Did the writers make a mistake by killing off jimmy olsen?

[Degobunny]

Henry James character was going nowhere, he never should have been on the show.

[Genny]

I hated that they killed Jimmy. In my opinion he was Jimmy Olsen, and as for trying to line up with mythos I dodn't know why they had to kill Jimmy to do that. They've differed from the mythios in a lot of areas, Smallville is it's own. Jimmy was the mythos Jimmy except for the age difference, which was something I overlooked anyway. I actually prefered Smallville's take on him and that he was the same age as Lois and Clark. They wasted the character, he had a lot of potential, but they never did anything with him.

[pizzahead2490]

Henry James character was going nowhere, he never should have been on the show.

Even if he wasn't it was still wrong to kill him off. It's not like Jimmy Characters was there for just a episode and you could swing into not being the real deal, like how they did Kara or Cat.

But they dangled Jimmy in our face for three years saying that he was the real deal and then took him away from us. That's disrespect!

I don't like Lana but if they did regarding her I would be pissed too. They weren't thinking of the fans...in fact they were not thinking at all.

[Degobunny]

Even if he wasn't it was still wrong to kill him off. It's not like Jimmy Characters was there for just a episode and you could swing into not being the real deal, like how they did Kara or Cat.

But they dangled Jimmy in our face for three years saying that he was the real deal and then took him away from us. That's disrespect!

I don't like Lana but if they did regarding her I would be pissed too. They weren't thinking of the fans...in fact they were not thinking at all.

They had written him into a dead end. I gave up on Jimmy being the real deal after they put him on drugs. They disrespected Henry James if we are to believe that he was the Jimmy by ruining his character with the awful drug storyline and giving him a hostile attitude towards Clark in season 6. They did the character a favor by killing him off so that he would not half to suffer through to the current season of Smallville which has been disresepectful to all the iconic character of Smallville. As far as thinking of the fans they were thinking of the fans, the ones that felt that Henry James was abombination to all things Jimmy Olsen.

Lana is a completely different situation then Henry James / Jimmy.

[RaniaLovesClois]

Who cares about Chimmy. I only cared about Jimmy. They insulted all the fans by killing him off, making him seem like a impostor. That was a huge slap in the face. Something I'll never forgive SV for doing.

ITA. I still haven't forgiven the writers for that. And I don't care if his brother is the ''real'' Jimmy. For me, the REAL Jimmy was killed by Davis and I hope that we will never see his brother on the show.

[Degobunny]

Even if he wasn't it was still wrong to kill him off. It's not like Jimmy Characters was there for just a episode and you could swing into not being the real deal, like how they did Kara or Cat.

But they dangled Jimmy in our face for three years saying that he was the real deal and then took him away from us. That's disrespect!

I don't like Lana but if they did regarding her I would be pissed too. They weren't thinking of the fans...in fact they were not thinking at all.

looking back killing Jimmy was a bad decision. Ever since the wedding to Chloe though they had been making bad decision with the character. I think they were thinking of a segment of the fans when they killed him. I remember him not being popular among the comic fans becuase they did like the idea of Jimmy and Clark being so close in age.

If Jimmy had survived with Chloe to season 9, I think we could have gotten some really good Jimmy/Clark friendship interaction with Jimmy being in on Clark's secret.

[Supsfan]

I remember him not being popular among the comic fans becuase they did like the idea of Jimmy and Clark being so close in age.

I think Jimmy's age in relation to Clark would be the least of the problems on the show for Comic book purists. lol

[Degobunny]

I think Jimmy's age in relation to Clark would be the least of the problems on the show for Comic book purists. lol

Well it was the comic age it addition to the fact that Jimmy was constantly acting jealous around Clark. Believe it or not the age thing was an issue for some of the comic purist.

[Bally]

Even though the character took a dark turn after the wedding as he struggled to cope, and had a tendency to be jealous of Chloe's friendship with Clark, I actually liked Jimmy as a character. Yes it turned out that he wasn't the 'real' Jimmy and it was a stupid way for the writers to bring back the idea that the Jimmy Olsen of the comics is much younger than Clark and Lois, but he did bring some warmth and humour to proceedings. His finest moments are probably when he correctly sussed out The Blur's true identity in Identity, and when Clark finally admits it in Doomsday. Jimmy's reaction of awe and vindication is great, and it makes his subsequent death all the sadder. He was a good guy.

Where the writers really cocked up was in not having Lois be told what had happened to Jimmy. It seemed as though that was one of the things Chloe wanted to tell Lois at the hospital in Savior before Lois took off, but they never returned to that idea. While Lois was often a bit dismissive of Jimmy, she was still fond of him and they'd worked well together a number of times, not to mention living at the same apartment for a while. I'm sure she'd have been very saddened by his death had she known, and it's something that the writers ought to have acknowledged - even in a small way - on screen.

[Aurora Moon]

I actually liked Jimmy. They just shouldn't had randomly paired him up with chloe, or did that drug storyline. But you know CW... CW always needs to do the senselessly melodramatic storylines they love so much. (*rolls eyes*)

I think most people would've been fine with him just being a supporting background character who sometimes showed up when he was needed for the plot, etc. I mean, the fact that he's jimmy the news reporter and cameraman for Daily planet would've been good enough. They wouldn't have to come up with a nonsensical reason for why he was there in that scene... unlike what they did with Lana.

With Lana, they had to stretch everywhere and bend over backwards just to explain why Lana was doing what she did in that epidose so that she would end up being vital to the epodise. even though it almost still didn't make sense and made her feel like she was shoehorned into the scenes.

With Jimmy, it was easier to explain why he was in those scenes. He's an reporter who tends to get into a lot of trouble, just like Lois Lane. In fact, he just seems to naturally find himself in a lot of werid situations thanks to the nature of his job. That stuff just writes itself.

[jon-el87]

Read an interview with Aaron, a while back, and it was apparently DC restrictions that forced them to reveal him to not be the real Jimmy (and to kill him). In hindsight, they should've gone with another Superman supporting character. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and we have no idea of the restrictions that the show had (as already established, the reveal was apparently brought about by DC rectrictions). It's easy for me to suggest characters (who've worked for the DP, in the comics) like Justin Moore and Dave Stevens. However, writers for these types of shows would have to get permission from DC/Warner brothers. Justin and Dave are a bit obscure, but they had also been dropped by DC after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Look at Supergirl at the DCAU. Apparently, they wanted to use the traditional Kara Zor-El character, but DC wouldn't allow it (as that character had been killed off, in the 80's and DC was now using the Matrix/Linda Danvers Supergirl). The end result being that they had to create their own Kara, from the planet Argo.

Perhaps they should've introduced the character as Jack Olsen, Jr. (or something), the older brother of Jimmy Olsen, from the start. From a narrative standpoint, I think the character's legacy works. He's Jimmy's older brother, who inspired him to go into journalism and photography. When Jimmy starts working at the Daily Planet, Lois and Clark take him under their wings, because of their friendship with his late brother. Sparing us a lot of exposition, when he shows up in the finale.