As the first season progresses, Clark discovers for the first time that he is from another planet, but without any knowledge as to why or where he is actually from. Jonathan Kent, portrayed as an all too human but good intentioned farmer by former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider, raises Clark to hide his powers and to not use them for personal gain. Lex Luthor, on the other hand, has been raised to take any advantage available to him and to go to any lengths in order to obtain wealth and opportunity. A chance meeting between the two, involving a car accident that should have killed both Clark and Lex, leads to their friendship, and to Lex and Lionel’s suspicions that Clark may be something other than an ordinary farm boy.
Tom Welling is a perfect Clark Kent for a new age, tall and good-looking, and capable of the mixture of comic touch and brooding necessary in a teenager who knows he has superpowers but cannot tell a soul. Michael Rosenbaum is (and with apologies to Gene Hackman) the best Lex Luthor ever made. This Lex is actually capable, at least early on, of becoming somebody decent, and is more often than not a sympathetic character. He simply needs the right role model in his life to show him that there is a better way. That role model is Clark Kent.
While nuanced at first but later actually said out loud by some of the characters, all Clark has to do is reveal to Lex Luthor that he has superpowers and is from another planet, i.e. trust Lex, and the Lex Luthor that we know he will become might never happen. Ironically it is Clark Kent, the future bastion of Truth (along with Justice and the American Way) who chooses to lie in order to hide his secret identity, while it is Lex who early in their relationship consistently confesses his sins to his new friend Clark, someone Lex considers the brother that he never had While Lex is headed toward fate in part because of the way he was parented, and in part because his DNA may force him to become the evil force in Metropolis, the bottom line appears to be that he is doomed because he can find no one, even his best friend Clark, who will trust him.
Clark's destiny is substantially more complex but for a completely different reason. To the uninitiated, Superman is who is because of his costume and his superpowers. This is actually not true. Superman is who he is because with his powers he could become a god and rule the earth. Instead, he chooses self sacrifice, and forsaking of a normal life, to save the world. (That the Superman story is a Judaic-Christian metaphor, both Moses and Jesus, has long been understood. Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns hit us over the head with the Jesus part.)
As previously indicated, the writers and creators were probably not of the belief that Clark would make it out of high school before the show was canceled. Because of this the show began to grow long in teeth somewhere around the introduction to Smallville of Lois Lane, and the vague and extremely short pass at college by all of the teenage characters. This was followed in quick succession by the appearance of Jimmy Olsen and, profoundly, with the introduction of Supergirl in the Seventh Season.
Part Three of this post will appear tomorrow.
Tom Welling is a perfect Clark Kent for a new age, tall and good-looking, and capable of the mixture of comic touch and brooding necessary in a teenager who knows he has superpowers but cannot tell a soul. Michael Rosenbaum is (and with apologies to Gene Hackman) the best Lex Luthor ever made. This Lex is actually capable, at least early on, of becoming somebody decent, and is more often than not a sympathetic character. He simply needs the right role model in his life to show him that there is a better way. That role model is Clark Kent.
While nuanced at first but later actually said out loud by some of the characters, all Clark has to do is reveal to Lex Luthor that he has superpowers and is from another planet, i.e. trust Lex, and the Lex Luthor that we know he will become might never happen. Ironically it is Clark Kent, the future bastion of Truth (along with Justice and the American Way) who chooses to lie in order to hide his secret identity, while it is Lex who early in their relationship consistently confesses his sins to his new friend Clark, someone Lex considers the brother that he never had While Lex is headed toward fate in part because of the way he was parented, and in part because his DNA may force him to become the evil force in Metropolis, the bottom line appears to be that he is doomed because he can find no one, even his best friend Clark, who will trust him.
Clark's destiny is substantially more complex but for a completely different reason. To the uninitiated, Superman is who is because of his costume and his superpowers. This is actually not true. Superman is who he is because with his powers he could become a god and rule the earth. Instead, he chooses self sacrifice, and forsaking of a normal life, to save the world. (That the Superman story is a Judaic-Christian metaphor, both Moses and Jesus, has long been understood. Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns hit us over the head with the Jesus part.)
As previously indicated, the writers and creators were probably not of the belief that Clark would make it out of high school before the show was canceled. Because of this the show began to grow long in teeth somewhere around the introduction to Smallville of Lois Lane, and the vague and extremely short pass at college by all of the teenage characters. This was followed in quick succession by the appearance of Jimmy Olsen and, profoundly, with the introduction of Supergirl in the Seventh Season.
Part Three of this post will appear tomorrow.
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