Heroes Wednesday: Ummmm.... episode 3

In order to keep liking Heroes, I think I'm going to have to stop reviewing it. The main reason is that if I think too much about it, I'll stop enjoying it. I can't think about the idea that Bennett would willing work with Sylar, even for a short time, after what he did to Claire. That he wouldn't shoot Sylar (or the screaming guy) through the glass to prevent Sylar from taking his power.

We had no Mohinder so we don't get to continue to see how stupid he is. I think Nathan Petrelli's arc is interesting, especially with the religious twist they're putting on it.

At any rate, I still really like the show, but it doesn't stand up to deep analysis. As one critic said after last week's episode... "people have argued the point with me, but my feeling is that the show wasn't even that good in season 1, outside of a handful of episodes ("Five Years Later," "Company Man"), but the novelty of it, the cliffhangers, and our misguided belief that this was all going somewhere fooled us into thinking "Heroes" was better than it actually was. Once we got the season one finale, and especially once we got season two, the blinders came off and we realized the emperor has no clothes, and probably never did." I think I agree with him, but it doesn't stop me from liking the show.

Heroes Wednesday: Premiere

Look, the 2nd season of Heroes wasn't good. It just wasn't. There were good things about it, but they got really locked into the same pattern as the first season with new characters, when we'd all grown attached to the characters from the first season and didn't really care much about the new ones.

The premiere Monday was... Ok, here one thing that I've learned about watching Heroes is that I really have to turn my brain into its lower gear. I can't nitpick as much because then I realize how ultimately dumb the show is. And it's ok to like a dumb show. I can't do things like think about how people should use their powers. For instance, when Claire locked herself in the closet to hide from Sylar, was this his thought process? "I'm evil. I have magnificent telekinetic powers. The thing that I've been pursuing for a long time is on the other side of a wooden slats door chained with a thin chain. I think I'll wait her out, instead of using my powers or say... my foot." See, I can't think too deeply about it. It's almost the opposite of Lost where they want you to OVER-think it.

At any rate, on a purely dumb show level, Monday night was great. I thought they did a great job setting up the arcs for the season and coming up with tolerable solutions to the last season. I really think that where they're going with stuff is going to be fun and as long as I don't think about why FuturePeter didn't just teleport away from FutureDarkClaire and the like, I'll be just fine with it.

Villains?

So while my wife was watching America's Got (Stupid) Talent, I happened to see it when there was a Heroes promo on, with Season 3 subtitled Villains.

Now, for one thing, because of the strike and no episodes in the spring, I'd kind of forgotten about the show. Part of that is out of sight, out of mind; part of it is because, well, let's just admit it, Season 2 kind of sucked. The whole Maya/Aleja.....zzzzzz, sorry, must've used an old joke there. But that plotline was just kind of bad. Hiro in Japan at least had a payoff, but it lasted too long.

My hope for this season is fewer new characters (although the title of Villains [plural] makes me think that there will be several new characters, unless some of our favorites go bad) and more action. The psychological aspects of what all the Heroes are going through is interesting on a few levels, but it's time to plow new ground on a lot of that as well.

I know I'm going to watch it, but definitely without as much initial enthusiasm as I did for the beginning of Season 2.

Heroes Wednesday: Powerless

On the two entertainment websites I frequent, I've read about several people who have said they're done. That this finale is what has finally pushed them to a point where they can't watch Heroes anymore.

I'm not there myself, but even I couldn't stop myself from asking questions that didn't seem to have good answers (why hasn't Peter just read Adam's mind to find out the truth?). And the final section of the show where Nathan gets assassinated holds almost no resonance or fear of Nathan's death. Why is that? Well, the creators have totally undermined any death that happens on the show with Claire's blood. In the last two shows, we've had two people get shot, only to come back to life fairly quickly. So why should I believe that Nathan will be any different?

It's almost like the creators came up with all of these cool ideas for powers without thinking through the ramifications of each one. Or maybe that they can't put themselves properly into the heads of the characters themselves. Peter has all these amazing powers, but he appears as dumb as a post. Does he lose brain cells each time he goes shirtless? Mohinder IS a genius, but he's also as dumb as a box of pet rocks. So much of the plot of the show has depended on the characters acting in fairly stupid ways and so that takes the audience out of the plot and thinking, "Well, that's dumb. Why not fly after the assassin, or stop time to get him (or her)?" And it's not just that. It's some of the dumb writing. Sylar's "I'm ba-a-ack" was just lame. We know you're back. We just saw you telekinetically grab a can of spinach. Stop with the mustache twirling.

Now, I didn't completely hate the show. I thought that Hiro's plot line was very well done. I like Hiro being kind of gray and his solution for taking care of Adam was very clever. I thought that the scene in Mohinder's apartment with Sylar was well played and one of the better ones in the episode. Those two actors play well off each other.

I'm not done with the show yet. I'm giving it the rest of the season (whenever that happens, due to the writers' strike). But I'm not going to do what I did with Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which should have ended after Season 3). I'm not going to watch just to see what happens to the characters. If after this season, I don't think it's worth my time, I'll just stop watching. And I think there are quite a few people who are already on that train.

My score: C-

Heroes Wednesday: Truth & Consequences

Image from HeroesWiki

I've learned to stop asking some questions.

For instance, what kind of babysitter would let someone in that he or she had never seen before and leave them with a sleeping child? Or why doesn't Peter just read Adam's mind and find out the truth about why he wants the virus? Or... Or...

Well, anyway, I've stopped asking those nagging questions of character and plot continuity.

All of the heroes are starting to get reconnected in the plot lines. Sylar fulfills one of his apparent requirements for being back on the show and knocks off Alejandro while almost completely corrupting Maya. He's still being a little over the top for my tastes, but there you have it. And beyond the whole worst-babysitter-in-the-world scenario, having him in Mohinder's apartment with Molly was pretty creepy.

I really liked how Hiro was using his power in this ep. He obviously learned from his time in Japan that messing with history could have dire consequences (although couldn't one argue that messing with history made it happen the way it was supposed to happen?) as well as from his father. Using the power to observe rather than affect is pretty cool, as well as the call back to last season where time stops everyone except Peter.

Hayden Pantierre is a great actress, but even she couldn't sell the awful lines about how losing her dad hurts more than falling from 20 stories. And how much time passed between the end of the last episode and this one? Wouldn't Claire or her mom have questioned how Bob got the body cremated so quickly? But again, there's those darn questions that I'm not asking anymore!

The deal with Micah and his cousin is interesting just for the fact of seeing a hero dress up in a "costume" to do good deeds, but seriously, Monica didn't KNOW that Superman wore glasses to have a secret identity. Firstly, the glasses are about the worst disguise ever, but there are people that don't know about Superman/Clark Kent?

Peter/Adam/Victoria was pretty interesting too, except for Peter's not looking into Adam's head. Obviously we're getting set up for something big there in Odessa.

Next week should be interesting and I hope we get to see Nathan and Parkman back in the mix again. Nathan's been in Ireland for too long and I want to see the ramifications of Matt going into Mama Petrelli's head.

This week's score: B- Too many characters had to act stupid to move the plot along and that's just dumb.

Heroes Wednesday: Cautionary Tales

Image from HeroesWiki

Well, here's where the fun starts. All in all, a very good episode. Lots of fun with some "OMG! I can't believe they just did that!" moments, and then there were moments where I think the continuity fairy was taking a smoke break.

Easy stuff first:

Parkman: This is where it seems like Matt is becoming both like his father and the morally dark character in Five Years Gone. It's obvious that he stripped the name of the woman in the picture from Angela Petrelli, even though she begged him not to. I'll be interested in how this develops out.

Hiro: First it wasn't a surprise that Kenzei/Munroe was Kaito Nakamura's killer. I thought possible West because of the flying or even Nathan, but with his vengeance to be exacted against Hiro and no body being found on the ground that all made sense. I also like how we're starting to see a more mature Hiro who accepts his powers, as well as the necessary limitations. I think the line that Kaito said, that they have the powers of gods, but that doesn't mean they can play God is the defining line between his ideology and the Company's.

HRG/Claire and everyone else, including stupid, pretty Mohinder:
Man, was this whole storyline fun. But it's also where the continuity fairy took her smoke break. For instance, why didn't HRG and West not keep Elle wet when they were handing her off? She could have escaped at any point. I guess the looking-good-at-the-beach fairy won that street fight. And secondly, the painting of Mohinder showed the gun smoking and it wasn't in the fulfillment. Plus, when did Isaac paint these? After he met HRG? Before? Wouldn't he have mentioned them? Oh wait, I'm thinking too much about the show...

Anyway, I thought everything about HRG was really bad ass in this episode. I really thought he would have shot Mohinder if West hadn't been there and would have shot Bob if Mohinder hadn't shot him. I'll admit I was caught completely off guard by that. I didn't expect it to happen right then and I sure as heck didn't expect HRG to be resurrected. Now, we could say that on one hand, it cheapens HRG's death because he got brought back, but that is thinking too deeply about it. On one hand, it's just cool that he got the Holy Sh-- moment like Claire did last season. For another thing, it raises some interesting questions, like where is he? Who brought him back?

Here are the three theories I have:

1) At the Company; Bob resurrected him with Claire's blood.
2) Somewhere else (it looked awfully dirty and not company like) because Mohinder took him there and resurrected him as he and Bennett had always planned to do.


3) somewhere else because Munroe/Kenzei resurrected him as another ally against the Company. I think that one is the least likely.

Oh and just for good measure, a cool pic of HRG...


With all that said, I'm going to have to give this episode an A. It was very good, kept me on the edge of my seat and had a great great ending. Looking forward to next week as well...

Heroes Wednesday: Four Months Ago

Image courtesy of HeroesWiki

Well, for what this episode did, I thought it did it well, if you don't think about timing too much. I understood why this ep didn't have HRG and the Bennetts in it. We know where they were. I was disappointed that Mohinder and Matt weren't in it. How did Matt survive the bullets Sylar put in him? Why did Mohinder and Matt decide to play "My Two Dads" with Molly? But I also understand that there's a lot of plot to get into this one, including the twinzzzzzzzzzz.....

Anyway, I thought the explanation for why Peter couldn't fly when he was exploding was a good one, as well as that he regenerated quickly enough to get Nathan to the hospital. I actually enjoyed Kristen Bell as Elle this week as well. I thought she really played that sociopathic flirt (two words I don't think I've ever written together like that before) very well, with just a hint of pathos as well. Unless of course that was meant to manipulate Peter as well.

The plot with Monroe is very interesting too because we know about his past, but I wonder how much he told Peter and how much of it was true. It will be very interesting to see them work together over the next... 3 episodes I guess.

I thought the Niki/Jessica stuff was really well done, except for DL's death. I don't know if Kring is trying to show that even heroes can't escape random violence or what, but that just seemed really anticlimactic. I think Ali Larter is really showing herself to be a great actress in how easily she slipped from Niki to Gina and really embodied that personality. They also did a great job in portraying how someone would react to psychotropic drugs and going off them.

Maya and Alejandro? If I cared about them, this story line might have been interesting. But it's not.

So questions... we didn't really get an explanation about the irradiated version of himself that Nathan keeps seeing in the mirror. Is it a Niki like personality? Is it supposed to be a metaphor for the guilt he feels about Peter? If it's the latter, I really think the show has done a bad job of communicating that. Also, we didn't hear officially why Nathan resigned from Congress, as well as the Matt/Mohinder stuff from above. We also didn't find out how Sylar escaped from Kirby Plaza which really disappointed me.

My grade: B Not as good as last week's episode, but not bad like the earlier ones. The show appears to be getting its feet back underneath it, just in time for the writers' strike to kill it.

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Heroes Wednesday: Out of Time

Image from HeroesWiki

If you gave up on Heroes after last week, I couldn't really blame you. It was bad. But I'm afraid you gave up a week too early, because this one felt a lot like last seasons' best episodes. Was it as good as Five Years Gone or Company Man? No, not by a long shot, but it was easily the best of this lackluster season.

The good news? No twinzzzzzzzzz. Oh please let them die off screen and us just hear about it in passing. No Monica this week either and while I like her, I didn't mind it because we got some really good action and character work this week.

Parkman: Great job by Greg Grundberg in this role, working through all the daddy issues as he went up against Maury.

Nathan: I liked how Nathan really took some charge of the situation at the Company and put the screws to Bob to find out some information.

Claire and Noah Bennett: A little more movement on this plot line. I liked West finding out about HRG, but (and maybe it's because I'm not a high school girl) I found the scenes between West and Claire to be so schmoopy and tiresome, especially listening to music together. Is that what I have to look forward to in the future? Oh please no. I liked seeing all the painting and getting some payoff with them in that very episode. We're also set up for Mohinder with gun and the nose bandage which would seem to lead to HRG's death.

Mohinder: Dr. Suresh once again takes his stupidity pills that morning. Geez, at least he looks good, because he ain't smart at all. Telling Bob that he's actually working with HRG to bring the Company down? Seriously? I was so wishing at that point that when he told Bob he was doing that, Bob had shrugged and said, "Yes, we know."

Niki: Nice to see her back in action and also nice to see that she was very affected by DL's death, however that happens, which I guess we'll find out next week. Also, now that she has the (mutated) virus, things have become quite a bit more dire for her.

Hiro: I'm glad this storyline is over, but I'm also glad it got some residual poignancy by Kenzei becoming a villain because of Hiro. That will obviously have some play out at the end of this whole thing.

Peter: I was so glad they didn't spend the whole episode in deserted 2008 New York. I thought it was a nice touch how we went there occasionally. Christine Rose again did a great job as Angela Petrelli, now a little softer and those who were interested got shirtless, wet Peter. I'll be interested in how they resolve the Caitlyn being left in the future aspect of this. As well as now finding out what happened to Kenzei/Adam Munroe in the intervening 300 years, as well as why he was working with Peter, but yet was one of the original founders of the Company.

The bad: I can't find it right now, but I read an interview with Tim Kring explaining why the plot lines were so expanded this week, and the upshot of it made me worried for the season. He basically said that he thought people didn't mind it because even though they might not see their favorite character or storyline each week, they'd still come back the week after to see what had happened to them. And I'm sorry Tim, but that's just dumb. People don't want to come back after a "cliffhanger" or at least a significant unresolved plot point and not have it resolved the next week. Like I stated last year, that's why Heroes in Season 1 was different than Lost. It resolved plot points pretty quickly and then moved on. That's honestly one of the reasons Hiro in Japan seemed so listless. It didn't seem to have any relationship to the rest of the story. It seemed like just an excursion for Hiro in Japan for him to have fun with his childhood hero. Not bad in and of itself, but if we're interested in the overall plot, that stuff just takes away from it. Now, it better that we know that Kenzei does affect the overall plot, but still, I think that's one of the reasons Heroes had the lowest ratings of the season on Monday night. People had/have given up on it. Monday felt like a step in the right direction, but if this is philosophy of the season, especially with the twinzzzzzzzzz storyline sucking the life out of the show, I fear for the rest of the season.

Overall, I'm going with a B+ on this one. Very solid ep, and very much in the feel of season 1.

This is not the article I was talking about above, but an interesting one, nonetheless: 'Heroes' Creator Apologizes to Fans: Tim Kring admits mistakes were made at the beginning of season 2, but promises to get back on track

Heroes Wednesday: The Line

Image courtesy of HeroesWiki

Two words: Wow... Crappy. Seriously, I usually watch the episode with the commentary the next day on NBC.com and I just couldn't do it. Not with this one. It was that bad to me. Look, that thing that I talked about a couple of weeks ago "My fear is that the writers are running out of steam. They're running out of steam with the characters that we got to know and love last year, and so they're introducing new characters so they don't have to have the other characters in each week, thus exhausting their stories." I'm becoming more convinced that this is happening. The best part of last week was the Nathan Petrelli/Parkman storyline. Where was that this week? Nonexistent.

The best part of this week was the HRG in the Ukraine storyline. We saw the levels that he's willing to stoop to to get what he wants, even removing the memory of a dead daughter and then killing the Company man. We saw the paintings and that will be interesting. My biggest complaint was a continuity one. How could it be daylight in Russia and daylight in California at the same time (referencing the scene where Claire calls Bennett)?

Everything else felt badly written. Sylar seemed like he needed to be twirling a handlebar mustache while he talked about how evil he is. I mean, geez louise. Just terrible and a storyline that's going nowhere fast.

Claire and West? Boring. Unless West ends up evil. Then he's evil and boring.

Mohinder is back to taking his stupid pills again. Seriously, he trusts Bob? And thinks he can make calls from within the Company and not be detected? And now he's working with Jessiki?

Hiro and Kenzei is really stupid now. Kenzei betrays Hiro and Yaeko over love? Seriously? And what's Ando's purpose? To give James Kyson Lee screen time? Give him something real to do!

Peter and Caitlyn make it to Montreal and then to post-apocalyptic New York? Wait, haven't we seen that before? Like last season?

Look I still like the show. I'm still going to watch it, but I'm not on a blind bandwagon here. When it's bad, I'll call it bad. And last night, it was bad. Like Alan Sepinwall said and this article referred to as well.

My score: D+, just for the HRG stuff. Next week needs to not suck.

Heroes Wednesday: Fight or Flight

image from HeroesWiki.com

And this one was better than last week which was better than the week before...

OK, now this is getting more like it. I thought the plots are getting tighter and now we're getting more of the Heroes interacting with each other. That's the kind of thing I want to see.

I liked Monica again this year and how much she's enjoying her power, although... didn't we see a lot of this same thing with Hiro last year? I also liked how Mohinder showed up at the end, which made me wonder how the Company finds out about people's powers being activated. Is it like (nerd alert) the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter or (super nerd alert) the Psi Corps in Babylon 5? Is there some alert that goes off somewhere? And will Micah remember Mohinder from Kirby Square?

Mohinder is showing that his temporary brain power is leaving him quickly by taking Molly to the Company. Sheesh Mohinder. The "best" thing he did in this episode was tazing Jessiki, which btw I thought we resolved this plot last season. I thought the last episode was about Niki integrating Jessica into her personality? Did that not take?

Mohinder of course calls Bennett and the Haitian who are in front of a green screen that supposedly looks like Odessa, Ukraine. Bennett tells him it's a bad idea to take Molly and then disappears for the rest of the episode, like his daughter. Which means no West this week! Yay!

Parkman also thinks that taking Molly to the company is a bad idea, but he leaves for Philly with Nathan to find the Nightmare Man, also known as Daddy Parkman. Nathan gets a great line in about not being a cargo plane, which also might have been a shot at Parkman's weight, but I could just be projecting there.... Anyway, they go to see Daddy Parkman who seems to be a decent scared guy until we remember that he put Molly in a coma and then locks Matt and Nathan inside their nightmares. Which also ends up being one of the most creative fight scenes that I've seen in a while, with Matt "seeing" his wife and her child while he's "in" prison. He starts fighting a guard who ends up being Nathan who is in his own nightmarish apocalyptic New York (alternate reality or still a possible future?) and ends up fighting his own nuclear mutated (?) self who is Parkman in reality. It was really creative, really well shot, and a good use of Daddy Parkman's power. Oh and Daddy Parkman seems to be targeting Bob.

Sylar and the twinzzzzzzzzz don't appear in this one, so the only unrelated plot is Peter in Ireland where he rediscovers his painting power (again, didn't we go through this a lot last year?) and we see where he got the electric power from, a little blond girl who the interwebs tell me played Veronica Mars in a show apparently no one watched on the WB or CW or UPN or something. She kills Caitlyn's brother and Peter and Caitlyn decide they need to go to Montreal where there is apparently a replica of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Oh, and Hiro is still helping Kenzei. btw, if you want some more insight into this plot, visit the website for the Yamagato Fellowship and watch the videos about the legend of Kenzei and try to figure out where Hiro will work into it.

At any rate, I enjoyed this episode much more that the previous ones, and it looks like next week will be pretty good as well, even with the twinzzzzzzz return. B+

Heroes Wednesday: The Kindness of Strangers

I have a creeping fear. My fear is that the writers are running out of steam. They're running out of steam with the characters that we got to know and love last year, and so they're introducing new characters so they don't have to have the other characters in each week, thus exhausting their stories. This week, we didn't see Hiro or Peter or Niki at all. And with the introduction of Monica this week, as well as Maya and Alej-zzzzzzzzz earlier this year, it have this creeping fear that the writers are losing some steam on the stories...

But, right now, I'm still enjoying it. I really thought adding Sylar to the Maya-Alej-zzzzzz story made them instantly more interesting. Monica has a pretty cool power too, but isn't it another one like Peter or Sylar that could make her too powerful or can she only do what her body is capable of? For instance, can she do the wrestling move she saw but not powerlift 500 pounds? One thing I really loved about the Monica/Micah storyline was that long hug he gave her and the focus the camera put on his hand. It made me wonder if he was trying to "fix" her like he fixed the TV.

I also enjoyed how Matt and Nathan worked together. We found out more about Matt, particularly what happened with Janice, and about his father being in the 12, as well as being Molly's boogeyman. We lost Neanderthal Nathan when he lost the beard, but we also saw his reflection in the mirror. And after several rewinds and pauses on the TiVo, it is actually Nathan and not Peter in the reflection, so it answers that question.

The Molly storyline is still good, and I really like the little actress they have for her role I think she does a great job with her stuff.

The Claire West storyline is really doing nothing for me. I hate stereotyping, but maybe this appeals more to women than to men? However, it also feels like we're treading over some of the same ground as last season. Claire and Bennett not being completely honest with each other, leading to the most uncomfortable dinners ever... Liking Lyle's responses at the table.

This one's a B- It still feels like we're treading water, even though there is some movement in good directions with Sylar particularly, and we've got stuff to look forward to with Bennett and the Haitian and Matt knowing where his dad is now.

Heroes Wednesday: Kindred

Image courtesy of HeroesWiki

So... let me get this straight. A guy can peep on a girl, call her out in the middle of the high school hallway, call her out in class, and all you have to do is be able to fly to get her to kiss you? Holy crap, if only I'd known it was that easy.

That notwithstanding I still enjoyed this episode. I really enjoyed having Sylar back. He's evil and loving it. It was good at least knowing something about Niki and Micah, although a belated RIP to DL. A question, did people think that Niki went to the Company because she has the disease or because she's wanting to get rid of her power? I initially thought she wanted to get rid of the power, but I've read theories that she has the disease. And of course, getting our weekly dose of a Star Trek alumna in Nichelle Nichols. Then there was Maya and Al..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Oh, sorry, I must have dozed off there. We continued the Peter in Ireland storyline with him discovering the powers he has, but just not how to access them. I will say that rewound the scene where Peter was choking the gang's traitor and that look of evil joy on his face was just scary. I sense bad things in Peter's future. Hiro in Japan is still fun and Kenzei is becoming a more interesting character. It seems that now that Hiro has helped him fulfill the stories that he knows, it would be time for him to leave, but it seems he's still attracted to the swordsmith's daughter. I liked how Ando was brought into the fold of the story. I really liked that storytelling trick.

And finally back to the Bennett/Mohinder story.

First off, here's an image of 8/8 (not for the squeamish):


Ok, what do we know about Isaac's paintings. They don't always come true in a very straightforward way. I would say that some don't come true at all, because New York didn't blow up, but the series isn't over yet. What we seem to have here is HRG dead from a bullet to the eye and Claire kissing some unknown guy. It would seem that the way the writers want us to think is that Claire and Peeping Tom the Stalker have killed HRG because he interfered with their love and now they're making out in celebration. I will be very interested to see how this one plays out.

My score: B- mainly because we're still setting up the pieces for whatever will happen.

Heroes Wednesday: Lizards

Really interesting title image from HeroesWiki

I enjoyed this episode quite a lot, but it honestly felt like a set up episode, getting everything ready for the rest of the season. We have Bennett/HRG/Noah bringing out Issac Mendez' painting of Kaito Nakamura's death and announcing that he had to find the rest of them (had we seen that painting before?) to Hiro convincing Kenzei to go and rescue the swordsmith.

I liked Parkman's subplot and still do. And I loved the whole interview with Mama Petrelli, from her saying that she wasn't sleeping with Kaito (for a long time...) to her yelling at Matt inside her head. It's always great when Matt's power gets subverted just a little, like when Bennett thought in Japanese last year in "Company Man."

Mohinder's role is still interesting, as opposed to the "vengeful" son role last year. I do wonder how much memory the Hatian left. If it was just what we saw or more or less.

Hiro is still having fun, but again, mainly set up for whatever happens with him, Kenzei, and the swordsmith's daughter. I do wonder if Hiro will be the real hero or if Kenzei will. Also, Kenzei as a regenerator? Did he know or not?

Claire is still very teenager-y which I like a whole lot, especially experimenting, but I've got to say that 1) cutting off the toe and its regeneration was simultaneously as cool and gross as her waking up from the autopsy last season; 2) I hope that she picks it up before Mr. Muggles gets to it; and 3) Hey West, peeking in a girl's window doesn't make you desireable; it makes them want to get a restraining order

I'm liking the Peter plot line as well and I like seeing him use his powers. If only we could have seen a bit more of that stuff in, oh, I don't know... THE SEASON FINALE!!! Sheesh.

I'm definitely missing Niki, DL, and Micah. I really want to see what's going on with them and Sylar. As for Maya and Alejandro... boring! I get that she's contagious in some way with her tears and Alejandro is her antidote, but I don't know if it's the actors or what, but this plot isn't as interesting to me as the others.

Like I said, still an enjoyable episode, but I'm eager to see what the payoff will be to all the setup.

Heroes Wednesday: Four Months Later...

Image from www.HeroesWiki.com

It's back and it was very good.

Yesterday, over on Scott's blog, there was just a little Heroes bashing going on. My feelings on Heroes going in are that it really has two issues from the start. 1) A lackluster season finale. The simple fact is that 90% of the Heroes viewers wanted a knockdown dragout fight that lasted for at least 15 minutes of the finale. We didn't get that and it was disappointing. 2) Heroes was such a surprise last year that it didn't have any expectations on it and now it does. Very similar to Lost after its first season. The challenge will be to see if it can keep the viewers or if people will get frustrated as I did with Lost.

So, to the episode. I really liked it a lot. As per usual, the Claire/HRG interaction was the best. I listened to some of the episode commentary by Tim Kring (the creator of the show) who mentioned that that relationship really was the heart of the show, replacing a traditional romance, and I think that's really true. It's no doubt the most emotionally resonant relationship. Of course, I wondered about timelines and why it took Claire 4 months to register in school while her dad has been working at the glorious CopyWorld for those months. Were the Bennets/Butlers still being careful or what? Also, is it really so warm in February in southern California that girls can wear tube tops to school? Obviously no Standard School Attire there. And what exactly are the cheerleaders cheering for? Football's over and basketball would be ending, and I've never seen baseball or soccer cheerleaders before. Not too sure about Claire's new peeping tom. I guess we'll see how that develops. And yes, I very much enjoyed HRG bad-assing the manager at CopyWorld. I still love how the writers can make him so gray and I still really like him.

I also like how he's working with Mohinder to try and bring the Company down, but I'm sure it's not going to be as easy as just infiltrating it. Nice intro of the ultimate "Hey, It's That Guy!" Stephen Toblowsky. Also, Mohinder and Parkman taking care of Molly? Very interesting. I really like the young actress that plays Molly. Very nice.

Speaking of Parkman, I like that he's a New York cop. I'm not sure about him cheating on the exam and I REALLY hope that this isn't the last we hear about the divorce. We can never actually see Janice again, but as a child of divorce I really expect to see that divorcing his pregnant wife really affects him in some way.

Hiro. Obviously this storyline is very reminiscent of the first Back to the Future movie, even quoting "Great-o Scott-o!" I'm hoping that it's not an extreme reworking of that. My thought is that either Hiro will become Kenzei, or the swordsmith's daughter will, as opposed to some redemption arc for English-Kenzei.

Wonder twins... or rather Maya and Alejandro. Speculation I've read is that Maya has a power/plague that kills people as is what happened, but it's neutralized when she's around Alejandro. If that's true, it's interesting and makes me wonder if it's related to the plague Mohinder was talking about.

And finally, the Nathan/Peter/Mama Petrelli/Mr. Nakamura storyline, which could be a post on its own. I think Nathan is the killer. I think he put the picture of Nakamura with the sign in the newspaper when he bumped into Ando. And I think he put the picture of Mama Petrelli in the hallway before he came in. Now, why would he be doing that? Why would he kill Mr. Nakamura? Revenge for the Company's plan which resulted in killing Peter? Or is it Peter himself seeking revenge? Follow me here. This is purely someone else's speculation, but it makes sense. We saw that Nathan saw something different than what we looks like in the mirror at the bar. What if that reflection is the result of Peter's contact with Niki/Jessica. Peter absorbed Jessica's power to put her personality into a sibling's reflection, and thus did it to Nathan when he "died" (as, perhaps, Jessica did to Niki when she died.) But then Peter regenerated with Claire's power... but his whole personality is in Nathan's reflection, so therefore his own body has no memory.

Obviously we don't know how Niki and Jessica became... fused or whatever. Possibly it had something to do with Jessica's death and so this would make a lot of sense. Now I could be wrong and whoever is killing the members of the Company's remaining 9 is Molly's monster or even someone completely different. We'll see. Oh, and did Nathan resign his position in Congress to become Neanderthal Nathan?

Btw, does anyone else think that Peter, Nathan, and Sylar returning, further cheapens the season finale last year? Hiro having to go through his Hero's journey to kill Sylar and it doesn't mean anything. Same thing with Peter and Nathan both returning, although if the speculation above is right, that would be cool, but still cheapen the finale.

Next week, I'm sure we'll see Niki and Micah and possibly the return of the not-so-dead Sylar.

Heroes Wednesday: The Rewatch and a Preview

I'm halfway through rewatching Season 1 of Heroes. Finished Homecoming a couple of nights ago and really enjoyed it again. I have my standard questions of course, such as how Peter was able to get from NYC to Midland, TX in a very few hours, but suspension of disbelief is a wonderful thing.

A few notes. I'm still not fully convinced that the producers knew what they were doing with the whole Sylar thing until this point in the season. For serial shows like this, I always wonder if the producers don't think they'll get a full season pickup and write a couple of outs into the show. It seems that by the time they would have been writing the Future Hiro visiting Peter in the subway, the show would have been a hit, and so they would have started writing certain aspects that played out the rest of the season. For instance, when Hiro and Ando are in the Burnt Toast Diner is when we get the first shots of Sylar, now played by Zach Quinto under the baseball cap. And everytime there's a shot of Sylar, we either see his watch or there's the sound of ticking. I'm still finding Bennett to be a compelling character, even though we know what side he ends up on, and I even found Eden to be much more interesting this time around. Simone... not so much.

At any rate, I'm really looking forward to the season premiere NEXT MONDAY!!!! WOO HOO, wait.... Aw crap. The Titans are playing Monday night in New Orleans. Why must the television gods taunt me so? Oh well. Thank goodness for dual tuner TiVo.

And now, a preview of next season. If you don't want to know what characters and/or actors return. Don't watch.



No thoughts on the video itself even though there seems to be a lot going on there, but I do have this extraneous thought... Episode 1 of Season 2 is entitled "Four Months Later..." I seriously, seriously hope that means it takes place in February, since that would four months after election day. As a continuity geek, it would really disappoint me if it started in August or September. Nonetheless, still very much looking forward to it.

Heroes Wednesday: The Rewatch

Did you hear? That the Heroes Season 1 DVD came out last Tuesday, and like any good fanboy, I've watched the first 4 episodes and the deleted scenes.



Some thoughts.

1) I'm not convinced that the producers and writers knew exactly what they were doing. For one thing, the characterization of Mama Petrelli is very different from the end of the season. I mean, seriously, who would have thought that the stone cold dragon lady at the end was the same as the shoplifting, confessing-that-Peter-was-her-favorite one at the beginning. Also, I don't think Sylar was thought out very well at the beginning. Mohinder's dad called him Patient Zero, indicating that he thought Sylar was the one from whom the power sprang possibly? Either Papa Suresh didn't know what he was talking about or Tim Kring didn't. Same difference I suppose. Plus, I would think that if the producers put the same thought into Sylar as they said they did into Molly Walker, they would have cast Quinto much earlier than they apparently did.

2) In Sylar's apartment, there was the hidden room with the map and the "confessional closet" with lots of religious language about forgiveness and sin on it. Possibly from the influence of his mother I suppose, but that part of the regret and remorse was never really followed up on. Also, did Mohinder ever use the key in his father's old journal that was hidden in the laptop?

3) Deleted scenes. I haven't watched the unaired pilot yet, but I plan to at some point. I did like some of the deleted scenes from the pilot, like DL just appearing out of his cell. I liked that a lot. Also, there was some subplot about Micah's grandmother calling Child Protective Services on Niki. Not too surprising there, but that was actually the reason Niki went to visit her, so that at least made a bit more sense.

I'm enjoying the rewatch so far. Obviously, I watch Heroes recognizing its flaws and just trying to have as much fun with it as possible. Three weeks to go until the premiere!

YouTube Thursday: Heroes Preview

You know, one month from tomorrow, Heroes returns to NBC. Here's a little something whet the appetite.

Standard promo



And this one which is just strikingly beautiful, and especially cool with the power walk at the end...



So there you go. What do you think is going to happen this year?

Heroes Wednesday: Year in Review

For a show about a flying man, an indestructible cheerleader, and a secret agent named Noah, Heroes didn't do that badly. According to PopMatters, Heroes was the most watched new show of the entire season and 23rd overall, averaging 13.5 viewers a week.

As you can find out by searching all the writing I did on Heroes this year, I was quite enamored with the show. I found the plots interesting and the way that things played out to be well done also. I wasn't completely happy with the finale, especially when compared to the apparently completely mindblowing ending of Lost, but well done, Island Dwellers.

Even though I know Sheryl won't read this because it'll be too long (love you, babe!) , let's run down the characters and where they came from in the course of the season...

• Hiro - Someone who really went on the hero's journey. I loved how he developed from the office geek to a true hero who possibly wanted to save the world because it enabled him to be a hero into someone who wanted to save the world and became a Hero as the result of it. (And who doesn't love Ando?)
• Nathan - The real question is did he plan all along to do what he did for Peter at the end or was it Claire's biting comments and then tres cool jump out the window? We'll either never know or find out next year. I thought the character overall was well played, although how he changed didn't have as much to do with his power as it did with gaining power, as pushed by his mom and Linderman.
• Peter - He was obviously the other one that we watched go through the Hero journey. We still don't know how powerful he will be if he survived his explosion (which I have to assume that he did, even if Nathan didn't), but it was very interesting to see him work with his power through the course of the season with his various mentors, Nathan on one hand and Claude on the other, who I really hope we see more of.
• Mohinder - Mohinder's best scenes were honestly with Sylar on the Road Trip of Doom. Him as the great Daddy avenger was not bad and good initial motivation, but I did like how he got more and more intertwined into the story. His scenes with Molly were nice at the end too.
• Parkman - On one hand, I'm really glad they dropped the wife storyline. It got tiresome, particularly in the face of saving the world. On the other hand, it grounded him and gave him some anchor, even if his wife was annoying and probably cheating on him.
• Niki - Oh thank goodness. I was so, so tired of her whiny "I'm not strong enough" tripe and when she finally admitted that she was strong enough and started whupping up on Candace and then Sylar. I'm looking forward to seeing new Niki next week.
• Micah and DL - Ummmm, except for getting a bullet in the gut, did DL change at all? And Micah might have rigged an election, but he was pretty static as well.
• Claire - Talk about embracing your destiny. She went from deeper-than-Jackie cheerleader and wanting to just be normal to having no issue with walking into a miniature nuclear holocaust to being willing to shoot her uncle in the head. Her next steps are going to be the most interesting to me.
• Bennett - I'm not sure I can ever call him Noah. He'll always be Bennett to me. I've got to say that Jack Coleman did some of the best acting on the show. He started as a guy that pretty much everyone assumed he was really evil to slightly evil with a strong love for his daughter to a morally gray guy working for the bad guys to a good guy with a slightly sociopathic streak. Still my favorite character on the show.
• Sylar - Aw poor Gabriel Gray. No one knows him except his "crazy" mother, so now he goes bad. And seriously bad. I'm not sure when he'll be back, but I'm positive that he will. Also, very well played by Zachary Quinto.

So there we are. All we really know about next season is that Hiro is stuck in the past and Claire and Bennett are heading "home." It's a long time until September but it was a great first season that I hope can keep it up.

Heroes Wednesday: How to Stop an Exploding Man

Image from HeroesWiki

So that's it. That's what happens in the end of the season. The Petrelli Brothers fly into the stratosphere and get blown up and Sylar crawls into the sewer, very wounded, but probably alive. Interesting.

Slightly different format this week than tracking the character arcs, mainly since they all collided in Kirby Square.

What I liked

• I actually liked the final fight. It wasn't as spectacular as it seemed like it could have been, but I wonder if some of that was writing themselves into a corner with Isaac's comic, all of which seemed to come true. Except for the explosion... unless it happens later. I thought Sylar was appropriately powerful, and it was a real struggle for the Heroes to take him down.
  
• Hiro taking care of Ando. For a storyline that got way off the rails earlier this year, very, very nice comeback.
• I loved the interplay between Micah and Molly. Both of them are so adorable and the little grins and smiles they shared just made you know their having fun.
• I really liked Niki finally realizing that she had access to the super strength and not just Jessica. It also seemed like Jessica willingly stepped aside to allow Niki to care for her family. Of course, stepping aside and being gone are two different things, it would seem. Loved Niki taking the parking meter upside Sylar's head and then how Peter almost immediately got her power with the way he started smacking Sylar around.
  
• Noah. It took all season, but I really liked the way we got it. It took the whole season and some good writing and great acting, but now we've got Noah Bennett, not simply HRG. Nicely done.
• I'll admit, I liked the prologue to next season. Some very interesting possibilities there.
• Richard Roundtree as Mr. Deavaux. Big shock to see him back and it just makes me ask the question, "Who IS the man that'll stand up for his brother man?"
• Molly's vision of the one worse than the bogeyman/Sylar. Nice set up for next year.
• Loved Claire's dive out the window.
  

What I didn't Like

• I also didn't like the fight. You're the top show on NBC, darnit! Suits! Pour some money into the show and get us some awesome special effects. I also didn't like how easy it was for Hiro to take Sylar out. I would have thought that Hiro should have teleported right in front of Sylar to stab him.
• I wasn't incredibly happy with Nathan and Peter ostensibly dying. Sure, I called it last week, but it still felt like a little bit of a cheat. And I know that in comic book and TV world and especially Comic Book/TV world, death is only real when the show is over, but still...
• I didn't like not finding out what really caused Peter and Deavaux to interact. I'm assuming we'll find out next year with Volume 2 being called "Generations," but it would have been nice to have some clarity or at least some idea.
  
• I don't like that it won't be until September to see the next one.
  

I liked the show pretty well. It was no Company Man or Five Years Gone. It also did some nice setup for next year and left the audience guessing on many things. 3.5 out 5 I would have to say.

Next Week: Thoughts on the season as a whole and predictions for next season.

Oh, and for the question above? If you answered, "Shaft!", you damn right.