As much as I liked Lana, I was glad when she left in season 7 because she and Clark had become that romance that everyone knows isn’t working except for the couple themselves. Realistic? Perhaps, but Clark and the audience were ready to move on. The trouble was, Lana returned once again in season 8, just as Lois and Clark were finally growing closer together! We can’t even blame Millar and Gough, because they’d already left “Smallville.” Honestly, it would have been fine if Lana’s appearance had served as some sort of closure for the couple, but that’s not how it went at all. With Lois all but forgotten, Clark is ready to revisit their relationship and when they have finally split apart, it’s the result of Lana having absorbed so much Kryptonite — it’s a long story. This decision to leave their relationship behind wasn’t even made by Clark or Lana. It was forced upon them.
Look, Durance and Welling had major onscreen chemistry, so I completely bought into their romance once it finally happened. That said, there was a part of me that always felt like the show set things up in a way that made it seem like Lois was Clark’s second choice and that’s not how you treat one of the most beloved comic couples of all time. Again, I adored Lois and Clark together on “Smallville” and I love the way their relationship took so much time to build. That said, keeping Lana around and having Clark clearly love her for so long ultimately did a disservice to all three characters.