Season Nine: Black is the New Red; aka Chokeholds are Fun!

[BkWurm1]

I didn't realized that was at the end of that episode, though. I swear I saw all the episodes. I looked it up on IMDb and I remember them all....just not all of them do I remember. ;)

 

Here's a memory refresher.

 

[Quark]

I thought Season Nine was fabulous.

[BkWurm1]

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 8:44 AM, Quark said:

I thought Season Nine was fabulous.

Originally I was going to ask you to elaborate about what you liked but  I just realized you are Quark from KSite rather than the Quarks I normally bump into around here, lol, so I already know.  

[Quark]

On 09/09/2016 at 1:07 AM, BkWurm1 said:

Originally I was going to ask you to elaborate about what you liked but  I just realized you are Quark from KSite rather than the Quarks I normally bump into around here, lol, so I already know.  

Lol, yes I am from KSite. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh, Hello, ❤?❤MICHAEL SHANKS/CARTER HALL/HAWKMAN!!!! ❤?❤?????Aside from his sexayness and uber alpha-ness, I will forever believe they used him because they couldn't get Batman, but at the same I know that's not possible, because I don't think Bats was ever part of JSA with that team of heroes? Anyhoo, a lot of his characteristics were SO Batman, it's difficult for my mind to not go there.

And in this second rewatch (because I for the longest time, I didn't buy this season for obvious reasons), I see what the show was doing, in trying to make/show/demonstrate the iconic Lois and Clark relationship from the comics and movies, etc., and I was neither impressed, nor convinced. Because of the past four seasons, that contradicted it all, not to mention, if Lana hadn't been filled with Kryptonite, Clark would still be with her, and in this show, Lois, at best, was second...third choice.

They tried to make Chloe bitter, harder, more brittle, and not someone Clark, that BDA would confide in any longer, just so that LOIS would be the one, the ONLY (BLECH) one he could talk to, or have her be the only one who "understood" him. Where's my BARF BAG? I still remember how much Clark feared for Chloe and was mad with emotion to find her and save her from Davis. And how he looked when he "left" her at the end. And there was no Lois there, for him to moon over. Or was she given any thoughts while Chloe was in danger. And it was a measly three weeks between the end of season eight and the premiere of this one. Where we get the 'ohhhh, I've looked EVERYWHERE and I can't find Lois! She's my heart! Oh, I can't concentrate on my Kryptonian training because...LOISSSSSSSSSSS!' Bullshit. I thought it was season ten that she turned into a different character, but it was here, actually. Softened her up, and changed her character so that she could be believable as the iconic Lois Lane. I wasn't buying and I still don't, because they tried to destroy Chloe to make it happen. I mean, there's no hugging between these two! As if Clark even touching another female is taboo or considered cheating on Lois.???

And the show did with Lois what they did with Lana with respect to kissing. After Clark and Lana kissed finally, at the end of Season two? She said it was a mistake and couldn't "handle" the intimacy or the reality of actually being in a relationship with Clark. What does Lois do when Clark finally kisses her? She disappears. And then there's the retcon (and from Chloe's lips!) of how it's Lois's MO to run when the issue of relationship/intimacy rears its head. Which is utter bullshit.? Because I didn't see her running when it came to Ollie. Nope, she was the one chasing him; making ultimatums with him; planning a trip to go away with him. It just boils down to the fact, no matter what era or decade, show writers think the people that watch their shows are idiots and stoopid.?????

Sigh. I like Julian Sands, but really, people? His clone was supposed to have been before Lara was even pregnant with Clark, and the show made sure that Clark looked EXACTLY like his father in that horrid "Relic." So why not have Tom Welling do double duty again? It takes me out of the moment--I can't buy him as Jor-El, because we saw that Jor-El as young man was Tom Welling. But that within 20 years, he got blonde and an English accent. And it was the same writers! That is, the people who wrote this, were around back in Season Three.

And call me a cold, unfeeling, unfeminist, a misogynist, but after paying attention and seeing that Tess was responsible for setting in motion Clone!Jor-El's murder, I have no problem whatsoever of Clark choking her to get the information. If she had been Lex or another man, and he did that, I don't think anyone would be up in arms. All it takes is for her to get her face all burned out for her to see the light; because even in "Pandora" when she sees what she set in motion, she's perfectly fine to let Lois die and not let Stuart bring her out, and shoots him for refusing to do her bidding.

"Absolute Justice" is the only episode, so far, that I have watched completely, without doing any fast forwarding. I was trying to figure out who all the members of the JSA were in that painting, but there were two or three I couldn't figure out. I'm going to try and Google to see if I can, but if someone *cough*@BkWurm1 *cough*  could find and put up a screencap??

OOH! Another Smallville alumni to appear on Arrow==that dastardly dirty DA, Ray Sacks, played by Dylan Neal, who would go onto play Dr. Ivo!

Now onto the next discs until I get to the end and can sit back and enjoy the special feature of the making of "Absolute Justice."

Edited January 12, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[BkWurm1]

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

They tried to make Chloe bitter, harder, more brittle, and not someone Clark, that BDA would confide in any longer, just so that LOIS would be the one, the ONLY (BLECH) one he could talk to, or have her be the only one who "understood" him. Where's my BARF BAG? I still remember how much Clark feared for Chloe and was mad with emotion to find her and save her from Davis. And how he looked when he "left" her at the end. And there was no Lois there, for him to moon over. Or was she given any thoughts while Chloe was in danger. And it was a measly three weeks between the end of season eight and the premiere of this one. Where we get the 'ohhhh, I've looked EVERYWHERE and I can't find Lois! She's my heart! Oh, I can't concentrate on my Kryptonian training because...LOISSSSSSSSSSS!' Bullshit. I thought it was season ten that she turned into a different character, but it was here, actually. Softened her up, and changed her character so that she could be believable as the iconic Lois Lane. I wasn't buying and I still don't, because they tried to destroy Chloe to make it happen. I mean, there's no hugging between these two! As if Clark even touching another female is taboo or considered cheating on Lois.???

Yeah, I have so much bitterness over this.  If the only way you can make a pairing happen is attempt to destroy another character (including side lining her - she had so little screen time in the first half of the season - and trying to portray Clark as having a reason to be distant - which he even eventually admits he'd been all wrong about the whole time) and radically retcon the personality and history of another (no Lois, you never wrote obits or answered the hotline, that was Chloe) AND  basically doing a heart/brain transplant (Clark barely thought of Lois as a close friend and when he did, annoying sister was the vibe) you should not be trying to make that pairing happen.   They do try to soften Lois in this season but they do it even more in ten.  It's why I say that it's pretty much a different show after season eight.  

And they couldn't let Clark hug Chloe.  Can't remind the audience that Chlark has way more chemistry.  It was bad enough when they were just talking to each other.  Their way of writing away from their chemistry was for Clark to just not say a friendly word to her until the late back half of the season.  He was an absolute dick to just about everyone but Lois in season 9.

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And call me a cold, unfeeling, unfeminist, a misogynist, but after paying attention and seeing that Tess was responsible for setting in motion Clone!Jor-El's murder, I have no problem whatsoever of Clark choking her to get the information. If she had been Lex or another man, and he did that, I don't think anyone would be up in arms. All it takes is for her to get her face all burned out for her to see the light; because even in "Pandora" when she sees what she set in motion, she's perfectly fine to let Lois die and not let Stuart bring her out, and shoots him for refusing to do her bidding.

I'm against choking holding anyone that isn't as powerful as Clark was.  It is such an imbalance of power that I still find it villainous.  It's beneath Clark.  That said Tess was nearly responsible for the destruction of the planet, not to mention kind of nuts and in one fan fic I made her go completely bonkers and lose her mind to the point where they had to lock her up for her own protection (and I actually enjoyed her 180 is season 10 if I ignored her history)

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Oh, Hello, ❤?❤MICHAEL SHANKS/CARTER HALL/HAWKMAN!!!! ❤?❤?????Aside from his sexayness and uber alpha-ness, I will forever believe they used him because they couldn't get Batman, but at the same I know that's not possible, because I don't think Bats was ever part of JSA with that team of heroes? Anyhoo, a lot of his characteristics were SO Batman, it's difficult for my mind to not go there

After my smutty Hawkman trilogy, I know you know how much I adored Shanks' Hawkman, but I never before thought to think of him as Batmanesque.  The attitude and the dialogue and the deep sadness over his past, I can see, but he was such a technophobe it never entered my mind.    

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Absolute Justice" is the only episode, so far, that I have watched completely, without doing any fast forwarding. I was trying to figure out who all the members of the JSA were in that painting, but there were two or three I couldn't figure out. I'm going to try and Google to see if I can, but if someone *cough*@BkWurm1 *cough*  could find and put up a screencap??   CLICK TO ENLARGE!! Then click FULL SIZE to enlarge even more!

Edited January 13, 2017 by BkWurm1

[BkWurm1]

I stole this list of former and new JSA members from the Smallville Wiki but it's no particular order.  Warning, it says if they are alive or dead so a bit spoilery.  I added the locations in regards to the above portrait in bold.  Edited to add in numbers as well.  

 

 

#7 Hawkman (Carter Hall) Deceased - Leader of the team and Hawkgirl's husband, original member. Dude with wings - Duh!

#9 Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson) Deceased - Worked with Hawkman and Stargirl in bringing Icicle ll down only to be killed by him to save John Jones life, original member. (Next to Hawkgirl in Golden Helmet)

#1 Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton) Deceased - Fought Icicle II, and was killed by him after asking Chloe Sullivan for the Justice League's help, original member.  (First guy on the left side)

#4 Sandman (Wesley Dodds) Deceased - Was killed by Icicle II after having a vision of the Star-Spangled Kid's death, original member  (I think he's 4th from the left between guy in blue mask and shirtless dude in green hood)

#3 The Atom (Al Pratt) - It is currently unknown if he is dead or alive, according to Dr. Fate "The Atom split", meaning he could very well be dead or possibly on the run, original member.  (Dude in full blue mask - 3rd from the left)

#5 Spectre (Jim Corrigan) - His current status is unknown, original member. (Fifth from the left - dude in green hood next to The Flash)

#8 Hawkgirl (Shayera Hall) Deceased - Hawkman's wife; died in a battle against Icicle I, original member.  ( In the middle and not a dude.  Duh!  Lol)

#11 Hourman (Rex Tyler) - It is unknown if he is dead or alive, according to Dr. Fate "the clock stopped ticking for Hourman", meaning he could very well be dead, original member.  (4th from the right, Yellow cape and hood)

#12 Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) - It is unknown if he is dead or alive, original member.  (Dude with bird.  Also has a moon on his hood.  3rd from the right)

#13 Black Canary (Dinah Drake-Lance) - Mother to the current Black Canary, original member.  (2nd from the end on the right)

#14 Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane) - According to Dr. Fate he wasn't so "terrific" anymore, meaning he could very well be dead, original member.  (Last guy on the right)

#10 Green Lantern (Alan Scott) - Hawkman and Stargirl went looking for him, original member.  (Fifth from the right, purple cloak next to Dr. Fate)

#6 The Flash (Jay Garrick) - Hawkman and Stargirl went looking for him. Recently started a school for gifted youngsters in San Francisco, original member.  (has lightening bolt on red shirt)

#2 Wildcat (Ted Grant) - Hawkman and Stargirl went looking for him, original member. (Second guy from the left)

Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore) - Pat Dugan's stepdaughter and the Star-Spangled Kid's protege.  (Not in the picture) 

 

Yes, I had to go look up pictures and compare in order to figure out like half of these.  Some of these early costumes are hilarious.  

Edited January 13, 2017 by BkWurm1

[GHScorpiosRule]

14 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

Yeah, I have so much bitterness over this.  If the only way you can make a pairing happen is attempt to destroy another character (including side lining her - she had so little screen time in the first half of the season - and trying to portray Clark as having a reason to be distant - which he even eventually admits he'd been all wrong about the whole time) and radically retcon the personality and history of another (no Lois, you never wrote obits or answered the hotline, that was Chloe) AND  basically doing a heart/brain transplant (Clark barely thought of Lois as a close friend and when he did, annoying sister was the vibe) you should not be trying to make that pairing happen.   They do try to soften Lois in this season but they do it even more in ten.  It's why I say that it's pretty much a different show after season eight.  

And they couldn't let Clark hug Chloe.  Can't remind the audience that Chlark has way more chemistry.  It was bad enough when they were just talking to each other.  Their way of writing away from their chemistry was for Clark to just not say a friendly word to her until the late back half of the season.  He was an absolute dick to just about everyone but Lois in season 9.

I KNOW! I know the circumstances aren't the same, but I can empathize with those that are currently feeling bitter over in the Arrow forum! And the show's Lois, this show's Lois didn't earn the iconic status of this relationship. When, as you say, and I've always maintained, that they came off as siblings, than two people who are one of the famous couples in Comic History.

Not enough likes for the bolded!

 

14 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

After my smutty Hawkman trilogy, I know you know how much I adored Shanks' Hawkman, but I never before thought to think of him as Batmanesque.  The attitude and the dialogue and the deep sadness over his past, I can see, but he was such a technophobe it never entered my mind.    

Hee! I forgot about his technophobia, but the voice, the attitude, just screamed BATMAN to me! 

 

14 hours ago, BkWurm1 said:

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this! And hee, the Black Canary in this is actually our Dinah's Mama! So, here's who I know: going left to right: Star Spangled Kid/Sylvester; Catman/Ted Grant; don't know who the blue dude is; Sandman/Wes Dodd; Specter?; Flash/Jay Garrick; Hawkman/Carter Hall; Hawkgirl/Shayera Hall; Dr. Fate/Kent Nelson; Green Lantern/Alan Scott; umm don't know who this dude is or the dude next to him; Black Canary/Dinah; and don't know who that dude is. heh.

ETA: oops! Just saw you identifying them all!?

Edited January 13, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[BkWurm1]

5 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this! And hee, the Black Canary in this is actually our Dinah's Mama! So, here's who I know: going left to right: Star Spangled Kid/Sylvester; Catman/Ted Grant; don't know who the blue dude is; Sandman/Wes Dodd; Specter?; Flash/Jay Garrick; Hawkman/Carter Hall; Hawkgirl/Shayera Hall; Dr. Fate/Kent Nelson; Green Lantern/Alan Scott; umm don't know who this dude is or the dude next to him; Black Canary/Dinah; and don't know who that dude is. heh.

ETA: oops! Just saw you identifying them all!?

You were ahead of me. I had no idea purple cape guy was a Green Lantern.  

Edited January 13, 2017 by BkWurm1

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

You were ahead of me. I had no idea purple cape guy was a Green Lantern.  

I only knew because in "Absolute Justice" they scrolled to him when Carter was talking about the JSA and their members. Or some of them. I thought it was weird until I noticed the GL ring design on his "shirt."?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I read through the thread again, and can't believe I forgot to mention this and it struck me again how arrogant and self-centered this was of Clark. That now, he's destroying property by heat visioning his family crest of the 'S' if you will, after every time he saves someone, or prevents crime. As if he wants people, the public, to know it was him who was doing it, so that he would get the credit.  That is NOT Superman. He doesn't do what he does so that he can get the glory. That's what Booster Gold does. And it makes me hate Season 9 Clark even more. Aside from the other shit he pulled. And when I say that, I'm talking about how he treated Chloe.

I just saw a clip from "Obscura" I think it was from that ABC Family Behind the Scenes Special, where Clark has saved Chloe from the coffin, and she hugs him and says "it's you. It's always you." And this clip showed Clark's expression. How he closed his eyes in relief and the look on his face. I've never, ever seen him express such relief, love (because that's how it came across to me) for anyone else. Ever.

So I will remain a bitter, bitter Bitch that the show runners, all of them, AlMiles, and SoudersPetersen, for fucking this relationship up, but good. And then to give me what I saw in this season, as nothing but a big giant FUCK YOU!

[DigitalCount]

Oh.

Holy mackerel.

Who is this monster?

 

For some background, my fiancee and I are currently (re)watching this literal trainwreck. On the original run I bailed after Doomsday like so many others, but she knew that I watched it way back when and she had heard of the slash fanfiction it created, so I'm actually seeing new (to me) episodes of Smallville.

Except I'm not, if the opening is any indication. Clark "The Blur" Kent is a jerk and the show has no heart. What I saw in Savior is a grim parody of what was once a sunny, hopeful show. Even if it was 2009 again instead of nearly a decade later it would be clear that this is a state of affairs TIIC intend to change over the course of the season, and yet I can't bring myself to care. The characters are unrecognizable. I know people used to theorize that Clark was someone else, but it honestly feels like Tom Welling is playing a different character. It's almost horrifying to see him interact with the rest of the cast, and that's before I get to the Clois retcon.

I was right to stop watching; I think it made me happier. And yet I'll probably end up finishing out the series just because. I guess I'll try to keep an open mind...I guess.

[BkWurm1]

Yeah, the first half of season 9  is especially hard to take.  I spent most of the season HATING Clark. 

There is some good stuff later with the Justice Society and Hawkman and eventually, Clark admits he was wrong but yeah, it's super painful to watch.  The final two years really are like a different show.  Lois is practically a different character in season ten, which if you can pretend nothing came before might be a good thing.  

[DigitalCount]

I had to admit that the maple donut thing in Echo was cute-adjacent. That moment where Lois bites the donut before giving it to Clark, especially because that donut looked huge, was a little bit adorable, bordering on adorkable.

It's wildly out of character for Jor-El to give Clark a mind-reading power so he can save Oliver of all people, but I appreciated that Lex's murder was weighing heavily on him. Everything about Clark's telepathy made no sense, though. It also makes it dumb that he's being so indecisive regarding Lois. I accept that (out of freaking nowhere) he has feelings for her, but he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's into him too. Why so much hemming and hawing?

The zombie episode is barely worth mentioning. I feel like I lost brain cells watching it. 

[BkWurm1]

I hated that he gave her someone else's donut though in the first place.  Speed your ass on down to the bakery and get the girl you have a crush on a donut without someone else's saliva on it.  Gross!

[DigitalCount]

Agreed on the nastiness of it. I think they wanted the moment where Lois takes a bite and gives it to him, so they needed to come up with a reason why the one he gave her would have a bite taken out of it, and going backwards like that frequently leads to situations where people act like nonhumans to get to a certain point.

[DigitalCount]

Heckin' wow, Roulette sucked.

The lady who played Victoria seemed a bit limited in her line delivery. I wasn't sure if she's just bad, or if she was choking on the script. But I just found all of it so hilariously bad.

Also amusing was the ham-fisted direction. "You're coming back for me, even though I would have abandoned you?" Ugh. "You just had to find the hero inside! Now let me repeat that in case the audience didn't get it!"

Really, there were a lot of stinkers as far as lines go, but the worst line ever uttered on this show may have been "it's a long story about Lois, laundry, and lacy things." I know they thought they were being artsy, but that's not Clark.

Speaking of Clark and Lois, Fifi and I were watching this together, and during the movie scene she asked me if Allison was still with the show at this point. I said that if I remembered correctly, she had reduced her involvement. She responded "well, it just seems like Lois manipulated her way into [Clark's] life. They were never this close."

Lol. I'm just glad that people with no horse in the race years after the fact can see that there was a hard shift regarding Chloe, Clark and Lois. It's absurd that at the time people were arguing it was character-driven and made sense. It's about as organic as a nuclear power plant.

I thought the person behind the quackery was Tess until the point where we saw Chloe at a computer with her eyes shaded. Then my analysis was pretty much the same as Oliver's; who knew about the facts and could also do all the things possible to facilitate the masquerade. I didn't realize that we'd have offscreen Justice League, but Smallville is nothing if not an ad for its much more exciting unfilmed sister show.