“Smallville” is a show about Superman during his teenage years before he moves to Metropolis and becomes a superhero. That meant that the show initially couldn’t include one of the most iconic parts of the “Superman” mythology — his love story with Lois Lane, who he famously meets on the staff of the Daily Planet, one of Metropolis’ premiere news outlets. In place of Lois, “Smallville” explores Clark’s high school romance with Lana Lang, played by Kristin Kreuk.
At first, a major part of the dynamic between Lana and Clark is the latter’s inability to tell her the truth about his identity. Despite Clark lying to Lana on a routine basis, the two eventually get together. Then they break up, then get together again, and so on. If Ross and Rachel have a superhero equivalent, it’s these two. Gough and Millar even admitted in an interview with Sundance (via MovieChat) that the Clark-Lana relationship runs its course and carries on for much too long.
“I wish we had a better trajectory for Lana Lang,” Gough stated. “That was probably a three-season love story that lasted six seasons.” Millar also described the relationship as “torturous and slow,” especially since the will-they-won’t-they aspect of the relationship was doomed from the start — everyone knows Clark eventually ends up with Lois Lane anyway.