Oh, an excellent piece of analysis! I like your public versus private interests continuum. I'm also much amused that Lana still stands out as the most self-interested person of all! Hee. I also love the contrast you draw between Chloe's words and Lana's. I guess Chloe's love is selfless, whereas Lana's is selfish and demanding. You are also right that it prefigures future roles. But while the show is making the line between selfless and selfish love pretty clearcut at the moment, I think the reality is more muddled. If Chloe does have romantic feelings for Clark, will that cause conflict eventually? Surely, even though she's been so heavily idealised this last season, she's still human and will want something to happen/some return on her emotional investment? Although I can definitely see Chloe hiding it and feeling guilty about those feelings. Likewise, while Lana is superficially completely self-serving, she does have a moral core, and I can't see her standing by while Zod commits mass murder, for example.

In a sense, Lois IS the only one in the future who will be able to balance this continuum--to be selfish (and honest) enough to say, no damn it, you BE here at this time, but also to be selfless enough to love a hero and know that that means danger and absence. Of course we aren't going to see that in the Smallville universe--but I hope SV will explore the problems with both extremes.