Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: The Bombshell - 10/10

Wow, Terry, that is so moving!

Your Clark really redeemed himself. He proved not to be Victor Frankenstein, not to be Doctor Jekyll, not to be MacBeth and not to be Rigoletto. All these men were ultimately guided by their own selfish desires, and so they let their desires override whatever beliefs they may have had and whatever principles they may have subscribed to. But not so Clark. As desperately as he wanted to be with Robin, as desperately as he wanted to know her, and through her, a tiny piece of Krypton - and as desperately as he wanted to make her a thing of moral beauty, so that he could believe that the Kryptonian people and civilization and he himself were ultimately things of moral beauty - well, as desperately as he wanted all that, he couldn't abandon his own principles and his own beliefs in order to get his heart's desire. And so Clark proved himself not to be a tragic hero, but a hero.

I need to quote something from the last part, which I ultimately disagree with:

The comparison between Lois's infatuation (or something) with Lex Luthor and Clark's infatuation (or something) with Robin is really clever and certainly not without merit. Ultimately, though, it is not really fair. Consider. When Lois fell in love (or something) with Lex, she was not married to Clark, not even engaged to him, not even 'inofficially' his girlfriend. She had not romantic obligations to him at all. Also, while Clark strenuously warned her against getting close to Lex, he never levelled any specific accusations against the billionaire. He certainly never told Lois that Lex had threatened to kill him. Lois had some reasons not to take Clark too seriously.

Clark, on the other hand, was married to Lois. And his wife told him that the superpowered woman he was obsessed with had threatened to kill her. That is an extremely specific accusation, but Clark just brushed Lois off. Clark betrayed his matrimonial duty to Lois when he refused to take the death threat to his wife seriously, but Lois only betrayed her work partner loyalty to Clark when she refused to listen to his unspecified accusations against Lex.

But ultimately, as I said, Clark redeemed himself. I was so ready to say that Lois should forget her matrimonial duties to Clark and leave the man who was fascinated by the woman who had threatened her life.

But Clark didn't fall into the abyss. And he ultimately didn't let Lois down. And she didn't die. And I'm so glad that their marriage survived.

This has been a fantastic ride, Terry.

Ann

This was a very moving close to an excellent story.

I had a difficult time with Clark's behavior. I know Clark can sometimes be overgenerous is his expectations for others but I struggled to see that as the basis of his behavior toward Robin and Lois.

Robin's behavior and ultimate intent seemed so obvious that I was fearful that Clark was going to commit a huge "stupid" and turn away from Lois. I'm glad we didn't go there.

Bob

I need to say, too, that your portrait of Robin was ultimately extremely moving. If Clark proved himself to be a hero rather than a tragic hero, then Robin proved herself to be a tragic heroine.

Ann

A satisfying conclusion to the tale, things aren't fairy tale perfect, but then that wouldn't fit this story. I still read Clark's fascination with Robin as platonic and therefore not a betrayal of Lois... insensitive to his wife's needs and concerns yes, but not a betrayal of their marital commitments. Should Clark have listened to Lois' relation of Robin's threat? Yes. Should he have distanced himself from her a little more firmly? Yes. Was he more blind towards Robin than Lois had been to Lex? Probably, Lois had a lot more clues and circumstantial evidence to rationalize away with Lex (not that she ever had the question posed to her as such) but Lois occupied a position of greater trust with Clark (as Ann said). I also think Clark's reaction to Robin's confession was too tepid while his reaction to her suicide, while a little strong, still fits when compared to other incidents (the duel with Nor leaps to mind). However, while I don't like his reactions, they fit with your characterization of Clark in this story. I also liked Lois in this chapter a lot. You even managed to turn Robin into a sympathetic character despite the revelation of more of her past.

Again, great job in hooking me into a plotline I probably would never have read if I were looking at a summary of the finished product. I just couldn't NOT know how this ended from the first chapter.

This was fantastic. Of course, I couldn't really see any other ending besides Robin's death. Someone of her cunning and resourcefulness would eventually find a way out of that prison. All she would have to do was manipulate the right person.

I was so glad to hear Clark tell her that she didn't have the morality needed to be a hero. That's when I knew he hadn't turned his back on Lois.

And the ending was great. It wasn't a nice ending, but it was exactly what could be expected.

Poor Clark.

I kind of expected Robin to do what she did. Somebody like her wouldn't put up with being caged like that, not that I can blame her at all. Still, it would be awfully hard on Clark.

I'm glad that he finally saw what Lois was trying to tell him, though.

Nan

Sorry for the late response.. busy weekend..

Wow... I enjoy your writing Terry... it is very confronting.. and as I think I mentioned, I enjoy reading stories that take risks.
So I have enjoyed most of this ride...

Despite Robin taking her own life, I could not like her (which in the end I think is a good thing). Taking her own life was the easy way out... a person willing to learn, to evolve and grow would have learned how to live with the imprisonment. I can understand why she did it.. and I like the fact you kept her true to herself the entire way through this. She was a very emotive character in that I couldn't help BUT hate her... well written indeed.

Lois was great... and I related to her on many levels, but I guess I feel she is left open-ended... her story really doesn't end here, and after the effort you put in the beginning of this story to show us her pain of loosing 'her' child... I wonder if perhaps there is a sequel for this story looming which deals with her reconciliation (for I don't feel the issue is truly put behind her yet), and the rebuilding of her and Clarks relationship...

However, Clark never redeemed himself to me... he stayed too out of character through this story for me to find him believable most of the time. Even at the end, I felt like there was something missing from him... I can't quite put my finger on it... but I was left feeling he wasn't himself... not complete... but perhaps this is for the same reasons I mentioned with Lois above... his emotions from this story haven't really been finalised/rationalised.. we've just been given the tip of the iceberg so to speak.

I enjoy reading your stuff Terry... thanks for sharing, and I look forward to the next fic you confront us with.

Hi Terry,

I'm sorry I haven't left fdk before when you were posting in parts, but, to be honest, I've been holding my breath, wondering just which character was going to die.

I'm very relieved that it was Robin. I have to say that I did try hard to like her ... I mean, she did have a dreadful upbringing, but I felt her character was extremely flawed. There really was no other answer than that Robin should die, and I congratulate you on your writing of Robin.

The question of nurture against nature is always a compelling one, but I still believe that Clark would never have turned into a super-powered monster as Robin did. Though, monster is probably too strong a word. Robin was more like a super-powered spoiled child, who lashed out if she didn't get her own way.

I did feel that perhaps Clark should have realized sooner that Robin was beyond help, but I'm glad that in the end he saw that Lois was right.

I can understand his disappointment, but I do think he was probably being a bit naive in believing that just because she was Kryptonian, she could learn to share his ethics.

But you did keep me reading, Terry, even when I didn't know where you were going and even sometimes against my will, when I was disappointed with Clark's choices.

But you are right when you say that we readers should try to read stories which aren't quite in our comfort zone, otherwise we might miss a very good read.

Yours Jenni

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. I like it when people tell me what they think of what I've written, even if it's not all gushy and oh-how-wonderful-you-are and you-are-the-best-ever! kind of thing, because it means that you cared enough about the characters or the story line or something to tell me how you felt about it.

Ann, I know that the correlation between the Lois-Luthor and the Clark-Robin relationships isn't an equivalent comparison, but what I wanted to do was to draw a parallel between what Lois did with Lex and what Clark did with Robin. #1, Lois should have trusted Clark when he warned her about Lex. And Clark should have trusted Lois when she warned him about Robin. #2, both Lois and Clark failed to look past the surface of their respective "matches" and got seriously hurt in the process. #3, neither Lex nor Robin turned out to be good people. #4, both died without facing justice for their crimes (no matter when Lex actually died in the show). #5, both turned to the other for comfort when the truth finally came crashing down on each of them.

The parallels aren't perfect, of course, and there's a lot of wiggle room there. I don't mean to imply that the situations were equal, just similar.

bobart, I'm glad Clark didn't go "stupid" on us, too. Even super men - and women - have those brain fart moments on occasion. And we can all be stubborn about certain things.

Lieta, thanks for reading, and thanks for being "hooked" even if it was by stealth. Frankly, I wasn't too fond of Clark in this story, either. He was acting just like a typical male, and I do that often enough for several guys. But since his affection for Robin was based in their having a shared birthplace and not in his physical attraction to her, I think we can cut him a little bit of slack.

Beth, I think you're right that Robin - or whatever her name was - wouldn't have stayed there for long. She would have figured out a way to get out, and then Superman would have had to deal with her on a permanent basis. That would have been worse, because then he'd suffer the guilt for whatever bad things she might have done while free. And Lois would have been in danger 24/7 until she was caught or otherwise neutralized.

Nan, thanks for commenting. Yeah, sure had a tough time in this story. He never could find a balance between helping a fellow Kryptonian and working to heal his marriage. But I think he has his priorities lined up correctly now.

Lisamaree, I understand that Clark wasn't acting all that "Clark-like" in this story, but even though he has all those powers, he still has some of the same problems and shortcomings as the rest of us. It's one of the things that drew me to the show originally, and it's one of the things that keeps me coming back to these boards to read what people write and what people post about what's written.

Thanks for your comments, Jenni. The nurture/nature debate is way too complex for me to settle it one way or the other in a novella like this. I tend to agree that Clark would not have ended up like Robin had he been found by Kansas bootleggers, but we'll never know for certain. And it's probable that Robin might have turned out selfish and self-centered and amoral even if Jonathan and Martha had raised her.

"Comfort zone?" I said that people should read things outside their comfort zone? When did I say that?

Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. Anyway, I'm glad that everyone who read the whole thing did so. I hope you enjoyed it (even if "enjoyed" isn't quite accurate), and I thank everyone who's left feedback. It's good to know that the boards aren't dead yet.

What a moving story, Terry. There's something about the growth of characters that moves the reader, as well. Lois grew and found herself. Clark learned how to listen to his wife and his common sense. Robin, or whatever her name was, tried to grow, but she did even that in the wrong way.

I almost wanted one more scene, one where Clark and Lois worked out their peace. Of course, we all know they are going to make peace, but I would still sleep better tonight knowing that they're moving to higher ground maritally. Of course, I've always had a love/hate relationship with the fiction of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, too.


Elisabeth