I've been thinking about this story and the portrayal of the Clark/Superman dichotomy. In L&C:TNAOS, Clark was the "real" character and Superman was merely an extension of his personality combined with a chance to use his powers to help others without losing himself in the process. But this Clark does NOT consider himself to be a good person. So he puts on the blue-and-red suit to "be" the person he deeply wants to be.
Clark is a real person in this story, but then so is Superman. And they're different people, or at least Clark treats them as different in his own mind. As Clark explained it to Lisa himself:
Clark stared out over the lake. “Superman is good. He’s heroic, trustworthy, kind. Me…I’m not even a nice person really.”
Here, Clark is putting on the suit so CAN be the great hero, not because he's already a heroic person inside. He's afraid that if his real identity becomes public knowledge, his past deeds would tarnish the image of the super-hero. He's probably right, too, given the way Clark cheated a number of people out of riches which were rightfully theirs (even if they didn't know the riches were on their property). But now I suspect that Lana might have had a great deal to do with that side of Clark's personality, and if that's true, then she almost surely used the red K bracelet on him. And if
that's true, then his culpability is reduced somewhat by Lana's influence.
Contrary to the stated preferences of some FOLCs, I still maintain that, in this case, Clark is justified in keeping his true identity from Lois at this point. She doesn't know him very well, only what little she's seen in the media or in person, and that disclosure at this point would probably put more roadblocks between them than bring them closer together. She has to learn to trust him as a person. Of course, he doesn't know her that well either, so he's having to learn to trust her, too. And it's not a choice he'd make if Lisa weren't involved. I seriously doubt that he'd give Lois a second appointment if she hadn't borne his daughter, and that's another problem they'll both have to deal with.
He cannot - and should not - keep that information from Lois for very long, and he'll have to be sensitive to her needs instead of just his own insecurities. On top of that, there's Lisa to consider. I wonder what she'll do if she thinks Clark is waiting too long. And I wonder what evil scheme Lana will dream up. Will she settle for making their lives miserable, or will she try to use lethal force on Lois or Lisa?
It's interesting that Lana's fury was triggered by the mention of the nursery. I wonder what that means to her? And she doesn't appear to realize that Lisa has inherited her father's abilities, or that they're beginning to bubble to the surface.
Ooh, how about a Lisa/Lana confrontation? That would be most interesting, Shayne. Of course, I think anything you come up with next would be interesting.
