GoldenGait
Hero!
Posts: 81
|
 |
« Reply #13 on: 09/22/08, 11:05:13 PM » |
|
My apologies for The Longest Post In The History Of Posts, but there's just too much to comment on here!
This was the most awesome two hours of television I've seen play out live in a long time. I'm so proud of them! And at the same time, very disappointed. There was so much in these first two episodes that it feels as if I over ate... it was too much. This show went from being too slow in the first half of the first season to being fabulous in the second half, to sucking big time in the second season, and now I'm afraid they're cramming every single second full of Heroes-y goodness this season to try to win people back and apologize. Unfortunately, it can get a little busy.
That said, I'm a huge fan, so I ate up every last little bit of it, and am so excited for where this season is going!
The jump to the future was a great way to kick off the season. Every fan's favorite episode is 1x20 Five Years Gone, and giving us back brunette, badass Claire and Scar!Peter was sheer brilliance as an initial hook. I liked that no matter what they do (stop the bomb, stop the virus), there always seems to be another future to fight against, and it seems Peter's inevitable fate to end up in a battle that gives him that scar. I can't tell you how happy I would be at some point in the future of this series to see the moment when he gets it.
And Peter was the one who shot Nathan! I love it. Right up until the moment I heard him say he needed to go back and stop Nathan from revealing their abilities I thought HRG was the shooter. Very nice fake out. Out of every character possible I'm sure no-one predicted it would be Peter. That was phenomenal.
I'm glad Kaito left his company to Hiro because of his powers and destiny. I was a bit confused initially--I thought Hiro's sister took over for Dad?--but I like the way they handled it. And the DVD messages Kaito left for Hiro were fabulously funny. "Never open the safe!" ... "I asked you not to open the safe." I also loved Masi's delivery: "Do you understand?" "No. Not really." I also love where they've taken Hiro and Ando's relationship. Their nothing-can-come-between-us friendship had gotten a little boring, and since we barely saw them together last season, I think this a great direction to go in. A future where Ando has a power and turns on Hiro (in a very Star Wars Palpatine sort of way--very cool) is a lovely thing to look forward to, and a great way to have Hiro suddenly mistrust every single one of his best friend's actions. Way to drive a wedge, writers. Beautiful. Only thing I don't understand is Hiro saw a future where he is killed by Ando, but Angela dreamed a future where Hiro is one of the slaughtered good guys after a battle on Level 5. Which one is it?
Speaking of Angela! I've been waiting forever for them to reveal her power, and I was going to be the world's biggest skeptic when they finally did, because I've said from the beginning that whatever she can do, Peter should be able to do, too, but we hadn't seen any errant, unexplainable abilities from him... But I was wrong! We had! He dreamed the future! Very cool power for Angela to have, and I love that she was one of the only ones to figure out that Future!Peter was not who he said he was (Present!Peter), and tell him to get out of her timeline. I'm so glad they kept continuity alive for this detail!
Which brings me to her dream of Matt, Hiro, HRG, Claire, and Peter all dead after a showdown with Maury, Sylar, Tracy, Adam, and one of the new villains. Nice threat, writers, but we were just told Claire can't die. And why was she back in her cheerleader outfit? Nice to see Adam and Maury will be making future appearances, though. I liked both of them, and felt they got short changed last season. I'm just a little worried that they're introducing too many new characters and people won't be able to keep up.
That was a wonderful surprise with Sylar appearing at Claire's house. Totally didn't see that coming, and it was masterful from beginning to end. I loved his reference to his vacation "south of the border" and his likening his time there to a "long night after a bad taco". How very crude, Sylar. The house of horrors he trapped Claire in--with no lights and no doors--was very Classic Slasher Flick, and to have the gorgeous blonde with the comically big knife being stalked through the dark was perfect. Even after he got his hands on her and started his inspection of her brain the homages continued with a very Hannibal moment: his conversation with the person whose brain he was taking apart was chilling. (That part of Hannibal--the book--truly grossed me out. There's not much that makes me feel sick, but Hannibal managed it as he and Clarice made small talk with the guy as they ate his brain.) This scene also answered a wonderful fandom question: does Sylar eat the brains he takes? "Are you going to eat it?" "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." I knew it! I knew he didn't eat them. And I loved Zachary's delivery of the line, as if Sylar were disappointed in Claire for thinking he'd do something so gross, and at the same time reveling in his current repulsive task.
So everything really still is about the cheerleader... The revelation that Claire is special-beyond-special and couldn't be killed by Sylar even if he wanted to was interesting, as was her now total lack of pain sensation. Creepy. Poor thing. Does this mean Peter can't die, either? He absorbs her powers, and if Sylar knows how she does whatevershedoes, he's now indestructable, too? I'm wary of too many people having regenerative abilities. Epic battles between people who can't die aren't as interesting.
And just how many people have been healed or cured, by themselves or through a transfusion? Sylar by Claire's blood (and now he's got her power), HRG by Claire's blood, Maya by Claire's blood, Nathan by Adam's blood and then... by an invisible Linderman? How long does this transfusion-induced regenerative state last? They can't be permanently like this. Did Linderman really heal Nathan, or did Adam's blood do it? Nobody who has been transfused has gotten hurt yet... I'm hoping they don't give them all healing abilities. That would be too much. Although for a minute there I was impressed with the continuity of Future!Peter knowing Nathan could heal from the gunshots because of a previous dose of Adam's blood, but alas, he was surprised when Nathan sat up. Which brings up some disturbing questions about Future!Peter's moral compass if he's willing to shoot his own brother in cold blood. Couldn't he have transported himself back to the vault and talked his brother down there? All he'd have to do is threaten a horrible future and all three of those heroes would have stood down.
I'm extremely confused by Nathan's recovery and Linderman's reappearance. I like Malcolm McDowell, and I like the character, but this pair of episodes is getting crowded and I haven't even gotten to most of the new character's we've seen... Is he there? Is he invisible? Is Nathan crazy? What's with the finding of religion? He can't be too overtly loony or Tracy Strauss wouldn't have offered him the Junior Senatorship.
Again... too many new characters all at once! Niki's dead, okay, and we have no idea where Micah and Monica are (also okay with me), but since when does Niki have a doppelganger running around New York? Has Tracy been there the whole time? Is she a completely separate character? I like Ali Larter, and it's nice we got to keep the actress as a new character, and I love the complications this is going to set up between her, Nathan, and anyone else who knew Niki, but for the love of... There better be an explanation for an entirely unique individual that looks just like Niki who lives in New York and can freeze people (which is a very cool power, and I loved Ali's performance as Tracy realizes what she can do). And I look forward to seeing her go evil. :-)
Another new character: Daphne Millbrook, Speedster Girl. She looks so much like Kate Bosworth! Her special effects were awesome. I liked her for what they're using her for, but I hope she's not built into a recurring character unless she and the storyline truly warrant it and can handle another character. I loved her confrontation with Hiro in her Parisian loft, but hated Ando's whiny turn after she leaves, accusing Hiro of cutting him when he'd actually just saved his life. Hiro, dump this money-grubbing, always-whining turn coat before he gets you both in trouble.
I loved the shot of Future!Peter swooping up Claire from in front of the train, and I liked his tortured wariness to talk to her too much after she asks him for information. I hope you're feeling pretty stupid, Future!Peter, because this whole journey to the past was one big bonehead move on your part. And I'm very excited that we get two Peters this season, one scarred, angsty, super-powerful Peter from the future and one in the body of Jesse.
Jesse! Francis Capra! The little kid with bad teeth from Kazaam, but better known by me as Weevil from Veronica Mars! Do you think Kristen Bell got him the job? I'm intrigued by this body dump Future!Peter did to Present!Peter. I love that he has seemingly limitless powers in the future, and I thought it was fabulous that Future!Peter then "lost" Jesse!Peter in the Level 5 jail break. But where did Jesse's consciousness go? Is it in there, too? Is Jesse dead? Does Peter still have all his powers in Jesse's body, or does he only have Jesse's? And if that's the case, what power does he have? Must be a pretty powerful offense to warrant Level 5. I'm guessing he only has Jesse's, because otherwise wouldn't he have been able to teleport out of his Level 5 cell? But! If Present!Peter met Future!Peter long enough to be body-dumped into Jesse, wouldn't he have loaded his past self up with all his abilities? Or does he not download that fast?
The jailbreak was awesome. I love that Sylar killed Bob (he needed to go), and his attempt on Elle's life was nicely side-stepped, with her blowing out the whole cell block, letting out the prisoners, and allowing HRG time to contain Sylar.
Not impressed with the direction they're going with Maya and her Magical Disappearing Accent. She was kissing on Sylar during their little roadtrip, and now she seems completely over the death of her brother and is letting Super!Mohinder mack on her now. Um... You're coming off a little easy, sweetie. Then again, did you see Mohinder in this episode? Since when is Sendhil The Most Beautiful Man Alive Without A Shirt On? Seriously, I'm amazed the producers sat on that up until now. Or was he told he was getting a power and needed to beef up for it over the hiatus? I loved the "Fly" homage with the hanging on the ceiling, the sweaty shirtlessness, the self-induced powers, and the very Goldblum-esque hair. And the fact that the transformation has gone wrong gives him a great motivation to continue his research: if he doesn't find a cure now, he's effectively killed himself. This forced mutation is somewhat reminiscent of Magneto's machine in X-Men that mutated people and ended up killing them as their body couldn't take the changes so abruptly. Some people are not meant to have powers, and you can't force it: there are obvious consequences for trying to steal greatness. This, of course, doesn't apply to Sylar: taking things by force seems to be working out pretty well for him.
Boy, they just erased little Molly. Put her on a plane... to where? And I would have appreciated it if they'd made mention of the fact that Matt was her adoptive father and Mohinder basically kidnapped her and sent her away without consulting Daddy. True, now Matt's stuck on a Spirit Walk in Africa (which I really like... more heroes need to be benched or their airtime trimmed for a few episodes) and couldn't care for Molly, but Mohinder doesn't know that. He's too busy being a slime ball and coming on to Sylar's left overs. Ooh, that was a little harsh. Was that too harsh?
Bits and Pieces:
* I'm just still a little creeped out by Hayden (niece) pointing a gun at Milo (uncle) and saying "I always loved you." Kinda weird. I suppose I'll get over it eventually. What would make this process faster would be if they broke up... and Milo dated me instead. :-)
* I love the Hiro theme music. Very cute and bubbly.
* Loved Maya hitting Mohinder with his own cricket bat as he walked in the door.
* I'm hoping they don't try to build off of "Save ourselves. Save the world." The cheerleader line was organic and became the battle cry for the freshman season, but you can't force the magic a second time. Let this just be a reference and nothing more.
* Great line from the newly religious Nathan: "Speaking of sin..." [...] "I'm sorry, do you think you know me?" "Yes. The word 'biblically' comes to mind."
* Great delivery by Adrian as Future!Peter reveals himself to Nathan: "I'm not sure how to respond to this."
* Is it just a Maya Cocktail that gives powers, or could Mohinder synthesize a Mutant Serum from any of the heroes' DNA?
* Loved Hallucination!Matt: "Oh, god, I'm going insane." [...] "Thank you, turtle!"
* Horrified at the Sprint product placement. Really disappointed in you, Heroes.
* Nice line: "My name is Sylar and you are not my mother." Loved the delivery, love the symmetry to his previously bellowed "My name is Sylar!", and love all that his new relationship with Angela implies... This is going to be a good season. :-)
Til next week,
GG
|
Topic: 3x01/3x02 - The Second Coming/The Butterfly Effect