I actually wish they'd get on with Lana's corruption a little more, if they're going there, because it would be very helpful to me to hear Lex's own justifications for what he's doing.
See, I really don't think they're going there. Or, to be more accurate, I think their attempts to go there will be very half-assed. Already we have, what, three instances this season where Lana's quite deliberately been kept from knowing the full extent of Lex's shenanigans (here I'm thinking of Rage, Static and Subterranean although the latter two are arguably connected to each other)? The effect is that when she says she supports him, there's wiggle room because she doesn't know the full extent of what she's supporting; her choice actually isn't as informed as it could be.
If I were less cynical and more optimistic about the show, I'd think they were doing something really sophisticated and nuanced, i.e., positing that simply because Lana has chosen willful ignorance in terms of her relationship with Lex (she could learn this stuff if she pushed harder to find it out, etc.), she's not excused for her complicity in his wrong-doing. But ... I don't think that's what they're doing. I think they've actually be fairly careful in ensuring that Lana has an out: she can always say she didn't really know, that Lex really duped her and I do think that Clark, at least, would believe her (Chloe might be more skeptical in the wake of Static, but she'd still probably rally to Lana's side when the inevitable repudiation of Lex by Lana came).
In Subterranean, Clark isn't subscribing Lana's involvement to Lana's own choices. His accusation that she's a "puppet" is the kind of thing you'd say if you're essentially ignoring/denying the person's own agency in their actions. Even now, when Clark is rightly assessing her as being somewhat naive/foolish, he still doesn't view that as a function of Lana's active involvement; it's still all about the fact that Lex is manipulating her in some way.
I think they like the idea of Lana possibly being corrupted by Lex's influence (and even that approach is problematic, because it still puts the ultimate onus somewhere other than Lana's own agency). But they've done too much just this season to suggest that Lana really is an inherently good person -- like her willingness to potentially sacrifice herself to keep everyone safe from Zod or her explicitly stated desire to use Lex's money to "do good" -- for me to believe that they'd fully go there, with all that going there entails (up to and including Lana knowingly getting her hands dirty).
I assume he has them, and that he's convincing himself that he's protecting humanity from the aliens, or non-mutants from mutants, or something, and I want to hear him tell her that.
See, this is why I really wish they'd introduce Mercy and Hope (or at least Mercy). Because I don't think Lex will ever tell Lana exactly why he's doing what he's doing because I don't think he'll ever tell her exactly what he's doing. But if Lex had at least one character he could talk to that he knew would not judge him no matter what he did, I think he'd open up about his reasons/justifications. But TPTB seem to be really afraid of making us privy to Lex's internal landscape. I get the sense that now that he's moved firmly into the "villain" camp, they feel like it might make him too sympathetic if he ever got to explain himself.
Re: Reposting with correct icon!
See, I really don't think they're going there. Or, to be more accurate, I think their attempts to go there will be very half-assed. Already we have, what, three instances this season where Lana's quite deliberately been kept from knowing the full extent of Lex's shenanigans (here I'm thinking of Rage, Static and Subterranean although the latter two are arguably connected to each other)? The effect is that when she says she supports him, there's wiggle room because she doesn't know the full extent of what she's supporting; her choice actually isn't as informed as it could be.
If I were less cynical and more optimistic about the show, I'd think they were doing something really sophisticated and nuanced, i.e., positing that simply because Lana has chosen willful ignorance in terms of her relationship with Lex (she could learn this stuff if she pushed harder to find it out, etc.), she's not excused for her complicity in his wrong-doing. But ... I don't think that's what they're doing. I think they've actually be fairly careful in ensuring that Lana has an out: she can always say she didn't really know, that Lex really duped her and I do think that Clark, at least, would believe her (Chloe might be more skeptical in the wake of Static, but she'd still probably rally to Lana's side when the inevitable repudiation of Lex by Lana came).
In Subterranean, Clark isn't subscribing Lana's involvement to Lana's own choices. His accusation that she's a "puppet" is the kind of thing you'd say if you're essentially ignoring/denying the person's own agency in their actions. Even now, when Clark is rightly assessing her as being somewhat naive/foolish, he still doesn't view that as a function of Lana's active involvement; it's still all about the fact that Lex is manipulating her in some way.
I think they like the idea of Lana possibly being corrupted by Lex's influence (and even that approach is problematic, because it still puts the ultimate onus somewhere other than Lana's own agency). But they've done too much just this season to suggest that Lana really is an inherently good person -- like her willingness to potentially sacrifice herself to keep everyone safe from Zod or her explicitly stated desire to use Lex's money to "do good" -- for me to believe that they'd fully go there, with all that going there entails (up to and including Lana knowingly getting her hands dirty).
I assume he has them, and that he's convincing himself that he's protecting humanity from the aliens, or non-mutants from mutants, or something, and I want to hear him tell her that.
See, this is why I really wish they'd introduce Mercy and Hope (or at least Mercy). Because I don't think Lex will ever tell Lana exactly why he's doing what he's doing because I don't think he'll ever tell her exactly what he's doing. But if Lex had at least one character he could talk to that he knew would not judge him no matter what he did, I think he'd open up about his reasons/justifications. But TPTB seem to be really afraid of making us privy to Lex's internal landscape. I get the sense that now that he's moved firmly into the "villain" camp, they feel like it might make him too sympathetic if he ever got to explain himself.