Interesting. I appreciate your perspective, as I did not view this as any kind of addiction scenario. I just saw it as, he juiced once or twice to cheat at sports, which I felt he deserved to be torn a new one for (especially after his brother had to quit the team because he learned those powers and sports don’t mix the hard way, by injuring Jonathan himself). Especially with X-K being less a drug, and more a military-grade weapon whose users nearly killed Clark on a couple of occasions (and literally did just get Bizarro killed). So I like hearing another side to it.
Thanks. I'm not saying he's addicted to X-K, but it feels really clear to me that if a 15 year old kid thinks achieving at sport is so important he's willing to risk his life by inhaling a substance that he has no idea how he will react to (and because he's kryptonian, there's a huge risk factor), then that kid is seriously not okay.
That kid is struggling. That kid feels like he has no worth outside of football. That kid feels like his girlfriend is the only person in his life that really validates him.
That kid could have died because he doesn't feel like he's good enough, and based on the total lack of parental bonding moments we see, it's not hard to see why.
It's heart breaking.
I expected this talk to be the moment where Clark realises just how bad things have gotten because of his absence and Jordan' issues always being the priority.
I really thought that's what was coming... so the actual scene was like a slap in the face to me!
I think Jon's parents would have handled it better if everything wasn't already happening at once. They were both under tremendous stress already — Lois worrying about her husband (arrested for treason) and sister (cult brainwashing), and Clark breaking out of jail and then failing to prevent a murder — which doesn't make their reaction to the surprise of Jon's situation right, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Maybe I could accept this if Clark hadn't just had a scene of being forgiving and thankful to Tal, even suggesting one day he'd trust him to speak to his son who he tried to kill.
He then comes home like he's a bit exhausted but he's just hungry and happy to be home. He doesnt seem stressed.
And maybe I could even accept his anger if it was about Jonathan risking his life.
But nope... he was angry because of the family reputation and because Jonathan did something he taught him not to do. And he showed no empathy towards his son and no concern for his welfare. Which doesn't sit with me.
P.s. I had this niggle back in season 1 when he said to Lois 'if they're acting out, we'll give them a punishment' that I didn't love that parenting attitude but I thought it was a blip... guess it wasn't