March 18, 2009

Microwave Boy

This is just a short little blurb, but the more I think about it the more I start to wonder:

Just why exactly was the microwave boy (aka Luke Campbell in the show) in this season as much as he was? He didn't really accomplish much other than leading Sylar on the path to find his dad. That was nothing Sylar couldn't have found out with a little torture. And why have Sylar rescue the kid from the government agents only to abandon him an episode later?

The kid was annoying. I actually have him ranked higher than Suresh and Ali Larter in my "List of characters that annoy me" scale. That's saying a lot. He just didn't do anything to move the story along. Essentially a human navigation system. At first I thought the writers were going with a sort of "Sylar gets a sidekick" arc, which wouldn't have been so bad (not like Sylar needs a sidekick or anything). Kinda like how cool a Hiro/Ando team would've been had both of those characters actually had powers at the same time. Peter/Parkman was too shortlived but probably the most formidable we've seen aside from Sylar/Elle, another tagteam that only lasted like two episodes. I guess the writers understand just how chaotic two people with powers would be.

Also, was it me or did anyone else feel underwhelmed with Sylar's encounter with his Dad? We spend all of this volume watching Sylar hunt for his father and the actual searching for him took up more airtime than their encounter. Wouldn't it have just been insane to have his Dad take Sylar's power, come back a little more powerful and then become a major thorn in Sylar's side for a while? Sylar's Dad - his true nemesis?

I guess if they did that they'd have to call the show Star Wars.

3 comments:

  1. They couldn't make Samson so powerful to combat Sylar because they would just repeat themselves (last season Sylar had to kill an all powerful sorta father, done it already...)

    The kid really was annoying but it would have been lovely for Sylar to have a sidekick, as you say. Isn't he going to get lonely eventually?

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  2. That's actually a really good observation about how if they had Sylar's Dad emerge as his nemesis it'd basically be a rehash of last chapter's Sylar vs. Arthur Petrelli storyline. Of course the major difference would be Sylar would be facing his actual dad. I just don't think the writers' explored his Dad enough. He seemed like a compelling enough character. If the show can waste this much time on Aqua-boy the least they can do is 2 or 3 episodes on Sylar's Dad. I guess it has more to do with "the jounrey being more important than the destination". I don't know, it could've been played up a bit more. At least have his Dad steal Sylar's regenerative ability, escape while Sylar was still unconsious and leave open the possibility of future encounters.

    But good observation, I can see the reluctance of the writers to go down that road again.

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  3. I heard that Samson is going to return, but not this volume - it sounds like he might be a part of Season 4/Volume 5.

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