by Sullivan
Lane [s]
OK, so pretty much anyone who reads my blog
and fanfic
and message board posts (back in the day when I used to care about
posting) knows that I'm a Chloe fan. Usually, they're Chloe fans
too. Not necessarily a Clark/Chloe fan, but we're all in it for
the Snarky Torchy Journalistic Flippy-Haired Monster. (That's my
new name for her. You likes?)
That said, I couldn't stand her in "Vortex." I thought
she was out of character in "Heat." I long for the days
of "Craving," "Shimmer" and "Hug."
When I liked Chloe. And even "Tempest" when I didn't
like her but I concede that she was in character. Heat!Chloe and
Vortex!Chloe were replaced with cheap imitations.
Let me explain. All through first season, our love for the flippy-haired
girl grew. Why? She's real. She's got passion for something other
than boy bands and makeup. She's devoted to the Torch, and she
knows what she wants out of life. Although some teenagers would
say that she acts like an adult, I also know other teenager who
relate to FirstSeason!Chloe.
And you know, underneath all that passion, determination and
"get the hell out of my way" attitude, Chloe's got
vulnerability and flaws. The sarcasm is a defense mechanism, and
she recognizes that it gets out of control. Onscreen,
FirstSeason!Chloe was this bundle of energy and curiosity while
just under the surface, there was pining for Clark and trying to
just get over that in her own private way.
This is what made Chloe unique, and it's why so many fans fell in
love with her.
"Vortex" has got Chloe half-heartedly looking for Bo
Kent. Um, no. First of all, no matter what had happened the night
before, Chloe would push all of that aside to pursue the story.
And hey, weren't there meteor fragments up in that crypt? Why
wasn't Chloe all over that fact? I don't like Chloe preoccupied
with her Clark feelings; it's a very Lana approach to the
situation. I don't think it's true to her character to be spewing
all this angst to Pete and commiserating with Lana either. The
Chloe I knew in first season would have sucked it up and pushed
those feelings out of the way. She is prone to dealing with things
through anger ("Most men are from Mars, Clark, but you're
from some distant galaxy no one's ever heard of!") than
tears.
SecondSeason!Chloe is no different from any other teenage girl on
the WB.
Next to Lex, Chloe was the one character the writers treated right
last season. Sure, they made her the resident whipping girl by
pushing her out of a window and dangling her from the ceiling.
Allison Mack's been shafted when it comes to publicity, even
though the latter half of the season we sometimes got more Allison
screen time than Kristin, who is the female lead. Mack has also
been enthusiastic when she talks about the show, expressing
genuine concern about her character's direction in the show. It
means that she's invested in the show and her character, and it
seemed that the writers felt the same way, too, especially in the
last three episodes.
But all that's been thrown out the window.
I have a theory. I know the writers read what the fans say. Not as
meticulously as other fans do, but they know. They have a general
idea. There are more Internet fans who favor Chloe to Lana, which
was not the intention. So the writers switched their
personalities: SecondSeason!Chloe is more simpering, pathetic;
Lana became more curious about Clark (which had always been Chloe
territory in first season) and less ... well, stupid. (She
actually thought to call 911 when the fire started. I nearly
screamed "Hallelujah, her brain's still working!")
This switcheroo ploy may have worked if the characters had
changed, say, after the first two or three episodes of Season 1.
We may not have cared. (I probably wouldn't have liked Chloe as
much, but that's neither here nor there.) But we've come to know
the characters for 21 episodes. To do a schizophrenic attitude
change after the summer hoping no one would notice is baffling.
And it assumes we have short attention spans. (I guess some people
do, but again, neither here nor there.)
Hey, writers: Don't mess up a good thing. We want
FirstSeason!Chloe back, dammit.
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