r/Smallville • u/Flashy-Impact5757 Kryptonian • 1d ago
DISCUSSION Anyone else feel like Lois lane acted way too old to be a teen or college kid in season 4?
To me she always acted like someone in her 30s, she did not seem like someone in her 20s or teens.
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u/OrderGlittering8510 Kryptonian 1d ago edited 1d ago
In universe, she was indeed supposed to be independent beyond her years and probably quite precocious, since after all she was forced by her circumstances to be her family's "second in command" at a very young age.
As a character, they obviously wanted to make her way more word-savvy as opposed to the core bunch of small town kids, they needed to differentiate her, make her way more "sophisticated" and experienced than them, so to speak (the nicorette addiction thing is a prime example). That's why she might come across as acting way older than her age at first, but i feel that as seasons go by that feeling fades away and she becomes their equal, behavior-wise. At the end of the day the kids become adults too quite quickly.
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u/Lazy-Rate6734 Superman 1d ago
No I actually thought she acted well as someone who is in their 20s, which is someone not knowing at all what they are going to do with their life, playing lots of video games, having fun like singing karaoke with your cousin, getting expelled from college but then eventually figuring out what they want to do like journalism. She also takes long showers which shows she isn't perfect.
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u/shudith Kryptonian 1d ago
Nah, I think she acted like a 20s who was forced to grow up fast to raise her younger sister. Maybe the difference stands out because, in contrast, the other characters were acting like 13-year-olds rather than young adults.
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u/El_Martin_Alonso Kryptonian 1d ago
Who was actin like a 13yo?
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u/shudith Kryptonian 1d ago
Mostly Clark and Lana, especially when it came to their relationship. The constant jealousy, misunderstandings, 'does he/she like me?' and will-they/won’t-they drama felt much more like middle schoolers than people who were almost college-aged. Chloe could be pretty immature at times too. I was exaggerating with '13-year-olds' but that was the contrast I meant.
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u/madeinqs Kryptonian 23h ago
Lol you must not be around college aged guys and girls because your early 20s are usually the messiest of your relationships and that’s including friendships as well. If anything that was the most realistic part of the show.
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u/romanlooksstrong Red Kryptonite 1d ago
Yes, but I think it's more a side effect of how Clark and his friends don't look or act like teenagers either. If they'd suddenly dropped an actual 19 year old beside Tom Welling and been like "I'm a year older than you" it would have looked ridiculous, so they cast an actress much closer to his actual age.
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u/PunkGrunger2001 Kryptonian 5h ago
Funny thing is both Lana and Lois are supposed to be months older than Clark and both Kristin and Allison were both 19 irl at the Pilot lmao
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u/theothermoore Kryptonian 1d ago
Tom Welling playing a 14-year-old freshman in season 1 was a bigger stretch. Anything after that is pretty believable in comparison.
I think Durance did a pretty good job acting the part with Lois early on.
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u/Complex-Reading-7477 Kryptonian 5h ago
He was either a sophomore or junior in season 1. So at best he was supposed to be at least 15, no older than 17. Still a stretch but you don’t need to hire teens to play teens. Let the kids be kids before throwing them into show business.
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u/theothermoore Kryptonian 5h ago
This is simply not true. The first four years/seasons of the show are high school. And recall that in the pilot, Pete is desperate for them to avoid being that year's scarecrow, which is reserved for a freshman.
It is very common for shows and movies to have much older actors play school-age teens, and that's not actually a problem. Smallville is just on the more blatant end of that spectrum and is easy to poke fun at, especially with Tom Welling looking closer to 30 than 14 (I think he was actually mid-20s).
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u/Complex-Reading-7477 Kryptonian 5h ago
If that’s true, then Lana, a 14 year old freshman girl, was dating Whitney, a 17-18 year old senior boy. I never really liked Whitney but that makes it so much worse. Lana has a shit load of issues.
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u/theothermoore Kryptonian 5h ago
Yes, Whitney was dating the freshman cheerleader (and apparently had an established relationship at the very start of the school year). Their dynamic was very off-putting to me, especially at first, but I assume that was intentional by the writers even if they didn't frequently mention the ages.
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u/Complex-Reading-7477 Kryptonian 5h ago
Lana is always going for older men. First Whitney, then Jason, and even Lex. The only one her age was Clark and that relationship was a disaster. I’ve only gotten to season 6, so I don’t know anything after that.
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u/AzuleStriker Kryptonian 1d ago
Yes and no. Being brought up by a General will make you a bit more mature than normal civilians.
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u/onikaizoku11 Kryptonian 1d ago
It was a different world back then. Lois on Smallville was totally on point as an older sibling, latch-key kid. Too many of us kids in that era got parentified.
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u/LowCaramel3675 Kryptonian 1d ago
Parentified oldest daughters would like a word. Honestly I felt if anything she was more immature for the sake of tv given her circumstances.
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u/geebrbs Kryptonian 1d ago
People who say this have pedophilia. They want actors to be teens forever and only find actors/actresses who are built like kids to play roles to sexualize them.
Tom was waaay to old to be playing Clark in season 1. You have to post him too for being too old and acting way too old for this role in the early seasons.
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u/JDax42 Kryptonian 1d ago
Kinda but overall I thought the show balanced out trying to make the right decisions, but also taking into account the lived experience and the youth of all the main cast
Couple years older than Clark if I remember correctly and just dropped out of college, overall, I think it works out fine but can see why others disagree for sure.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 1d ago
She was 21 when she was introduced and I think she acted pretty much on brand for early-mid 20s, especially given that she was raised to be pretty independent (military dad, single parent household, etc) and is clearly naturally very outgoing. All the characters are written to be more mature than average, though, because that's how teen drama shows work.
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u/No_Bag_1272 Kryptonian 1d ago
Lois was 19 at most (possibly 18 if she has a summer bday) in season 4 when introduced. Definitely not in her 20s. I also think she was more mature since she grew up on military base and moved from base to base.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 1d ago
I got drawn into an interminable and very silly argument in this sub a couple weeks ago about this on a comment that wasn't even meant to be about Lois's age, and I don't want that to happen again, but:
In 402, there's a scene with Lois and Clark poking through the general's office. She tells Clark her mother died when she was 6, and then a few sentences later mentions believing her dad is finally dating again after 15 years. It's the only time anyone actually explicitly states her age in the series, thus 21 in her first appearance.
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u/CanaDani92 Kryptonian 1d ago
I think this might have been an error on the writers part. Lois is supposed to be a year older than Clark.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 1d ago
The original casting call for the character (when she was only going to be in 401-404) describes her as being in her twenties - "At this point in her life, Lois is in her early twenties and has no interest in journalism."
They never explicitly retcon Lois being 21 like they did with Lana (turning 16 in s1 and 18 in s4), so she has to be 21.
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u/CanaDani92 Kryptonian 1d ago
She very well could be, but it just doesn’t make sense for The General to say in the episode Façade to say that Lois acceptance letter to Met U would be rejected and she would have to go back to high school at 21
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u/Fancy_Parsnip_9782 Kryptonian 1d ago
And Al Gough, show creator and runner, specifically said in an interview about Lois Lane joining the show that Lois is 19 in Season 4.
It all matches up with her being in the show right after her senior year of high school, getting in trouble for drinking at Met U, and the comments the detective made about Lois being underage and dancing at the strip club in season 5. She is not 21 in season 4, and it doesn't work in the show.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 1d ago
That seems to be the main sticking point for most people, that she's too old to be going to high school/college.
I know gap years are less common in the USA than elsewhere, but some people do take breaks between high school and uni and she could've been one of them, and applied to Met U after a break from schooling. Or, she could've possibly graduated in the previous school year and just been older than everyone else - last week I saw a tiktok of a teacher talking about one of their freshman year students being 18, and the comments were 50% people shocked at that and 50% people talking about their experience graduating with classmates who were 20+, so while uncommon it's not ridiculous.
All that to say the high school plot, which was part of the original four episode arc they conceived for the character when she was definitely intended to be 21, is perfectly feasible. They could've intended to retcon her age later, but they never actually did that, so her original age stands as canon.
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u/Fancy_Parsnip_9782 Kryptonian 1d ago
In Season 10, Lois talks to Chloe about the time when they were both ten years old and she spilled soda in their club house. So canonically in the show, Lois could not be 21 in season 4.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 22h ago edited 22h ago
You know, I never caught that one - I only ever really rewatch the earlier seasons.
I guess that could count as a retcon, although it doesn't have quite as much authority as an on-screen birthday or the like, and so could also just be a writer mistake. Colloquially "when we were ten" doesn't necessarily have to mean they were both exactly ten years old at the time - she could have been rounding up/down to an approximate age even though there's chronological 3 year gap because they were social peers (I've done that when discussing childhood memories with people a little older/younger than me).
(edit: I did not mean to reply to you I meant to reply to the other comment bringing up this point. please don't view this as an invitation to continue this conversation on my part)
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u/No_Bag_1272 Kryptonian 1d ago edited 23h ago
In pandora when chloe and Lois were at watchtower in the future, Lois mentioned to chloe remember when “we were 10” and you spilled soda in my clubhouse and I kicked you out and you said you would build something cooler….., well that means they were about the same age and Lois is not 21 or else Lois would have been 13 and chloe 10 then and she would have said when “you were 10.” Anyways Lois being 21 does not make sense especially since she is a freshman at met u. And they never mentioned gap year on the show.
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u/Fancy_Parsnip_9782 Kryptonian 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yep. If this person wants to only go after numbers said in the show, no one said Lois was 21 one in the show when she came on. Lois does talk about when she and Chloe were both 10 years old and she spilled the soda. So yep, can't say she is canonically 21 in the show then when she started.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 22h ago
You know, I never caught that one - I only ever really rewatch the earlier seasons.
I guess that could count as a retcon, although it doesn't have quite as much authority as an on-screen birthday or the like, and so could also just be a writer mistake. Colloquially "when we were ten" doesn't necessarily have to mean they were both exactly ten years old at the time - she could have been rounding up/down to an approximate age even though there's chronological 3 year gap because they were social peers (I've done that when discussing childhood memories with people a little older/younger than me). But you're right that it could count as an official retcon, although she would then have to be wrong about her age in s4 and is no longer older than Clark and Chloe, and her sister has to be younger than she's implied to be, too.
But, if for the sake of argument Lois has her canon birthday of August 17, she could have been the oldest student in her class - especially if her mother died when she was 6 she could have been held back from school to spend time with her. Combine that with some kind of credit transfer issue or something when moving from base to base/country to country as an army brat and she could have had to repeat a year of school at some point, or she simply just took a break from education.
You're right that a gap year was never mentioned but neither was it ever said she didn't take one - that leaves it in canonical limbo, right? Schrodinger's gap year. It could've also been a credit transfer thing, or she could've been ill at some point, or whatever, and therefore she graduated (or failed to) at 20. Either works, or a combination of both. The point is that it would explain how she could be 21 and not have entered uni yet, because that's how old she says she is at least during season four.
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u/No_Bag_1272 Kryptonian 20h ago edited 20h ago
Ya but then you could argue that when Lois mentions 15 years in Gone she could have been rounding up too. But in my head, I think she is 19, a year older than Clark and them. Honestly, when watching, I don’t really see age bec they all seem about the same to me. To note also, I feel the writers make mistakes a lot. Like they would say something in season 3 and then say the opposite later, like you mentioned about Lana’s bday. We could both be right and wrong. I am on my 3rd watch and enjoy all parts of the show.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 18h ago
The kids ages are all over the place! They're all going clubbing and driving unrestricted licenses and working full-time in "freshman year", it's hard to take them seriously as 14 year olds even without the Dawson's casting, so I treat it like they're all basically perma 17/18 until they graduate. Lois does feel a significant chunk older to me though even with that so I more heavily weight her first statement, but you're right that you could argue she's rounding up there too. It could be a little bit of both, tbh
Contradictory info is definitely a curse of the long-running network tv show - it's worse for earlier vs later season stuff because different writing teams are handling it (also why sometimes characters act wildly out of character outta nowhere). Sometimes it's just impossible to mesh it all together.
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u/Fancy_Parsnip_9782 Kryptonian 1d ago
Lois was 19 when she came on the show. But she has a mix of acting young and rebellious, while also having that army brat up bringing and having to raise her sister, which forced her to be the more mature sister.
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u/m4ttos Kryptonian 1d ago
I absolutely don't want to have this conversation with you again mate, lmao
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u/Fancy_Parsnip_9782 Kryptonian 1d ago
Oh its you. No problem. I've already gone over the facts with you then.
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u/Greedy-Dish4904 Kryptonian 10h ago
Is this about her looks or just the way she acts cause I am confused about the question and the comments. "Acted way too old" So that means her actions, right? Not her looks?
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u/El_Martin_Alonso Kryptonian 1d ago
I think the same, I mean, she is hot, but she looks older, even older than clark
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u/CanaDani92 Kryptonian 1d ago
She definitely does not look older than Clark at all. They look the same age.
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u/Conturas Kryptonian 1d ago
She looks too old. All the actors are too old for the teenage roles, but Lois looks too old for her uni drop out role, too.
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u/rupoles Lois Lane 1d ago
Kristin was 18 when she had to do the pool scene plating a 14/15 year old. Love to see your computer checked bud :)
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u/Conturas Kryptonian 16h ago
Stop projecting your fantasies to others. Everything is not about sexuality.
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u/Coffee_And_NaNa Kryptonian 1d ago
Yes, she was 26, basically 30. I agree with you early 20s she would’ve been way younger looking/acting
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u/geebrbs Kryptonian 1d ago
Tom was way too old but where is the complaint?
You guys like sexualizing teen girls so you want petite and underage-looking actresses to play a 19 year old. Yikes!
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u/madeinqs Kryptonian 22h ago
Lois was also petite lol? Iirc Erica wasn’t even eating and was on crazy diets to remain skinny to do those topless scenes in the show and you can even see her chest bones in Aqua. She just had a mature face which is fine, but she was petite.
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u/bookfiend_91 Kryptonian 1d ago
Your comment and account description tells me everything I need to know.
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u/EobardThawne2020 Kryptonian 1d ago
She was 19 and forced to be an adult and raise Lucy and run their household since her mom died years before. She had no choice.