#smallville s6

[comebackali]

i thought people were - not lying, but certainly exaggerating how bad the writing for lana and lex was in s6, the way fandoms always do when the writing takes a turn away from what they want and makes the characters do things they deem "ooc." but now that i've slogged through, whatever tf that was and am firmly on the other side in s7, and they're writing these characters and this relationship with just a titch more nuance, i can look back on that and say, wtf kind of weird, preachy, torture porn was that?? and so boring too, like they're not even the fun kind of toxic like they are in s7. it was just, so bland. just awful.

[bearpillowmonster]

Smallville S6

We were already aware that this show repeats ideas but does so in different ways. The LexLang train is no longer steamed with Zod's takeover and all but we're getting a bit more of that Clois stuff...wait, you mean to tell me that Lana just leaned into it after Zod? Uh...OK, maybe the ship still sails. They kind of actively try to make you see why it was a bad idea in the first place and what a toxic relationship it enables but whatever, explore it properly, I suppose, just doesn't really give you as much joy, just suspicion. She even adopts some of Lex's personality traits if you know what I mean.

But you mean to tell me that you had all this potential with Zod fusing with Luthor and you just...resolved it in the first episode? I thought we were more aligned with continuity and storyline? At least make it a three part special or SOMETHING. Smh.

Anyways, aside from Clois, it's hilarious how Lois falls in love with every superhero she meets just unintentionally and then I suppose it's the same for Lana and the villains. But to expand on what I was saying about Lana changing- She's kind of entitled. I mean Lex catches her driving his car and she says "I didn't know I had to ask." Like if I had a gf that told me that, she'd be gone. Then she spends a day picking charities for Lex to donate to- UNWARRANTED. Like, sure, he should donate, he has more money than he could ask for but you're really just sitting around trying to figure out ways to spend your bf's money? I'd rather him give up the fortune, at least that way maybe things can even out and everyone gets a slice?

I don't know how I feel about this ship anymore because I feel like it peaked with the Christmas episode and would've been bittersweet for him to realize that it wasn't meant to be. He could fall in love but it would be at the expense of her life. But I also see the other side of the argument where he would challenge that vision to cheat death so...

But theres a lot this season offers, some really good and unique episodes, one that's like a black and white noir (not like the flashback one with Jor-El) there's even an episode that mimics the "Batman is hallucinating and the villains are his psychs" theory. Gotta love it.

Then I find it utterly hilarious that someone just leaves a trail of Oreos everywhere they go. If someone didn't know who he was, he'd really have no story relevance either, which makes it even funnier, just the guy that leaves partly eaten Oreos lying around.

Also the suits suck. Okay, bye.

[comebackali]

#the way lex smiles every time he looks down at lana has me screaming crying etc.#in the bottom gif you can literally see him go from 🙁 to 🥰 in real time (via fairyroses)

— SMALLVILLE, “Reunion” (6.05)

[kittyspring-creates]

[lanaluthorlang]

inside you there are two wolves. one thinks lexana are kindred spirits who found solace and understanding in each other, and the other thinks lexana are a toxic trainwreck full of resentment and regret.

[cinnamonanddean]

Lord, they done shot my boy AGAIN.

And they can't even give him a pillow, godamn.

Wait, I think this one needs notes, Clark is gonna go into Lex's miiiiiind:

First of all, Clark already lives rent-free in Lex's head so yanno...

Where's the best pie you've ever had, honey? Is it Martha Kent's?

Oh SHIT that actually startled me.

White suit, this can't be good.

Oh a baaaaby. Hmm Alexander though, that's sus. Is he the bad side hiding out as a baby?

"Trust me, Clark. You're my best friend." WHY THO 😭😭😭

Why does Clark have to look at Baby Lex so SOFT?

LIONEL YOU PIECE OF SHIT DON'T TALK TO HIM

Oh my god he's literally got him by the scruff of the neck this is awful

How the EFF are they gonna let Clark witness this FIRST HAND and then still give up on Lex??? I am AGHAST

Clark I swear to God, if you watch that man abuse his wife and child and don't snap his neck as the first fucking thing you do when you wake up

I'm sorry, the Stride gum product placement is sending me

Lol Lois wtf did you think was gonna happen? I'm surprised he didn't snap the phone in half

BWAHA Lex calling him a voyeur is funny. Careful honey, glass houses.

OHHHHHH MY GOD THROWING HIM INTO A LEXANA LOVE SCENE JAYSUS

Christ his little "look at that" head jerk was SO HOT 🥵

Omg holding his head. I am having an aneurysm.

Oh you better believe I'm rewinding that

Fuck that was hot 🚬

Clark chasing after Lex and Alexander instead of going out the door 🥺

"Promise me that you will never stop fighting" agghhhgkfkgkghh 😭

I'm not gonna quote the whole scene but just know that I am sobbing in a puddle

Uh I'm pretty sure being thrown through that thing would have killed that dude

Lionel you ambulatory trashcan, how the hell are you making yourself out to be the hero here??

Oh gosh

Oh daaaang, that's cold. TOO LITTLE TOO LATE LIONEL!

Aww Clark and Chloe 🥺 I love their relationship so much

Uh ohhhh. Was he telling the truth about Lana hanging up?

God, the lashes on Rosenbaum. Welling too, I noticed them in Persona. Men always get the good lashes.

"I grew up" that ain't the whole truth honey and you know it

[lanechester]

Season 6 girlboss Lana you will always be famous

[maraleestuff]

Clark realizing that Lionel was the poison (not the Luthor blood) in season 10 is both the equivalent of season 1-3 Clark and infuriating because he figures that out now instead of several seasons earlier when he could’ve trusted Lex

[luthwhore]

my main takeaway from smallville s5 is that lex really needs to invest in a good bullet-proof vest

[theresistanceneverquits]

[angelsdean]

can you BELIEVE lana finally knows clark's secret but she can't DO anything abt it bc she's trapped in a marriage to lex ????!! losing my whole mind abt it. i've been WAITING for her to find out and then she does !! and she's cool with it !! and she was gonna leave lex at the altar !!! and then lionel --we were all rooting for you! EYE was rooting for you!-- sweeps in to threaten her into marrying lex.........this show. created to purposely drive ME nuts

[francesderwent]

Damon and Elena bonding over their shared love for off-the-rails Stefan who needs to be protected and saved 🤝 Lex and Lana bonding over their shared love for Clark who cannot and will not tell them the truth

[kittyspring-creates]

[foryoufirst]

watching scream queens

[lanaluthorlang]

Now, I don’t necessarily think that Lexana are that out of character in season six. On the surface at least. With everything the two of them had been through, together and separately, you wouldn’t have to suspend your belief to accept that cracks would begin to show. Those trials could have strengthened their bond, or,they could have brought to the surface any anxieties that might have been lurking in their minds. 

For Lana, this is a new relationship. There’s bound to be doubts or fear that she’s rushing into things. Especially when you take into account everything that happened with Zod possessing Lex. She had to make a choice on the spot to follow him into the unknown. And she did. And once the dust settled she had time to sit and think about what she just got herself into. All her past relationships have either been built on lies, or staying with someone she had fallen out of love with for the sake of the other person’s feelings. 

Nothing new would have ever been easy for someone who’s used to being put on a pedestal until it’s time to discard her and move on. Clana might have had many ups and downs but at the same time, Clark represents a safe place for her to run to when her current situation starts to feel too real or she starts to have second thoughts. Lex might have been her confidant, but Clark had always been her constant, no matter how fragile that base might be.

And there is a version of Lex where his paranoia leads him to do all these awful things. Here is a man that has had every bad thing said about him proven to be true in the eyes of the people he cared for most, and as a result been rejected and abandoned. Who’d been lied to and deceived countless times over. There is a world were his fear of losing Lana, the one person he has left, leads him to going to extremes to keep her in his life. And with this being a sci-fi show, a fake pregnancy or a little cloning wouldn’t be out of the question. I think that’s what this season was going for, but the writing was so cold and detached that we couldn't connect with Lex’s reasoning. 

Also, obviously manipulating situations to keep your partner is wrong in any circumstance, but the point is that they could have given Lex a very human motivation and they didn’t. They wrote a mentally ill character and never followed through in a way that mattered. 

The biggest change in their dynamic this season is the absence of their communication. Y’know, the very foundation their relationship was built upon. I could buy Lex lying to Lana about his secret projects. I could buy Lana hiding her resurfacing feelings for Clark from Lex. I could even buy the clones and the fake pregnancy. But Lana wouldn’t have been afraid to push Lex until he told her the truth. She wouldn’t have been afraid to vent to him about her fears, her feelings, or her insecurities. Lex has had a habit from day one from hiding the truth until it blows up in his face (secret Clark room anyone?) but he wouldn’t have so coldly brushed aside those massive breaches of trust. 

You could make the argument that every single thing Lex did to and for Lana in the previous seasons was leading to him trapping her in this abusive marriage, but quite frankly, I don’t think the Smallville writers were smart enough to plan long term like that. I still respect that reading, but, as with a lot of things, our perception of these characters changes how we perceive their interactions with others and how we read their overall narrative. This entire breakdown is soaked in my bias, but it’s still how I see the show at the end of the day. 

Because I don’t see the Lex from the first half of the show as a scheming mastermind. You can have Lex be the big scary villain all you want, but you can’t go from one season where he’s clearly shown to have empathy and understanding to having him be a volatile gaslighter in the next with no signs leading to that point. As for Lana, I could buy this relationship being an act of rebellion on her part. After all, Clana was the dying star that this show revolved around for eight seasons. Still, it’s a disservice to her character to tie her to a ship we all know is sinking.  

Tldr: the foundations of the Lexana divide is in character for both of Lex and Lana’s traumas, but the execution of how they deal with it, and the framing of Lex as the shallow villain and Lana as the silent victim makes the entire storyline feel cheap and poorly written.

[cinnamonanddean]

Pour one out for Jimmy Olsen, the second-most gaslit character in this damn show. He was right every damn time and what did he get for it? Beat to hell multiple times, hooked on painkillers, and now impaled to death.