Tonight was proof; never have episodes without Lois

[EricaIsGr8t]

Lois would have only gotten in the way tonight.

I can't tell you how grateful I am that she was away from this abomination.

[thehenry89]

The difference between episodes with Lois are they're full of little jokes, it's hard to have a serious episode with Lois in it, to be honest. I love Lois' character but there has to be a serious point in the story line and unfortunately they have her as the " make a joke about everything to ease the tension " which as far as I remember she wasn't always this strong of a smart ass.

True but she can also be deadly serious I.E stilleto when clark gets shot, or the end of infamous and the lie detector in committed.

[galatians221]

I agree w/ this to a certain extent, but I also don't want the Lois episodes to always feature her as some type of comic relief either. ED has the acting chops to pull off drama just as well as she does comedy. Lois episodes/Clois scenes lately have been light-hearted juxtaposed to the dark Chlavis/Dooms storyline, and I like that, but I want some seriousness thrown in for our intrepid reporter and iconic, legendary couple of Lois & Clark!

I think her role is almost always more than comic relief. I'm thinking of Identity where she fought and the episode in the Phantom Zone where she was knocked out three times and even Stiletto she kicked some butt so I don't see her as comic relief but she has validity whereas Chloe has outlived her purpose. She no longer works at the Planet, was a horrible wife, has now failed as Watchtower after telling Oliver off and ignoring him and has stood up to Clark and bossed him around. Lois respects Clark and they should never ever have another central character that is so unimpressed with Clark's abilities that they boss him around and ignore his actions. I agree, if they did that with Lois it would be just as bad. That has to stop.

[EricaIsGr8t]

True but she can also be deadly serious I.E stilleto when clark gets shot, or the end of infamous and the lie detector in committed.

Exactly! If the script calls for Lois to be funny she is and when it doesn't she isn't, we've seen that numerous time this season. That isn't a good reason for her not to be in an episode.

[Clana4Life]

Lois is fine, but I don't think she was needed in this episode. THere was too much going on and since she is clueless about Doomsday, Clark, JL, I don't see how she could have added anything to this episode. Doomsday/Chloe/Clark has been an awesome arc. I thought Stiletto was a filler last week and I was anxious to get back the Doomsday arc. So I was fine with this episode (all except Chloe saying everything she's doing is for Clark - yeah right ), but I digress. I don't think Lois could have worked in this episode. Everyone would have been lying to her, she would have tried to help but ended up in the way - or worse, locked up by Davis.

[thehenry89]

It's like everyone who doesn't have clark's abilities wants to tell him how to use them. It's like if you had an escalade and all your friends kept telling you that you couldn't drive it right, You respect their opinion but it's your freakin car and you'll drive it however you want to .

[galatians221]

Lois is fine, but I don't think she was needed in this episode. THere was too much going on and since she is clueless about Doomsday, Clark, JL, I don't see how she could have added anything to this episode. Doomsday/Chloe/Clark has been an awesome arc. I thought Stiletto was a filler last week and I was anxious to get back the Doomsday arc. So I was fine with this episode (all except Chloe saying everything she's doing is for Clark - yeah right ), but I digress. I don't think Lois could have worked in this episode. Everyone would have been lying to her, she would have tried to help but ended up in the way - or worse, locked up by Davis.

I think my central point is that when Lois is in an episode it makes the writers better. They have ruined Jimmy, Lana and Chloe and Lois is protected so far and seems to bring out the best in the writers. If Erica was in this episode, perhaps they wouldn't have needed to be so dark and have so much blood and Clark wouldn't have been interrupted by nosy, bossy Chloe while doing his life's work; saving the planet. She stopped him and that is something that hopefully Lois wouldn't do.

[consti2tion]

That's pretty much the jist of it thehenry.

I understand that they can write her in as a serious character occasionally but in my opinion they don't do it enough. I wasn't saying she can't be serious, I was simply saying that she isn't serious very frequently.

[smallvillereporter27]

OK, I love Lois but if she were in every episode she would either be in the way or everyone here would be bashing HER stupid decisions because she would be getting the Lana drama. ED is great, but if they put her in all of this nonsense it might ruin her character (like they've almost ruined Chloe). I was so excited when AM became the female lead, but now I wish she hadn't because of what they've put her character through. I don't wish that on ED and I hope that if she is the female lead next year she gets a better arc.

Also (and don't hate me for saying this) I've always believed that Clois was not something to be explored in Smallville (only hinted at). I love Clois, I just think that's a different phase in Clark's life.

[Fish1941]

Lois is fine, but I don't think she was needed in this episode. THere was too much going on and since she is clueless about Doomsday, Clark, JL, I don't see how she could have added anything to this episode.

Since Chloe is HER cousin, shouldn't Lois have been in this episode?

[WickedJenn]

Lois is fine, but I don't think she was needed in this episode. THere was too much going on and since she is clueless about Doomsday, Clark, JL, I don't see how she could have added anything to this episode. Doomsday/Chloe/Clark has been an awesome arc. I thought Stiletto was a filler last week and I was anxious to get back the Doomsday arc. So I was fine with this episode (all except Chloe saying everything she's doing is for Clark - yeah right ), but I digress. I don't think Lois could have worked in this episode. Everyone would have been lying to her, she would have tried to help but ended up in the way - or worse, locked up by Davis.

Hi J!

I agree with some of this. While myself, I did miss Lois, I would not have wanted her in this episode.

[Clana4Life]

I think my central point is that when Lois is in an episode it makes the writers better. They have ruined Jimmy, Lana and Chloe and Lois is protected so far and seems to bring out the best in the writers. If Erica was in this episode, perhaps they wouldn't have needed to be so dark and have so much blood and Clark wouldn't have been interrupted by nosy, bossy Chloe while doing his life's work; saving the planet. She stopped him and that is something that hopefully Lois wouldn't do.

I don't know that it always makes the writers better. I think back to Stiletto, which for me wasn't a very interesting episode -- probably the least interesting epi of the season for me. I guess it was a filler and it felt a great deal like a filler. The episode prior to that where Chloe locks the door at the end was a very good episode I thought. I hate the fact that they put Stiletto after that - it was just bad timing, or bad placement. Stiletto notwithstanding, I have generally liked the other episodes she was in. Overall I have liked the writing this season.

[colibri]

The way this episode was written I agree that Lois probably would have been a hard fit. She just doesn't know enough about what is going on regarding Chloe and Doomsday and that would create problems.

The difference between episodes with Lois are they're full of little jokes, it's hard to have a serious episode with Lois in it, to be honest. I love Lois' character but there has to be a serious point in the story line and unfortunately they have her as the " make a joke about everything to ease the tension " which as far as I remember she wasn't always this strong of a smart ass.

Lois has a very serious side as witnessed in Toxic, at the end of Committed, the end of Identity prior and during the fight sequence (probably one of the better fights this season), the ending of Bride, part of Stiletto, the barn scene in Infamous and not to mention Bloodline (technically part of that wasn't Lois but it shows how well Erica can play evil to the point that, IMO, she was the best villain so far this season). And Lois has always been a very strong smart a** in every incarnation I know.

The point is they can give Lois a serious storyline if they want and the actress can certainly handle it but I don't think it is totally appropriate to have the character like that all the time. It doesn't fit her nature and frankly I hope they don't. Superman is just as much about hope and joy and I think having episodes this dark constantly they lose sight of that fact.

[Lilah]

Lois would have only gotten in the way tonight.

I don't think so actually.... I think she should have been more involved in Chloe arc, being her cousin and all... I would have liked to see a scene of Clark going to Lois to tell her that her cousin is missing.... it could have been one heartbreaking Clois scene and I'm a sucker for those... so yeah... ;0)

[Seeya'round Smallville]

I've been saying this for years.

There's also a reason why Lois doesn't get written to do all sort of psycho things and it has nothing to do with her episode count. It's because the writers had a ton more leeway to do with Lana and especially Chloe whatever the heck they wanted to. DC Comics is more stringent about what Lois can and can't do on the show. While some of that is a curse in regards to problems with her episode count over the years, part of it is a blessing because Smallville's writers can't screw her up like they have other characters. This season the episode count had much more to do with poor allocation of resources however, and hopefully they finally have the common sense to remedy that and make Erica full-time in Season 9.

Another reason more time won't "screw up" Lois? They don't have to invent things for her to do to stay around. She's at the Daily Planet, she's chasing stories, she's working with Jimmy and Clark, she's got feelings for Clark and a crush on the "RBB". That's all stuff from the comics. They don't have to invent a bunch of weird dark crap for her to do in order to tie her to the storyline she has no connection to in the source material, because in the source material she is and always has been the leading lady.

Oh and "Lois doesn't fit?" If they stop writing crappy weird soap operas where Clark is nothing more than a supporting character in order to give the characters who are supposed to be supporting something to do, that would never be a problem. She doesn't fit 'cause they didn't pay her to be there so they had to write some other convoluted tripe to fill up the spot instead. In fact in this season the giant Elephant in the room is when Lois ISN'T there and how the show is completely different and nothing but a dark miserable tone that's not connected to the Superman aspects of the show at all. Finally, Lois "can't do drama?" Scenes in Toxic, Committed, Bloodline, Infamous, Stiletto and the entire episode of Bride. You know what I like? Episodes that you can watching without being able to play a drinking game of "take a shot every time someone cries" because if you played it in all the episodes without Lois you'd be drunk 20 minutes in every single time. :P