Hello There is No Spoon,
You raise some interesting points. I think the difference between Lois and Lana in this case is that it is very difficult to imagine canon-Lana genuinely repenting. But what if it were someone like Jimmy or even Martha? (Although she would never "out" her son deliberately, suppose that she made a slip of the tongue.) What if it were Perry? Or a total stranger? I think that, in all of the above cases (yes, even including Lana!), if the person who had outed Clark were genuinely and wholeheartedly sorry for what they had done, Clark would forgive them.
Being able to let go of the wrongs one suffers is not being a doormat. Showing forgiveness takes a lot of inner strength.
There is a definite difference, though, between forgiving and completely trusting someone. The rebuilding of trust takes time.
And speaking of taking time, I believe it is premature to judge this story when we have seen less than a fifth of it. I am guessing that Anti-K will address the rebuilding of the trust between them; after all, there are still 18 more parts to go. It is also very possible that once we learn the entirety of what happened in Smallville, any or all of us may change our opinions of Lois's actions. For us to condemn her at this stage is as bad as when people second guess a verdict in a celebrity trial when they only hear perhaps three-minute sound bites' worth of evidence. Surely the jury, who may get weeks' worth of evidence, are in a more informed position to render a verdict. (Yes, that is a pet peeve of mine. And no, I don't have any specific trial in mind; this eagerness to render a verdict without knowing the full evidence seems to permeate U.S. society. I'll step down from my soap box now.)
Joy,
Lynn
