Since 2009 I'm a huge Smallville fan, I remember watching the very first episode, and I remember the episode from season 6 on TV which was the one that made me a fan. It was a beautiful adventure which I missed so much, that's why this summer I've decided to come back to Smallville and re-watch all of the seasons.
Since I am a fan of the show, I was always Clana shipper. I liked Clois too, but Clark & Lana brought way more emotions to me, so I always shipped them more. But you know how it is. People grow up, people change, and many times it's like you're not so enthusiastic anymore about the things you were when you were younger. You seek for something different. This is what happened to me. Don't take me wrong, I still like Clana, I'm also Lana Lang fan so I pay a lot of my attention to her, and from what I see, since the beginning of the show it really looks like it was never meant for them: Lana & Clark. There was too much lies, too much drama, and even though their feelings for each other were so strong and so beautiful - because there's no denying that Lana was & always will be C.K. first true love, no matter what haters say - they could never be fully happy, there was always something coming in their way. Clark (of course not in purpose) hurt her many times. I can understand that he wanted to protect her, that's why after all he could never tell her the truth about himself. But wow, how patient and understanding that girl was! - sometimes it's really hard to believe. She forgave him so many bad things, kissing other girls, almost having sex with them. Of course he was always compelled or drugged with a red kryptonite, but still.. looking at the whole situation from Lana's perspective all those things looked always really bad, she knew like everybody there's a lot of weird stuff going on in Smallville, but there was also that feeling Clark's hiding something more, and you can't built up a good relationship on lies, and you can't avoid the truth all the time, but Lana was still keep finding that strength to give him another chance. If Chloe - his best friend - was so great in keeping his secret, why he couldn't finally tell the truth to Lana - the girl about he cared so much ? I think she could handle Clark's secret identity as well as Chloe way much earlier that season 6. So with all of the choices he has made, instead of that happy life together the only thing he gained with not being honest with her was lack of trust and feeling of disappointment & never ending Clana emotional roller coaster. She thought he doesn't trust her enough to tell her what the truth is.

Since my re-watch I became a devoted Lex and Lana shipper, and that's the purpose of writing this article, to tell you my opinion about this couple, how I see them and how I see Lex Luthor - the best male character in the show and my favorite one! Actually shipping such a couple like Lexana is something unexpected and really surprising in my case. When you look at my general shipping preferences (Buffy & Angel, Lucas & Peyton, Stefan & Elena) the last thing you gonna think is that I'm Lex & Lana stan.
Well, Lex was the guy who was there since the beginning. No matter what, he was always there for her. If she need some help she could always count on him, and he never wanted anything in return, which is quite rare in Lex Luthor case. She had his support, and since the first seasons you can tell that Lana was Lex weakness.
However, the moment which made me to love them, which made me their fan so bad is the episode from season 5 called 'Lexmas.' - and here you can feel why I saw a promise in them, as being a fan of the romantic couples I mentioned. It showed the beautiful vision of how could they be, and that episode realized me how great potential they have! There's so many very good Clana episodes, which I love but somehow none of them touched me the way 'Lexmas' did - because of its reality & simple but what a beautiful example of true love - there's no superpowers, but there's love in its purest form, they just made me believe. Michael Rosenbaum & Kristin Kreuk have such a great on-screen chemistry. It was the first time they had so many scenes to play together, and of course they had to create a great marriage which was hell of a challenge considering the fact, they were never a couple on Smallville, but what they did was just amazing! It was a pure joy to watch them together. I saw how great woman Lana could be in this relationship, and how an amazing man Lex could have become, if he could only make the right choices. And seeing Lex as a good dad simply touched me, especially recalling how suck was his own life as a kid...so if we are talking about Lex childhood/family life. I remember watching one of the Smallville cast interviews, and what kinda surprised me is how John Glover (Lionel Luthor) described his character: "Lionel is not evil, he's just the most misunderstood character in the show" - and as much I wish I could agree with him, I just cant! Why ? Well, he was a horrible father, he was always making Lex feeling worse, feeling not good enough and weak. And you can tell, at the beginning that Lex wanted his father's approval so much. Lionel was a person who was pushing him a lot to the kind of person he had become at the end.

But coming back to the point. Lana was finally tired of Clark's never ending 'dodging.' Every time she thought he will finally tell her the truth, she was hearing another lie, so she turned to Lex. And what I love here is the fact that when it comes to Lana, Lex was always loyal to Clark. He had feelings for her way earlier than season 5, but he never did anything to stand between them, he has waited until season 5, when Lana told him that things with her and Clark are over, that she's tired of all the lies and of not being honest with her. So to spend a lot of time together, to talk a lot and to get closer was decision of both Lex & Lana.
There's so many great things about them! I love entire season 5 with Lexana. They both had that joint purpose of resolving the ship mystery, Lex didn't hide anything from her, and tried to be honest with her as much as he could. He risk his life at least 2 times to save her: once he got shot to protect her ("Lockdown" episode), the other time he covered her with his own body from bullet (the scene in a hospital), and every time she was in danger he was becoming a different person. A person who cares and loves, and protects no matter what it takes.
Life was never gracious to him. Remember Helen ? I think he really cared about her, he showed her that secret room about Clark and the accident on the bridge. Yes, he did an awful thing with telling his people to break into Helen's office and stealing Clark's blood sample, but after all he confessed, and hoped she will forgive him. That means something. Bad people don't do that. Unfortunately she turned out to be nothing but a calculating bitch. That was another reason Lex was becoming more and more suspicious about people and relationships with them...
Still things with Lana were always different. She was the only girl he could never tell a bad word about. She was good, she was innocent, she was a great listener, someone he could finally trust. Trust as much as only Lex Luthor can. He saw how different she was from all of the other women that were always around him. All of them always wanted something from him, and Lana was nothing like that. He fell in love with her, he truly did.
As Lexana devoted fan I cherish all their episodes, but another one which is really special to me is from season 6 called "Static" (that's my second fave after "Lexmas") I love the way how they both realized how important they are for each other - especially Lana, because Lex always felt the same - and even though they couldn't hear one another they were confessing all those beautiful things and finally we could hear words "I love you." This hard situation and fear that she may never see him again realized Lana how much she cares for him. It's really an amazing episode and its ending with their kiss on the floor, like nothing else matters... All you can see in their eyes in this scene is true happiness & love. This scene is nothing but beautiful. I also love their conversation in 'Lockdown'. After Lex being shot to protect Lana he tells her about his beautiful dream (in Lexmas), and how things were different there. He tells her she was there too, she was the best part of it...If you remember "Lexmas" you can tell how happy he was there, first he was so confused, because he got shot on the street and then suddenly he's waking up on the sunny day next to Lana, a kid enters the room, Lana gets up, she's pregnant, he's in deep shock how all this could happen, but in the same time it looks like he's in paradise, the longer he's there the more happy he is, and wants to stay. In that dream life he also finds out he's friends with Clark, Jonathan & Chloe, they truly respect him, he's finally appreciated, and what's the most important Lana is madly in love with him...
Unfortunately we all know that the story has been already written (Superman story), so do Lex Luthor's destiny... I wish Lana didn't die in that dream - it was just so sad...and I just think it was another way of reminding us there's no happy ending for Lex. I love how Lana's character has developed through all 8 seasons we could watch her, and for most I think it was Lex who taught her how to be stronger, independent & that sometimes you just have to bend the rules. After all she became a true Luthor, now it was her who was keeping secrets from Clark & friends (not saying it's always good - keeping secrets from people you love - but this woman just had her own beliefs, and felt that what's she's doing is right). If she wanted to pursue something she was determined to accomplish that.

There's no doubt that Lex truly loved her. She was the only woman he cared about, he never meant to hurt her. I really hate how writers finished their story with that "baby" thing and all the other things..What Lex did was horrible, it was crazy and there's no excuse, but still all those things he did because of love, it's crazy but this is true. When it comes to feelings he was always insecure, he did not have much love in his entire life to not say he didn't have love at all, that's why there were always that trust issues, that's why he was so suspicious. He was afraid that Lana will may one day leave him. I mean at the beginning of their relationship it was really great, but then Lana again (secretly) started to recall feelings for Clark and Lex saw that, I think he was always afraid of that, so I think this is the reason why he chose a crazy way to make sure she will say "yes" and she will marry him. The day of their wedding kinda broke my heart. Seeing Lex at the alter waiting for his love, and just see his eyes and how afraid he was she won't come...that was real. It were not an eyes of an evil villain who just want to beat his enemy. Because he truly didn't know what he will do without her and that's what his eyes were saying...

To sum up, I love Lexana & always will, for their amazing chemistry and for the great match they were. They just both grew so much because of/in this relationship, especially Lana. If not everything she has been through with Lex: the good and the bad I'm sure she would never had such a great aspirations like becoming a hero and helping people. By Lex side Lana became a true woman, she became stronger, while when she was with Clark she always seem so fragile. It was Lex who taught her how to defend herself, how to take care of your own business, while Clark preferred to keep her away from everything, which really doesn't help because there's always a time when you have to face your demons on your own.