Smallville 10.12 Collateral Review/Meta
I find it so much easier to do reviews when responding to other people. It's the Socratic method engrained in me, I guess.
What I’ve Heard Others Say Happened: Lois and Chloe told Clark what to do/think. Chloe was portrayed as a saint and all knowing. Too much romance. Blah Blah Fucking Blah.
What Actually Did Happen: In order to escape the cyber world, Oliver and Lois (naturally) chose to believe in Chloe, Dinah was forced to, once faced with visible evidence of the fake world, and Clark chose to believe in Lois and himself.
I’ve never made my feelings for Chloe a secret, because frankly I can’t stand her. Never did. There were, like, TWO episodes where I didn’t want to punch her in the face (Blank and Crossfire). And a lot of my reasons have to do with things that they did with Lana, especially in seasons 5-7, which was make her pretty much infallible and God forbid anyone point out that she was, oh I don’t know, WRONG. And A LOT. And plus Chloe was always so damn smug and know-it-all, and in seasons 5-7, pretty much Clark’s brain. And that shit burned because Clark was so awesomesauce in the first 4 seasons (and the last 3 seasons thankfully).
But let’s look at what DID happen in the episode.
Not gonna go into detail about Oliver because he was going to believe in Chloe because he wanted to. NEEDED to. I can deal with that.
Chloe’s “badassery” was actually rooted in her canonically established strengths. Computers and the cyber world. Chloe’s mad computer skillz have always been over-trumped-up to the point that it’s actually not unbelievable anymore. So I can handle her hacking into a government computer and creating an avatar of herself to help her teammates get out of the Matrix. I can even handle her being Morpheus because this is certainly not the first time Smallville has borrowed HEAVILY from the movies. So, when her fight with Black Canary took place and Chloe was winning, it was like DUH of course a cyber avatar of Chloe would win in a fight with Black Canary, because that’s the only way it would happen. And that should’ve been Dinah’s first clue, lol. But it was the frozen knife in the air that finally got Dinah to see the “truth”.
Once back in the Real World though, Chloe was easily taken out by Trotter, because that’s not where Chloe’s strength lies. Also, it took the real world badassery of Flagg, Deadshot, Black Canary, and Green Arrow to save Chloe. I really wish the Suicide Squad wasn’t so Dark Grey because I so want them firmly on the side of the good guys. I loved Deadshot’s split bullets. That was so comic book that I can’t NOT. So basically, Chloe wasn’t any more bad ass than the rest of the team because they played to her strengths just as they played to the rest of the team’s strengths.
And they didn’t trump her up to be the “savior” or “saint” either, which was refreshing. She wasn’t welcomed back with open arms by everyone on the team as if: Oh thank God Chloe is here because she ALWAYS knows best. When presented with the reasonable hypothesis that Chloe was behind their abduction, Clark, while still doubtful, did want give Chloe the benefit of the doubt. Because for all the shit Chloe pulled in Seasons 8 and 9, Clark still wanted to believe the best in her. Because that’s what Clark does. He’ll doubt himself before he doubts that all humans are good deep down. It’s why he gave Lex so many chances (and contrary to what some may say, he did give Lex more chances than he deserved).
But also, THANKFULLY, the characters did acknowledge some of the shit Chloe pulled. And this is stuff that fans like myself have been BEGGING to be brought to life instead of treated as if Chloe had done the right thing in a) the Doomsday Debacle, b) her dealings with the Kandorians (which was actually validated in Clark’s favor in Salvation, but still), and c) leaving without a trace or letting her friends/teammates/boyfriend know where and why she was going. But still, Clark didn’t outright just give up on her. It took corroboration with Dinah and Oliver for Clark to truly believe that Chloe “was” standing over them “experimenting” on them. So there’s that.
So once that happened, Clark’s doubt started to manifest more fully. And let’s face it, when standing in a cyber world that you think is real and seeing Chloe gun down officers, which is something I don’t think Clark ever thought Chloe capable of doing…it looks bad. So let’s add that on top of the list of Reasons to Not Trust Chloe.
But even with Chloe’s pleading to trust her (trust HER), Clark couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take that leap of faith in her.
Enter Lois.
Lois will ALWAYS see the best in the ones closest to her unless presented with irrefutable evidence as to their untrustworthiness (see Ambush). But the ones closest to her in this scenario are Clark and Chloe. Let’s start with Chloe. A) Clark told Lois just about everything when he told her the 100% truth about himself. This included what he knew about Chloe in her role as Watchtower. Whatever Clark doesn’t know, Lois didn’t know. Clark probably doesn’t know that Chloe chloroformed her own cousin in Upgrade, so Lois doesn’t know (because she was knocked out, obviously). So what is Lois going to do when Chloe appears and tells her that they are in a fake world? Believe her, duh! And when Lois sees that Clark doesn’t trust Chloe, she changes tactics and tries to first get him to trust LOIS, and then ultimately to trust HIMSELF. She went to his heart, because if nothing else, Lois’ function in the Superman mythos is to not “only” be a love interest, or even “only” to show the audience the magnificence of Superman through her eyes, but also, and this is especially in the Post-Crisis era, to remind Superman of who he is and what he stands for. Superman is the symbol of Hope for the world, but Lois is the symbol of Hope for Superman.
And Lois served her function wonderfully here. She didn’t “tell him what to do”. She just did what Lois does in the comics. Remind Clark to trust HIMSELF more than anyone else. Because more than anyone, Lois believes in Clark. This isn’t a new characteristic or even something exclusive to Smallville. This is pretty much Post-Crisis canon. Clark is the real persona and whether he fully embraces his Kryptonian heritage or not, he was raised as human with human emotions, doubts, and fears. Anybody that believes that Superman/Clark is supposed to 100% have ALL the answers and ALWAYS be right and perfect has obviously not read a single comic in the Post-Crisis (re: CURRENT) continuity. While Clark will never quit or give up (Batman’s words), he isn’t infallible by a long shot, because he thinks mostly with his heart, and that is a very human characteristic (still paraphrasing Batman here). And when he does doubt himself IN THE COMICS then Lois is the one that reminds him of the hero he is. Deal with it.
Bonus Points:
1) FLIGHT! And thank you for the continuity from Supergirl and Homecoming with regard to how Clark will learn to fly.
2) Lois calling Dinah on her ow, essentially “rightwing” misdeeds, and I LOVED the Tea Party line. Yes I do like when TV show writers draw a clear line as to their political beliefs, and therefore the beliefs of the characters. Plus I like having two verbal confirmations that Lois is a liberal. Can’t help it.
3) Did I mention Flagg and Deadshot?
4) Thank the STARS they ended on such a lovely Clois scene. They are such a normal couple for a human woman and an alien man.
5) @grahamtracy pointing out the “symbolism” of Lois bitchslapping Chloe across the Daily Planet. Because sometimes the meta of such a scene, especially to hateful fans, appeals to me more than rationality and objectivity.