I'm going to disagree with the others and say that I don't mind that Lana just died like that. Okay... I would have been just as happy, and admittedly even more happy, if Lisa had reached the pickup and managed to drive it away. And then Lana might have died, for all I care.
But I'm very, very glad that Lisa didn't have to kill Lana. A twelve-year-old shouldn't have to grow up knowing that she was a killer. Yes, it would have been self defence, of course. But even so, imagine what it would have been like. The police would have found injuries on Lana's body that showed that someone else had caused her death. And who could the killer be but Lisa? Yes, Lisa had been kidnapped... or so her mother said... but maybe she had come with Lana voluntarily? And maybe it hadn't been all that necessary for Lisa to kill Lana? Maybe it really was some kind of murder?
It is at least possible that the police would ask Lisa that sort of questions. And Lisa might never be able to really prove that she had killed Lana in self-defence. Oh, I'm pretty sure that no charges would have been brought against Lisa in any case, but still, she would have been weighted down by this heavy load of guilt and doubt.
And in any case: a twelve-year-old shouldn't have to watch another person die
and know that she herself had killed that other person. Anyway, Lisa's flight from Lana was horrifyingly scary. Like a horror movie, Shayne!
There were so many good moments. Lisa deciding to dress like the homeless people. Lisa opening her eyes and staring straight into Lana's eyes. Lisa trying to open the door and getting the wrong keys. Lisa running close to the road, hearing Lana come after her in a pickup. Lisa running into the woods. Lana running after her all the time, never losing her. Lisa figuring out that the Red K rose behind her ear was glowing. Lisa reluctantly throwing the rose away, thinking of her father. Lana charging after the rose, thinking it was Lisa. And then Lana catching up with Lisa just before Lisa managed to reach the pickup.
This was good:
“Why did you do that?” she gasped. The sound in her lungs wasn't a healthy one. She coughed, and it sounded like one of the worst smoker's coughs Lisa had ever heard.
“Why do you make me hurt you?”
“You aren't my mother,” Lisa said. She gritted her teeth from the pain. “Even if she's dead, you won't ever be.”
“I was going to give you shelter, food, clothing…” Lana gasped, staring down at her. “All you had to do was pretend.”
Lisa knew she was going to die. All she could do was die bravely, like her mother and father had. She felt a sudden surge of despair and fear.
“You don't love me,” Lisa said
“You don't know that.” Lana said.
“If you loved me, you wouldn't be doing this.
Lana just had to vindicate herself by stealing Clark's child and making that child her own. Lisa was right, of course, when she said that Lana doesn't love her. But Lana was sure as heck possessed by an obsession that wasn't love, but which meant that she couldn't let Lisa go.
I guess I was surprised that a physically frail and sick woman had so much stamina that she could run after Lisa like that. I guess she didn't have that stamina, and the over-exertion was what killed her in the end. She killed herself, running after Lisa.
Viciously she kicked the glowing green rock out of Lana's unresponsive hand and then she ran to grab up her daughter.
Lisa had never looked so much like her father in that moment. Her eyes fluttered, and when she looked up at her mother she mumbled, “Am I dead?”
Lois hugged her tightly and said, “Of course not. You are going to live for a long, long time.”
They had all the time in the world now, time to find out what being a family was all about.
Lois knew she was going to treasure every moment.
I love this ending, particularly the part about Lisa never having looked so much like her father as she did in this moment. Well, of course. Lisa has just been severly weakened by Kryptonite, and Lois had just spent time with Clark, looking at him when he had almost died because of Kryptonite. Lisa is her father's daughter all right, and Lois can't wait for them to become a family.
Ann
P.S. Shayne, you know what? I just changed my mind. I said that I would have preferred it if Lisa had been able to reach that pickup and drive away from Lana on her own. But on second thought, I don't think so. Lisa fought incredibly bravely to get away from Lana, and she made Lana literally run herself to death doing so. But in the end Lisa couldn't get away from Lana's kryptonite, so she needed her mother, Lois, to save her. And Lois did so. Lois had promised her daughter that she would always be there for her, and here, in Lisa's most dire moment of need, Lois really was there for her. I love it, Shayne!!!
