Just realized something slightly disturbing about Nell Potter...

[Aurora Moon]

Now, I do realize that I might be looking too much into this. However I wanted to discuss something with you that I noticed about this side character on Smallville.

I was rewatching some of the first season episodes, such as the fourth episode "X-ray" and that's when I started to see a pattern emerge every time Nell Potter showed on screen in relation to Lana. or at the very least were mentioned by Lana.

Namely, the fact that she was clearly the worst guardian/caretaker ever. It was amazing that she was even allowed to adopt her niece Lana at all. let's look at the facts:

1. Lana Lang likes to go out to the graveyard alone at night on a regular basis, despite it being clearly dangerous for her health. (meteor mutants, random accidents,etc). Yet, Nell does nothing about it. She acts like this is perfectly normal for a young vulnerable teenage girl. To any parents here, would you seriously let your child go out alone at night to a graveyard or any other places by himself/herself?
2. Nell was the one who gave Lana the meteor necklace right after Lana had just recently lost her parents, at the tender age of 3 years old. Seriously, who the hell thinks it's a great idea to give an traumatized young girl a piece of the meteor that killed her parents? Nell was basically ensuring that Lana would never move on from the past, and caused Lana to be obsessed with her parents for a long time.
3. Speaking of Lana's parents, Nell deliberately tried to rear Lana Lang to be an exact copy of Laura Lang. Even pushed Lana Lang into joining the cheerleader team just because Laura Potter/Lang used to be on the cheerleader squad. Nell was trying to live though Lana Lang vicariously, and got Lana Lang to do things Nell's way by feeding Lana Lang lies about how perfect Laura Lang's life had been. Something that Lana called her out on in the episode X-ray.
4. Nell likes to put on an "perfect" front, but at times her behavior and words seems highly manipulative.

I was able to glean all of this from what little screen-time she got... and it doesn't really paint her in a good light. It was no wonder why Lana didn't want to go with her to Metropolis and instead got herself legally empacitaed from Nell Potter.
It also goes a long way to explain many of the issues that Lana Lang clearly has... such as her nightly graveyard visits. Nell ensured it so that Lana Lang would be constantly stuck in the past for a long time... by feeding her all those fairytales about Lana's parents, giving her that meteor necklace, etc.

Yeah, Nell Potter comes off as very controlling here, doesn't she?

This was just something I thought of and came up when I was doing character Analysis for every character on Smallville, even the side characters like Nell potter.

[KSiteTV]

I really wish the show had explored the history between Nell Potter and Jonathan Kent more, but also Nell Potter and the Luthors. In the pilot Lana mentions her aunt is visiting them. Seems a bit weird, doesn't it?

[Aurora Moon]

Yeah, I agree. Here's my head-canon about Nell's history with both Jonathan and Lionel.

if Nell raised Lana then some of Lana's bad habits could had came from Nell.... like the habit of having a main boyfriend and a "back up" in case the main boyfriend didn't work out.

The Potter-Lang females seem to be have a tradition where they act slightly slutty that way... as evidenced by Lana's great-aunt Louise in Season three's episode where Clark sees Jor-El's past actives in flashbacks. Louise Potter married a guy named Dex McCallum not because she loved him, but because she wanted security... a main guy to support her. She then had William Tate as her "backup" and strung him along. Until somebody better than Dex and William Tate combined came along, who called himself Joe. (Jor-El).

We know that Jonathan was Nell's high school sweetheart, and Nell thought that Jonathan would always be there waiting for her in Smallville after graduation as her "backup" while she went off to explore the world. She could had met Lionel in Metropolis.... and well, She seems to be Lionel's type. Auburn hair and redheads seem to be what turns on Lionel evidenced by his flings.
If Nell was anything like Louise, then she thought she could hook herself a rich boyfriend and have instant security. and so Nell had a fling with him. Only, Lionel got tired of her but somehow managed to leave Nell on good terms.
Nell thinks this is no big loss.... for she still has Jonathan back in Smallville, so she still has some security left. So she goes home. Only to find out that Jonathan fell in love with somebody else.

This is why she's sometimes so snarky with Martha Kent. Because Nell thinks that Martha pretty much stole what was rightfully "hers", even though Nell made it clear to Jonathan that their relationship was up in the air once Nell was going to metropolis to "find herself" after graduation. How was Jonathan to know that Nell thought of him in such a way? He probably thought that their relationship was over for good.

I think that background story makes sense for the Potter-Lang family... considering that Louise was WAY slutty (due trying to date three guys all at once). and some of that behavior had to rub off on future generations. The next generations were less slutty than the one before her, but still had her bad habit of having a "Backup boyfriend" and a "Main boyfriend."

This would also explain Lana's bad dating habits. Lana isn't as "trampy" as Nell or the previous generations, but traces are still there.

[DJ Doena]

Nell also influenced Lana with her trusting issues.

In Hug it is Nell who insists that Clark goes to the police regarding Kyle Tippet and Lana quickly adopts her aunt's perspective that Kyle must have spooked her horse.

Nell wasn't even there and Lana obviously doesn't know what really happened, but surely the guy who lives in the woods must be a creep!

[Aurora Moon]

Yeah. Once you realize where all of Lana's issues came from, one can't help but feel sorry for Lana. Nobody asks to be born into an dysfunctional family like that, much less have Nell as an aunt.

Although I have to wonder if Lana would had fared any better if her mother Laura Lang survived the meteor shower... considering that Laura Lang also had her own "bad habits" when it came to being with multiple men. For instance how she temporarily "separated" from her husband and started seeing Henry Small while she was still married... and went back to her husband once the affair was done. This results in Henry small being Lana's biological father. That's a little trampy, isn't it?

In the past I didn't realize why Lana was the way she was, and just thought she was a whiny Mary-sue who had no real reason to be so obsessed with her own past when she had a great life in the present. or that she was just being randomly overly dramatic at times for no real good reason.
I didn't really look at her family history, and how it might had influenced who she was. But now that I did... everything about her makes so much sense now.

Bad writing aside, that family history goes a long way to explaining why Lana Lang seems utterly incapable of committing to a long-term relationship. Why she's just as incapable of going a week without finding herself a new boyfriend. How she's so into Clark like you wouldn't believe, but there's always somebody conveniently standing in the way of their "epic romance". Lana were subconicously scared of entering a relationship without any "backup" in case the main relationship didn't work. So that's why you always have all those guys standing in the way between Clark and her.

the way her family was, and the way she was raised... it was deeply ingrained into her that she needed to find a man for "Security", etc. Just like how Louise, Laura and Nell did it. In the world of the Potter-Langs, one needs an security blanket and an back up. Even though Men aren't possessions that you own.

[Shelby Kent]

Bad writing aside, that family history goes a long way to explaining why Lana Lang seems utterly incapable of committing to a long-term relationship. Why she's just as incapable of going a week without finding herself a new boyfriend. How she's so into Clark like you wouldn't believe, but there's always somebody conveniently standing in the way of their "epic romance". Lana were subconicously scared of entering a relationship without any "backup" in case the main relationship didn't work. So that's why you always have all those guys standing in the way between Clark and her.

I'm no Lana or Clana fan, but as I've rewatched the various seasons, I noticed in the 3rd season that Lana really did try her best to make things work with Clark. She really seemed committed to the idea of trying to be in a relationship with him. Despite his harsh treatment of her when she came to Metropolis, she was able to get past her initial feelings of hurt and rejection and, in a fairly mature way, try to restart things. During most of that season, Clark was the one who chose not to be in a relationship with her because he felt he had to protect her. But he couldn't hide his feelings and that had to be confusing and frustrating for Lana -- that she could tell he had feelings for her, that she had feelings for him, that she tried to be understanding and let him know that she was willing to give the relationship another chance, but that he wouldn't get back together with her. Finally, she made the decision that she needed to move forward and stop clinging to what seemed like a fantasy (getting back together with Clark). That's kind of courageous -- to give up a dream and move on (after she had done all that she possibly could). She told him that being with someone was important to her and that she was going to move forward. But if, at any point in time before that, he had indicated a willingness to start dating again, she would have jumped at the chance and there's no evidence that she wouldn't have been committed to being in a relationship with him (except, of course that we know the writers wouldn't have allowed it to last ).

[DJ Doena]

I'm no Lana or Clana fan, but as I've rewatched the various seasons, I noticed in the 3rd season that Lana really did try her best to make things work with Clark. She really seemed committed to the idea of trying to be in a relationship with him. Despite his harsh treatment of her when she came to Metropolis, she was able to get past her initial feelings of hurt and rejection and, in a fairly mature way, try to restart things. During most of that season, Clark was the one who chose not to be in a relationship with her because he felt he had to protect her. But he couldn't hide his feelings and that had to be confusing and frustrating for Lana -- that she could tell he had feelings for her, that she had feelings for him, that she tried to be understanding and let him know that she was willing to give the relationship another chance, but that he wouldn't get back together with her. Finally, she made the decision that she needed to move forward and stop clinging to what seemed like a fantasy (getting back together with Clark). That's kind of courageous -- to give up a dream and move on (after she had done all that she possibly could). She told him that being with someone was important to her and that she was going to move forward. But if, at any point in time before that, he had indicated a willingness to start dating again, she would have jumped at the chance and there's no evidence that she wouldn't have been committed to being in a relationship with him (except, of course that we know the writers wouldn't have allowed it to last ).

Well, that depends on your point of view.

Let me explain how I percieved season 3.

In the beginning, Clark screwed up big time.

When Extinction came around he tried to teach her that not all meteor freaks might be bad people (even though Clark, too, had only met Kyle Tippet (see above) who didn't go evil). But Lana dismissed all of it and even wished that the meteor shower had never happeend. That was a faux pas she didn't even know she made but it must have stung big time. Only when she met Van face to face did she change her mind (she didn't even change it when she learned that Van had try to kill Lex!).

Two eps later, she once again tells Clark off because he came into the Talon with Perry White. She doesn't know any backstory of them. Perry might as well have met Clark directly in front of the door and asked him if he knew a "Lana Lang". No she's pissed that Clark is "with that guy" even though Clark tries to tell Perry to back off - right in front of Lana.
When Clark can't help her, she runs to Lex to get rid of Perry.

After the spell is lifted in Magnetic she admits that a lot of what she said to Clark was truly in her heart, spell or not. That must have stung, too.

Around comes Shattered. Clark explicitly warns her that Lex is not himself and that she should be careful. Whose fault is it then that she got trampled on? Clark's of course. Who else's?

Whisper? Lex' apology for the previous event is quickly accepted. After all, he "wasn't himself". (The "person X wasn't himself" excuse/apology only applies when "X" does not equal "Clark" throughout almost the entire show)

In Delete Clark's spidey senses tingle about Adam Knight. And Clark's instincts have been proven right time and time again in the past three years. He's warned her about "Whitney's" odd behaviour when he "returned", he's warned her (and Chloe) about "split boy", ... She never listens. She doesn't this time either.

In Truth she basically tells Chloe under the truth spell that she hates this town and just wants to get out of it because of her "fairy princess" backstory. But with the exception of Perry, it's almost exclusively her who brings that or her dead parents up.
And I still resent her for what she said to Chloe. Chloe and her dad gave her a home in season 2 so she didn't have to move to Metropolis when she threw a hissy fit because Nell dared to marry Dean. And this is how she repays Chloe for her kindness.
Could you even begin to imagine Lois saying something similar about Clark and the Kents?!?

And if Lana hadn't gotten the wave tattoo, would she have ever returned to Smallville, to at least once visit Chloe's grave? I wonder who was at that funeral at all. Clark was indisposed. Lois admitted she didn't attend because it make it real. Jonathan was in a coma. Chloe's dad was "dead", too.

So, no, I don't really see Lana's behaviour in season 3 as very decent at all.

[Aurora Moon]

Well... that seemed to be the only time that she was willing to fully commit.... right when Clark looked like he wasn't willing to commit.

Your viewpoint of the relationship is very valid, S. Kent. But an alternative reading could lead it to being Lana's way of shifting the blame from herself to others for the relationship problem. It was never her fault that the relationship went south in season 3, it was all Clark because he wasn't willing to make it work! Just like how all the other times weren't her fault... it was Whitney's fault, it was Jason's fault, etc...

It seems like the only times she gravitates to Clark Kent and tries to make it work, is when Clark is acting like he isn't interested in her at the moment. The other times Clark does act like he's interested in her? She's with somebody else.

Yes, a lot of this can be easily be bad writing to generate pointless relationship drama and was out of Lana's control. But in-universe, this makes Lana look bad even if the writers didn't mean for it to be viewed that way.

[Dagenspear]

Well... that seemed to be the only time that she was willing to fully commit.... right when Clark looked like he wasn't willing to commit.

Your viewpoint of the relationship is very valid, S. Kent. But an alternative reading could lead it to being Lana's way of shifting the blame from herself to others for the relationship problem. It was never her fault that the relationship went south in season 3, it was all Clark because he wasn't willing to make it work! Just like how all the other times weren't her fault... it was Whitney's fault, it was Jason's fault, etc...

It seems like the only times she gravitates to Clark Kent and tries to make it work, is when Clark is acting like he isn't interested in her at the moment. The other times Clark does act like he's interested in her? She's with somebody else.

Yes, a lot of this can be easily be bad writing to generate pointless relationship drama and was out of Lana's control. But in-universe, this makes Lana look bad even if the writers didn't mean for it to be viewed that way.

It really doesn't. Everytime Clark had been willing to make it work Lana had already begun relationships. It wasn't like Clark wanted to make it work and Lana suddenly would decide to start dating someone else.

[Dagenspear]

Well, that depends on your point of view.

Let me explain how I percieved season 3.

In the beginning, Clark screwed up big time.

When Extinction came around he tried to teach her that not all meteor freaks might be bad people (even though Clark, too, had only met Kyle Tippet (see above) who didn't go evil). But Lana dismissed all of it and even wished that the meteor shower had never happeend. That was a faux pas she didn't even know she made but it must have stung big time. Only when she met Van face to face did she change her mind (she didn't even change it when she learned that Van had try to kill Lex!).

Two eps later, she once again tells Clark off because he came into the Talon with Perry White. She doesn't know any backstory of them. Perry might as well have met Clark directly in front of the door and asked him if he knew a "Lana Lang". No she's pissed that Clark is "with that guy" even though Clark tries to tell Perry to back off - right in front of Lana.
When Clark can't help her, she runs to Lex to get rid of Perry.

After the spell is lifted in Magnetic she admits that a lot of what she said to Clark was truly in her heart, spell or not. That must have stung, too.

Around comes Shattered. Clark explicitly warns her that Lex is not himself and that she should be careful. Whose fault is it then that she got trampled on? Clark's of course. Who else's?

Whisper? Lex' apology for the previous event is quickly accepted. After all, he "wasn't himself". (The "person X wasn't himself" excuse/apology only applies when "X" does not equal "Clark" throughout almost the entire show)

In Delete Clark's spidey senses tingle about Adam Knight. And Clark's instincts have been proven right time and time again in the past three years. He's warned her about "Whitney's" odd behaviour when he "returned", he's warned her (and Chloe) about "split boy", ... She never listens. She doesn't this time either.

In Truth she basically tells Chloe under the truth spell that she hates this town and just wants to get out of it because of her "fairy princess" backstory. But with the exception of Perry, it's almost exclusively her who brings that or her dead parents up.
And I still resent her for what she said to Chloe. Chloe and her dad gave her a home in season 2 so she didn't have to move to Metropolis when she threw a hissy fit because Nell dared to marry Dean. And this is how she repays Chloe for her kindness.
Could you even begin to imagine Lois saying something similar about Clark and the Kents?!?

And if Lana hadn't gotten the wave tattoo, would she have ever returned to Smallville, to at least once visit Chloe's grave? I wonder who was at that funeral at all. Clark was indisposed. Lois admitted she didn't attend because it make it real. Jonathan was in a coma. Chloe's dad was "dead", too.

So, no, I don't really see Lana's behaviour in season 3 as very decent at all.

I don't know what to say to this.

Huh uh. So? People freak out about sensitive subjects all the time.

I don't get your point here.

She never blamed Clark. She was being practical.

Clark never provides an explanation. Lex's is built in.

Clark isn't automatically entitled.

How dare she not want to stay in a town with awful memories. It's about how people treat her.

The impression I got was that she hadn't heard.

[Aurora Moon]

It really doesn't. Everytime Clark had been willing to make it work Lana had already begun relationships. It wasn't like Clark wanted to make it work and Lana suddenly would decide to start dating someone else.

Possibly. But you have to realize something... If Lana was truly in love with Clark this entire time, then why didn't she just break up with the current guy of the month and go for Clark when he provided an opening for a fully committed relationship? After all, it's not like she loved the current guy of the month more than she did Clark... right?
She could had done that any time, espeically when she was having second thoughts about guys like Jason and started lying to Jason about things (such as the stone of power).

But she never did. instead, she choose to follow a very predictable pattern that she had set for herself ever since season one. The pattern being this: Be with somebody that's not Clark, and then when that person does something that upsets her? She then flirt with Clark, or go hang out with Clark to get Clark's hopes up. She then continues have a current boyfriend, while starting to have second thoughts about her current boyfriend. But doesn't want to break up, because she doesn't want to hurt him.. blah blah blah. She starts warming up to Clark in the hopes that Clark would be a better suitable boyfriend than the current one... but, Clark does something to let her down, so She sticks with the current boyfriend or gets another one if the current one were no longer around.

She even did that with Whitney in season one! In the episode "cool".
Whitney forgot about his promise to take Lana to metropolis for a evening out... and instead wanted to watch football on pay-per-view on a large screen with his friends. Lex even comments that Lana could do better than Whitney, and gives Clark tickets to a concert so that Clark can ask Lana out. Clark manages to get Lana to agree to go out with him as a "friend" on a "non-date".
Clark and Lana then had plans to go to the concert and were alone in an limo for a while there, where they flirted with each other... until Clark had to go save Chloe from a meteor mutant. And Lana never told Whitney about her plans at all, until Whitney pressed her for information.
Whitney was rightly upset that Lana was so dressed up to go out alone with a guy (even if he was just a "friend") by herself. If it was a group of friends then it would had seemed more natural, but it was a guy and girl going to a concert together alone.
Lana even commented that she had to explain it to Nell, because even Nell thought that was a date....

[Dagenspear]

Possibly. But you have to realize something... If Lana was truly in love with Clark this entire time, then why didn't she just break up with the current guy of the month and go for Clark when he provided an opening for a fully committed relationship? After all, it's not like she loved the current guy of the month more than she did Clark... right?
She could had done that any time, espeically when she was having second thoughts about guys like Jason and started lying to Jason about things (such as the stone of power).

But she never did. instead, she choose to follow a very predictable pattern that she had set for herself ever since season one. The pattern being this: Be with somebody that's not Clark, and then when that person does something that upsets her? She then flirt with Clark, or go hang out with Clark to get Clark's hopes up. She then continues have a current boyfriend, while starting to have second thoughts about her current boyfriend. But doesn't want to break up, because she doesn't want to hurt him.. blah blah blah. She starts warming up to Clark in the hopes that Clark would be a better suitable boyfriend than the current one... but, Clark does something to let her down, so She sticks with the current boyfriend or gets another one if the current one were no longer around.

She even did that with Whitney in season one! In the episode "cool".
Whitney forgot about his promise to take Lana to metropolis for a evening out... and instead wanted to watch football on pay-per-view on a large screen with his friends. Lex even comments that Lana could do better than Whitney, and gives Clark tickets to a concert so that Clark can ask Lana out. Clark manages to get Lana to agree to go out with him as a "friend" on a "non-date".
Clark and Lana then had plans to go to the concert and were alone in an limo for a while there, where they flirted with each other... until Clark had to go save Chloe from a meteor mutant. And Lana never told Whitney about her plans at all, until Whitney pressed her for information.
Whitney was rightly upset that Lana was so dressed up to go out alone with a guy (even if he was just a "friend") by herself. If it was a group of friends then it would had seemed more natural, but it was a guy and girl going to a concert together alone.
Lana even commented that she had to explain it to Nell, because even Nell thought that was a date....

People aren't in love with someone the whole time if they've separated despite what they say. They fade in and out. Lana has no obligation to Clark or any man. Especially as teenager.

[Aurora Moon]

People aren't in love with someone the whole time if they've separated despite what they say. They fade in and out. Lana has no obligation to Clark or any man. Especially as teenager.

Sorry for replying so late. You say that as a teenager Lana has no obligation to anybody... partially true. But don't you think it's kind of mean that she keeps on toying with others' feelings like that? she can date anybody she likes, But she should be more honest about her feelings.

I mean, anybody could see that Clark had strong feelings for Lana, despite him claiming that they can "just be friends".

Lana was clearly pissed off that Whitney competely forgot about their metropolis date because he would rather be watching football with his buddies. So, She decides to go to a concert with Clark, just the two of them. Very passive-aggressive of her. And that's not the last time she does something like that.
Even well knowing how that would look to others out there.... and even knowing this would falsely raise Clark's hopes that he could win Lana's affections though being "friends". (which by the way, never works for anybody at all!)

If She did not want to be seen as falsely toying with others, she should had been more upfront about her own feelings instead of pretending to be cool with whatever her boyfriend of the season is doing. Dunno though, The writers tend to write her in a very conflicting way.... they want her to be this independent, strong woman who can stand up for herself.
But then they make her so passive-aggressive, going behind people's backs instead of telling them up front how she really felt about whatever it was that they were doing. Even straight-up LYING in a lot of cases!

Like, She should had told Whitney that since he valued football over her so much he could just be with his buddies while she went to Metropolis alone by herself or with a friend of hers. instead of pretending to be cool with Whitney's decision to go watch football even though she was clearly disappointed. This way Whitney would know up front that Lana planned on going without him, and wouldn't had been as upset at learning that Lana was going out with Clark behind his back, even if it was just as "friends". He would had some warning beforehand that she was going to do something like that.

Instead the way he found out, it gives him the impression that his high-school sweetheart was planning to cheat on him.

Hey, I think Whitney was a grade-A jerkass and that Lana could do way better than him in season one. I even shipped Lana and Clark together earlier on when I first watching the show. But I had to frown at her behavior when she kept on doing things like that. Even jerks deserve honesty in their relationship.... even if it's just a short-lived teenage relationship.

[Dagenspear]

Sorry for replying so late. You say that as a teenager Lana has no obligation to anybody... partially true. But don't you think it's kind of mean that she keeps on toying with others' feelings like that? she can date anybody she likes, But she should be more honest about her feelings.

I mean, anybody could see that Clark had strong feelings for Lana, despite him claiming that they can "just be friends".

Lana was clearly pissed off that Whitney competely forgot about their metropolis date because he would rather be watching football with his buddies. So, She decides to go to a concert with Clark, just the two of them. Very passive-aggressive of her. And that's not the last time she does something like that.
Even well knowing how that would look to others out there.... and even knowing this would falsely raise Clark's hopes that he could win Lana's affections though being "friends". (which by the way, never works for anybody at all!)

If She did not want to be seen as falsely toying with others, she should had been more upfront about her own feelings instead of pretending to be cool with whatever her boyfriend of the season is doing. Dunno though, The writers tend to write her in a very conflicting way.... they want her to be this independent, strong woman who can stand up for herself.
But then they make her so passive-aggressive, going behind people's backs instead of telling them up front how she really felt about whatever it was that they were doing. Even straight-up LYING in a lot of cases!

Like, She should had told Whitney that since he valued football over her so much he could just be with his buddies while she went to Metropolis alone by herself or with a friend of hers. instead of pretending to be cool with Whitney's decision to go watch football even though she was clearly disappointed. This way Whitney would know up front that Lana planned on going without him, and wouldn't had been as upset at learning that Lana was going out with Clark behind his back, even if it was just as "friends". He would had some warning beforehand that she was going to do something like that.

Instead the way he found out, it gives him the impression that his high-school sweetheart was planning to cheat on him.

Hey, I think Whitney was a grade-A jerkass and that Lana could do way better than him in season one. I even shipped Lana and Clark together earlier on when I first watching the show. But I had to frown at her behavior when she kept on doing things like that. Even jerks deserve honesty in their relationship.... even if it's just a short-lived teenage relationship.

Whitney knows that he upset her. It's not difficult to discern. I don't think she toyed with anybody's feelings. I think, like I said, that she faded in and out. She doesn't have to ask his permission and she's not responsible for the impression Whitney gets. Especially as a teenager.

[Aurora Moon]

I guess I just don't like how the writers handled her and her relationships. They make her bottle up her feelings instead of telling others what was really on her mind, and then she pitches a fit when all of her boyfriends does one wrong thing because they weren't told that she didn't like it when guys did that one thing.

Take Jason for example. She didn't seem to mind that Jason the very adult football coach, was breaking school regulations and rules when he was dating her, who was a high school student at the time. Which is totally bizarre because season 1 Lana pretty much got on Whitney and his friends' case for cheating in school.
She didn't even mind other stuff going on, so Jason might get the impression that Lana Lang is a laid back easy-going girl who doesn't mind if the rules get broken now and then.
But the minute Jason started to do things that Lana didn't like, like letting her on the three stones of power but being secretive about why his family wanted them, Lana started bottling up her feelings. She pretended she was cool with hiding the stone for him, etc....
But in reality she wasn't really okay with it at all... this was the kind of drama that caused her to feel insecure about where the relationship was going, etc.

The same thing happened with Lex, etc. She would pretend that she was perfectly fine with everything that was going on... but internally freaking out and keeps on making all those passive-aggressive comments about Lex to her friends.

I guess her personality just rubs me the wrong way. I can't stand it when people aren't direct about their feelings... because that feels like they're lying to not only the public but also to themselves. If I was Lana, I would had been far more direct with all of her boyfriends.

To Whitney: "You know what? I can't do this anymore. You seem more interested in doing your own thing instead of hanging out with me. Plus, you keep on justifying all the horrible things you and your friends do as 'it was just a joke', or 'boys will be boys'. like scarecrowing my friend Clark, when it could had easily killed him. Do you know how many people are hospitalized every year from scare-crowing? it's not a harmless prank. And then you try to justify cheating in school a lot as being no big deal, etc. Unless you grow up and stop being such a *******, I'm not going out with you anymore!"

To Jason: "Okay, the illicit thrill of having a forbidden, illegal relationship with the high school football coach wore off for me. Plus, I used to think that it was highly romantic that you followed me all the way to Smallville from Paris, but I'm starting to realize that there's something creepy about you. Plus, I have this sore spot regarding secretive guys who are doing things behind my back, and even though you let me in on the secret about the stones of power.... I still get the feeling that you don't tell me everything. Which is just the final straw on the camel's back."

To Lex: "Well, I liked the fact that you could provide me emotional security. But, then I've come to realize that You and your father Lionel are even bigger Drama Queens than I am, or can be. You two are constantly stiring up far more drama than I can do in a single day amongst yourselves, and with anybody else who is unfortunate enough to get caught up in the private war between you and your father. Sorry, not worth it.... BTW, did you know that your father pretty much tried to blackmail me into staying with you for some bizarre reason? And on top if it, he would even subtly hit on me now and then? You and your father's relationship is a truly ****ed up thing and I want no part of it."

To Clark: "You might be hot, and you would make such great boyfriend maternal. But, you know the thing I have about guys lying to me and hiding things from me? A major deal breaker. So I'm not even going to entertain the idea of being with you, and not even going to speak to you unless you get over your silly teen angst ****, man up and tell me what's up with you! I'm way too good to end up being stuck in some ridiculous drama-filled secrets and lies plot, so this is goodbye forever.... unless you would like to be honest for once? I'm only giving you one chance here."