Some Achieve Greatness: An Overview of the Appeal of Chlois

by: Massena1
written:  01/06/2006

Chlois appeals to fans of the show for many different reasons. It's not possible to represent them all, but here are some of the recurring points made among Chloisers.

The Fun of the Unexpected Twist

Chloe permanently taking on the pen name "Lois Lane" just seems like a great story twist. It could be the best kind of plot twist, one that you may not see coming, but one which will make perfect sense in hindsight. It would actually have been set up before the audience's eyes and most importantly it would actually make the story richer.

For casual fans, the question would be if Chloe being the iconic Lois Lane makes sense or seems to come out of nowhere. It would not be a cheat by the writers because they wouldn't be revealing any withheld information to the audience. Instead, it would be brilliant, exciting storytelling like "The Crying Game" or "The Sixth Sense" where something unexpected is set up right in front of the audience. Chlois explains why the female called Lois Lane isn't bright, ambitious, curious, positive, dignified or interested in journalism. It explains why the girl who is all those thing is working her way up the career ladder at the Daily Planet, is best friend and confidante to Clark Kent and helps Clark fight crime.

And shows like Alias and Lost have definitely raised the bar on surprising the audience with unexpected twists that appeal to the geek/fantasy adventure audience. Chlois has the potential to surpass even these shows for a shocking, but, logical reveal which is no small feat for a show in which the audience assumes the ending is a foregone conclusion.

The Poetic Nature of Chlois

Since the story is told from Clark's perspective, it is poetic that the audience, like the protagonist, wasn't aware that his soul mate had been there the entire time. Further, Chlois unifies the whole story. If they do Chlois, then "Smallville" will have always been the story of Clark Kent, Lex Luthor and Lois Lane before they reached their destinies. It just makes sense that Lois Lane should have been there from the beginning as she has been in all other versions of the story. And it adds depth of feeling because it builds upon the HISTORY behind Chloe's relationship with Lana, Lex and Clark. No late-comer can match that.

Just like Lex and Clark becoming enemies would be more interesting because they were close friends once, so too would making Chloe forever the one who is Lex's chief critic and threat of exposure as Lois Lane, ace reporter at the Daily Planet. Memories of times in which they were on friendly terms would make scenes in which the hatred oozes between them that much more dramatic. Ditto Lana's relationship with Chloe. If Clark ended up with Erica Durance's character, one could imagine Lana being surprised and maybe disappointed and sad, but not much more. It's easy to imagine Lana accepting it and moving on. However, if Clark ended up with Chloe, given their history, Lana would understandably have a much harder time accepting it. It would explain why Lana would continue to struggle to get Clark back and why she might feel it is a betrayal on both sides. Simply put, it makes everything more complicated and yet understandable on an emotional level.

And if the show was about showing how Clark and Lex 's friendship made them who they become, then Chloe's history with them and Lana fits in perfectly with this idea. Erica Durance's character's relationship with Lana and Lex is too superficial to have the same dramatic punch. She has had little to no influence on who they have become and they have already progressed so much towards their destinies that it is too late to change that. At a certain point in a self-contained series like this, it simply becomes more organic, logical and satisfying to let Lois Lane be the woman once called Chloe Sullivan instead of trying to shoehorn a carbon copy late-comer into the role. And the more they try to backtrack from the muffin-peddling, high school and college flunkie history they've given to Erica Durance's character, the more like a caricature she seems.

No Lightswitches

Chloe has changed and progressed each season, but at her core is a passion for the truth and for journalism. And we've seen her trials as a young journalist. We've seen her face ethical dilemmas, make mistakes and learn from the experiences. Chloe is on a hero's journey and she has been since they introduced her. Meanwhile, Erica Durance's Lois Lane lacks so many of the core personality traits such as curiosity, persistence, empathy, drive, and a thirst for knowledge/information of the iconic Lois Lane, that she would have to be implausibly remodeled to fit the role at this point. And generally Chloisers don't believe that someone would suddenly develop a life-long passionate interest in journalism or that Erica Durance's Lois Lane would be hired by the Daily Planet when Chloe, who was the editor of her school paper for 4 years, published as a teenager in professional newspapers (i.e. The Ledger and The Daily Planet), earned an internship at the Daily Planet despite fierce competition indicating a lot of talent and has always been industrious, barely got in the door for a basement level job.

Why Not Do Something Ambitious?

They claimed it was "the story we never knew until now." They've already changed so much from other versions of the Superman mythos so why not? (e.g. Lex lived in Smallville. Clark and Lex were best friends. A meteor shower took away Lana Lang's parents. Lana, not Lois, was Clark's first lover. Clark and Lois, whoever she turns out to be, went to high school together.) So, why shouldn't they modernize the Lois and Clark love story? The dysfunctional "triangle built for two" is outdated. It made Lois look shallow for only wanting a hero and Clark foolish and disrespectful by trying to insist she love his facade of the bumbling reporter. And Lois Lane has known the secret in the comics for over a decade so that means that most of the show's target audience never knew a Lois Lane who didn't know Clark's secret. So why not open the doors to a modern love story about a functional partnership and a mature love built on truth, trust and years of enduring friendship.  We would have been watching Lois and Clark form their strong bond and partnership the whole series. It would be taking from the past and re-imaging their history together and their reasons for sharing their life together.

No matter what, the Clark and Lois Lane love story on "Smallville" will not be the same as any other version. Clark will not love Lois Lane on first sight. That "love at first sight" idea was given to Lana Lang. In Blank (419),  when Clark loses all his memories, his instincts tell him he might be related to Erica Durance's character, which corresponds to a underlying sibling feeling that many fans have noted between their two characters. This sibling dynamic was also referenced in Aqua (504) when Erica Durance's character suggested that Clark was behaving like a protective brother which makes sense since she lived in the Kent household. And there is difference between rapid-fire banter with a sexual undercurrent like "Sam & Diane" or "Dave and Maddy" and the asexual, childish putdowns thrown in a one-sided manner by Erica Durance's Lois Lane toward Clark.

Blank established that Clark's dislike for Erica Durance's character was not a mask for an underlying attraction. He admitted he genuinely didn't like her. Additionally, Erica Durance's Lois Lane has no reason to be insulting towards Clark. Whenever Lois Lane has been dismissive or insulting to Clark Kent it was grounded in a professional rivalry in which he was invading her turf. On Smallville, it made no sense for ED's Lois Lane to have this attitude since she has many reasons to be grateful to Clark for his help so it just has come across as needlessly negative, undeservedly arrogant and consistently grating. At least, in Obscura (120), they suggested an instant spark between Clark and Chloe that was quelled by her decision to break the tension with a kiss and a call to just be friends. The idea that the pair has been kept apart by their own problems, like Chloe's defense mechanism of pulling back if she fears she might be hurt and Clark Kent's inability to get past his dreams about Lana Lang works well with a story about growing up and maturing past childish limitations. Chlois also pulls on a theme that Lois and Clark can't help but be pulled together as we've seen Chloe and Clark forgive each other repeatedly to keep up their relationship. They can't NOT be together.

Ironically, it is Chloe and Clark's relationship which parallels the Lois and Clark dynamic set up in "Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman" but with the roles reversed. In "Obscura", we found out that Chloe and Clark met on her first day of school in Smallville in 8th grade. So, instead of Clark moving to Metropolis and being a fish out of water who is shown around on his first day by Lois Lane, we have Chloe being the fish out of water who is shown around on her first day by Clark Kent. Instead of Clark feeling an instant attraction to Lois Lane, we have Chloe feel there is an attraction there and she kisses *him* to tell him they should just be friends. Instead of Clark feeling like Lois Lane can't see that he is the guy of her dreams in disguise, we have Chloe telling Clark in "Fever" that she is "the girl of his dreams masquerading as his best friend." Instead of Lois Lane being oblivious to Clark's crush, it is Clark who is oblivious to Chloe's crush. Instead of Lois Lane being confused by feelings of attraction to her friend Clark Kent, it is Clark who is confused by feelings of attraction to his friend Chloe in "Crush." Instead of Lois Lane rejecting Clark Kent romantically for Superman, it is Clark Kent who due to lingering feelings for Lana Lang rejects Chloe's romantic interest in him in "Devoted" adding the qualifier "at least not right now." Instead of Lois Lane slowly realizing that Clark Kent is just as special and amazing as Superman, we could have Clark realize that Chloe is just as special and amazing as Lana. This role reversal if Chlois happens fits the premise of the show as a re-imaging of the Superman story as a teen drama as does the use of typical teenage problems like insecurity, heightened emotional reactions, unrealistic romantic ideas and general immaturity as stumbling blocks to a union that Clark would hve to grow into. And if Chlois comes to pass then seeing Chloe and Clark overcome their many disagreements builds on the theme that Lois and Clark can't help but be pulled together as we've seen Chloe and Clark forgive each other repeatedly to keep up their relationship. They can't NOT be together.

Lois and Clark have gone through lots of different versions of their relationship. They haven't always had an antagonistic relationship. They haven't even always been romantically involved. They have sometimes been platonic pals. Their story changes with the times. The comics are revamped often. They are doing a revamp right now and many fans who are turned off by how Lois is currently depicted in the comics feel she may be ripe for yet another revision.

On December 24, 2005, rastlinsbird, a DC board poster put it this way, "if they don’t take this chance to breath life back into Lois Lane then they miss a once in a lifetime chance to bring hope back into a character that really really needs it. Chloe adds to Lois Lane what the sun adds to life on earth. Chloe gives the superman myth spice and there is no amount of words that can describe the depth of stories that could come from this. Chloe is the soul of Lois Lane."

Allison Mack Can Do Justice to Lois Lane

Lois Lane is the woman who connects Superman to his humanity. She must be able to be tough, but feminine, strong, but compassionate, aggressive, but tender and that's not easy to pull off. Once Al Gough commented about the online comic book fans reaction to Chloe and Lana, thus, "Chloe can betray Clark to Lionel Luthor and they'll forgive her. Lana looks at him [Clark] wrong and she's damned." The statement may not be 100% true, because there are diverse online fans, but it is true that Allison Mack has been able to maintain general sympathy for Chloe despite having many character traits (being reckless, ambitious, snoopy, pushy, demanding) that could be very off-putting. That is a testament to her talent and it is exactly the kind of rare talent that is necessary to play someone like iconic Lois Lane.

A Solution to the Single White Female Dilemma

Before Smallville, Lois Lane was always introduced first as the intrepid young reporter and a co-worker of Clark Kent. But in Smallville, Chloe came first. She has become the measuring stick to hold any other intrepid young reporters against. Further, since the audience was introduced to Chloe's dreams first, the primary claim to those dreams seems to rightfully belong to her. Now, if someone else gets her dream life of being the hot shot reporter at the Daily Planet and mate to Clark Kent, there will be a distinct feeling of someone Single White Femaling Chloe's life which has never existed before in any other Superman story and which is unappealing to many fans. The feeling is that Lois Lane should not be second to anyone and at this point, the only way to avoid that is to keep Chloe Sullivan on the path she started and let her realize her dreams.

A Payoff and a Satisfying Resolution

What kind of story would it be for Chloe, the smartest woman on the whole show, to be the only one who can't find a date, pines forever for the hero, works and sacrifices for her future - only to see her slacker cousin swoop in and get everything Chloe has strived for? Yes, that may happen in real life, but that is not a very positive message. If anything, it encourages people to give up because one is powerless to determine his or her own fate. In a satisfying story, there would be an amazing payoff for all the misery Chloe has been thru. If she doesn't end up succeeding by becoming a hot shot reporter at the Daily Planet, then what was the purpose of watching her face all those obstacles towards achieving her goal? And what would be the purpose to watching her getting shafted emotionally over and over again in the love triangle of Lana/Clark/Chloe if she doesn't end up with him in the end?

Chlois Represents Hope

Some feel the show's theme is "destiny means having no choice in picking one's future." That's very old school Greek tragedy and they did have Clark basically express that idea in Mortal (502). However, isn't the theme that one's future will be the result of one's choices much more empowering? Also, it seems to fit the actions of the characters. Lex doesn't end up a ruthless powermonger because he was helpless to fight his destiny. In Lexmas (509), he picks that life. Likewise, Clark has faced less acknowledged choices about who he is and what his life will be like in Commencement (422), Arrival (501), Mortal (502), and Hidden (503). Clark chose to get involved and try to save people. Now, he resisted it, but ultimately he chose to do it. Clark doesn't seem to acknowledge that this was a conscious decision on his part and claims he had no choice in the matter. But, that isn't true. He did have a choice, it is just that because of his nature, ignoring a need for his help is unfathomable to him. He rejected it as an option instinctively, but it was an option. He will be the hero, because he chose to answer a call for greatness. Similarly, Chloe becoming Lois Lane would be the result of her choices to relentlessly pursue journalism and to maintain a relationship with Clark despite their many disagreements.

Having her cousin, who didn't finish high school, got kicked out of college and has much less experience and training than Chloe surpass her seems wholly wrong. It's the opposite of the morale of the Tortoise and the Hare. Instead of slow and steady persistence winning out, someone comes in at the last minute after slacking off to snatch success away. That doesn't seem right. Heck, it seems un-American. Don't Americans believe that life should be a meritocracy? Chlois is about the hope that good people who do good work will be rewarded.

Closing Statement

Whether you reject the idea or embrace the idea, I hope this essay at least helps you understand it. Obviously, I love the idea and support it 100%.

click here to go read part one