An open letter from Chiriru To: Mr. Gough & Mr. Millar From: Your Local Fangirl
Dear M&G,
I’ve written this list to try to help you guys out for your coming season. Here are three things that you guys should know or at least listen to:
1. Missing Normal
It has come to the attention of this and other fans that a big thing missing from S2 would be the view point of the normal Smallville citizen. While Pete with his new knowledge has become a forum for the actual fan, someone who knows all the characters, knows Clark’s secret, and is always backing our favorite alien up, what the audience is missing is the counter to Pete’s knowledge.
What the show is missing is a steadfast rock of hometown averageness.
Clark obviously can’t be the normal one because, well, he’s an alien. Lex, as a future villain, won’t be seen as normal — plus we already know he’s meteorite mutations. Chloe, as our proto-Lois, has vibes of average but still her quest for knowledge and curoisity steps her outside of the running. Martha and Jonathon work good as parents, but they raised a child and hid his spaceship in the storm cellar — not so much with the normal there.
So, in Smallville’s second season, who do we have to show us what normal is?
Lana Lang, the girl who is obsessed with her dead parents and abandonment issues with others that she is in fact to blame for. She’s a former cheerleader, everyone loves her no matter what, and according to “Precipice” she can even learn how to kick ass in under a week.
This is not a very good average character.
The person who played our eyes into the normal Smallvillian was Whitney Fordman. Everyone had a high school jock in high school, knew an overprotective boyfriend, or craved so badly to leave his/her hometown only to never make it very far. Everyone has made mistakes.
Whitney, whether people realized it or not, was accessible to the vast majority of viewers. Fans didn’t even need to like him to relate to the character, in fact part of the reason he worked so well was there was always a little bit of him you weren’t sure if you liked or hated.
Eric Johnson’s character gave everyone a check point against alien Clark, paranoid Lex, or intrepid Chloe. People were more likely to sympathize with Lana because he loved her, and it made her actions more understandable because we weren’t forced to try to see Lana as normal person. She’s not, and that’s okay that she isn’t — most characters on the show aren’t.
But when the check and balance that Whitney gave to keep one foot in reality gave way, well suddenly plot lines and characterization drifted. Sure, we gained Lionel a real villain for Clark to handle, but we lost the stability that the quarterback brought to the show.
Evil deeds by a Luthor can be done from far away. Keeping a normal outlook on the teen characters is a much harder, and much more necessary task for the writers.
I say, bring the normal back! But, oh, you guys…killed…Whitney for some strange…unknown reason. Having the normal as Lana’s boyfriend won’t work. Introduce him as the new Talon manager now that Nell’s gone, as Chloe’s Oz-like photographer, or Pete’s new best friend. The character has to interact and cause forward, organic motion in the plot line.
It was the forward motion and Whitney’s full-circle understanding of Clark that brought a terrific and continuing arc around season one, a season long arc that was missing and detrimental to season two. Hopefully, the normal will be back for season three or else Smallville is going to fall off the map.
2. Arcs and Other Basic Things
This is a very simple thing, something that I mentioned earlier that season 1 had. Season 1 had at least four different arcs going on through each episode (and we complained about continued here). The four were:
- The Episode Arc
- The Multi-Episode Arc
- The Seasonal Arc
- The Series Arc
All of these are very, very straight forward. The question is how did parts three and four slip through the writer’s fingers? I mean, we did get a lot more of number 2, with almost 75% of the episodes drawing off a previous one in some manner or another.
However, despite that there was no major feeling of connection past episodes in a row. Where season 1 had many organic changes from the Pilot to Tempest (the change of Luthor power from Lionel to Lex, the change of friends from only Chloe and Pete to Lex and Lana, the Chloe/Clark relationship, the Whitney/Clark eventual friendship, the change in the Kents as parents) when I look back on season two there are only a few such as Lionel turning fully evil, Pete finds out, and Whitney is dead.
As for the series arc, it was obvious that season one screamed potential. There was mythos and drama, at the same time there many life lessons that were worth hearing — treasure your friends, don’t be afraid to chase a dream, don’t give up. Season two seemed to cultivate a feeling that the show was no longer about life lessons or Superman drama, it was more about some boring Clark/Lana scenes. Correction: some VERY boring Clark/Lana scenes. And the life lessons are, what? IF you whine enough you’ll get your way?
Get back to story lines that will take many episodes to resolve, and actually resolve them. LexCorp and the Helen situations are prime examples, the story lines were there but never used. Get back to the organic growth of characters. You want Chloe to investigate Clark? Make her remember bits of her parasite experience and have her dig rather that make her bitter about Clark/Lana.
Season one showed a lot ‘throw and see what sticks’ — Organic storylines stick. Lex, Clark, Chloe, even Whitney, stick. The Luthor family, the Kryptonite and from this year, the caves, stick. Clark/Lana doesn’t stick, it lost a third of viewers. Claiming your audience is ‘here for the soap’ is a lie and the numbers don’t support it.
These things are what every good television show needs. Make these four things tighter, more logical, with everyone in character and Smallville will be the show everyone knows it can be. But failing to do so only sends it further down the downward spiral.
3. Remember the Fans
This has been key in the other parts of this column, but remember your fans. You know what they like, the ratings prove it better than anything else. I’m not saying to give the audience exactly what they want but treat them with some respect. The fans are what make you money, they are what keep you on the air; stop treating us like we are idiots or that you don’t care about us.
We, the fans, are the people who buy your products, who watch your shows, who see your movies. In essence, we pay you. And we aren’t happy.
And here are some things that fans want in no particular order:
- Plots that don’t contradict other episodes
- More stories that focus solely the characters and secondary characters
- Less Clana/Lana in general.
Check out Omar if you don’t believe me, and no he’s not just kidding around - More back story for everyone, especially the secondary characters
- Women written as actual women are
- Doris Egan
- Better writing all around
- Organic growth of character and plot
- Stop the ‘mind-altered’ episodes. IT’s OLD.
- No more repetitious dialog! We do not need the same Clark/Lana conversation every episode!
Those are only a few of the long list that’s growing, and I can’t remember all of them off the top of my head. But fans don’t appreciate feeling like the show that they watch, that they support doesn’t care about them. Remember that MR and KK have come out about being unhappy with the show as well — the fans aren’t idiots. We aren’t seeing things. These problems are real and we want them fixed.
Treat us with a little bit of respect, give us at least some of what we want, and make it the show we all know it can be. It’s not that hard, just swallow your pride and do it.
You’ll be happy that you did.
— Love, or rather barely-there tolerance,
Chiriru
Note: The views of Chiriru don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Chiriru would like to thank KryptonSite for the hosting of this column and to (in no particular order) SullivanLane, JollyCynic, MissWindy, Maveness, LightstarAngel, PaperBkryter, LJC, and HuffyTheCampfireSlayer among other members of the KSite Message Boards for their views and discussions for the past two years.