It still doesn’t change my opinion that she needs to say she’s sorry for her wrongs. All it would take at this point for me to embrace Chloe again would be something as simple as, “Clark, I’m sorry for lying to you last year with Davis. I’m sorry for spying on you and invading your privacy and I’m genuninely sorry for going behind your back with the weapons. I thought I was doing the right thing and trying to make the best decision to save us all….but it was wrong to keep you in the dark and disrespect you like that.”

That’s pretty much all it would take for me to love Chloe again. :)

Just because I’ve problems with Chloe’s actions this year doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s all fascinating and interesting and great drama. I do.

I don’t think that you have to “love” a character in order to find them interesting. I’ve had major problems with Chloe’s actions all year. And no, Gracemis, she has NEVER apologized at all this year. Not once. Clark has actually said the words “I’m sorry” 3 times now. He has also flat out said on his knees that he was WRONG several times. Chloe as yet to utter those words. Let’s be clear on that. Clark and Chloe are not on the same level right now in terms of asking forgiveness and saying they are sorry. Clark has done it 3 times in a sincere and genuine way. I’m not sure how you would watch “Checkmate” or “Upgrade” (or even Metallo) and accuse his apologies of being “thin” and not being sincere. He was on his knees for God’s sake.

But even with all of that, I still think it’s been interesting and one of the best seasons of Smallville that I can remember. Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the higher signifigance of it in the overall canon.

To me, this season has proven once and for all what an incredibly gracious, humble and selfless hero Clark is. No one is on his level. The only person is comes close at this point, in my opinion, is Lois.

Chloe has traded apologized to Clark but they have both felt thin. Like neither was really sure that hey had done something wrong. And I really have missed the Chloe/Clark friendship of seasons past.
But that has kept the tension high.

While nothing is perfect and a lot has occurred in “offscreenville” I have really enjoyed the moral ambiguity of Season 9 and Chloe and Oliver’s path through the dark places where they had to decide…Do you want to save the world at any cost? Can you live in that kind of world? (Oliver nearly could not.)

The complexity and depth of the storylines in season 9 have been an order of magnitude more interesting than in prior years.

Another example is Lois’s/ED character development in Charade. I think was said in another forum and it really resonated with me….when Clark voiced her thoughts…you feel selfish for worrying about your own happiness when you could be part of something bigger…more important…it elevated Lois from thrill seeking reporter to HERO.

I have plenty of other minor grips about plotholes and lack of Clark character development.

But…

Overall this has been an excellent season. The writers, producers, directors, cast have really done a great job for any TV series. For a 9th season…they have done an outstanding job in bring a fresh compelling complexity to the characters and the story of a young man on his loooong journey to being a superhero and all the people that are part of a bigger journey to the Justice League or to the Daily Planet or other ways to save the world.

Thanks Robin for remembering Jimmy *wink* Henry Olsen too.

I agree that Clark could have been more vigilante with protecting Faora. I also agree that Zod -and only Zod- is responsible for his own murderous actions. I don’t think you meant to imply otherwise.

Generally I absolutely believe that “evil wins when good people stand by and do nothing” is very true. However, Clark was doing something, but in the split second it just wasn’t enough. I wish he might have made a different decision, but Clark made the best decision he could in the moment. So I am okay with Clark. It’s just all incredibly sad for Faora and the Kandorians who were trying to live a peaceful life.

With regard to Chloe, her sacrifice of Watchtower was much more than her computers. It was clearly a huge part of her identity and her desire to honor Jimmy’s memory. I complete read her hesitation to destroy Watchtower differently. I think Allison and the writers have clearly said in different ways that “the mission” was more important than anything to Chloe. Chloe felt her work as Watchtower was more important than her own life.

Likewise, throughout the season Chloe also felt that her morals (or Clark’s morals or societies morals) were not as important as the “mission.” Tess is actually a mass murderer in her own right- anyone remember the little “terminate” button that she used to kill her own team in “injustice”?

So destroying Watchtower was a step on the “my own life has value” path.

Bring Tess back (even with hesitation) was a step on “my morals have value” path.

The “ends justify the means” path has been an increasingly dark one for Chloe and she could easily have ended up like Tess. Trying to save the world in all the wrong ways.

Chloe took a step off that path and back to the path of rightou

See, I have issues even with that wording. “Allowing Tess to live.” That’s almost like saying that Chloe made some kind of powerful sacrifice for saving Tess’ life when she was the one who killed her to begin with. We don’t “allow” people to live in this world. That’s not in our power. We are not God. As human beings, we are capable of TAKING life but we don’t have some kind of higher power that gives us the CHOICE as to whether we should allow someone to live. And in my opinion, a HERO (which is what this show claims that Chloe is) would never hesitate. Chloe could have gone to jail if she left Tess like that. It’s arguably first degree murder because it was pre-meditated. In many states, it’s against the law to stop giving someone life saving treatment once you have started. So in other words, if you see someone lying on the ground injured or dying and you start to adminster CPR or help them….you can’t just walk away. You have assumed a duty to help that person. If you leave them there to die…you could be found liable in some way for their death.

The fact that she even hesitated to leave Tess there was really cold to me. Yes, Tess has done some pretty screwed up things over the years. But taking a life is taking a life.

Anyway, I really do appreciate your perspective and the time you put into the review and your comments. But I just can’t budge on this one. Sorry. :)

Yes, it would have been awesome if that had happened and FAora had been saved. But it’s still not Clark’s fault. All the guilt for what happened to Faora still remains with Zod and Zod alone. What you have created is an alternate way that Clark might have saved her. But the fact that it didn’t go down that way doesn’t mean that Clark somehow screwed up or is in any way responsible for what happened.

That’s like saying that a police officer who walks down one street as opposed to another has dropped the ball if a gang member shoots a child on the street that he could have walked down. The person pulling the trigger is the person responsible for the crime. No one else. And Clark, as magnificent as he is and as powerful as he is, is not flawless and he is not all knowing or all powerful. He can’t save everyone as much as he may try. And if someone is murdered and he doesn’t get there in time to save them…it’s not his fault.

Clark has apologized 3 times this year for his mistakes last season. 4 times if you count his apology to Oliver in “Echo.” He’s offered his sincerest apology to Chloe for leaving her in “Doomsday”—a situation that Chloe herself was partly responsible for. Everyone always talks about what Chloe was going through at the end of that episode. But God…what about what Clark had been through? Davis is dead. Jimmy is dead. Lois is missing and he believes that she’s dead. Oliver and the rest of the JLA had turned his back on him and Chloe had lied to him repeatedly. Honestly…I don’t blame Clark for walking away and feeling like he just needed to seperate himself entirely from these people. But he came back. And he got down on his knees and said he was sorry. That takes true heroism and strength. So as far as I’m concerned…Clark is absolved from leaving Chloe in “Doomsday.” He has asked for forgiveness in the most genuine of ways and it would be wrong to continue to hold that over his head when he has done nothing but try to make up for what he did. And never once has he asked for an apology in return.

The bottom line is that life is hard. Shit happens. I feel for what Chloe has been through. I really really do. If she broke down and cried about it I would be right there with her. But at the end of the day, we are all responsible for the choices that we make. If we break the law…we should reap the consequences. Do you know how many people I’ve had in front of me in court who have had terrible childhoods or awful things happen to them? Does that mean that we should excuse their crimes because we feel sorry for them and they had such a tough life? No. We all have free will and we are responsible for the choices that we make.

Adults don’t blame other people for their shortcomings. That’s what children do. Adults (and in my book HEROES) accept that life is difficult and they find the courage to accept responsibility for their mistakes, apologize when they wrong someone and grant forgiveness.

I’ve said all season that all I’m looking for from Chloe is a genuine apology for her crimes. That’s it. I really don’t think I’m asking for too much. And if she were to do it I would be the first person to argue that everyone should forgive her and welcome her back with open arms. But I’m sorry…until that happens my sympathy for Chloe is limited.

Man, Chloe has gone a bit dark side this year, but you guys have really turned on her! I still believe in her. I still go back to what happened with Jimmy. Her actions led to the death of the man she loved. Jimmy was killed right in front of her, because she let her guard down with Davis. And in her darkest hour, Clark turned his back on her, obviously because he was dealing with his own self-flagellation over Jimmy’s death.

Dealing with that grief, she threw herself headlong into building Watchtower. While she built a literal and figurative wall around her, she also took it upon herself to be the all-seeing eye of Metropolis by setting cameras around the city. No one was going to be hurt again under her watch. And she wasn’t going to allow any superbeings to sway her into letting her defenses down, like Clark and especially Davis did. It’s that kind of emotional damage that Chloe has had to work through this season. I don’t believe we’re ever going to see the old Chloe again. That’s just what happens when

And I think allowing Tess to live was a turning point for her really. The new Chloe maybe might have let her die. You forget the woman she becomes in the future in Pandora. She even kills Tess in the future. Bringing Tess back might just have stopped that from happening. Besides, didn’t Tess almost shoot Chloe in Persuasion? That might be another reason, besides protecting their various secrets, that Chloe might have thought twice about reviving her. Clark isn’t infallible in this hesitation either. He might not have saved Zod with his own blood if it wasn’t for his promise to Jor-El.

Some of you called me out for saying Clark dropped the ball with Faora. Here’s something I’d like to call What I Would Do If I Was Clark:

Zod and me are having the staredown. I wonder if Waller is ok, because of my compassion for all human life. Still watching the sinister Zod, I use my superhearing to listen for a heartbeat. I hear one, but it’s faint. Waller needs medical attention. But Zod is about to kidnap Faora, a pregnant woman who Zod might kill because she betrayed him. Zod takes off, I superspeed after him, watching the skies. While I’m doing this, I take out my cell phone and call an ambulance for Waller. I follow them back to the warehouse. Using superhearing and xray vision, I wait for the appropriate moment to superspeed in there and grab Faora, totally catching Zod, who is mid-monologue, by surprise. Then I run her out of there. If Zod chases me, I get her to safety and defend her with my life. She is family, after all.

I have to agree with some of the things my fellow posters have said above.

There’s a few things that I think are important to remember here:

The first is something that I’ve said several times over the course of this year but I’m going to repeat again because I think it’s important.

Villians are responsible for the choices that they make. If they commit a crime…that is on THEM. No one else. As I’ve shared before on here, I’m an attorney. I’ve worked in a DA’s office in a very big city and I’ve worked on murder trials before. The bottom line is that if a person commits murder….they and they ALONE are responsible for that crime unless of course it’s some kind of conspiracy and there are multiple people involved in the criminal activity. I’ve grown very tired of this idea out there in fandom that Clark is somehow at fault or responsible for the choices that the villians make on this show. He’s not. Clark is a good, generous and pure person of great moral character. He is not in control of other people’s actions nor is he some kind of all knowing god that can anticipate every peron’s actions or reactions prior to them happening. He did exactly what he should have done in this episode by checking on Amanda and making sure that she was alright. What happened to Faora was extremely tragic but it is in no way Clark’s fault. The only person who “dropped the ball” in Faora’s murder was Zod by giving in to his brutality and surrendering his last ounce of goodness once and for all.

Second, I think it’s important to distinguish between what is objective vs. what is subjective about Chloe. (I think this is what Natasha was getting at.)

I’ve said before that I think Allison Mack is lovely and talented. I have nothing but kind things to say about Allison so let’s just put that aside for a moment. This has nothing to do with Allison.

There are certain things on this show that are subjective and how someone FEELS about Chloe is one of those things. For example, if you happen to be a fan that finds Allison Mack so be absolutely beautiful and lovely then obviously those are subjective feelings. Opinions. And they do influence the way that we view things.

That being said, there are things on this show that are OBJECTIVE. They are factual. Our feelings don’t affect them either way because they happened whether we liked them or not. Here are some of the facts about Chloe this year: She embezzeled money from Oliver, she spied on Clark, she eavesdropped on his conversations, she openly blamed him for Jimmy’s death, she stored weapons behind Clark’s back and lied to him and she has never apologized for any of her behavior. Now…these are facts from the show this year. That is SHOW CANON. How we FEEL about these things is going to be subjective depending on who you ask but the actions themselves are not up for debate. They happened.

Why do I bring this up? Because the last thing we ever want to do on here is bash a character senselessly. (And I don’t think anyone has done this….I’m just bringing this up for discussion.) Instead, the best thing to do is to use actual facts from the show to discuss what we don’t agree with or what we don’t like. This is my biggest pet peeve about some of the more extreme fans who bash Lois and why I think they have about as much credibility as a piece of lint. The majority of their issues with Lois are either not based on anything factual in the show canon or are based on a DISTORTED show canon and it not at all correct based on what we have seen on the screen. Their reasons for senselessly bashing Lois aren’t credible because they are entirely SUBJECTIVe.

At this point, it’s just become extremely difficult for me, as a fan, to reconcile Chloe on the show anymore. All I really have wanted all year from her is a genuine apology. That’s pretty much it. I do’nt need to see her punished or raked over the coals or hurt. I just want to see her say she’s sorry and mean it.

I think there were a lot of fans who were frustrated with this episode because Brian Peterson promised us that this would be the episode where we might see Chloe understand the consequences of her actions…and for the majority of us….that meant a genuine apology. I loved the episode. I really did. I thought it was brilliant in so many ways. But I didn’t consider Chloe’s sacrifice of Watchtower to be powerful at all. She didn’t surrender the computers because she realized she had been “wrong”…she did it to save her own life. And at the end of the episode, Clark went to comfort her with a cup of coffee and she stormed past him and gave him the cold shoulder again. How is that growth? I don’t get it. I just don’t. How am I supposed to root for this character when she is so intensely cold and nasty to our hero? I just can’t do it.

Can you imagine the shitstorm that would have erupted if it had been LOIS who had hesitated in leaving Tess for dead? Honestly….think about that. Can you imagine the piles and piles of insults and crap that people would be flinging at Lois if she did something like that? So what….because it’s Chloe….it’s not so bad? Yeah….sorry…I can’t get on board with that.

At this point, I’m sad to say that I’m just not sure I care anymore about Chloe at all. I’ve tried all year. I’ve waited for her to say she was sorry and mean it. Had she done that….I would have welcomed that character back with open arms. I have felt sympathetic towards her all year waiting for her to break down and ask for help or say she was sorry. But it’s pretty clear now that that is not going to happen. So, I have sort of given up. I just don’t care what happens to her. When she’s on my screen….I’m bored. I’m sitting there waiting for the next scene because I just want her off my screen. I just can’t root for a character anymore whose actions per the show canon have been so intensely unlikable and despicable.

If she says she is sorry before the end of the season….I’ll be right back rooting for her again. But until then…I just can’t do it. :( And I don’t think I’m alone.

Thank you again for your review.