NOTE: This review discusses major plot points. Read no further if you wish to remain unspoiled.
Well, probably the best thing I can say about “Sneeze” is that it wasn’t the worst episode ever. Despite being highly entertaining at times, I’m not sure it was an entirely successful episode.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There was a lot to love about this episode.
There was the Chloe/Clark/Lois interaction. LOVED that! Not only was it humorous, the events surrounding Clark’s new power advanced both Clark’s and Lois’ character arcs quite a bit. I loved that Lois finally got her feet wet in a real way with writing. Yeah, it was for the Metropolis’ scandal rag, The Inquisitor, but she got her first byline that wasn’t for the Smallville High paper.
The sneezing-related bits in “Sneeze” were very funny as well. I laughed out loud when Clark faked Chloe out and pretended to start to sneeze. I also loved the scene with Lois, Clark and Martha after Lois survived the falling barn door.
I loved the fact that Clark is beginning to see that secretive use of his powers won’t cut it anymore. He was having trouble helping clean up Metropolis on the sly because he could only do it at night… It obviously weighed heavily on him and he still doesn’t see himself as a hero, despite his tireless efforts to help others.
As for what I didn’t like about this episode, I know that the addition of a new super power is sometimes hard to handle in terms of coming up with a story that will show it off. Superbreath is arguably not one of Superman’s sexier powers so Smallville scribes Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin probably had their work cut out for them. It’s definitely not as much fun a power as x-ray vision, for example, so I suppose they did well with what they had to work with.
As much fun as the more comedic moments with superbreath were, the power has limited potential in what it can accomplish. By the end of the episode, as soon as the fire started I knew exactly what Clark was going to do to “rescue” Lex and Lana. At that moment, there was little suspense in the use of the power. As much fun as a lot of this episode was, that moment was severely anticlimactic. Perhaps the writers weren’t helped by the directing and editing choices in that scene either…
The pacing of the show was off, as well I thought. It dragged in parts, especially in the scenes with Lex and Lana. The confrontation Lana had with Lex over the hidden camera in her bedroom was oddly stiff. The scene was dull, actually.
You know, I’ve liked the Lex and Lana scenes for the most part, but now the pairing is beginning to not make much sense anymore. Now that the Kryptonian threat is gone, as far as Lana knows anyway, what is the appeal in being with Lex? There is no longer a mystery surrounding the ship to uncover and their relationship doesn’t seem to have any passion or real love in it.
Last week, Zod said about Lex’s feelings for Lana: “His feelings for you were also strong. They left an unpleasant taste when I consumed his essence.” Why would love leave an unpleasant taste in his mouth? And what other emotion might leave an ‘unpleasant’ taste? It makes me wonder now if Lex feels anything for her at all that might even resemble love.
Maybe that explains why he’d put cameras in her room and didn’t tell her. It seems that she’s more a possession that needs protection against being stolen like his antiques than a significant other. But that doesn’t explain why she is still at the mansion. She should be out of there, especially now she’s discovered that he has been her very own personal peeping tom. I hope she gets a clue soon that Lex isn’t the nice guy he’s pretending to be.
The acting was, for the most part, excellent. Tom did a beautiful job in this episode playing Clark in both the more serious parts with Lionel and Lana and the more comedic moments with Chloe and Lois. His resolve in doing his ‘job’ despite being sick was played well. He seemed very natural in those scenes.
Kristin Kreuk played Lana well. She had some quiet moments and played the emotional parts with increasing expertise. I don’t know what they did differently, but I loved her hair in this episode too.
I liked Erica Durance’s Lois a lot in “Sneeze”. She showed signs of the canon Lois in not being able to let go of a story until she gets to the bottom of things. She also played the comedic parts very well with Lois trying to understand how a barn door nearly brains her. Her comedic chemistry with both Allison Mack and Tom Welling is terrific and it’s always good to see her do her thing with them.
Michael’s performance I thought was uneven. Maybe he’s getting as tired of Lex’s being kidnapped and shot as I am seeing it. It’s beginning to have a bit of a rote feel to it, anyway. He did much better with Lana’s scenes later. Lex’s emotions actually touched his eyes there.
I did like Justin Hartley quite a bit in Oliver Queen’s scene with Lionel. He was cold and aloof, much like I would imagine him to be. I’m not familiar with Green Arrow at all from the comics, but given what little we know about Oliver’s back-story with Lex and his spoiled brat background, I do like the characterization so far that they’ve chosen for him. The later scene with Oliver and his lackey on his penthouse balcony wasn’t as successful. He was very stiff, although his use of archery in that scene was very nice. It was arrogant and perfectly in keeping with how Oliver is being portrayed in Smallville so maybe there’s hope he’ll grow into the role a bit.
Oh, and as much as I usually love the designs for Smallville I wasn’t in love with the Production Designer James Philpott’s design for Oliver’s penthouse. It’s too busy and artsy-modernistic for my tastes but maybe it will grow on me.
It’s an uneven episode, but the more humorous and mythic elements more than made up for it’s lacks in other areas. 4 crumpled tissues out of a possible 5.
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