Eris Quod Sum
Oct. 29th, 2008 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meddowI thought it was a good episode, but I'm in one of those moods in which I am going to detail everything wrong with this show and how it should be fixed. Heroes remains one of the most frustrating shows on television. It got worse before it got better, but they've made huge headway this season into fixing some of the problems, such as Peter, the writing of female characters, speeding up the plotting and getting rid of the excess characters, but it continues to waste brilliant opportunities.
Sometimes I think the writers and showrunners know exactly what they’re doing. Other times it feels like they're just a bunch of monkeys and episodes like Company Man and Cautionary Tales are the works of Shakespeare.
Eris Quod Sum
HRG and Tracey should form the deadpan squad. Nathan can join too. Actually, can Nathan, Noah, Tracey and Meredith form some form of crime fighting team? Team grown-up or some such who fight bad guy with common sense and an air of professionalism and angst instead of wangst. Because the whole five seconds in which they were all interacting was the highlight of the episode.
HRG is being dreadfully underutilised this season. This episode he had all of three lines. Last episode he was in one scene. Is he this season's Ando? Have the writers forgotten that HRG is one of the best things about this show? He's the perpetually powerless underdog just trying to do his job/protect his family with little though to destiny and the end of the world, making him strangely one of the most relatable characters on the show and on top of that, of the major players, he's one of the most consistently written. The HRG-centric episodes of both season one and two were the best episodes of each season. Not to mention, this season's about giving average people superpowers, and him being the guy who does not need superpowers to kick ass, I'd like him to be a bit more involved in that plot. I'm sure he'd have an interesting perspective on it. So give him a bit more screen time already.
And OMG, I have been waiting for the scene where Nathan realises that the creepy dude in glasses that kidnapped him and on whom he promised revenge is Claire's adopted father and they didn't show it. Opportunity wasted. I wanted fist fights! I wanted badass secret agent vs. former military dude. Alpha male vs. alpha male. Where the hell was that? Fail.
Personally, I would gladly offer up any Sylar or Mohinder screen time to the HRG cause.
Peter was the most likeable he's been all season this episode. However, I'm horrifically sick of Petrellis. I remember when this show used to be an ensemble, with this Petrelli's pretty important but not the main force in the Heroes world. In fact, Peter and Nathan were pretty expendable come the Season One finale. Now it seems like they've become a black hole at the centre of the show. Everything I like is being sucked up into them, and it's annoying, because I was never a fan that loved the Petrellis or Sylar. I like Angela and Nathan a lot and Petrelli dysfunction was fun when it was just a thing that would crop up now and again at the periphery of the main plot. However, this season the show may well be renamed 'Petrelli dysfunction' and it's not fun anymore and I can give you the exact reason: Sylar.
The Sylar is a Petrelli plot is weighing this show down dreadfully. It has the potential to be awesome, and if it turns out Sylar's playing both Angela and Arthur, it would be. But at the moment, I don't know whether it's coming or going and I really do not like this 'you can't blame Sylar, it's 'THE HUNGER' that made him do it' thing, since THE HUNGER does not explain away his murders in season two, when he was powerless, or the times he's killed or attempted to kill normal people. We're supposed to except that THE HUNGER made him attempt to kill Sandra in the first season? The retcon doesn't work. As much as the Noah/Sylar team-up is hilarious and full of dramatic potential, I actually think Sylar's storyline this season is worse that Mohinder's.
Anyway, I really want for:
1. Arthur to be dead good and proper by the end of the volume
2. Angela to lay off the incestuous mothering and returns to her season two high point of awesomeness by getting her involved in other controversies beyond her immediate family
3. Peter doesn't regain his empathic abilities, and instead has one ability, preferably one that's just a little bit pants so he has to learn how to use his brain to defeat bad guys.
4. Nathan continues as is. I have no problems with him this season. I fact, Nathan was one of the best things about this episode. I loved him wanting to kick down doors.
5. Hiro travels back in time and removed all traces of Sylar after season one in the show's continuity. Either that, or they kill him off at the end of the volume and the Haitian makes sure nobody remembers he existed.
On the other hand, really want it so that it is true that Angela tried to drown Sylar as a baby after having some horrific prophetic dream about him. That would explain nicely why he was given up for adoption and also why Angela is who she is. Take a normal person and give her the ability to see that her beloved child on day becomes a mass murderer, and that's got to mess a person up.
Mohinder storyline, I figure, can be solved by simply removing Mohinder's brain and putting Adam's in its place. I'm only slightly kidding with this suggestion since it's a perfect solution. We get to keep Adam and we get to keep Sandil Ramamurthy (his character being an idiot doesn't make him any less hot) and Mohinduh is gone. The being mortal thing would probably curb Adam's desire to destroy the world since he'd destroy himself along with it.
And finally, can they please remember all the character development that Hiro went through last season. He had become sensible and mature. Now he's back to square one and all we have to show for the trip to 16th Century Japan and Kaito's death is his refusal to travel back in time.
Having done all that ranting, I've decided I really like Daphne. And you know why? She's this season's HRG. Unknown motivations, loyalties and past? Check. Swiftly moves between many of the plotlines? Check. Attempting to get out of a Company? Check. Morally grey? Check. Having the character revealed slowly by peeling back the layers? Check. All that she's got in common with HRG in season one. It's a winning formula. Add on the one-liners and she's fast become one of my absolute favourite characters.
I really hope her playing Matt doesn't actually ruin the chances of Matt/Daphne, because I think it's the best canon romance this show has managed to have since Hiro/Charlie. They seem to have learnt form last season's mistakes when it comes to love interests, since Daphne has her own life beyond being Parkman's romance and the sci-fi twist is cute. And I know not everybody thinks so, but I do believe the actors have chemistry.
I can't believe they killed off Maury Parkman so swiftly. I know they're trying to cull the herd, but he was an effective villain. I actually like Matt's Daddy issues and they really could have been more effective if the big reveal that he'd been protecting Matt all along had happened at a more important moment in the plot. Then again, maybe he's not dead. Matt faked his own death this episode so it's not inconceivable that Maury and Arthur pulled the same trick on Daphne, Knox and Flint in order to keep them in line.
Maya is gone. I really wanted them to make her awesome rather than write her out, but I can understand that they've just decided to cut their losses. There is a lot of hate for the character out there, not just fandom but media commentators as well and it'd be really hard trying to get people to like her. Can I just say that I am so incredibly glad they didn't kill her off and she left on a high point. She chose to leave and she chose to not forgive Mohinder or let him anywhere near her. Go Maya.
Lyle got to be just a little awesome. The previously underused members of the Bennet family are having their little moments to shine this season, which is absolutely wonderful. Not sure where the hell Claire refusal to talk to her father is going, probably with them crossing paths at an inopportune moment. (Damn it, if it ends up in him having to take another bullet to prove he loves her, I'm going to be pissed.)
Elle was just a little heartbreaking this episode. Like the Elle vs. Claire fight scene. Claire was effectively badass (she can be when they don't try so damn hard) and those two make really good roadtrip partners. And I think Heroes has its first major femslash ship in Elle/Claire. I hope Pinehurst doesn't de-power her and instead fixes whatever's wrong with her.
Oh, and I totally recommend checking out this and last weeks graphic novels since Claude lives!. The fact he and Elle go to watch Hamlet has got to be a Doctor Who shout out.
Sometimes I think the writers and showrunners know exactly what they’re doing. Other times it feels like they're just a bunch of monkeys and episodes like Company Man and Cautionary Tales are the works of Shakespeare.
HRG and Tracey should form the deadpan squad. Nathan can join too. Actually, can Nathan, Noah, Tracey and Meredith form some form of crime fighting team? Team grown-up or some such who fight bad guy with common sense and an air of professionalism and angst instead of wangst. Because the whole five seconds in which they were all interacting was the highlight of the episode.
HRG is being dreadfully underutilised this season. This episode he had all of three lines. Last episode he was in one scene. Is he this season's Ando? Have the writers forgotten that HRG is one of the best things about this show? He's the perpetually powerless underdog just trying to do his job/protect his family with little though to destiny and the end of the world, making him strangely one of the most relatable characters on the show and on top of that, of the major players, he's one of the most consistently written. The HRG-centric episodes of both season one and two were the best episodes of each season. Not to mention, this season's about giving average people superpowers, and him being the guy who does not need superpowers to kick ass, I'd like him to be a bit more involved in that plot. I'm sure he'd have an interesting perspective on it. So give him a bit more screen time already.
And OMG, I have been waiting for the scene where Nathan realises that the creepy dude in glasses that kidnapped him and on whom he promised revenge is Claire's adopted father and they didn't show it. Opportunity wasted. I wanted fist fights! I wanted badass secret agent vs. former military dude. Alpha male vs. alpha male. Where the hell was that? Fail.
Personally, I would gladly offer up any Sylar or Mohinder screen time to the HRG cause.
Peter was the most likeable he's been all season this episode. However, I'm horrifically sick of Petrellis. I remember when this show used to be an ensemble, with this Petrelli's pretty important but not the main force in the Heroes world. In fact, Peter and Nathan were pretty expendable come the Season One finale. Now it seems like they've become a black hole at the centre of the show. Everything I like is being sucked up into them, and it's annoying, because I was never a fan that loved the Petrellis or Sylar. I like Angela and Nathan a lot and Petrelli dysfunction was fun when it was just a thing that would crop up now and again at the periphery of the main plot. However, this season the show may well be renamed 'Petrelli dysfunction' and it's not fun anymore and I can give you the exact reason: Sylar.
The Sylar is a Petrelli plot is weighing this show down dreadfully. It has the potential to be awesome, and if it turns out Sylar's playing both Angela and Arthur, it would be. But at the moment, I don't know whether it's coming or going and I really do not like this 'you can't blame Sylar, it's 'THE HUNGER' that made him do it' thing, since THE HUNGER does not explain away his murders in season two, when he was powerless, or the times he's killed or attempted to kill normal people. We're supposed to except that THE HUNGER made him attempt to kill Sandra in the first season? The retcon doesn't work. As much as the Noah/Sylar team-up is hilarious and full of dramatic potential, I actually think Sylar's storyline this season is worse that Mohinder's.
Anyway, I really want for:
1. Arthur to be dead good and proper by the end of the volume
2. Angela to lay off the incestuous mothering and returns to her season two high point of awesomeness by getting her involved in other controversies beyond her immediate family
3. Peter doesn't regain his empathic abilities, and instead has one ability, preferably one that's just a little bit pants so he has to learn how to use his brain to defeat bad guys.
4. Nathan continues as is. I have no problems with him this season. I fact, Nathan was one of the best things about this episode. I loved him wanting to kick down doors.
5. Hiro travels back in time and removed all traces of Sylar after season one in the show's continuity. Either that, or they kill him off at the end of the volume and the Haitian makes sure nobody remembers he existed.
On the other hand, really want it so that it is true that Angela tried to drown Sylar as a baby after having some horrific prophetic dream about him. That would explain nicely why he was given up for adoption and also why Angela is who she is. Take a normal person and give her the ability to see that her beloved child on day becomes a mass murderer, and that's got to mess a person up.
Mohinder storyline, I figure, can be solved by simply removing Mohinder's brain and putting Adam's in its place. I'm only slightly kidding with this suggestion since it's a perfect solution. We get to keep Adam and we get to keep Sandil Ramamurthy (his character being an idiot doesn't make him any less hot) and Mohinduh is gone. The being mortal thing would probably curb Adam's desire to destroy the world since he'd destroy himself along with it.
And finally, can they please remember all the character development that Hiro went through last season. He had become sensible and mature. Now he's back to square one and all we have to show for the trip to 16th Century Japan and Kaito's death is his refusal to travel back in time.
Having done all that ranting, I've decided I really like Daphne. And you know why? She's this season's HRG. Unknown motivations, loyalties and past? Check. Swiftly moves between many of the plotlines? Check. Attempting to get out of a Company? Check. Morally grey? Check. Having the character revealed slowly by peeling back the layers? Check. All that she's got in common with HRG in season one. It's a winning formula. Add on the one-liners and she's fast become one of my absolute favourite characters.
I really hope her playing Matt doesn't actually ruin the chances of Matt/Daphne, because I think it's the best canon romance this show has managed to have since Hiro/Charlie. They seem to have learnt form last season's mistakes when it comes to love interests, since Daphne has her own life beyond being Parkman's romance and the sci-fi twist is cute. And I know not everybody thinks so, but I do believe the actors have chemistry.
I can't believe they killed off Maury Parkman so swiftly. I know they're trying to cull the herd, but he was an effective villain. I actually like Matt's Daddy issues and they really could have been more effective if the big reveal that he'd been protecting Matt all along had happened at a more important moment in the plot. Then again, maybe he's not dead. Matt faked his own death this episode so it's not inconceivable that Maury and Arthur pulled the same trick on Daphne, Knox and Flint in order to keep them in line.
Maya is gone. I really wanted them to make her awesome rather than write her out, but I can understand that they've just decided to cut their losses. There is a lot of hate for the character out there, not just fandom but media commentators as well and it'd be really hard trying to get people to like her. Can I just say that I am so incredibly glad they didn't kill her off and she left on a high point. She chose to leave and she chose to not forgive Mohinder or let him anywhere near her. Go Maya.
Lyle got to be just a little awesome. The previously underused members of the Bennet family are having their little moments to shine this season, which is absolutely wonderful. Not sure where the hell Claire refusal to talk to her father is going, probably with them crossing paths at an inopportune moment. (Damn it, if it ends up in him having to take another bullet to prove he loves her, I'm going to be pissed.)
Elle was just a little heartbreaking this episode. Like the Elle vs. Claire fight scene. Claire was effectively badass (she can be when they don't try so damn hard) and those two make really good roadtrip partners. And I think Heroes has its first major femslash ship in Elle/Claire. I hope Pinehurst doesn't de-power her and instead fixes whatever's wrong with her.
Oh, and I totally recommend checking out this and last weeks graphic novels since Claude lives!. The fact he and Elle go to watch Hamlet has got to be a Doctor Who shout out.
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 08:34 pm (UTC)Actually, can Nathan, Noah, Tracey and Meredith form some form of crime fighting team?
OH HELL YES! They are brilliant.
And OMG, I have been waiting for the scene where Nathan realises that the creepy dude in glasses that kidnapped him and on whom he promised revenge is Claire's adopted father and they didn't show it.
I, too, was disappointed, but I'm guessing TPTB has forgot all about that. It would not be the first time. They really should hire someone who can keep track on which characters have met before and under which circumstances, because they are rubbish at it.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 10:30 pm (UTC)I got all >:( at Claire. I love her, but Elle is just so messed up and has had a pretty crap time of it, and she's in constant pain, and I'm really too soft.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 02:46 am (UTC)I think Claire's just a little justified in her Elle issues since Elle did have a role in Noah being killed (plus, I don't think she knows about the testing Bob did on Elle that's got her so messed up). And watching her take in all that electricity without so much as flinching was awesome, so I'm happy she was initially a bit mean.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 02:56 am (UTC)I think she's justified, but Elle is ~*~mine~*~ now and I want to take care of her. They're both just so awesome, though, I want more adventures together.