Last night's episode of
Smallville shoved young photographer Jimmy Olsen into the spotlight. The plot itself seemed like a pretty lame rip-off of
Chuck, but the real test was whether fans would appreciate Jimmy as the star.
I'll admit to liking
Aaron Ashmore as an actor more than most. Contrast Jimmy Olsen to the charming bad boy Troy Vandegraff he played on
Veronica Mars and you can appreciate his range. I also root for the underdog, which Aaron is compared to his one-minute younger twin brother Shawn, who played Bobby “Iceman” Drake in the
X-Men movies.
My point is that season 8 of
Smallville is going to be considerably different from how it is now. No Miles Millar and Al Gough, and limited appearances by
Kristin Kreuk,
Allison Mack and
Michael Rosenbaum. What this means is that the show has little choice but to focus on Lois, Clark, Kara and Jimmy.
In other words, whether you liked last night's episode or not, Jimmy will have to become a larger part of the action. After the episode, I asked BuddyTV readers what they thought of Jimmy as a super spy. Most (36 percent) thought it was stupid, while 31 percent thought it was funny. Another 18 percent found his spy routine awesome, while only 15 percent thought it was sexy.
This is basically good news, because I suspect most of the “stupid” comments were based more on the actual plot than Jimmy's role, meaning most people found him funny or at least enjoyable. Every action show heeds that dash of humor to lighten the tension. Just look at Mrashall on
Alias, Chloe on
24 or Hiro on
Heroes. Let's be honest: Clark isn't exactly a barrel full of laughs and Kara seems largely devoid of emotion. Those krazy Kryptonians need a lovable goofball around to keep things light. In “Sleeper,” Jimmy Olsen applied for that job, and I'd gladly give it to him.
If you're already with me, great, I look forward to enjoying Jimmy's antics with you for another season of
Smallville. If you still don't like Jimmy playing a bigger role on the show, you better get used to it. After all, fans of the comics know that Jimmy will be sticking around for a long time.
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)