Did Smallville Fuck Up?

Ok,
SO...last week they killed off Jonathan Kent on Smallville. I know, isn't watching Smallville a little gay? Well, yes it is but I'm a geek and as a geek I must watch so back the fuck up. The point is they were building this whole season up with the promise that someone would die: Early on this year Clark had 'given up his powers' to be human and bang super-hottie Lana Lang (fair trade, really--have you seen that girl?) and then 'died' after being shot leading to his REAL father Jor-El (don't get me started on Jor-El, really) giving the powers back and bringing him back from the dead but with the caveat that someone whom Clark loved would have to die to keep the balance of the universe or something. Personally I think Jor-El is just a prick, but I'm not getting started on him tonight.
Anyway, so it seemed all year it was going to be either Lana (who you know they can't kill off; I mean, she's the reason I ever spent more than two minutes with the show in the first place) or Clark's 'cape hag' friend Chloe, who is the only person who knows his secret and is all kindasorta crushing on him blah blah blah and seems doomed at some point in this series so why not? From a fanboy perspective it had to be Chloe; there never was a Chloe in the comics, Lana was the first person Clark ever revealed himself to, Lana is his rock in the comics, etc.
So lo and behold, last week's episode ends and bam, heart attack, Jonathan Kent is dead. I can't begin with the sadness and anger I had at the end of that episode. First off, Jon Kent was played by John Schneider, who was on the Dukes of Hazzard. You don't kill a Duke boy, period. Just isn't done. Any character he or Tom Wopat ever plays deserves to live.
But it wasn't the Dukes fan in me that was upset; it was the comic fan. The old school 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tommorrow?' fan, the guy who put up with the 'Death of Superman' and the 'Reign of Supermen' and Mullet Superman and Superman Red/Blue...you name it. I hold a reverance for the character, and in doing so hold reverance for what makes him who he is. THE thing that makes him what he is, is his upbringing. His parents. The farming family salt-of-the-Earth pillars of strength and comfort that have always been Jonathan and Martha Kent. Part of what makes Superman do the great things he does is that he has this father who tells him 'good job son, I'm proud of you' or shows him a better way to connect with the humanity that under stress it must be easy to forget (Can you tell that I'm a Post-Crisis fan and not a Golden/Silver Age fan?). How can we have an 'I miss Daddy and now I'm angry at the world' Superman? Soap Opera bullshit!!
Hold on a minute.
You see, as a fanboy we often have to suffer with Hollywood's ideas of what and who our heros are (See Batsuit, nippled--filed under Schumacher, Joel). It almost seems like (using the example of Superman and Smallville) we EARN our enjoyment and love of the character through following these books, spending our money week after week digging into the past, the history of what makes him not just a comic hero, but a true character. Then some TV execs come along and throw some hack writers on the case and anyone who flips along all of a sudden feels like they know a thing or two about a thing or two. To us, it feels a little sick when ANY license is taken with the history or behavior of ANY character or event.
But, giving DC Comics and the WB a little credit, they've got some good people on Smallville. The Executive Producers seem to be true fans creating a new world that will bring new people into who and what Superman is about. One of the Associate Producers is a man named Jeph Loeb. Fanboys, you know who he is, but for everyone else out there, he's one of the top writers in the biz right now. He's taken the entire DC universe on and made it some it hasn't been for a looooong time--interesting. Not just interesting, fascinating.
Jeph Loeb is the shit. Bottom line. He also has recently lost his 17 year old son who was a talented aspiring artist and writer. Smallville is the world of these producers, and they can do with it what they see fit. That's how I 'let it go' after last week. But the more I think of it, I can't help but think Jeph had something to do with it. What father wouldn't trade his life in an instant to give his son the chance to grow and be something great? It seems to me a little bit like the whole plot line is related to that, and not only do I feel for Loeb and understand but I think as long as the lesson Clark learns is that Jon gave his life for him to help the world, it stands as the right thing to do on it's own merit.
Sorry for the rant, but as I thought of this it touched me and broke my heart at the same time. I can't imagine what Jeph Loeb has gone through, or Clark for that matter. But I hear what Loeb seems to be saying. And finally, I don't watch Smallville and think about what's 'wrong' with it. I just watch it.
Late,
Berg