Lana Lang: Did You Know Her Parents Were Killed by a Meteor Shower?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I thought this title very apt, since we kept hearing this line over and over and over again!

 

Lana SUCKED the life out of this show, with her constant whining about sekriths and lies; and her incessant, burning need to know all and everything.

 

And don't get me started on the Pink.

[Lisin]

Ugh. Don't get me started on the fact that she's had more concussions than most professional boxers! We should be seeing a punch drunk Lana by like season 3. 

[ElleryAnne]

Aw, blahblahpancakes.  Good times.  

 

Really, though, we should be more understanding of her.  She had to grow up as the face of the Heartbreak in the Heartland, and then was traumatized by finding that picture of herself on Chloe's Wall of Weird next to the picture of the three-headed cow.  And her lifelong secret desire to see the Metropolis skyline from the top of a windmill was realized when she was young, leaving her without a goal in life.  So tragic.  And having everyone fall in love with you is really difficult, even when they don't ALL turn out to be stalkers who want you dead.  And trying to deal with all of that, as well as the smushed parents and the secrets and the lies and being a perfect pink princess while also going to school, and organizing blood drives, AND running a coffee shop that seemed to be open 22 hours a day, seven days a week?  Well, it's no wonder they kept playing music like "She Will Be Loved" in the background of her scenes.

 

And she once lost a whole old person while she was volunteering in a senior home.   That was her best moment.

Edited May 8, 2014 by ElleryAnne

[Lisin]

HA! I forgot about "secrets and lies" AGH! I'm off to re-read some recaps! Whee!

[missbonnie]

Absolutely, positively hated this character. So much so that I wouldn't watch Beauty and the Beast for any amount of money.

[BkWurm1]

Absolutely, positively hated this character. So much so that I wouldn't watch Beauty and the Beast for any amount of money.

I call that good sense. Yeah, I won't go near a KK led production. At best it would be passable acting and there is just sooooo much room in the at worst category.

[DigitalCount]

I don't know. There were many genuinely good KK acting moments; I think she did a good job. ("So you're from Krypton too?" "Mars, actually." "...I have to go change my pants. In Alaska.") It was the character, not the actor, who worked my last nerve.

[BkWurm1]

I think KK could be fun and engaging and she pulled that aspect of her character off well, but I found a lot of her dramatic choices questionable. 

[scowl]

We'll always have Chloe clocking Lana's head with that slow motion roundhouse punch in "Delete". So good they put it in the credits. 

[BkWurm1]

We'll always have Chloe clocking Lana's head with that slow motion roundhouse punch in "Delete". So good they put it in the credits. 

I think of that scene and even hear the sound effect bowing around her. 

 

Yeah, good times. :)

Edited October 8, 2014 by BkWurm1

[manbearpig]

Did the show ever follow up on Lana's admission that she felt like she couldn't trust Chloe in Truth? Because that baffled me while watching the episode and I can't remember either Chloe or Lana addressing it again.

[BkWurm1]

Nope. 

[wingster55]

Lana wasn't the best character but I felt the character was solidly written the first few seasons...but not acted. Then KK improved but the writing for Lana turned to shit. 

[BkWurm1]

I honestly have a hard time separating the two. 

 

I remember not having much of an issue with Lana in the first season but by the time she sent her boyfriend in the army a dear John video I was soooo done with her.  Even in the first season I was getting tired of her "perfectness".  It helped a lot that Kirsten Kruek was/is so nice.  I had issues with how the show runners were treating her and her character, but I never had an issue with her.  She seemed very self aware and always came off that way in interviews. 

 

Still didn't make me want to follow her to a new show but at least when she showed up for a guest stint on Chuck I felt bad for her when Chuck played with her heart. 

[wingster55]

I never got the issue with "secrets and lies" (except for the repetitiveness) ...but Clark kept lieing so Lana kept prodding.

[BkWurm1]

I never got the issue with "secrets and lies" (except for the repetitiveness) ...but Clark kept lieing so Lana kept prodding.

Poor Kristen Kruek had a tendency to whisper her lines when she was trying to be serious and emotional at the same time.  It sounded like she was saying "Secwets and lieths" like she was Tweety Bird staring at the puddy cat.  Add her saying it a lot and yeah, a very memorable mocking point.  ;) 

[wingster55]

That seemed more like an acting fail (which as I mentioned happened often with her in early SV)

[blueray]

I have nothing against the actress, Kristen always seemed(s) nice. However, I hated Lana and it got worst as the show went on. Also it didn't help when the writes realized "oh crap we wrote ourselves in a corner, there is no reason why they can't be together now" lets make something up like krytonian skin...

[BkWurm1]

I have nothing against the actress, Kristen always seemed(s) nice. However, I hated Lana and it got worst as the show went on. Also it didn't help when the writes realized "oh crap we wrote ourselves in a corner, there is no reason why they can't be together now" lets make something up like krytonian skin...

This should have been the moment when the writers stepped in and laid out explicitly what so many of us had seen implicitly shown on the show - that the feelings that Lana and Clark had for each other was truly based on only youthful projection of their fantasy person and a good dose of familiarity.   I don't doubt that they cared for each other, but I do doubt that they ever really were what the other person wanted or needed in a long term love.  The whole Bizzaro plot line should have ended their relationship as should have Lana waking up and realizing that she was only holding him back (her running off and leaving another dear John video was completely in character - I hate that they undid that and made it so she was forced to make it) 

[bettername2come]

I'm rewatching season 3 and remembering that I like Kristin Kreuk, but I just got sick of the "metahuman of the week is obsessed with her" storyline. KK's not the greatest actress, but she always seems nice and she kind of won me over in one of the season 2 commentaries when she said "I hate pink."

[GHScorpiosRule]

I've got nothing against Kristin. She seems to be a very nice person--based on the interviews I've seen on the dvds, and that special that ABC Family aired right before the fourth season, where all of the cast was interviewed. Well, Except for Sam Jones III, but he left after the third season, so maybe that's why.

Anyhoo, I can separate the actress from the character, and as you've no doubt read, I absolutely LOATHE Lana. And Lois. They're about equal for me. At least Kristin can act. Well, slightly better than Durance, at any rate.

Edited September 21, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[BkWurm1]

Yeah, I liked KK as a person.  I often felt bad for stuff the showrunners put her through.  Didn't like Lana but always liked her.  I can't say the same with some of the actresses in my current fandoms.  And yeah, I had some issues with ED as a person as well.  Just a vibe.  

[Whodunnit]

From the very beginning of the series I disliked Lana, I mean in the pilot episode she forgave her boyfriend for hazing and nearly killing Clark when he made Clark that year's scarecrow. Aside from Clark's allergic reaction to Lana's meteor necklace, he could have died from being strung up like that due to things like heat stroke, injuries from being  beaten, the rope constricting vessels and causing a clot or something...

Edited April 4, 2018 by Whodunnit
Autocorrect likes to mess with me.

[Whodunnit]

She had a way of making every thing about her, too. In the pilot, despite learning about what had happened to Clark, she seemed more upset about Whitney lying to her and losing her necklace.

[Whodunnit]

In another, non pilot example, Clark gets into trouble for roughing up and injuring a sleazy guy when he threatens to sue. Meanwhile, Lana takes some self defense from Lex which she somehow learns to do in a week what I've seen people with gymnastics backgrounds learn after about 6 months of training. Sleazy shows up at the Talon and she is able to showcase her newest talent, and yet somehow doesn't get her ass sued by the guy, despite that being his bread and butter. This made the Aesop of the episode--that you can't always solve your problems with violence-- rather broken.

[Whodunnit]

In the third season, Lex has been drugged by his father and is slowly losing his mind. He ends up hiding in a horse stall and accidentally upsets the horse, which steps on Lana's leg breaking it. Lana blames Lex despite knowing he was not of sound mind at the time of the incident and still blames him a month later in the asylum episode. She shows no concern for his wellbeing. 

[Whodunnit]

This is particularly harsh when you consider that he gave her the Talon. And that's a bizzare example of how unrealistic Lana's character was itself, because she somehow turned the Talon into a successful business despite having zero training, having previously messed up coffee orders so badly that like a soy latte became a hot chocolate, going to school full time, and being 16.  (Later, in addition to being a coffee business maverick, she was also a ninja, a witch, got a full scholarship to an art school in Paris without ever even mentioning being interested in art before, became a socialite, founded aI. S. I s*, and faked her death, and stole 10 million dollars.)

All these things were about her, and not about how she interacted or compared to another woman.

*How bizarre is it that she named her foundation/corporate espionage center that years before real one?

[blueray]

15 hours ago, Whodunnit said:

In another, non pilot example, Clark gets into trouble for roughing up and injuring a sleazy guy when he threatens to sue. Meanwhile, Lana takes some self defense from Lex which she somehow learns to do in a week what I've seen people with gymnastics backgrounds learn after about 6 months of training. Sleazy shows up at the Talon and she is able to showcase her newest talent, and yet somehow doesn't get her ass sued by the guy, despite that being his bread and butter. This made the Aesop of the episode--that you can't always solve your problems with violence-- rather broken.

This always bothered me. I studied Tae Kwon Do for years and I'm a black belt.  So, I know that you do not learn how to fight like that in a week. It doesn't matter how natural you are. There is no way that Lana would learn it that quickly from Lex (who isn't even a trained instructor). And  good point, the whole episode is about how Clark got in trouble for throwing the guy into a car. Lana gets off scott-free which is not fair at all.

Edited April 4, 2018 by blueray