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SV "What If" Game
Edited to rename my game now that it is famous all over teh internets, since "an SV Game/Poll Thingy" doesn't scan quite as well.
I have one of those extremely tedious projects at work that require, for sanity, an lj break every half hour or so, so it seems like a good time to play a game.
So here's the premise: the SV fairy has appeared to you and offered you the opportunity to travel to the SV-verse, temporarily, to improve Smallville and/or the lives of the characters in any way you see fit. There are rules, however. You can either (1)have one conversation with one character (and only one character), time length up to one hour, at any point in the timeline OR (2) you can change one event, but not speak to anyone.
--If you choose the conversation, you can talk to anyone at any point in their timeline, but you have to be yourself (mysterious stranger); you can't, for example, be Clark to talk to Lex. You can, however, be a mysterious stranger who knows the future; you just can't hang around more than an hour to show that your predictions were accurate.
--If you choose changing an event, you have a fair amount of power--let's say the limit of your power is that of a meteor mutant--but you can only change one event, and you can't speak to anyone. So, for example, if your goal was to prevent Jodi from becoming a fat-sucker in "Craving," you could either magically prevent her father's greenhouse from being salted with kryptonite OR you could have a conversation warning her, but you couldn't do both. If you wanted to save Jonathan's life in "Reckoning," you could have a conversation with Clark or you could blow up the Fortress of Solitude (if you think that would help) OR you could puncture Jonathan's tires so he never has the encounter with Lionel, but you could only do ONE of those things, not all of them. If you want to redirect the meteors in the first meteor shower to squash Lana, you can do that, but you can't then talk to Clark to get him to wait on Loeb bridge so he saves Lex's life even though he no longer has Lana to moon over and so he may not end up there on his own.
SO:
What is your goal?
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
What might be the unintended consequences?
For example, here's mine.
What is your goal?
I want Lex NOT to become an evil monster whose sociopathy exceeds Lionel's. It turns out I want that even more than I want Clark and Lex to get together.
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
After much thought about this, I think what I would do is appear to Lillian a couple days before she kills Julian and HEAL HER with my magical kryptomutant powers.
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
Even though I don't get to talk to her, my hope is that healing her would cover both her post-partum psychosis (to which I am attributing her desire to kill Julian) AND her heart condition, so she would live and continue to be a countering influence on Lex. I think by the time Lex gets to Smallville it's really too late for him to really change; he's too fucked up already. My hope is that if Lillian is not sucked down into despair because of her mortal illness, she would actually be able to support Lex in not becoming like his dad. And Lex would still have a little brother, who he clearly loved a lot, so that would give him motivation to try to be a good person and set a good example.
What might be the unintended consequences?
Well, Lillian might already be so damaged that she would still kill Julian, and maybe this time Lionel would catch her and she'd go to prison or be locked in an asylum, which probably would NOT make things better for Lex. Or maybe she wouldn't be caught, but she'd live, and instead of being Lex's dead model of goodness, she'd be the psycho-mom he was protecting, and that could get ugly and he might go evil earlier. Or maybe none of that would happen but instead Lionel would succeed in molding Julian to be the heir he wanted Lex to be, and instead of Lex being the evil genius he'd be locked in an eternal struggle with his brother the evil genius.
So, does anyone else want to play, or did I make the rules too complicated?
I have one of those extremely tedious projects at work that require, for sanity, an lj break every half hour or so, so it seems like a good time to play a game.
So here's the premise: the SV fairy has appeared to you and offered you the opportunity to travel to the SV-verse, temporarily, to improve Smallville and/or the lives of the characters in any way you see fit. There are rules, however. You can either (1)have one conversation with one character (and only one character), time length up to one hour, at any point in the timeline OR (2) you can change one event, but not speak to anyone.
--If you choose the conversation, you can talk to anyone at any point in their timeline, but you have to be yourself (mysterious stranger); you can't, for example, be Clark to talk to Lex. You can, however, be a mysterious stranger who knows the future; you just can't hang around more than an hour to show that your predictions were accurate.
--If you choose changing an event, you have a fair amount of power--let's say the limit of your power is that of a meteor mutant--but you can only change one event, and you can't speak to anyone. So, for example, if your goal was to prevent Jodi from becoming a fat-sucker in "Craving," you could either magically prevent her father's greenhouse from being salted with kryptonite OR you could have a conversation warning her, but you couldn't do both. If you wanted to save Jonathan's life in "Reckoning," you could have a conversation with Clark or you could blow up the Fortress of Solitude (if you think that would help) OR you could puncture Jonathan's tires so he never has the encounter with Lionel, but you could only do ONE of those things, not all of them. If you want to redirect the meteors in the first meteor shower to squash Lana, you can do that, but you can't then talk to Clark to get him to wait on Loeb bridge so he saves Lex's life even though he no longer has Lana to moon over and so he may not end up there on his own.
SO:
What is your goal?
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
What might be the unintended consequences?
For example, here's mine.
What is your goal?
I want Lex NOT to become an evil monster whose sociopathy exceeds Lionel's. It turns out I want that even more than I want Clark and Lex to get together.
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
After much thought about this, I think what I would do is appear to Lillian a couple days before she kills Julian and HEAL HER with my magical kryptomutant powers.
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
Even though I don't get to talk to her, my hope is that healing her would cover both her post-partum psychosis (to which I am attributing her desire to kill Julian) AND her heart condition, so she would live and continue to be a countering influence on Lex. I think by the time Lex gets to Smallville it's really too late for him to really change; he's too fucked up already. My hope is that if Lillian is not sucked down into despair because of her mortal illness, she would actually be able to support Lex in not becoming like his dad. And Lex would still have a little brother, who he clearly loved a lot, so that would give him motivation to try to be a good person and set a good example.
What might be the unintended consequences?
Well, Lillian might already be so damaged that she would still kill Julian, and maybe this time Lionel would catch her and she'd go to prison or be locked in an asylum, which probably would NOT make things better for Lex. Or maybe she wouldn't be caught, but she'd live, and instead of being Lex's dead model of goodness, she'd be the psycho-mom he was protecting, and that could get ugly and he might go evil earlier. Or maybe none of that would happen but instead Lionel would succeed in molding Julian to be the heir he wanted Lex to be, and instead of Lex being the evil genius he'd be locked in an eternal struggle with his brother the evil genius.
So, does anyone else want to play, or did I make the rules too complicated?
no subject
To begin the Lexana at the end of S3 instead of at the end of S5. To omit Jason Teague and the witch/stone storyline completely. And, while I’m hanging around in S3, to get rid of the character of Adam Knight, because I don’t think he added anything of interest and substance to the show, either (except calling Lana on some of her flaws—what a breath of fresh air that was!) Since I'm improving a relationship scenario, I hope that only counts as one change overall.
The Lexana relationship was set up perfectly in "Covenant" at the airport when Lana left for Paris, with Lex indicating his intention to visit her there, and there had been scenes of them interacting for at least several episodes previously. Their friendship was on solid ground, at that point, and ripe for development into something more.
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
I guess go back leave Parisian travel brochures around to convince Lex to make good on his offer of going to Paris. He may have done this at some point in canon, but if so, it was never shown. If Lana was reluctant, I’d hope she'd remember how much Lex has done for her, how much they have in common, and what a good friend he’s been. And what a natural relationship at that point in time, both of them having been dumped by Clark. I guess Lex would have to tell her about this.
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
It would have given us a much better storyline for S4 and beyond. Being that Clark broke up with Lana (for the first time) at the beginning of S3, if the Lexana didn’t begin until the very end of the season, it would have had much less the feel of beginning because Lana was rebounding from Clark. Getting rid of Lana’s other two boyfriends and giving her something to do (charity work, investigations, art or astronomy study) would get her focus off herself, and make her seem less reliant on constantly needing a guy to prop her up, helping grow into her own independence. And, when we got the touted “new and improved” Lana at the beginning of S4, she would have been with Lex, an established character, rather than a throwaway character who only lasted one season. When she chose Lex, it would have been an informed choice.
In S4, Lex and Lana, having grown close in Paris, would come back to Smallville, together, continuing the relationship begun in Paris (or, really, at the airport the day she left). It would have been an effective triangle situation that could have been extended throughout the season, impacting both their relationships with Clark as the three of them (perhaps) worked their way back to a tenuous friendship, but with the Lex-Lana relationship between them. Lex could still have been searching for the stones, and keeping Chloe safe, and putting his consuming need to know before his affair with Lana, but the whole Isobel Thoreaux plot could have been deep-sixed. They could even have woven the Clana back in to some extent later in the season if they really had to, but it would have been more layered and angsty by that point, as it would have grown organically through the season by Lana perhaps becoming slowly aware of Lex’s true nature, and again of her attraction to Clark..
What might be the unintended consequences?
Well, it would have accelerated the Lex/Clark/Lana scenario we now have, and necessitated focus on something else by now—something more meaningful, like the ultimate rift between Lex and Clark, to which the situation with Lana might have contributed, but only moderately. I think it would have yielded us a much better structured and more focused and adult S4. But, since my concept is vague at best and I have no real notion how it would have played out, I’m not sure. Maybe someone else has ideas?
no subject
I can see where you see the Lexana in s4, but don't you think it would be a problem that Lana was still in high school, even if she was 18? I think that would create perception problems for Luthorcorp, so Lex would be unlikely to enter into the relationship then.
On the other hand, I agree this would have been a *much* more organic and interesting plot development for Lana than the whole Isabelle Theroux thing.
no subject
To be honest, it never occurred to me to worry about Lana being too young for Lex in S3! It no doubt should have. I guess since the actors are all in their early twenties and older than their TV counterparts, and I have a teenager and a young adult of my own, I rarely have an exact sense of how old they are supposed to be and don't get brought up short the way I would if they were really still in their teens.