Well, in spite of my general distaste of deathfic, I am, as many know, particularly tired of seeing Lois getting killed, so this story was definitely an interesting change of pace. Actually, I have found it particularly annoying that many Lois deathfics seem to be written specifically to make Clark unhappy ever after - he never seems to contemplate suicide in these stories, though, interestingly enough.
Well, I really think it makes very good sense that if Clark has actually killed Lois, he ought to be punished for it one way or another. If I had been a prosecutor and I considered Superman guilty of killing Lois by deliberately freezing her and then being unable to bring her back to life, I would consider it my duty to try to have him found guilty of second- or third-degree murder (or whatever the legal term in the U.S. would be) and then have him put away for a few years. I certainly wouldn't ask for the death penalty, partly because I'm against capital punishment, but mostly because it was obvious that Superman hadn't deliberately killed Lois Lane. He had, however, actively, knowingly and deliberately subjected her to terrible danger. And what kind of legal system would we have if that was allowed, just like that? What kind of precedent would it set? Can you imagine what kind of defense or excuses future killers of wives or girlfriends would offer up?
Sure she's dead, officer, and it's true she died after I hit her, but she asked me to do it, honestly.
Here, look, I have a signed statement - she said it was okay if I killed her....
The fact that Lois asked Superman to freeze her is no excuse. She did not ask him to kill her. She trusted him to revive her afterwards. It was up to him to ask himself if he would be able to bring her back to life afterwards. If he wasn't sure he could, his only reasonable course of action would be to refuse.
Okay, but if he refused to do something that Lois asked him - begged him - to do, wouldn't he have shown her contempt? Wouldn't he have belittled her love for him?
Balderdash. Like I said, Lois was not asking him to kill her. She was asking him to let her help him save his parents, but she trusted him to revive her afterwards. If she had known he couldn't, if she had known that she would die, and if she had known he would be devastated afterwards, would she still have asked him to do it? I most certainly don't think so, but in the end it doesn't matter. This was Clark's decision, no one else's.
Come on, officer, there was this thug threatening my parents - she demanded that I *almost* kill her but not for real - sure it's not my fault that she died, is it?
Yes, it is, Clark. You are responsible for your own actions. No one else is.
A man like Superman is always going to have to see people die because he was unable to save them. That's why he mustn't actively, knowingly and deliberately put them in the kind of danger that he can't save them from.
Interesting take on Clark's guilt, Dandello. Well done.
Ann
