Heroes

[JonPorobil]

Yeah, pretty much the above.

[erik]

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

If that was the first episode of some other show, I would give it an A-. But I think that everyone who likes Heroes likes it because of the promise of Season 1, and so whatever they showed last night was like a C-. It's like they took most every single character and changed them, except for the one character that they desperately need to change, and that's Sylar. I mean, for fuck's sake, all he does is be evil and eat brains, and yet people love the crap out of him. But it's so boooooring how he does the exact same thing every week. They need to pull an Angel and make up some crap where Sylar's the ultimate savior of the world, instead of annointing Dumbass Future Peter to that role and then showing him fucking up everything that he possibly can.

Too many loopholes. If Future Peter can accurately timetravel (AND trap people in other people's bodies) then why did he have to kill his brother? Why not just trap him in someone else's body? Why not TAKE his brother to the future and convince him that making the announcement is a bad idea.

Why the crap did Claire run into a fucking closet? No, seriously, what the hell.

The whole "Heroes vs Villians" thing might make for exciting fight scenes and stuff, but it reeeally seems like it's going to prevent me from learning about why Sulu and Linderman and all the other Old Heroes got together in the first place. Which was one of the few good things about Season 2, and which I am worried they're either going to sidestep, or wish away into a cornfield (or Africa) using some timetravel or some crap.

[JonPorobil]

Noah: "You realize she's playing us, right? To her, this is all a game."
Sylar: "Don't you want to see how it plays out?"

There were some good moments in Monday's episode (303: "One of Us, One of Them"), but overall, I feel like the show is slipping. What happened to those cool news villians? Two down, three in prison?

This whole Nikki storyline is getting irritating, but at least the characters are acknowledging that it's weird. Same with Angela. She's acting out of character, but I think we're supposed to feel weird about her right about now.

I was willing to withhold judgment on Parkman in Africa, but the die is cast now. Just awful stuff. And now he can paint the future, too? I know there aren't many shark-infested bodies of water in the African desert, but they found a way to jump it.

On the plus side, the whole episode was virtually Mohinder-free. Didn't miss him at all. In fact, didn't even notice until after the episode was over. And even though it was really awkward forcing Noah and Sylar together, they wound up having some really good chemistry. I'd happily watch a spin-off of just that kind of stuff. Better than what most of the core cast is doing, anyway.

[erik]

Parkman in Africa smells like they don't know what to do with his character. It also smells alot like "Hey, remember when we sent Hiro to Japan for waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long." If Parkman doesn't leave Africa in the next episode, then they're totally just fucking around. They need to find a way to write Parkman out of Africa really quick, and then send someone like Hiro or the speedy girl to check in on The Painter every now and then.

I was glad they FINALLY realized that they need to explore the notion that they should try to mold Sylar into something Heroic, instead of just making him Pure Evil.

Bah. Nothing really happened in Ep 3. Like, Sylar tried to be nonevil, and halfway succeeded. Peter got of Jesse. Fuck, that's like nothing. Move the story along, fuckers.

[Niveous]

-Sylar & Noah
I like the chemistry. It's probably the best thing so far this season. But they shouldn't have burned through the new villains so quickly.

-Hiro vs. Daphne
I'm beginning to hate Hiro. Now that he's trapped in Level 5, I want Sylar to eat him. Would you think that stealing the formula yourself was the best option, instead of maybe tying up Daphne and tossing her in a broom closet.

-Claire
So her mom put her in a box and suffocated her. Why didn't the mom suffocate too? I like the idea of vigilante Clare but I need to see where it goes.

-Mohinder
No Mohinder. Good.

-Niki/Jessica/Tracy
It seems that someone has been listening to "Seventh Son" by JC Hutchins. Again, I wish that she would just go away. Speaking of going away, the muscle memory girl is gone, huh?

-Parkman in Africa
Isaac, version 2. This better be going somewhere exceptional but I don't think it is.

Grade: D

[Lunkhead]

Does anybody else think they're going to have Hiro and Daphne fall for each other?

[Niveous]

Ando and Daphne

[HeuristicsInc]

there's at least one good thing anyway; the actor that plays sylar seems to be really enjoying not being so sinister all the time. there's one bit in the preview for next week where his eyes are smiling like this: "heh heh, i get to screw with people's minds now!"
-bill

[erik]

Does anybody else think they're going to have Hiro and Daphne fall for each other?

Hiro's going to fall for Daphne. Daphne's going to make a play for Ando, just to fuck with Hiro. Ando will get with Daphne, and Hiro will pretend that he's cool with it. Daphne will start feeding him a line of bullshit about how he doesn't need to be a sidekick, and that's what drives those two apart. By this time, Mohinder will have perfected his Hero Juice or whatever, and Daphne steals it and gives it to Ando.

Hiro grows less concerned with having the world be safe, and more and more obsessed with getting to be the one who saves the world. Ando sees that he's putting lots of people in danger, and uses his super powers to stop him. That's what Hiro saw a glimpse of when he went into the future.

[erik]

Why didn't the mom suffocate too?

If she create fire from her body, they're just going to say some bullshit like she's made of pure oxygen or something. She doesn't have to breathe because her bloodcells are hypersaturated with oxygen all the time or whatever. Secret bonus power: not having to breathe, and swimming underwater and stuff.

[Leaf]

I WANT to like what is happening with this show.



That's not a good sign.

[Lunkhead]

So it's Parkman and Daphne. This show is just not making any sense anymore. It's like bizarro world, but for no apparent reason other than to shock and surprise the viewers. I may have to give up.

[JonPorobil]

(Spoilers whited out; highlight to read)

Alright, the scene in Costa Verde was actually a really good reminder of why I watch this series. I was about to give up, but I'll give it one more week.

I was watching alone, but when they cut to the final scene, with Hiro and Ando at the graveyard, I literally yelled out, "No!" Still, Adam was a pretty good villain, so it's hard to object to having him back in the mix.

You know, one of the things I loved about Season 1 was that they knew how to throw in a joke every once in a while to lighten the mood. There's been maybe one lighthearted moment per episode this season. Tonight's was pretty good:

Usutu: You must find your totem, a spirit guide that attaches to your subconscious, to lead you on your journey.
Matt: What is that, some kind of African mystical mojo thing?
Usutu: Karl Jung, Analytical Psychology. You don't read much, do you?

The show used to be chock full of exchanges like that.

Plus, they had a perfect out for Parkman to get the hell out of Africa, but they didn't take it. I thought Tim Kring claimed to have learned his lesson from keeping Hiro in feudal Japan for too long. Why would he do the EXCACT SAME THING to another character less than a year later?

It was nice not having Mohinder for an episode. It would have been nicer if it were two. Or at least if his plot didn't so precisely mirror that of The Fly. I mean, wow.

If we don't get some kind of answer about why Linderman is back and talking to Nathan, and I mean soon, I'm going to lose patience with this whole season.

Here's hoping that the new Peter is way more interesting than the old Peter.

Oh, and I know it's petty, but am I the only one who wonders why Tracy's clothes don't freeze up?

[JonPorobil]

(Spoilers whited out)

They're almost back on form, but last night's episode suffered from a bad case of George Lucas syndrome. Was it really necessary to explain that the train fire from season 1 was caused by Claire's biological mother and uncle?

In this flashback episode, Linderman isn't dead yet, and Malcolm McDowell plays the role with a tactile gravity that has been sorely absent this whole season.

Will they be able to keep it interesting if Papa Petrelli keeps stealing people's powers. Will they just change the title to "Normals?"

[Niveous]

I don't think they're back to form.

I think the only thing that the flashback episode did was convolute every thing.
What we got out of last night's episode:
1- Claire is basically related to everyone.
2- Sylar snapping is basically HRG's fault.
3- Arthur Petrelli is a jerk who was almost killed by his wife.

Was that trip really necessary?

Recently they fired Jeph Loeb & Jesse Alexander from the show. This episode made me wonder if Rob Fresco (writer of this episode and consulting producer of this season) should've gotten the axe too.

[Lunkhead]

I haven't watched last night's show. But about Adam, they brought him back on a really flimsy pretext, only to just kill him with little to no buildup! I thought that was really lame.

[JonPorobil]

I don't mind it being convoluted, as long as the characters remain solid and true to themselves. I think flashing back a year seems to have helped remind the writers what they were working from. Or maybe I'm just more favorable to this past episode because of how great Malcolm McDowell was in it. In my judgment, they're still surviving on second chances, but that's better than not surviving at all.

[Lunkhead]

I just watched the latest episode, and was not impressed. It felt like they were tacking extra baggage onto old scenes from when the show used to be good. And I think the guy who plays Arthur Petrelli is pretty terrible. I guess I should either stop complaining or stop watching.

[JonPorobil]

[Spoiler in white; highlight to read]

I officially give up on Heroes. Once Sylar killed Elle, even though HE ALREADY HAD HER POWER, I realized that even if you could save this show from its own downward spiral, what's left won't be worth saving.

[Niveous]

That was a very open ended scene (Though it does look like it will be permanent from EW reports). I'm done with Heroes.

[Lunkhead]

This show continues to make less and less sense. I feel like I'm getting stupider by continuing to watch. Sylar's bad, no wait, he's good this season, but oh wait, no, he's really bad again. Are monkeys writing this crap? Or do they fire their writers after each episode and bring in new writers who know nothing about the show or something? Or do they just have amnesia every week?

SPOILERS BELOW:

Can anybody explain to me: a) how did Arthur Petrelli show up at just the right moment in the past? b) what happened with the Haitian at the end there? He was able to shut down Arthur's powers for a while, then he couldn't, so then Arthur's powers worked and he gave Peter his scar, and Sylar's powers worked so he could kill Arthur, but then Sylar just walked away without stealing the Haitian's powers? Huh?! Bollocks!

[Lunkhead]

Is anybody still watching this show? I just had a strange experience, watching the most recent episode. A character announced his name... and it was my name! Very odd to hear. Anyway, I don't know why I'm still watching, it's still not very good. It's annoying that they are basically going to keep Sylar around forever, it seems like.