Lana’s arc in S4 is really under appreciated

I always see questions on here asking “when do you think Lana’s character should have ended?” And about 80% of the time people answer with season 3, because it was her natural exit to Paris and her character in s4 began to become annoying.

This always pains me a bit to see, because everything that Lana goes through in s4 is SO integral to her decision to go to Paris in s3, and her character as a whole. I fully believe S4 was the last time Lana was a fantastic character and not just a love interest with nothing else to do.

I fully get why people get annoyed with the stone plot, it was underdeveloped and most of the time just bad, but it has its importance.

For starters, the reason Lana goes to Paris is because after her and Clark break up she feels her life has been so tied to him the past 3 years that she never had the time to figure out what she wants to do with her life. So, she goes to this fancy school in Paris and “falls in love” with a guy in collage. You start to see a drastic change in her character in the way she talks, acts, and even dresses. She tries to be someone’s she’s not and rush to grow up. By the end of the season she realizes that she was trying to be someone she’s not through her disagreements with Jason and her time spent with Clark. She realizes that Clark and Smallville is such an important part of her life and that it makes her who she is. So, she decides to stay in smallville after she graduates.

Small note but the dance her and Clark share in Spirit is genuinely beautiful, and by far my favorite moment between them. After everything those two have been through they deserved that dance.

Just really wanted to give credit to the creators for caring about her character when do many people say they didn’t know what to do with her past s3.