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Smallville 7.17: "Sleeper" |
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| The writers for “Smallville” continually confuse and confound me. Not because the storytelling is particularly complex, but because they seem hell bent on derailing their own momentum, time and time again. The previous episode ended with Lex’s final step towards his villainous destiny, setting the stage for a massive showdown between former friends. One might have hoped that the focus would continue to be on that aspect, especially since the Brainiac subplot wasn’t quite ready to return yet. Alternatively, the episode could have focused on Clark’s personal reaction to recent events.
Instead, the bulk of the episode centered on Chloe and Jimmy. While the story was pleasant enough, it felt like too much of a departure from the stronger and darker material in the previous few installments. Granted, it’s nice to see Chloe’s constant hacking finally catch up with her, but tying that to “Jimmy Olsen, Super Spy”? Not quite what I would have preferred, and not necessarily consistent with what we’ve seen out of Jimmy in the past.
I was also a bit disappointed in Lex, to be honest. While his single-minded focus on the Traveler and Veritas was in line with his previous actions, his decision to help Chloe was not. It occurred to me that Lex held back after seeming to punish Chloe harshly in “Descent”. He did fire her, but she’s still living above the Talon (which he owns), and he had the perfect opportunity to let others do his dirty work in this situation. Why would Lex bother holding back?
There were some occasional nods to the overall season arc, particularly by the end of the hour. Clark and Chloe uncover enough evidence to suggest that Brainiac took Kara through a “time vortex” to Krypton circa 1989. This would be just before the cataclysm that destroyed Krypton, and therefore, right around the time of Kal-El’s exodus. Brainiac’s plan, it seems, is to kill Clark as a powerless child, therefore stopping Clark from being an impediment in the future. (Perhaps Kara was needed as Brainiac’s undercover assassin or something.)
It’s a fairly familiar plot for any comic book/science fiction fan, but it should tie into the Kryptonian elements from earlier in the season. Anything that might give this season a sense of cohesion would be welcome at this point, so I can hardly complain. Hopefully the cheap-looking Veritas star map will prove more impressive once its purpose is revealed. My suspicion is that it will lead Lex to the Fortress, since that is the most obvious place to gain the technology to control Clark, ala Jor-El. With only a few episodes left for the season, it shouldn't take long to find out. |
