I just finished watching all the Clana scenes from S7...
Firstly, the beginning was so happy - Lana, Kara, and Clark at the farm. Clark's smile as he hugged Lana when she showed up at the barn. Lana making Clark his 'favourite blueberry pancakes' and Clark superspeeding to the store to get Vermont's finest maple syrup when Lana said they were out. Clark saying the food that Lana prepared was amazing. Lana acting like such wife material <3. Clark rightfully pulling back from the famous chick on his lap and Lana strolling in, introducing herself as Clark's girlfriend (plus this random famous chick also clocking that Lana is 'the center of Clark's universe like 5 minutes in meeting them). Clark confidently telling Lana that he has finally got everything he ever wanted and that it was right on that farm with her. Clark and Lana going horseback riding after a morning of Clark being weirdly romantic. Clark and Lana making earthquakes after...yeah. Clark opening up to Lana about stuff he did from S3 when she was almost walking out the door. Lana's eyes lighting up at Clark's honesty and her saying that she is stil committed to them. Clark saying that he doesn't want their relationship to be over. My personal favourite is when Clark finds Lana at the farm with her hand on the burning pot handle, grabbing her hand, and in the softest voice I have ever heard from him on this show, saying "Honey, your hand" (I won't even touch on the way he looked at her here and during the time when Braniac did whatever he was doing to her). They had their share of happy, beautiful, touching moments this season that further cement the innate connection they share.
I think the happiness we saw from them in S5 was them enjoying the last of their teenage years and exploring their relationship and all the things that they had denied themselves for years. It was this catharsis and giddyness at finally having what they wanted. In S7, their happiness is calmer. Lana didn't have to come back to Smallville where she was wanted for crimes. She had 10 million dollars from Lex, an aunt in Metropolis, a whole world that she could explore, and she decided to come back to a farm in a small town. When she came back, they didn't even discuss what they were. After all these years, they didn't have to.
Then, there were the sad moments, the moments that make you want to shrink away from what you're seeing on the screen. I understand that Lionel and Lex did a number on Lana (though, I stand by my oppinion that a lot of Lana's vulnerability to Lex's manipulations was due to Clark pushing her away). Lana went through the ringer last season due to the Luthors. And she thinks that Lionel has means to hurt Clark. So, I understand that she would want to hurt them, to hurt the Luthors' goals. And I think that there's just no 100% moral way for her to go about that - when you want to hurt people as morally challenged as the Luthors, you have to break a few moral boundaries of your own. I also understand why she didn't tell Clark about all this. The Clark we know would be ...disgusted...by these less-than-moral actions from someone who he has imagined as kind. Similar to Clark fearing what Lana would think of him if he told her about his powers, Lana feared how Clark would look at her if he knew the things she had done. However, we do see reassurance from Clark's end that Lana isn't at that point of no return, and Lana's willingness to be better. That's the thing. They actually talk candidly about their relationship issues now....6 seasons later lol.
Though the way Lana intentionally hid things from Clark and lied bothered me, I thought of this as an opportunity for growth in their relationship. An opportunity for Clark to acknowledge what Lana had been through and understand that it is stifling to hold anyone to those moral standards. This growth seemed to be possible given Clark saying that he wanted to work to make sure that they could trust each other again.
Bizarro was proabaly the most hurtful part of this season. Yes, it must have been hurtful to Clark that Lana couldn't tell that it wasn't him. It must have been hurtful to hear that Lana preferred Bizarro since he was 'affectionate and understanding'. From Lana's perspective, there's this guy who looks exactly like Clark and gives you all the affection you crave - sometimes, you can want something so much that you can become blinded. It's not like Lana intentionally slept with someone that wasn't him, rather, I think she was a victim in this scenerio. There have been so many times in this series where Clark was on Red K or on some time of drug (more times that L*is has seen) where he wasn't being impersonated. How was Lana to know that this wasn't the strange way that Clark was during one of those other times? If my partner was suddenly a better partner, my first conclusion certainly would not be that he was being impersonated. The bottom line is that there wasn't sufficient reason for Lana to know that it wasn't Clark and, at the end of the day, she chose Clark by putting the blue stuff in Bizarro's hand. I do understand Clark's frustration - first Lex, now Bizarro. In his mind, he's put Bizarro in this trend he sees in Lana's choices which makes it hard for him to hear Lana's side on this. He's wary of another Lex, as we can see by his aversion to the hallucination of Lex and Lana being intimate. I understand Lana's frustration too in waking up every day and dissappointing Clark. I do appreciate that Clark understands that he is not an easy guy to be with (a relationship with a superhero is never realistically easy) and Lana understands that she has made her fair share of mistakes. The most important fact is that after all that, they both stayed becuase they still believed in twhat they have and that there was something between them worth fighting for.
Overall, there was so much pain this season with Lana trying to catch herself before she went too far (and we see how well she's matured in S8), Clark feeling like he was the one being kept in the dark (for a change lol), Bizarro etc. There was also so much growth - the conversations the two had about their ideas of each other, the things that hurt them, Clark actually opening up and sharing things with Lana. So much air was cleared and it felt like they could move forward stronger together if given the chance.
When Lana was put in a catatonic state by Braniac, Clark was terrified of losing her. My heart broke at the sound of him pleading for Lana, and the way he looked at her. The scene where he kneels down by her chair and cries, this is not the image of a man who is anywhere near done with his relationship. So, it was insulting- but definitely on par with the rest of the writing dedicated to keeping Lana and Clark apart- when Lana breaks up with Clark over a video message and lo behold, that was when she was being forced to do so by Lex. Seriously, have these two ever seperated due to lack of love or attraction for one another? (No.)
Do I think a lot has happened? Yes, Clark and Lana's relationship has been tested a lot on this show, way more than any other relationship. Through all of that, their understanding of one another and their ability to forgive one another has really shone through. You can't rant about all the mistakes Lana has made in S6/7 without wanting to scream at Clark for keeping his secret for 6+ years from the person who was most deserving of hearing it. I understand that, and from the choice that Clark and Lana make to rekindle their relationship in S8, they understand that too.
Most Cl*is shippers will say that it was a dragged on relationship that was repeatedly on/off without acknowledging the multitude of circumstances that Clark and Lana have faced together. Come talk to me about Clark and Lana's relationship in Smallville being toxic and that other relationship being perfect when Clark and that other woman have faced even a third of what Lana and Clark have been through.
And you know what? After all this shit, I hear that Clark still chose Lana when faced with the choice of Lana and L*is in Season 8. And in the barn, Clark walked through all that pain to kiss her and watched her leave with tears in his eyes, saying "I love you" whilst he was on his knees in pain from the proximity to the kyptonite that was now in her veins.
I haven't read the comics. But, the fact that after all that they had been through- the lies and danger and fear,- it was Clark's one tangible weakness being injected into Lana's veins that did it (it wasn't even Clark that walked away in the end lol)? That should put erase any doubts about what Clark would have chosen if he was given a choice between Lana and that other woman. By the time S9 and 10 came around, there was no choice to be made, just leftovers that paled to the epic love he shared with Lana Lang.
