I'm a fan of Smallville, it's good TV. However, I finally got around to watching the episode "Unsafe." By all that is holy, that was some ham-fisted preaching. Has the whole gay marriage thing gotten people that riled up about marriage?
Highlights from previous episodes include Clark ignoring a direct order from his parents, causing an explosion that causes his mother to miscarry (notably, a very unlikely pregnancy, given that the Kent's infertility is a major plot element). His parents were angry, but reasonably so.
In another series of episodes Clark knowingly uses red kryptonite on himself. Red kryptonite removes all of Clark's inhibitions and he knows it when he uses it. He proceeds to steal his father's motorcycle and run away to the big city of Metropolis where he becomes a major criminal. He steals $100,000 or more while on his bender. His parents are mildly bent out of shape, but very accepting of their prodigal son when he finally returns.
Finally, in "Unsafe", someone else slips Clark some red kryptonite. He doesn't know about it until it's too late. While drugged up he heads off to Vegas and gets married.
This really pisses off his parents. They hold him to higher standards, they tried to teach that marriage is Super Sacred And Important. (Never mind that it's never really been mentioned on the show prior to this point.) $100,000 in theft (that was never paid back) is easily forgiven, but doing something stupid while drugged against your will isn't. Nice sense of perspective.
Add in a clumsy "sex as a teenager is Baaaaad" and an otherwise moderately good episode was seriously soured. Someone at the WB is a coward with the same distorted sense of importance that plagues too much of America. Feh.
(Reposted from my livejournal.)