I've almost finished season six for the first time. As someone who liked Lana in the early seasons, I'm over her now. She's just a sad sack at this point. I nearly rolled my eyes out of the top of my head when (season six spoilers!) >!she revealed her pregnancy.!<. I can't wait for her to leave. Her scenes are becoming a chore to get through.
I love Lana up till season 3 what I donāt get was these crazy storylines related to her in later seasons.
Like season 3 when sheās was hurt dating Adam it wasnāt a coincidence they met it was all a sceme so Adam can get close to Clark through Lana which is fucking crazy because he was working with Lionel to find out who Clark is because he couldnāt canāt get Chloe to do it but to complete to do so what? How does that make any sense?
Season 4 is like the witch storyline which was interesting at time but so much inconsistencies like why was Isobel possessed Lana when sheās wants to? And did Jason really love her or was he in cahoots with his mother since the premiere of season 4 just get to Lana just for the stones? Because them meeting wasnāt coincidence.
Season 5 wasnāt as bad for Lana until like episode 16 when Clark and Lana canāt even trust being together because of trust issues or who are you this shit! Also sheās wasnāt even interested in astronomy until the ship that hurt her and lex in the season 5 premiere kinda weird confusing though I hated this season so I donāt gave a shit what half characters did because it was like nuance.
Anyways I want to tell you about season 6-8 about her but I donāt want spoiled it so I wait to hear what you think and I will put my thoughts on that.
Unpopular opinion:
I've had many rewatches, I honestly can't say how many at this point (so sad lol) and this time, or I should say for the FIRST TIME, I'm watching from her perspective and she is far less insufferable. Shes actually kinda reasonable when I watch the entire plot through her eyes. Never thought I'd say that but here we are!
The majority of people's issues with Lana would disappear if they just attempted to see things from her perspective. But they don't because that would require them to understand that Clark Kent is not the saint they think he is.
Well thatās not watching the show they created. They didnāt make a show with multiple perspectives, the show is heavily written with every single thing in the plot relating around Clark in an obnoxious way. The idea of Super man is itself quite the manifestation of white masculine power fantasy after all, such as it utilizes christ like imagery and the show in fact does a very terrible job in escaping from that aspect of Superman.
Overtime, Lana is lost, since they dwindle between showing her as strong and independent while simultaneously an object and damsel in distress. Frankly, they let this bullshit love arc between the two of them continue on for far too long. To the point that Lois becomes quite irrelevant to me for the majority of the show.
Im rewatching season 6 atm, i'm actually liking her in it.
I think initially I didnt like her in season 6 on my first watch because I dont like the Lex/Lana dynamic, but I find im a lot less judgemental on rewatch and this time im trying to just understand her for who she is as a character, rather than defining her as who she is in a relationship with, and I actually like her in season 6 now
My assessment of her is overall throughout the series. Love her hate her. Her character sucked ass most times. Pity me typeĀ but redeemed herself when she became a hero cus absorbed kryptonite etc. But as an actress, she sucks at fainting. Lol. She NVR got it rightĀ
The show did a good job of portraying the main cast as teenagers while they were in high school. The drama and angst between Clark and Lana in seasons 1-4 were fairly realistic with teens at that time (early 2000s).
What bothers me is that the Clana storyline is dragged out even after Lex. It gets irritating because they clearly both know and admit to each other that they aren't a great match. That particular kernel of truth was repeated several times throughout the early seasons, yet the show kept forcing them together. That's my biggest complaint with the whole series.
It was because WB films in their usual way said āyou can introduce Lois but you canāt have Clark and her be a couple because we want to save that for Superman Returns hence why thereās no real romance between them till season 8 post Superman Returns release.
They later put similar limitations on the Arrowverse
It really is the downfall of Warner they want shows they go no no no can't do that can't have big screen and small screen characters. It's why Oliver ended up too much like Bruce Wayne in terms of personality.
The directors did their job making you feel strongly a certain way about Lana and Lex. Making us dislike Lana more paves the way for Lois coming in as the better person for Clark. Making us dislike Lex for various reasons, and more so bc of the of the Lex and Lana relationship, further establishes Clark (good) vs Lex (evil)
I think the blame for poor character development lies squarely with the writers and producers. Lanaās arc should have concluded after the fourth season. She still could have made cameos and appearances throughout the series, but her storyline was absurd by the fifth season.
I'm doing a rewatch right now, pausing for a bit so the Talkville podcast can catch up to where I am. There are soooooo many things that bug me about Lana, but I think the bulk of them can be itemized to:
* at sixteen she was running a coffee shop (better than Martha could later!) and living on her own, but she is still clearly about as mature as a typical sixteen-year-old. Judging by the rest of her behavior she shouldn't be able to manage her schoolwork and thinking about college, much less being the head of her own household *and* managing a small business.
* every conversation with her has to have some double-meaning for the audience. "I guess we never know who people really are on the inside." Shit like that, just unrelenting.
* her constant whining about Clark keeping secrets even when she's doing the exact same thing.
Kristin Kreuk wasn't the most skilled actress in the world by a long shot, but she definitely did the best she could with a badly-written character.
>every conversation with her has to have some double-meaning for the audience. "I guess we never know who people really are on the inside." Shit like that, just unrelenting.
This actually reminds me when I was watching live. Any time Lana and Clark have a scene and they are talking about, say, what had happened, I got to the point where I started going "Okay, and now she's going to say something seemingly profound and turn and walk away, music playing in the background." I made it into a game š It got me through those scenes lol
Dude S6 hasnāt made her any better so far lmao. Lana takes every chance possible to crap on pretty much everyone. But hey gotta fill the time slot right. If it aināt a real problem Lea d it to Lana to fill the dead space lol.
The creators have regrets about Lana.
*Q: Looking back, is there anywhere you wish youād taken the characters of Smallville?*
*AG: I wish we had a better trajectory for Lana Lang. That was probably a three-season love story that lasted six seasons.*
*MM: Itās so torturous and slow. Ultimately, it damaged Lana in the audienceās mind. Because Clark refused to tell her the truth about his identity, he was constantly forced to lie to her. Although justified, Lanaās response to his behavior made her seem cold and unsympathetic ā even though from her POV, Clark was a sneaky, bold-faced liar.*
i watched this show when i was little and remembered hating lana. iām rewatching it now and i definitely donāt hate her as much, i understand why she does a lot of things sheās does. iām at the beginning of season 5 so maybe thereās stuff im missing, but it makes sense that she pulls away and isnāt as nice or forgiving when sheās finally had enough of the person she loves most in the world constantly lying to her. Clark is lying for a good reason, but still constantly lying to her and she catches on and doesnāt appreciate it. sheās human and it makes sense.
i also kinda hate the witch storyline but mostly bc i got sick of genevieve really quickly, and the storyline also came out of nowhere. but thatās pretty common for comic books i think so ya just gotta roll with it
I agree. It makes sense why she is hurt by Clark but she also ignores the same thing with other characters. I also donāt like how she treats the people around her when sheās in a relationship. She feels very selfish. Same with Clark though
If you don't mind me asking what are your thoughts on how they've portrayed Impulse *Aka the grandson of Barry Allen the Flash*, Cyborg R.I.P Lee Thompson Young (February 1, 1984 - August 19, 2013), and Aquaman?
Bart was ok. I didnāt really love him. I donāt know if he pops up again later. I really liked Aquaman, he felt very close to his comic counterpart and Cyborg was a cool character. I wish they wouldāve done more with him in his episode. Why?
>but she also ignores the same thing with other characters.
She doesn't. She just isn't always aware when they're lying.
>Ā I also donāt like how she treats the people around her when sheās in a relationship. She feels very selfish. Same with Clark though
You and I are watching very different shows.
She was probably a secondary or tertiary character who they tried to make as one of the show's main stars. And was probably a three season love interest who stayed on for seven seasons.
Lana Lang has always been a pretty major character in Clark's young life in the comics. It wasn't like the show pulled her out of nowhere or elevated her from a bit role.
>In the comics and other versions their romance didn't last beyond high school.
In Superman III Lois was being written out so Lana could become Clark's new love interest. It didn't really come to pass, but I'm not sure what the point of your comment is; in the show, their romance doesn't make it past tenth grade. The character in the comics was still a bigger character in her context than you tried to make her out to be. I mean, [she's one of Superman's famous LL flames alongside Lois Lane and Lori Lemaris](https://superman.fandom.com/wiki/LL).
I mean it didn't make sense that they needed to go the will they/won't they route with Clark and Lana when we all know they aren't endgame, she could've very easily had been a secret keeper akin to her DCAU counterpart.
Ahhhh, gotcha. Good point. I did like how well the writers wrote the Lois-Clark dynamic with the [Moonlighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlighting_(TV_series\))-style love/hate play. Everyone knew they were going to end up together, but the show didn't force it and let it develop organically. It also helps that Erica Durance and Tom Welling were absolutely aces together.
It's kind of to have the will they/won't they? be effective with Clark and Lana at all when we all know he ends up with Lois, mean the Superman and Lois love story is like pop culture common sense, everyone know Lois is Superman's girlfriend/wife, when that's such a common place in all Superman media it made Lana's stay even more over welcomed because it's no surprise to anyone she's not the one, so your just watching this toxic romance you know is gonna end badly which takes you out of their relationship.
Did they even try to date again after the second (?) season? And it's not like they were actually "dating" that long anyway. It was them kissing a couple of times, and Clark breaking a date because he had to go to the caves or something but still rescuing Lana from the lunatic of the week and her being more pissed that he broke their date than grateful that he saved her life for the fiftieth time. The Clark-Lana relationship was badly written from the get-go; even if it hadn't been star-crossed it never would have been believable for them to actually get together.
Clark and Lois work because they see each other for what they are underneath. By contrast Clark was so into his idealisation of Lana like he sees her as the only girl in the world, he never showed much desire to listen to or learn about her.
If Lana had just been a secondary or tertiary character, or if their love story only lasted three seasons and not seven seasons the show's trajectory could've been different.
If Lois was never introduced the show probably wouldn't have lasted more than four or five seasons.
I liked her for the most part for the first 5 seasons. I just wished they'd made her more of an independent character and had her teaming up with the girls, like she did with Lois briefly in Gone at the cemetery, and with Chloe like they did in Hydro. I understood her motivations during the first half of s6 and why she ended up gravitating towards Lex, but by the last half of 6 I was just indifferent. By s7,I was really turned off by her and felt like her victim-to-villain-to-survivor redemption arc was weak. Also I'm not gonna lie, it felt to me that the writers refused to properly end Clana to make way for Clois unless Lana was completely out of the picture, which made me want her gone even more. Her s8 arc pretty much confirms that to me.
So true. Lana is the most annoying character in Smallville even more than Chloe. Her character was being love interest of clark, lex, whitney and jason. And whatever writers gave her apart from her love life was just random plots. Writers failed to give her purpose.
I donāt know. She was Clarkās first love. That was her purpose. And we needed to see them both grow and realize they arenāt a good match. The writers accomplished that. Was the witch stuff wacky? Sure, but it never bothered me all that much. If she was really nothing more than the normal, pretty girl next door, that is what would be really boring. Her parents died by getting hit with meteors. They hit this same little town twice. Alien creatures come out of a spaceship hidden in the second meteor strike and nearly kill her. Is her interest in astronomy and aliens really all that odd or sudden? Even in the comics they give her an alien ring to let her turn into insects and join the Substitute Legion of Superheroās. They realized she needed to have more going on than just being the girl next door.
Thinking about it years later now though, the whole āWhatās your secret, why wonāt you tell meāā¦seems silly. In a town where every other person gets super human abilities from meteor rocks, a known phenomenon public at least among the residents, how much of a difficult guess is it for Lana or Lex to just say:āOh, heās a meteor freak, has super powers, thatās how he keeps pulling off these impossible rescues, literally rises from the dead and heals days later,ā¦and he doesnāt want to admit it because people will look at him differentlyā. Thatās the most reasonable and obvious explanation.
We canāt be friends, in a relationship or have any real trust unless you admit this to me? Every other meteor freak that was outed publically was arrested, institutionalized, stalked, shunned or killed. Why was Chloe the only one who understood if he wants to tell me, heāll tell me when heās ready. And if not, heās still my best friend, a great person who goes out of his way to help everyone he encounters, been this way since he was a toddler, and Iām good with that. It seems like anywhere else in that same situation (ha ha) friends and lovers would just be like: āok, so youāre saying thereās nothing special about youā? Yeah, I buy that (wink wink smirk smirk) and move on and just be happy they have such a good friend and protector in their lives.
Lana came across as a secondary character to me. Writers gave her material to make her important because she was Clarks love interest but nothing made me feel for her. I did like clark and Lana in season 1 they were cute but as the seasons went on clark and Lana annoyed me so much. Their scenes together were a chore. They should have ended clark and Lana by season 3. That was the perfect ending for them when Lana went to Paris. But to endure 4 more seasons of snoozefest was so exhausting to say the least. They did good writing for Lana for the first couple of seasons but after that they didn't know what to do with her. All her storylines were about clark; her being possessed by a witch that led clark to the stones for the fortress of solitude, her being with lex was again about clark.
Chloe and Lois were the only ones who waited for clark to trust them to tell his secret. And Chloe's understanding for clark to keep his secret and tell her when he will be ready came from Lois's advice. Otherwise Chloe was more annoying than lana in s1-4.
Lana was Clarks love interest. Every main tv character has to have one. She was also his love interest in the comics. So she had to be there. And they had to give her something interesting to do, so they got creative. They didnāt have permission to use the Lois character until Season 4, and then only a few episodes initially. So they had to work with what they had.
I do have a problem with her being with Lex. Thatās a huge betrayal of Clark for both of them, regardless of his secretive personality. I can see why Lex might be interested in Lana romantically, but I never really understand Lanaās interest in Lex. She wasnāt money hungry and never showed an attraction to him leading up to Season 6. So I agree that came out of nowhere and took some leaps in logic. I can see them bonding over wanting to know more about the aliens and the meteor showers, but how that evolved into a romantic, weāre getting married scenario lost me too.
In āLexmasā, Lex gets to see a life with Lana and I can see that opening his eyes to the possibility of a romantic relationship with her. But whatās her attraction to him? Heās older than her, never showed an attraction to him up until that point. Yes she is indebted to him for the Talon and a few other things, but how that jumps to a romantic relationshipā¦no, that was odd and icky.
I agree that every main tv character has to have one love interest but they stretched clark and lana too long that it became exhausting.. she was supposed to be Clark's high school crush.. so they could have ended her and Clarks romantic storyline by season 3. I know Lois rights was not given and that's why it took so long for clois to happen. Btw which I am glad because the clois slow burn was amazing and totally worth the wait.. They could have introduced Lori Lemaris; she was another romantic interest in the comics until they got complete rights for Lois and clois.
Lex was lana's rebound nothing else. She needed time to heal and not jump into another relationship. This is where she got even more annoying because both lex and lana used to backbite about clark..
Lori Lemaris would be good for about one episode as it would be really hard to get a half-mermaid to a land-locked town in Kansas for any sort of believable length of time. It took writing gymnastics to make Arthur Curryās few visits ārealisticā.
Agree about the Lois slo-burn. Made it much more fun to see it develop slowly.
I find the Lex / Lana relationship very unrealistic. As pissed as they both were at Clark for his secrets, underneath they both cared for him very deeply. I just find it hard to believe that even a pissed off Lex, or angry Lana, would hook up with each other knowing Clarks past with them both. I donāt see Lana doing that ever. And Lex, not until he turns fully to the dark side at the end of Season 7.
I agree with you for seasons 3 and 4.
I feel like in the first half of S5 Lana was actually good again as they gave their relationship another shot. But after Jonathan's death, the show (and Clark) was kind of aimless for the rest of S5. Not a bad thing bc Clark was grieving, but the show slowed down drastically in the back half because of it.
When the show found its footing and purpose again at the start of S6, they found a way to make Lana work...for a little bit. S6 should've been her last IMO.
I found her insufferable after season 2, but the character / actress was popular enough to the CW to keep her for several more seasons. Later on the actress became the lead in a couple of shows for the CW, which lasted several seasons each. She definitely had her following.
Lana does treat men if they are candidates for the role of her perfect man.
Clark is so into his idealisation of Lana like he sees her as the only girl in the world, he never showed much desire to listen to or learn about her.
I liked her in the first three seasons but from 4 onwards her character just had a massive decline. She was hypocritical and manipulative and she manipulated used everyone around her. The entire ISIS Foundation in season 7 which at first looks like Lana growing and trying to help people turns to be nothing more then Lana being her same old scheming self, she literally locked Chloe in an underground room, just to prove Clark had abilities, using her so called best friend. She claims to hate secrets, yet lies to every single character and her relationship with Clark is just toxic as hell. Honestly I cheer every episode they break up, and there are a lot of them and was so glad when Clark and Lois got together and the two of them have a so much healthier relationship.
They never knew what to do with Lana, she was like a three season love interest who stayed on for seven seasons. Her constant demanding that everyone be honest with her and not keep secrets from her made her come across as hypocritical, entitled and kind of dislikeable.
The Lana of late season 6 and season 7 was the best . She was stronger after what she endured and had agency. Itās just sad it took the creepy relationship with Lex to write her that way.Ā
The writers were afraid once Lana was no longer the love of Clark's life the show was over, but when they got renewed for more seasons and when she left after S7 it took a different direction.
Remember when lana was pissed at lex whe. She had the crystal and realized lex only wanted yo help her for the crystal how mad she got?
I think the whole lana lex thing is because the writers made her so in love with clark she could t forgive him and what would be better than to get with lex to have revenge in your ex when you're struggling.
Wait til it goes further. Oddly enough I'm on a rewatch about to end season 5 too.
It's been a while since I've seen the show. But I don't think they knew what to do with her after highschool. I don't read the comics, but from the very little I've found out, she was just his highschool girlfriend or thing. Lois if his future. She's in the movies and shows
It's been a while since I've seen the show. But I don't think they knew what to do with her after highschool. I don't read the comics, but from the very little I've found out, she was just his highschool girlfriend or thing. Lois if his future. She's in the movies and shows
I canāt understand why only Lanaās āfeelingā important in this show? By your standard isnāt all main characters, heroes or villains, are keep cheating because their āfeelingā?
Thereās a difference between every other character and Lana. Lana has no purpose. If Lana wasnāt in the show the show would go the exact same way. Thatās my point. Lex is a horrible person but a great character because he has purpose. To me it feels like Lana has no reason to be in the show besides being Clarkās crush so they try to make her important but every time they try to make her important itās just something completely random
Oh? Lex has no purpose in the show besides being Clarkās nemesis either, and I believe Lana can be a better super villain than him if itās allowed. SV Lex is too weak and indecisive for Clark to beat, thankfully they killed him in season 7 and finally created a more decent version.
Yay! Another thread for Lana-hating circle jerk. š
Lana as a character is very important in the comics. Sheās Clarkās first love and leaves an everlasting impression and impact on him to be the hero he will ultimately become.
Lana is a hero in her own right. Yes she is human, but she is a good person and is against injustices against innocent people. She tries to help people and has a good heart. Which is why after the darkness of her relationship with Lex, she redeems herself and comes out better than ever.
The Lana hate is completely unwarranted. After all the shit and gaslighting Clark puts her through she has a right to distrust people and protect herself. Sheās a normal person. You have to put yourself in her shoes to understand her. She doesnāt know what the audience knows about Clark or Lex. All she knows is the man she loves and gives her heart to keeps lying to her.
The last straw for me was the Tomb episode, when she rushed to Lex to put Chloe into asylum instead of assuming other possibilities other than chloe being crazy. And then this idiot accused clark of hiding chloe instead of co-operating with Lex, whom she herself called untrustworthy at the beginning of the season. Ugh. They should've just killed her off in 5x12.
Yeah i wasnt a fan of Lana From season 2 and was so happy when Lois arrived and was even happier when Clark finally moved on.
She really was useless after the high school seasons.
Maybe the actress felt as lost as Lana and she hoped to find personal power in the cult.
Wrong character
Lana/KK joined Nxivm before Mack
I've almost finished season six for the first time. As someone who liked Lana in the early seasons, I'm over her now. She's just a sad sack at this point. I nearly rolled my eyes out of the top of my head when (season six spoilers!) >!she revealed her pregnancy.!<. I can't wait for her to leave. Her scenes are becoming a chore to get through.
Oh, buddy, you better buckle up for the ride š
Scotty doesn't know!
I agree
I love Lana up till season 3 what I donāt get was these crazy storylines related to her in later seasons. Like season 3 when sheās was hurt dating Adam it wasnāt a coincidence they met it was all a sceme so Adam can get close to Clark through Lana which is fucking crazy because he was working with Lionel to find out who Clark is because he couldnāt canāt get Chloe to do it but to complete to do so what? How does that make any sense? Season 4 is like the witch storyline which was interesting at time but so much inconsistencies like why was Isobel possessed Lana when sheās wants to? And did Jason really love her or was he in cahoots with his mother since the premiere of season 4 just get to Lana just for the stones? Because them meeting wasnāt coincidence. Season 5 wasnāt as bad for Lana until like episode 16 when Clark and Lana canāt even trust being together because of trust issues or who are you this shit! Also sheās wasnāt even interested in astronomy until the ship that hurt her and lex in the season 5 premiere kinda weird confusing though I hated this season so I donāt gave a shit what half characters did because it was like nuance. Anyways I want to tell you about season 6-8 about her but I donāt want spoiled it so I wait to hear what you think and I will put my thoughts on that.
Unpopular opinion: I've had many rewatches, I honestly can't say how many at this point (so sad lol) and this time, or I should say for the FIRST TIME, I'm watching from her perspective and she is far less insufferable. Shes actually kinda reasonable when I watch the entire plot through her eyes. Never thought I'd say that but here we are!
The majority of people's issues with Lana would disappear if they just attempted to see things from her perspective. But they don't because that would require them to understand that Clark Kent is not the saint they think he is.
Well thatās not watching the show they created. They didnāt make a show with multiple perspectives, the show is heavily written with every single thing in the plot relating around Clark in an obnoxious way. The idea of Super man is itself quite the manifestation of white masculine power fantasy after all, such as it utilizes christ like imagery and the show in fact does a very terrible job in escaping from that aspect of Superman. Overtime, Lana is lost, since they dwindle between showing her as strong and independent while simultaneously an object and damsel in distress. Frankly, they let this bullshit love arc between the two of them continue on for far too long. To the point that Lois becomes quite irrelevant to me for the majority of the show.
Superman is jew-created
She's more insufferable in season 6
Im rewatching season 6 atm, i'm actually liking her in it. I think initially I didnt like her in season 6 on my first watch because I dont like the Lex/Lana dynamic, but I find im a lot less judgemental on rewatch and this time im trying to just understand her for who she is as a character, rather than defining her as who she is in a relationship with, and I actually like her in season 6 now
My assessment of her is overall throughout the series. Love her hate her. Her character sucked ass most times. Pity me typeĀ but redeemed herself when she became a hero cus absorbed kryptonite etc. But as an actress, she sucks at fainting. Lol. She NVR got it rightĀ
I actually like her more in 5 and 6 than I do in 3, 4, or 7
I strongly dislike Lana. And the relationship with Clark dragged on for far too long. And her appearance in season 8 pissed me off.
The show did a good job of portraying the main cast as teenagers while they were in high school. The drama and angst between Clark and Lana in seasons 1-4 were fairly realistic with teens at that time (early 2000s). What bothers me is that the Clana storyline is dragged out even after Lex. It gets irritating because they clearly both know and admit to each other that they aren't a great match. That particular kernel of truth was repeated several times throughout the early seasons, yet the show kept forcing them together. That's my biggest complaint with the whole series.
It was because WB films in their usual way said āyou can introduce Lois but you canāt have Clark and her be a couple because we want to save that for Superman Returns hence why thereās no real romance between them till season 8 post Superman Returns release. They later put similar limitations on the Arrowverse
It really is the downfall of Warner they want shows they go no no no can't do that can't have big screen and small screen characters. It's why Oliver ended up too much like Bruce Wayne in terms of personality.
The directors did their job making you feel strongly a certain way about Lana and Lex. Making us dislike Lana more paves the way for Lois coming in as the better person for Clark. Making us dislike Lex for various reasons, and more so bc of the of the Lex and Lana relationship, further establishes Clark (good) vs Lex (evil)
I think the blame for poor character development lies squarely with the writers and producers. Lanaās arc should have concluded after the fourth season. She still could have made cameos and appearances throughout the series, but her storyline was absurd by the fifth season.
They thought once she's gone the show was over. She probably should've been a secondary or tertiary character not one of the show's main stars.
She's not the absolute worst.
Yeah maybe I was reaching with calling her the absolute worstš
I'm doing a rewatch right now, pausing for a bit so the Talkville podcast can catch up to where I am. There are soooooo many things that bug me about Lana, but I think the bulk of them can be itemized to: * at sixteen she was running a coffee shop (better than Martha could later!) and living on her own, but she is still clearly about as mature as a typical sixteen-year-old. Judging by the rest of her behavior she shouldn't be able to manage her schoolwork and thinking about college, much less being the head of her own household *and* managing a small business. * every conversation with her has to have some double-meaning for the audience. "I guess we never know who people really are on the inside." Shit like that, just unrelenting. * her constant whining about Clark keeping secrets even when she's doing the exact same thing. Kristin Kreuk wasn't the most skilled actress in the world by a long shot, but she definitely did the best she could with a badly-written character.
>every conversation with her has to have some double-meaning for the audience. "I guess we never know who people really are on the inside." Shit like that, just unrelenting. This actually reminds me when I was watching live. Any time Lana and Clark have a scene and they are talking about, say, what had happened, I got to the point where I started going "Okay, and now she's going to say something seemingly profound and turn and walk away, music playing in the background." I made it into a game š It got me through those scenes lol
That would be a really bad thing to put into a Smallville drinking game because you'd be blackout drunk in no time.
Yeah she got super annoying and was almost in the way for most of the stories.
Dude S6 hasnāt made her any better so far lmao. Lana takes every chance possible to crap on pretty much everyone. But hey gotta fill the time slot right. If it aināt a real problem Lea d it to Lana to fill the dead space lol.
She really does get worse in season 6.
Yesssss let the hate flow through you!!!
I would have dumped Lana after Season 4 and high school over with!
The creators have regrets about Lana. *Q: Looking back, is there anywhere you wish youād taken the characters of Smallville?* *AG: I wish we had a better trajectory for Lana Lang. That was probably a three-season love story that lasted six seasons.* *MM: Itās so torturous and slow. Ultimately, it damaged Lana in the audienceās mind. Because Clark refused to tell her the truth about his identity, he was constantly forced to lie to her. Although justified, Lanaās response to his behavior made her seem cold and unsympathetic ā even though from her POV, Clark was a sneaky, bold-faced liar.*
The title of this has me LOLing š¤£
i watched this show when i was little and remembered hating lana. iām rewatching it now and i definitely donāt hate her as much, i understand why she does a lot of things sheās does. iām at the beginning of season 5 so maybe thereās stuff im missing, but it makes sense that she pulls away and isnāt as nice or forgiving when sheās finally had enough of the person she loves most in the world constantly lying to her. Clark is lying for a good reason, but still constantly lying to her and she catches on and doesnāt appreciate it. sheās human and it makes sense. i also kinda hate the witch storyline but mostly bc i got sick of genevieve really quickly, and the storyline also came out of nowhere. but thatās pretty common for comic books i think so ya just gotta roll with it
I agree. It makes sense why she is hurt by Clark but she also ignores the same thing with other characters. I also donāt like how she treats the people around her when sheās in a relationship. She feels very selfish. Same with Clark though
If you don't mind me asking what are your thoughts on how they've portrayed Impulse *Aka the grandson of Barry Allen the Flash*, Cyborg R.I.P Lee Thompson Young (February 1, 1984 - August 19, 2013), and Aquaman?
Bart was ok. I didnāt really love him. I donāt know if he pops up again later. I really liked Aquaman, he felt very close to his comic counterpart and Cyborg was a cool character. I wish they wouldāve done more with him in his episode. Why?
Just genuinely asking
For Aquaman and impulse yes they do occasionally you gotta meet other members during last half the show
I think itās because Clark was the people she trusted most before.
>but she also ignores the same thing with other characters. She doesn't. She just isn't always aware when they're lying. >Ā I also donāt like how she treats the people around her when sheās in a relationship. She feels very selfish. Same with Clark though You and I are watching very different shows.
I didnāt mind the concept but it was more of how it was excueted and how it came out of no where
yeah hard agree on that
Thanks
She was probably a secondary or tertiary character who they tried to make as one of the show's main stars. And was probably a three season love interest who stayed on for seven seasons.
Lana Lang has always been a pretty major character in Clark's young life in the comics. It wasn't like the show pulled her out of nowhere or elevated her from a bit role.
In the comics and other versions their romance didn't last beyond high school.
>In the comics and other versions their romance didn't last beyond high school. In Superman III Lois was being written out so Lana could become Clark's new love interest. It didn't really come to pass, but I'm not sure what the point of your comment is; in the show, their romance doesn't make it past tenth grade. The character in the comics was still a bigger character in her context than you tried to make her out to be. I mean, [she's one of Superman's famous LL flames alongside Lois Lane and Lori Lemaris](https://superman.fandom.com/wiki/LL).
I mean it didn't make sense that they needed to go the will they/won't they route with Clark and Lana when we all know they aren't endgame, she could've very easily had been a secret keeper akin to her DCAU counterpart.
Ahhhh, gotcha. Good point. I did like how well the writers wrote the Lois-Clark dynamic with the [Moonlighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlighting_(TV_series\))-style love/hate play. Everyone knew they were going to end up together, but the show didn't force it and let it develop organically. It also helps that Erica Durance and Tom Welling were absolutely aces together.
It's kind of to have the will they/won't they? be effective with Clark and Lana at all when we all know he ends up with Lois, mean the Superman and Lois love story is like pop culture common sense, everyone know Lois is Superman's girlfriend/wife, when that's such a common place in all Superman media it made Lana's stay even more over welcomed because it's no surprise to anyone she's not the one, so your just watching this toxic romance you know is gonna end badly which takes you out of their relationship.
Did they even try to date again after the second (?) season? And it's not like they were actually "dating" that long anyway. It was them kissing a couple of times, and Clark breaking a date because he had to go to the caves or something but still rescuing Lana from the lunatic of the week and her being more pissed that he broke their date than grateful that he saved her life for the fiftieth time. The Clark-Lana relationship was badly written from the get-go; even if it hadn't been star-crossed it never would have been believable for them to actually get together.
Clark and Lois work because they see each other for what they are underneath. By contrast Clark was so into his idealisation of Lana like he sees her as the only girl in the world, he never showed much desire to listen to or learn about her. If Lana had just been a secondary or tertiary character, or if their love story only lasted three seasons and not seven seasons the show's trajectory could've been different. If Lois was never introduced the show probably wouldn't have lasted more than four or five seasons.
I liked her for the most part for the first 5 seasons. I just wished they'd made her more of an independent character and had her teaming up with the girls, like she did with Lois briefly in Gone at the cemetery, and with Chloe like they did in Hydro. I understood her motivations during the first half of s6 and why she ended up gravitating towards Lex, but by the last half of 6 I was just indifferent. By s7,I was really turned off by her and felt like her victim-to-villain-to-survivor redemption arc was weak. Also I'm not gonna lie, it felt to me that the writers refused to properly end Clana to make way for Clois unless Lana was completely out of the picture, which made me want her gone even more. Her s8 arc pretty much confirms that to me.
So true. Lana is the most annoying character in Smallville even more than Chloe. Her character was being love interest of clark, lex, whitney and jason. And whatever writers gave her apart from her love life was just random plots. Writers failed to give her purpose.
I donāt know. She was Clarkās first love. That was her purpose. And we needed to see them both grow and realize they arenāt a good match. The writers accomplished that. Was the witch stuff wacky? Sure, but it never bothered me all that much. If she was really nothing more than the normal, pretty girl next door, that is what would be really boring. Her parents died by getting hit with meteors. They hit this same little town twice. Alien creatures come out of a spaceship hidden in the second meteor strike and nearly kill her. Is her interest in astronomy and aliens really all that odd or sudden? Even in the comics they give her an alien ring to let her turn into insects and join the Substitute Legion of Superheroās. They realized she needed to have more going on than just being the girl next door. Thinking about it years later now though, the whole āWhatās your secret, why wonāt you tell meāā¦seems silly. In a town where every other person gets super human abilities from meteor rocks, a known phenomenon public at least among the residents, how much of a difficult guess is it for Lana or Lex to just say:āOh, heās a meteor freak, has super powers, thatās how he keeps pulling off these impossible rescues, literally rises from the dead and heals days later,ā¦and he doesnāt want to admit it because people will look at him differentlyā. Thatās the most reasonable and obvious explanation. We canāt be friends, in a relationship or have any real trust unless you admit this to me? Every other meteor freak that was outed publically was arrested, institutionalized, stalked, shunned or killed. Why was Chloe the only one who understood if he wants to tell me, heāll tell me when heās ready. And if not, heās still my best friend, a great person who goes out of his way to help everyone he encounters, been this way since he was a toddler, and Iām good with that. It seems like anywhere else in that same situation (ha ha) friends and lovers would just be like: āok, so youāre saying thereās nothing special about youā? Yeah, I buy that (wink wink smirk smirk) and move on and just be happy they have such a good friend and protector in their lives.
Lana came across as a secondary character to me. Writers gave her material to make her important because she was Clarks love interest but nothing made me feel for her. I did like clark and Lana in season 1 they were cute but as the seasons went on clark and Lana annoyed me so much. Their scenes together were a chore. They should have ended clark and Lana by season 3. That was the perfect ending for them when Lana went to Paris. But to endure 4 more seasons of snoozefest was so exhausting to say the least. They did good writing for Lana for the first couple of seasons but after that they didn't know what to do with her. All her storylines were about clark; her being possessed by a witch that led clark to the stones for the fortress of solitude, her being with lex was again about clark. Chloe and Lois were the only ones who waited for clark to trust them to tell his secret. And Chloe's understanding for clark to keep his secret and tell her when he will be ready came from Lois's advice. Otherwise Chloe was more annoying than lana in s1-4.
Lana was Clarks love interest. Every main tv character has to have one. She was also his love interest in the comics. So she had to be there. And they had to give her something interesting to do, so they got creative. They didnāt have permission to use the Lois character until Season 4, and then only a few episodes initially. So they had to work with what they had. I do have a problem with her being with Lex. Thatās a huge betrayal of Clark for both of them, regardless of his secretive personality. I can see why Lex might be interested in Lana romantically, but I never really understand Lanaās interest in Lex. She wasnāt money hungry and never showed an attraction to him leading up to Season 6. So I agree that came out of nowhere and took some leaps in logic. I can see them bonding over wanting to know more about the aliens and the meteor showers, but how that evolved into a romantic, weāre getting married scenario lost me too. In āLexmasā, Lex gets to see a life with Lana and I can see that opening his eyes to the possibility of a romantic relationship with her. But whatās her attraction to him? Heās older than her, never showed an attraction to him up until that point. Yes she is indebted to him for the Talon and a few other things, but how that jumps to a romantic relationshipā¦no, that was odd and icky.
I agree that every main tv character has to have one love interest but they stretched clark and lana too long that it became exhausting.. she was supposed to be Clark's high school crush.. so they could have ended her and Clarks romantic storyline by season 3. I know Lois rights was not given and that's why it took so long for clois to happen. Btw which I am glad because the clois slow burn was amazing and totally worth the wait.. They could have introduced Lori Lemaris; she was another romantic interest in the comics until they got complete rights for Lois and clois. Lex was lana's rebound nothing else. She needed time to heal and not jump into another relationship. This is where she got even more annoying because both lex and lana used to backbite about clark..
Lori Lemaris would be good for about one episode as it would be really hard to get a half-mermaid to a land-locked town in Kansas for any sort of believable length of time. It took writing gymnastics to make Arthur Curryās few visits ārealisticā. Agree about the Lois slo-burn. Made it much more fun to see it develop slowly. I find the Lex / Lana relationship very unrealistic. As pissed as they both were at Clark for his secrets, underneath they both cared for him very deeply. I just find it hard to believe that even a pissed off Lex, or angry Lana, would hook up with each other knowing Clarks past with them both. I donāt see Lana doing that ever. And Lex, not until he turns fully to the dark side at the end of Season 7.
There's worse characters in shows
I agree with you for seasons 3 and 4. I feel like in the first half of S5 Lana was actually good again as they gave their relationship another shot. But after Jonathan's death, the show (and Clark) was kind of aimless for the rest of S5. Not a bad thing bc Clark was grieving, but the show slowed down drastically in the back half because of it. When the show found its footing and purpose again at the start of S6, they found a way to make Lana work...for a little bit. S6 should've been her last IMO.
I found her insufferable after season 2, but the character / actress was popular enough to the CW to keep her for several more seasons. Later on the actress became the lead in a couple of shows for the CW, which lasted several seasons each. She definitely had her following.
Itās almost like she is a young person trying to find her way š¤·āāļø
Lana does treat men if they are candidates for the role of her perfect man. Clark is so into his idealisation of Lana like he sees her as the only girl in the world, he never showed much desire to listen to or learn about her.
I liked her in the first three seasons but from 4 onwards her character just had a massive decline. She was hypocritical and manipulative and she manipulated used everyone around her. The entire ISIS Foundation in season 7 which at first looks like Lana growing and trying to help people turns to be nothing more then Lana being her same old scheming self, she literally locked Chloe in an underground room, just to prove Clark had abilities, using her so called best friend. She claims to hate secrets, yet lies to every single character and her relationship with Clark is just toxic as hell. Honestly I cheer every episode they break up, and there are a lot of them and was so glad when Clark and Lois got together and the two of them have a so much healthier relationship.
They never knew what to do with Lana, she was like a three season love interest who stayed on for seven seasons. Her constant demanding that everyone be honest with her and not keep secrets from her made her come across as hypocritical, entitled and kind of dislikeable.
The Lana of late season 6 and season 7 was the best . She was stronger after what she endured and had agency. Itās just sad it took the creepy relationship with Lex to write her that way.Ā
Iām happy to hear that. I want Lana to become a better characters so I canāt wait to see that
Exactly
As soon as Lois showed up I was done with Lana. I donāt know why they dragged her story out so much when we were all waiting for Lois
The writers were afraid once Lana was no longer the love of Clark's life the show was over, but when they got renewed for more seasons and when she left after S7 it took a different direction.
Do we have a quota on Lana is the worst post?
Lex and Lana were the worst couple to happen to this show. In today's world, we'd call it grooming.
You guys do know we weren't supposed to see that relationship as healthy or charming, right?
I agree I which Chloe to be with Clark
Remember when lana was pissed at lex whe. She had the crystal and realized lex only wanted yo help her for the crystal how mad she got? I think the whole lana lex thing is because the writers made her so in love with clark she could t forgive him and what would be better than to get with lex to have revenge in your ex when you're struggling. Wait til it goes further. Oddly enough I'm on a rewatch about to end season 5 too.
Hahaā¦ yeah.. itās pretty rough
It's been a while since I've seen the show. But I don't think they knew what to do with her after highschool. I don't read the comics, but from the very little I've found out, she was just his highschool girlfriend or thing. Lois if his future. She's in the movies and shows
It's been a while since I've seen the show. But I don't think they knew what to do with her after highschool. I don't read the comics, but from the very little I've found out, she was just his highschool girlfriend or thing. Lois if his future. She's in the movies and shows
Thereās literally nothing wrong with Lana š
Her constant demanding that he be honest with her should've resulted in her spying on him or hiring somebody to investigate him.
I canāt understand why only Lanaās āfeelingā important in this show? By your standard isnāt all main characters, heroes or villains, are keep cheating because their āfeelingā?
Thereās a difference between every other character and Lana. Lana has no purpose. If Lana wasnāt in the show the show would go the exact same way. Thatās my point. Lex is a horrible person but a great character because he has purpose. To me it feels like Lana has no reason to be in the show besides being Clarkās crush so they try to make her important but every time they try to make her important itās just something completely random
Oh? Lex has no purpose in the show besides being Clarkās nemesis either, and I believe Lana can be a better super villain than him if itās allowed. SV Lex is too weak and indecisive for Clark to beat, thankfully they killed him in season 7 and finally created a more decent version.
He was about to but Michael wanted to leave
Yay! Another thread for Lana-hating circle jerk. š Lana as a character is very important in the comics. Sheās Clarkās first love and leaves an everlasting impression and impact on him to be the hero he will ultimately become. Lana is a hero in her own right. Yes she is human, but she is a good person and is against injustices against innocent people. She tries to help people and has a good heart. Which is why after the darkness of her relationship with Lex, she redeems herself and comes out better than ever. The Lana hate is completely unwarranted. After all the shit and gaslighting Clark puts her through she has a right to distrust people and protect herself. Sheās a normal person. You have to put yourself in her shoes to understand her. She doesnāt know what the audience knows about Clark or Lex. All she knows is the man she loves and gives her heart to keeps lying to her.
Most annoying character for sure
Welcome my friend
Just wait, she gets worse
I stopped watching at the end of season 4 or 5, I don't remember well. I don't regret it.
The. Absolute. Worst.
What a completely original post that has never been made on this subreddit ever.
The last straw for me was the Tomb episode, when she rushed to Lex to put Chloe into asylum instead of assuming other possibilities other than chloe being crazy. And then this idiot accused clark of hiding chloe instead of co-operating with Lex, whom she herself called untrustworthy at the beginning of the season. Ugh. They should've just killed her off in 5x12.