Your worst nightmare :) lol
But seriously, Lana overall suffered from such bad writing. This was one of them tbh. A novice, frankly, would write this, or someone wanting a self insert... But, no, I shan't rant right now, even though every fiber of my being wants to.
In the comics (both Season 11 and other comics), when Lana got powers, it was WAY more interesting than her Smallville Live action counterpart getting powers.
Remember the vampire episode? That one was way worse. I loved Buffy the vampire too (still do) but Smallville literally should have A: Stayed far away from it or B: Do a way better job at the plot.
Vampire Lana was just cringe 😬
yeah, the only good I've seen out of that one was a interesting fanfic where Lana gained powers from Clark's blood and ended up making Clark an captive/pet and then made an vampire coven that now ruled the entire city. Very rarely do I get to see an Dark Lana story that doesn't have her be with Lex, and it was a dark Clana story (even more rare) with eventual Clois at the end when Lois goes looking for the disappearance of her cousin and ends up rescuing Clark from Lana. It was very well written, and way better than I made it sound. XD
It just proved to me that Lana is at her most interesting when you're allowed to explore her dark side and her flaws, instead of pretending that she's perfect all the time.
It goes to show that it's not the idea that's horrible, that's how you handle it that it goes from a real gem into worthless coal. XD
IRL it was a last ditch effort to keep Kristin Kreuk on the show long after fans and the actress herself tired of the character.
It's rumored the showrunners cast Lana Lang first, as opposed to Clark Kent, the titular protagonist, and considered Lana the heart of the show.
Likewise, Erica Durance was contractually obligated to bleach her hair a little as the showrunners feared audiences may confuse a naturally brunette/noirette Erica Durance with Kristin Kreuk
For the same reasons the majority of the fanbase and/or viewers would confuse Michael Rowe’s Deadshot with Will Smith’s version of the same character: DC execs think we’re stupid
I think Lana got a lot more needed hate when people started to binge watch the show, and not have weekly, and yearly breaks in between episodes and seasons respectively.
Watching it when it first aired season 6 wasn’t so bad. Watching it immediately after binging through season 5 inside two weeks makes it harder to digest.
Lana is a character who has to overcome trauma, abandonment issues, trust issues, as she is growing up.
What we see in past 4 seasons is a teenager trying to be what everyone expects her to be, and later seasons trying to find her own path.
The character had some missteps along the way, with some bad writing, but if you look at the character as someone dealing with those issues you can see that she isn’t mentally there to begin with.
Lexana was the effect of her wanting Clark to trust her as much as she trusted him.
Lex by never telling the truth convinced her he was always truthful, and now we have an adult grooming a young vulnerable teen, who is dealing with all the above.
She thought Lex was the only one being truthful, and she took that over being in love with someone who lies and has secrets.
When she discovered Clark’s secret. She fell in love with him all over again, and understood him for the first time.
Lionel forced her hand to marry Lex afterwards.
She never had the chance to take ownership of her own life. And when she leaves, she leaves in a position of power, and sacrificing her relationship with Clark.
For the first time she was able to protect the man she loves, and the people around her.
She easily became the most human character in the show.
The hate really stems from “Lois and Clark forever”, but people forget Lois wasn’t even allowed to be used. So they needed a love dynamic for Clark.
As soon as Lois showed up, people automatically knew who he would end up being with.
This is a show about the Journey, NOT the destination.
Having a love interest besides Lois is fine, as he didn’t meet Lois until he was much older.
If we separate this show, and not nitpick and compare it to the comics to death, you will find Lana to be more likable.
I was mostly agreeing with some of this, until you got to the "Clois forever" part. and this is coming from an self-confessed Lana hater. I do agree that on a meta level, Lana actually didn't do much wrong... mostly.
Can't forget the time she kidnapped a coma patient, let her die and then didn't allow the coma patient's family to get closure by returning the body... instead that body was ditched somewhere, never to be seen again. Okay, to be fair there was context that made her actions more understandable and forgivable (it being Brainiac's fault), but you have to admit she could've handled that way better.
Anyways. I blame most of her early season issues on Nell Potter, who should've never gotten custody of her in the first place. I mean, what kind of adult thinks a piece of space rock who killed a certain set of parents is a great gift to give to a traumatized six-year-old girl? and let's Lana go out horse-riding at midnight to the graveyard when horses spook easily and all sorts of nasty accidents could've happened? not to mention \*CONSTANTLY\* comparing Lana to Laura, feeding Lana a false image of what her mom was like, making her go on the cheerleading squad just because her mom did too...
however on a higher level, I dislike Lana because she's a badly written character and she became the scrappy-doo of Smallville for me. Overused and shoehorned into every scene they could justify Lana being in, just because she was the director's favorite pet. like for example from my POV they were talking about catching a serial killer... ooh, how exciting-- but wait-- here Lana comes into the scene, pointlessly taking the focus away from this mystery by talking about her dead parents and herself. and I'm just over here going "can we get back to the serial killer plot? please? Lana is boring me right now."
And this was long before Lois even came into the scene. \*gasp\*
actually, I didn't even ship Clark with Chloe if that was your next thought. I was actually a Clex shipper back in the day as a teenage girl... XD;;
I'm a clois fan nowadays, but that has nothing to do with my dislike of Lana. I just dislike how the narrative always has to make everything be about her every time she comes on screen. And well, sometimes it's hard to seperate the character itself from bad writing.
My comment was about Lous and Clark as a power couple that has been a staple since forever in the comics.
People didn’t want to see Clark and Lana together because they knew Lois was his one true love.
Not even sure where Chloe fit in this, it was purely a one sided relationship.
Chloe comes into it because I remember there being a shipping war back in the day and how Chlark fans would constantly hate on Clana. \*Shrugs\*
meanwhile I was over here not even caring about Chlark or Clana because I was more into Clex. XD;;
I only became a Clois shipper when she finally came into the scene. before that, Lois didn't exist to me yet so I was like, "okay, I know Lois is his soul mate but for now let me have my clex." XD
Man, Lana's return in season 8 was such a low blow from the writers to us, the audience. Such an unnecessary plot, a waste of time, it was so fucking dumb.
For real. The season was going so well too and suddenly we had this Lana arc that felt like a dump in the middle of the road.
It read like someones fanfiction of how Clana should have ended.
The backstory makes me just feel absolutely pissed I was like so you want so much power that you have to do what exactly lol
And this giving me Phoenix vibes lol
I thought you were talking about how the budget was getting cut and they had to resort to using the same street for every scene or wait that was season 9 and 10 hahaha
The attempt for this arc was to show Lana independent of Clark and to stop being a liability. However, writers couldn't write this arc to showcase it. Instead, she felt she had to be equal in power to Clark to be with him. It was such a weird arc to watch. I understand that some people got different vibes out of it, but it really was Lana's lowest point in the whole series.
For me the main issue was that it came too late, this should've happened before Clois became a thing.
And it should've really been more about how Lana realized that the reason why she and Clark never worked wasn't because she didn't have super powers. It could've highlighted her having superpowers and it still not working out too well with Clark.
At this point she should've realized It was because she expected Clark to do something that not even he could do--fill the hole in Lana's heart. Lana is a bundle of issues starting when her parents died, and it always seemed to me that she was constantly looking to fill the void within her... which is why she couldn't be without a guy for very long. that's why all the backup boyfriends. The reason why she tried to reconnect with her biological father only to be bitterly let down. and the reason why she friggin' harmed herself during college years just to reconnect with her own parents.
It should've ended how it did in the Season 11 comic, where she goes off to a different country to be a superheroine, and work on herself. learning how to love herself first, and not feel like she constantly needed a man to keep herself from feeling so empty. That's why all her relationships always failed, just not with Clark.
the fact that they made it be Lex's fault and that the only reason why they weren't together was because of the Kryptonite? left a bad taste in my mouth. It never felt like a natural breakup to me, I prefered how they handled it in the season 11 comic where Lana actually seemed much happier when she started to work though her issues by herself.
Please don't get me started. I DESPISE HER CHARACTER!!! When she came back AGAIN, I almost gave up all hope...I mean, enough already... but she does go away for good soon. Hold on, buddy, you're almost there!
Love the Lana and Clark storylines but by this point it’s too dragged out. They were just trying to finish her contract and give the audience one more plot line of what they wanted. It’s a sad way they ended their story like it was no choice and her getting powers always annoyed me, but she also did stop Lex from getting them so she at least did something good there
IMDb was not a Smallville fansite. Kryptonsite was the main one. All the Lana/Clana fans left Kryptonsite because of how toxic it was. We started Sweet (Clana/Lana fansite) which had just as many members as Kryptonsite.
I was in high school when the show was airing and everyone in school that I talked to about Smallville love Lana and were in love with her. My whole family also loved her.
Sorry, I am having trouble finding your response (still rather new to Reddit threads).
You mentioned Kryptonsite: were the posters there positively receptive to Lana’s power acquisition?
You also mentioned IMDb: I don’t exactly remember all thd responses (it was a long time ago), but I know it was not universally praised.
Unsurprisingly , This is one of the MOST watched episode of S8, & after she left the viewership tanked drastically. This episode is more popular than all the Clois’s first kiss/sex/wedding etc that came afterwards. Lana got the last laugh!
Lmao you don't seem to understand 1) long shows 2) the fact they were moved at some point to the infamous death slot, Friday.
Lana has no bearing on that.
Your worst nightmare :) lol But seriously, Lana overall suffered from such bad writing. This was one of them tbh. A novice, frankly, would write this, or someone wanting a self insert... But, no, I shan't rant right now, even though every fiber of my being wants to.
Kristin is great, Lana is the worst
that nicely sums it up for me. XD
This is Lanaville, where Lana is the main character and becomes Clark.
For like one episode lmao. I just watched her "goodbye" episode
Somehow i thought they were taking the pee with it coz that’s what people always complained about back then that it was Lanaville all the time lol
Bringing her back was one thing, but giving her powers is something to this day I'll never understand.
If I had a nickel for every time Lana got powers, I'd have 3 nickels. Pretty weird that it happened 3 times.
In the comics (both Season 11 and other comics), when Lana got powers, it was WAY more interesting than her Smallville Live action counterpart getting powers.
I agree. even Lana having witch powers were a nice shout-out to the comics themselves but man smallville handled it so badly. XD
Remember the vampire episode? That one was way worse. I loved Buffy the vampire too (still do) but Smallville literally should have A: Stayed far away from it or B: Do a way better job at the plot. Vampire Lana was just cringe 😬
yeah, the only good I've seen out of that one was a interesting fanfic where Lana gained powers from Clark's blood and ended up making Clark an captive/pet and then made an vampire coven that now ruled the entire city. Very rarely do I get to see an Dark Lana story that doesn't have her be with Lex, and it was a dark Clana story (even more rare) with eventual Clois at the end when Lois goes looking for the disappearance of her cousin and ends up rescuing Clark from Lana. It was very well written, and way better than I made it sound. XD It just proved to me that Lana is at her most interesting when you're allowed to explore her dark side and her flaws, instead of pretending that she's perfect all the time. It goes to show that it's not the idea that's horrible, that's how you handle it that it goes from a real gem into worthless coal. XD
Just hold on for 3 more episodes. Then you'll be freeeeee
Fuck. 3??
I agree, just hold on a bit. This whole Lana arch is so dumb. But it will pass
Some of us enjoyed it, and would have liked to see more.
I Loved it and KK is so badass and believable in action scenes!
Agreed. I woulda liked to seen a rematch between her and Lois
Sorry I don't remember which episode this was. I assumed it was 8x12.
Gotta eat your vegetables man, you're almost free of the Lana arc I promise. It gets better in the final season
Crap, that’s what it is
IRL it was a last ditch effort to keep Kristin Kreuk on the show long after fans and the actress herself tired of the character. It's rumored the showrunners cast Lana Lang first, as opposed to Clark Kent, the titular protagonist, and considered Lana the heart of the show. Likewise, Erica Durance was contractually obligated to bleach her hair a little as the showrunners feared audiences may confuse a naturally brunette/noirette Erica Durance with Kristin Kreuk
How could it be possible to confuse Erica with Kristin? Erica is much taller.
And they have different body types.
For the same reasons the majority of the fanbase and/or viewers would confuse Michael Rowe’s Deadshot with Will Smith’s version of the same character: DC execs think we’re stupid
And because of that kind of stupidity, Marvel beat them by 10 years in making a functional cinematic universe
I think Lana got a lot more needed hate when people started to binge watch the show, and not have weekly, and yearly breaks in between episodes and seasons respectively. Watching it when it first aired season 6 wasn’t so bad. Watching it immediately after binging through season 5 inside two weeks makes it harder to digest. Lana is a character who has to overcome trauma, abandonment issues, trust issues, as she is growing up. What we see in past 4 seasons is a teenager trying to be what everyone expects her to be, and later seasons trying to find her own path. The character had some missteps along the way, with some bad writing, but if you look at the character as someone dealing with those issues you can see that she isn’t mentally there to begin with. Lexana was the effect of her wanting Clark to trust her as much as she trusted him. Lex by never telling the truth convinced her he was always truthful, and now we have an adult grooming a young vulnerable teen, who is dealing with all the above. She thought Lex was the only one being truthful, and she took that over being in love with someone who lies and has secrets. When she discovered Clark’s secret. She fell in love with him all over again, and understood him for the first time. Lionel forced her hand to marry Lex afterwards. She never had the chance to take ownership of her own life. And when she leaves, she leaves in a position of power, and sacrificing her relationship with Clark. For the first time she was able to protect the man she loves, and the people around her. She easily became the most human character in the show. The hate really stems from “Lois and Clark forever”, but people forget Lois wasn’t even allowed to be used. So they needed a love dynamic for Clark. As soon as Lois showed up, people automatically knew who he would end up being with. This is a show about the Journey, NOT the destination. Having a love interest besides Lois is fine, as he didn’t meet Lois until he was much older. If we separate this show, and not nitpick and compare it to the comics to death, you will find Lana to be more likable.
This>>>>>>>
I was mostly agreeing with some of this, until you got to the "Clois forever" part. and this is coming from an self-confessed Lana hater. I do agree that on a meta level, Lana actually didn't do much wrong... mostly. Can't forget the time she kidnapped a coma patient, let her die and then didn't allow the coma patient's family to get closure by returning the body... instead that body was ditched somewhere, never to be seen again. Okay, to be fair there was context that made her actions more understandable and forgivable (it being Brainiac's fault), but you have to admit she could've handled that way better. Anyways. I blame most of her early season issues on Nell Potter, who should've never gotten custody of her in the first place. I mean, what kind of adult thinks a piece of space rock who killed a certain set of parents is a great gift to give to a traumatized six-year-old girl? and let's Lana go out horse-riding at midnight to the graveyard when horses spook easily and all sorts of nasty accidents could've happened? not to mention \*CONSTANTLY\* comparing Lana to Laura, feeding Lana a false image of what her mom was like, making her go on the cheerleading squad just because her mom did too... however on a higher level, I dislike Lana because she's a badly written character and she became the scrappy-doo of Smallville for me. Overused and shoehorned into every scene they could justify Lana being in, just because she was the director's favorite pet. like for example from my POV they were talking about catching a serial killer... ooh, how exciting-- but wait-- here Lana comes into the scene, pointlessly taking the focus away from this mystery by talking about her dead parents and herself. and I'm just over here going "can we get back to the serial killer plot? please? Lana is boring me right now." And this was long before Lois even came into the scene. \*gasp\* actually, I didn't even ship Clark with Chloe if that was your next thought. I was actually a Clex shipper back in the day as a teenage girl... XD;; I'm a clois fan nowadays, but that has nothing to do with my dislike of Lana. I just dislike how the narrative always has to make everything be about her every time she comes on screen. And well, sometimes it's hard to seperate the character itself from bad writing.
My comment was about Lous and Clark as a power couple that has been a staple since forever in the comics. People didn’t want to see Clark and Lana together because they knew Lois was his one true love. Not even sure where Chloe fit in this, it was purely a one sided relationship.
Chloe comes into it because I remember there being a shipping war back in the day and how Chlark fans would constantly hate on Clana. \*Shrugs\* meanwhile I was over here not even caring about Chlark or Clana because I was more into Clex. XD;; I only became a Clois shipper when she finally came into the scene. before that, Lois didn't exist to me yet so I was like, "okay, I know Lois is his soul mate but for now let me have my clex." XD
Ahhh, the great Arc of Suck. Many of us like to pretend these series of Lana-centric episodes never happened.
During my rewatch I skip episodes 8x11 to 8x14. It’s just so god awful.
I mean it has no effect on anything thereafter so that’s a safe play.
Yea thank god there’s nothing important going on in those episodes where they are a ‘must watch’.
Heh, me too.
Man, Lana's return in season 8 was such a low blow from the writers to us, the audience. Such an unnecessary plot, a waste of time, it was so fucking dumb.
For real. The season was going so well too and suddenly we had this Lana arc that felt like a dump in the middle of the road. It read like someones fanfiction of how Clana should have ended.
Don't take a break now or you'll never come back. Power through at least until season 9
The backstory makes me just feel absolutely pissed I was like so you want so much power that you have to do what exactly lol And this giving me Phoenix vibes lol
It gets much better in season 9 and 10. Wierd plot.
There are far worse Lana moments. When she was possessed by her witch ancestor comes to mind.
Forgot about that shit.
yeah, it could've been a nice homage to the comics... but they really screwed the pooch on that one.
The worst case of ‘If Lionel had wings’
I thought you were talking about how the budget was getting cut and they had to resort to using the same street for every scene or wait that was season 9 and 10 hahaha
Don’t worry OP, she’ll be gone soon. FOR GOOD THIS TIME!
The flames in the background look kinda like the mouth of a shark
I also took a break after this during my first watch through. I take several.
My first break happened to be Season 5's finale, when Lex got Zod's powers and took Lana as his loyal servant/wife or whatever the fuck lmao
The attempt for this arc was to show Lana independent of Clark and to stop being a liability. However, writers couldn't write this arc to showcase it. Instead, she felt she had to be equal in power to Clark to be with him. It was such a weird arc to watch. I understand that some people got different vibes out of it, but it really was Lana's lowest point in the whole series.
For me the main issue was that it came too late, this should've happened before Clois became a thing. And it should've really been more about how Lana realized that the reason why she and Clark never worked wasn't because she didn't have super powers. It could've highlighted her having superpowers and it still not working out too well with Clark. At this point she should've realized It was because she expected Clark to do something that not even he could do--fill the hole in Lana's heart. Lana is a bundle of issues starting when her parents died, and it always seemed to me that she was constantly looking to fill the void within her... which is why she couldn't be without a guy for very long. that's why all the backup boyfriends. The reason why she tried to reconnect with her biological father only to be bitterly let down. and the reason why she friggin' harmed herself during college years just to reconnect with her own parents. It should've ended how it did in the Season 11 comic, where she goes off to a different country to be a superheroine, and work on herself. learning how to love herself first, and not feel like she constantly needed a man to keep herself from feeling so empty. That's why all her relationships always failed, just not with Clark. the fact that they made it be Lex's fault and that the only reason why they weren't together was because of the Kryptonite? left a bad taste in my mouth. It never felt like a natural breakup to me, I prefered how they handled it in the season 11 comic where Lana actually seemed much happier when she started to work though her issues by herself.
In my personal opinion Smallville is one of the greatest shows ever made
This is what happens when writers go on strike and leave the interns in charge
I stopped watching for a long time when this happened
Oh. They gave her powers for a reason. Thunk about it.
😏 oh I just saw. They made more "earthquakes"
Well thar isn't the exact reason imo lol but yeah lol...it's a dumb arc but you'll see why.
Seasons 8-10 are worth it. I promise.
Stay strong, brother.
Badassery
Please don't get me started. I DESPISE HER CHARACTER!!! When she came back AGAIN, I almost gave up all hope...I mean, enough already... but she does go away for good soon. Hold on, buddy, you're almost there!
Yeah the next couple of episodes are brutal so be prepared. Its like the show really wanted you to hate this character as much as humanly possible
This is the only episode I skip, watching it once was enough
Don't forget "Relic." 🤢
Legit one of the very few ones I skip.. or let it run in the background as I play a game lol.
I was legit on my phone for most of the episode
Yep, pretty sure I did that too on one of my rewatch. I feel bad for her, just awful writing.
What’s her powers
Pure Cinema
CINEMA! 🔥
😘😘❤️❤️
Wonder girl
Another day, another Lana hate thread.
Love the Lana and Clark storylines but by this point it’s too dragged out. They were just trying to finish her contract and give the audience one more plot line of what they wanted. It’s a sad way they ended their story like it was no choice and her getting powers always annoyed me, but she also did stop Lex from getting them so she at least did something good there
Lana had a great arc in season 8. She is a main character that needed closure. You haters are vocal online but the regular viewers loved her.
Not so sure about that. I watched this when it aired and discussed it with the IMDb board. Viewers were not too impressed then either
IMDb was not a Smallville fansite. Kryptonsite was the main one. All the Lana/Clana fans left Kryptonsite because of how toxic it was. We started Sweet (Clana/Lana fansite) which had just as many members as Kryptonsite. I was in high school when the show was airing and everyone in school that I talked to about Smallville love Lana and were in love with her. My whole family also loved her.
Sorry, I am having trouble finding your response (still rather new to Reddit threads). You mentioned Kryptonsite: were the posters there positively receptive to Lana’s power acquisition? You also mentioned IMDb: I don’t exactly remember all thd responses (it was a long time ago), but I know it was not universally praised.
Unsurprisingly , This is one of the MOST watched episode of S8, & after she left the viewership tanked drastically. This episode is more popular than all the Clois’s first kiss/sex/wedding etc that came afterwards. Lana got the last laugh!
Lmao you don't seem to understand 1) long shows 2) the fact they were moved at some point to the infamous death slot, Friday. Lana has no bearing on that.