We made it.
Final episode of the year and of this current volume.
An end to one of the most up and down seasons for not only this series, but in probably all of tv-dom in recent memory. Has any series really had a season that combined some of it's lowest points with some memorable scenes? Any season in recent memory where one character has gone from bad, to good, back to evil again? Mind you, this was done over the course of only 13 episodes.
I'm going to go light on the criticism this time. I think by now everyone knows the cat is out of the bag, the show has writing and consistency problems and it isn't new or shocking to be the one to try to reveal "hey, this show isn't gold, it does have it's weak point". Besides, I'm not one to pull out a magnifying glass to look for anything to make fun of. No show is perfect. Let's review this last episode for what it was - the tv show equivalent of a basketball team that was down for most of the game hitting a key 3 pointer to tie the game up right as the buzzer sounded. Now we're at half-time, all tied up, all the mistakes and whatnot have been erased (but not forgotten) and you leave the crowd eager and excited for the 2nd half. That was episode 13. The preview for the upcoming volume couldn't have been any better. I literally said out loud "wow".
Can you not imagine the voiceover for the upcoming season:
"Heroes - they've saved the world....now they must...save...themselves. "
I look forward for a Heroes volume that doesn't involve the end of the world and/or mankind. There are some certainties that ruin the suspense of a show like Heroes. We know the world isn't going to end. There's no tension in that. Mankind is not going to be wiped out. A show like Heroes is like watching a Mission Impossible episode - you know the good guys are going to win, it's just a matter of how. We also like to see who is going to die (and stay dead). So for a season to be about Heroes being hunted like Jedi - who knows where that's going to go? This is unchartered territory. I like it.
Back to episode 13. We had some people die, to put it bluntly. Arthur we already knew was dead, but we weren't sure if he'd stay dead. It certainly seems that way, unless the writers want to completely remove any credibility and have the show become a parody of itself by constantly killing off characters and bringing them back. Arthur was odd - what was his ultimate vision? What was he ultimately trying to do? We only know he was a villain because he stopped at nothing to accomplish his goal, but that in and of itself doesn't a villain make. How exactly was he a threat to humanity, if anything he wanted to improve humanity by giving everyone a power. The writers didn't flesh that out too much. How was he anymore a villain than Angela, who was also manipulative. And the whole Arthur and Angela are Sylar's parents was handled so poorly, that was a pretty big revelation and the payoff was near nil.
Speaking of Sylar, it sure looks as if he's dead. Of course, this will be the 3rd time he's been down this road. This is the problem with not keeping characters dead - when you cry wolf so many times people tune you out that one time a wolf is actual at your door. Sylar "dying" just didn't hold that much weight. No one is convinced he's actually dead. It's not conceivable how he could be alive, but I think everyone won't bat an eyelash when the writers bring him back using some hokey nonsense excuse. But he certainly made a good villain in this last episode. I sort of wished he would have mindfucked everyone further, maybe had a major battle between 3 of the escaped convict villains at one time. His fight with the Puppet Master could've had more chutzpah.
That Fear Guy died out of nowhere. That's one guy I think we all agree will actually stay dead. I'm not convinced Arthur is completely out of the picture and certainly am not buying Sylar is dead, so that leaves one out of three. Classic sacrificial lamb scenario - someone has to die and stay definitely dead.
Funny thing happened at the end of the episode. Suresh got into a car being driven by Tracey. The only thought in my mind was "now that the two characters that annoy me the most are in the same car - couldn't the writers just have it blow up right now and kill two birds with one stone??". Further proof to back up my claim that NBC just wants to keep Ali Larter employed. I simply don't know what future hijinks they're going to put her in for the upcoming volume, and apparently she has a partner for whatever it's going to be. With Suresh's sly grin as he got into the car I'm going to assume he's going to play up his evil scientist role. And apparently the recipe for surviving exploding labs is to get covered in oodles of power-goo. Certainly seems like he's become just a tad more powerful.
Speaking of becoming just a tad more powerful, looks like Peter finally got his groove back. Only question remains is did he get his original power back - and was able to fly since he absorbed Nathan's ability - or did he just aquire the same weak flying ability as Nathan by coincidence. I'm going to bet he got his original power back, I'm sure the writers feel Milo V. suffered enough all season. Not cool enough to pull off being powerless like HRG can do. And was I the only one who put his head in his hands as Peter made a weak attempt to point the gun at Nathan trying to stop him? Did anyone think Peter was going to pull the trigger? I didn't think so. No tension at all there. Flint had the fastest flip-flopping in the series, btw. He went from going to beat up Peter/Suresh to teaming up with Peter to trash the lab to turning on Peter again in the end. In the same episode. Again, I'm not here to nitpick and criticize in this entry, just pointing things out.
This episode was too big to be contained to just one entry, I'm going to stop now and continue in a new entry to be released shortly or else my thoughts will be all over the place. We still have Hiro/Ando and a little bit of Claire to talk about.
December 18, 2008
December 10, 2008
Crystal Ball (Part 2)
I just wanted to take this opportunity to look back on a prediction I made in a previous entry that wound up coming true. It's uncanny how spot on I was:
Ummmm...wow? Kinda scary I also nailed how Arthur would be the one to give Peter that scar. Hey, some theories are easy to predict - like Elle not lasting too much longer since Kristen Bell was still being mentioned as a "special guest star" and not one of the main cast - others take guts and a keen sense of insight to make. Too bad I wasn't able to predict the Haitian's power could be overcome by a more powerful person (in this case, Arthur). I also couldn't have predicted that the Haitian's power would stop working altogether as a result of being overcome by Arthur, thus allowing Sylar to use his own powers. So, the Haitian's ability just stopped working just like that? Sure, he was mentally spent but I already pointed out he doesn't need to be concentrating for his ability to work, as evidenced by Parkman's power not working in Primatech and when Hiro was trying to steal the formula back and the Haitian was in the in the movie theater; it took Hiro and Ando combined to beat him by ambushing him since Hiro's power wasn't working around the Haitian.
One thing that sucks about Peter being scarred is now for the rest of the series Milo V. will have to wear that scar on his face. And how the hell are we gonna tell the difference between Future Peter and Present Peter now! OMG!
My bigger overall point is this (and I'm glad the reader who made the comment allowed me to flesh out my thoughts) - how many more times is Peter going to be without his powers? How many more times in this series future will Peter not have the ability to regenerate himself? As soon as he gets his power back (even if it's just his power absorbtion ability) he's going to run into someone who can regenerate (most likely Claire) so it's safe to say Peter will always have the regen ability in one form or another. How many more times can the writers go to that plot device where Peter is powerless? The answer to this question is "not likely to happen many more times, if at all". I think this will be the only time Peter is without his powers, thus making this the only time he could be scarred and not heal himself. Furthermore I think this will be the scar that Future Peter displays. Again, thanks to the person who commented on this to begin with. I look forward to the people who point out things I may have overlooked and I look forward to seeing if I was ultimately right or wrong.
Peter's scar that Future Peter has on his face is going to be related to Peter
fighting his dad. Think about it - he had Claire's regeneration ability, so
the only way that Peter could get scarred facially is if he didn't have that
power. It just so happens he's in that very predicament right now, so look
for the battle that brings about that wicked scar to happen sometime
soon.
Ummmm...wow? Kinda scary I also nailed how Arthur would be the one to give Peter that scar. Hey, some theories are easy to predict - like Elle not lasting too much longer since Kristen Bell was still being mentioned as a "special guest star" and not one of the main cast - others take guts and a keen sense of insight to make. Too bad I wasn't able to predict the Haitian's power could be overcome by a more powerful person (in this case, Arthur). I also couldn't have predicted that the Haitian's power would stop working altogether as a result of being overcome by Arthur, thus allowing Sylar to use his own powers. So, the Haitian's ability just stopped working just like that? Sure, he was mentally spent but I already pointed out he doesn't need to be concentrating for his ability to work, as evidenced by Parkman's power not working in Primatech and when Hiro was trying to steal the formula back and the Haitian was in the in the movie theater; it took Hiro and Ando combined to beat him by ambushing him since Hiro's power wasn't working around the Haitian.
One thing that sucks about Peter being scarred is now for the rest of the series Milo V. will have to wear that scar on his face. And how the hell are we gonna tell the difference between Future Peter and Present Peter now! OMG!
Note (updated 12/11): A reader of the site keenly pointed out that the scar that Peter aquired in this latest episode is not the same scar that Future Peter has. For reference, check out the massive Future Peter scar:
My bigger overall point is this (and I'm glad the reader who made the comment allowed me to flesh out my thoughts) - how many more times is Peter going to be without his powers? How many more times in this series future will Peter not have the ability to regenerate himself? As soon as he gets his power back (even if it's just his power absorbtion ability) he's going to run into someone who can regenerate (most likely Claire) so it's safe to say Peter will always have the regen ability in one form or another. How many more times can the writers go to that plot device where Peter is powerless? The answer to this question is "not likely to happen many more times, if at all". I think this will be the only time Peter is without his powers, thus making this the only time he could be scarred and not heal himself. Furthermore I think this will be the scar that Future Peter displays. Again, thanks to the person who commented on this to begin with. I look forward to the people who point out things I may have overlooked and I look forward to seeing if I was ultimately right or wrong.
December 9, 2008
Episode 12: "Our Father"
I have to say one thing about this latest episode - finally.
Finally the show delivered. Sure, I have some nitpicky items to complain about but overall it was a supremely done episode. If I was scoring at home I think there was about 5 minutes total of people using powers - the rest was all good dialogue and brisk pacing of the plot. Great scenes, the two that stick out mostly were present-day Claire pleading with HRG-from-the-past and Hiro's scene with his mother. Both Past-HRG and Hiro's mom took huge leaps of faith (Hiro's mom encounters a stranger who claims to be her son from the future and she believes him just like that), but with only one more episode for this volume to go we really didn't have a lot of time to nuture those storylines so it's understandable. Hey, I'm firm but fair.
I applaud the writers for throwing us the curveball of Hiro losing his powers and getting stuck in the past so soon after having his memory restored. No one saw that coming at all and this is what the series needs - unpredictability. It doesn't make sense that The Company had 2 healers in the group - Linderman and now Hiro's mom. Rather redundant, wouldn't you say? But that's for another debate. It was a gripping scene that went beyond people simply using powers. And again, the same applied to the Claire/HRG scene. This latest episode also showed us how Ando winds up getting that power that Future Ando displayed against Future Hiro. So obviously Ando goes to Pinehearst soon, attempts to get a time travelling power and winds up with that ability to shoot blasts of energy/fire/laser/whatever. Also after the Marine was injected with a power and got that super strength he seemed to exhibit some aggressiveness - possible side effect perhaps? Is that what causes Future Ando to turn on Hiro? Suresh surely became overly aggressive after injecting himself with his failed prototype serum. Kinda all would make sense.
Ok, you don't come here for rave reviews and for glowing praise, you want nitpicking. Here we go:
Sylar, pick a damn side! So what are you now - a villain again but you kill only bad guys (like Showtime's Dexter)? A rogue villain, so to speak? Don't get me wrong, Sylar stepping in and being the one to kill Arthur instead of the completely useless and inept Peter makes complete sense here, it's just what is his motive now? Kill the people on that phone list who have powers? So basically Sylar has come full circle, I see. So we've spent an entire season jumping through hoops just to come back to the same point - Sylar is a villain and hungers for other people's powers. Much of the early season plot regarding Sylar was made moot and irrevelent - his brief relationship with Elle (glad to see she's really dead, that's 2 dead people, zero people coming back to life for those scoring at home); the whole Sylar is a Petrelli farce; Sylar wanting to redeem himself and let's not forget the most important: Sylar not having to kill people to get their powers. What what the point of Arthur showing Sylar that he could use empathy to take other people's powers? And I want to add I'm really tired of the show inventing these temporary characters who have abilities to serve as a way for Sylar to get a power to complete a certain task. So the girl with the retarded human lie detector ability was created SOLELY for the purpose to serve as a sacrificial lamb to Sylar so he could ask Arthur one question. Quite a reach there, eh?
Tracey - completely useless. Her whole thing recently was to plot behind Nathan's back to manipulate him into joining his dad. Which he did.....ON HIS OWN. What did she accomplish! I am aggravated at this character. And was it just my tv or was Ali Larter wearing the most unnecessarily *bright* red dress you've ever scene? That dress' red was so loud my ears are still ringing. Talk about popping right off the screen. Anyway, she is utterly useless and has always been, whether her name is Niki, Jessica, Tracey or Hilda The One Eyed Sea Hag. She's part of the my triumverate of hated characters - Peter, Tracey and Suresh. Ugh.
I spent the entire scene where Peter was struggling to pull the trigger on his dad with my head in my hand, peeking out through my fingers. That is, I was completely annoyed and flabbergasted in the lunacy that is the Peter Petrelli character, but I didn't want to miss the scene. It's official - I hate Peter Petrelli. I'm also not liking how they put a limitation on the Haitian's ability. Listen - either he shuts off your powers or he doesn't. Yes, Arthur was immensely powerful (one power he apparently had was the nifty ability to always know where Hiro was), but if the Haitian shut off his powers then there shouldn't have been anything Arthur could do. The Haitian doesn't even need to be concentrating for his power to be used - in season 1 when Parkman followed HRG to Primatech he was spying on HRG and couldn't read HRG's mind, unbeknownst to him it was because the Haitian was somewhere in the vicinity, even though Parkman was hiding. So if the Haitian can affect your powers without even knowing you're there then one can only assume what happens when he has his full concentration on you. Writers - you created this universe on Heroes...stick to the rules you create. Don't change things as you see fit.
But yeah, this is just minor stuff. Great episode overall. Apparently the next episode is going to be chock full o' action, with it being the last episode of this year and volume. I saw the preview and Hiro has his samurai sword. Looks like you can take the power out of a man - but you can't take away his ABILITY TO REGULATE, SON.
Finally the show delivered. Sure, I have some nitpicky items to complain about but overall it was a supremely done episode. If I was scoring at home I think there was about 5 minutes total of people using powers - the rest was all good dialogue and brisk pacing of the plot. Great scenes, the two that stick out mostly were present-day Claire pleading with HRG-from-the-past and Hiro's scene with his mother. Both Past-HRG and Hiro's mom took huge leaps of faith (Hiro's mom encounters a stranger who claims to be her son from the future and she believes him just like that), but with only one more episode for this volume to go we really didn't have a lot of time to nuture those storylines so it's understandable. Hey, I'm firm but fair.
I applaud the writers for throwing us the curveball of Hiro losing his powers and getting stuck in the past so soon after having his memory restored. No one saw that coming at all and this is what the series needs - unpredictability. It doesn't make sense that The Company had 2 healers in the group - Linderman and now Hiro's mom. Rather redundant, wouldn't you say? But that's for another debate. It was a gripping scene that went beyond people simply using powers. And again, the same applied to the Claire/HRG scene. This latest episode also showed us how Ando winds up getting that power that Future Ando displayed against Future Hiro. So obviously Ando goes to Pinehearst soon, attempts to get a time travelling power and winds up with that ability to shoot blasts of energy/fire/laser/whatever. Also after the Marine was injected with a power and got that super strength he seemed to exhibit some aggressiveness - possible side effect perhaps? Is that what causes Future Ando to turn on Hiro? Suresh surely became overly aggressive after injecting himself with his failed prototype serum. Kinda all would make sense.
Ok, you don't come here for rave reviews and for glowing praise, you want nitpicking. Here we go:
Sylar, pick a damn side! So what are you now - a villain again but you kill only bad guys (like Showtime's Dexter)? A rogue villain, so to speak? Don't get me wrong, Sylar stepping in and being the one to kill Arthur instead of the completely useless and inept Peter makes complete sense here, it's just what is his motive now? Kill the people on that phone list who have powers? So basically Sylar has come full circle, I see. So we've spent an entire season jumping through hoops just to come back to the same point - Sylar is a villain and hungers for other people's powers. Much of the early season plot regarding Sylar was made moot and irrevelent - his brief relationship with Elle (glad to see she's really dead, that's 2 dead people, zero people coming back to life for those scoring at home); the whole Sylar is a Petrelli farce; Sylar wanting to redeem himself and let's not forget the most important: Sylar not having to kill people to get their powers. What what the point of Arthur showing Sylar that he could use empathy to take other people's powers? And I want to add I'm really tired of the show inventing these temporary characters who have abilities to serve as a way for Sylar to get a power to complete a certain task. So the girl with the retarded human lie detector ability was created SOLELY for the purpose to serve as a sacrificial lamb to Sylar so he could ask Arthur one question. Quite a reach there, eh?
Tracey - completely useless. Her whole thing recently was to plot behind Nathan's back to manipulate him into joining his dad. Which he did.....ON HIS OWN. What did she accomplish! I am aggravated at this character. And was it just my tv or was Ali Larter wearing the most unnecessarily *bright* red dress you've ever scene? That dress' red was so loud my ears are still ringing. Talk about popping right off the screen. Anyway, she is utterly useless and has always been, whether her name is Niki, Jessica, Tracey or Hilda The One Eyed Sea Hag. She's part of the my triumverate of hated characters - Peter, Tracey and Suresh. Ugh.
I spent the entire scene where Peter was struggling to pull the trigger on his dad with my head in my hand, peeking out through my fingers. That is, I was completely annoyed and flabbergasted in the lunacy that is the Peter Petrelli character, but I didn't want to miss the scene. It's official - I hate Peter Petrelli. I'm also not liking how they put a limitation on the Haitian's ability. Listen - either he shuts off your powers or he doesn't. Yes, Arthur was immensely powerful (one power he apparently had was the nifty ability to always know where Hiro was), but if the Haitian shut off his powers then there shouldn't have been anything Arthur could do. The Haitian doesn't even need to be concentrating for his power to be used - in season 1 when Parkman followed HRG to Primatech he was spying on HRG and couldn't read HRG's mind, unbeknownst to him it was because the Haitian was somewhere in the vicinity, even though Parkman was hiding. So if the Haitian can affect your powers without even knowing you're there then one can only assume what happens when he has his full concentration on you. Writers - you created this universe on Heroes...stick to the rules you create. Don't change things as you see fit.
But yeah, this is just minor stuff. Great episode overall. Apparently the next episode is going to be chock full o' action, with it being the last episode of this year and volume. I saw the preview and Hiro has his samurai sword. Looks like you can take the power out of a man - but you can't take away his ABILITY TO REGULATE, SON.
December 8, 2008
The Eclipse: Part Two (Part 2)
I love how the writers have been reading this blog, or at the very least heading the growing sentiment on the internet - and had Claire proclaim on this episode [to paraphrase] "I have no business trying to fight bad guys...I'm just a stupid cheerleader".
Thank you, Claire, for your honesty.
That was a very feelgood moment for me. I felt vindicated. Like when you've been trying to tell a friend they don't look good in the color brown and one day, as if they figured it out all by themself, they state "ya know, I'm gonna stop wearing brown, I just don't look good in this color". Now I'm vaguely excited about where her storyline goes as it now appears she's gonna put the whole "fighting villains" thing down for a bit. Does she go back to school? Goes into hiding since every bad guy on Pineherst's payroll is out for her? I say with Sylar thisclose to killing her dad she goes back to trying to take down villains, in other words business as usual. Whatever happens I just hope this is the last season of this whole "save the cheerleader" theme. We get it. She's important. If she's that important she should be locked up in Level 5 where it's safe.
I'm still miffed at how easily Sylar has gone back to the old Sylar. That didn't last long. I already talked about this so I won't go there again. What a shame.
Let the records show Part Two of The Eclipse had the coolest moment in Nathan's Heroes career. Did anyone think a guy who could fly could really be a threat to anyone, let alone someone else with powers? But the way Nathan took out the Haitian's brother - flying at him and ultimately crashing him into a truck - displayed the awesome potential of Nathan and his abilities. Why haven't we seen this before? It really took 3 seasons to get this character to do something awesome with his power? Wth this latest episode it's hinted Nathan is going back to his old self - colluding with someone with bad intentions for some epic plan that will affect mankind. Only difference this time is Nathan has come to think this way of his own accord and not because someone higher up was pulling the strings behind the scenes. Sure seems like Nathan will be joining his dad's side as he thinks everyone should have a power. I applaud the writers for at least making it very plausible as to how Nathan would come to that conclusion (witnessing innocent people get abused in the village).
And let me just be the first to admit that now that Peter doesn't have any powers - and this has gone on longer than I thought it would - I actually don't find him to be as annoying these days. He doesn't have the ability to get in the way, can't shape things as he sees fit. Just as shame the writers have decided that they only way they can solve the problem of Peter being too powerful is to remove his powers. That's lazy. Tim Kring (creator of the show) mentioned that since he originally wanted new characters every season he didn't anticipate having to deal with this issue of an uber-power person walking among lesser-powered people - and I can understand that conundrum - but it just feels a little too "easy" to just remove all of his abilities. Listen, writers, at some point you're going to have to deal with Peter. Either you remove him from the show or you give him his powers back and let him run amok. Now is the perfect time. If I had to bet I'm going to say Peter will get his original power back (ability to absorb other powers) but will have lost all the powers he aquired. Kinda like a reset. Just like how Sylar doesn't use all of the powers he aquired since season 1. Right now all he uses is just his telekinesis and regenerating ability he stole from Claire. But I do think that's how the writers will give themselves a temporary out, simply letting Peter gradually build his powers back up again. Of course, that's basically how our government is solving our financial crisis - temporary wiping out current mistakes and delaying having to deal with the root of the problem. The root of the Heroes problem is the show doesn't want to have a bunch of Peter's and Sylar's running amok. I don't think everyone on this show was supposed to have these insane powers. I think it was supposed to be a bunch of Nathan's and Claire's, you know, people with simple abilities. It's costly to have mega special effects all the time to do all these powers. I don't think this was a road the show really wanted to go down. Don't get me wrong - it's exciting to have people with powers duking it out - but eventually it'll always come down to Peter and Sylar being too powerful for everyone else and the writer's having to think of new zany ways to limit the damage that Peter and Sylar can do. Look at what they've done to Hiro, to prove my point. Writers felt the best way to reduce the influence that Hiro can have on outcomes is to make him think he's a kid.
Thank you, Claire, for your honesty.
That was a very feelgood moment for me. I felt vindicated. Like when you've been trying to tell a friend they don't look good in the color brown and one day, as if they figured it out all by themself, they state "ya know, I'm gonna stop wearing brown, I just don't look good in this color". Now I'm vaguely excited about where her storyline goes as it now appears she's gonna put the whole "fighting villains" thing down for a bit. Does she go back to school? Goes into hiding since every bad guy on Pineherst's payroll is out for her? I say with Sylar thisclose to killing her dad she goes back to trying to take down villains, in other words business as usual. Whatever happens I just hope this is the last season of this whole "save the cheerleader" theme. We get it. She's important. If she's that important she should be locked up in Level 5 where it's safe.
I'm still miffed at how easily Sylar has gone back to the old Sylar. That didn't last long. I already talked about this so I won't go there again. What a shame.
Let the records show Part Two of The Eclipse had the coolest moment in Nathan's Heroes career. Did anyone think a guy who could fly could really be a threat to anyone, let alone someone else with powers? But the way Nathan took out the Haitian's brother - flying at him and ultimately crashing him into a truck - displayed the awesome potential of Nathan and his abilities. Why haven't we seen this before? It really took 3 seasons to get this character to do something awesome with his power? Wth this latest episode it's hinted Nathan is going back to his old self - colluding with someone with bad intentions for some epic plan that will affect mankind. Only difference this time is Nathan has come to think this way of his own accord and not because someone higher up was pulling the strings behind the scenes. Sure seems like Nathan will be joining his dad's side as he thinks everyone should have a power. I applaud the writers for at least making it very plausible as to how Nathan would come to that conclusion (witnessing innocent people get abused in the village).
And let me just be the first to admit that now that Peter doesn't have any powers - and this has gone on longer than I thought it would - I actually don't find him to be as annoying these days. He doesn't have the ability to get in the way, can't shape things as he sees fit. Just as shame the writers have decided that they only way they can solve the problem of Peter being too powerful is to remove his powers. That's lazy. Tim Kring (creator of the show) mentioned that since he originally wanted new characters every season he didn't anticipate having to deal with this issue of an uber-power person walking among lesser-powered people - and I can understand that conundrum - but it just feels a little too "easy" to just remove all of his abilities. Listen, writers, at some point you're going to have to deal with Peter. Either you remove him from the show or you give him his powers back and let him run amok. Now is the perfect time. If I had to bet I'm going to say Peter will get his original power back (ability to absorb other powers) but will have lost all the powers he aquired. Kinda like a reset. Just like how Sylar doesn't use all of the powers he aquired since season 1. Right now all he uses is just his telekinesis and regenerating ability he stole from Claire. But I do think that's how the writers will give themselves a temporary out, simply letting Peter gradually build his powers back up again. Of course, that's basically how our government is solving our financial crisis - temporary wiping out current mistakes and delaying having to deal with the root of the problem. The root of the Heroes problem is the show doesn't want to have a bunch of Peter's and Sylar's running amok. I don't think everyone on this show was supposed to have these insane powers. I think it was supposed to be a bunch of Nathan's and Claire's, you know, people with simple abilities. It's costly to have mega special effects all the time to do all these powers. I don't think this was a road the show really wanted to go down. Don't get me wrong - it's exciting to have people with powers duking it out - but eventually it'll always come down to Peter and Sylar being too powerful for everyone else and the writer's having to think of new zany ways to limit the damage that Peter and Sylar can do. Look at what they've done to Hiro, to prove my point. Writers felt the best way to reduce the influence that Hiro can have on outcomes is to make him think he's a kid.
December 4, 2008
Episode 10 - Eclipse, Part Two (Part 1)
Do it.
Just do it already.
This is what I said to the tv - to HRG specifically - as he held a boxcutter to Sylar's throat. Do it - just kill Sylar. Telling the writers to finally grow a scrotum and revolutionize this series with a jawdropping turn of events. And yes, HRG did kill Sylar. For a short while it seemed this show was throwing out all conventional wisdom and doing something out of left field. But alas, the writers lacked the balls to stick to their guns and as the eclipse faded away and Sylar reemereged, it was all back to the same old, same old. Old friends coming and going, and coming back again. The Heroes way of doing things. Imagine all the internet buzz had Sylar was really killed off? All the positive chatter and hype and hoopla returning to this series that hasn't seen positive chatter, hype and hoopla since season 1. Don't get me wrong - Sylar is my favorite character on the show. Absolutely love him. But I love the show more than I love Sylar and killing him off would've pumped new blood and electricity into this series that's in rapid viewership decline. Let's face it, by all standards Heroes is still a hit series but a show can only bleed viewers for so long until it gets the axe. It won't happen this season, nor next. But suddenly a world without Heroes isn't so hard to imagine these days. Sure looks like Elle is done for, but that's not really shocking all that much and if she really has died (and at this point you can't assume people are dead for long anymore) it was a cheap consolation. The show needed Sylar to be dead. They indeed pulled the trigger and shot him, but once more the gun was loaded with blanks.
Ok, with that out of the way let's continue.
HRG, welcome back. I can hardly think of a better episode you've been in than this past episode. Manipulating people. Hunting suckers down. Killing. All in a day's work for a badass. I also want to thank him for finally laying down to rest the whole "Sylar is a Petrelli" farce. I've already pointed out why that didn't make any sense. Seemed kinda anti-climatic to reveal it that way, though, I was expecting Arthur to doublecross Sylar at an opportune time and with Arthur stating the truth, almost like a reverse Empire Strikes Back moment ("Luke, I am *not* your father"). One thing that is growing increasingly annoying is the fact that Sylar - tv's best villain - is so easy to manipulate. Evil Sylar becomes Good Gabriel because Angela Petrelli tells him she's his mother. Now because a person thisclose to dying reveals to him that he isn't a Petrelli and all of a sudden Sylar is a villain again? Really? Just like that? I understand a season can't go on forever, so unlike a novel the writers don't have an awful lot of time to gradually build things up, but this is lunacy. Sylar has gone from villain to a good guy looking to redeem himself to back to a villain in - get this - half of a season. We're still in the same volume that started back in September. Just 10 episodes in. How can you have a character flipflop like that, willy nilly? I shake my head in disappointment, writers, tisk tisk.
*sigh*
Anyway, one other thing this episode brought was possibly the best Hiro moment thus far. The whole Hiro arriving just in time to save HRG from Sylar by teleporting "Bad man" out of the house - awesome. That's one thing I didn't see coming and it's nice to be surprised. I don't know why Hiro brought Elle to the same place Sylar was, but we'll chalk that up to the mistake of a 10 year old mind. Also, I'm glad we've reached the end of the line with the 9th Wonders comic book (save for Isaac Mendez's unpublished final copy that apparently is going to come into play very soon). The show has several tools, or tricks, in their arsenal they've utilized one too many times - people dying then coming back to life through miracle blood; time travellers altering past/present/future; trotting out HRG at opportune times as the answer to a particular problem, etc - but one recurring trick has been the use of the 9th Wonders comic books as a way to move the story along. Characters in a bind had this apparent book of knowledge that would reveal the future and help explain what their next move should be. It's nice that the writers have answered a question that was growing in internet message board - how many comic books did Isaac Mendez write that a character killed off in season 1 can still be affecting events 2 seasons later by way of his comic books??. The answer is he wrote 2 seasons worth of comic books and now the well has run dry at last (finally!). You mean people will have to figure out things by themselves ? Yes! I'm happy the writers decided to do away with that crutch. The problem with a show about heroes is it gives the writers all these fictional avenues to help write themselves out of jams when they reach a dead end.
Time to see what other tricks the writers have up their sleeves. And if one of those tricks involve a person with the ability to cause eclipses, thereby flicking a switch and turning people's powers on and off - then I will simply end this blog and watch something educational.
Just do it already.
This is what I said to the tv - to HRG specifically - as he held a boxcutter to Sylar's throat. Do it - just kill Sylar. Telling the writers to finally grow a scrotum and revolutionize this series with a jawdropping turn of events. And yes, HRG did kill Sylar. For a short while it seemed this show was throwing out all conventional wisdom and doing something out of left field. But alas, the writers lacked the balls to stick to their guns and as the eclipse faded away and Sylar reemereged, it was all back to the same old, same old. Old friends coming and going, and coming back again. The Heroes way of doing things. Imagine all the internet buzz had Sylar was really killed off? All the positive chatter and hype and hoopla returning to this series that hasn't seen positive chatter, hype and hoopla since season 1. Don't get me wrong - Sylar is my favorite character on the show. Absolutely love him. But I love the show more than I love Sylar and killing him off would've pumped new blood and electricity into this series that's in rapid viewership decline. Let's face it, by all standards Heroes is still a hit series but a show can only bleed viewers for so long until it gets the axe. It won't happen this season, nor next. But suddenly a world without Heroes isn't so hard to imagine these days. Sure looks like Elle is done for, but that's not really shocking all that much and if she really has died (and at this point you can't assume people are dead for long anymore) it was a cheap consolation. The show needed Sylar to be dead. They indeed pulled the trigger and shot him, but once more the gun was loaded with blanks.
Ok, with that out of the way let's continue.
HRG, welcome back. I can hardly think of a better episode you've been in than this past episode. Manipulating people. Hunting suckers down. Killing. All in a day's work for a badass. I also want to thank him for finally laying down to rest the whole "Sylar is a Petrelli" farce. I've already pointed out why that didn't make any sense. Seemed kinda anti-climatic to reveal it that way, though, I was expecting Arthur to doublecross Sylar at an opportune time and with Arthur stating the truth, almost like a reverse Empire Strikes Back moment ("Luke, I am *not* your father"). One thing that is growing increasingly annoying is the fact that Sylar - tv's best villain - is so easy to manipulate. Evil Sylar becomes Good Gabriel because Angela Petrelli tells him she's his mother. Now because a person thisclose to dying reveals to him that he isn't a Petrelli and all of a sudden Sylar is a villain again? Really? Just like that? I understand a season can't go on forever, so unlike a novel the writers don't have an awful lot of time to gradually build things up, but this is lunacy. Sylar has gone from villain to a good guy looking to redeem himself to back to a villain in - get this - half of a season. We're still in the same volume that started back in September. Just 10 episodes in. How can you have a character flipflop like that, willy nilly? I shake my head in disappointment, writers, tisk tisk.
*sigh*
Anyway, one other thing this episode brought was possibly the best Hiro moment thus far. The whole Hiro arriving just in time to save HRG from Sylar by teleporting "Bad man" out of the house - awesome. That's one thing I didn't see coming and it's nice to be surprised. I don't know why Hiro brought Elle to the same place Sylar was, but we'll chalk that up to the mistake of a 10 year old mind. Also, I'm glad we've reached the end of the line with the 9th Wonders comic book (save for Isaac Mendez's unpublished final copy that apparently is going to come into play very soon). The show has several tools, or tricks, in their arsenal they've utilized one too many times - people dying then coming back to life through miracle blood; time travellers altering past/present/future; trotting out HRG at opportune times as the answer to a particular problem, etc - but one recurring trick has been the use of the 9th Wonders comic books as a way to move the story along. Characters in a bind had this apparent book of knowledge that would reveal the future and help explain what their next move should be. It's nice that the writers have answered a question that was growing in internet message board - how many comic books did Isaac Mendez write that a character killed off in season 1 can still be affecting events 2 seasons later by way of his comic books??. The answer is he wrote 2 seasons worth of comic books and now the well has run dry at last (finally!). You mean people will have to figure out things by themselves ? Yes! I'm happy the writers decided to do away with that crutch. The problem with a show about heroes is it gives the writers all these fictional avenues to help write themselves out of jams when they reach a dead end.
Time to see what other tricks the writers have up their sleeves. And if one of those tricks involve a person with the ability to cause eclipses, thereby flicking a switch and turning people's powers on and off - then I will simply end this blog and watch something educational.
December 2, 2008
Correction (ie, I was wrong)
A reader of the blog submitted the following comment with regards to my criticism of Elle knowing where to locate Claire, you know, the whole scene where HRG kicked Sylar's ass.
I recently viewed the episode again to clear this up, and yes - I was incorrect. Sylar distinctly pointed out he knew how HRG thinks and was able to deduce where HRG would hide Claire. Ok, with that out of the way, let me reiterate - how? Sylar did aquire the ability to touch an object and know it's history but that's about it. He only had a minimal amount of encounters with HRG, they were only a team for one mission. There just wasn't enough of a history between the two where it could be obvious that they both knew how the other operated. The show didn't suggest Sylar knew HRG's whereabouts due to a power - he was just using his noggin'. Whether Sylar said it or Claire said it is mostly irrelevant, the point is it was cheap and lazy writing. I'd rather Arthur had used his future seeing ability to draw a picture of where Claire and HRG were hiding and THEN Sylar saying "hey, I know where that is - I've been there before!". Now THAT would've made more sense.
But anyway, I write this to point out readers of this blog can sometimes know more than I. I know, it's scary to think, but I give credit where it's due. Good job, whoever posted that comment.
Anonymous
It was Sylar, not Elle, who knew Noah would take Claire to
Stephen Canfield's house. While he worked with Noah earlier in the season,
Sylar's ability allowed him to understand very quickly the way Mr. Bennet thinks
and acts. With this knowledge and their previous run in at the same place, Sylar
deduced Claire and Noah's location.
I recently viewed the episode again to clear this up, and yes - I was incorrect. Sylar distinctly pointed out he knew how HRG thinks and was able to deduce where HRG would hide Claire. Ok, with that out of the way, let me reiterate - how? Sylar did aquire the ability to touch an object and know it's history but that's about it. He only had a minimal amount of encounters with HRG, they were only a team for one mission. There just wasn't enough of a history between the two where it could be obvious that they both knew how the other operated. The show didn't suggest Sylar knew HRG's whereabouts due to a power - he was just using his noggin'. Whether Sylar said it or Claire said it is mostly irrelevant, the point is it was cheap and lazy writing. I'd rather Arthur had used his future seeing ability to draw a picture of where Claire and HRG were hiding and THEN Sylar saying "hey, I know where that is - I've been there before!". Now THAT would've made more sense.
But anyway, I write this to point out readers of this blog can sometimes know more than I. I know, it's scary to think, but I give credit where it's due. Good job, whoever posted that comment.
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