I just started Smallville season 3 (please do not spoil me) and as much as I love the show I am mad at it for some story choices. They make sense from a storytelling POV but not if you want truthful character development 😞 anyway here we go :

Lana breaking up with Witney, then he goes to the war, comes back having forgotten his memories, and turned out to be dead.

I honestly think poor Witney deserved better. I wanted to see him reacting to the break-up video, learning to move on and mature. I was unhappy with him coming back so shortly after being reported lost, and very unhappy with the loss of memories storyline ; but I liked the fact that Lana feelings kind of come back because she was worrying about him ; and I liked Witney to be jealous and violent once he realizes Lana loves Clark and he cannot compete.

I don't hate Tina, even though I think they could have better lesbian representation than her 🤦🏻‍♀️ but in the whole episode I would have liked it better if it was really Witney, or if he'd still come back afterwards. Witney being dead alone makes Lana feel guilty about sending her break-up video while she shouldn't : instead, it was a very well-written and mature element that she choose to break-up (not at the best time because she failed to tell him before) because it was best for them both.

Plus, she only feels guilty in one ep, then she quickly comes back to Clark, so even the grief storyline is under exploited. (Although I loved that, at the beginning of season 3, she said she wouldn't let Clark go the way she did with Witney)

Side note about Witney : do you remember this episode when he gets a kryptonite tatoo that gives him intangibility ? I know the effects were only temporary but it wouldn't be incoherent if he still had these powers during war, and it would be a blessing and a curse (like, in the explosion, he would have survived but watched all of his companions die, and he'd come back to Smallville having PTSD and survivor's guilt). Plus it would make him an interesting opponent to Clark...

Lionel Luthor getting blind, then getting back his sight

At the end of season 1, Lex almost let his father die, but he didn't. Lionel lost his sight and decided to live in the manor. Lex started to get in better terms with his father because he didn't suffer enough with the disability.

Let's be honest, I hate that he get back his sight because we're loosing what was a very good representation (at least in my opinion), and implied really interesting elements for the show, such as Martha Kent being his assistant. And we're falling in the "they are faking a disability" trope which I think can be harmful to the people concerned. Also I just can't accept that he lied to Lex about being blind for weeks, putting him in situation of weakness, as if a disability was just a story tool for their relationship...

(I'm sorry my phrasing is weird I can't think straight this morning)

Helen betraying Lex.

At the point I am in the story, Lex left her on an island after discovering she planned to kill him with his dad but decided to save him with the plane crash. She was a spy all along and didn't get to marry Lex only because she loved him... ? I'm so disappointed by this "it was all a lie" storyline, especially when Lex challenged himself multiple times to be truthful to her, and Clark's parents also trusted her with the blood sample that she ended up selling to LuthorCorp. I can't imagine the Helen we met in the show, honest doctor with trust issues and an abusive ex-partner, giving up all integrity for money. It just doesn't make sense - or it's poor character writing I believe.

Also, as much as I like Clark and Lex relationship in this show, I think Lex deserved happiness and I was okay with it being Helen. I know he has to suffer to become the antagonist he will end up being, but from what I see, Lionel is the only one who has been doing harm and I don't want Lex to be artificially put into evil, if that makes sense.