Does Lex really love Lana or.......

[Silvershadow]

In Lex's dream:

Clark: you became the kind of man she could love.
Lex:You mean the kind of man you've always been?

Iit seems that having Lana is a symbol of being good and Clark probably is the finest man he has ever known.
Jonathan said " I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son".
He wants to be seen as a family member of kents, so what he really wants is to be Clark? Therefore Lana is just the pole?

What do you think of this??

[FotW]

I agree. Lex wanted to be someone like CK.

[Eh,Man?You-El?]

I don't think Lex really ever loved anyone. Now he's decided he doesn't even want to try to love.

Personally, I thought the "character development" of Lex in "Lex-Mas" was an unholy mess - but, good writing or bad, now that it's been broadcast, it's canon.

Responding to that "canon", I'd have to say that the dream was Lex's last chance for a life based on human relationships.
The possibility of having one of those treasured relationships end made Lex reject any dependancy on the love of others or even his own love FOR others.
Lex wakes up and evicerates his father for taking charge of Lex. Lex wasn't interested in Lionel's motivations good, bad or indifferent - Lex interjects his own interpretation before Lionel can say a word. Lex also isn't interested in his own motivations towards Lionel - Lex had done EXACTLY the same thing to his father (with less sucessful results).
With regards to the Kents and Lana - the dream clearly indicated that he could have all their love and respect - even more than he could dream of. Lex has one entirely hypothetical disapointment in thesame dream and he abandons ALL feelings except anger.
His first action after getting out of bed - he authorizes the political destruction of Jonathan Kent with a full knowledge of how this will alienate him from each of these people the dream led him to admit he cared about.
How Lex feels about Lana specifically will unfold though the rest of the season but judging from "LEx-Mas", Lex has the capacity to love Lana, even the inclination from the first time he met her (maybe even from her visit to the Luthor mansion at the age of ten). But at the end of the episode, Lex has DECIDED he WILL not love but he will CONTROL.
The writers want us to feel the loss of that possibility of love as a tragedy. Unfortunately (for me at least) I can't see how a "love" expressed only in a dream can be called a love at all.

This is the problem I have with this episode and most of this season, the writers and producers have a laundry list of dramatic conventions and emotional "Hot-Buttons" strung together to boost ratings - NOT to actually tell a story. Lex's "transformation" at the end of the episode was entirely arbitrary. It pretty much invalidated all the character development over the last four seasons. Now the dramatic situation will be "Lex is evil but no-one has entirely accepted that fact yet". Yeah, Michael Rosenbaum will do a good job as a conviving fiend putting on a "good face" but he'll only be two-dimensional.

Maybe this is a good thing. Shifting the focus on Clark learnign how tio recognize and deal with real eveil will certainly provide opportunities for his character to become more three-dimensional.

[hotkk]

I don't think that Lex only want to be CK. I think he does love Lana. It's propably linked to his oedipal struggle that has been stated in the (otherwise mediocre) episode Bound (remember, Lionel talked about the fact that every women Lex dates have brown hair, supposedly like his mother, even though in Lexmas, his mother seemed more red-haired).

Personnaly, I think he has some feeling for Lana, which we have seen in a subtle way since they met. I think that he would also like to take her away from Clark because of how their relation is going and because he is the guy that has everything so that the only thing he wants his what can slip through his hand (as said by the guy in Jinx that I could never spell his name!)

[svsabbiesv]

Well if you guys recall other episodes from season 1 and I think season 2, Lex is envied by Clark with their "family" relationship. All Lex really wants is his father to love him, and to hear that Jonathan says to him " I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son" is everything to Lex. It was a nice episode. and with the superman returns movie where jor-el says these peole lack the light..well looks like lex light just got turned off! what's to come...this season is going to be good. =)

[Aloof]

In my opinion, I think he really does love Lana, he showed a TON of emotion. Even though it was just a dream, the first thing he said when he woke up was "Lana."

[angelus666]

Everyone want's to be Clark:D.

[Watching Smallville]

Originally posted by Eh,Man?You-El?
This is the problem I have with this episode and most of this season, the writers and producers have a laundry list of dramatic conventions and emotional "Hot-Buttons" strung together to boost ratings - NOT to actually tell a story. Lex's "transformation" at the end of the episode was entirely arbitrary. It pretty much invalidated all the character development over the last four seasons. Now the dramatic situation will be "Lex is evil but no-one has entirely accepted that fact yet". Yeah, Michael Rosenbaum will do a good job as a conviving fiend putting on a "good face" but he'll only be two-dimensional.
Interesting post. :)

I thought this episode actually confirmed the character of Lex that the show has been building through the seasons. Lex has always had this love versus power thing going. He has always wanted to be loved, but he's always chosen the path that alienates others in order to bring him power and control. This episode just sealed the deal.

I don't know how to respond to your view that this makes Lex shallow. In a way, I see your point, but the character is so intriguing, it's hard for me to view him as one-dimensional. The fact that he sees himself as someone who wants happiness but continues to make choices that only bring him unhappiness makes him tragic to me.


Originally posted by Eh,Man?You-El?
I don't think Lex really ever loved anyone. Now he's decided he doesn't even want to try to love.

Is Lex being honest with himself when he says he wants love? That's what he said in the episode Truth, so at least that's what he thinks he wants. Does he really want love and family? That's an interesting question.

[chlana_sandwich]

Originally posted by Eh,Man?You-El?
With regards to the Kents and Lana - the dream clearly indicated that he could have all their love and respect - even more than he could dream of. Lex has one entirely hypothetical disapointment in thesame dream and he abandons ALL feelings except anger.

This is a classic example of someone losing faith. Essentially, Lex was happy with the dream until it's tragic end, whereby he lost all faith in the "good" path. He decides (wrongly) that, ultimately, the only way to save Lana is to be rich and powerful. Lex's big problem is his lack of faith.

[Ebert & Roeper]

I took what I wanted from this episode. It is true, the writers may be turning their back on Lexana, and also his struggle to be close to his father. (By the way, this means eliminating season four, for the most part, from the canon, which I think they have been doing all season, and which I approve of.)

I like to think, though, that he wants that love, but he is not willing to be weak, or to be pitied, as he may see it, by Lana, becasue he is poor/middle-class.

So what will he do? Anything. He did not like losing the upperhand, and when he saw that taking the 'good'(Clark) path means pain, he is opting for power. So far he has learned to be underhanded, and he is developing a knack for hiding it.
I think in his mind, he believes that with enough power, he will be able to win over Lana, and ultimately be happy.

I think this may be off, and the writers may have chosen to make this a full turn to evil, but I like the idea of a twisted Lex, always secretly, even subconsciously, seeking approval and acceptance and love, but doing whatever it takes to get it.
The Luthors might as well have been the Machiavellis since Season 1, when we first glimpsed the 'ends justify the means' mentality, and I think this confirms it.

We can predict the outcome for Lex, because we know where he is heading, but also because we know that power corrupts, power he's had all his life, and absolute power-which he's seeking- corrupts absolutely. he may be seeking happiness, and may always envy Clark, but he will never get what he wants. Seems tragic to me.:D

[umm]

Originally posted by Ebert & Roeper
I took what I wanted from this episode. It is true, the writers may be turning their back on Lexana, and also his struggle to be close to his father. (By the way, this means eliminating season four, for the most part, from the canon, which I think they have been doing all season, and which I approve of.)

I like to think, though, that he wants that love, but he is not willing to be weak, or to be pitied, as he may see it, by Lana, becasue he is poor/middle-class.

So what will he do? Anything. He did not like losing the upperhand, and when he saw that taking the 'good'(Clark) path means pain, he is opting for power. So far he has learned to be underhanded, and he is developing a knack for hiding it.
I think in his mind, he believes that with enough power, he will be able to win over Lana, and ultimately be happy.

I think this may be off, and the writers may have chosen to make this a full turn to evil, but I like the idea of a twisted Lex, always secretly, even subconsciously, seeking approval and acceptance and love, but doing whatever it takes to get it.
The Luthors might as well have been the Machiavellis since Season 1, when we first glimpsed the 'ends justify the means' mentality, and I think this confirms it.

We can predict the outcome for Lex, because we know where he is heading, but also because we know that power corrupts, power he's had all his life, and absolute power-which he's seeking- corrupts absolutely. he may be seeking happiness, and may always envy Clark, but he will never get what he wants. Seems tragic to me.:D

Wow, that´s á la Faust! Good argument!:)

[muffinpeddler]

Whether he really loves her or not, he THINKS he does.

[shy175223]

I think he really loves her but now he is up to that point someone suggested that he might just decided to take what he wants and right now he it seems he wants Lana and he will do anything to get her.

[myankskent]

I'm not so sure that he loves lana. I view Lana in this episode as another thing that Lex doesn't have and that Clark does have. Instead of his parents it is now Lana. For Lex to make any advancements toward her I think Lana would have to show interest in Lex. I just don't see Lex trying to swoop in and take Lana away from Clark. Something tells me that Clark will mess things up with Lana anyway because eventually he will pull away from her again as a result of not telling her the truth about his powers. The seeds may have been planted for Lex and Lana but something needs to happen for their relationship to advance.

[Naomi]

Originally posted by Watching Smallville
Is Lex being honest with himself when he says he wants love? That's what he said in the episode Truth, so at least that's what he thinks he wants. Does he really want love and family?
We know he wants his fathers love, but by the time Lionel offers it in season 4 (and also Memoria), it's no longer something Lex can believe in. But I think deep down he does still want it. At the same time he fears trusting in love, and then ending up with nothing. Which has happened all his life, his mother and Julian dying, Pamela walking out, Helen betraying him.

I think it comes down to it being too late. Love is something that Lex desires, and part of him always will. But at this point, after the life he's led, he is never going to be able to accept it on its own merits and allow himself to be happy.

Lillian wanted him to make the right choices and become good, based on the love he could (and would) have had. But Lex couldn't do it because he lacks faith, even though we see that he still longs for love and happiness in his life. He wants his happily ever after, provided he can have control over his life with it. Because love is meaningless to him without that.