How are Tess/Clark living in Smallville but working in Metropolis?

[Colt___45]

From earlier episodes, we know it takes about 3 hours by car to get from Smallville to Metropolis. How can Clark possibly explain that to anyone? That's a 6 hour round trip commute each day - which would be hard for Clark to explain to anyone how a junior reporter can supposedly afford 6 hours worth of gasoline in a big new pickup truck every day.

[Karafan1]

I's been like that for the last few seasons, the 3 hour drive is all but forgotten I think..

[pizzahead2490]

private jet/ super speed

[ClarksGal]

Tess has a helicopter. Clark has lightening speed. :) The real question is how Lois does it, living above the Talon. :)

[Tzvi]

From earlier episodes, we know it takes about 3 hours by car to get from Smallville to Metropolis.

In one of the early episodes two characters sat on top of a water tower in Smallville and could see Metropolis. Then it switched to being three hours away. Now, Smallville almost seems like a suburb of Metropolis.

I guess it could be explained as there orginally was no direct road to Metropolis from Smallville and therefore it took 3 hours as you had to take back roads and go around everybody's farm land and traveling thru the neighboring town of Offscreenville to reach Metropolis. Then when you had Lex working there regularly, I am sure he made the local goverment put in a highway that runs directly to Metropolis.

So, the commute of 3 hours could suddenly become 20 minutes.

Of course I am still trying to figure how a coastal city like Metropolis and visible mountain ranges can exist in Kansas.

--Tzvi

[AndiGirl]

They all do it...Clark, Tess, Lois, Chloe and now Jimmy. The weirdos..

[harryandginnyfanatic]

Tess has a helicopter. Clark has super speed.

[TECHWON]

Tess has a helicopter. Clark has lightening speed. :) The real question is how Lois does it, living above the Talon. :)

yeah i've wonder that too lol

[superspider02]

In one of the early episodes two characters sat on top of a water tower in Smallville and could see Metropolis. Then it switched to being three hours away. Now, Smallville almost seems like a suburb of Metropolis.

I guess it could be explained as there orginally was no direct road to Metropolis from Smallville and therefore it took 3 hours as you had to take back roads and go around everybody's farm land and traveling thru the neighboring town of Offscreenville to reach Metropolis. Then when you had Lex working there regularly, I am sure he made the local goverment put in a highway that runs directly to Metropolis.

So, the commute of 3 hours could suddenly become 20 minutes.

Of course I am still trying to figure how a coastal city like Metropolis and visible mountain ranges can exist in Kansas.

--Tzvi

Actually the producers came out years ago and said the fx people goofed up in that episode and placed metroplois way to close and it was meant to be farther away then it was. Yes in the show's history they have clearly stated many times metroplois and smallville are 3hrs away from each other and it would be a 6hr drive but since then they dont really get into it much and has been a stupid plothole in the show for yrs. As for clark we know he can superspeed to work in a matter of mins where as tess she could take a jet/helicopter and be there in a short time.

[pizzahead2490]

to me lois lives at the daily planet

[amberdawn]

I just pretend that Metropolis is close to SV

[Imzadia]

In one of the early episodes two characters sat on top of a water tower in Smallville and could see Metropolis. Then it switched to being three hours away. Now, Smallville almost seems like a suburb of Metropolis.

I guess it could be explained as there orginally was no direct road to Metropolis from Smallville and therefore it took 3 hours as you had to take back roads and go around everybody's farm land and traveling thru the neighboring town of Offscreenville to reach Metropolis. Then when you had Lex working there regularly, I am sure he made the local goverment put in a highway that runs directly to Metropolis.

So, the commute of 3 hours could suddenly become 20 minutes.

Of course I am still trying to figure how a coastal city like Metropolis and visible mountain ranges can exist in Kansas.

--Tzvi

:eek: Now You are scaring me with all the Logic and trying to make what they do make sense. It makes my head hurt! :rolleyes: Also, in the episode "Veritas", Lionel told the Child Lex that he was going to take him on a little helicopter trip with him to a small town just outside Metropolis called Smallville. So, I imagine Tess flies out in the helicopter, and we all know that Clark superspeeds on foot. We only saw the pick-up truck in "Plastique". We may not see it again more than once again all season. :\

And since Clark, Chloe and Lois are all living in Smallville and working in Metropolis, AND they're all friends, Why don't they Pool their drive in together. Even that would be a Lot more practical. :confused:

I posted this comment in another thread:
Tess is probably working both in Smallville and Metropolis. She could most likely fly to the city in the Lex/LuthorCorp helicopter. But of course, I never learned or understood where Lionel lived in the city. They never showed us his personal living space other than the high-rise office building. :confused: :\

[LCforever]

Was I hearing things when Clark said to Lois on the cell phone conversation "I'm flying in right now?"????:confused:

[LastSonKalEl]

haha carpool...retarded....clark doesn't carpool bc he's faster than a speeding bullet ....that would be like one of us owning a ferrari and having to drive a crowded ass geo metro 3 hours a day ......it just isn't time efficient........

helicopter, super speed

answer complete

[Dom20]

Tess has a helicopter. Clark has lightening speed. :) The real question is how Lois does it, living above the Talon. :)

I thought she was staying with Chloe? Until she moved out this week. They really out explain the Clark thing. I mean how hard is it to find an apartment in Metropolis.

[pizzahead2490]

I thought she was staying with Chloe? Until she moved out this week. They really out explain the Clark thing. I mean how hard is it to find an apartment in Metropolis.

and chole lives in smallville.

[Kal el of krypton]

she could have a small apartment in metrpolis for weekdays and then go back to smallville to live on the weekends :)

could say the same for clark lol we haven't seen him in smallville for the past 2 or 3 episodes in smallville until now :)

[Darth Pipes]

I thought it was six hours to Metropolis?

My guess about Tess is she probably takes a Luthorcorps Jet into work every day.

[Bigsmak]

Maybe lex had all the buildings in Smallville moved one day when the townsfolk were sleeping. So they woke up and the whole town was next to Metropolis!

:eek:

[celita]

Lois, Chloe and Jimmy also live in Smallville but work in Metropolis, that's why I hope that Lois's new place is in Metropolis.

[Iolanthe]

Originally posted by Tzvi:

I guess it could be explained as there orginally was no direct road to Metropolis from Smallville and therefore it took 3 hours as you had to take back roads and go around everybody's farm land and traveling thru the neighboring town of Offscreenville to reach Metropolis. Then when you had Lex working there regularly, I am sure he made the local goverment put in a highway that runs directly to Metropolis.

So, the commute of 3 hours could suddenly become 20 minutes.

Tee-hee! This is the best explanation yet. Metropolis was probably "three hours" away in driving time because of crappy infrastructure - you know, only two-lane highways, lots of traffic lights and speed traps, congested back roads, lack of alternate routes, etc. No doubt Metropolis has a lot of suburban sprawl that is now reaching out to Smallville. And Smallville will eventually become a bedroom community for the Metropolis commuters.

I'm sure that, as Tzvi postulates, the actual as-the-crow-flies distance to Metropolis is not all that great, and the drive (if there were absolutely no traffic) would be very quick.

So, certainly, with Lex Luthor living in Smallville, and Lionel Luthor hanging out in Smallville so much (both due to their fascination with Clark Kent), I'm also sure that, as Tzvi said, they used their billionaire influence to make things more convenient for themselves.

OK, OK, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid....but Tzvi has a very amusing take on it, doing his/her best to explain some of the logical inconsistencies.

And face it, there's been a steady contraction of the distance between Metropolis and Smallville. Wasn't it in the episode "Truth" where Pete blurted out that Clark was going to Metropolis to get the hot dogs from the football stadium? And Chloe says, "You're driving six hours for hot dogs?" And Pete replies, "When Clark goes supersonic it only takes ten minutes!" Or something like that.

And as the show went on, it's like SV and Metropolis became next door neighbors. In the episode where Clark finds out that Oliver is the Green Arrow (forgot the name, was that "Arrow"?) Oliver and Clark meet in the Talon, and then Oliver is able to get to Metropolis to save Lois from drowning in what is implied to be a very short time.

Actually, Tzvi, you deserve credit for trying to rationalize things. I laughed out loud at your comment:Of course I am still trying to figure how a coastal city like Metropolis and visible mountain ranges can exist in Kansas.

Yeah! How do they get off showing "the coast" and ships at harbor? I could maybe buy a river but they're showing an ocean view. The mountain ranges? Here's another dis of Middle America - they'll assume that everyone thinks that the Rocky Mountains are right next door to Kansas.

And, in other "WTF" moments, don't even get me started on how the Smallville Medical Center deals with every single illness or accident that happens. The classic example: Lex gets shot in the head, in Detroit. (Forgot the episode, I think it was "Fracture" last season.) Lionel has him "medivacked to Smallville." Why?

I'm sure the Detroit hospitals have plenty of experience dealing with gunshot wounds. And if you're looking for a neurosurgeon, why not stop by at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, only forty miles west of Detroit? They're a world-renowned tertiary care institution that can handle craniotomies and brain surgeries. Why in the world would you bring Lex back to Smallville Medical Center? They didn't even drop some lines in the script to justify it. When the writers do something like this, they drop me out of my "willing suspension of disbelief".

Ah, heck, I'm ranting now. I guess I have to have the right attitude about it - try to keep a sense of humor about inconsistencies like these. So when someone like Tzvi makes a semi-logical and somewhat plausible attempt at dealing with them within the show canon, I applaud.

[Shadowlord367]

I don't understand this either. At the end of Exodus, Metropolis was visible from Smallville. Can you possibly see Point B, which is three miles away, from Point A?

I also don't understand how Tess, the new CEO of a multi-million dollar company, also has time to be the editor of the Daily Planet. Owning it, and acting as editor are separate things.

[Iolanthe]

Originally posted by Shadowlord367:
I also don't understand how Tess, the new CEO of a multi-million dollar company, also has time to be the editor of the Daily Planet. Owning it, and acting as editor are separate things.

Excellent point, Shadowlord! Especially since, in "Lois and Clark", it was established that editor Perry White spent all his time at the Daily Planet, getting the paper out, and making sure that every edition was up to Planet standards. In fact, in "LnC" continuity, Perry's wife actually divorced him because he spent so much time at the Planet that there was no time for her.

So why should Tess Mercer act as editor? It's a full-time job (or more.) And being the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation such as Luthorcorp is certainly a more-than-full-time job too!

I guess that Clark Kent and his secret are seductively attractive.....