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Do You Like Chloe? (Updated for S9)

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  • #76
    I agree completely, BkWurm1.

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    • #77
      Originally posted by BkWurm1
      Chloe Sullivan is one of those characters that will always stay with me. Long before Smallville was ever over, I knew that she was the reason why I was watching and now that the series is over, it is her character that IMO has had the biggest influence and left the biggest impression. Not just in how I see things but in the TV and Movie landscape. I recognize her in new characters and still see her name pop up in articles and lists.

      Chloe was driven, curious, passionate, independent, positive, resourceful and at the same time lonely and hurting and private and flawed and real. She grew and matured on screen. She became stronger and more determined and her loyalty unwavering and her commitment to doing the right thing came to her more naturally than it ever did to Clark. Her abilities and her fearlessness grew as did her compassion and empathy but she remained such a real character to me since at the same time she retained her insecurities and personal fears. She was the shoulder everyone could lean on but she never trusted that she could lean on others or at least for very long.

      She was one of the best listeners out there and the keeper of all secrets and yet she rarely shared her secrets or spoke of her wants and needs.

      And that determination to fix her problems on her own came with some massive consequences. I do not feel Chloe alone is to blame for the Doomsday mess. Frankly I think she was left with only bad options and did the best anyone could. I wish Clark had not been so unreliable at that time but that's almost beside the point.

      After basically losing everything, she still found the strength to rebuild all that had been lost and to make it better than it had been before and to give even more of herself - to the point of almost losing herself. She pulled the fractured team back together. She pretty much with no thanks or even a kind word from Clark kept saving him and the world again and again. Had the future not been altered, she would have been mankind's sole reason for having a shot to overthrow their dictators. I know some disliked Chloe in season 9, but I found her heartbreaking and yet inspiring. (The one I disliked was Clark - no, dislike doesn't begin to cover it. I have never hated any character as much as I have him at that time)

      She sacrificed her whole documented history and any comfort of friends and family at the behest of a helmet in order to be there to save the heroes that would save the world. AND she also finally found the strength to go back after her dreams. That determination, loyalty, heart and intelligence is what makes her so memorable and to me makes Chloe Anne Sullivan a super hero in her own right.
      Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. All of it.

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      • #78
        Chloe and Lionel were the most consistently-interesting characters on the show, because their futures weren't set. I wasn't a fan of Chloe ending up with Oliver; she was great with Jimmy and the producers were horrible for killing him off. Still, I loved seeing her read that comic book to her son in the series finale; it seemed appropriate somehow. Allison Mack should've won a major acting award, for her work on "Smallville"; she really ran the full spectrum with so many different emotions and situations. There was rarely any time, where I didn't believe her completely in a scene.

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        • #79
          I think she served a function, during the first four seasons. She was this wanna-be journalist, with all kinds of connections, who could really help to drive the plot forward through her investigations. However, after she left the Torch, things began to change. Think all her old connections dried up and she was no longer doing investigative journalism very much (even after she landed her dream job at the Daily Planet). Instead, she began developing amazing hacker skills, so she could new handle IT and information for Clark and other developing superheroes. But, after Clark becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet, her providing him with information becomes reduntant. It's something he should be able to do on his own, but they need to give Chloe something to do.

          Post-season 4, the character becomes more reduntant, the more time passed. She was given reduntant lines, like her pointing out that something's less than a mile from his farm in "Oracle". Surely, Clark knows what lies less than mile from the place he's spent the past 17 years living. "Prototype" is a good example. Clark gets all vital information from Lois and Martha. Chloe, on the other hand, just calls Oliver to get some information about another Ares prototype (some reason Clark couldn't make the call himself?) and then point out that Sam Lane's been stationed at the base where Wes Keenan grew up (right after Clark's pointed out the latter, meaning that'd be the first place he'd check).

          She gets a being a meteor freak plot for seasons 6 and 7, around the time they were largely retiring the meteor freak concept. In season 6, there had only been four FOTW plots, with only two involving Clark encountering said meteor freak. In season 7, there was only one ("Fierce"). Chloe being a meteor freak was a plot, that clearly wasn't working (as they got rid off it at the start of season 8). Towards the end of season 7, she's fired from the Daily Planet and then spends season 8 as a counselor at the Isis Foundation, which they didn't do much with (think the most was in "Prey"). Then, during season 9, she works at setting up Watchtower at the loft apartment Jimmy had gotten her as a wedding present. The second half of that statement makes little to no sense. How could he have afforded that place (it rivaled LuthorCorp Plaza)? On his salary? Not to mention, just a few episodes before, he had been strapped for cash and had to beg Oliver for money. If you're strapped for cash, maybe sell the (no doubt expensive) loft apartment, you bought for a woman you're no longer married to. The whole thing just feels like an attempt to keep Chloe present on the show. It should also be noted, that the team she worked with wasn't the Justice League (confirmed by Bryan Q. Miller on Twitter), so she wasn't instrumental in setting up the Justice League.

          At the start of season 10, Chloe vanishes for most of the season and erases all records of herself. I can't say that her absense is deeply felt. They just have Tess take over Watchtower duties. Her absense doesn't cause any real problems. Then there's the matter of her erasing her whole identity. Something like that feels like the set-up for something major. Her assuming a new identity (potentially revealing that she's actually a character from DC Comics). Then, in "Fortune", it's shown that she's recreated her old identity and is taking a reporter job in Star City, returning to her old ambition. So, after three seasons, she just goes back to her early seasons life. Over the course of the show, Clark's gotten through his identity crisis, developed into the Blur and then Superman, along with moving off the farm and becoming a reporter. Lois went from being unsure what she wanted to do and ending up on a path leading to her becoming a star reporter for the DP. Chloe, after ten seasons (with one season 8 episode showing that she no longer wishes to be a journalist for the Daily Planet), decides to go back to the ambition she had at the start of the series. She also gets married to Oliver Queen, which the series finale hints won't last seven years.

          Now, granted, at the end of season 11, she gets a job at the DEO. But, we're never shown what that job involves. We don't even know if she ever actually starts working there, because she gives birth to her son right after. From an in-universe perspective, she probably went on maternity leave directly afterwards. Maybe she decided to turn the job down, after her maternity leave was over and got a regular job. Her 2018 scene just showed her reading a bedtime story for her son. So, would there have been any great loss, if she had left in early season six?

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          • #80
            I did like the Chloe character and I don't think her role became more redundant over the years. She had shown herself to be loyal to those she cared about, she had solid investigative skills (even if they were increasingly of the digital rather than physical kind) and she frequently lent the story an emotional heart.

            It took me a while to get on board with Chloe because to me she initially looked like the sort of character you often find in other shows or movies set in high school. You know the type. The quirky and likeable best friend, often speaking with pop culture dialogue, carrying an unrequited love for the lead character, having better investigative skills than a police detective despite still being in high school, living with only one parent because the other one either died, left or was taken away, etc etc. It's good but you feel like you've seen it before.

            Then Allison Mack had Chloe spills her guts out to an unconscious Clark, only for Clark to unintentionally trample on her heart. With than moment, Chloe stepped out of trope-land and became something more. Thereafter, whenever a scene called for emotional whallop from Chloe, Allison sold it completely and believably. You feel the pain when Chloe is faced with a dead Lois at Reeve's Dam, or a dying Clark at Black Creek, or a dying Jimmy at Watchtower, or a mother who has reverted back to a catatonic state.

            What I was less keen on was Chloe effectively acting as Clark's brain when he needed to either look into or act on something. You need a bit of that but they way it was written made Clark look too reactive rather than proactive, and Chloe a bit too all-knowing. I find that a strange call because Clark should be generally more proactive (not completely, as that is not realistic) and Tom Welling was at his best when he could show Clark taking charge of situations, identifying the problem and coming up with a solution.

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            • #81
              Earlier today, I wrote a comment on another thread about Chloe's legacy, where I largely concluded that Chloe doesn't have a bigger legacy. That unlike many of Clark's other friends, she'll be left out of the history books and be forgotten by the 31st Century (based on comments by the Legion). It kinda made me re-evaluate Chloe. Why are the others (Lois, Jimmy Olsen (probably the younger brother) and Lana) remembered and not Chloe? Some have tried to explain it with Chloe erasing all records of herself in season 10, but "Fortune" establishes that Chloe's restored her identity.

              The real explaination is more simple. The Legion makes it clear that all their knowledge of Superman comes from historical records. In season 5, Brainiac (as Professor Milton Fine) notes that history isn't about facts. It's about the context and who is telling the story. So, the reason the Legion hasn't heard about Chloe Sullivan, is because future historians left her out. One day it's uncovered that Superman was Clark Kent and historians will start writing books about him. Lana was Clark's childhood romance (allowing historians to include some romance in the early life of Clark Kent). She also gained super powers for a few years and operated as the Angel of the Plateau (something female historians would no doubt make sure to include in their books on Superman's life, if not play up as bigger than she actually was, as it means it contains a female superhero, even if it was a short-lived one). Lois and Jimmy will have well-documented official adventures with Superman (with the former also turning out to be his wife, prompting some interest in writing about her).

              What about Chloe? She acted as Clark's side kick for years and years. When Green Arrow's team disbanded in 2009, Chloe tracked down and got the team back together. She set up their base and helped the network grow. It wasn't the formal Justice League, but all the founding members of the JL (Superman, Red Tornado (Tess Mercer), Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Batman and Green Lantern) were involved in the Watchtower Network. It's what brought them together, leading to them forming the team. She played a role in many superheroes lives, but in the end...no one will know about it. It's all secret and Chloe will never be able to tell anyone about her adventures with Superman, without exposing his identity. Her reading fake comics (that she no doubt had printed) to her kid, is the closest she'll ever come to telling her story. They wouldn't have kept documents about her involvement with Clark and the others (so, there is nothing for future historians to discover). She was once married to Green Arrow, but it ended in divorce (as far as any outsider is concerned, Chloe would just be Oliver's ex). She has a son with him, but it's not the one who takes up the GA mantle. So, as far as future historians are concerned, Chloe Sullivan is just someone who went to school with Clark Kent (one of many) and was married for a while with Oliver Queen (I know some have written about the wives of important men. But, it's usually wives who have been married to the men for longer periods and are considered to have influenced the significant man somehow). Few may realize both. She had a son, but he didn't grow up to become someone significant.

              So, while the story of Clark Kent is his journey into becoming the world's greatest hero. The story of Chloe Sullivan is one of tragedy. She's one of the heroes who were there, but in the end, she's doomed to be forgotten. Because the public never learned about her, when she was alive, nor were there any documents detailing her activities, that could be discovered 50 years after she's dead. Resulting in her being left out of every book written about Superman.

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              • #82
                Originally posted by jon-el87
                So, while the story of Clark Kent is his journey into becoming the world's greatest hero. The story of Chloe Sullivan is one of tragedy. She's one of the heroes who were there, but in the end, she's doomed to be forgotten. Because the public never learned about her, when she was alive, nor were there any documents detailing her activities, that could be discovered 50 years after she's dead. Resulting in her being left out of every book written about Superman.
                Great post. I guess from one POV this is a tragedy, but on the other hand it is true to actual history. There are often unsung heroes without whom, the famous heroes never would have been famous. Chloe will be a treasure in the hearts of Clark and Lois and other people whose lives she's changed.

                It reminds me of a commencement speech given by Arnold Schwarzenegger (of all things). He talks about the person who first recommended a local gym in Austria and took the time to help him out. He talks about when he first came to America and someone gave him all their eating utensils for free to give him a leg up. He said there were COUNTLESS people who were in large and small ways a huge part of him becoming Mr. Universe and a great film star. So I don't think it's a tragedy.

                Fame is - relative. I mean are only famous people significant? I think the people who were behind real positive change are not tragic figures - recognized or not. I think it would be better to be recognized for the great things you've done, especially while you're living. But it doesn't negate the true good.

                It shows how much Chloe changed as a character from wanting to be a famous Journalist who changed the world to actually changing the world in huge ways, silently, behind the scenes, unsung. I guess it's all in the POV. She seemed pretty content in those last few scenes with her son.

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