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Review: Smallville -- "Sleeper"
http://firefox.org/news/articles/1462/1/Review-Smallville----quotSleeperquot/Page1.html
Marianne Edison
I'm a 20-something nanny with secret literary aspirations. When I'm not shaping young minds, I'm privately tutoring computer students, plotting Canadian world domination, and engaging in a variety of fannish pursuits.  
By Marianne Edison
Published on 05/4/2008
 
Sleeper: what happens when Smallville is asleep at the wheel.  

Well, if I had insomnia, Sleeper would have been a godsend.

Unfortunately, I don't. Thus, I'm left rubbing my eyes and vowing not to eat pastrami sandwiches before going to bed. I have the craziest dreams about Jimmy Olsen being a superspy.

Oh wait...

This happens pretty much every year. We get down to the end of the season and Smallville's producers have their inevitable realization. We have more episode time than our A-plot allows, oops! Time to break out the filler episode. The episode of next to no appreciable content. Think about it, pretty much the only scenes from Sleeper that we needed? Clark's conversation with Chloe re: Kara sending messages from Krypton and Lex's little trip to Geneva.

We did not need James Olsen, Superspy. Really. We did not need it.

Now, let's be clear. Somewhere out there, Bambi, Nemo, and a dozen other Disney characters are watching Aaron Ashmore and thinking, "Damn, I wish I was that cute." The baby pandas at the zoo have Aaron Ashmore envy. As Jimmy Olsen goes, Aaron's is - by far - my favorite. Smallville did right by hiring that man and I didn't originally think that. I thought Jimmy was too close to Clark in age which messed with one of my favorite dynamics. Thus far, though, they've managed to maintain it fairly well. Aaron as Jimmy works.

Jimmy as a superspy working behind Chloe's back? Doesn't. This is Jimmy Olsen. If there is a worse liar in the entire DC Comics universe? I haven't found them yet. I can't buy the idea of him lying about who ate the last cookie, much less him hiding a secret identity.

I have been reminded that in the comics Jimmy has gotten up to all sorts of shenanigan, but this isn't the comics. We can't reboot quite so easily - oh, that we could - and that means we have a problem.

Sleeper's A-plot is asleep at the wheel. After years of Clark and Lana's dance of the seven secrets, we really don't need to see Chloe and Jimmy's version. Particularly since we've seen it before. Remember? Chloe hiding her meteor-infected status? Yeah. Been there, done that.

Ideally, this should have been an Oliver and Chloe episode. Not in that sense (not that I'd object) , but in the sense of Chloe's Watchtower activities. She's actively working with his team and a lot of the hacking that got her on this agency's radar probably connects back to him. Since we could use an episode elaborating on Chloe working with the team, now would have been good. It certainly would have made more sense than Jimmy's rendition of La Femme Nikita, plus the added bonus of actually fitting into the overall plot arc and giving Allison Mack something serious to do.

Remember her, Smallville? One of your strongest assets? Yeah, try not to forget that part. Of course, this is you.  For you, your strongest assets are your most overlooked ones and plot arcs are what happen in between forgetting murders and shoe-horning characters in where they don't belong.

As for the part of the episode that did matter? Kara's on Krypton in 1989. Interesting. I'm eager to see how that plays out. I am, however, hoping that Clark spares a moment to remember something. No powers on Krypton. That's going to make flying home mighty tricky. Yes, I know, in theory he can probably use the portals, but I want a moment where Clark thinks about this. Superman may be the strongest man on Earth, but he's no intellectual simpleton either.

At least, he isn't supposed to be. Sometimes, Smallville forgets that. Along with the fact Lex Luthor is no pushover. They remembered that, this week. Go Lex! You actually got to fend off an attacker on your own, without a convenient head injury sidelining you for the rescue, and you kept the big prize. Kudos!

Now, let's see you hold onto it. Somehow, I have the feeling those days are numbered. Unfortunately, so are Michael's on this show. As much as I'm looking forward to the payoff of this storyline, I'm not looking forward to its end.

Michael, we're going to miss you. More than the CW can truly know, otherwise you might not be going.