Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related A Lex Question?

I just finished reading Wendy's first installment of Summer Dreaming which is really good.

In it, Lois marries Lex and meets Clark after she is married. I assume that Superman hasn't made an appearance yet, but that doesn't really matter because... I'm babbling here so let me get to the point:

Do you think that if Clark Kent or Superman hadn't come to Metropolis that Lex would have proposed to Lois? That he would have destroyed the Daily Planet to get her to accept his proposal?

Your thoughts...

gerry

Hmmm...

*Very* good point, Gerry! And now that I think about it, my answer would have to be no. He *might* have still persued her eventually, since she had been after that interveiw. Lex might have sought after her as a trophy wife still, and he might have gone to such lengths to get her... but I just don't see Lex doing that with the same fervor if he didn't have the added competition of Clark and Superman.

I'm probably not making much sense right now, so I'll stop, but I can't wait to hear everyone else's responses.

Sara

Interesting question, but there are infinite ways of looking at it. A few months ago, my friend and I were discussing what key event during season 1 triggered Lex's obsession with Lois. We decided it was probably--

A) Lex seeing her at the White Orchid Ball... seeing her tenacity (and beauty) and also receiving competition when Clark cuts in on their dance.

B) Superman going to Lex's window (at the end of The Pilot) and basically threatening him... this might have brought on Lex's obsession with bringing down Superman, and since Lois loved Superman, Lex might have been pursuing her as a way of angering Superman, or at least giving himself (Lex) a feeling over superiority if he could "win" Lois.

In both of these events, Clark/Superman played a role. If he hadn't gone with her to the White Orchid ball, she may not have gone, etc.

Changing one or more events in a timeline (like *when* Clark comes to Metropolis) can change everything about the world in which the fanfic takes place... but then again, it might not change much at all. I mean, look at the setup in "Tempus Anyone"... so many things were different (Lois missing, Perry running for mayor, M&J dead) but some things were the same, too (Clark working at the Daily Planet, living in Metropolis).

I think it's entirely possible that Lex's proposal to Lois might have still occurred, even without Clark/Superman in the picture. But their relationship up to that point would be very different from what we saw on the show in season 1... but it's still possible they might have gotten to that point in their relationship anyway. Or not. I mean, if Lex's hatred toward, and rivalry with, Superman, is the *only* thing that would have *ever* prompted him to pursue Lois, then it suddenly doesn't work anymore.

So to believe this kind of fanfic, you have to tell yourself that it was something ELSE that got Lex interested... something that Clark/Superman had nothing to do with. At least in *this* universe/timeline... or maybe all along.

Now as far as him destroying the DP to get her, yes... I still think he would have done something drastic, though maybe not that. He did it for the money, partly; partly for Lois, to get her detached from her friendships. Even without Clark around, she still had Jimmy and Perry... though Lex had already sort of gotten rid of them by giving Perry a Supervising Editor-in-Chief (thus making him angry enough to want to quit) and sending Jimmy down to the printing plant.

If Superman hadn't been around, would Lois have ever considered Lex? One could argue that she only accepted Lex's proposal to begin with because she had just recently been rejected by Superman. In an alt universe, maybe she would NEVER have accepted that proposal... because her emotions wouldn't have been clouded at the time. She might have given him a solid "no" right there on the plane.

Sooo in the end, I guess I can accept this scenario as long as the author explains how Lois & Lex met in this new timeline, and how their relationship progressed. Why did Lex destroy the DP if he'd already removed Jimmy & Perry anyway? I'd need reasons, but there are plenty that could be given.

The way I see it, things happened this way:

1. Mad Dog Lane decided that she would get an interview with Lex Luthor, one way or another.

2. Mad Dog Lane went to the White Orchid ball, where she met Mr. Luthor.

3. Upon meeting Ms. Lane, Mr. Luthor became infatuated with her.

4. The two started sort-of dating. He, because he was interested. She, because she wanted the story and was flattered by the attention.

4. Mr. Luthor was sprayed with a 100% solution of pheremone spray, turning his growing infatuation into outright obsession.

5. Mr. Luthor turned his considerable resources to doing whatever was necessary to "aquire" Ms. Lane.

While Superman did play a part in how various things turned out (the pheremone spray, for example), he was not directly involved with any of the events listed above. If we assume an alternate universe in which Superman did not appear for that year, then we have the freedom to assume that other events also happened somewhat differently.

So, I think it's fair to say that Lex would have been almost as obsessed, even without Superman, and might well have blown up the planet etc. (Assuming the city survived without Superman to stop the Toasters and Nightfall and everything else...)

There's plenty of lattitude, since we are talking about a new universe, but it seems plausible to me.

Paul

Hi Gerry:

Imo Lex would have gone after Lois no matter what. She was beautiful, but he knew many beautiful women. What attracted him were her Mad Dog Lane qualities. She was relentless in pursuing what she wanted, ran over anyone who got in her way, and wasn't above skirting the law in pursuit of a story. She, apparently, wasn't interested in real relationships and was only interested in winning, always being the best. What he saw in her was himself, and she,therefore, became a challenge to him. To tame and subjugate her would be a great triumph.
It seems to me that he even said that they were alike in one of the eps, but I can't remember which one.

Lex never saw her vulnerable side, which she kept well hidden. It was Clark who freed her to show that she wasn't brittle and unfeeling, and it was Superman who first evoked feelings of what she thought was romantic love. The presence of Clark and Superman only sweetened the challenge for Lex. They made winning a supreme victory, but he would still have gone after Lois without them.

He thought he and she were alike and that she would come to revel in evil as he did. His true feelings were revealed in Seconds when she tried to stop him from killing Superman with the ray gun. He brutally pushed her aside, saying,"Learn this now -- I love you, but never, ever stand between me and what I want."

He was obsessed with owning her so that she could no longer challenge him as n equal.

Jude

But without CK/Superman in the picture, Lois might have died at the hands of Toni Baines, or (assuming she survived Toni, or never went to the hangar) while on the spaceship going up to Prometheus! Lex would never have had a chance!

We could talk about this forever... too many variables to consider, I think!

Gotta love fanfic, huh? Anything's possible.

You bring up an excellent point here, Gerry, and one which I'm well aware I will have to deal with somewhere in the trilogy. (Thank you, by the way, for your lovely compliment about part 1! )

Would Lex have wanted her anyway? I don't see why not: like Paul, I'm not entirely convinced that his wanting her had to do with Superman. I really do like Jude's comments on the subject and - if Jude doesn't object - may draw on her post when I do get to write that part.

But I think it could have gone either way. Just as it would have gone either way in the series had Lois just opened her eyes a little more about Lex, or if she'd been more willing to listen to Clark.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say on the subject...


Wendy

There are two reasons why Lex might have decided to woo the lovely brunette reporter.

First, there is the fact that Lois is a beautiful woman and would attracted Lex's attention on a purely physical level. Of course, we all know that Lex wouldn't have been interested in anything more than a dalliance if that had been all Lois was. But, Lois was driven, intelligent, and not over whelmed just to be in his presense. That made her a challenge. Lex loves a challenge. It would have been analogus to taming a wild Mustang.

The other possibility is the pheremone thing.

The real crux of the problem here is the same error that the television series made. Lois was an intelligent, independant woman, who was also a closet romantic. Therefore, no matter what might have happened to her 'support system', she would never run into the arms of a 'convenient' suitor. Lois would never agree to marry someone she didn't love. Period. End of story.

Tank (who seems to have a few inflexible opinions about Lois that not everyone shares)

Interesting questions, Gerry, because they raise so many questions about characterisation, both Luthor's and Lois's.

I guess my response is - I'm not so sure that Lex would have proposed to Lois, let alone have destroyed the Daily Planet, without the stimulus of a Superman whom he saw as his primary opponent . I just don't see Lex doing those two things without the added competition of Clark and Superman. Luthor was very competitive - remember how he corrected the woman who introduced him as the world's 5th (i know that's the wrong number <g>) richest man. One of the reasons Lois was attractive to Lex was that she was percieved as being Superman's girlfriend. That upped her marketability in Luthor's eyes; in that sense Lois was a trophy. Remember, at the beginning of HoL, he has this fantasy where he's flying, wearing the Superman suit. Clearly, his wedding to Lois (and his control of the Planet) was symbolic of his having beaten Superman.

But, on the other hand ... I could be convinced that Luthor might have proposed without the Superman factor

The biggest issue to deal with is his character – he's a sociopath, maybe even a psychopath. Given that, he's not going to be motivated by love … heck , he's not capable of it. He's too marvelously, wonderfully evil. It all about him, his power, his pleasure.

Now, Lex Luthor, in the TV show Lois and Clark, wasn't especially interested in marriage - he'd had children by his first 2 wives but was uninterested in those children, and he certainly wasn't interested in being faithful to one woman. Throughout S1 we see him sexually involved with many women - Toni Baines, a couple of nameless women, Mrs. Cox, etc He's a womanizer - even when he's engaged to Lois he's still sexually active elsewhere (Mrs. Cox). So, I'd argue that while he would pursue her, as he did other women, he would be unlikely to propose to her. Why would he want to or need to?

I just don't see Lex, pre-pheromone, (Paul's point about the significance of the spray), as being interested in marriage at all. Now, Lex was attracted to Lois, (in S1 the man was attracted to anyone under a certain age who had great legs<g>) but until he was sprayed by the pheronome he wasn't obsessed by her, as Paul points out. So, if Superman hadn't come to Metropolis would that event still have happened.? Maybe - Miranda was not motivated to destroy Superman but to getting Lex back as a lover. So if Lex had been sprayed, then, yes, he might possibly propose.

There is another way to go here, though.

Any non-pheromone scenario that has him proposing would have to set up a situation that explained why it was necessary to marry Lois rather than just seeking a quick affaire with her.

Could marriage be a way of neutralizing a reporter who had a known track record of crime exposes? (Lois's Kerth's were likely not for puff pieces) did he suspect that she was about to expose him? (btw, is it still true in the US legal sysytme that a wife cannot give testimony in court against her husband?) But why wouldn't he kill her instead? After all, he hadn't baulked at killing women to whom he had been attracted before (poor Toni:( ) so I'm not sure why Lois would be any different.

But if he had decided that Lois Lane, reporter, was a threat to him, would he propose? Possibly.

But would he destroy the Daily Planet? Not so sure that he would have needed to. He had already gained control of the Planet finacially and used his power to get rid of Lois's friends. Destroying the Planet with a bomb would be redundant - he'd already destroyed it. Why risk a possible criminal investigation when it was so unnecessary?

Jude wrote: <She was beautiful, but he knew many beautiful women. What attracted him were her Mad Dog Lane qualities. She was relentless in pursuing what she wanted, ran over anyone who got in her way, and wasn't above skirting the law in pursuit of a story.>

I'm not convinced that this would be as singular a motivation for Luthor as Jude suggests ( sorry, Jude, but i disagree with you on this point:) ) That same ruthlessness, with an added dash of killer instinct, was there in other women, with equally strong intellectual backgrounds, with whom we saw Lex - Toni Baines in the pilot, Miranda.

The only thing that does make Lois different is that she was as big a believer in"truth and justice" as Superman. Remember it was she who puts those words in his mouth. In S1 we see all sorts of situations in which she pursues the truth regardless of the consequences. So could it be, in this hypotheical, non CK/S universe, that Luthor regards her as a menace - so destroy her and also the Planet?

The question remains though, why not just kill Lois? Luthor dealt with his enemies all the time like that. I've argued that Luthor was a sociopath, but was he also a sadist ? Would marriage be a slow way of first destroying Lois psychologically ("She's a little too independent, don't she think?" he asked Superman in HoL, a question he prefaced with a very insincere "I love Lois, I really do.") and then killing her?

Jude wrote: <The presence of Clark and Superman only sweetened the challenge for Lex. They made winning a supreme victory, but he would still have gone after Lois without them.> I disagree here, (but respectfully, Jude) if by "gone after" you mean "propose" ) I think Luthor would have proposed *only* if he thought she was a threat to his empire. Now I do agree that he might pursue her for a brief fling - that she was a reporter with a reputation for pursuing bad guys would have been seductive to him - flirting with danger, so to speak.<g> But there would have to some issue beyond love for Lois (because he wasn't capable of love) that would make him see marriage as a means to an end. Like a 100% pheromone solution. Or a sense that Lois was getting to close to the truth about Lex Luthor.

Jude also wrote: <<He thought he and she were alike and that she would come to revel in evil as he did>>
But, if he thought that, then he must not have been reading her newspaper articles. And how would he know she was prepared to do a bit of B & E to get her stories?

Now Gerry didn't ask the question: would Lois have said yes to a proposal and why? But this too has to be explained (easier to do maybe than Gerry's questions:) ).

Also - what Tank said

But I know that Wendy will come up with a logical explanation for all of it.

cc m

This is great! Exactly the kind of discussion that I was looking for.

I just want to say that I didn't post this question to challenge Wendy's premise. I'm not sure if that was what LNCroxmysocs meant here:
or that Wendy needs to address it in her Trilogy (although she may if she wants to :rolleyes: )

Wendy just got me thinking and I decided to ask the question.

I raised the question because as I thought about it, I felt that Lex saw the conquest of Lois as an extention of his rivalry with Superman. He told Superman in the pilot, "Let the games begin." I think that the proposal and marriage were part of the game.

Yes, I agree with Tank that Lois is beautiful and intelligent, but as others have said, he always had beautiful and intelligent women around him. So why Lois?

Several reasons. First, she was only interested in him as a story and not romantically. (I wonder if he picked up her frustration after their first dinner together. We know that she came home and told Lucy that she didn't get the interview she wanted.) That she's only interested in the "story" presents a challenge for him. Can he "seduce" her and make her need him emotionally the way Toni Baines did or Miranda did?

Second, as others have said, if Lois is as good a reporter as she's said to be, then she presents a real danger if she's looking for the true story of Lex Luthor. He needs to keep his enemies close to him if that is the case, and what better way than marriage.

Third and most importantly imho, jealousy. I don't think that once he was sprayed by the pheremone (and I agree that it played a big part in Lex's pursuit of Lois) he could stand the idea that a) Lois was focussed on Clark while she was under the influence of the perfume, and b) that Lois, not under the perfume's influence was attracted to Superman, his arch-rival.

Carol raised another important question that has been dealt with in many fanfics, but I've never been happy about: I'd answer it, but I never could figure that one out even though many authors gave plausible reasons. To me that was always a plot device used by the writers of the series.

gerry

If Clark Kent/Superman hadn't been there do I believe Lex Luthor would have proposed. No. Lex was incapable of loving any one. He was to in love with himself for that. Lois was beautiful, smart, talented, etc. That is not what made her desirable to Lex. It was her independence. She didn't throw herself at him like other women. She was a challenge. That is what made her desirable. So no he would not have sought marriage he would have sought to bed her.

The reasons as follows are why I don't believe a proposal would have been forthcoming:

1. If Clark wasn't at the ball to cut in who knows how things might have progressed that night.

2. Even after being asked by Clark how far she would go for a story she goes to Lex's home for dinner dressed more as if for a date than for an interview. She stays once she sees the romantic setting, she flirts with him at dinner, she allows him to escort her home and to her door, she allows this kiss on the check. That was not a business dinner that was a date. She never set him straight about that being all she was interested in. Then she continues to see him. Without Clark there to continually question her relationship with Lex who knows how far she would have gone to get the interview.

3. Superman in the original universe shows up and becomes a double challenge. a) To Lex's power and empire. b) To Lex's ego - which in my book is the more dangerous. He is an egoistical psychopath. To me when Lois' very obvious attraction for Superman became evident to Lex (the pheromone kiss at the airport and the bachelor auction) a part of Lex's rational judgment left him for good. He would do whatever it took from then on out to win Lois from Superman. It wasn't so much about him really wanting her as it was not letting Superman win her. His ego was at stake - he always won and he wasn't about to start loosing now especially to an alien. He would do whatever it took to win.

4. The only threat Clark Kent was in the original universe was sort of being Lois' conscience and a haven to run to. That Lois could actually want Kent was inconceivable to Lex. He saw Clark as being beneath himself and Lois.

5. Lois' independent nature was the the real attraction. If she still hadn't succumb (without Clark there to be her conscience) Lex would have done what ever it took to break her. a) Getting her drunk and seducing her. b)GHB and rape c) kidnapping and holding her prisoner to slowly break her will to make her come willingly to his bed. He believed for him there were no consequences he couldn't use his money to make go away.

So no without Clark/Superman there he wouldn't have proposed. In the original story the only reason I believe he really tried to kill Superman is he saw Lois waivering in her decision to marry him. As long as Superman and Clark were a live she still had 2 people to run to as a haven. But Superman had to know his defeat that was why he didn't kill him outright. Let him lay there dying listening to Lex's victory - the marriage ceremony. Then when Lex was through with Lois he would have disposed of her by what ever means were most convenient.

One other possibility has been raised to answer "would Lex propose in a universe where there's no CK/S". What if the Lex Luthor in that universe is not evil but a decent guy?

Well, yes, he might very well propose in that case. But I'm not sure that *he* is really Lex Luthor in that scenario - instead he's a new and original character who just happens to be *named* Lex Luthor. And should CK/S show up Lois Lane might just become one Desperate Housewife Assuming she'd accepted his proposal of course.

cc m

Just popping in to answer a question I saw in one of the contributions above.

The popular misconception is that a wife cannot testify against her husband in an American court. The actuality is that a wife cannot be *forced* to testify against her husband. If she chooses to do so on her own, it's another matter entirely.

Nan

More questions that answers, but here we go:

The way I remember it, Lois called out to Lex at the ball during the pilot episode, danced with him, and I thought I remembered they made a "date" for Lois to interview him. After the date, Lex walked Lois home and kissed her on the cheek. Clark was hovering outside her window. Is my memory correct here? This was before Superman appeared on the scene. Based on this, I'd say that at this point Lex might have been mildly attracted to Lois, but not obsessed.

In subequent episodes, I do not recall Lois going out with Lex at all. Lex did become obsessed with Superman, testing him, trying to get rid of him, etc, but I don't recall him taking any particular interest in Lois. If anyone has the scripts of these first episodes, maybe they could check that.

In PML, Lois and Lex had what I recall as their second date. Does anyone remember who set this up? Did Lois call Lex and remind him that she still had the second half of her interview pending, or did Lex call Lois to set up a date with her? Before the date takes place, Lex is sprayed by Miranda. During the date, he acts very weird, and afterwards confesses to Nigel (I think it was Nigel) that he is in love with Lois.

To my recollection, it is after this that Lex & Lois begin dating.

The way I remember it, Lex's obsession with Lois was caused by the spray, and the fact that he was at least physically attracted to her in the first place. I agree with Nan's assessment that he also saw her as a challange, and, in some ways, as an equal (or at least as close to an 'equal' as anyone, especially a woman, could be). In the later shows, where he brain-washes her and attempts to do the body-swap, he does seem convinced that Lois will eventually buy into his 'might makes right' philosophy.

Before proposing, I don't think he even considered Clark as a rival. (As evidenced by his using Clark as a dupe in order to lure Superman into his trap.) Although he used his upcoming wedding to Lois as a weapon to cause Superman pain, I never got the impression that this is why he had proposed.

(My 2 cents worth.)

- Vicki

In Neverending Battle, Lex tries to ring Lois over his breakfast, and grimaces when he hears her message that she's unavailable unless anyone has news about Superman.

In I'm Looking Through You, Lex is jealous that Lois is bidding for Superman, not him. When he goes over to speak to her, she apologises for cancelling lunch with him (on account of Superman).

In Requiem for a Superhero, Lex sets up the killing of Mencken in such a way as to take credit for saving Lois's life.

In I've Got a Crush on You, Lex sees Lois singing at the Metro Club, throws her a rose, then pitches up on her doorstep, disturbing her pity party over Clark and Toni Taylor, and offering to share her ice cream if she has a second spoon.

Granted, his interest was obviously fuelled by jealousy of Superman all along, but there was considerable interest there before the pheromone incident.

Mere

I stumbled across this thread and was so interested that I had to pen a reply.

My knee-jerk reaction to the question was that no, Lex would not have been interested in Lois in a world without a Superman. Then I asked myself, why not?

Lois is, as other's have pointed out, a beautiful, clever, feisty woman. (Or, perhaps I should say, has Mad Dog tendencies). Of these character traits, I think the only one that would have attracted Luthor is her beauty. He only expressed a desire to be interviewed by her after he'd met her at the White Orchid Ball, i.e. when he knew what she looked like. Before that, he had given her the run around, dodging all her requests for an appointment. And, surely, all her efforts to nail that Luthor interview were indicative of her mad dog tendencies. So, clearly, he wasn't attracted by those.

It was only when Lois lost interest in the Lex interview and stopped chasing him that Lex seemed to start chasing her. Gerry, you said: That for me sums the matter up far more eloquently that I could have put it myself.

Without Superman, and the idea that Lois was something desired by a man Lex saw as the only serious competition in town, I don't think Lex would have taken his relationship with Lois in the direction that he did.

The more I think about it, though, the more I think he would have tried to have a fling with her in a fashion somewhat akin to the one her had with Miranda: "You were an itch. You've been scratched."

That's just my opinion, and it is not one that is set in stone -- more in a kind of soggy concrete mix, really. I have no problem in the idea that, without a Superman, Lois and Lex might have got together. I'd like to know why it had happened, but I don't think I need to be convinced that it would.

Note that I think that the idea of Lois deciding to marry Lex in this scenario is much easier to swallow than Lex wanting to marry Lois (even though one does, rather, require the other!).

Chris

Obviously, I have a very selective memory!

However, I still believe he proposed because he fell in "love" with her after being sprayed.

(Actually, my problem is not so much that Lex proposed, as I think he would have, Superman or no. My problem is that Lois accepted! I just never did buy that Lois would have accepted Lex's proposal, not even after having been rejected by Superman. Certainly not if there had been no Superman.)

- Vicki

edited to add: Chris, I see you were posting at the same time as me. Interestingly, I can see Lex proposing, but not Lois accepting, and you can see Lois accepting but have trouble imagining Lex proposing!

Yes, it was out of character for her, but the fact is she DID accept his proposal on the show. (Of course, if you don't like that plotline you can always do a fanfic rewrite). A momentary loss of clarity, perhaps. We all do things out of character once in a while. She got lost there for a while, but came to her senses before it was too late. We all know Lois, sometimes she makes bad or rash decisions. I think the whole point, though, is that she didn't go through with the wedding. THAT'S the Lois we all know and love.

Mentally, I do. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to get it onto paper. But I do like reading fanfics with that premise.

You are correct in saying that, like it or not, on the show Lois did accept Lex's proposal. Actually, on the show a lot of things happened which I felt were OOC, or angst for angst's sake, like the non-wedding arc.

So, where does that leave us? Well, I don't think Lois would have accepted the proposal. However, if you can get me over the accepting-the-proposal hump, I will say that the only reason Lois backed out of the wedding was Clark, and without a Clark in her world, there is no reason for her not to carry through and marry Lex.

- Vicki

Will somebody please remind me how the pheromone worked again? I always thought that it lowered natural inhibitions and brought out the animal attraction in the victim. So I cannot see Lex falling in love with Lois because he was affected by the pheromone. The attraction has to be already there. Miranda tried to use it to get Luthor to fall for her, but it didn't work.

Besides, his obession is not due to the pheromone. I don't think he was sprayed with the 100% concentration. As I remember, Miranda sprayed Luthor with the pheromone at close range, so she couldn't have used a 100% formula. In the script, there's a scene when Luthor "wakes up", and recalls what had happened when he was affected by the pheromone, and realises that the city is in danger.

And the final scene, when he was burning money, I felt that he was totally rational. After being affected by the pheromone, he realised that he found Lois Lane attractive, and he (in his own perverse way) loved her. He was not too happy about the realisation. "No, Nigel, I'm really in love. I'm doomed." I mean, nobody plans to fall in love. I think that his obession with Lois Lane was his way of loving Lois.

I see this scene to be parallel to the situation with Lois and Clark. Lois is not too pleased to realise that she finds Clark attractive.

We can establish that by "Pheromone, My Lovely", Lex Luthor has already fallen for Lois Lane. Of course, the interesting question would be, if Superman had not shown interest in Lois Lane at the beginning, would Lex Luthor have spent enough time with Lois Lane to fall in love with her by the time of Pheromone, My Lovely?

What do you think?

There was more than that one date. There were lunches and the episode where they are taken hostage at the Planet they were on their way to see Madame Butterfly I believe. It is also mentioned between Clark and Lois that she is seeing Lex.

I've wrote earlier what I felt about most of this so I won't rehash it. However I will say that I believe the reason Lois excepted the proposal was the rejection by Superman. Whether or not she was truly in love with Superman she had convinced herself that she was. That can make the pain of rejection a lot worse that if her feelings had been geniune. I'm not saying she didn't love Superman, I'm just saying that we can build things up in our own minds to be a lot more than what they really are. So when Superman rejected her and in the fashion that he did that she turned to Lex to boost her ego etc. The way it look in the episode was that she had gone to see him that same night. So she jumped in as a knee jerk reaction to the rejection. From then on in the story you see her having second thoughts. This is evident in the discussion on the house Lex is building, her meeting Mrs. Cox, even in some of her dealings with Clark. But Lois doesn't admit she's wrong. In this case she almost waited to long.

I watched Fly Hard last night, and I watched Lex carefully. He was 'quite' (see UK vs US thread) enchanted with Lois, not his usual psychoself unless he was talking about how to deal with the bad guys.

He really seemed to care about her, watching her closely, seeing where she was going, how she was feeling. I almost believed him when he said that you couldn't buy eyes or a smile or whatever. He was enamoured with her.

But at the same time I wondered if Lex was jealous that she had her hopes on Superman saving them. She said that Superman would help if he could. Lex wanted to save them and get the credit, much in the same way that he did when Mencken 'kidnapped' Lois. Here, however, he wasn't calling the shots.

I'm still a believer that Lex was mainly interested in Lois because he was playing one-up-manship with Superman.

Lois, on the other hand, without a Clark/Superman, would very likely not have accepted Lex's proposal because she would not have had a) Superman's rejection to rebound from, and b) Clark's insistance that Lex was not all that he seemed which made Lois hackles go up. She felt that Clark was jealous, and so gave no credence to his warnings. She had to show Clark that she was right about Lex and he was wrong. That is part of her character: she is always right.

gerry

(Metwin1 welcome to Toronto. Hope you enjoy studying here.)

Miranda tells Lex how they should spray the whole of Metropolis with the 100% solution because the effect is the same as the dilute stuff, but permanent. Immediately afterwards, she sneaks a spritzer out of her pocket and sprays him, then herself.

I can't see what she would hope to gain by spraying him with the dilute stuff at that point, so my interpretation is that Lex gets a permanent dose of sexual-inhibition-remover. And as we all know, he subsequently waxes lyrical over Lois at dinner.

So however he might have felt about Lois beforehand, from that point on it's fair to assume he has a single-minded love/obsession for Lois. That would explain his behaviour in Fly Hard.

Mere

First off...



Sara (who's wondering just what other things in the series were interpreted so differently)

edit: I started a thread on this topic. Not fanfic related, so it's in a different folder.