Welcome to the boards, Annie!
After watching the series for the fourth time, I've finally decided to try to understand Lois. There are a thousand things I love about her character, but many more that I have trouble understanding.
This is the great thing about fan-fiction, trying to make better sense of the characters and their motivations.
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.
Both options have been explored in fanfiction. I, personally, think it's a mixture of the two. She both attracted to Alt-Clark because in many ways he's like her Clark and she also misses her Clark a lot. Any relationship between Lois and Alt-Clark would be heavily burdened by Lois's guilt for cheating on her Clark and her hope of getting back to /rescuing her Clark.
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?
Does Lois dump Clark or just explore her dating options? She and Clark have only been on a few dates and aren't exclusive (no matter how much Clark sees them as such). Clark repeatedly isn't there for her and Dan (schmuck that he is) uses this to his advantage. I doubt Lois would have done this to Clark, knowing the truth, and especially after marriage when their relationship has been formalized.
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?
There's totally a double-standard at play here.
Lois excuse is that she's from the city and raised with bad morals, therefore she's excused from lying. Clark, on the other hand, is a good-ol' country boy, with good parents, and is basically honest. Therefore, it goes against his personality to lie (little does she know). Even Perry doesn't want to touch that one with a "10 foot pole".
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 can't see this as being a reasonable exception from adoption or they wouldn't let soldiers or emergency personnel adopt either. I think the show writers were just trying to make it so the characters had no options going forward. For some reason (unexplained), Martha and Jonathan weren't able to adopt children either.
Why not?
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).
Totally! Lois's amnesia has also been explored by many a fan-fic writer (as well as Clark's). Technically, her amnesia is more of a plot-device than anything based in reality. You'll notice that the treatment for her amnesia is the opposite (lock her away) of what was prescribed for Clark during All Shook Up (put him in familiar setting with familiar people). You'd think someone from the Planet (i.e. Perry) would have remembered this and raised a red flag instead of gone along with her recommended treatment.
You bring up some great points! Feel free to bring more of your insight to discussions and story feedback.
