If you already know someone that should give you the freedom to be yourself and not act to impress.
You're right, Virginia, it
should give you that freedom. But, like they discussed earlier in the episode, there are
expectations when you go on a date. I had to laugh when you said I was lucky to have dating experience to draw from. If you'd been there for some of those dates, you'd realize how gloriously lucky you were NOT to have to gone through that "ritual".
It always made sense to me that Clark wanted to impress Lois with a date. This is the woman who nearly married Lex Luthor, so there is some little piece of her that can be charmed by flash. She's a Metropolis girl, after all. Clark's playing in the big leagues now and he wants to be able to pull it off. I think it means a lot to him to be able to woo Lois without having to use a single superpower.
Actually I have to wonder if it makes sense that Lois gets all scared at the end of the date.
That has always made perfect sense to me. Pre-Clark, Lois hasn't had a good track record with men and dating. After that many disasters and poor choices, she has to feel like she's a magnet for psychopaths and jerks. She also has the example of her parents' marriage to draw on. So once everything is going so well, so smoothly, with Clark, there has to be some doubt for her on whether he's secretly a psycho. Even worse -- what if he's not? Like she tells Perry the next morning, she's panicked because has absolutely no idea what to do now.
That, for me, is what makes it so sweet and special when she tells Clark that slamming the door in his face the night before was a mistake. But this time, instead of freaking out, she takes that risky second chance and they kiss. <sigh>
