Starkville’s House of El Podcast

We’ve got Angellwing’s latest review of “Sleeper” here, and are once again glad to have her writing for the site - check out the article after the jump to see what she has to say. And how did you feel about the episode? Check out our forums to weigh in on the events of this past Thursday night.

Also, feel free to send Angell feedback here.

Here we are again, SHoEligans. I once again get the privilege of sharing my thoughts with all of you. So let’s talk about “Sleeper”.

I really feel like jumping right in with this one. I loved this episode. I thought it was adorable, and one of the best post-epic episodes the Smallville crew has ever come up with. Jimmy Olsen really came off as lovable in this episode, and credit for that goes to not only Aaron Ashmore, but Caroline Dries as well. The minute I saw Jimmy fumbling around to cook Chloe a “Wholesome Olsen” breakfast I knew he was going to be extremely likeable in this episode.

Aaron Ashmore’s comedic timing was phenomenal as usual, but this time he really had a chance to show it off. Allison Mack had a chance to showcase her comedic skills as well. I was thrilled with seeing Allison and Aaron play off of each other and seeing their characters interact. Their chemistry is wonderful and refreshing when compared with the other super tense relationships on the show. The Chlimmy Dance (as I like to call it) was wonderfully hysterical and even a little bit romantic. Chloe’s reaction to Jimmy’s sudden Tango skills was priceless. She saw a whole new Jimmy, and you could tell she really enjoyed it.

One of the things that was masterful about the script for this episode is how they still managed to move this seasons continual plot. I felt like this episode was wonderfully paced and kept my interest. The scenes that dealt with the ongoing “Veritas” plot were well written and skillfully acted. Lex’s scene in Zurich felt very “Bourne Identity” to me, and Michael’s performance was outstanding as usual. Like I said last week Tom Welling knows his character so well that an excellent performance is almost a given when it comes to Clark’s scenes, and this week was no exception. His scene in the Fortress was not only acted wonderfully but written ingeniously as well. The visual effects in the Fortress impressed me as well especially with how much they intensified Kara’s transmission.

Let’s talk about Vanessa. Our lady spy definitely resembled a Charlie’s Angel gone mental. Anne Openshaw’s portrayal of the character was superb, and I loved the gadget briefcase she gave Jimmy. The prop department out did themselves with this episode. I also loved how amazed Jimmy was by all of those weapons, and how it still showed AS he was using them. I also loved that it was Jimmy who got to save Chloe, and that Clark didn’t come rushing in at the last minute. Jimmy got to save his girl, and that made the scene much more entertaining.

All in all, the episode was handled very well. I thought it would either go one way or the other especially when it concerned Jimmy. Jimmy was either going to come off as a jerk or as a truly and genuinely nice guy. In my opinion he successfully came off as a boy next door type, and credit for that achievement goes to Aaron Ashmore, Caroline Dries, and the director for this episode Whitney Ransick. The direction was beautiful and artful which seems to me would be difficult to do while making such a humorous episode. I think “Sleeper” was a nice break from the heavy storyline surrounding it.

I’m going to give it four covert cufflink darts out of a possible five.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.