Originally posted by mrsMxyzptlk:
Originally posted by John Lambert:
[b]That said, I will go with the view that Clark has no justified reason to propose before telling her. He would have told her if it had not been for Mazik's call at the start of the episode, so his actions at the end make no sense.
In the comics Clark did not have any of the assurances that LnC Clark should have picked up on. He knew that they had a good relationship, but there had been no obvious declaration of intent from Lois. He could not be sure that it was Clark she truly wanted.
Also, my recollection is that he told her pretty soon after she accepted, within the following couple of comics (days). Plus, after inital confusion and shock for one or two comics she then fully accepted it. When Lois broke off the engagement it was years later .... MANY years later and was nothing to do with him keeping this secret. Doomsday and much more had also happened in the mean time. The reasons for breaking it off were actually very similar to Lois's concerns about marriage in LnC. She didn't want to be 'pushed aside' or 'surpressed' under the personality of Superman. She worried that she'd have very little worth against his worldwide, overawing personality. Obviously she did get over this.
I'm actually, personally, of the thought that Clark should ALWAYS propose before telling her. This is not the kind of secret to tell anyone who is not fully invested in Clark for the rest of their life. An extremely good friendship (eg Jimmy) or even romantic entaglement, no matter how wonderful, loving, trustworthy ... can end - often badly - and 'tit for tat' hurting is par for the course - not good for Clark and his secret.
Even with relationships that end amicably the two people could gradually just drift apart, move to different parts of the country, loose contact ... the emotional investment could fade ... and would they feel the need to be as faithful to his secret anymore? No. I really believe Clark did the right thing. Only someone bound to his family for life, committed to this level, should be burdened with this.
Maybe that's a controvertial idea *shrugs* Plus there are AUs out there where it just doesn't work cause she'd already found out for some other reason ... but under the normal circumstances ... Clark should propose and *hopefully* get a "yes" before he tells her.
