What's Happened So Far (up to episode 6)

For those of you just stumbling in to the season, let's take a moment to talk about what's transpired thus far in Season 3. I'll make a separate entry for the most recent episode and update more frequently as new episodes premiere.

Has a series ever waited until like 5 or 6 episodes in to the season to really announce what the point is? Yeah, we've known since episode 1 that a bored Hiro was charged with the responsiblity of safeguarding half of a potentially devastating formula, but as the season has worn on that's really fallen to the background, near forgotten, if you will. Rather, the main point behind the season is the (re)emergence of Papa Petrelli as an uber-bad guy who is assembling a Legion Of Doom Super Villain Group, who plans on using both halves of the doomsday formula to ply his evil trade. I'm waiting for the inevitable NBC voiceover for an upcoming trailer: "In next week's episode - Sides..will...be...drawn...Heroes vs. Villains." Yes, the season is shaping up to be what everyone has been aching for since the series began - a real showdown between good and bad. We're still waiting to see who goes on what side, it all depends on how long the writers want to draw this out. Anyway, let's catch up with some old friends and see what their status has been:

Adam: Brought back from the grave, literally, just to serve as a sacrificial lamb to Papa Petrelli. I mean, we all knew Adam wasn't going to stay buried underground forever. It's almost as if the writer's wanted to tuck him away for just this very reason. "Let's tuck Adam away for a while, he seemed to have resonated well with our test group and internet message boards. He's likeable enough that him dying would really mean something, but not important enough that we need to keep him around forever". Still, with 2 time travellers on the payroll, I wouldn't completely count him out. Also - why did he whither into dust when Papa P. took his power - but Peter didn't?

Nathan Petrelli: Ok, he's already met his quota for using his ability once this season, glad to see he's got that out of the way. Seriously - has any other person with a power used their ability less than Nathan has. I can only count three times off the top of my head (first episode, when he caught Peter who jumped off a building; season 1 finale when he flew Nuclear Peter into the atmosphere; season 3 when he saved a suicidal Tracey). Yeah, I know he's flown more than 3 times, I'm just saying he's only used his ability in terms of being a Hero roughly 3 times. Shit, even the Vortex/Black Hole guy used his ability 3 times...in one episode! I know flying is a pretty useless ability, but try to work it in the show more, guys.

Claire: I didn't think it was possible for this hottie to become a nottie (as in not interesting). What a 2-dimensional character. She hit her development sometime around season 2. Writers completely have given up on the whole "cheerleader struggling to maintain her popularity at school and keep her abilities a secret" storyline. Does she even still go to school?!? How does one go from just wanting to be a normal girl at school and keeping her powers under wraps to being a villain bounty hunter (an ineffective one, at that)? She doesn't have the powers to really overcome level 5 villains, a gun or a taser isn't going to cut it. Please, Claire, go back to school.

Hiro: Has basically become comic-relief. I love this character and his potential (remember Future Ninja Hiro that gave Peter the infamous "save the cheerleader, save the world" talk in the subway?) and he was a big hit with viewers cuz he alone embraced the whole comic-book mythos. But lately it seems that comic book mythos comes more from Archie and Jughead than XMen. Writers, what do you say we get Hiro back on track?

Suresh: He went from being completely useless & annoying at the start of the season (as he was since the beginning) to just mildly annoying. Kudos to the writers for ripping off the premise of The Fly and giving that storyline to Suresh and giving him a purpose other than to take Maya's shirt off and reveal the best tv side-boob action since Dennis Franz in NYPD Blue. One of the show's strength's is for a few characters they keep you guessing whether they're a hero or villain. People still don't know which HRG/Noah is. Speaking of which...

HRG/Noah: Man, how underutilized has this character been lately? For a show about people with abilities and powers - the one cool character who doesn't have any at all was still able to captivate fans of the show. This show easily could've morphed into a thing where audiences would moan "enough of these normal people - more Peter vs. Sylar battles!!", but for a normal person HRG delivers. His role this season has been to alternate between babysitting Sylar and saving Claire from her latest failure to capture a villain. Get this guy his Haitain sidekick again and let them do what they do.

Tracey: Hey, at least the writer's have figured out a new way to bring characters back from the dead, I'll give 'em that much. Unfortunately they ripped this plot device straight out of a cheesy soap opera. "I'm not Nikki...I'm her long lost sister. (dun dun DUNNNN)".

Parkman: So far this season he's been a very neutral character, in the sense that he isn't (nor really has ever been) an ultra integral factor in the storyline. Sure, he's a likeable enough character, especially now with a turtle as his sidekick, but the world isn't going to be saved or lost by Parkman alone. He doesn't hold that much sway, and the writers are taking a long time getting to the point of his purpose, unless the entire point this season is for Parkman to save the Speedster from a future death that won't happen since Peter and Hiro keep altering events. Still, his best quality is he doesn't make you go "ugh, not another Parkman scene again". Sometimes you can't ask for more than that. But anyway, Writers - please get to the point already.

Peter: As season 3 has shown thus far - has anyone with so much accomplished so little? The one person with immense power (or, as episode 7 will show, the one person who had immense power) yet his weakness - his kryponite if you will - is common sense. He's gone from the reluctant hero to the guy who, along with his future self, alters events as he sees fit and most often makes things worse for his meddling. Speaking of Peter's powers, it seems the writers once again have decided to try to take Peter out of the picture. Season 2 an already mega powerful Peter was shipped off - literally - to Ireland where he spent almost half the season with anmesia. Earlier this season the writers put Peter in the body of a villain for an episode or three. Now they've taken away his abilities altogether. I think they realize he's become too powerful for anyone outside of Sylar so they devise ways to kinda keep him out of the loop so you don't have this one giant walking among ants, squashing lesser powerful beings as he sees fit.

Sylar: The crown jewel of season 3 so far. What started off as a one-dimensional character who existed only to feed his "hunger" has morphed into the most dynamic person on the show. Is he playing the good guy role just to get closer to all the goodies (people with abilities) or is he really turning over a new leaf and leaving behind his villain past? We don't know so far, what we do know is Zachary Quinto has played the part perfectly all season. The single most driving force on this show is Sylar's storyline, it's the only one that makes sense and it doesn't involve the same "save the world" theme Heroes has every season. It's on a more personal level - a guy battling his inner demons to walk the line. We all know the world isn't going to end on this show, the good guys will find a way to win (comic book 101), so the guy whose storyline involves whether or not he can redeem himself is a great wildcard since no one knows how that's going to play out.


So there you have it so far, season 3. From this point on I'll comment on the episodes as they come out and throw in any other tidbit of insight as they arise.

Hero-shima

Heroes.

They've saved the cheerleader.

They've saved the world.

Who's going to save the show?

What started out as a gripping graphic novel-come-to-the-small-screen bonanza of a 1st season has devolved into what is at times a blatant soap opera. The writers have gone to the well one too many times with certain plot devices, leading to the following exchange at the weekly writer's meeting:

Writer A: Damn it! We need to have [insert dead character here] in this episode to move the plot along.

Writer B: How are we gonna write ourselves out of this jam? We're stuck unless [insert dead character here] can somehow not be dead.

Writer A and Writer B: (in unison) PETER PETRELLI'S TIME TRAVELLING ABILITY!!!

Writer A: Oh snap, we used that in last week's episode!

Writer B: Ah Ha! But we haven't used Hiro's time travelling ability yet this season!

Ok, we get it. Peter and Hiro can go back in time and erase bad writing ideas and resurrect anyone they wish. And God could've ended the world on the 8th day, or page 2 of the Bible, but that wouldn't have been fun, now would it? We understand they're all powerful characters, but let's move on and develop them more. The writers should inject themselves with Suresh's formula and give themselves the ability to know when to say goodbye to good characters.

But all is not lost. The emergence of Gabriel/Sylar as *the* single biggest force on the show is going to be this show's saving grace. Zachary Quinto is an amazing actor, which wasn't entirely evident in the 1st two seasons where his acting ability was limited to the "Sylar Face", you know, the one that said "I'm going to eat your brains and gain your knowledge" (sorry, shameless quote from Quentin Tarrantino's "Planet Terror" - we all know Sylar doesn't eat anyone's brains cuz, quite frankly Claire - that's disgusting). The series has spent enough time on Sylar The Hero Killer that this now emergence of "The Redemption Of Gabriel Petrelli" storyline is extremely fresh and nearly edge-of-your-seat-ish. Acting-wise Quinto is superior to Milo V., and the character of Gabriel is more dynamic and engaging than Peter, the guy with all the power in the world and whose only weakness was he lacks the common sense to use any of it.

There will be spoilers on this site, though only in the sense of past episodes. I'm not interested in finding out what happens in the next episode and I can't think anyone else is. This blog will assume anyone reading the latest entry has already viewed the previous episode.

Hero-shima. Ha, I'm fucking witty.