Originally posted: May 1, 2002

For good or for bad, we (Giselle and Vatrixsta) have watched a lot of TV. And though we don't proclaim ourselves to be experts, we hope we don't sound immodest when we say that we think we're fairly intelligent, intuitive human beings. Thus, while we may have our own individual desires for certain outcomes, we also consider ourselves to be reasonably objective -- in fact, this "reason" oftentimes precludes us from enjoying complete incognizance, when we'd just as soon live happily in our imaginations.

But do not take our word for it, gentle reader. Allow us to offer a few smidgens of proof from time past:

We cut our teeth on The X-Files, and sharpened them on Roswell and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And there are others.

Season 1 of XF, we predicted that Mulder and Scully would one day do the deed and have a kid. We even knew they'd name him something lame like William.

From the moment Tess hit the scene on Roswell, we knew she was up to no good. We knew it was only a matter of time that she would be revealed to be psychotic. The fact that she turned out to also be Alex's murderer was slightly unexpected, but not really all that shocking.

And, at the beginning of year 6, we determined who the BSD would be on BtVS. Okay, we aren't positive about this one yet, as we are spoiler-free, but time will tell.

We knew they'd start doing Rachel/Joey on Friends. We further knew that it would eventually get back to Rachel/Ross. We predicted, way back when, that Felicity would choose Ben that one fateful summer instead of Noel. We knew Joey and Pacey would get together but thought that it probably wouldn't work out because they really just want to do Joey/Dawson, as they've set up from the beginning.

In short -- we ARE freakin' Cassandra.

Or, it's just that we understand one important thing. You see, the answers to the long-reaching plans of any genre series are always there; you just have to know where to look. And we do.

Given all this, we submit to the general public this manifesto, in which we state our case for a certain romantic pairing in The WB series Smallville. That pairing, if it has not already been made abundantly clear to you by the nature of this site (perhaps you stumbled upon us through some bizarre twist of fate, in which case, this is a fortuitous day for you indeed), is that of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang.

We have a series of evidentiary testimony we've compiled to support our ship preference, which we will go through point by point. We also here wish to submit that when this manifesto is over, it is FAR from over. We expect -- nay, we depend on -- the fact that more evidence will surface to further our cause as time wears on.

We are the first to admit that our conjecture here is simply that -- conjecture. We make no pretense that we have any hand in creating the weekly series Smallville, nor do we have any especial relationship with anyone associated with the show who has any clout or even information about what goes on. Therefore, do not think that we can be swayed by any contentions that our ship preference is purely speculation -- we know this. We think we have a strong case, but of course, most proponents of a certain outcome always think that. We know this as well.

However, as the show is a living, breathing entity that will evolve as time passes, we are compelled to offer our predictions as to its future and the eventual path that it will follow. Because we can. And because we're right. <g>

If we're doomed to suffer from Cassandra's curse, then so be it.

From the Superman canon, we know that Clark Kent does not, in fact, end up with Lana Lang. No, he goes off to Metropolis and falls for Lois Lane. Of course, it's possible that this new incarnation of the superhero might not necessarily follow these steps; it's been said that he won't be flying ... they created the character of Chloe Sullivan ... they've got it so that both Lex and Lana have incurred losses because of Clark's arrival on Earth ... etc. So maybe they'll also ignore Lois. But -- we've got it straight from the horse's mouth that that won't be the case.

From Entertainment Weekly:

Then the question is begged -- well, if Clark goes off to Metropolis and falls for Lois, what happens to Lana? Somehow, we can't see them getting rid of Kristin Kreuk (unless by the time all this happens, she wants to leave), so she must play a role somewhere. And really, she would be next to useless if she's not Clark's love interest, which leaves her one other option (we wish her character worth didn't have to be determined by who her romantic interests are, but those are the breaks; the legend is really about Clark and Lex) -- Lex. At least, that's the most compelling scenario that we can see to keep her around.

The writers/creators aren't just feeling their way in the dark. It's a TV show, and everything has meaning because there's precious little screen time (though we may argue that they do waste plenty of it).

Also from the same article in Entertainment Weekly:

While this isn't definitive proof that Lex/Lana will happen, it does tell us that they're planning far in advance. This probably means that anything we see on the show at this point has meaning beyond what they're trying to accomplish within a given episode. They have the luxury of being able to plant seeds -- one of the many benefits of foresight -- which will really help to develop all of these relationships realistically.

Given the above, we have to question the dramatic purpose of making Lex and Lana business partners. They manipulated (pretty cleverly) all sorts of events to make that happen, and to make it happen believably. In the context of the show, there has to be a reason for this. Lana's aunt didn't have to want to sell the business. Lana could have gotten any other job. There could have been something else to supply the angst of wanting to preserve her parents' memory. It doesn't really add anything to our view of Lex as a businessman to have gone into this particular venture. So there must be something else, some other reason to have put the two of them in this particular circumstance. We think it's the perfect set-up to tie them into future situations together ... and it ties them together.

Lex gave Lana the benefit of his audience when it's doubtful he would have granted that to just anyone. This is probably mostly due to his friendship with Clark (and knowing that Clark is mushy about Lana), and because of Lana herself (it seems clear that Lex genuinely likes her on her own merit).

There's also the bit of foreshadowing we get at the end of Kinetic, when Lex tells Lana quite deliberately that The Talon would be the start of "an interesting partnership." Again -- dramatically speaking, there's really no reason for Lex to put it quite like that except to introduce that sense of "Hmm ... there's more than meets the eye here."

Lana herself has called into question Lex's motives for acceding to her business proposal. It seems unlikely that Lex accepted her proposal for purely business motives, since, coming from a 15-year-old girl who hasn't been purported to be a financial genius, it could not be that impressive. It most likely has something to do with his regard for Clark and possibly even his fledgling friendship with Lana. However ... Lana asks the question that's in the back of all of our minds -- was there another, more personal reason for saving The Talon as she asked? Lex's reaction to this suggestion in Nicodemus certainly doesn't indicate that it would be out of the question.

This is actually our #1 reason, but it didn't flow as well with the rest of the manifesto. <g> In any case, we believe that the key to Smallville is given to us in the second episode of the series, Metamorphosis. In that episode, Lex is giving Clark advice about Whitney, and he says, "Take the battle of Troy. It started because two men were in love with the same woman." It seems obvious -- what with everything we know about television and irony and foreshadowing (and as stated above, we, personally, know quite a bit about these things through long, painful experience), that this isn't actually about Clark and Whitney, but Clark and Lex.

We watched this episode at different times, and we had identical reactions to it. We realized that we were being given a taste of the future, and we get that same taste every time Lex refers to a character from Greek mythology (and this occurs far more often than you might think or have thought to notice -- if you have noticed, kudos to you).

Now, given this on top of the fact that they've contrived to give Lex and Lana a tie to one another, it all falls into place nicely. And a little too easily to be simply coincidence, ioho.

They've given Lex and Lana a shared history that's all their own and has nothing to do with Clark. When Lana was 10, she found Lex skinny-dipping with a girl (though it was in a pool in the privacy of his own home, so we don't see what the big deal is). This experience has apparently made Lana sassy wrt Lex, because we've never seen her intimidated by him. She's not afraid to speak her mind around him, and they're clearly friends, of a sort. Though we'd like to see them get far more comfortable around each other. <eg> But, that's what The Talon is for (the coffeehouse, not the Web site).

We've mentioned a couple of things already, but we don't mind repeating ourselves, and there are more: the way Lana's personality changes around Lex (she's less of a Miss Goody-Two-Shoes and has more fire); the way she won't end up with Clark; the way her character doesn't have much point except to serve as a love interest (and possibly as the Helen of Troy of modern times); the way Lana has taken a business interest in The Talon; the way she's never been afraid to voice her unhappiness with her role as the tragic little girl in a fairy princess costume -- and her desire to be more than that.

In Drone, The Talon's business is suffering because of The Beanery trying to drive it into the ground. Under Lex's advice, Lana fights back in kind and tells Clark that she at first hesitated to play dirty, but then admits: "I felt I had to choose between doing the right thing and being successful. The weird part is ... I kind of enjoyed being underhanded." And it goes further, as Clark replies: "Lana Lang, seduced by the dark side? Who woulda thunk?"

Oh Clark, how little you know.

This not only bespeaks of Lex's influence over Lana, but that she is ripe for change. She's not just the good girl, perfect, saccharine-sweet Lana -- she's got a dark side herself. Nicodemus gave us a taste of what might be, and we think we'll continue to see her develop into a more interesting, three-dimensional character. To do that, they'll need to show that there are different sides to Lana Lang ...

With the TV knowledge/experience that we have, we know that they have to be going somewhere with all this, and knowing that Clark and Lex eventually become enemies, and that Clark and Lana do NOT end up together, this seems the only logical way to tie it all together. Lana is Helen of Troy -- the reason they go into "battle" (the old "Lex hates Clark because it's Clark's fault Lex is bald" theory of why they become enemies is quite ludicrous, and not befitting Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor).

Lex is extremely fond of Clark, and Clark is also fond of Lex. There's really nothing that could happen that would be dire enough to break that friendship up (even the discovery of Clark's alien powers, ioho) except the love of a woman. Love is the only motive powerful enough to come between them, and the only one that we, the audience, would be able to truly accept as the catalyst for the disintegration of their friendship. It would also allow the writers/creators to remain ambiguous when it comes to Lex's nature. If Lex and Lana love one another, how can we fault them for wanting to be together? And yet, there's the undeniable feeling that Clark has been wronged.

When do you see Lex/Lana happening for real? We don't think it will actually happen on the show for a while yet. (At least not till Season 3 will it even be more than vaguely hinted at.) Right now, they're just planting seeds, allowing for the possibility. However, we think we have enough "proof" that it's clear (at least to us) that not only are the writers/creators open to the possibility, but that they're working toward it.

Will Lana get together with Clark? Yup, we think this will happen. Which is also why Lex/Lana will have to wait, because we still have all the Lana/Clark to get through. We think, possibly, that Lex/Lana will actually begin while Lana/Clark is happening. That will up the ante for everyone involved.

Will Clark get together with Chloe? We think this will almost certainly happen.

a) They're setting it up too much for it not to, and Chloe is in the perfect fictional place for it to happen: the gal-pal who doesn't get the attention she deserves "until one day..." It's the classic Betty Cooper (Archie Comics, anyone?) syndrome. Whether this will happen before or after Clark/Lana happens, we're not sure. It'd be really disheartening to have to wait for Lana/Whitney to end, only to have to then wait for Clark/Chloe to end, when we think that Lex/Lana isn't going to happen until after/during Lana/Clark. But then, there's no real dramatic purpose to have Clark/Chloe happen after Lana/Clark, when at that point the focus would presumably be on Lex and Lana's betrayal (if it in fact is a betrayal) of Clark. If Clark quickly finds love elsewhere, wouldn't they all just make nice and thwart the legend? (We can only dream.) Plus, this would be around the time that Clark would be leaving Metropolis, most likely, which brings us to the second most likely reason for Clark/Chloe:

b) Chloe serves as a bridge to Lois Lane. The smart, perky girl who gets Clark into journalism, and sets him on the path to the Daily Planet and Lois.

I can't see Lex betraying Clark for Lana. Do you really see that happening? Yep, sure do. We don't see it right now, either. We don't think Lex likes Lana enough, and Lana hasn't shown much indication that she feels that way about Lex, either. But we're assuming that one day, an all-consuming passion will develop between the two. And at that point, best friend or no, Lex will probably follow his heart.

Lionel Luthor has already told us that Lex is far too susceptible to following the whims of his own emotions (which was more foreshadowing, ioho). We've already heard what Lex would do if he were in a situation like Clark's -- every time Lex gives Clark advice about Whitney, he's telling us how he would behave in that situation. So if it came down to him or Clark, we know he'd do whatever it took to win Lana. All's fair in love and war, right?

Some examples:

-- During the time Whitney was pushing Lana away, Lex tells Clark that he would not have hesitated to jump in and pick up the slack. Lex probably would also not have let the fact that Whitney's father was having health problems deter him from what he wanted.
-- Lex said it himself -- "A high school boyfriend isn't a marriage, it's an obstacle." He's also made it clear, on more than one occasion, that he thinks Clark should do whatever it takes to win the girl.
-- In Zero, we see an incarnation of Lex who sets up a situation to expose a lying scumbag to a girl -- someone he may or may not have had a romantic interest in himself.
-- Lex does what Clark won't; he's the one who sets up all the situations to get Clark and Lana together; HE doesn't care about Whitney (We're not even sure Lex knew his name until Reaper). This is a taste of what Lex would be like if HE were the one going after the girl.

How do you see it all coming to pass/ending? Well, up to this point we think we have been sharing some educated guesses. What follows here is pure speculation. Here goes, anyway.

Clark is a good guy. If he thought that Lex and Lana were truly in love, he'd probably eventually step aside. He'd still be hurt, and initially he'd probably be angry, but he's the hero and he won't harbor those feelings forever (which is why Superman is the good guy and Lex Luthor is the bad guy, otherwise they'd both be the good/bad guys). We think he'll eventually move on (whether he's met Lois at this point, we don't know, and it doesn't much matter how/why he moves on, just that he does). However, if that's the case, there's not much for Lex to be "mad" at Clark about, is there?

As much as we like Lana, we think at this point she will meet an untimely end. And it will be in a way that Clark could have prevented, circumstances allowing. Maybe he didn't know about it. Maybe something else happened so that he wasn't able to get to her in time, who knows. The point is, Lana dies and Clark could have done something about it. Lex will be mad with grief. He'll think that Clark let her die on purpose; he'll think that Clark never really got over it, and this was Clark's way of getting back at them. We'll know it isn't true, but Lex will be grief-stricken and he won't have the benefit of watching Clark the way we will. So again, there will be two sides to the story, and there will be a reasonable excuse for Lex to become embittered with Clark.

More often than not, what puts two people at odds can be one simple misunderstanding. Once that happens, sure, more wrongs happen and they compound on the initial perceived wrong. But as with all things, it begins small and grows from there. Best friends become bitter enemies because they love the same girl. It's not an original story, but then, what is Smallville? The entire premise of the show is hinged on a pop-culture legend, and we can't think of a more appropriate way to bring it all to a head.

This has been our manifesto; we hope you've enjoyed the ride as much as we have. Whatever you've taken from our thoughts, our ideas, and our conjecture, as you travel through cyber-space, visit more Smallville sites, and read more fanfic, we hope that one truth will become abundantly clear to you:

We are SO right.