, I might just survive.
Yvonne
