Top Ten Clois Moments of 2010 (10-6)

[sanalayla]

“Smallville” comes back this week! (YAY)

So, to get back in the swing of things, I’m going to list out my favorite Clois moments in 2010. (That makes it “Disciple” through “Icarus”.) To make it challenging, it’s in descending order.

10) “Escape”: The conversation with the inn-keeper. I loved the intimacy of that scene and how they were clearly coming across as a couple in a social setting. I also loved the banter and how Clark grabbed Lois’s arm to stop her from darting away to kick out the Greens and he didn’t even have to turn his head. I loved how hot they both look while being a little damp (how do these two pull it off?).

More than anything, I love how both were completely in-character and still shot each other adoring looks. Clark was amused and smitten by Lois’s forceful nature; Lois was smitten and turned on by his ability to go check out the inn’s plumbing. And, throughout it all, I’m going, “Oh my God, he said the reservation was under KENT!!”

(Little did I know that we’d probably end up seeing Lois actually become a Kent in S10.)

9) “Persuasion”: The conversation at the DP where Clark is telling Lois that they should go out for Valentine’s Day and Lois starts mocking Clark and saying, “Are you going to come courting in a horse and buggy?”

First of all, I kind of love that Lois thinks it’s never too early for nachos. It’s these sorts of random comments from Lois that makes Clark do a double-take, but also makes him fall in love with her all that much more. These sorts of conversations are great ways to build up Lois’s character (brick by tiny brick) without hitting us over the head with it. When we look at Lois, we can safely say that this is a woman who likes her junk food. Not because they’ve shown her eating tons and tons of it, but because she’s sprinkled enough of these comments in her conversations through the years that we aren’t taken aback when she says this. And, along with Clark, we find it somewhat adorable.

Can I even describe the hotness that was Clark grabbing Lois and pulling her around to face him? *fans self * I think that thing that really made me like this scene was that I saw Clark take a deep breath and confess to Lois that he wanted a more traditional relationship. I felt like this was the first time we’ve seen Clark take ownership of his rights and expectations when he’s a couple – telling his girlfriend that although he thinks she’s all kinds of awesome, there is something he wants from her. I really wish that Lois hadn’t gotten mind-whammied at that point, because I would have loved to see her (sane) reaction.

Later on, of course, she did meet him halfway and explained why she’d been holding back. That give-and-take (and Clark’s ability to articulate his issues with Lois) is a huge reason why their relationship works.

8) “Upgrade”: The scene where Clark climbs into bed with Lois and kisses her awake. Setting aside the superficial nature of the scene (Welling looks incredibly hot), what I loved about this moment was that it seemed true to the context of the story at that time and also gave us a glimpse into a central conflict they were having. While – at the same – retaining the inherent sexiness of this pairing. Clark’s reaction to finding out that Lois got hurt was incredibly in-character. Lois lying to him (very badly) and Clark getting angry was awesome. Not the lying part. The part where Clark got angry.

Now, I know that he was being somewhat hypocritical. Setting that aside, I liked that he was able to burst out his feelings without being worried about Lois dumping him. He told her (in a nice bit of continuity from “Conspiracy”) that he thought they were going to going to tell each other everything. The dialogue was amazingly hot and sexy.

Clark: Lois, I thought we agreed there wouldn’t be anything between us.
Lois: *gets closer to him and says in sexy voice* That can be arranged.

Is it all unexpected that Clark’s response is to open his mouth to argue and then essentially decide that it makes more sense to just kiss her?

I was also happy to see Clark’s annoyed response when they get interrupted by a phone call that Lois decides to take. They’ve made it clear that Clark and Lois haven’t seen each other in awhile and here they are – the bed right there and wearing too much clothes. Clark is more than ready to do something about that, but Lois basically shows him that her job is more important than re-connecting with her boyfriend. It makes me very happy to see Clark express anger and frustration at this, because it’s such a very TYPICAL reaction that I’d expect from a man. Again, it’s an indication of how comfortable he is with Lois and how he will allow himself to get angry when she does something that makes him unhappy.

7) “Charade”: The conversation between the Blur/Lois, followed up by the rooftop conversation between Clark/Lois. There are a lot of times when I think that Welling is not really allowed to stretch his acting chops. This scene was one of those moments where I saw Welling just SELL the hell out of the emotions. The way his voice cracks as he says, “Surely there’s something more important?” in response to Lois saying that helping the Blur was the most important thing in her life. You could tell that she’d just slashed his heart and I felt my own bleed in response.

Later on, when he desperately tries to get her stop talking about the Blur and tries to make everything perfect again for Clark & Lois, you can sense his inner thoughts. He wants Lois to forget about the Blur. He wants her safe and he wants her to focus on Clark Kent. When he was with Lana, he would be desperate to make their relationship work, but the vibe here with Lois is completely different. With Lois, he can handle that she’s in love with the Blur, but what he can’t handle is that she’ll walk away from Clark Kent.

There are secrets and lies between them – secrets that he has no intention of revealing to her – but he truly believes that their relationship is so much more than that. And he wants Lois to believe it, too. When Lois reveals her actual feelings about the Blur and that it was the idea that she was saving the world (rather than being selfish) that made her hide things from Clark, he realizes (quite quickly) that Lois struggles with the same things he does. And – for the first time – seems to realize that splitting himself in half has done Lois a disservice and that she loves both sides of him. Which means that Clark Kent may not be enough.

6) “Harvest”: Clark gives Lois the journal and tells her, basically, that she’s the one who has to have his back if anything every goes wrong. There were so many reasons to love this scene (not just because it leads to them having sex for the first time, although that helps).

I loved how symbolic the setting was. The first time Lois came across this journal (in “Salvation”) she asked Clark to come clean with her. And he refused, telling her – instead – to go to Africa. Now, Clark himself hands her the journal and says that she should know everything about him.

That sort of trust between these two is what makes this relationship work in a way that I never saw ANY relationship on SV work. I really cannot imagine Clark ever doing that with Lana. I just didn’t see him as ever looking at Lana and thinking that she had his back. In the early years, I think he felt that way about Chloe (through S5-S7). But – now – he doesn’t feel that way about Chloe, either. I also could not imagine Oliver bestowing that kind of trust and respect on Lois.

What’s great about this is what this means for Clark. That he now has someone to share these burdens with. To talk to about the deepest fears of his heart. To know that someone out there has made his happiness (and him staying on the straight and narrow) their core mission in life. That he is the number priority for the woman he loves. (As she is his number one priority.)

To me, this was the moment where their relationship really just solidified and became an equal partnership. It went beyond merely going, “No more secrets and lies…” and went into “you are the only one in the universe who knows the real me… you’re my soulmate.”

Next post… Numbers 5-1....

(Thanks to Onebreath and Kimmie for the GIFs!!) 

Comments

[audrey229.livejournal.com]

Love all your comments!

For some odd reason, Clark fixing the pipe at the start of "Escape" is quite possibly the sexiest thing I've ever seen in my life. I freaking love it when she walks in the room and he has fixed the pipe and she sayd, "Clark KEnt, my hero." It's just so....them. Because yeah, of course, we know that Clark is quite literally a hero and he has saved Lois' life on countless occassions. But he's also this sweet farmboy who has beautiful manners and fluffs pillows and fixes leaky water pipes and Lois adores that side of him too.

And not sure if you are aware but you can vote for Lois and Clark today at DCwomenkickingass Couple's Tournament. They are up against AC and Mera today.

http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/2925059406/couple9

[sanalayla.livejournal.com]

AC/Mera? HELL, NO!

*runs off to vote*

[wrennscorpio.livejournal.com]

Sana,
Thanks for taking me down the Clois memory lane. It's such a great place to be. I love these scenes you picked out and your commentary just makes me love them even more. I can still remember when I first saw each of these scenes even though now I've seen them over 100x's. LOL.

During season 9 I had gotten my sister to start watching with me and her commentary during the episodes use to make me laugh so hard. When first watching Escape. She was like "oh Clark's going to fix some "pipes"....hmm, we know what that means since they are at a BnB" I'm like someone's mind is in the gutter but mine was too. lol.

I remember watching Persuasion and thinking whoa Clark love that manhandle. He is so sexy when he's being assertive. When Upgrade first came on I screamed so loud because I thought I'd only get this scene in fanfiction but it was so nice to have it in live action. I want a wake-up call like that. I loved that it showed Clark can easily be distracted by the act of some Lois loving. lol

Charade, the scene broke my heart b/c I'm thinking if she knew Clark was the blur, then their weights would be lifted and I wanted that so bad for them and I loved that episode visually. Oh and the Harvest scene, that is one of my absolute favs on the mere fact that I felt the journal giving was just as intimate as the actual sex scene. Clark who had been so ashamed of his heritage at times that he wanted to be normal and stay on the farm. So glad the times have changed.

Thanks again Sana! Love this and can't wait for the rest.

[aimeerose.livejournal.com]

This is awesome, can't wait for 5-1! Thanks for including visuals as well! I totally agree with why all the moments you chose. Here's hoping after the current arc, we get even more awesome moments.

[theclexfactor.livejournal.com]

I'm so in love with this post. More than anything, what you said about the symbolism of the journal in Harvest was exactly what I was saying in several places after the episode aired. And to go even further, not only does he trust her to have his back, he's trusting her to have the WORLD'S back if anything goes wrong with HIM. More than just knowing that Green K will disable/kill him, that journal probablly has other means to render Kal-El a non-threat to the world. Giving Lois the journal (which is something he never ever thought to give to anyone else) was akin to Superman giving Batman the Green K ring in the comics. He's telling her, "You have to know everything about me, including how to stop me. I'm depending solely on you, and so is the world." That's some serious trust to give someone the Kryptonian User Manual.

(And because I know we share a mutual loathing of Chloe, I feel the need to point out that it was made explicit in Traveler that Clark never told Chloe or Lana how to get to the Fortress, and he never told Lana about the Fortress period.)

[cloiser-trish.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of what Zoomway said way back when Traveler aired. I think it was in her episode review that, Chloe will get the Kryptonian side of him, the information that comes all things alien, and Lana will get the emotional side of him, the "Clark Kent" side.. but Lois will get both. I like that we are seeing that this season.

[shalimarfox80.livejournal.com]

And how wonderful is that!

Clark loved Lana but their relationship never rose from the drama of misunderstandings and trust issues to a level where the relationship itself settles into a routine where you know the other person loves you, he/she has your back. Their relationship never attained the stability that would allow them to appreciate each other's love and think about their future. That is something we have seen with Lois and Clark. Even when they fought through their issues and differences, the mutual respect and trust was there. They knew that they were on each other's side no matter what, and I guess that's what led Clark to eventually open up to her because Lois's loyalty to him and her understanding was never any issue, her safety was.

Most importantly, with Lana it was primarily about being normal. Clark desperately tried to be the normal next door guy, the way Lana saw him, throughout their relationship, and when she eventually learned his secret, instead of accepting it, it became all about turning herself into his equal, so they really never reached that point of trust and stability in their relationship where you trust your partner with your most intimate secrets and you trust them to have your back.

As far as Chloe is concerned, no matter how much her fans try to paint her as the ultimate confidante and whatnot, the truth is that hers and Clark's was a partnership purely based on his need for a go-to person to help him out with his Kryptonian (and Lana) matters. If Pete had stayed, that person would have been him, but since he left, they gave that role to Chloe. In fact in the later seasons, it was less about Clark needing a partner and more about lazy plot devices and giving Chloe something to do.

Another thing, Chloe may have been the exposition person as far as his Kryptonian side was concerned, but due to the lack of an emotional connection/romantic connection between the two, Chloe's position was that of a sidekick and could never become anything more.

In Lois he doesn't just have a confidante but a person with whom sharing all this actually makes sense, because he's going to share his whole life with her. Likewise, for Lois to hold his secrets and to learn everything about him isn't only because she has to have his back but also because she loves him and he's the man she's going to spent her entire life with.

[svgirl-203.livejournal.com]

I love the moment in Escape when he grabbed her arm. There was another similiar one in Charade were he stops her from going after Franklin, he puts his arm out before she even moves much. I remember thinking back to Metallo and how he thought (or rather hoped) that just telling her not to get involved might stop her. He's definitely gotten better at anticapating her next move. lol

Charade was great episode. That was definitely a case of angst done well for me. Tom and Erica were both fantastic in it.

[cloiser-trish.livejournal.com]

That GIF from Charade makes me wanna cry. Cause Clark looks on the verge of tears there. Great choices Sana! I cannot wait to see your 5-1 :D

[ladygawain.livejournal.com]

Gah, these moments, my heart.

Love this post. Charade breaks my heart every single time, I love everything you said about this pairing. When the show gets it right, it's really amazing.

[shalimarfox80.livejournal.com]

Wonderful list. I love your views on each of them, esp. the Escape scene. It's one of my favorite scenes from the episode (which by the way had several great Clois moments) mainly because of it's subtlety and the 'routine couple-y' feel of it. And the looks he gives her!!! I still don't understand how they didn't do it that night and he let her talk about Chloe instead.

Upgrade - I think one of the sexiest scenes between Tom/Erica on this show and there wasn't even a kiss or any skin show. That's chemistry for you. And Clark getting over protective of Lois is insanely hot under any circumstances.

Charade, Persuasion and Harvest scenes are also absolute favorites. Waiting for the top 5 now!!