#au where Jor-El tells Clark he failed again and Clark says

[agreysexualromantic]

Gifsets via @winchesterlegacies

Smallville 9.21 Salvation

This.

I'm going to refer to this moment to talk about why I hate Jor-El so damn much in this series.

Because this moment, here, this moment where he very consciously chooses to sacrifice himself (and everything that led up to it), this should have been greeted by his father with understanding and pride. This was the choice of a true hero, one who had weighed every other possibility and chosen the one that caused the least harm, that brought the most peace, that saved two entire worlds from war and tyranny.

But instead what we get from Jor-El the moment Clark opens his eyes in the next season episode is, as always, shame and anger.

And no, I don't care that Jor-El is AI. If it was true that he operated without regard for emotion there would at least be internal consistency to his criticisms of Clark, *but there never is*. (Also, anger is an emotion, and AI Jor-El absolutely expresses anger frequently, and his anger results in active punishments for Clark, not just "natural consequences" from Clark's actions.)

In reality, Clark can just never do the right thing in Jor-El's eyes. If Clark makes a choice based on human emotion, he gets a lecture for being too emotional. If he makes a choice based on logic he gets a lecture for not caring enough about the people he was "sent" to lead. When he chooses to save the lives of the people he loves, Jor-El tells him he can't focus on just a few people, he has to think about everyone. When he thinks about literally everyone and sacrifices himself, Jor-El tells him he failed and abandoned them to greater evil (as if Clark could have possibly foreseen any of what was coming in season 10). Jor-El tells Clark repeatedly that he's NOT a god and shouldn't act like one, yet expects perfection and omniscience from him. He consistently withholds vital information and assistance out of sheer spite. He pouts and gives Clark the silent treatment like an actual child whenever he feels remotely wronged by Clark.

He spends nearly 10 seasons telling Clark that he will never, ever be good enough, going so far as to disown him completely and tell Kara to take his place instead. Clark shows one minor instance of pride for saving both Lois and the people of Metropolis and he's told that he's too dark to defeat the darkness. And again, this is immediately after Clark WILLINGLY AND THOUGHTFULLY SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO SAVE TWO ENTIRE WORLDS.

In other words, Jor-El is a toxic, abusive father. He moves goalposts constantly, he tells Clark to obey or suffer the consequences (but we never see any instances where Clark's obedience actually leads to a better outcome for Clark or anyone else for that matter). After Jonathan dies, Jor-El heaps guilt on Clark's head for choosing to change the past, when Jonathan himself admits that he made his own choices that led to his death. Jor-El tells Clark to do one thing and then blames him for the outcomes when Clark does it.

Clark simply cannot win, because Jor-El doesn't actually want him to.

It's no wonder that by the start of season 10, Clark is holding a pile of insecurity, regret, shame and fear. It's no wonder that he's so terrified of making the wrong choice, no wonder that he so often believes that he HAS to do everything on his own and that everything that goes wrong is literally his fault and his fault alone.

And look, I get it, Jor-El is there to challenge Clark, to push him, to be the Kryptonian influence, blah blah blah. I get that Jonathan and Jor-El are set up as foils for one another in fatherhood. I get that Kryptonian culture is different and Jor-El doesn't operate under human ethics or morals.

None of that changes the fact that he actively works *against* Clark's growth for the majority of the series. Most of the time, Clark has to *unlearn* whatever lesson he learned from Jor-El in order to take the next step towards becoming Superman. Clark rarely, if ever, comes to a place where he actually thinks Jor-El was *correct* in the way he views the world, he only comes to a place where he agrees that not obeying Jor-El means people were punished, and Clark regrets any time someone suffers.

AI Jor-El served as a personal villain for Clark in the series, and the way the writers tried so hard to force Clark to have a relationship with him "because it's his father" was one of the most frustrating story threads in the whole series.

End rant.

Also, fuck Jor-El.