fic: Contingencies 1/7

[xparrot]

I need to start posting this now, before the final eps of the season blow it completely out of the water. Hopefully I'll finish it before they start airing...hope no one minds a bit of fic spamming in the next couple weeks.

This is about my favorite non-futurefic SV scenario, which I've been wanting to try my hand at, though this...got a bit out of hand. It's the classic 'Lex turns up at the Kent farmhouse in dire straits', given a 6th season twist. This is not quite the story I was intending to write. I have a feeling it needs a warning, but I'm not exactly sure for what. Let's see: it's dark, it's angsty, it's sappy, and it may go shamelessly over the top in any of these directions. I can promise a light at the end of the tunnel, but it's going to be a long tunnel.

Major spoilers for the entire series, especially "Solitude" and "Vessel"/"Zod," and all of 6th season aired thus far.

Smallville: Contingencies, 1/7 {5,957 words}
PG-13; Clark/Lex; 6th season; angst, drama, h/c
Lex, forced to his last resort, comes to the Kent home. And Clark must rise to the occasion, as he finds himself questioning his assumptions about his dying enemy.

Read it on AO3

Comments

Re: Love the story so far....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Glad you're enjoying the story! And yeah, the morality of SV is rather quite mixed. A lot of times it seems like the writers just expect you to judge everything Lex does as evil, just because we the audience all know he's destined to be a supervillain. And then other times I'm left wondering if we're supposed to be judging him at all; I sort of suspect some of the writers secretly consider him to be the protagonist of the show. So even if Clark & co. judge Lex as evil, maybe the audience isn't; maybe we're supposed to be thinking Superman is actually the wrong one...

A lot of the portrayal of Lex in this story is going to be based on my own theories about him, (I don't think he's the villain! At least not in the usual sense...) I've written a lot of ridiculously long essay on his character in SV, which you can read here, if you're interested!

Re: Love the story so far....

[bonnysprite.livejournal.com]

I don't believe Superman to be wrong. I think his burden must be harder than any ones to bear because total power does have the potential to corrupt. That he's able to leave human society as it is instead of 'fixing' it for the better involves strength. That he would choose to live his life as a mild mannered reporter instead of playing the market or using his powers for a greater position in society ... Then there are his powers, to constantly be able to hear every cry for help in the world all the time ... I think he's super for entirely different reasons than his invulnerable strength.

Clark and Lex in SV though, neither are good or evil in it's entirety. I haven't watched the eps so I can't really say, but I think part of the reason people are willing to believe in Lex's evil is because he's begun to really sell it. Clark when he's done wrong falls at the mercy of those he's wronged, with sadly the exception of Lex. Lex just isn't willing to put himself out there anymore. It's also easier to sacrifice if you've got fewer attachments. If that makes sense at all.

I began watching SV when I was younger than S1 Clark, and growing through puberty and highschool when you're just a teenager is a remarkably hard job, Clark had it harder. So I can understand some of his completely idiotic moves. He's too young and too inexperienced to be doing what he's doing.

Lex just got screwed over because Lionel was his father.

What I'm most confused about is ... why exactly is Lionel and Martha chummy? And another thing, Chloe and Lionel are actually on friendly basis? Did he not try and kill her at some point? See Clark is just unbelievably gullible (he believes everyone, and I think the only reason he's willing to accept Lex as a villain is because he'd rather deal with the enemy he knows than have one that he doesn't), but Chloe's all snark and Martha ... they make no sense to me.

Okay I'll shut up now. I've just had to sit through a bit of Clark bashing from a friend of mine and I guess I should have let loose on her instead of holding it in. *blushing profusely*

Re: Love the story so far....

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

I agree about Superman. He is good, otherwise he'd be using his powers for his own gain. And clearly it's his rigid morality that keeps him from doing just that.

I don't intend to knock SV Clark. He's an adolescent, still. He hasn't figured everything out.

What annoys me no end, is that SV seems to be saying that there's one standard for Lex, and another for everyone else on the show. And no one on the show seems to question this.

If Clark makes a mistake, and someone gets hurt, well, he's young, he had good intentions, he shouldn't tear himself apart over it, he'll learn. Blah blah blah. If Lex makes a mistake, and someone gets hurt, that's a different kettle of fish. Clearly he's beyond saving. All because his father is Lionel Luthor.

Clark really isn't stupid. Why can't he see the inconsistency here? Why can't he realize how much he must have hurt Lex, his best friend, by lying to him? My own feelings are that it's because he was raised to think that way. That protecting his secret was the most important thing, and that anyone who attempted to find out the truth was evil. That seems to be what SV Martha and Jonathan taught him.

Re: Love the story so far....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Clark's biggest problem is that he seems to put his lies about himself and what he is in a complete separate category from other kinds of lies. He honestly doesn't seem to realize how much his secret-keeping can hurt people (sometimes literally - he gives Lex concussions to keep him from seeing his rescues! That is not good!) And Jonathan and Martha are a large part responsible for that - though Clark's own friends don't help. Those who do find the secret out (Pete, Chloe, now Lana) always are forgiving, always tell Clark they understand and willingly join in the conspiracy of silence. So it's understandable that Clark simply doesn't realize just how much it hurts people, when he lies to them and they know it.

Re: Love the story so far....

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Great essay.

The morality portrayed on SV seems to mutate. It's a mutant morality. :-)))

If we, as the audience aren't supposed to judge Lex as evil, why don't the producers give Lex a supporter or two? Hitler *was* evil, but many people loved and supported him to the end. But no one on SV ever says, 'Hey! Maybe you're misjudging Lex. Maybe he's got a point? Did you ever think of that?'

Or maybe that's the point? Maybe we're supposed to feel sorry for Lex because no one on the show does? But isn't that a bit too complicated and bizarre, for such an otherwise simplistic TV show?

Gaah. It's all beyond me.

Re: Love the story so far....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Lex's loneliness baffles me. He doesn't even have any lackeys or sycophants! Even the cheesiest Disney villain gets an animal sidekick or two. Lex is about the most alone character I've ever seen in anything...and yeah, one can't help but feel sorry for him for that, and maybe that is their intent...I have no idea! SV confuses me mightily sometimes...

Re: Love the story so far....

[bonnysprite.livejournal.com]

I think, if the writers have vision, that could be the reason for Lex's loneliness. To gain our sympathy. It makes the entire degradation of their friendship even more epic; Greek tragedy on crack. :)

Alternatively, every time Lex has had a cohort or some kind of assistant they've managed to turn on him. It might be a simple case of self-preservation on top of "If I want things done I've got to do it myself", and the closer her keep things to the heart the less likely for the "aliens" finding out about his counter measures.

Just a thought.

But if our Lex wasn't exactly the way he is, I highly doubt we'd be as addicted. To both of them. Because these two are just too tragic.

Re: Love the story so far....

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

Tragic, yes.

But you see, for me, the betrayal of love -- and I'm using the word 'love' in its most general sense, in other words, the love between friends, or lovers, or family members, so my words don't only apply to the Slash interpretation of the relationship between Lex and Clark. -- uh, where was I? Oh,yes. For me, the betrayal of love is one of the most evil of acts. Far more evil than any unethical business practices. So, if Clark ends up betraying Lex by deserting him when Lex needs him most, if he completely ends their friendship and throws Lex to the wolves, all because of what other people say about Lex, and if Lex isn't truly evil, but is, in fact, confused and trying to be the hero, then Clark has done something far more evil, in my own opinion, than anything Lex might do in the future. And that disturbs me, because Clark is supposed to be Superman, and if he isn't perfect -- because no one is perfect -- then at least he shouldn't be evil.

So, I can't really watch, if that's what the writers are planning. That sort of emotional torture just isn't my thing. But that's only my own perspective, which I realize not everyone shares. :-)))

Re: Love the story so far....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The thing is, the way Clark is placed now, I don't think he's deliberately betraying Lex; I think that rather there's some massive misunderstandings going on, because they're not talking anymore. Clark doesn't understand what Lex is really trying to do, and Lex has given up trying to explain it to him, may even be thinking of him as the enemy now. I see Clark as feeling betrayed himself now, and the coldness he shows Lex in 6th season is cover for his anger and hurt.

That's the way I want to see it, anyway; because I want Clark to be the hero! I don't want him to be evil; while Lex, much as I love him, I can accept as the villain. At this point I see Clark as more culpable than Lex in the disintegration of their friendship, but while Clark has made his share of mistakes, I don't think most of them are deliberate. And he was just a kid (I'm getting more frustrated with him now that he's older; at 16 or 17 I can't totally blame him for not being able to handle Lex's darkness; Lex has a lot of scary things in him.) And Lex has screwed up, too...though I think he has better reasons, even if Clark's not in a position to see or understand most of them.

Re: Love the story so far....

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. I don't think Clark is deliberately betraying Lex. Yet. It's more a matter of one little betrayal at a time, just gradually falling into the pattern of believing that Lex is aways in the wrong. And yes, Clark is just a kid, or was. And Lex has his dark side.

But that's what troubles me.

You're a kid. You let other people influence you to judge someone, to hurt him, to destroy your friendship with him, to lie to him, instead of being honest and trying your best to salvage the friendship. It can't help but affect you, can it? But in what ways? Does the future Clark feel guilty for his part in it all, or does he blame Lex entirely, thus turning Lex into the supervillain that he has to fight to prove his own virtue? If it's the latter scenario, then it isn't very heroic. So, I feel a bit dubious about the SV version of Superman.

All these versions of Superman/Clark and Lex Luthor are beginning to make my head ache. :-)))