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.
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Whilst killing Sylar would have been a created some chatter I doubt most of it would have been positive. In reality who would be able to take Sylar's place as the big baddie? Pa Petrelli isn't going to last beyond this volume and the 'puppet master' is still locked away in Level 5.
ReplyDeleteLogically the whole Sylar is a Petrelli thing made sense because of the similarities in power between Pa Petrelli, Peter and Sylar. What I'm pissed about is the writers have obviously spent time building this idea into the show and now they're seemingly abandoning the idea. Additionally will someone decide once and for all for the rest of this season will Sylar be a hero or a villain this constant flip-flopping is ridiculous. Again related to Sylar, why kill Elle? There's no reason for it, OK Kristen Bell is no longer able to work on Heroes, have HRG kill her then! As it stands Sylar killing Elle just looks like a rushed decision to somehow ensure Sylar is evil again before the next episode.
One thing that you seem to have left out is that after all the hype, The Eclipse parts 1&2 seem to be just pointless fillers the story doesn't really progress at all. Yes Peter learned how to be a hero without his powers but really haven't the writers been hammering that home in every episode with him in since he lost his powers. The only story that progressed was that of Hiro and Ando but even that could have been dealt with in 5 minutes, there was no need for a 2 part episode focusing on all the heroes and villains losing their powers especially as it had no meaning, I could go on forever about how irritating it was to find that at the end of the eclipse you're back to where you started before the eclipse. Nothing has changed!
I think its time to clear out some of the writers as over the past two volumes we have been subjected to some of the best and worst screen writing known to man. There are obviously divisions over the character and story development and there needs to be an agreement between the writers and those that fail to agree on a single direction should be gotten rid of. There need to be some creative changes to bring the show back on track.
Some of the creative changes that need to be made are:
- Hiro needs to go back to be being badass like at the end of volume 2, at the moment he is simply the comic relief which is a poor use of the character and an good actor
- Ando needs a bigger part, he needs to become something more than just Hiro's sidekick
- Peter needs to get his powers back immediately without them he's dull and whiny
- Sylar needs to go back to being a psychopathic killer and needs to stay that way, Zachary Quinto is a brilliant actor and plays the part extremely well.
- Ali Larter's character is irritating and needs to die. Also we DO NOT need another of the 3 sisters to show up! They should be written out of the show if not for good at least for the next few volumes.
- Claire doesn't need to be the answer to saving the world again, we get it she's an important character but continually making her the focal point of a story arc is just lazy.
- Arthur needs to be seen doing more rather than just manipulating the other villains into doing his bidding.
Sorry if this seems like a huge rant, I'm a huge fan of Heroes and liked season 3 and could ignore all of the flaws up to the Eclipse parts 1&2 especially after all the hype surrounding it. I would love to see Heroes go back to the quality of Volume 1
that was perhaps one of the best comments on a blog in all of blogdom. i'm being serious. what a way to break it down. one thing i neglected to elaborate on was how all the time spent on "Sylar Is A Petrelli" is now moot - so yes, 10 bonus points to you for bringing that up. i applaud your keen observation. that really was a waste of a storyline and could've been handled better than Sylar hearing it from a man who appeared to be willing to say anything to save himself from getting killed. i wanted to focus on the easy flipflopping of Sylar - someone tells him he's good so he says "ok, i'm a good person". someone else tells him he's a monster and he kills his girlfriend.
ReplyDeletei'm going to come out with Part Two of "The Eclipse: Part 2", hence me leaving out the Petrelli Bros and the Hiro part. i felt this one entry deserved to focus mainly on how not killing Sylar was a missed opportunity.
to answer your comment "Whilst killing Sylar would have been a created some chatter I doubt most of it would have been positive. In reality who would be able to take Sylar's place as the big baddie?" - it wouldn't be so much about "who is going to replace Sylar" (cuz right now Arthur Petrelli is the most dangerous). it would be about the writer's kickstarting a faltering franchise. instilling a "no one is safe" vibe. stating to the viewers "we know in the past we've killed people off only to have them come back to life...but this time we mean it". Episode 10 had 2 characters die and both of those characters came back to life! how is there supposed to be any tension? trust me, next time someone dies in this show you'll roll your eyes. after a point people stopped listening to Chicken Little too.
but excellent commentary.