Superman Grows Up

[butterfly]

I love that in Shattered, Clark fucks up.

Part of this is because I'm watching for the tragedy. Part of it is because he did it in a way that resonated with his character. Partly, though, it's because the idea of a Superman who has never made a colossal fuck-up scares the hell out of me.

Now, we have a Superman who really and truly understands people in a way that his adoptive father doesn't. He gets that you can screw up. He understands overwhelming fear - the kind that drives so many people to commit crimes. And we have a Superman who has a rock-solid reason to never, ever give up on Lex Luthor. He failed Lex, and as a result of that, a part of Lex is gone, forever. It may have been a scarred, battered part, but it was part of that Lex that Clark knew and loved. It's like the Connor situation - in a way, Lionel did kill his son. And Clark gets that.

No only that, but Clark's intervention led directly to Dr. Foster's death. If he hadn't tried to save Lex the legal way, she would still be alive.

Clark now understands how easy it is to fail and he has a very compelling reason to create Superman - the ultimate vigilante, who is so good at his job that he gets sanctioned by the city and by the country. He needs a way to stop people like Lionel without getting other people (friends, family) hurt.

Because Clark has been learning from the past (Ryan) and he knows that you can't just bust someone out of an institution. So he tries the legal way. Then he tries the less legal way of digging into private information. Finally, he resorts to physical action, because nothing else worked.

Consider the toll of Clark helping Lex - he got Lana so hurt that she decided to stop stalking him, got Lionel's attention even more firmly fixed on him, and he got Dr. Foster killed. None of that stops him from going to help Lex. And no one is standing with him at the end, Pete, Jonathan, and Martha having already made their thoughts on the idea clear and Chloe getting too scared by the fact that Lionel had a woman killed for trying to stop the procedure (I don't blame her - it's a terrifying thought).

Clark is willing to risk everything to get to Lex. And even after he's been in a fight where he easily could have died, his first thought (his only thought) is of Lex and finding him in time.

He didn't, and the Lex that Clark knew died a little. Look at what Clark does in the last scene - he goes to find out how much Lex remembers. He finds out that Lex doesn't remember any of the last few months, and he finds that he can't bring himself to burden this new Lex with the knowledge the old carried. Even this is for Lex. Clark didn't keep his secret for himself this time, the thought of which must terrify Jonathan and Martha, as I think they caught at least of glimpse of his mind. So, he can't bring the old Lex back, and it hurts. It hurts so much that Clark can barely summon up words, and he can't bear to spend another moment with Lex-not-Lex.

For the first time, Clark chooses to lie not out of fear, but out of love. I wonder if that would make a difference to Lex?

This is a Superman who will know what the hard choices are. Will know what failure is. Will know how easily people can be lost. Clark is never going to hate Lex. Lex is always going to be the mistake he couldn't fix. The person he couldn't save, no matter how hard he tried. Lex will be both a symbol of what he's fighting and of why he fights.

We don't know how much Lex remembers or how much he may remember in the future. We do know that Clark Kent will never forget.

In a crash of metal, Lex revealed the alien. In a burst of electricity, he showed us Superman. Lex is the call of Metropolis and of the future.

Lex was the first person Clark saved, Lex is the one person Clark couldn't save, Lex will be the one person that Clark will never stop trying to save.

Their relationship is legend and destiny, wrapped up in love and guilt and change.

Comments

[giddyfangirl.livejournal.com]

Their relationship is legend and destiny, wrapped up in love and guilt and change.

*sniffle* You're so right and I *love* how you put it. Good meta is hard to find, so I'm friending you. I hope that's okay.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Good meta is hard to find, so I'm friending you. I hope that's okay.

Dude, that's so cool. It's way past 'okay' and into 'thrilling'. Thank you.