I can't help feeling that maybe some of you are unimpressed with Lois's infatuation with Superman because you are unimpressed with Superman himself.
I'm not unimpressed with Superman, per se, I am just a lot more impressed with Clark (and no, this is not about how hot he looks in a suit and tie ... actually, now that I am thinking about that ...
). To me, they aren't two different people; Superman is the public (flashier) essence of who Clark truly is -- and that is why people say they have a lot of the same characteristics. It is Clark who has the innate need to help people, and to keep his loved ones safe. If he has to put on a cape and tights to do it, so be it. If he has to be somewhat detached as Superman, it is for a good reason. So while I have no issue with Superman, he's fairly one-dimensional if you take away Clark's characteristics.
I also think part of the reason why Lois was so attracted to Superman is her personality. She wants to be the best. She thinks she is the best. She won't settle for anything but the best. So why not go after the best option available? In the beginning, Lois' self-worth was, in large part, defined by her ability to attain the unattainable, i.e. her investigative pieces, so I'm sure that in her mind, snagging Superman would be the ultimate achievement in her personal life. He would be her own six-foot-tall Pulitzer Prize.
Superman had the power and the presence that Lois so badly sought in her own career, but it turned out that she was a lot more like the farmboy from Kansas than she wanted to admit. He was ambitious and caring and he wanted to make the world a better place. And like Lois, Clark had yet to find the one person with whom he could truly be himself.
I personally think Lois was right in choosing Clark. She had been burned badly in the past and she needed someone who could restore her faith in men -- and in love. She needed someone who would look at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the universe, but also would respect her as a journalist. She needed someone who would complement her Type A personality and someone who could see through her caustic demeanor and break down her emotional walls.
Clark did all of that. Just as Lois helped Clark create and define his public persona, Clark helped mold Lois into the woman we saw grow and learn to love and trust.
Some people have said that they hate the Lois of Season Four because she had lost her edge, wasn't Mad Dog Lane, was too soft, etc. I disagree. I don't think Lois became soft so much as she grew as a person and learned that there was more to life than chasing her next Kerth Award. She gained a family who loved her and her own parents began to mend their fractured relationship. She saw a future beyond going home to her empty apartment and eating ice cream for dinner, and didn't take as many unnecessary risks because her actions didn't just affect
her any more. She found the love of her life, and for the first time in her life, she wasn't alone.
Did it change her? Yes. Life is a catalyst for change. Love and loss and joy and heartbreak ... they all change you. But if you're lucky, you emerge as a stronger person.
Clark led Lois down that path. And that is why I will always feel that he was the one for her, not Superman.