Like Irene and Kristen, I was very moved by Lois's reaction to seeing Clark as Clark. Very nicely done, Nicole!
Interesting, too, that she's
not mad - or, rather, that she's letting her relief at Clark being alive temper her anger. Maybe, in the end, it'll be hurt rather than anger that she feels, and hurt will heal.
Tank raises a point which has been discussed on these boards before, including by him.
Yes, Clark didn't have any other option, or at least so he thought. And he might well feel justified in what he did, given that Clark Kent was to all intents and purposes dead. He might well feel that he had no option but to let Lois carry on believing that her best friend had been murdered - but it's not as simple as that. First, what right has he to decide for Lois that it's better for her to believe Clark is dead - and that she's responsible!
- than for her to know that he's alive but she can only see him occasionally as Superman? Second, by this time in their relationship they're a
team. He knows better than anyone how well they work together. How resourceful Lois is, and how often she comes up with ideas which have sheer brilliance. And how often, when he's felt that all hope is gone, she's inspired him to do more as Superman. So why wouldn't she be able to find a solution this time?
This is why, while I have written Clark insist to Lois that he did the right thing even in the face of her pain, I refuse to let him get away with it.
Yes, on the night he was shot he was in no state to think rationally and realise what he needed to do. But by the following day he
should have known that he couldn't just hide away. He knew that Lois was upset, and it would be hard to fool himself that she'd get over it in a few days or a week or so. Plus at some point he's got to start thinking rationally.
And I do think that, even if Clark does have a point that he didn't seem to have any other option open to him, that does
not negate Lois's right to be angry and upset. He's supposedly her best friend, and he let her think that he was dead. That has to be one of the worst possible things anyone can do to a friend. And I think, in Nicole's scene, Clark realised that - he'd realised it before he even saw Lois, given that he'd spent the last hour or so finding out what had happened to her. He'd realised that she was still desperately grieving, instead of moving on with her life as he'd hoped. That she'd quit the Planet. That she was really barely existing, rather than actually living - and that all of this was because of his 'death'. Yes, in the circumstances I'd think he'd be less inclined to argue that he did the right thing and more inclined to apologise for the pain he caused her!
Anyway, I hope you're posting more soon, Nicole!
Wendy
