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What I've learned about my viewing habits as they apply to Heroes is that they lose me in the middle. I'm all in love with the opening arc, as characters are introduced and powers are revealed, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the closing arc, at least from the point where we figure out what this season's destiny entails. Season one had me glued to the TV from about episodes 1 through 9, I lost interest between about 10-16 and re-discovered my devotion from episodes 17-26.
Somehow, watching the characters untwist and identify their course, remember when we went from "Are You on the List" to "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World", kinda leaves me with a little bit of an Ok, So what's next? Of course, we can go back and review and recognize all the foreshadowing, but until we get into the "meat" of the season I am left with a big whoop. Last night was episode 6, so for me, if the pattern holds true, we're hitting that stretch where my interest in the show is going to wane. Last night didn't do a whole lot to convince me otherwise.
It's not that I'm not interested, it's just that I'm kinda meh at this point and at least until we get enough threads of plot to form some sort of cohesive tapestry for this season's direction. Thus far we've got elements: Peter's amnesia, Adam Monroe, the Hero killer/Daddy Parkman/The Nightmare Man, Maya, Monica, Hiro and Tenzei in feudal Japan, Hiro's betrayal with Yakeo, Mohinder and the Company, Claire and Superboy. It'll eventually all add up, but right now all speculation is going to be really wild.
The revelation of a pandemic, that I assume is going to be related to a mutation of the Shanti virus that hits the general population, is the Big Event that the season will be spiraling towards, mimicking last season's destruction of NYC, but on a global scale, therefore upping the ante for our Heroes (saving 93% of the population means that our Heroes really will be saving the world). Now, we're waiting to find out all the details of that plot, the how, why and who that made the later episodes of S1 so fraught with tension and excitement.
Not that all the character development and plot advancement isn't interesting. Okay, really, not so much. Mostly it's tedious with pockets of surprise.
But let's get to what's right so far this season:
- Maya and Gabriel/Sylar. I think we can see where this is going, but it doesn't make the journey to get there any less tense. Gabriel is looking to cause as much mayhem as possible. His speech, delivered so mildly, to the uncomprehending Alejandro was deliciously sinister. Maya's insistence on Gabriel as savior, at the very least via the leaps she makes between her faith and her reality, is as fool hardy as it is sad because she is so desperately gullible. That, perhaps willing, culpability makes for great drama because Maya, I fear, may allow herself to be deluded for as long as possible. She has, after all, convinced herself that committing murder was their only option for escaping the border patrol and getting into the US. This is one threesome that I can't wait to see resolve itself. Will Maya be a good guy or a bad guy? What happens if her brother dies? Does Sylar get his powers back? When will Sylar get his powers back? How awesome crazy would it be if Sylar gets his powers back and falls in love with Maya and they become this vicious, fiercesome Bonny and Clyde? Not that that's going to happen considering that Sylar is a narcissistic sociopath.
- Mr. Bennet remains the most complex character of the show. He is an awesome, if obvious, examination of the good and evil located within the individual. Perhaps more exciting to watch is the way that duality is explored via the "ends justify the means" dogma that Mr. Bennet seems to be a slave to. But in the end, I am as horrified by his cold bloodedness as I am gleeful to watch it. It is as expected as it is startling (see the violent murder of Ivan in The Line, even though you know it had never gone away when he put down that prick of a manager at the copy shop). I am fascinated to see that sensibility reveal itself in Clare.
Very casually, I like:
- Mohinder's new partner at the end of The Line. That was Jessica and not Nikki, and Mohinder KNEW it.
- Ando, still!
- Monica's ability is pretty kickass. Muscle memory, awesome!! Could you imagine the smackdown that would ensue if she ever went up against Jessica?
- Nichelle Nichols as Micah's grandmother. YAY!!!
and that takes me to the things that I do not like about the season thus far:
- Surprisingly, Hiro in feudal Japan isn't as interesting as it could be or, perhaps, is meant to be. Other than a plot device, someone's got to fuck up history, I don't get it. Obviously we're dealing with some sort of space/time fold where the future determines the past that informs the future yada yada yada in circles. So, Hiro has to be in Feudal Japan in order for the stories of Kenzei to become reality and for Hiro to then be inspired by them in the future and fulfill his S1 destiny. I can't say that I'm ever really enthralled by that sort of implosion of time/space mechanics, and here I don't find it interesting enough to sustain the amount of time that we're having to spend with Hiro in the past. Okay, it's a set-up and I recognize that, but watching it is a little like watching paint dry. watching Ando's reactions, however, are pure gold.
- Molly has two daddies. As squee worthy as that was in the beginning, Mohinder and Parkman are not two great tastes that taste great together. Neither have ever been my favorite characters, so watching their antagonistic interplay is decidedly uninteresting. What I also find uninteresting is that as much as their relationship (or at least their proximity) is predicated on their shared feelings for Molly, I find that they are the most self-indulgent pair, by far. Mohinder's attachment to Molly acts largely as a substitute for the his relationship with Shanti and Parkman's attachment, I think is similar. Molly is a replacement for the relationship that he would have had with his wife's child. Sadly, Molly Walker is a plot device, first to reveal Parkman's powers and later to remind us of the existence of the Shanti virus (as a lead-in to S2) and finally to introduce us to the newest Big Bad.
But now, Molly has served her purpose and has been conveniently shuffled offstage using the classic, if not clichéd, device of the coma. Not since the first two episodes of Men in Trees have I seen such prompt excision of a character who no longer serves a purpose. And should I point out how quickly Parkman was willing to use Molly for his own purposes (finding his Real Dad -- i.e. Real Family and how quickly Mohinder was willing to leave Molly behind in the tender care of The Company).
- Clare and Superboy. As interesting as it could be to see the "darker" side of Clare emerge, how disturbed were we by her manipulation of Cheerleader Debbie, it really isn't. I am continually reminded that Clare hasn't learned a damned thing from the events of last season. Once again, she's trusting people that maybe she shouldn't and lying. This season's excuse, teen angst, is a lot less compelling then the "my daddy is evil and there's a crazy man trying to cut off the top of my head" from last season. I also don't like Superboy. He comes out of nowhere and incites Clare to this "rebellion" that doesn't make sense. Considering last season, I'd think that the girl would be up for a little anonymity. Last season's Five Years in the Future even suggested that she isn't completely averse to it, or at the very least recognizes the necessity for it, having created a life for herself albeit less grandiose than she perhaps dreamed of. Listening to Nazi Superboy, "you've got a power — by definition, you're better than she is", really irks because it also highlights Clare's glib reassessment of her father. (Did you see how I channeled Tom Cruise right there?)
- Plus, I really don't like the casual flying around. The CGI on the first couple of flights weren't all that great, and the whole thing smacks of a Superman rip-off without charm. Meaning, SuperEmoBoy doesn't have any. The trick of flying last season was that it occurred very rarely and was so sudden and startling that if you blinked you missed it. I think that visual "trick" grounds the act in reality where these people with these powers can exist. Flying is such a fantastic ability that watching this kid casually swoop around the neighborhood with a girl in his arms continually yanks me out of the narrative. I think of how crappy the CGI is and, although I bet its supposed to be an homage, how it's just a cheap attempt to create a parallel in our minds with Superman in a way that Nathan never did and wasn't supposed to. I'm also skeptical about how no one EVER sees this kid flying around in the clear, blue sky. It's California, for fuck's sake. Sometimes you look up at the sky because it's just so damn pretty outside. Sometimes, you look up because you're thinking, damn, that's alot of smog on the horizon. Who misses a flying boy?!?!
Now, Nathan was a jet plane. He was menacing and self-interested, and self-indulgent. SuperEmoBoy with his dark hair and open face is so Clark Kent in Kansas that it's disgusting. Only, again, without the charm and with obvious ulterior motives. Seriously, who could look at that face and that hair and NOT think ulterior motives.
Again, very casually, I do not like:
- The Haitian's continued namelessness. At this point, if and when he gets named it will be obnoxiously anti-climatic.
- Nathan's beard of DOOM! I understand that it's supposed to represent the passage of time and his emotional precariousness, but dude! How am I supposed to take that thing seriously?! Couldn't we have settled on a respectably scruffy stubble? I mean heavy, but not too heavy. y'know.
- The "Hey, you're never getting out of the hood" speech obliquely delivered by Monica's well-meaning boss.
- dead D.L., although I get that we need casualties from the end of S1. To be honest I thought D.L. was a goner in the finale. However, I don't care for trading one black character for another. So we ax D.L. and enter Monica? Is it supposed to make it better that they're family? Actually, now that I think of it, we could potentially read Maya/Simone as the same sort of trade, albeit Maya's arrival would then seem to be incredibly delayed.
- Shapeshifter Girl re-visited was SO NOT CLEVERand she deserved to DIE. *ahem* Plot devices should not be repeated so closely. It becomes Obvious.
Well, we have to wait and see how things all turn out, I expect my love to intensify as the season progresses. Kristen Bell had potential, so perhaps she'll be the key. Maya and Sylar love? Peter showing up in New York to find his brother a half-mad, vagrant, drunk and his mother in prison could also do the trick. There are just so many possibilities!
Somehow, watching the characters untwist and identify their course, remember when we went from "Are You on the List" to "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World", kinda leaves me with a little bit of an Ok, So what's next? Of course, we can go back and review and recognize all the foreshadowing, but until we get into the "meat" of the season I am left with a big whoop. Last night was episode 6, so for me, if the pattern holds true, we're hitting that stretch where my interest in the show is going to wane. Last night didn't do a whole lot to convince me otherwise.
It's not that I'm not interested, it's just that I'm kinda meh at this point and at least until we get enough threads of plot to form some sort of cohesive tapestry for this season's direction. Thus far we've got elements: Peter's amnesia, Adam Monroe, the Hero killer/Daddy Parkman/The Nightmare Man, Maya, Monica, Hiro and Tenzei in feudal Japan, Hiro's betrayal with Yakeo, Mohinder and the Company, Claire and Superboy. It'll eventually all add up, but right now all speculation is going to be really wild.
The revelation of a pandemic, that I assume is going to be related to a mutation of the Shanti virus that hits the general population, is the Big Event that the season will be spiraling towards, mimicking last season's destruction of NYC, but on a global scale, therefore upping the ante for our Heroes (saving 93% of the population means that our Heroes really will be saving the world). Now, we're waiting to find out all the details of that plot, the how, why and who that made the later episodes of S1 so fraught with tension and excitement.
Not that all the character development and plot advancement isn't interesting. Okay, really, not so much. Mostly it's tedious with pockets of surprise.
But let's get to what's right so far this season:
- Maya and Gabriel/Sylar. I think we can see where this is going, but it doesn't make the journey to get there any less tense. Gabriel is looking to cause as much mayhem as possible. His speech, delivered so mildly, to the uncomprehending Alejandro was deliciously sinister. Maya's insistence on Gabriel as savior, at the very least via the leaps she makes between her faith and her reality, is as fool hardy as it is sad because she is so desperately gullible. That, perhaps willing, culpability makes for great drama because Maya, I fear, may allow herself to be deluded for as long as possible. She has, after all, convinced herself that committing murder was their only option for escaping the border patrol and getting into the US. This is one threesome that I can't wait to see resolve itself. Will Maya be a good guy or a bad guy? What happens if her brother dies? Does Sylar get his powers back? When will Sylar get his powers back? How awesome crazy would it be if Sylar gets his powers back and falls in love with Maya and they become this vicious, fiercesome Bonny and Clyde? Not that that's going to happen considering that Sylar is a narcissistic sociopath.
- Mr. Bennet remains the most complex character of the show. He is an awesome, if obvious, examination of the good and evil located within the individual. Perhaps more exciting to watch is the way that duality is explored via the "ends justify the means" dogma that Mr. Bennet seems to be a slave to. But in the end, I am as horrified by his cold bloodedness as I am gleeful to watch it. It is as expected as it is startling (see the violent murder of Ivan in The Line, even though you know it had never gone away when he put down that prick of a manager at the copy shop). I am fascinated to see that sensibility reveal itself in Clare.
Very casually, I like:
- Mohinder's new partner at the end of The Line. That was Jessica and not Nikki, and Mohinder KNEW it.
- Ando, still!
- Monica's ability is pretty kickass. Muscle memory, awesome!! Could you imagine the smackdown that would ensue if she ever went up against Jessica?
- Nichelle Nichols as Micah's grandmother. YAY!!!
and that takes me to the things that I do not like about the season thus far:
- Surprisingly, Hiro in feudal Japan isn't as interesting as it could be or, perhaps, is meant to be. Other than a plot device, someone's got to fuck up history, I don't get it. Obviously we're dealing with some sort of space/time fold where the future determines the past that informs the future yada yada yada in circles. So, Hiro has to be in Feudal Japan in order for the stories of Kenzei to become reality and for Hiro to then be inspired by them in the future and fulfill his S1 destiny. I can't say that I'm ever really enthralled by that sort of implosion of time/space mechanics, and here I don't find it interesting enough to sustain the amount of time that we're having to spend with Hiro in the past. Okay, it's a set-up and I recognize that, but watching it is a little like watching paint dry. watching Ando's reactions, however, are pure gold.
- Molly has two daddies. As squee worthy as that was in the beginning, Mohinder and Parkman are not two great tastes that taste great together. Neither have ever been my favorite characters, so watching their antagonistic interplay is decidedly uninteresting. What I also find uninteresting is that as much as their relationship (or at least their proximity) is predicated on their shared feelings for Molly, I find that they are the most self-indulgent pair, by far. Mohinder's attachment to Molly acts largely as a substitute for the his relationship with Shanti and Parkman's attachment, I think is similar. Molly is a replacement for the relationship that he would have had with his wife's child. Sadly, Molly Walker is a plot device, first to reveal Parkman's powers and later to remind us of the existence of the Shanti virus (as a lead-in to S2) and finally to introduce us to the newest Big Bad.
But now, Molly has served her purpose and has been conveniently shuffled offstage using the classic, if not clichéd, device of the coma. Not since the first two episodes of Men in Trees have I seen such prompt excision of a character who no longer serves a purpose. And should I point out how quickly Parkman was willing to use Molly for his own purposes (finding his Real Dad -- i.e. Real Family and how quickly Mohinder was willing to leave Molly behind in the tender care of The Company).
- Clare and Superboy. As interesting as it could be to see the "darker" side of Clare emerge, how disturbed were we by her manipulation of Cheerleader Debbie, it really isn't. I am continually reminded that Clare hasn't learned a damned thing from the events of last season. Once again, she's trusting people that maybe she shouldn't and lying. This season's excuse, teen angst, is a lot less compelling then the "my daddy is evil and there's a crazy man trying to cut off the top of my head" from last season. I also don't like Superboy. He comes out of nowhere and incites Clare to this "rebellion" that doesn't make sense. Considering last season, I'd think that the girl would be up for a little anonymity. Last season's Five Years in the Future even suggested that she isn't completely averse to it, or at the very least recognizes the necessity for it, having created a life for herself albeit less grandiose than she perhaps dreamed of. Listening to Nazi Superboy, "you've got a power — by definition, you're better than she is", really irks because it also highlights Clare's glib reassessment of her father. (Did you see how I channeled Tom Cruise right there?)
- Plus, I really don't like the casual flying around. The CGI on the first couple of flights weren't all that great, and the whole thing smacks of a Superman rip-off without charm. Meaning, SuperEmoBoy doesn't have any. The trick of flying last season was that it occurred very rarely and was so sudden and startling that if you blinked you missed it. I think that visual "trick" grounds the act in reality where these people with these powers can exist. Flying is such a fantastic ability that watching this kid casually swoop around the neighborhood with a girl in his arms continually yanks me out of the narrative. I think of how crappy the CGI is and, although I bet its supposed to be an homage, how it's just a cheap attempt to create a parallel in our minds with Superman in a way that Nathan never did and wasn't supposed to. I'm also skeptical about how no one EVER sees this kid flying around in the clear, blue sky. It's California, for fuck's sake. Sometimes you look up at the sky because it's just so damn pretty outside. Sometimes, you look up because you're thinking, damn, that's alot of smog on the horizon. Who misses a flying boy?!?!
Now, Nathan was a jet plane. He was menacing and self-interested, and self-indulgent. SuperEmoBoy with his dark hair and open face is so Clark Kent in Kansas that it's disgusting. Only, again, without the charm and with obvious ulterior motives. Seriously, who could look at that face and that hair and NOT think ulterior motives.
Again, very casually, I do not like:
- The Haitian's continued namelessness. At this point, if and when he gets named it will be obnoxiously anti-climatic.
- Nathan's beard of DOOM! I understand that it's supposed to represent the passage of time and his emotional precariousness, but dude! How am I supposed to take that thing seriously?! Couldn't we have settled on a respectably scruffy stubble? I mean heavy, but not too heavy. y'know.
- The "Hey, you're never getting out of the hood" speech obliquely delivered by Monica's well-meaning boss.
- dead D.L., although I get that we need casualties from the end of S1. To be honest I thought D.L. was a goner in the finale. However, I don't care for trading one black character for another. So we ax D.L. and enter Monica? Is it supposed to make it better that they're family? Actually, now that I think of it, we could potentially read Maya/Simone as the same sort of trade, albeit Maya's arrival would then seem to be incredibly delayed.
- Shapeshifter Girl re-visited was SO NOT CLEVER
Well, we have to wait and see how things all turn out, I expect my love to intensify as the season progresses. Kristen Bell had potential, so perhaps she'll be the key. Maya and Sylar love? Peter showing up in New York to find his brother a half-mad, vagrant, drunk and his mother in prison could also do the trick. There are just so many possibilities!
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 06:35 am (UTC)From:Didn't Nathan get rid of the beard or was I imagining that? I was sure the last time I saw him he was barefaced ... maybe it was wishful thinking.
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Date: 2007-10-31 06:47 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 06:59 am (UTC)From: