Note I didn't have the time to watch the second part of last night's 2 hour premier, so any opinion of the season opener is based off of the first chapter. Since this blog was on a long hiatus I guess it's best to break things down into two parts anyway so I have more to write about.
First things first - I was underwhelmed. Where was the big bang, the "POW" from the season opener last year? The second part of last season was even more tremendous - all people with powers being hunted and everyone on the run from The Man. This season started off very slow. Normally a season opener will 1.) identify the villain and 2.) unveil their evil plan. Ok, so #1 was established - we think...All we know right now is the Carnies are probably villains. We're supposed to think that because of the dark, brooding evilish music in the background. And they killed Denko - which may or may not be a bad thing. Oh, and the main Carnie leader has evil hair and dark eye makeup, so that probably makes him a villain. But yeah, I don't think it's going too far to say the Carnies are the bad guys. Only thing is based off of the first part of the premier - we don't know what the hell they want. Sylar wanted your brains. Arthur Petrelli wanted to build a force of super humans (they never really fleshed that out though). The Gov'ment/Denko wanted to round up all people with abilities. Like I said, there was a lot of BANG! POW! to these openers. They're supposed to set the table for the rest of the season.
What do we know so far?
Ali Larter is immortal: That is, she will always be on this show. Her name may not be Nikki, it may not be Jessica, it may not even be Tracey - but she'll always be a character on this show in some way. She wasn't rather annoying to me in this opener, but alas, the season is young. I'll give her time.
Mohinder is gone: ...for now. Normally season openers will show what all the characters are up to, but Mohinder was nowhere to be found. There wasn't even the normal narrative voiceover that starts and ends the show. I think a different person does the narrating if you look at the credits - but it sounds like Mohinder so I always pretended it was him. Anyway - all gone. I'm sure the writers have him stashed away to bring out at some other opportune time (ie, when it's convenient to them after they've written themselves into a corner) but for now the show seems to be Mohinder-free.
The Hiro & Ando Comedy Group: Officially have crossed over into comic-relief. The show even *unnecessarily* has that whimsical music everytime they're on the screen. At one point when Ando was on the roof saving the cat and he fell I swear there was a Benny Hill sound effect. Almost like a Fozzie Bear "whocka whocka" or bicycle horn. What the hell is going on? And now Hiro was considering going back into the past so he wouldn't meet a fortune teller who set him on the path to wanting to be a hero? Ummm, don't you think that would mess up the storylines of the previous seasons??? Without Future Hiro to give Peter the "save the cheerleader, save the world" order then Sylar gets Claire's power in season 1 and chaos ensues. Although Sylar wound up getting Claire's power eventually, which kinda negated the tension from season 1. Granted, Hiro inadvertently has some as much harm as good with his time travelling - if he goes back in time to prevent all that who knows what winds up happening. Why did Ando not bring that up? Why did he not say "Hellooooo? If you go back in time you'll mess everything up by altering the timelines!". Also, we get it already - you don't want Hiro timetravelling all over the place so you devised this contrived scenario so that he has a built-in weakness/deterrent for using that power. Hiro's power is cool, but the character himself isn't. If this is the best you can muster then kill him off and let us remember him fondly. I sighed during the scene when Hiro/Ando were talking to the little girl. Cringe-worthy, I think some would describe it.
Carnies, small hands...smell like cabbage: From the first episode we don't know much other than the lead Carnie must really be a sweat talker as he apparently convinced that Tattoo Chick she needs to be topless when she uses her power.
Lead Carnie Guy: "Ok, I need you to take your top off so you can show me a face."
Tattoo Chick: "Is this really necessary, I can easily make the face appear on my shoulder or something."
Lead Carnie Guy: "DAMMIT JUST DO IT!"
Also not sure why he had to inject his cohort with ink to do that cool tattoo hand choking the throat trick - he's able to move dirt so he obviously has a similar telekinesis power as Sylar.
Parkman: The most powerful hero on the show (now that Sylar is out of commission for the time being) isn't interested in being a hero any longer. So let me get this straight - Angela Petrelli tells you the person you helped lock in someone else's body is now starting to manifest himself and you need to fix it before it's too late. You're reply is "it's not my problem anymore"? Granted towards the end of the show Sylar mentally threatens Parkman so I only have reason to believe he'll come around. But it's just weird someone who's now a parent wouldn't be totally gung-ho to make the world as safe a place as possible for his young. He's morphed into my defacto favorite character due to being so powerful, I hope the writers tread carefully here. I don't want another Hiro on my hands.
Peter: Completely useless once again. Just leave him like this, guys, he does more harm than good. He's more suited to be a super-paramedic than a super hero. He's perfect in his current role. Of course he's not going to go an entire season like this, but I'll enjoy this new Peter (insignificant, not crucial to the storyline) for as long as I can.
Claire: The writers listened to me. They put her back in school. It's where she belonged for the last season and a half. Glad they've seen it my way. I still don't know why they showed a scene of her playing Guitar Hero, unless that was a poor stab at product placement. Sure the song being played was ominous - "very supersticious...writing on the wall" - but unneeded. I think her geeky friend has a power, she commented something along the lines of "I'm learning this quickly every second", which I took to be a hint of some kind of ability. Her murdered roommate was going to really be a downer on the show if they gave her more airtime, I'm glad she was quickly disposed of. But anyway Claire belongs in school, back to being a special person who just wants to be normal. Crime-fighter Claire was a bomb. Not "the" bomb - "a" bomb. A failure.
I'm going to assume last night's premiere kinda needed to be watched in its two-hour entirety. The first part was just too "bleh", perhaps they saved the fireworks for the second part.
Showing posts with label Ali Larter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ali Larter. Show all posts
September 22, 2009
March 25, 2009
WOW...I'm Good At This Stuff
All right, before I get started let me just say - congrats to the writers. This past episode was the best episode in this series since season 1. We're talking top 3 Heroes episode of all time. I rank the Heroes episodes in the following:
#1: 2nd to last episode in season 1. (Where Future Sylar and Future Peter battle in...uh, the future. The first and probably best major hero vs. major villain action in the series.)
#2: The last episode of season 1.
#3: The latest episode of the current season. (I think it's Chapter 7 of the 2nd volume of season 3, if that makes any sense HAHAHA)
And congratulations to Matt Parkman. You're officially one of the coolest characters on the show. Three seasons and a half is a long time, many characters have come and gone but you stuck in the sidelines waiting and now your time in the sun has come. There was a little spark of what was to come this current volume, and your potential was showcased a few episodes ago when Peter and yourself walked in, literally, to a fortified government compound and you held them all hostage for a while. But now it's been hammered home in this latest episode. You are officially the 2nd most powerful character in the show (behind Sylar, of course). Bravo. And since we're throwing out congrats, I'm going to give some to Ali Larter in what was her best performance in this series ever. The coolest episode involving the Tracey/Jessica/Niki character. I wouldn't write her off as being dead just yet, as I'm sure everyone caught the fact that the block of ice where her face was happened to blink. The writers LOVE Ali Larter so I thoroughly believe she's not completely done on the show.
Unlike Daphne. Hey, someone needs to be the sacrificial lamb. Can't go all this time without one or two people dying.
Nothing was left on the table. This one had it ALL. I am thoroughly and completely back on the bus with this show. Season 2 was a hiccup. Hey, not even Babe Ruth hit a homerun every at-bat. It's back. I just had to get that out of the way.
Ok, I know a broken clock is right twice a day, but I hit a grand glam out of the park:
Rebel = Micah
Now, I'm sure as this chapter has gone on Micah being the Rebel became more and more apparent (at least to me), but I called this a while ago. Like, the 2nd episode or so of this chapter. 2+2=4. That's all there was to it. Kudos to the writers for not making a complete random, newly created character the Rebel, as it's been fun to play the "who is the Rebel?" game. As soon as HRG said to Tracey "lead us to the Rebel and you can walk away" I knew Micah was it. I knew it because it seemed so obvious at that point the writers wouldn't make it so easy for Tracey to walk away. She was gonna have to have some type of moral dilemna. And as soon as Tracey got the free money from the ATM I knew it as well (of course Micah was revealed like a minute after that). Free ATM money is an old Micah trick.
I also will credit myself with Hiro and the return of his power. My point in the "The Hiro Conundrum" entry was that he had spent a considerable amount of time being powerless and the writers would have to, sooner rather than later, do something about it. Well, Hiro's back. What I nailed was that when he got his power back there'd be limitations, like how they conveniently limited Peter's ability so that he can only have one power at a time. (And speaking of that, why is it most of all the cool scenes with someone flying has involved Peter? You'd think Nathan, the resident fly-guy, would have all the scenes but Peter has completely OWNED that ability. Just saying). So I called it correctly - Hiro got his ability back but he isn't the master of all time/space like he used to be. So he can't teleport. Fine. No more bouncing around back and forth and ruining the space/time continuum. This is how it should've been from the beginning but that's neither here nor there. Hiro and Ando are now major players again. Who knows exactly what Ando can do to Hiro now that he can supercharge Hiro's ability? I was thisclose to writing them off when they were found in Baby Matt Parkman's closet trying to pose as stuffed animals. I groaned. But they quickly came back from that silliness. Big things ahead for those two I'm thinking in terms of possibilities.
You want another prediction? Fine. Matt Parkman gets back with his wife Janice. Hiro and Ando find Parkman, reunite him with Baby Matt Parkman and then Matt Parkman goes on a mission to rescue Janice and in the process they wind up falling for each other again.
I'm going to give you another predicition. This has been nagging me for a bit so I'm going to announce it cuz I think I've seen enough clues to feel safe in making it public.
The Hunter has an ability.
There. I said it.
I liken this to a guy who acts like such a homophobe just to hide the fact that he is, in fact, a closeted homosexual. You know, the kind that is really into sports and makes public displays of how much they dig the ladies, just to put up a good enough screen to hide the truth. Why exactly is he so anti-powers? Being the uber-government military guy you'd think he'd want to capture and have tests done on these people to try to harness their abilities for super soldiers (like what Nathan originally attempted). Why does he want to basically just kill them? I'm going to give a run-down as to the little tidbits I've come across that made me this he has a power:
1. The aforementioned extreme aversion to people with powers just to serve as smoke and mirrors to avoid detection. Shit, even HRG doesn't have a fondness for people with powers but he knows they have their uses and he doesnt' have a problem using them as pawns to serve his needs. He doesn't go around trying to eliminate them no questions asked.
2. It was revealed that he was part of a failed military mission in which essentially everyone underneath him got killed and he was the only one to walk away. Same thing happened to Bruce Willis in the movie "Unbreakable", where he was the only survivor in a huge train crash and, oh yeah, he had powers in that movie, too.
3. The shock value factor. The only way you can surprise and shock viewers is if you have them looking one way and then pull the rug out from under their feet. The potential for a shocking revelation here is too great and tempting for the writers not to go that route.
4. In the previews they showed a clip of The Hunter talking with Sylar - I suppose they wind up forming an alliance of sorts - saying (paraphrasing here) "I guess the benefit to you is that you wind up being the only one with powers" to which Sylar replied (paraphrasing again) "something like that". It could be The Hunter wants people with powers to die just so he eliminates the competition in the same vein of Sylar. I'm sure the Hunter will attempt to turn on Sylar at the right moment, although that's stating the obvious.
There you have it, one immense episode. Welcome back.
#1: 2nd to last episode in season 1. (Where Future Sylar and Future Peter battle in...uh, the future. The first and probably best major hero vs. major villain action in the series.)
#2: The last episode of season 1.
#3: The latest episode of the current season. (I think it's Chapter 7 of the 2nd volume of season 3, if that makes any sense HAHAHA)
And congratulations to Matt Parkman. You're officially one of the coolest characters on the show. Three seasons and a half is a long time, many characters have come and gone but you stuck in the sidelines waiting and now your time in the sun has come. There was a little spark of what was to come this current volume, and your potential was showcased a few episodes ago when Peter and yourself walked in, literally, to a fortified government compound and you held them all hostage for a while. But now it's been hammered home in this latest episode. You are officially the 2nd most powerful character in the show (behind Sylar, of course). Bravo. And since we're throwing out congrats, I'm going to give some to Ali Larter in what was her best performance in this series ever. The coolest episode involving the Tracey/Jessica/Niki character. I wouldn't write her off as being dead just yet, as I'm sure everyone caught the fact that the block of ice where her face was happened to blink. The writers LOVE Ali Larter so I thoroughly believe she's not completely done on the show.
Unlike Daphne. Hey, someone needs to be the sacrificial lamb. Can't go all this time without one or two people dying.
Nothing was left on the table. This one had it ALL. I am thoroughly and completely back on the bus with this show. Season 2 was a hiccup. Hey, not even Babe Ruth hit a homerun every at-bat. It's back. I just had to get that out of the way.
Ok, I know a broken clock is right twice a day, but I hit a grand glam out of the park:
Rebel = Micah
Now, I'm sure as this chapter has gone on Micah being the Rebel became more and more apparent (at least to me), but I called this a while ago. Like, the 2nd episode or so of this chapter. 2+2=4. That's all there was to it. Kudos to the writers for not making a complete random, newly created character the Rebel, as it's been fun to play the "who is the Rebel?" game. As soon as HRG said to Tracey "lead us to the Rebel and you can walk away" I knew Micah was it. I knew it because it seemed so obvious at that point the writers wouldn't make it so easy for Tracey to walk away. She was gonna have to have some type of moral dilemna. And as soon as Tracey got the free money from the ATM I knew it as well (of course Micah was revealed like a minute after that). Free ATM money is an old Micah trick.
I also will credit myself with Hiro and the return of his power. My point in the "The Hiro Conundrum" entry was that he had spent a considerable amount of time being powerless and the writers would have to, sooner rather than later, do something about it. Well, Hiro's back. What I nailed was that when he got his power back there'd be limitations, like how they conveniently limited Peter's ability so that he can only have one power at a time. (And speaking of that, why is it most of all the cool scenes with someone flying has involved Peter? You'd think Nathan, the resident fly-guy, would have all the scenes but Peter has completely OWNED that ability. Just saying). So I called it correctly - Hiro got his ability back but he isn't the master of all time/space like he used to be. So he can't teleport. Fine. No more bouncing around back and forth and ruining the space/time continuum. This is how it should've been from the beginning but that's neither here nor there. Hiro and Ando are now major players again. Who knows exactly what Ando can do to Hiro now that he can supercharge Hiro's ability? I was thisclose to writing them off when they were found in Baby Matt Parkman's closet trying to pose as stuffed animals. I groaned. But they quickly came back from that silliness. Big things ahead for those two I'm thinking in terms of possibilities.
You want another prediction? Fine. Matt Parkman gets back with his wife Janice. Hiro and Ando find Parkman, reunite him with Baby Matt Parkman and then Matt Parkman goes on a mission to rescue Janice and in the process they wind up falling for each other again.
I'm going to give you another predicition. This has been nagging me for a bit so I'm going to announce it cuz I think I've seen enough clues to feel safe in making it public.
The Hunter has an ability.
There. I said it.
I liken this to a guy who acts like such a homophobe just to hide the fact that he is, in fact, a closeted homosexual. You know, the kind that is really into sports and makes public displays of how much they dig the ladies, just to put up a good enough screen to hide the truth. Why exactly is he so anti-powers? Being the uber-government military guy you'd think he'd want to capture and have tests done on these people to try to harness their abilities for super soldiers (like what Nathan originally attempted). Why does he want to basically just kill them? I'm going to give a run-down as to the little tidbits I've come across that made me this he has a power:
1. The aforementioned extreme aversion to people with powers just to serve as smoke and mirrors to avoid detection. Shit, even HRG doesn't have a fondness for people with powers but he knows they have their uses and he doesnt' have a problem using them as pawns to serve his needs. He doesn't go around trying to eliminate them no questions asked.
2. It was revealed that he was part of a failed military mission in which essentially everyone underneath him got killed and he was the only one to walk away. Same thing happened to Bruce Willis in the movie "Unbreakable", where he was the only survivor in a huge train crash and, oh yeah, he had powers in that movie, too.
3. The shock value factor. The only way you can surprise and shock viewers is if you have them looking one way and then pull the rug out from under their feet. The potential for a shocking revelation here is too great and tempting for the writers not to go that route.
4. In the previews they showed a clip of The Hunter talking with Sylar - I suppose they wind up forming an alliance of sorts - saying (paraphrasing here) "I guess the benefit to you is that you wind up being the only one with powers" to which Sylar replied (paraphrasing again) "something like that". It could be The Hunter wants people with powers to die just so he eliminates the competition in the same vein of Sylar. I'm sure the Hunter will attempt to turn on Sylar at the right moment, although that's stating the obvious.
There you have it, one immense episode. Welcome back.
December 18, 2008
Episode 13: Dual
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.
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 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.
November 19, 2008
Episode 9 - "It's Coming"
I got the feeling of being a hamster in a wheel while watching this episode. You know, you're a hamster, you're running, you're thinking this is the greatest thing ever and you're really going places - but actually not much is happening. That was episode 9.
Let's look at the major developments that happened (trust me, it borders on "more of the same" and "not much"):
1. Ok, Sylar doesn't have to kill anymore to get people's powers. The only way the writer's could have hammered home the fact that "Sylar is not a monster anymore" is if they personally emailed all the viewers of the show. I'll give this to you - this is somewhat big. What the show gains in a real powerful hero that everyone can root for, performed by a really talented actor, the show loses in one of the best television villains of our generation. The gods giveth, and they taketh away. I personally have liked Gabriel more than Sylar so I have no probs with this development.
2. The two sides have been chosen. Good vs. Evil. Ma Petrelli vs. Arthur (Papa Petrelli). Son vs. Father. We all know wherever this is leading the good side (Ma Petrelli side) is going to prevail, but on paper the Arthur side should wipe their dirty assholes on the Ma Petrelli side. Look who's on the Arthur side - Arthur himself. Apparently Sylar (so far). As they say: "'nuff said". You got Elle. You got your Flint and Fear Guy. Tracey. Let's take a look at who's in Ma's posse: a person who can see into the future (Ma); a powerless Peter Petrelli. A teenager who can feel no pain and regenerate herself when she inevitably gets dominated. Someone who can fly. A powerful hero who thinks he's 10 years old. Ok, Parkman and the speedy Daphne obviously have some good offensive powers. The only thing that saves the Ma Petrelli side is the inevitable defection of Sylar (and his new friggin caliente piece of ass - Elle) to their side. That's it. Unless the writers can create a hero who is the opposite of Arthur/the Haitian and has the power to restore people's abilities, thereby swinging the advantage considerably to the Ma Petrelli side (Peter with his powers back+Sylar=win).
Let's switch gears quickly and point out what was wrong:
3. Hiro didn't lose his powers. Unfortunately he now thinks he's 10. This is poor writing only in the sense of what the hell did Papa Petrelli do, or more importantly "how did he do it"? What does making someone think they're 10 years old have to do with the power to take people's powers away? Obviously Ando interrupting the power stealing of Arthur affected the outcome, but you would think the end result would be Hiro having only limited powers since the power stealing started but was never completed. If you illegally download music files (what, like you don't?) and the transfer gets interrupted - yeah, you can't play the music file but if you look in your hard drive somewhere you'll find the music file (albeit an unplayable music file). You don't find a Word doc or something completely unrelated. I pride myself on being able to see all the angles but I'm helpless against poorly thought out writing. Also poorly thought out was Ando being able to activate Hiro's power for him while in Africa with Arthur coming after them by closing Hiro's eyes, but in the bowling alley Hiro showed he had to *really* concentrate to get his power to work. But that's the little things, and we try not to break out the angry townfolk with their pitchforks and torches for the little things. I just want the writers to know I'm watching and they need to sharpen up a little bit.
4. Tracey (Ali Larter) has an evil agenda. This is a very natural and logical plot development. I mean, it was only 2 or 3 episodes ago that she was ready to kill herself, now she's running on all pistons and is looking to get in on the ground floor of an evil plot by manipulating the very person who saved her life. Very logical. Nevermind the fact that the person who saved her life flat out stated he doesn't trust his father, no, it's better to assume you know the score and can start brokering deals. This show tries very hard to keep Ali Larter relevant and employed. They were grasping at straws the 1st two seasons with those awful DL/Micah storylines that had minimal (and I'm being polite here) impact on the overall plot. Now they "resurrect" Nikki/Jessica by renaming the character "Tracey" and hatching up some hooey about her getting her powers in a science lab. Oh yeah, remember that? That's the supposedly huge plot development from a few weeks ago where it was revealed she wasn't born with powers, rather Tracey and her sisters were tested on and injected with powers. She hunts down the doctor that did it, kills him, finds out the truth and....Yeah, that's all that happened. This was supposed to be a great (or at least interesting) turn of events. You mean not everyone on the show was born with abilities? You mean there could be others who were tested on? I'm sure the writers will go back to that before season's end but I just don't agree with this sudden getting off track. Finding out more info on the whole "creating powers in a lab and injecting them into babies" was supposed to be Tracey's story arc this season. Now she's done with that and is moving on to evil plots to take over the world. Naturally.
5. Claire, its ok for you to refer to Ma Petrelli and Arthur as "Grandma" and "Grandpa". They're the parents of your biological father, making them, yes, you're correct - your grandparents. Btw, as soon as Arthur was told the catalyst was "someone" and not "something", who really didn't know the catalyst was going to be Claire? We all saw that coming a mile away as soon as that catalyst info was revealed. If you're scoring at home, this episode marks the 1,000th time that Claire has decided to stand up to/fight villains only to be (quickly) beat. This is bordering on lunacy. She is so inept as a hero that a powerless Peter was able to stop Flint/Fear Guy. And listen writers - we know Milo V. and Hayden P. are a couple in real life, please don't dilute the show with unnecessary air-time with them in scenes together.
6. One last flub (or maybe I'm reading too much into this). Arthur mentioned to Sylar essentially "you were always the strongest of my sons". Really? After Sylar mentioned in the same episode his mother - the one he killed, not Ma Petrelli - messed him up for always making him think he had to be special when he was a kid. So how is this possible? Something's off with the timeline here. Did Arthur mean when Sylar was an infant he showed himself to be the strongest (a time that maybe Sylar can't remember)? How could Sylar have been raised by both his fake mom and have a long lost dad that he not only doesn't remember, but a long lost dad that apparently was around him enough to be able to ascertain that Sylar was the strongest? We know Nathan is older than Peter. It doesn't seem likely he's younger than Sylar, which would mean Nathan *should* remember Sylar. Why hasn't this been discussed more? Why hasn't Peter asked Nathan or his mom yet about this? I will give you the answer to the mystery - I can see this coming over the horizon. And, yes, you heard it here first because I can add 2 + 2. The Haitian erased Sylar's memory.
Bam.
I just said it. Watch, by the end of the season we're going to see a flashback like in episode 8 with the Haitian erasing Sylar's mind, and the mind's of Peter and Nathan to make them forget having known Sylar.
This makes so much sense I have nothing more to say about episode 9. I'm going to rest my feet up and declare today a win for me.
Let's look at the major developments that happened (trust me, it borders on "more of the same" and "not much"):
1. Ok, Sylar doesn't have to kill anymore to get people's powers. The only way the writer's could have hammered home the fact that "Sylar is not a monster anymore" is if they personally emailed all the viewers of the show. I'll give this to you - this is somewhat big. What the show gains in a real powerful hero that everyone can root for, performed by a really talented actor, the show loses in one of the best television villains of our generation. The gods giveth, and they taketh away. I personally have liked Gabriel more than Sylar so I have no probs with this development.
2. The two sides have been chosen. Good vs. Evil. Ma Petrelli vs. Arthur (Papa Petrelli). Son vs. Father. We all know wherever this is leading the good side (Ma Petrelli side) is going to prevail, but on paper the Arthur side should wipe their dirty assholes on the Ma Petrelli side. Look who's on the Arthur side - Arthur himself. Apparently Sylar (so far). As they say: "'nuff said". You got Elle. You got your Flint and Fear Guy. Tracey. Let's take a look at who's in Ma's posse: a person who can see into the future (Ma); a powerless Peter Petrelli. A teenager who can feel no pain and regenerate herself when she inevitably gets dominated. Someone who can fly. A powerful hero who thinks he's 10 years old. Ok, Parkman and the speedy Daphne obviously have some good offensive powers. The only thing that saves the Ma Petrelli side is the inevitable defection of Sylar (and his new friggin caliente piece of ass - Elle) to their side. That's it. Unless the writers can create a hero who is the opposite of Arthur/the Haitian and has the power to restore people's abilities, thereby swinging the advantage considerably to the Ma Petrelli side (Peter with his powers back+Sylar=win).
Let's switch gears quickly and point out what was wrong:
3. Hiro didn't lose his powers. Unfortunately he now thinks he's 10. This is poor writing only in the sense of what the hell did Papa Petrelli do, or more importantly "how did he do it"? What does making someone think they're 10 years old have to do with the power to take people's powers away? Obviously Ando interrupting the power stealing of Arthur affected the outcome, but you would think the end result would be Hiro having only limited powers since the power stealing started but was never completed. If you illegally download music files (what, like you don't?) and the transfer gets interrupted - yeah, you can't play the music file but if you look in your hard drive somewhere you'll find the music file (albeit an unplayable music file). You don't find a Word doc or something completely unrelated. I pride myself on being able to see all the angles but I'm helpless against poorly thought out writing. Also poorly thought out was Ando being able to activate Hiro's power for him while in Africa with Arthur coming after them by closing Hiro's eyes, but in the bowling alley Hiro showed he had to *really* concentrate to get his power to work. But that's the little things, and we try not to break out the angry townfolk with their pitchforks and torches for the little things. I just want the writers to know I'm watching and they need to sharpen up a little bit.
4. Tracey (Ali Larter) has an evil agenda. This is a very natural and logical plot development. I mean, it was only 2 or 3 episodes ago that she was ready to kill herself, now she's running on all pistons and is looking to get in on the ground floor of an evil plot by manipulating the very person who saved her life. Very logical. Nevermind the fact that the person who saved her life flat out stated he doesn't trust his father, no, it's better to assume you know the score and can start brokering deals. This show tries very hard to keep Ali Larter relevant and employed. They were grasping at straws the 1st two seasons with those awful DL/Micah storylines that had minimal (and I'm being polite here) impact on the overall plot. Now they "resurrect" Nikki/Jessica by renaming the character "Tracey" and hatching up some hooey about her getting her powers in a science lab. Oh yeah, remember that? That's the supposedly huge plot development from a few weeks ago where it was revealed she wasn't born with powers, rather Tracey and her sisters were tested on and injected with powers. She hunts down the doctor that did it, kills him, finds out the truth and....Yeah, that's all that happened. This was supposed to be a great (or at least interesting) turn of events. You mean not everyone on the show was born with abilities? You mean there could be others who were tested on? I'm sure the writers will go back to that before season's end but I just don't agree with this sudden getting off track. Finding out more info on the whole "creating powers in a lab and injecting them into babies" was supposed to be Tracey's story arc this season. Now she's done with that and is moving on to evil plots to take over the world. Naturally.
5. Claire, its ok for you to refer to Ma Petrelli and Arthur as "Grandma" and "Grandpa". They're the parents of your biological father, making them, yes, you're correct - your grandparents. Btw, as soon as Arthur was told the catalyst was "someone" and not "something", who really didn't know the catalyst was going to be Claire? We all saw that coming a mile away as soon as that catalyst info was revealed. If you're scoring at home, this episode marks the 1,000th time that Claire has decided to stand up to/fight villains only to be (quickly) beat. This is bordering on lunacy. She is so inept as a hero that a powerless Peter was able to stop Flint/Fear Guy. And listen writers - we know Milo V. and Hayden P. are a couple in real life, please don't dilute the show with unnecessary air-time with them in scenes together.
6. One last flub (or maybe I'm reading too much into this). Arthur mentioned to Sylar essentially "you were always the strongest of my sons". Really? After Sylar mentioned in the same episode his mother - the one he killed, not Ma Petrelli - messed him up for always making him think he had to be special when he was a kid. So how is this possible? Something's off with the timeline here. Did Arthur mean when Sylar was an infant he showed himself to be the strongest (a time that maybe Sylar can't remember)? How could Sylar have been raised by both his fake mom and have a long lost dad that he not only doesn't remember, but a long lost dad that apparently was around him enough to be able to ascertain that Sylar was the strongest? We know Nathan is older than Peter. It doesn't seem likely he's younger than Sylar, which would mean Nathan *should* remember Sylar. Why hasn't this been discussed more? Why hasn't Peter asked Nathan or his mom yet about this? I will give you the answer to the mystery - I can see this coming over the horizon. And, yes, you heard it here first because I can add 2 + 2. The Haitian erased Sylar's memory.
Bam.
I just said it. Watch, by the end of the season we're going to see a flashback like in episode 8 with the Haitian erasing Sylar's mind, and the mind's of Peter and Nathan to make them forget having known Sylar.
This makes so much sense I have nothing more to say about episode 9. I'm going to rest my feet up and declare today a win for me.
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