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Eternal Return: "Promise" and Clark, Lex, and Lana as icons
Thus did I wind, and twine, and shrink, under the burden that was upon me; which burden also did so oppress me that I could neither stand, nor go, nor lie, either at rest or quiet." John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress
The original definition of an icon comes from the ancient Orthodox Christian tradition, in which an icon is a two-dimensional painting of a religious figure. The visual representations of icons never change, and yet they are seen as windows revealing a timeless truth. An icon's power comes from its symbolism rather than its representational accuracy. Icons often confound the untutored eye, because rather than expressing individuality--either of artist or subject--instead they tend to follow established patterns which are deep with the weight of archetypal meanings. In Christian Orthodox theology, it is said that humans are icons of God; they gradually become divinized over time, which involves a gradual infusion of grace in which one's true self is distilled and perfected over time.
In discussion of Smallville, we often talk about Lex and Clark (and to a lesser extent Lana)'s progress toward their "iconic selves" as Lex LUTHOR, Superman, and the girl who gets left behind. 1 I would like to suggest that one of the reasons many of us get so frustrated with the lack of coherent character arcs on Smallville is because the producer's vision of the characters has more in common with iconography in the literal sense--seeing the characters primarily as symbols or archetypes-- than it does with standard TV drama in which characters development must follow a coherent arc from point A to point B. Smallville is better at speaking in symbols than at mapping character arcs, and that is because each of the main characters is an archetype. Although the story of Smallville purports to trace a journey, because of its heavy focus on destiny--and specifically, character as destiny--rather than real movement from point A to point B, what we see instead is a constant circular motion, because at the beginning of the story Clark, Lex, and Lana already possess all the qualities they need to become their iconic selves. And yet change does happen; the circular movement is not simply a circle (the Eliadian eternal return to the mythic source) 2 as much as it is a spiral, tracing the same character foundations, but moving ever upward (or downward) toward each character's destiny.
Character movement in "Promise": Lex
So "Promise" retraces the roots of each of the main characters, while also moving upward (or downward). Lex, as always, is torn between his mother's heritage (openness to love and the vulnerability that is a part of truly loving someone) and his father's heritage (the desire to control everything so he needn't experience vulnerability). This was the fundamental conflict he experienced in "Lexmas;" in "Promise," his choices in Lexmas are recapitulated. 3 Just as in Lexmas, in Promise Lex is once again given a slim chance to embrace the openness to loss that authentic love brings. In the opening scene with his father, as he stands looking out of the Lexcorp Tower, he recounts his childish fantasy of controlling all the people below. This story reflects the duality in Lex that has been present since the very beginning of the series: he has an impulse to control others (innate? the product of Luthorian upbringing?) and yet he knows that desire is false one, and says as much to his father: real control isn't possible. He can't make Lana love him; he can't make her choose him.
In another character, in another show Lex's fantasy of total control might be taken for the childish grandiosity it was, something to be overcome as the child realizes that others are people too; certainly not an illusion that an adult should embrace. And yet Lionel criticizes Lex not for his delusion of control, but for his desire to accept reality, offering instead the Luthorian creed that controlling others is, in fact, possible--at least if Lex is willing to sell his soul to
Character movement in Promise: Clark
Many reviewers have suggested that Clark's movement in this episode is backward rather than forward, as he refuses to let go of his desire for a happy-ever-after ending with Lana even after he sacrificed that (and, inadvertently, his father's life) to save her life in "Reckoning." I agree, to some extent, that it is backward movement--partly because it is demanded to make Lana's upward trajectory possible (see below), but also because one of the goal's of this episode was to highlight the archetypal conflict each character experiences in the show. For Lex, that was Lillian v. Lionel, loss v. control; for Clark, it is love v. duty, the possibility of a normal human life v. embracing his heroic alien destiny. Lana has and always will represent love and the possibility of an ordinary life to Clark, and just as Lex is once again given the opportunity to rethink his "Lexmas" choice in this episode, so Clark is once again given his "Reckoning" choice to do over again. Must he sacrifice his love for Lana to save her life? Or can he tell her his truths--all of his truths--and gain her love? Unlike Lex, who simply reinforces the choice he made in Lexmas, Clark makes a different choice than he did in "Reckoning." This time, he chooses to tell Lana, regardless of the risk his secret may pose for her.
Is this a regression? A retreat from the hero's path? Possibly. 5 Certainly his dream of stabbing Lex in the back and killing Lana suggests he knows the price of changing his decision. Perhaps he thinks that the danger posed by marrying Lex is greater than the danger of knowing his secret. Or maybe he thinks that because Chloe has known his secret for almost two years and survived, it will also be safe to reveal himself to Lana. As it turns out, though, he is wrong (just as his initial choice to tell Lana in "Reckoning" was proven to be the wrong choice.) Once again, learning his secret endangers Lana and embroils her in a tragedy, though in a different way than in "Reckoning." 6
Character movement in Promise: Lana
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bop_radar has brilliantly explained how "Promise" is ultimately the apex of Lana's tragic journey, enshrining her forever in the facade of a fairy princess, her surface happiness belying the misery beneath, and I agree with Bop's interpretation. Although the episode was structured to give us access to Lex, Clark, and Lana's POV, ultimately this is Lana's "Lexmas" or her "Reckoning." Structurally, it consciously and deliberately echoes those episodes. In each storyline, the main character is offered which s/he desires most: Lex is offered love, family, respect from the community (represented by Jonathan Kent) and his friends (represented by Clark); Clark is offered total acceptance of his alien heritage, and the love of the person who has always meant a normal life; and Lana is offered love, marriage, security, and the truth.I had trouble deciding the poles that Lana must choose between, in this episode. In general in the series, she is torn between the need for independence and the need for protection, though I'm not sure what would be the opposite pole from her quest for truth. She seems motivated in this episode by her dream, in which Clark saved her from the tornadoes; is she then seeking a savior figure? That would imply character regression. On the other hand, to return to the religious metaphors I introduced at the beginning of my essay, in some ways the revelation of Clark's secret has an epiphanic quality: Lex, Chloe, even Lionel respond with awe and amazement when the secret is revealed to them, and that revelation is always depicted as transformative. So perhaps it is not knowing that Clark is her protector, but instead knowing his truest and deepest self, that ultimately draws Lana away from Lex? Once again the symbolic supersedes the real, if that is the case.
Of course, given the archetypal dimensions of Smallville, the true poles that divide Lana are, in fact, Clark and Lex, and being drawn to one or the other has profound symbolic weight. Lex fears that knowledge of his true self will drive Lana away from him. In reality, though, it is knowledge of Clark's true self that draws her ineluctably to him. Symbolically, I'm sure we're supposed to read this as the triumph of good over evil in Lana; having eaten the forbidden apple of knowledge, she can now see the difference between good and evil. Unfortunately, much of the audience chose to read the apparent text rather than the symbolic text, and were understandably upset that Lana would leaving the father of her baby at the altar with only a note to explain her departure. Most television drama paints three-dimensional portraits of characters, and gives textual reasons why we should sympathize with certain characters and reject others. In this episode the writers relied too much on symbolic shorthand, expecting the audience to read the icons correctly and being swept up in Lana's epiphany, and therefore sympathize with her tragedy. Most, unfortunately, did not. Structurally, though, Promise is Lana's tragedy.
Lana's tragedy mirrors that of Lex in Lexmas and Clark in Reckoning: she is given a taste of her dream, her ideal world, but it is snatched away from her. There is no happily ever after for these characters, only an eternal return to the the original tragedy when home, family, and love was shattered by the destruction of Krypton, causing Clark and Lana to lose their parents and Lex to be forever marked as different. But that is not all there is to the tragedy of Smallville. Lana, like Lex and Clark, has to face the fundamental choice: what do you do after you lose all that you love? That is the real question that will mark you as hero, villain, or ordinary person in the Smallville universe. Self-sacrifice, rather than the will to power, is the appropriate choice in the Smallville universe; so Lana has passed her initial test (whereas Lex failed, and began his true descent). Lana is not finished, though; we don't know if she will persist or fail in her choice. Clark, for the most part, chooses self-sacrifice, but in "Promise" he abandoned that sacrifice, perhaps moving downward. As the characters wend around the spiral staircase, they move upward or downward, revisiting again and again the fundamental character traits that make them who they are.
Around and around and around they wind, our heroes, our villains, eternally returning to their core traits, their loves and hates, winding around each other, up and down, up and down. Clark, Lex, and Lana are inextricably bound together in their circles, tracing the outlines and unable to break free of their destinies, as they become ever more and more themselves, as their true selves are distilled and perfected over time.
In your bright eyes/printed from the stars/I wind and wind./I wire and twine/like vines gone wild/in your hips and valleys. Dogpoet, Language of Love.
1. I adopted this terminology from
latxcvi, though I'm not sure if it was original to her, or if she borrowed it from someone else.2. Sorry, my religion geek is showing. Mircea Eliade was a prominent theorist of religion, who argued that one of the main reasons all religions have rituals--and often ritual calendars that repeat annually--is so that every culture can participate in the "eternal return" to the source of its basic mythology. In a way, I think, that's what Smallville does in its pivotal episodes: return to the character foundations that were laid in the first season, and reiterated over and over throughout the show.
3. I had originally intended to do more to trace the parallels between Lexmas, Reckoning, and Promise in this essay, but since I've already written a book I think I'll make that a separate essay.
4. I owe this insight to
serenography, whose excellent review of the episode helped inspire this essay. 5. After watching "Combat," I am actually more convinced that we are supposed to read Promise as character regression for Clark, at least to a certain extent. I don't want to spoil the episode in a footnote, but Clark's initial conversation with Martha concerning the wedding seems to reinforce my argument.
6. I am indebted to
isilweth and latxcvi for their insights in interpreting Clark's dream. And while I'm not sure I am directly using any of her ideas, romanyg's beautiful and insightful essay on truth-seeking and tragedy in Promise definitely influenced my reading of this episode.
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Yes! *nods* That whole paragraph is meta perfection.
he circular movement is not simply a circle (the Eliadian eternal return to the mythic source) as much as it is a spiral, tracing the same character foundations, but moving ever upward (or downward) toward each character's destiny.
It took me a minute to come to contemplate what you meant by circular movement, but this explanation of spiralling towards destiny definitely resonates me. There's a cyclical nature to Smallville, but it's also circling ever closer to the endpoint. And this stems, I guess from one way in which Smallville is unique: the producers have a clear endpoint for each character.
The fact that Lex's choice in "Lexmas" is being recapitulated here is indicated visually by the reflection of Lionel in the window of the Lexcorp tower, right next to Lex's reflection, a scene which consciously recalls Lillian's appearances to Lex in Lexmas, first in the mirror and then fading away in the hospital window after Lex has made his choice. Lionel's image, unfortunately, will not be fading away.
Eeeee! The sort of insight that gives me shivers of joy! *claps excitedly*
that revelation is always depicted as transformative. So perhaps it is not knowing that Clark is her protector, but instead knowing his truest and deepest self, that ultimately draws Lana away from Lex? Once again the symbolic supersedes the real, if that is the case.
I was nodding while reading this. This latter interpretation is the one I think we're meant to draw. Lana doesn't dwell on the fact that Clark saved her back then. (She could have gone into raptures about how he's always there for her--she's done that before now--but she's moved beyond that.) Instead, this is a Lana full of grace: she tells Clark that she's the one who's been in denial. She can see clearly now, and she has no bitterness left in her (a stark contrast to her recent anger at Clark).
Self-sacrifice, rather than the will to power, is the appropriate choice in the Smallville universe
So true! And doesn't that make Clark's choice the most profound of all. For Clark, power would come so easily ('rule them with strength') and yet his choice will be the ultimate sacrifice of self for the good of the many. But he'll also manage to balance that--even more than Lana will, perhaps?--with a 'human' life for himself. That ultimate balancing act may be where his true greatness shines through.
I think I need to give more thought to what Promise meant for Clark. I confess, I haven't spent as much time considering his third as I have Lex's and Lana's. But I was interested to see the way Clark arc-ed out of the experience in 'Combat' (I'll bite tongue so as not to spoil anyone) so I'll think more on it.
Exquisite essay!
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Eeeee! The sort of insight that gives me shivers of joy! *claps excitedly*
*Blushes* I'm pretty sure I borrowed that particular insight from
Lana doesn't dwell on the fact that Clark saved her back then. (She could have gone into raptures about how he's always there for her--she's done that before now--but she's moved beyond that.) Instead, this is a Lana full of grace: she tells Clark that she's the one who's been in denial. She can see clearly now, and she has no bitterness left in her (a stark contrast to her recent anger at Clark).
Oh, I like how you've picked up my religious metaphor and run with it: Lana full of grace indeed. And good point about her overcoming her bitterness toward Clark.
Self-sacrifice, rather than the will to power, is the appropriate choice in the Smallville universe
So true! And doesn't that make Clark's choice the most profound of all. For Clark, power would come so easily ('rule them with strength') and yet his choice will be the ultimate sacrifice of self for the good of the many.
Oh, yes, I have no question that Clark has made that sacrifice, and will make that sacrifice again--it's only in "Promise" itself that he regresses a bit.
But he'll also manage to balance that--even more than Lana will, perhaps?--with a 'human' life for himself. That ultimate balancing act may be where his true greatness shines through.
True, but his balance will all be found post-Smallville. See, you've completely convinced me of the tragic vision of Smallville, after all of those essays.
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Lana full of grace indeed. And good point about her overcoming her bitterness toward Clark.
That was one of the things that made me most sympathetic to her in 'Promise'--because I know that it doesn't come (that) naturally to Lana. She can be very bitter, and hey, that's just human! But in 'Promise' that was swept away--the transcendent aspect of learning Clark's secret indeed.
you've completely convinced me of the tragic vision of Smallville, after all of those essays.
Hee! I feel validated. *g*
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whoa. this stops me cold. you leave me envisioning her as in a painting by botticelli or van eyck. that's an extremely potent image.
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google gave me this for annunciation, eastern-style
western-stle
i can almost see the staircase with the trio going up and down, but alas i have zero talent for art.
this is really very rich imagery. it kind of blows me away.
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>>Lana, like Lex and Clark, has to face the fundamental choice: what do you do after you lose all that you love? That is the real question that will mark you as hero, villain, or ordinary person in the Smallville universe.
i think that's very acute, and i love the image of the spiralling staircase that the ascend and descend, like angels in the biblical vision. wow, i'd love to see an icon done of this!
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i think that's very acute, and i love the image of the spiralling staircase that the ascend and descend, like angels in the biblical vision. wow, i'd love to see an icon done of this!
Oh, I think I've actually seen an Orthodox icon with a spiral staircase, at some point, now that you mention it. Too bad I'm no good at manipping!
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And this:
the image of the spiralling staircase that the ascend and descend, like angels in the biblical vision
reminds me so strongly of that show. A central setpiece of each episode was the opening up of a staircase and lift, which allowed the characters to ascend to a strange area in the sky, beneath an inverted fairy castle.
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Yes, Smallville is, perforce, iterative, but it does such intricate work in the interstices of the Superman myth and that work mostly has to do with character development on an iconographic plane! It sounds like an impossible task, but SV does it.
*applauds your work as well*
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Today, instead, the essay is making Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" play over and over. I've never had a soundtrack for an essay I've written, before. Apparently when thinking about Smallville thinking in symbols, my brain starts thinking in symbols, too, or in poetry.
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Do you believe that this while iconizing thing is a continuation of S1, or a departure from it?
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But the roots of their iconic selves were very present in season 1. For example, Clark's sense of alienation because of his powers (and his literal discovery of his alienness) was contrasted to his desire for normality/his desire for Lana--that goes all the way back to the Pilot/Metamorphosis. Season 1 also establishes Lex's dual impulses toward good and evil that would later be represented by Lillian and Lionel: we see his impulse toward self-sacrifice (most notably displayed in Jitters) contrasted with his Luthorian desire to control people (which we see in his interactions with Roger Nixon, Victoria Hardwick, Dominic, and Carrie Castle, among others). Lana's internal conflicts are less fully developed in season 1, I think, since we see her primarily from Clark's POV, but we definitely get the sense that the world sees her as a fairy princess and that she feels stifled by that image. Another of her core qualities, as seeker after Clark's secret, doesn't get established until she's actually in a relationship with him, though we see her need for honesty contrasting with her need for a savior figure a bit in her relationship with Whitney.
A lot of my ideas about this, especially in relation to Lana's characterization and all three of their journeys as tragic, is heavily influenced by
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I guess in part because I think that most "evil" *is* actually mental illness. Or short-sightedness. Or both. 8-)
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Although the story of Smallville purports to trace a journey, because of its heavy focus on destiny--and specifically, character as destiny--rather than real movement from point A to point B, what we see instead is a constant circular motion, because at the beginning of the story Clark, Lex, and Lana already possess all the qualities they need to become their iconic selves. And yet change does happen; the circular movement is not simply a circle (the Eliadian eternal return to the mythic source) as much as it is a spiral, tracing the same character foundations, but moving ever upward (or downward) toward each character's destiny.
and here:
. As the characters wend around the spiral staircase, they move upward or downward, revisiting again and again the fundamental character traits that make them who they are.
Around and around and around they wind, our heroes, our villains, eternally returning to their core traits, their loves and hates, winding around each other, up and down, up and down. Clark, Lex, and Lana are inextricably bound together in their circles, tracing the outlines and unable to break free of their destinies, as they become ever more and more themselves, as their true selves are distilled and perfected over time.
Just top-notch observations here.
I had trouble deciding the poles that Lana must choose between, in this episode. In general in the series, she is torn between the need for independence and the need for protection, though I'm not sure what would be the opposite pole from her quest for truth.
I would argue that Lana's quest for truth is, in significant part, the opposite of her need for protection because of the way Truth Knowing is bound up in Lana's ability to be independent. Lana rather willfully blinds herself, over the end of S5 and during the course of S6, to the ways in which she knows/suspects that Lex is a shady mofo because Lex, in part, is offering her the security and protection she craves. If she allows herself to see the full truth of what Lex is/has become, she has to cede the protection and security he provides, because her own nature wouldn't permit her to stay with him. IOW, it's easy for Lana to say that 33.1's existence would be Okay with her because at the time she says that in Static, she doesn't actually believe that it does; she's bought into Lex's disappearing act with it. But Lana is, at her core, a decent human being. If she were confronted with proof of 33.1's existence, I have a hard time imagining she'd continue to endorse it or that she'd remained bound to the man who runs it.
By the same token, knowing about Clark puts Lana at risk and Clark can't always be around to protect her. I think Lana is clearly willing to make that trade-off -- knowing and being in danger vs. not knowing and being safe -- but it's still a trade off. She becomes a target once she learns the truth about Clark, left with the hope that she can be protected, but aware that the reality is that even with Clark in her life, protection is not absolute.
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I would argue that Lana's quest for truth is, in significant part, the opposite of her need for protection because of the way Truth Knowing is bound up in Lana's ability to be independent. Lana rather willfully blinds herself, over the end of S5 and during the course of S6, to the ways in which she knows/suspects that Lex is a shady mofo because Lex, in part, is offering her the security and protection she craves. If she allows herself to see the full truth of what Lex is/has become, she has to cede the protection and security he provides, because her own nature wouldn't permit her to stay with him.
That's a great observation. In this essay I was thinking about the protection/independence thing mainly in relationship to Clark, but it of course also applies to her relationship with Lex, and I am persuaded by your argument that her quest for truth stands against her need for protection. That works very well with the outcome of the episode, as you point out: once she knows the truth, she's placed herself in danger.
Though I'm not sure she initially realizes the risk. When I was rewatching last night, I noticed that her first response to Lionel's attempt at manipulation is to say that Clark won't let him get away with threatening her. It is Lionel that has to draw attention to Clark's vulnerability.
part II
I'm not sure about this. On one hand, it's a persuasive reading and given the way SV traffics in symbolism, it does make a great deal of sense. OTOH, the text of the show is that Lex was Lana's consolation prize after Clark dumped her; I do think the audience is supposed to think that Clark could have always had Lana forever and ever amen had he simply been completely honest with her. Certainly, as of Hydro the audience was, I think, supposed to believe that Lana would give Clark another chance if he'd just be honest with her. Emotionally and textually, I can read Lana's change of heart in Promise as being about the fact that she finally got what she always wanted re: Clark -- the truth -- and that this was always the primary barrier between them being able to be together. IOW, I'm not sure the writers were being sloppy here, because the consistent theme has been that the only thing really keeping Clark and Lana apart was that Lana didn't know the truth and Clark wouldn't tell her.
Having said that, though, I think Lana's situation in Promise is still a tragedy. Finally, there is no impediment to her being with the guy she's always loved the most -- after all, Lana always had an absolute right not to marry Lex if she didn't really want to; sure, it would have been better for her to exercise that right sooner than the day of the wedding, but she always had the right to exercise -- but she has to give him up precisely because she learned what she always wanted to know about him. Lana had to sacrifice her chance at happiness for the sake of the person who would have been the source of that happiness. That really is tragic.
Re: part II
Yes, I can definitely see that argument--but to me it is very interesting that Lana made her decision to leave Lex and not go through with the wedding *before* Clark offered to tell her the truth. She was writing the note to Lex when he came in. And I honestly thought one of Lana's major stumbling blocks with Clark was not simply that she didn't *know* the truth about him, but that he was actively concealing it from her--and that fact hadn't changed when she initially made her decision. That's part of the reason I see the revelation as a kind of epiphany; it seemed to have changed her view of Clark entirely even though *he* had not changed at all in his behavior toward her.
I give him some credit for deciding to tell her after all, of course, but one thing I noticed when I was rewatching all three episodes last night is that in "Reckoning," too, he initially decides to tell her the truth only because he thinks he's losing her.
Re: part II
It's also the reason he decides to tell her in Covenant, too. He's afraid he'll lose her forever if she goes to Paris. The only thing that stays his hand is that he sees her hugging Lex and it's after he and Lex had their argument over the Chamber of Clark Kent. Now granted, Lana doesn't know his motivation in either Covenant or Reckoning, but *I* do. That's why I do think there's a kernel of truth in Lana's Crimson statement that Clark only ever really wants her when he thinks he can't have her.
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You make so many fabulous points here:
Although the story of Smallville purports to trace a journey, because of its heavy focus on destiny--and specifically, character as destiny--rather than real movement from point A to point B, what we see instead is a constant circular motion, because at the beginning of the story Clark, Lex, and Lana already possess all the qualities they need to become their iconic selves. And yet change does happen; the circular movement is not simply a circle (the Eliadian eternal return to the mythic source) 2 as much as it is a spiral, tracing the same character foundations, but moving ever upward (or downward) toward each character's destiny.
This reminds me so much of elements in Yeats' and Eliot's poetry: the gyre, the spiral, the return with change. And, in a sense, Lana's dream in "Promise", is a symbol of that spiral, a literal gyre with the tornado, Clark impossibly plucking her from the tenuous safety of the truck to the literal safety of the ground.
Thank you so much for this. I definitely need to think more on it.
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Oh, very good point! I had, actually, wondered why the writers chose that particular memory for Lana, and it is very suggestive. (And now I have "The Second Coming" running through my head--less the actual poem than the Joni Mitchell song based on the poem--and I'm thinking what a spectacularly appropriate poem that is for season 6 of Smallville.)
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I'm floored, to put it mildly, at your intellect and acuity. Of course, I'm not surprised, just very pleasantly thrilled that you took the time to document your thoughts after seeing this wonderful episode. For me, it was a given that I'd geek out over this episode, for more than just the obvious reason too, but it makes me SO happy that others who don't wave the dreaded "Clana" flag are able to see the great depth this episode presented for the overall character arcs (or is that spirals?). ;)
First of all, to clarify... observation about Lionel's reflection recalling Lillian's from Reckoning wasn't made by me, but it was in the comments to my Promise entry, made by
There is so much that I strongly agree with in this essay, and so much that I have learned, thanks to you. I need to finish the second part, and Boppy's SV essays, but I need sufficient time to absorb all of these. My rusty old brain doesn't work as fast as it used to. :D
One comment on this part:
Many reviewers have suggested that Clark's movement in this episode is backward rather than forward, as he refuses to let go of his desire for a happy-ever-after ending with Lana even after he sacrificed that (and, inadvertently, his father's life) to save her life in "Reckoning." I agree, to some extent, that it is backward movement--partly because it is demanded to make Lana's upward trajectory possible (see below), but also because one of the goal's of this episode was to highlight the archetypal conflict each character experiences in the show.
*snip*
Must he sacrifice his love for Lana to save her life? Or can he tell her his truths--all of his truths--and gain her love? Unlike Lex, who simply reinforces the choice he made in Lexmas, Clark makes a different choice than he did in "Reckoning." This time, he chooses to tell Lana, regardless of the risk his secret may pose for her.
Granted, this is coming from my entirely biased perspective as a Clana fan.. but, I really do have reasons that I am a Clana fan, and this presents a chance to explain at least one of the reasons.
In Reckoning Clark sacrificed his chance to be with Lana because he still loved her that much. In Hypnotic, he did the same. My point is that Clark has never stopped loving her, and never resolved his inability to be with her in an honest relationship. This is why I see his choice of finally taking that huge step of choosing to tell her rather than walking the same path of, once again, keeping his secret and letting whatever consequences befall her as a result, as a definite forward movement for Clark, and not a backwards one.
I think the reason I do see this differently than most people is precisely because I am a Clana fan though, and I never felt that Clark and Lana as a couple were a done deal. To me, there is still so much to be resolved between them before they will be at the point of mutually agreeing that he must leave her to go fulfill his destiny. I'm hoping that we don't actually get to that point until much closer to the end of the series. I want the roller-coaster Clana b.s to end as much as anyone else, but I want it to end in a satisfactory way, as it should.
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Just speaking structurally, though, how is his choice here different than the choice he made in "Reckoning"? He told her and the consequence of telling her was her death. I think that we, the audience, are supposed to see a certain fated quality to that, because otherwise the choice he made when he relived time not to tell her was just a foolish choice--he should have, like Chloe suggested in the episode, I think, told her again but just protected her from Lex.
I don't think that wanting to be with Lana is a regression, in case that section read that way. I am perfectly happy with the idea that in the SV-verse Lana will always be the one he loves, even if they're destined not to be together. But if he honestly made the sacrifice in "Reckoning" the second time to save her life--and persisted in not telling her to protect her from danger--then I don't see how him telling her to prevent him from losing her to Lex is anything but selfish. Because nothing has changed: his secret is still fundamentally dangerous.
That was actually textually confirmed in the episode, too: it is the fact that Lana knows Clark's secret and wants to protect it that makes her vulnerable to blackmail by Lionel.
I agree with you that there is much in the relationship between Clark and Lana that has to be resolved before the end of the series--and I am not unsympathetic to the idea of Clark and Lana together--but I guess for me not to see it as backward movement, I would need Clark's revelation to be preceded by some sense that revealing his secret is not going to cost Lana her life. Maybe just by becoming Superman and being able to separate the Clark identity? Or Lana being in a position where she has enough blackmail material on Lex never to have to fear him again? Or something like that? I'm not sure what it would look like textually--I just think that by the logic of the show itself, Clark would have to figure out a way to reveal himself without endangering Lana in the process for me not to see it as regression.
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[R]ather than real movement from point A to point B, what we see instead is a constant circular motion, because at the beginning of the story Clark, Lex, and Lana already possess all the qualities they need to become their iconic selves. And yet change does happen; the circular movement is not simply a circle... as much as it is a spiral, tracing the same character foundations, but moving ever upward (or downward) toward each character's destiny.
*applauds*
Now I want you to come to my house and lead a SV symposium, with assigned reading and everything. (On a side note, you must be the most kickass professor who ever was.)
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