Ep 4.03 - Facade

[Freawaru]

I'm not a comic expert but I know that Lois & Clark's Clark also played football in college. The problem is that it's never made clear why Clark wants to play football. He wants to be normal? What has that to do with football? Even when high school TV shows depict something else, I doubt that every male students wants to be one of the jocks.

I think he simply likes football. I mean, he also loves to watch it on TV and knows all the teams, and players, and games since whenever and all that. He is a fan. It is only natural to wish to play it himself, IMO.

Because I also agree with Jonathan: With him it's never going to be a fair fight. So he doesn't use his superspeed to win. Gig whoop. What about that Hail Mary pass he threw in his first game? Or the ability to never wear out your arm and always hit where you're aiming?

I don't think it is about fairness for him. It is about identification with a team like he does when watching football in TV.

Clark being proud of that championship title is like me being proud of beating my six-year old cousin in long jump.

But it was not only due to Clark's superpowers that they won. He threw, yes, but another player had to run and catch: teamwork. I am not a football expert but as far as I know this game is also about strategy.

That's why journalism is a perfect job for a being like Superman. Because it has nothing to with your physical prowess (granted, super-hearing and x-ray vision can come in handy in that line of work).

I wouldn't exclude an unfair advantage for breaking and entering without being seen. Not to mention being bullet-proof. Or is it missile-proof now?

That's one thing they did right at the beginning of Smallville. Even in non-journalism episodes like Cold and Hug it was Clark's detective instincts and not accepting stories without proof that led him to Chloe's rescue and not prejudicing Kyle Tippet.

I agree. I like the supersavings, too, but I really appreciate Clark when he uses his brain and instincts.

[RightWingConspirator]

I liked this episode, though I'm having a hard time buying into the idea that Abby could return to Smallville High right after her misdeeds had been exposed. Also, her mother said if the treatments stopped--with the mother's arrest, they would have--Abyy's difigurment would return. Should have been some kind of follow-up to that.
The flashback was a nice touch. We see how Clark has grown from the awkward freshman to the self-assured senior.

[LoveHurts38]

Gave it a 10 8 yrs later

[wellinglover66]

Didn't like season 4 too much. This was one of the worst episodes of the season. The only redeeming part was Clark.

[Supsfan]

The whole football plotline was done in Hothead, Clark learned his lesson....and suddenly he regresses. Urgh.

What lesson did Clark learn in Hothead?

Watch out for meteor infected coaches or Football sucks if Lana isn't a cheerleader? I don't remember either of those lessons in the Season 4 arc(well maybe the meteor infected coaches one was covered again. lol).

I thought the football arc in Season 4 was a nice simple non shipping Clark based plotline that didn't cover anything we saw in Hothead(other then Clark playing football) since his reason for giving it up at the end of the plotline was completely different. I seen this claim made before that "Clark learned his lesson in Hothead" so the football plotline is redundant, I just don't think Clark really learned any lesson in Hothead other then the 2 thing I mentioned above, which really isn't that big a lesson

[Arbar]

What lesson did Clark learn in Hothead?Watch out for meteor infected coaches or Football sucks if Lana isn't a cheerleader? I don't remember either of those lessons in the Season 4 arc(well maybe the meteor infected coaches one was covered again. lol).I thought the football arc in Season 4 was a nice simple non shipping Clark based plotline that didn't cover anything we saw in Hothead(other then Clark playing football) since his reason for giving it up at the end of the plotline was completely different. I seen this claim made before that "Clark learned his lesson in Hothead" so the football plotline is redundant, I just don't think Clark really learned any lesson in Hothead other then the 2 thing I mentioned above, which really isn't that big a lesson

Okay, fair enough. Perhaps what I should have said is, it was a bad idea on Clark's part to play football in Hothead, and it was still a bad idea for the whole of season 4. I guess my reasoning would be, Clark could hurt someone in a high contact sport like American football - we even saw him hurt Lucas in Prodigal when he got over-competitive - and I don't know why he had to learn that lesson over the good part of a season when it should have been his first consideration. It smacked of selfishness to me - he wanted something, so why shouldn't he have it? Well, because people all the time have things that stop them doing what they want - a wrestler in a different weight class can't be upset because he's/she's not allowed to fight people a lot lighter than him/her, in effect.

But really, it's just my opinion - I can totally see the other side, I just don't personally like the plotline

[Supsfan]

But really, it's just my opinion - I can totally see the other side, I just don't personally like the plotline

I can see how some might feel Clark playing football again was redundant, but nothing really was learned in Hothead like I said. I just liked the plotline because it was rather simple, not overly dramatic and focused on solely on Clark without pandering to any shippers(or female characters in general) which sadly was rare on this show. It basically was one of the few Clark based plotlines that was all about Clark, that I also thought ended on a positive moment for Clark's development in Recruit(basically he learns a lesson but nobody has to suffer or die because of it and he can easily move on with his life being a better person for it, which once again is very rare for the show as well)

I personally wish the show had more Clark mini plots that were solely focused on him(just being a normal guy) that neatly wrap themselves up so you can move to the next story.

[Arbar]

Yeah, we totally needed more Clark-centric plotlines - I would have preferred a journalism one, that's all. Or one where the risk of Clark competing didn't centre on him possibly hurting someone else.

[Supsfan]

Yeah, we totally needed more Clark-centric plotlines - I would have preferred a journalism one, that's all.

I would like a journalism based one as well but simple fact is why can't you have both. The show had 7 seasons to come up with a few journalism based storylines and didn't bother, their was many storylines the show came up with during those seasons for Clark that I would have replaced before the football arc of Season 4.

[RightWingConspirator]

I would like a journalism based one as well but simple fact is why can't you have both. The show had 7 seasons to come up with a few journalism based storylines and didn't bother, their was many storylines the show came up with during those seasons for Clark that I would have replaced before the football arc of Season 4.

I liked the football arc. I would have dropped the witch and Three Stones arcs, though, and done something with journalism.

[Sexy Kal]

How did they get Tom Welling to have his Season 1 hairstyle in the flashback?

[Bally]

6.

The story itself could only be set during the show's high school years, and the main plot featuring not-so-scabby Abbie and her mother was forgettable on the whole. It's even hard to remember that there was a small amount of girl-on-girl action here. That said, the episode does feature a few scenes that are of relevance to the show as a whole. The scene at the farm with Sam Lane is very lighthearted in spite of Clark's earlier hints of angst as we see Lois at turns fluster, annoy and then amuse him in quick succession. That basically sums them up in season 4 - they might find each other irritating but they still put a smile on each others' faces. We get to see Lois doing some investigative reporting as she inadvertantly sows the seeds of her future career in journalism. We get to see Clark rescuing Lois followed by Lois rescuing Clark. Neither gets fixated about who they are saving - somebody they know is in trouble so they'll do whatever they can to help. And then finally we get the dunk tank scene which showcases the spark between the two that they are oblivious to. It's a little sad for Chloe that she's been friend zoned by Clark yet again (not as painfully as in 'Fever' though). I've never been a fan of Avril Lavigne but the words to her song fit the dunk tank scene perfectly.

[jon-el87]

Not a very interesting episode. Abigail, a girl who've spent three years of high school, being bullied for her physical appearance, gets plastic surgery (which, naturally, is Kryptonite-based and turns her into a FOTW). Something that sparks reactions in the other students. Lois objects to it and thinks it was wrong. But, nobody points out to Lois, that Abigail was horribly bullied for her physical appearance. So, we're not dealing with a simple case of a teen getting breast implants, but an operation done to improve the girl's life (if not outright prevent her from committing suicide, if she'd have to go through, at least, one more year of bullying).

I did like them opening with a flashback to season 1, with Abigail being the crow mascot. We had seen this mascot before in "Hothead", making that retroactively Abigail. Thus creating the feeling (when one goes back and rewatches the early episodes) that Abigail had in fact been seen before at the school. She wasn't just another, never before seen or mentioned character. Retroactively, she's been in (at least, I'm not going to look through all the previous episodes to see if the mascot made more appearances) one previous episode.

Meanwhile Clark joins the football team, again, despite Jonathan's objections. It's not a very interesting matter. For starters, we've already gone through it, in season one (where it was made clear that he heavily wanted to do it, to impress Lana). I also come from another country, where schools don't have sports teams, so this urge to be on the football team isn't something that I can relate to. It's played up as something that makes Clark feel normal (no idea how) and something that every teenager dreams about (which I doubt is the case, even in countries, where schools have sports teams). And Jonathan is right in objecting. Despite Clark's insistence, that he won't use his powers, it's unfair to the other players. Even dangerous (reglardless of his "control", he can't shut off his invulnerability. So, someone slamming into him could be seriously hurt).

In the comics, Clark's origin has had multiple versions. In some, he doesn't play sports in HS (even going so far as to showing why it'd be unfair, to the other players, if he did play), while the John Byrne reboot had Clark play football in HS. Being an adaptation of the comics (which has had several different versions), there is no rule that they had to line up with the John Byrne version of the origin (regardless of the fact, that it was the current one, when the show started (when you're adapting over 60 years of material, you're really adapting the sum of it). If we were that strict, the show would've had to start over, at least, twice. As, during the show's run, DC changed Superman's origin story, several times).

I liked the Martha-Jonathan scene, where she announces her intent to take over the Talon.