I had intended to have the review for “Blue” up before this, but there have been ongoing RL things that have kept me from having the time and/or being in the mood for finishing it up. So in lieu of that, here are some thoughts on Lois and Grant’s relationship that I’ve been mulling over.
Spoilers thru S7 episode 08 (“Blue”).
I never liked Lois before this season. But I hadn’t actually seen much of the past couple seasons, and until a few weeks ago I’d never even seen the first episode in which she appears. Shortly after this season started I came across the S4 season opener on a promo disc that came with one of my Lois & Clark box sets. Must have had it for at least a year, but didn’t know which episode it was and didn’t care to find out. To my surprise I really liked the episode, and really liked Lois. Having her properly introduced made a big difference in how I perceive her, and I can see thru her eyes a lot better now and therefore find her less annoying. So I’m mellowing. Still would prefer Lana and Clark to end up together, canon be damned.
So in light of my new, more favorable view of Lois, I’ve been trying to decide how I feel about her recent relationship with Grant Gabriel, aka Julian Luthor. I’m rather divided on it at the moment. For starters, I hated Grant when he first showed up and still resent his behavior towards Chloe (and Lois). It’s not just that it’s Chloe: his personality rubs me the wrong way because he’s so young and so damn arrogant and treats people in a way I find inexcusable and unnecessary. So for Lois to be attracted to him feels like a betrayal, as it does to Chloe. I sympathize with Chloe a great deal in her situation at work with Lois. Thru no fault of her own, Lois has basically walked in and taken Chloe’s place, charming the boss and making Chloe look bad in comparison. So I’m divided between loyalty and empathy for Chloe and wanting good things for Lois. But hey, that’s what makes it good storytelling =)
Since I dislike Grant and don’t at all see what Lois sees in him, I find their sudden relationship a bit forced and unbelievable. Give me a couple more episodes and some time for their relationship to develop (in other words, for me to see what she sees in him), and I might be more on board. Maybe it’s just meant to be a sudden flash in the pan that fizzles out by itself, and we’re not meant to feel a strong emotional connection. I’ve never experienced something like that so I can never identify with it or buy into it when it happens to fictional characters.
While it feels way too fast for Lois’ feelings to have done such a 180, their scenes in “Wrath” actually had some chemistry and I started to come around a bit (aside from the unpleasantness of Lois “joking” about sexual harrassment, which was just stupidity on the writers’ part). Of course we know it’s going to go horribly wrong at some point, because this is Smallville. No happy endings allowed! At first it seemed that it would be their boss-employee status that would trip them up, and I really didn’t want to see that because it’s not fair. Grant may be her boss, but they’re of similiar age (or so it appears) and their personalities are such that the usual power imbalance of such a relationship is overcome. Lois could just as easily have had a relationship with him if they hadn’t both been employed there. If they had just kept it professional at work and not made out at the office, everything would have been fine. That was definitely stupid. (Of course, they are both young and stupid: as we later learn, Grant did not necessarily get this job entirely on his merits. He’s not any more experienced or wise than Lois.) Sure, Chloe would still have felt betrayed and would have taken some time to get used to the idea, but I think (I would hope) she wouldn’t have been so mean to Lois if she hadn’t caught them sprawled across Grant’s desk. That’s enough to upset anyone. Then there’s Lex, who’s never content to let anyone else be happy if he thinks it interferes with his plans. Yep, that’s where the trouble’s going to come from: he and Grant are heading for an altercation, and Lois is going to suffer for it. Poor Lois!
So they’ve done the only thing they really can do, which is go underground with their relationship. It’s too bad they had to do that, but I’m glad they didn’t break it off. They are suited for each other, and they shouldn’t have to forego their personal happiness just to keep judgmental people happy. As much as I personally don’t see what Lois sees in Grant, they do seem to be two of a kind: their attempts at expressing their feelings thru bad metaphors in “Blue” was amusingly awkward. They’d probably be great for each other if they only weren’t star-crossed.
Speaking of judgmental, Chloe really has gotten cautious and cynical, hasn’t she? She was pretty harsh with Lois while criticizing her workplace romance, and I know where it’s coming from. Here she is trying desperately to tamp herself down to fit into a system which doesn’t reward her for speaking out (not realizing that it will never reward her for being a “good girl” either), and Lois is going ahead and doing what she wants to do. Just like Chloe wants, and ought to be able to do. Chloe used to be like Lois: daring and confident and risk-taking. But her negative experiences have taken a big chunk out of that self-confidence, and now she’s trying to play by the rules for good girls. In her scene with Lois she’s trying to pass along her wisdom because she fears the worst of what might happen to Lois for daring to step out of line. But it’s really sad that she’s come to see the world that way, because Lois should be able to pursue this relationship and not suppress a part of herself just because she lives in a world with double standards. Chloe has become much more pessimistic about what she can do in the world, and she’s projecting that onto others by telling them what they can and can’t pursue (Lana, Lois, even Clark sometimes). Lois hasn’t been hurt in that way yet, and I hope she never is. I very much see Chloe’s loss of self-confidence, her circumspection and increasing reluctance to rock the boat as she grows older as mirroring the experience most women go thru as they mature in our culture. Lois hasn’t been beaten down by the patriarchy yet, but Chloe is already showing signs of being too far gone to recover her voice and her spirit. And that’s really sad. Is there really only room for one Lois Lane type of woman on this show? Must Chloe be destroyed in order for Lois to be exceptional?
Back to Lois: I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Grant is the second guy with a secret identity that Lois has been attracted too. And given how she seems to be attracted to guys with very strong (to the point of arrogant) personalities, I can see why she wouldn’t immediately be interested in Clark. But Superman? Yeah, there’s a guy who exudes the kind of self-assurance she’d be drawn to.