Arawn, I'm not convinced we're on the same page.
DJ said:
Clark was deeply and completely in love with Lois... and he was constantly looking out for her - whether that was physically or otherwise. So I could totally see him being possessive like this.
And my response to that was that if being "deeply and passionately in love" was a valid excuse for eavesdropping, then we would have to excuse Luthor as well*. He tapes Lois's conversation with Clark - and probably other conversations too - and we the viewers see it as a terrible invasion of her privacy. But when Clark does it, we give him a pass because he's a nice guy who looks darn good in those tights. It's
still an invasion of her privacy, though.
(*Though actually, I never got the feeling in first season that Luthor "loved" Lois so much as wanted to possess her, but the writers later showed - most tiresomely - that he was quite obsessively in love with her - or at least as 'in love' as he knew how to be. Whatever.)
You said:
Clark knows that Luthor is a murderous megalomaniac sociopath and have every reason to believe that the marriage is something that Lois would bitterly regret. Should he really respect their privacy to that degree if he loves her?
Short answer: yes, in my opinion.
Long answer: Certainly, Clark knew that Luthor was dangerous. But was that
really why he watched their engagement? If so, if he was really concerned for her safety, why didn't he just swoop in there and get her out? Why didn't he offer her Superman, as you pointed out? Instead, he flies off and yells at glaciers, which made a touching scene for the viewers but didn't do one blessed thing to keep Lois safe from the murderous megalomaniac sociopath.
Nor was it necessary for him to actually
watch the engagement to find out it had come to pass. Even if he and Lois were no longer on speaking terms, he'd have heard about the engagement through the grapevine or through the media, which would have been all over it the minute it was announced. There was no reason - other than the writers doing it for their own convenience and for the drama of the thing - for Clark to be hanging about outside that window. Lots and lots of other ways it could have been handled that would have been less squicky and more in character, in my opinion.
I do agree with you about the scene in WWW, though. I'd forgotten it until Lisa mentioned it, but I don't see that one as being a deliberate invasion of Lois's privacy.
Caroline
