Oooh, fun!
It's been ages since I've seen the Pilot in its entirety, but I can share my first impressions because they've never left me. From the first I was hooked by the fact that Clark Kent was the real person and Superman was the disguise. It makes sense to me. Even in the comics, he was raised as Clark. To suddenly abandon that at adulthood seems strange. It was a revelation to me to have Clark not only still be Clark, but to also not have him be a complete bumbling pushover. I knew I loved the show the moment he said "You like to be on top. Got it." I loved that he was going to call Lois on her crap. And I loved, loved, loved the character of Lois.
Like you said, she was a great mix of vulnerable and tough and sometimes downright mean, and yet you found yourself rooting for her.
I loved that their first meeting wasn't some "meet cute" or big production. I loved that she practically ignored him while he was clearly smitten.
The writing that first season and into the second season was fabulous. There was banter and an understated sexual chemistry that the show lost when Deborah Joy Levine left. I loved the costuming with its nods to the 30's and 40's. Some of the plots were terrible, but the characters saved it for me.
Ah, good times. I read/write fanfic now to recapture the fun of those first couple of seasons.
