Hi Annie,
Welcome to the boards!
You raise some interesting questions. Here's my personal take on them, and someone else may have a different explanation. One thing to consider is that during the series the producers and writers changed, and there was reportedly a lot of input by executives. Which by the time the final episodes were made, may have led to more inconsistencies. And some things may just defy logical explanation.
Lois finds herself attracted to Alt. Clark to the point where she nearly cheats on her Clark twice. Was this because she was projecting her feelings for Clark onto his alternate self, or has a part of her fallen in love with him? In the case of the latter, I feel it cheapens her relationship with her Clark because she would have another to fall back on.
I think this was Lois missing Clark so much and was drawn to alt-Clark. It may have had something to do with the soul mates issue, or maybe it's a Kryptonian connection. I'm not at all sure it can be explained in the universe we live in, and may be part of living in a universe where a man can fly without a plane.
In Target: Jimmy Olsen, Lois dumps Clark for Scardino. I'm on the verge of thinking this to be cruel, since she tells him she has been seeing Clark, but would it be less so because she had only been on a few dates and weren't steady? Had this disrespect on Clark's part happened after she and Clark were married, would Lois have done something similar, or would her marital commitment and calmer personality allow her to work it out with Clark?
If Scardino appeared after Lois and Clark were married, she would have reacted differently. A lot of what happened here was due to her frustrations at Clark running off when she wanted to talk, her interpretation that he had intimacy issues and his inability to explain his absences. After she knew his secret those issues go away. Scardino could have been an alternative to the Irish boyfriend after Clark broke up with Lois in Season 3. If Lois and Clark were separated she might possibly be attracted to someone else. Otherwise I think she'd make sure he knows she's off limits.
In the Foundling, Lois places her reasons for being exempt from lying on being from Metropolis; Clark cannot lie because he's from Kansas. I'd always assumed she only held Clark to these standards since he was the "last honest man," and that this was only an excuse. What do you think of the double standard there?
She has serious trust issues from her experiences with Claude, Sam Lane and Paul (and probably others). I think she's looking for someone who will never lie to her. She also got upset with Superman in
Bolt From the Blue when she learned he either lied or hadn't told her that his powers could be transferred. While holding him to a different standard is ridiculous and unfair on one level, on another it's reasonable to expect it because he is Superman and he holds himself to a higher standard. She learns through the series to trust Clark, even if the evidence says something else. She finally gets it in
Chip Off the Old Clark after first doubting him and telling him she can't believe him, then accepting he's telling her the truth.
Lois of the fourth season seems a lot calmer and slightly more level-headed than in previous seasons. However, she and Clark are told they cannot adopt a child because she gets herself in danger so often. While part of it is just the risks of being a reporter, does she have a point about Lois's recklessness?
I think she does. Even if Lois is more stable in Season 4, that's been going on for how many months? 6? 9? The adoption personnel have an obligation to find loving stable homes, and not put the child in a potentially dangerous position. It would have been kinder to offer them the option of reapplying after a certain length of time. But many bureaucrats don't look at it that way. The outright denial may be a way to weed out those prospective parents who really aren't interested in making major changes for the child's safety. Or maybe in applying more than once.
Do you think it's possible that Lois was repressing her memories of living Clark with Dr. Deter because all the trauma concerning their trying to move forward a a couple? The wedding fiasco might have sent her over the edge, which would explain her fugue state (scientifically, of course, since it sounds like the real life condition is triggered by emotional trauma).
Yes, it's possible. A fugue state is the most realistic explanation I've seen in a while. I think it was more a matter of Hollywood using the knock on the head causing global amnesia, which is not clinically accurate but neither are some other things that happen on TV and in movies. That with the combination of whatever Lex did to her to cause her to become Wanda, followed by the treatment causing her to become an assassin for Dr. Mendenhall (?shock therapy, ?drugs), then Dr. Deter's treatments (?hypnosis ?drugs) would have also contributed. And in real life Lois probably would have needed treatment for a long time to recover.
