Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Who was a bigger "distraction" Mayson or Dan?

I'm late to the party but I wanted to post anyway.

Even though I liked both (and like Dan more than Mayson) Dan was definitely the bigger distraction for the sole reason that Lois too him much more seriously as a romantic possibility than Clark did Mayson.

So, because Lois took him seriously Clark took the threat he posed more seriously. Although I think Clark and Lois should share more of the blame for how their relationship wavered during that arc than Dan, they're the ones with the responsibility to keep it strong. And the fact that Clark actually considered leaving town made me :rolleyes: how melodramatic and passive-aggressive can you get?

Lunkhead.

At well over 6 feet tall, Dan was definitely the bigger distraction.

Carol

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I went for 'neither'. I don't think Mason nor Dan where real 'road blocks'. They were jut here to provoque a reaction from either Lois or Clark. To make them face -or word- their true feelings for one another. (to make it short, of course).

But if the question was "what"...then I'll go for Lois&Clark's own fear of relationship.

Carole

I voted for Dan. Everyone has already covered my reasons for why, which I agree with. I actually liked Mayson, but Dan just got on my nerves.

I don't think either was much of a threat. Re-watching 2nd season recently, I noticed that Dan doesn't become really annoying until WWW, the ep he leaves. And I loved Mayson. I wanted her and Clark to get together. But give me a break, I was like 14 at the time.

The thing about Dan that I always found rather funny was that - so I've been told - Justin Whalen had a hard time winning over the show's fans after replacing Michael Landes - until Jimmy whacked Dan over the stairs in Target: Jimmy Olsen. After that he was a hero and became rather popular.


LabRat

Well, I got online right after Tempus Fugitive, and the fans were already plenty sick of Dan -- I think one of reasons they adored TF is because Dan wasn't in it I think that your reaction has a lot to do with how much knowledge you have, going in. Watching it live, we were going nuts worrying that the suits would wipe out all the romantic progress L&C had achieved that year. I'm told that at one point, TPTB had planned to end S2 with Clark marrying Mayson! <shudder> So we had reason to be scared. But pretty much everyone who watched the show in repeats knows that Dan's just a temporary annoyance, so don't get as worked-up about him.

And ROFL, Labby! I'd never heard that, but I don't doubt it one little bit <g>

PJ

I think you're probably right there, Pam. I've never found either Dan or Mayson especially annoying in the sense of getting in the way of the relationship - but then I watched seasons two and three for the first time during reruns on cable, where I only had to wait a day to find out what happened next.

I think I'd have a far different perspective if I'd watched it weekly and 'live'.

LabRat (who, even so, endured the longest day ever between ATAI and WHALTTA. Got no work done that day, I can tell you and practically broke all speed records for getting home...)

I remember thinking that Lois would choose Dan in WWW. Seriously, right up until that last kiss I was thinking, "Oh well. First Lois and Lex, now Lois and Dan. Here we go again."

I was properly surprised when she chose Clark.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Mayson when she died, and I too thought that the scene where she and Lois and confess to each other that they don't like one another was pure gold comedy. But Dan was a (very painful) pain in the neck. what I especially hated about him was that instead of trying to get Lois with his own efforts, like a normal man, he stooped to low and tried to convince her that Clark is never there for her and that he is no good for her.

I don't think Dan was 'stooping' when he told Lois that Clark was no good ... it definitely wasn't a very mature thing to do, but honestly, from his perspective, that's exactly how things looked. I'm sure Dan saw himself as the good guy that Lois should logically choose, and Clark as the bad guy "user" that was only causing her heartache. And really, whose fault was that? All Clark's. I know I wanted to smack him upside the head more than once for his lunkheaded behavior in those episodes.

The only episode in which Lois really showed a true interest in Dan was "Ressurection", when she seemed very captivated and intrigued by him, but even then, she did save her image at the end by telling Dan that she and Clark were involved. "Target Jimmy Olsen" would have been a nightmare had they gone with their original plan (for Lois to tell Clark that she would always wonder "what if" if she didn't pursue things with Dan) but fortunately, they changed things around enough that it was clear that Lois really prefered Clark, but his pushing her away was making her settle for Dan. Still, I don't deny that I really ground my teeth when Dan would insult Clark ... he really knew how to push his buttons! I believe that Dan genuinely cared for Lois -- unlike Lex or Deter -- but he would have had a better chance if he'd stopped bashing Clark at every opportunity.

Oh, and incidentally, I never heard that TPTB considered having Clark marry Mayson, but I do understand that the original plan was to have him enter into a real romantic relationship with her, only to find out later that -- sort of like Lois with Lex -- Mayson was working for Intergang. We can all sigh in relief that they changed those plans!

Kathy

Ah! So that explains the strange scenes in CoM where Mayson is seen with Bender, Bill Church Snr and other dodgy characters! That was never explained, and afterwards they seemed to act as if there'd never been a suspicion that Mayson might not be one of the good guys.

Though I can't remember now which episode had the conference-room scene in which Lois yelled at Clark about Mayson and, among other things, alleged that Mayson was 'dirty'. (That's the scene which finishes with Clark yelling at Lois something like 'If anybody's blind here...').


Wendy

That was in CoM as well. I think that was the only episode that ever tied Mayson in any way to Intergang.

Kathy