I can't fault him too much for it at that age, because it's clearly from his experience with Jonathan "Do as I say, not as I do" Kent and the influence of the small town, but still. I'd have liked to see him grow out of that.

sigh ... oh, me too. This is right near the top of the list of "Things I Wish For Clark."

I think maybe I'm letting too much later season angst creep into my rewatch though. It's hard, it's all still very fresh for me (I did all 8 seasons in the last year) but I will learn to separate and just enjoy the early eps for what they were - not what is coming.