SV: Deconstructing Lois Lane

By Myself656

[The following is a post from the Chlois thread on TWoP. With permission from the author, Myself656, I brought it here. It made me laugh but at the same time made me realize how the Lois Lane character on SV has slowly been taken apart. Thank you, Myself656, for a funny but perceptive look at SV’s Lois.]


To me it seems like every year the writers have been making Lois progressively worse and hoping that by the time they actually did the reveal people would have already caught on that she's not the real deal (because the best way to do a twist is provide enough information so that the general audience can figure it out before the actual reveal and thereby feel like they're as smart or smarter than the writers). In my imagination though, the discussion went something like this...


Miles (at the start of season four): Okay, we need to start dropping hints that ED's character isn't the real Lois Lane. What should we do?
Al: I know, let's make her a high-school dropout.
M: Great idea Al. Everyone knows the real Lois Lane is highly educated. Let's make sure that Chloe is class valedictorian while we're at it.
...
A (several months later): No dice, Miles. They still think ED's character is the real deal.
M: Okay, how about we get her kicked out of college and mooch off the Kents? Everyone knows the real Lois is an overachiever.
...
A (as season five starts): Well, this could be our last year and people still haven't figured out that ED isn't the real deal yet. We need to get more obvious.
M: How about we drag her into politics and then have her take money from Lionel?
A: I like it. Not just a politician, but an unethical one... people will have to realize she's not the real Lois Lane now. Hmmm... maybe we should put the real Lois, er, I mean Chloe into the Daily Planet and give her a set of her own just to make sure no one misses what's going on.
M: Great idea, Al. If we're going out this anyway we may as well get to see the Daily Planet.
...
A (start of season six): Well, we actually lasted out the season and even managed to throw in a great kiss between the real Lois and Superman at the end, but the bad news is people still think ED's character is the real Lois. We need to up the ante.
M: I've got it! Let's make her a tabloid reporter who lies in her stories and nearly loses her job due to her incompetence. We've already the Inquisitor as the trashiest paper in the world. Let's put her there.
A: Brilliant!!! No one would accept a character who lies to the public in her stories as the real deal!
...
M (start of season seven): Seriously... WTF!?! They STILL think ED's character is the real deal?
A: Oh, I give up! Let's just throw her into the Planet by having her sleep with the boss while never producing a single printable story and then kill her off at the end of the season just to make sure there's no mistake as to who the real Lois Lane is.
...
M (start of season eight): Al? What are you doing huddling under your desk?
A: I just got word that a bunch of fans are still convinced ED's character is the real deal.
M: But we had Lex blow her character's brains out. We spent half the FX budget for that episode on the CGI of her head exploding just to make sure everyone knew she was dead. Then we had Chloe take her cousin's name and legally change it. We named a whole episode "Pseudonym" and made an A story out her doing so. Heck, Allison's in the credits this year AS LOIS LANE!!!
A: I know... they still says she's a fake because of that Lionel deal back in season two and are convinced it's only a temporary setback for ED's character. She's still got time to develop.
M: Move over under there... I'll get the vodka.


The point I'm trying to make is that every time you think the writers have hit rock bottom with Lois, they manage to have her plunge even deeper in the opposite direction of where she needs to be and "Blue" is just the latest iteration of that. Right now it's mostly supposition... I mean, in theory Lois has to have published SOMETHING at the Daily Planet in Offscreenville... but the fact that we haven't actually SEEN a story makes it about as real as Lollie sex was and the multiple rejections definitely indicate the possibility that, despite being on the Planet's payroll, she hasn't produced a single thing.

Indeed, the possibility remains open that the very first thing Lois ever gets published could be a story she's stolen from Chloe to keep her job. An editor who isn't boning her isn't going to put up with shoddy stories and missed deadlines for very long before managing to see results and between the "look of laptop lust" in "Combat" and her willingness to lie to cousin's face in "Blue" (not to mention the Judas anvil from "Fierce") I'd say they're setting things up for just that possibility.

The original post can be found here.