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.