Smallville Season 2: Standing Out

The moral case for standing out from the crowd.

Author’s Note: Just a friendly reminder that upgrading to a paid subscription gets you all of the posts listed below right away.

---

We all want to be recognized by other people.

Much as we might want to fit in with others and become part of the crowd, another part of us wants to feel like we're different. We want to be recognized for what makes us special and worthy of praise over other people. Be seen as in some ways better than other people. It's why we do things like join sports or try and be at the top in terms of academic achievement. We do it because it allows us the opportunity to win at these things. This allows us to stand out from the crowd and be more than just some person who you couldn't distinguish from anyone else. To be someone special.

Previously in this space, we've looked at the idea of trying to fit in. The idea that you want to feel like you belong to a group of people. Those you care about and want to connect with, and how that's difficult when you are different from other people. It requires you to try and hide who you are and what makes you special from the world. Otherwise people might think you're strange and want to leave you out of things. So you do things like become part of a team in sports or wear the same type of fashion as other people. You hide your differences like being overweight or some kind of special ability. All in an attempt to fit in. Blend in with everyone else so they can't see you as more than anyone else. But that's not the end of the story. You can also try to make other people want to follow you. Give people a reason for them to wear what you wear instead of you following others. You can try to stand out, but how do you do this?

“Dad's missing because of me and I brought this upon us...”

“You can't blame yourself. You can't change who you are. As long as you live people will try to exploit you. Your father and I have tried to shelter you as long as possible but one day we won't be there for you. And you're going to have to carry the burden of your gifts on your own. When your day comes, I have no doubt in my heart that you'll make us proud.”

This is very much where Clark is when we see him in season 2. During season 1, he did everything he could to appear normal. Yet his experience with Roger Nixon and Phalen trying to exploit him after learning what he's able to do has given him insight into the fact that he might not be able to stay hidden. To look and sound like everyone else. No matter how much he might want to, he has to come to terms with the fact that he might never really be able to do that. He's going to be different because he was born different from other people. He can't do things other people do but that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.

How hard this is going to be when people understand who he is only becomes real when he starts to show his true self to others. Pete in particular is the first person to see who Clark really is that doesn't die as a result of this knowledge. He's the first test for Clark in terms of how to declare exactly how different he is and understand what might happen if other people knew. Pete doesn't exactly handle it well in the short term. Realizing that someone he's known for pretty much his whole life has been keeping a really important part of who he is to himself. It takes him a minute, but he can find a way past the truth. Yet it's hardly his only test when it comes to recognizing how different he is. This test becomes even more real for Clark when he puts on the red Kryptonite ring for the first time. His need to be able to show others exactly who he is becomes completely overwhelming.

“Pete believe me there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't want to tell you the truth but my parents thought it would be too dangerous. Not just for me but for anyone else who knew the truth.”

“You didn't think I could handle it?”

“Can you?”

It's a test because showing people that you're different can be scary. They might see who you are and reject you. Not everyone who you share yourself with is going to like what they see. Although you won't know who will accept you and who won't until you actually tell them about these secret parts of yourself. So taking that risk becomes a real problem. Yet even this uncertainty and fear doesn't necessarily stop you from wanting to be known. Keeping a secret about who you are and the things you can do can be very isolating.

“Have you become so cynical that you read ill will into my good intentions? You may not believe me, I'm sure you won't, but I've always tried to be a good father to you son. I worry about you son, these obsessive paranoid tendencies. The danger with indulging in them is that you lose perspective. You turn your back on what truly matters.”

Only those truly committed to the idea of avoiding other people can stop themselves from giving in to this desire. Clark naturally has reason to want to keep things from people. Who he is and where he comes from would naturally make anyone suspicious of him and his motivations. We saw this in Pete's reaction to learning the truth. While Clark is trying to find a way to stand out, Pete has to find a way to fit in. He knows something other people don't. Yet he has to act like he knows nothing. As if he's exactly like everyone else. Something he could've done when he wasn't aware of Clark's secret. Now that he's aware though, it's much harder for Pete to blend in. Because of what he knows, he stands out when he doesn't want to. He attracts the attention of people like Dr Hamilton and Lex because he can't hide how what he knows changes the way he acts.

“I just can't help thinking that... Whitney's skin wasn't bullet proof. His bones weren't unbreakable but he still put himself in harm's way so the world could be safer. I wonder that if I didn't have my abilities, if I'd have that same kind of courage?”

People like Ryan, Kyla and Ian Turner are great examples of what happens when you are able to stand out from the crowd. They embrace the fact that they are different from other people, even if they do it in somewhat different ways. Ryan embraces his gifts but doesn't use them to exploit people unless he's forced to by those around him. Kyla will similarly embrace her gifts but will use them for noble if somewhat misguided reasons, doing some not so great things with them. Whereas Ian Turner will use what's available to him for his own greed and destructive ends, not letting anyone get in his way. Each of them provides an example for Clark of what happens when he stands out in the crowd.

“It doesn't bother you that he's so...”

“Different? If you really like someone you accept every part of them, but you can't do that until they're willing to share every part with you.”

“I think people like Byron keeps a part of himself hidden so he doesn't scare people away.”

“If you want to get close to someone you have to take that risk.”

“What if the risk is too big to take?”

“Then you might miss out on something that could be really amazing.”

Yet despite these many examples of how things can go terribly wrong when you stand out and show people how different you are, Clark still has a need to be seen by others. Especially when some of the more encouraging options come about. The problem with Phalen and Nixon was that they were looking to exploit his gifts and what makes him special, people like Dr Swan and Jor-El are trying to find ways to help him. To improve who he is and allow him to fully understand his powers. In doing so, they want Clark to stand out more rather than less. They want Clark to be noticed for his abilities and the good he can do in the world with them.

Knowing the dangers of this though, Clark tries to find some kind of balance between the two. By trying to ensure that he has as normal a life as he can possibly manage, while still using his gifts to help people. It's a difficult problem to deal with and it has all kinds of downsides. People who don't know about his abilities will find his strange appearances and heroic deeds rather confusing. Especially since they don't know how he can do so many of the things he does. Not to mention the fact that he seems unable or unwilling to share the truth with them.

“When I put that ring on, I felt this sudden urge to tell the whole world my secret. Lex, Lana, Jessie... the feelings are still there. It's like I have these two identities and I don't know which one is the real me.”

Of course, the person Clark most wants to share all of himself with is Lana. He wants so badly for her to know what makes him worthy of her. The ways in which he's not like other people because if she does see it, he believes she will choose him. Where this becomes a problem is in the fact that Lana has given him reasons to doubt what she might think of him if Clark did reveal the truth about himself. She's come into contact with so many people who stand out, many of them being obsessed with her for whatever reason. They haven't exactly been very kind to her over the years.

“Lana, what if Cyrus really could've proven he was an alien?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how would you feel about him if he really was from another planet?”

“Well, um, I guess I'd try and keep an open mind.”

“You'd never feel completely comfortable with him would you?”

“I have to admit, I'd be a little freaked out. Does that make me a bad person?”

“No, just honest.”

Clark can't be sure that if he did reveal who he is that she might not see his feelings for her in the same way as Tina Greer or Byron or Ian. He knows the risk that he's taking if he ever does reveal his true nature, and yet he wants to do it anyway. Despite how unique he is, some part of him still wants to be able to fit in with the world. Which naturally brings the two parts of himself into conflict. Unfortunately for Clark, it's not a conflict that can be resolved easily.

Some people spend their whole lives trying to figure out whether they should try and stand out or fit in with everyone else. You never know exactly how to handle it, in part because it comes up so often and the outcome can be different from person to person. You can escape a lot of things about life. Whether it's the people around you who hate you or at the very least are very angry with you. If you want, you can leave your home town behind. But what you can't escape is your own mind. You can't escape the feelings you have and the conflicts in your head. No matter what you do or who you are, there's nothing you can do about that.

“In life, the road to darkness is a journey, not a light switch.”

It's enough to make someone insane.

But we'll get deeper into that when we explore season 3.

Smallville is available on Max and Hulu in the United States and Amazon Prime.