I. AM. PISSED. OFF.
Oh, Tim Kring, how could you do this to me? How could you do this to us, your loyal fans, who have supported and followed this show since Day One? How could you end one of the best seasons of television ever with one of the single worst finales I've ever seen in my life? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS ME?
If you are a fellow Heroes watcher, than you have my deepest sympathies because no fan should have endure crap like this. Let's break it down:
STUFF I LIKED:
1. Hmmmmm. I actually have to think about this. Ok. Got one.
Good power uses. Every single hero used their power (well, not including those whose powers we don't know like Mama Petrelli, Charles Deveaux and Simone-- believe me, she'll be back). Nathan flew, Claire regenerated, Peter read minds, was invisible and blew up, Hiro teleported and time traveled (more on that later), Micah restarted the elevator, DL went through another wall, Nikki used her super strength to hit Sylar with a parking meter, and Molly located Sylar. Even if the rest of the episode sucked, at least no one is shy about using their abilities anymore.
2. Some cool new information was dropped on us. According to Molly, there is a villain even worse than Sylar on the horizon, a villain so powerful that when Molly thinks of him, he can "see" her. This has fantastic potential and is a great hook for the second season. Also, we learned that Charles Deveaux has some sort of ability (time travel? dream talking?), which should hopefully play out next season.
That's it. Time for the tirade.
STUFF THAT PISSED ME OFF:
1. SO many inconsistencies I don't even know where to begin. I think its easier to do them in list form.
a. Sylar-- He is powerful enough to kill dozens of heroes, and he has supersonic hearing, but Hiro is able to jog up to him and smite him with a samurai sword? HUH? Really?
b. In one scene, Hiro is able to teleport across a room, grab Ando, and teleport to Japan before Sylar can even turn his head. But when Sylar throws him in the final scene, he accidentally travels to 17th century Japan? Come on!
c. Where is the damn Haitian? He's around all season-long and then when all the shit goes down, he's nowhere to be found?
d. Isaac's comic book-- In one page of the book, Hiro is stabbing Sylar. This comes true. In another page, Ando is dead. This does not come true. How can it be both? Ando being alive or dead has no effect on whether Hiro succeeds?
e. In one scene, DL is collapsed on the ground with a bullet in his stomach, unable to move. Moments later, he's running around and then chillin outside with his wife and kid. Give me a break.
f. Last week, Candace alluded to the fact that she hides her true form because she is really fat and ugly. But when Nikki knocks her out, she reverts back into pretty Candace form, not into some behemoth dogface. If Kring and Co. try and pull some crap move in the future where Candace is not actually the pretty brunette, I will be more than pissed.
OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT UPSET ME:
1. Veronica Mars- 2 hour finale. 24- 2 hour finale. Lost- 2 hour finale. Heroes - 63 lousy minutes.
2. Matt Parkman gets hit in the chest with like 5 bullets and he isn't dead?! I know he's best friends with Tim Kring, but that shouldn't matter! If you don't want him to die, don't shoot him with 5 bullets! Damn you and your nepotism, Kring! Damn you!
3. Mr. Bennet's name is Noah. Whoop dee frickin doo. Now I can die happy. Thanks, Kring, you giant ignoramus.
4. Sylar gets stabbed! But wait, he's not dead, don't worry. Oh no, DL got shot in the gut! Oh wait, he's not dead either. Holy moly! Matt Parkman got shot several times in the torso! Oh hang on. HE'S NOT DEAD EITHER. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???
5. If there's one more speech about love or family or hope on this show, I'm going to stop watching and instead, I'm going to watch Sesame Street, because at least on that show, they have musical numbers and giant puppets to accompany the saccharine cliches being rammed down my throat.
6. I'd like to quote a few lines for you here, to illustrate one of the most preposterous moments of this ludicrous show:
[The scene-- Kirby Plaza. Sylar has been temporarily defeated. Peter is about to explode. Claire is pointing a gun at him.]
Peter: Do it. Do it! You're the only one, Claire.
Claire (in tears): Tell me there's another way please!
Peter: Shoot me. There is no other way.
[Suddenly, Nathan flies in from night sky, landing in between his brother and daughter.]
Nathan: Yes there is, Claire.
Aaaand scene. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Does Nathan have supersonic hearing also? Or is this like the episode of Arrested Development where Tony Wonder just waits in the dumbwaiter for an hour until someone says the word "wonder"? Do they really think we're so stupid and so absorbed in this terrible finale that we won't notice someone finishing a conversation they could not possibly have heard? If I had Ted's power, I can assure my hands would be turning red right now.
7. I start a new paragraph here because I want to now discuss the most important disappointment of all. This finale was fecal matter, my friends. Pure feces. They spend the first 45 minutes wasting time, jerking us around until the last 5 minute showdown (think about it-- nothing happened in the first 45 minutes. Nothing.) And you know what? I could've forgiven them for that if they gave me the epic final battle we were all expecting and deserved. Save the cheerleader, save the world, right? Well, what the hell did Claire have to do with anything? Why didn't Peter even use a single power to stop Sylar? Why was the final showdown between the ultimate hero and the ultimate villain less exciting than an infomercial for the Magic Bullet? And think about this-- aside from Nathan flying Peter away (because for some reason, Peter couldn't do it himself), not one hero did anything that actually had to do with saving the world, and in the end, the evil villain got away.
And you know what? I could've even forgiven that if the preview for next season had been mindblowing, like we were all sure it would be. But then we get Hiro on some grassy knoll with a bunch of ancient samurai? As David Spade would say, "Really, Tim Kring? Really?"
Before I close, let me leave you with some info and questions about next season:
1. SPOILER ALERT-- As the laws of tv can tell you, if you don't see a character die on-screen, they aren't dead (We'll see how true this law is if Peter is still alive on Weeds). Plain and simple. And so, as you can all guess, Nathan isn't dead and has a contract for next season to prove it. What a load of garbage. Think about it-- in the episode before the finale, we had 3 deaths, but in the finale, not a single one. How lame can you get?
(If you don't believe me, check the latest Ask Ausiello. Thanks to Greg for the heads up.)
2. Speaking of people not dying, even though the name of the last Heroes graphic novel is "The Death of Hana Gittelman" (also known as Wireless for those of you keeping score at home), Hana "dies" but is still able to communicate through wireless communication. So that's a cop-out too.
3. Next season, we will find out what Sylar does to peoples' brains. We will also be introduced to the even worse than Sylar baddie to which Molly alluded.
4. What is Mama Petrelli's power? I must know!
5. What's the deal with Sylar and cockroaches? There was one in his cell when he was first captured by Noah Bennet and now there's one crawling on the manhole through which he escaped (which, by the way, makes me wonder: did none of the 8 other people standing around doing nothing notice a stabbed man drag himself several feet across the ground, open a manhole, and climb into a sewer? COME ON!)
As this blog can attest, Heroes was my favorite show of the year. But like a final exam, the finale is worth 50% of the final grade and this finale gets a D for being worse than the episode that preceded it, the worst episode of the season, and the most anti-climatic episode of tv I may have ever seen. When I average this grade with the rest of the episodes, the first season of Heroes, a season that had the potential to go down as one of the best first seasons of television ever, finishes with a respectable, but unremarkable B+
Pretty please, if you watched the finale, share your thoughts! Do you agree with me? Disagree? Let me know!
Stay tuned for posts on the VMars series finale and tonight's Lost season finale!
Showing posts with label Heroes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heroes. Show all posts
4.24.2007
Heroes - Season 1, Episode 19 - ".07 Percent"
And it's baaaaaaaack! The nation's favorite fictional drama without hospitals/cops/housewives is back and I couldn't be happier.
Unfortunately, it didn't come back with as much of a bang as I'd have hoped. For the most part, the episode was very predictable (although there were a few nice surprises), and was more of a set-up episode than an action-packed one. Let's review the storylines:
1. Petrellis/Claire/Mohinder/Sylar -- As anyone with a brain (sorry Isaac) could've told you, Sylar was not going to kill Peter or Mohinder. As expected, Peter regenerated after Sylar began to cut open his head and after Mohinder hit Sylar with a large map (obviously a more powerful weapon than Peter's TELEKINESIS for pete's sake), Mohinder escaped with Peter's "dead" body. For anyone who's been watching all along, we were simply waiting in boredom until Claire, who once "died" from having a sharp object in her own head, would figure out what was wrong with Peter and bring him back to life. So where did this story end? Peter is alive (and with a lame, 50's greaser haircut), Nathan wants Claire to disappear until after the election (yeah right), we still don't know what Angela Petrelli's power is, Sylar is on the loose, and Mohinder is teaming up with Primatech Paper Company a.k.a. The Company. Can't wait to see where that last part goes.
2. Hiro- Hiro and Ando go to Issac's loft in the Deveaux building five years in the future, only to find future Hiro and his elaborate timeline of newspaper clippings, etc. I'll go into more detail about this in my text post, which will be about recent Heroes Online Graphic Novels, the latest of which deals explicitly with this moment.
3. Ted/HRG/Matt - They escaped from The Company in a pretty cool mind-reading way, ate at the diner in Odessa where Charlie used to work (why can't Sylar just look at the map and memorize everything?) and then decided to head to New York to destroy The Company's tracking system. Somehow, I have a feeling this will lead to Peter absorbing Ted's abilities and then exploding...
4. Isaac- Poor guy is dead now. We've known this was coming since the first episode, but Issac was a great character with an incredibly unique ability that tied the entire show together. The "previously on" for this week's episode was based entirely around Isaac's paintings, using them as a map to display the entire story thus far. Narrated by Linderman, this "previously on" was maybe the best part of the episode and a must-watch for everyone, whether you're new to the show or an older fan. Issac, I'm going to miss you and your incredibly awesome power. Sylar, you suck at painting.
5. Linderman/Micah/Jessica - It seems as if Nikki is toast. We haven't seen her in awhile and Jessica seems to be easily and totally in control. We saw that Linderman has the ability to heal others, sort of the opposite of Claire's power (if Peter gets this one, he will really be the ultimate superhero). This is another moment that was hinted at in the Graphic Novels, and I'll talk more about it later. The episode's best surprise comes into play here, when Candace uses her mimic/shapeshifting ability to pose as Jessica in order to bring Micah to Linderman. Linderman needs Micah for some mission, and if you've been playing the Heroes 360 experience, you already know what it is.
Let me take a moment to let you all know about the Heroes 360 Experience. If you'll remember a few episodes back, we were introduced to a new hero named Hana Gittelman, a.k.a. Wireless, who had the ability to see wireless transmissions (emails, satellite intel, text messages, etc.) and manipulate them. While she's been absent from the tv show, she's been very busy online, interacting with people playing the Heroes 360 game. The game is what is referred to as a transmedia narrative, meaning that while the main narrative of Heroes is the tv show, the graphic novels and the game fill in extra pieces of the puzzle that enhance, but are not crucial to, the narrative as a whole.
There are a number of ways to participate in the game, all of them based through the internet or text messages. You can sign up with The Primatech Paper Company, follow the prompts that cross the bottom of the screen during Heroes broadcasts, follow Hana's blog. There are numerous fan sites dedicated to following this game, such as the one I often use, the Heroes 360 Blog. Here, fans use their collective intelligence to solve puzzles presented by Hana or Linderman (read: NBC). Recently, Hana tasked her followers to delete Nathan Petrelli votes from a computer database that Linderman was using to rig Nathan's upcoming election. And according to Hana, we succeed. This ties into the show now because Linderman must use Micah's abilities to rig the election, since his own attempt was defeated by Hana and the Heroes 360 participants. Pretty cool, right?
There are a number of ancillary sites that are linked to this game, such as VotePetrelli.com, Hiro's blog, Linderman's archives (password: Vietnam-- more from the graphic novels), Claire's MySpace, Mohinder's webpage, and HRG's database. Check all this stuff out, and if you're interested, the 360 Blog linked above is a good place to jump into the action.
If you have anymore questions about the 360 experience, please feel free to leave a comment.
And as always, to wrap up my post, some unanswered questions, predications and general notes:
1) Why hasn't Peter absorbed Sylar's super hearing? I think it's because for Peter to deal with that new ability would be a narrative inconvenience, so the writers are just hoping we forget about it.
2) I told you all that there must've been a group of old heroes before! Linderman proved me right!
3) I think next week's episode is going to be awesome/frustrating. This episode ties in yet again to one of the graphic novels (next post, I swear!) and will show what the future will be like in five years (where Hiro and Ando currently are) if Hiro does not succeed in changing the past. But who here really thinks that's ever going to happen?
4) Issac mentioned that he's going to be a hero because he knows Sylar will die and he's told "them" how to kill Sylar. Huh? This is now my new favorite unanswered mystery.
For its excellent opening, cool Heroes 360 tie-ins, disappointing Peter/Sylar/Mohinder showdown, and otherwise fairly action-less plot, I give this episode a B.
Favorite Scene: Sylar vs. Issac, crucifixion style. Isaac dies a hero and Sylar paints like 6-year-old.
Favorite Line: "Interesting. I can't wait to try that one." --Sylar, upon seeing Peter use his invisibility.
Unfortunately, it didn't come back with as much of a bang as I'd have hoped. For the most part, the episode was very predictable (although there were a few nice surprises), and was more of a set-up episode than an action-packed one. Let's review the storylines:
1. Petrellis/Claire/Mohinder/Sylar -- As anyone with a brain (sorry Isaac) could've told you, Sylar was not going to kill Peter or Mohinder. As expected, Peter regenerated after Sylar began to cut open his head and after Mohinder hit Sylar with a large map (obviously a more powerful weapon than Peter's TELEKINESIS for pete's sake), Mohinder escaped with Peter's "dead" body. For anyone who's been watching all along, we were simply waiting in boredom until Claire, who once "died" from having a sharp object in her own head, would figure out what was wrong with Peter and bring him back to life. So where did this story end? Peter is alive (and with a lame, 50's greaser haircut), Nathan wants Claire to disappear until after the election (yeah right), we still don't know what Angela Petrelli's power is, Sylar is on the loose, and Mohinder is teaming up with Primatech Paper Company a.k.a. The Company. Can't wait to see where that last part goes.
2. Hiro- Hiro and Ando go to Issac's loft in the Deveaux building five years in the future, only to find future Hiro and his elaborate timeline of newspaper clippings, etc. I'll go into more detail about this in my text post, which will be about recent Heroes Online Graphic Novels, the latest of which deals explicitly with this moment.
3. Ted/HRG/Matt - They escaped from The Company in a pretty cool mind-reading way, ate at the diner in Odessa where Charlie used to work (why can't Sylar just look at the map and memorize everything?) and then decided to head to New York to destroy The Company's tracking system. Somehow, I have a feeling this will lead to Peter absorbing Ted's abilities and then exploding...
4. Isaac- Poor guy is dead now. We've known this was coming since the first episode, but Issac was a great character with an incredibly unique ability that tied the entire show together. The "previously on" for this week's episode was based entirely around Isaac's paintings, using them as a map to display the entire story thus far. Narrated by Linderman, this "previously on" was maybe the best part of the episode and a must-watch for everyone, whether you're new to the show or an older fan. Issac, I'm going to miss you and your incredibly awesome power. Sylar, you suck at painting.
5. Linderman/Micah/Jessica - It seems as if Nikki is toast. We haven't seen her in awhile and Jessica seems to be easily and totally in control. We saw that Linderman has the ability to heal others, sort of the opposite of Claire's power (if Peter gets this one, he will really be the ultimate superhero). This is another moment that was hinted at in the Graphic Novels, and I'll talk more about it later. The episode's best surprise comes into play here, when Candace uses her mimic/shapeshifting ability to pose as Jessica in order to bring Micah to Linderman. Linderman needs Micah for some mission, and if you've been playing the Heroes 360 experience, you already know what it is.
Let me take a moment to let you all know about the Heroes 360 Experience. If you'll remember a few episodes back, we were introduced to a new hero named Hana Gittelman, a.k.a. Wireless, who had the ability to see wireless transmissions (emails, satellite intel, text messages, etc.) and manipulate them. While she's been absent from the tv show, she's been very busy online, interacting with people playing the Heroes 360 game. The game is what is referred to as a transmedia narrative, meaning that while the main narrative of Heroes is the tv show, the graphic novels and the game fill in extra pieces of the puzzle that enhance, but are not crucial to, the narrative as a whole.
There are a number of ways to participate in the game, all of them based through the internet or text messages. You can sign up with The Primatech Paper Company, follow the prompts that cross the bottom of the screen during Heroes broadcasts, follow Hana's blog. There are numerous fan sites dedicated to following this game, such as the one I often use, the Heroes 360 Blog. Here, fans use their collective intelligence to solve puzzles presented by Hana or Linderman (read: NBC). Recently, Hana tasked her followers to delete Nathan Petrelli votes from a computer database that Linderman was using to rig Nathan's upcoming election. And according to Hana, we succeed. This ties into the show now because Linderman must use Micah's abilities to rig the election, since his own attempt was defeated by Hana and the Heroes 360 participants. Pretty cool, right?
There are a number of ancillary sites that are linked to this game, such as VotePetrelli.com, Hiro's blog, Linderman's archives (password: Vietnam-- more from the graphic novels), Claire's MySpace, Mohinder's webpage, and HRG's database. Check all this stuff out, and if you're interested, the 360 Blog linked above is a good place to jump into the action.
If you have anymore questions about the 360 experience, please feel free to leave a comment.
And as always, to wrap up my post, some unanswered questions, predications and general notes:
1) Why hasn't Peter absorbed Sylar's super hearing? I think it's because for Peter to deal with that new ability would be a narrative inconvenience, so the writers are just hoping we forget about it.
2) I told you all that there must've been a group of old heroes before! Linderman proved me right!
3) I think next week's episode is going to be awesome/frustrating. This episode ties in yet again to one of the graphic novels (next post, I swear!) and will show what the future will be like in five years (where Hiro and Ando currently are) if Hiro does not succeed in changing the past. But who here really thinks that's ever going to happen?
4) Issac mentioned that he's going to be a hero because he knows Sylar will die and he's told "them" how to kill Sylar. Huh? This is now my new favorite unanswered mystery.
For its excellent opening, cool Heroes 360 tie-ins, disappointing Peter/Sylar/Mohinder showdown, and otherwise fairly action-less plot, I give this episode a B.
Favorite Scene: Sylar vs. Issac, crucifixion style. Isaac dies a hero and Sylar paints like 6-year-old.
Favorite Line: "Interesting. I can't wait to try that one." --Sylar, upon seeing Peter use his invisibility.
2.17.2007
Heroes - The Online Graphic Novels
Go ahead. Call me a geek. I don't care. So what if I derive a great deal of satisfaction from reading supplementary online-only graphic novels featuring backstories on the characters from NBC's runaway hit (and my #1 favorite show currently on tv) Heroes? Each week, a new 5-6 page graphic novel appears on NBC's Heroes page, written and illustrated by different popular comic book authors.
The short stories, each from a different character's point of view, provide some extra insight into specific characters or moments from the television. Also, each comic has a hidden link embedded somewhere that takes you to see some other Heroes-related content from the NBC website. For instance, in Novel #1, by clicking on the first page, you shown a black and white drawing of Hiro's jump into the future, which you can see here.
Since I'm such a nice guy (and since I'm clearly too obsessed with Heroes), I've decided to read all the online graphic novels that have been published thus far and provide you all with a quick summary of each. Hopefully, this will save you the time it takes to read the novels (they're very short, but it takes almost 10 seconds for each new page to load, which is a very annoying way to read), and also give you some important info as to the next story arc's crucial query: Are you on the list?
To save you further time, I've grouped the stories into 3 categories for you, so you can read only what you're interested in.
1) Additional Character Info - 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 19
2) Character Back Story- 5, 6, 8, 9, 13
3) Cool Narrative Info You Otherwise Wouldn't Have- 2, 11, (14, 15, 16), 17, 18, 20
Note - If you don't already watch Heroes, don't waste your time with these
Novel #1 - "Monsters" -- Mohinder Suresh investigates the cab in which his father was murdered. He becomes employed at the same taxi company and vows to pursue his father's scientific work, not wanting his father to have died in vain.
- Secret link: Black & white comic page
Novel #2 - "Hiro" -- Hiro Nakamura, after jumping five weeks into the future and seeing the atomic bomb-like explosion, returns to present time and vows to stop the impending disaster. He reveals that his parents named him after Hiroshima, a similar disaster that claimed the life of his grandfather. He visits his grandfather's grave, which is littered with origami cranes on strings-- (Connection alert! -- On the show, Hiro strings origami cranes around Charlie's diner to prove to her that he can bend space and time. She is later killed by Sylar. Coincidence? I think not!)
-Secret Link: Black & white comic page of Nathan Petrelli
Novel #3 - "Nathan" --Nathan passes by a burning building and against his better judgment, uses his powers to fly up to the fourth floor and carries a young girl to safety. He leaves a "Vote for Petrelli" pin in her pocket.
-Secret Link: Nathan Petrelli Political Commerical
Novel #4 - "Aftermath" --After purposely crashing her car while that rapist kid is in it, Claire begrudgingly pulls him from the car before it explodes, saving his life.
-Secret Link: Claire's MySpace page
Novel #5 - "Snapshots" --While being interrogated for his part in the armed robbery of a bookie in Primm, Nevada, from which he supposedly stole 2 million dollars, D.L. Hawkins discovers his power for the first time when he slips out of his handcuffs to punch a guard who makes a rude comment about Nikki. Later that night, D.L. decides that his family needs his protection from whoever framed him for the robbery, so he uses his powers for the second time to pass through the wall of his cell, climb down a drain pipe and escape from prison.
-Secret Link: None that I could find
Novel #6 - "Stolen Time" --Six months ago, Nikki/Jessica accompanies D.L.'s crew on a heist, where she uses her super-strength to rip open the safe and steal 2 million dollars. After framing D.L. for the crime, Nikki and her three cohorts cruise through Nevada discussing their plans for the money. The three idiots turn their gun on "the new girl," and are dead before they know it. Nikki gives the money to some guy to "clean" for her so it can't be traced (a process that will take six months), and then drives to bury her three dead pals in the desert.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of locker doors flying at Peter during his confrontation with Sylar at Claire's homecoming
Novel #7 - "Control" --After punching his best friend in the face for sleeping with his wife, Matt Parkman goes for a drive in his cop car to clear his head. He happens to be in the area when a robbery suspect in a white sports car zooms by, and so Matt pursues him. Able to hear the criminal's thoughts, Matt chases his through a crowded shopping promenade and is able to stop the car and arrest the con.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of Sylar with the unfinished corner (that Peter later fills in).
Novel #8 - "Isaac's First Time" --Isaac tells Eden about the first time he painted the future. With the help of Simone, Isaac had opened a big art show a few months back. One of the paintings on display was of a young blonde woman getting hit by a bus. At the show, the blonde woman from the picture punches and then berates Isaac for painting her like that, though Isaac tries to explain that he doesn't even know who she is. Furious, she bolts from the gallery with Isaac in tow. As Isaac chases after, she dashes into the street and is hit by a bus, the exact image from Isaac's painting.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of Hiro and Ando under the bloody "Homecoming" banner
Novel #9 - "Life Before Eden" --The story of how Eden discovered her powers. As a child, Eden's father walked out on his always quiet daughter and her abusive stepmother. With daddy gone, Eden's stepmother put her to work doing chores all day around the house and treating her like garbage. Eden still kept her mouth shut, hoping that one day her father might return. One night, when her stepmother was in a particularly terrible mood, she screamed at Eden, demanding she stop wishing for her dad to come because he would never come home to a worthless child like her. Enraged, Eden yelled to her stepmom to drop dead. And so she did, dropping her cigarette to the ground and setting their house ablaze. Eden, newly aware of her incredible persuasive powers, hitchhikes out of town, leaving her old life behind and starting her new one with her new name, Eden.
-Secret Link: Photo of Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettierre from the set of Heroes
Novel #10 - "Turning Point" --FBI Agent Audrey Hanson arrives at a murder scene, and she instantly knows that the serial killer she's been tracking, Sylar, is responsible. In fact, Sylar is standing right behind her, enjoying his handiwork. Somehow, Audrey knows it's him and as they make eye contact, Sylar bolts down the street. He leaps onto the roof of a moving train and Audrey follows after. At the next station, she spots Sylar running ahead of her and unloads several bullets into his back. She runs to the body, only to find an old man in Sylar's coat and hat. Sylar grins and slips away.
-Secret Link: Photo of Greg Grunberg and Clea Duvall shooting a scene on the set of Heroes
Novel #11 - "Fathers & Daughters" -- Horn Rimmed Glasses (Mr. Bennet) goes to Eden's drunk father to tell him of her death at the hands of Sylar. The drunken hick says he doesn't care because his daughter was nothing but a whore. HRG punches him, explaining that she was a hero for taking her own life rather than give Sylar her powers. We see how HRG and the Haitian busted in on Sylar as he stood over Eden's body, and plugged him full of projectile tranquilizers (so THAT'S how he got re-captured! He never even left!) As HRG walks away from Eden's father, he tells the Haitian to erase his memory, but to leave the guilt.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of "Energyman" (dude exploding)
Novel #12 - "Super-Heroics" --In a coma, Peter Petrelli has a vision of himself not as the Exploding Man, but as a true super hero, with cape, tights and all. In the vision, he flies after The Rocket, a criminal with a jetpack and impenetrable armor. Grabbing The Rocket, Peter shoots up into the clouds, using the height to disable the jetpack. Peter then flies straight down, using the hard ground below to shatter The Rocket's armor and causing a huge explosion. The Rocket removes his mask, revealing that he too is Peter. Is Peter the villain or the hero?
-Secret Link: Photo of Milo Ventimiglia filming a scene on the set of Heroes
Novel #13 - "Wireless: Part One" --A glimpse of future hero Hana Gitelman, a.k.a. Wireless, before she even appears on the tv show! We see a flashback of Hana's grandmother Tanta, a resistance fighter against the Nazis in 1944 Berlin. Tanta is captured and put in a death camp, but she survives. Then, another flashback of Hana's mother Zahava, one of the IDF's first female fighter pilots, taking out enemy planes in Jerusalem during the Six Days War in 1967. Another flashback, Jerusalem 1989. Hana, Tanta and Zahava are aboard a bus as a suicide terrorist drives it off a cliff. Hana survives; her mother and grandmother do not. Another flashback, Beer Sheva 1997. Hana is an Israeli soldier who requests combat duty, but her superior tells her she can only be an Intelligence Officer because her thirst for vengeance will get her into trouble as soldier. Hana moves higher and higher in the Mossad Intelligence ranks, but still yearns for combat, to avenge her family. On patrol one night, Hana is attacked from the shadows and thrown to the ground. She pulls out her weapon, but her assailant is HRG, and he has come to change her future...
-Secret Link: Another photo of Milo and Hayden on the set of Heroes
Novel #14 - "Wireless: Part Two" --**Spoiler Alert** The second part of Hana's saga. It begins with a flashback- Tel Aviv, 1992. Hana is at an all-girls school where she has no friends, due to trust issues stemming from the day her mother and grandmother were killed. In the present, HRG takes Hana to a secret facility in the Alaskan tundra. He says he is with the C.I.A. and that Hana has been handpicked to fight evil. He puts her through a series of grueling physical tests, all of which she passes with ease. She then undergoes a series of medical tests, constantly being injected with "vitamins" and being poked and prodded by various doctors. She feels like she's wasting her time when she could be out carrying on her family's legacy. During one testing session, out of nowhere, she screams at a doctor to explain a text message about her she just read. The doctor tells her he's received no such message. A moment later, his phone rings, and the very message Hana described appears on-screen. Instantly, Hana's brain is flooded with every e-mail, satellite transmission and text message floating around the world. She freezes, unable to control the flood, until a swift punch from HRG knocks her out cold. Back in her room, Hana uses her mind to send an e-mail to everyone in the facility with the word "Kadima" ("attack" in Hebrew). She then uses her mind to send a text message to HRG, proving her control over her powers. He tells her she's ready for her first mission...
-Secret Link: A photo of Milo Ventimiglia and Adrian Pasdar shooting a scene on the set of Heroes
Novel #15 - "Wireless: Part Three" --Hana is on a mission in Tanzania, Africa. Using her mind, she intercepts an e-mail from an evil scientist, (which details his plans to genetically alter bacteria into a deadly virus), and forwards it to HRG, who is at home with his daughter Claire in Odessa, Texas. Hana is captured outside the enemy compound in Tanzania and thrown into a cell. Using her army training, she fights her way out and leaps over the compound gate, only to find herself standing face to face with a tank...
-Secret Link: None
Novel #16 - "Wireless: Part Four" --Hana surrenders in Tanzania, announcing she is a C.I.A. operative. She is transferred to Dar Es Salaam where she is informed that there is no record of her being in the C.I.A., no special operatives, no Alaskan compound, and all of the phone numbers she gives them have been disconnected. Using her abilities, Hana sets off the building's sprinkler system and uses the momentary distraction to grab a weapon, take her interviewer hostage, shoot out a window, and escape. She changes her name, relocates to Montana, and spends her time honing her powers and scouring wireless transmissions for information on HRG, the man who manipulate and lied to her. She intercepts an e-mail from "Teddyboy" and learns that she's not the only one who HRG has lied to. She hops on her bike and heads to the desert...
-Secret Link: None...but want to know what happens next? Click here.
Novel #17 - "How Do You Stop An Exploding Man?: Part One" --**Spoiler Alert!** Ted Sprague has the power to emit radioactive energy. After being captured by the FBI for this ability, Ted uses his power to blow up his transport and everyone in it. He runs away to the New Mexico desert, stocks up on weapons, and lives in a small shack. Periodically, he must go further into the desert and release a huge blast of nuclear energy as it builds up inside him. One day, Hana Gitelman appears in his cabin, and explains their connection: they've both been abused and lied to by HRG and together, they want revenge. She shows Ted a schematic for the needle with which they were both injected (both share the same mark on their neck, as do Matt and Nikki, among others). Hana intercepts some wireless transmissions and warns Ted they must run away immediately. Hana escapes on her motorcycle, but Ted is suddenly surrounded by a whole battalion of army personnel...
-Secret Link: None
Novel #18 - "How Do You Stop An Exploding Man?: Part Two" --**Spoiler Alert!** The army men that have surrounded Ted hose him with liquid concrete that prevents him from emitting any nuclear energy. They leave Ted's head exposed (big mistake) and load him into a truck. With his face exposed, Ted emits a huge blast of nuclear energy from his eyes and mouth, blowing everyone and everything to smithereens, except for the man who authored his capture. Ted searches the area for this man, but he is nowhere to be found. Using Hana's schematic, Ted tracks down the facility in which the needle they were injected with was made (it's in Billings, Montana). Inside the facility, he corners a scientist and learns that the hypodermic needle is shot from a gun, and that the gun is used to inject a special isotope into wild animals that allows the animals to be tracked. Furious, Ted uses his powers to blow up the building and storms off to seek his revenge...
-Secret Link: None
Novel #19 - "Bully" --Young Micah Sanders can talk to machines. After a schoolmate sends out a photo of Micah's mom with the word "killer" plastered all over it, Micah uses his power to learn who sent the photo (a kid named Frank). When he approaches Frank and threatens to tell the principal about what he's done, Frank punches him in the face. As Frank and his sidekick taunt Micah, Micah kicks Frank in the junk and speeds away from the schoolyard. Frank and his buddy follow Micah into a junkyard (that seemingly houses only defunct electronic billboards from Vegas). Frank and pal (let's call him beans) come across a brightly lit sign of a devil, and then of a billboard that reads "Beware Frank." Frank and Beans run away terrified.
-Secret Link: A photo of Masi Oka goofing off on the set of Heroes
Novel #20 - "Road Kill" --After being shot by HRG, Sylar escapes into a small Texas town to tend to his wounds. Wanting to escape North, Sylar hitches a ride with a beer transport truck. After learning the truck is actually heading west, Sylar uses his telekinesis to stick a six-pack of beer bottles into the driver's back. Having no clue how to operate a truck, Sylar uses the ability he took when he killed Charlie to quickly read and memorize the entire manual on truck operation. He drives through Virginia until a swarm of cop cars appears in his rear view mirror. He opens the door to the truck and uses another of his abilities to freeze the road as he drives over it, slipping up all the cop cars behind him. A few hundred yards down the road, an enormous roadblock of police wait for him. Using yet another power (flight? incredible leaping?), he jumps from the truck just as it drives over a cliff and hangs from a very high tree branch way above the freeway. As the cops investigate the crash, Sylar slips away to continue his "evolutionary imperative": acquisition. He remembers only one more name from Chandra Suresh's map, Zane Taylor. He arrives at Zane's with no clue how to proceed from here: how will he find all the other people will abilities? If you saw last week's episode, you know exactly what happens next...
-Secret Link: A photo of Jack Coleman shooting a scene on the set of Heroes.
Once more of these come out, I'll do a second batch to catch you up on the rest. Aren't I great?
The short stories, each from a different character's point of view, provide some extra insight into specific characters or moments from the television. Also, each comic has a hidden link embedded somewhere that takes you to see some other Heroes-related content from the NBC website. For instance, in Novel #1, by clicking on the first page, you shown a black and white drawing of Hiro's jump into the future, which you can see here.
Since I'm such a nice guy (and since I'm clearly too obsessed with Heroes), I've decided to read all the online graphic novels that have been published thus far and provide you all with a quick summary of each. Hopefully, this will save you the time it takes to read the novels (they're very short, but it takes almost 10 seconds for each new page to load, which is a very annoying way to read), and also give you some important info as to the next story arc's crucial query: Are you on the list?
To save you further time, I've grouped the stories into 3 categories for you, so you can read only what you're interested in.
1) Additional Character Info - 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 19
2) Character Back Story- 5, 6, 8, 9, 13
3) Cool Narrative Info You Otherwise Wouldn't Have- 2, 11, (14, 15, 16), 17, 18, 20
Note - If you don't already watch Heroes, don't waste your time with these
Novel #1 - "Monsters" -- Mohinder Suresh investigates the cab in which his father was murdered. He becomes employed at the same taxi company and vows to pursue his father's scientific work, not wanting his father to have died in vain.
- Secret link: Black & white comic page
Novel #2 - "Hiro" -- Hiro Nakamura, after jumping five weeks into the future and seeing the atomic bomb-like explosion, returns to present time and vows to stop the impending disaster. He reveals that his parents named him after Hiroshima, a similar disaster that claimed the life of his grandfather. He visits his grandfather's grave, which is littered with origami cranes on strings-- (Connection alert! -- On the show, Hiro strings origami cranes around Charlie's diner to prove to her that he can bend space and time. She is later killed by Sylar. Coincidence? I think not!)
-Secret Link: Black & white comic page of Nathan Petrelli
Novel #3 - "Nathan" --Nathan passes by a burning building and against his better judgment, uses his powers to fly up to the fourth floor and carries a young girl to safety. He leaves a "Vote for Petrelli" pin in her pocket.
-Secret Link: Nathan Petrelli Political Commerical
Novel #4 - "Aftermath" --After purposely crashing her car while that rapist kid is in it, Claire begrudgingly pulls him from the car before it explodes, saving his life.
-Secret Link: Claire's MySpace page
Novel #5 - "Snapshots" --While being interrogated for his part in the armed robbery of a bookie in Primm, Nevada, from which he supposedly stole 2 million dollars, D.L. Hawkins discovers his power for the first time when he slips out of his handcuffs to punch a guard who makes a rude comment about Nikki. Later that night, D.L. decides that his family needs his protection from whoever framed him for the robbery, so he uses his powers for the second time to pass through the wall of his cell, climb down a drain pipe and escape from prison.
-Secret Link: None that I could find
Novel #6 - "Stolen Time" --Six months ago, Nikki/Jessica accompanies D.L.'s crew on a heist, where she uses her super-strength to rip open the safe and steal 2 million dollars. After framing D.L. for the crime, Nikki and her three cohorts cruise through Nevada discussing their plans for the money. The three idiots turn their gun on "the new girl," and are dead before they know it. Nikki gives the money to some guy to "clean" for her so it can't be traced (a process that will take six months), and then drives to bury her three dead pals in the desert.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of locker doors flying at Peter during his confrontation with Sylar at Claire's homecoming
Novel #7 - "Control" --After punching his best friend in the face for sleeping with his wife, Matt Parkman goes for a drive in his cop car to clear his head. He happens to be in the area when a robbery suspect in a white sports car zooms by, and so Matt pursues him. Able to hear the criminal's thoughts, Matt chases his through a crowded shopping promenade and is able to stop the car and arrest the con.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of Sylar with the unfinished corner (that Peter later fills in).
Novel #8 - "Isaac's First Time" --Isaac tells Eden about the first time he painted the future. With the help of Simone, Isaac had opened a big art show a few months back. One of the paintings on display was of a young blonde woman getting hit by a bus. At the show, the blonde woman from the picture punches and then berates Isaac for painting her like that, though Isaac tries to explain that he doesn't even know who she is. Furious, she bolts from the gallery with Isaac in tow. As Isaac chases after, she dashes into the street and is hit by a bus, the exact image from Isaac's painting.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of Hiro and Ando under the bloody "Homecoming" banner
Novel #9 - "Life Before Eden" --The story of how Eden discovered her powers. As a child, Eden's father walked out on his always quiet daughter and her abusive stepmother. With daddy gone, Eden's stepmother put her to work doing chores all day around the house and treating her like garbage. Eden still kept her mouth shut, hoping that one day her father might return. One night, when her stepmother was in a particularly terrible mood, she screamed at Eden, demanding she stop wishing for her dad to come because he would never come home to a worthless child like her. Enraged, Eden yelled to her stepmom to drop dead. And so she did, dropping her cigarette to the ground and setting their house ablaze. Eden, newly aware of her incredible persuasive powers, hitchhikes out of town, leaving her old life behind and starting her new one with her new name, Eden.
-Secret Link: Photo of Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettierre from the set of Heroes
Novel #10 - "Turning Point" --FBI Agent Audrey Hanson arrives at a murder scene, and she instantly knows that the serial killer she's been tracking, Sylar, is responsible. In fact, Sylar is standing right behind her, enjoying his handiwork. Somehow, Audrey knows it's him and as they make eye contact, Sylar bolts down the street. He leaps onto the roof of a moving train and Audrey follows after. At the next station, she spots Sylar running ahead of her and unloads several bullets into his back. She runs to the body, only to find an old man in Sylar's coat and hat. Sylar grins and slips away.
-Secret Link: Photo of Greg Grunberg and Clea Duvall shooting a scene on the set of Heroes
Novel #11 - "Fathers & Daughters" -- Horn Rimmed Glasses (Mr. Bennet) goes to Eden's drunk father to tell him of her death at the hands of Sylar. The drunken hick says he doesn't care because his daughter was nothing but a whore. HRG punches him, explaining that she was a hero for taking her own life rather than give Sylar her powers. We see how HRG and the Haitian busted in on Sylar as he stood over Eden's body, and plugged him full of projectile tranquilizers (so THAT'S how he got re-captured! He never even left!) As HRG walks away from Eden's father, he tells the Haitian to erase his memory, but to leave the guilt.
-Secret Link: Isaac's painting of "Energyman" (dude exploding)
Novel #12 - "Super-Heroics" --In a coma, Peter Petrelli has a vision of himself not as the Exploding Man, but as a true super hero, with cape, tights and all. In the vision, he flies after The Rocket, a criminal with a jetpack and impenetrable armor. Grabbing The Rocket, Peter shoots up into the clouds, using the height to disable the jetpack. Peter then flies straight down, using the hard ground below to shatter The Rocket's armor and causing a huge explosion. The Rocket removes his mask, revealing that he too is Peter. Is Peter the villain or the hero?
-Secret Link: Photo of Milo Ventimiglia filming a scene on the set of Heroes
Novel #13 - "Wireless: Part One" --A glimpse of future hero Hana Gitelman, a.k.a. Wireless, before she even appears on the tv show! We see a flashback of Hana's grandmother Tanta, a resistance fighter against the Nazis in 1944 Berlin. Tanta is captured and put in a death camp, but she survives. Then, another flashback of Hana's mother Zahava, one of the IDF's first female fighter pilots, taking out enemy planes in Jerusalem during the Six Days War in 1967. Another flashback, Jerusalem 1989. Hana, Tanta and Zahava are aboard a bus as a suicide terrorist drives it off a cliff. Hana survives; her mother and grandmother do not. Another flashback, Beer Sheva 1997. Hana is an Israeli soldier who requests combat duty, but her superior tells her she can only be an Intelligence Officer because her thirst for vengeance will get her into trouble as soldier. Hana moves higher and higher in the Mossad Intelligence ranks, but still yearns for combat, to avenge her family. On patrol one night, Hana is attacked from the shadows and thrown to the ground. She pulls out her weapon, but her assailant is HRG, and he has come to change her future...
-Secret Link: Another photo of Milo and Hayden on the set of Heroes
Novel #14 - "Wireless: Part Two" --**Spoiler Alert** The second part of Hana's saga. It begins with a flashback- Tel Aviv, 1992. Hana is at an all-girls school where she has no friends, due to trust issues stemming from the day her mother and grandmother were killed. In the present, HRG takes Hana to a secret facility in the Alaskan tundra. He says he is with the C.I.A. and that Hana has been handpicked to fight evil. He puts her through a series of grueling physical tests, all of which she passes with ease. She then undergoes a series of medical tests, constantly being injected with "vitamins" and being poked and prodded by various doctors. She feels like she's wasting her time when she could be out carrying on her family's legacy. During one testing session, out of nowhere, she screams at a doctor to explain a text message about her she just read. The doctor tells her he's received no such message. A moment later, his phone rings, and the very message Hana described appears on-screen. Instantly, Hana's brain is flooded with every e-mail, satellite transmission and text message floating around the world. She freezes, unable to control the flood, until a swift punch from HRG knocks her out cold. Back in her room, Hana uses her mind to send an e-mail to everyone in the facility with the word "Kadima" ("attack" in Hebrew). She then uses her mind to send a text message to HRG, proving her control over her powers. He tells her she's ready for her first mission...
-Secret Link: A photo of Milo Ventimiglia and Adrian Pasdar shooting a scene on the set of Heroes
Novel #15 - "Wireless: Part Three" --Hana is on a mission in Tanzania, Africa. Using her mind, she intercepts an e-mail from an evil scientist, (which details his plans to genetically alter bacteria into a deadly virus), and forwards it to HRG, who is at home with his daughter Claire in Odessa, Texas. Hana is captured outside the enemy compound in Tanzania and thrown into a cell. Using her army training, she fights her way out and leaps over the compound gate, only to find herself standing face to face with a tank...
-Secret Link: None
Novel #16 - "Wireless: Part Four" --Hana surrenders in Tanzania, announcing she is a C.I.A. operative. She is transferred to Dar Es Salaam where she is informed that there is no record of her being in the C.I.A., no special operatives, no Alaskan compound, and all of the phone numbers she gives them have been disconnected. Using her abilities, Hana sets off the building's sprinkler system and uses the momentary distraction to grab a weapon, take her interviewer hostage, shoot out a window, and escape. She changes her name, relocates to Montana, and spends her time honing her powers and scouring wireless transmissions for information on HRG, the man who manipulate and lied to her. She intercepts an e-mail from "Teddyboy" and learns that she's not the only one who HRG has lied to. She hops on her bike and heads to the desert...
-Secret Link: None...but want to know what happens next? Click here.
Novel #17 - "How Do You Stop An Exploding Man?: Part One" --**Spoiler Alert!** Ted Sprague has the power to emit radioactive energy. After being captured by the FBI for this ability, Ted uses his power to blow up his transport and everyone in it. He runs away to the New Mexico desert, stocks up on weapons, and lives in a small shack. Periodically, he must go further into the desert and release a huge blast of nuclear energy as it builds up inside him. One day, Hana Gitelman appears in his cabin, and explains their connection: they've both been abused and lied to by HRG and together, they want revenge. She shows Ted a schematic for the needle with which they were both injected (both share the same mark on their neck, as do Matt and Nikki, among others). Hana intercepts some wireless transmissions and warns Ted they must run away immediately. Hana escapes on her motorcycle, but Ted is suddenly surrounded by a whole battalion of army personnel...
-Secret Link: None
Novel #18 - "How Do You Stop An Exploding Man?: Part Two" --**Spoiler Alert!** The army men that have surrounded Ted hose him with liquid concrete that prevents him from emitting any nuclear energy. They leave Ted's head exposed (big mistake) and load him into a truck. With his face exposed, Ted emits a huge blast of nuclear energy from his eyes and mouth, blowing everyone and everything to smithereens, except for the man who authored his capture. Ted searches the area for this man, but he is nowhere to be found. Using Hana's schematic, Ted tracks down the facility in which the needle they were injected with was made (it's in Billings, Montana). Inside the facility, he corners a scientist and learns that the hypodermic needle is shot from a gun, and that the gun is used to inject a special isotope into wild animals that allows the animals to be tracked. Furious, Ted uses his powers to blow up the building and storms off to seek his revenge...
-Secret Link: None
Novel #19 - "Bully" --Young Micah Sanders can talk to machines. After a schoolmate sends out a photo of Micah's mom with the word "killer" plastered all over it, Micah uses his power to learn who sent the photo (a kid named Frank). When he approaches Frank and threatens to tell the principal about what he's done, Frank punches him in the face. As Frank and his sidekick taunt Micah, Micah kicks Frank in the junk and speeds away from the schoolyard. Frank and his buddy follow Micah into a junkyard (that seemingly houses only defunct electronic billboards from Vegas). Frank and pal (let's call him beans) come across a brightly lit sign of a devil, and then of a billboard that reads "Beware Frank." Frank and Beans run away terrified.
-Secret Link: A photo of Masi Oka goofing off on the set of Heroes
Novel #20 - "Road Kill" --After being shot by HRG, Sylar escapes into a small Texas town to tend to his wounds. Wanting to escape North, Sylar hitches a ride with a beer transport truck. After learning the truck is actually heading west, Sylar uses his telekinesis to stick a six-pack of beer bottles into the driver's back. Having no clue how to operate a truck, Sylar uses the ability he took when he killed Charlie to quickly read and memorize the entire manual on truck operation. He drives through Virginia until a swarm of cop cars appears in his rear view mirror. He opens the door to the truck and uses another of his abilities to freeze the road as he drives over it, slipping up all the cop cars behind him. A few hundred yards down the road, an enormous roadblock of police wait for him. Using yet another power (flight? incredible leaping?), he jumps from the truck just as it drives over a cliff and hangs from a very high tree branch way above the freeway. As the cops investigate the crash, Sylar slips away to continue his "evolutionary imperative": acquisition. He remembers only one more name from Chandra Suresh's map, Zane Taylor. He arrives at Zane's with no clue how to proceed from here: how will he find all the other people will abilities? If you saw last week's episode, you know exactly what happens next...
-Secret Link: A photo of Jack Coleman shooting a scene on the set of Heroes.
Once more of these come out, I'll do a second batch to catch you up on the rest. Aren't I great?
2.08.2007
Heroes - Season 1, Episode 14 - "Distractions" & Lost - Season 3, Episode 7 - "Not In Portland"
As I predicted in my last Heroes post, this week's episode was off the chain. Action, intrigue, danger, several awesome uses of power, secrets revealed, emotional moments-- it was pretty much everything you could ask for from a television show.
Lost on the other hand, has continued its downward spiral into "I just don't care anymore" land. While last night's episode was certainly a good one, it feels like it just might be too little too late. I'm going to talk about some of the pros & cons of each episode and how these two episodes perfectly exemplify the current state of each show as a whole.
As usual, with Heroes we got some really exciting, important storylines, as well as some not-so-important supporting plot lines. Hiro's Dad? Boring. Everyone else? Exciting. I particularly enjoyed the totally freaky scene between Sylar and Mrs. Bennet, the super emotional reunion between Claire and Meredith, all the scenes between Peter and Claude (who form a very captivating and well-balanced duo), and the reluctant release of Nikki/Jessica back into society. Basically, every storyline but Hiro's was full, interesting, and most importantly (are you taking notes, Lost?), each storyline DEVELOPED-- nothing is the same as it was when the episode began, for no moment is wasted in propelling the story further, taking us closer to its end (thought not all that close I hope).
With Lost, we had the usual binary of plots- on the island and personal flashback. On the island? Not bad. Sawyer and Kate are on their way back to their island, Ben is alive, and Jack is, (what else?), pissed off. It's not a giant leap, but the plot is moving steadily forward, a good sign. Flashback? Eh. I might've enjoyed it more if I didn't find Juliette so damn irritating. If I ever meet her in real life, I will punch her in the face repeatedly until her stupid dumb face has some sort of expression on it for once.
We learned a LOT this week in Heroes. We learned that Claire's father is Nathan (who else could it possibly have been, but an awesome move nonetheless); we learned what Peter needs to do to control his powers; we learned that Simone's father's apartment has some significant role to play somewhere down the line; we learned that Isaac not only paints the distant future, but either the present or the very near future, as evidence by his painting of Peter against the taxi.
In Lost, we learned that Juliette was recruited by The Others for her scientific abilities and that she's been on the island for 3 years. We learned that something funky is going on with her, maybe in Walt-type vein, in that when she wished for her husband to be hit by a bus, he was (I will always love the shock of watching someone unexpectedly get hit by a bus. Call me sadistic, but it packs a mighty powerful punch). Oh yeah, and we learned that Juliette's sister is Calamity Jane from Deadwood and that just when you thought she couldn't get any uglier, she has.
What's the difference between these two types of knowledge? In Heroes, we learn crucial information about what's going on in the present and information that will affect the future. With Lost, we're just given more background information that may or may not be important ever again. This is the fundamental difference between these two shows, and is what makes Heroes such a better choice. With Heroes, I feel as if I'm in good hands. I trust that every week, we'll grow a few steps closer to the endgame in a logical, linear fashion. I know that each moment, each word, each clue, is there for a reason and that those reasons will be explained within a reasonably short amount of time.
With Lost, I have absolutely no trust whatsoever. I'm getting real sick and tired of being jerked around ABC. First we had to wait 3 months to get the SEVENTH episode of this season (what a joke), but they've been stringing us along for months now. It's no surprise that the creators have not had a clear vision of where the show is headed since the beginning, as Heroes certainly does. In Lost, plot elements are introduced and then they're never heard from again (the black smoke monster? Walt's comic book with the polar bear? Libby in the insane asylum? A million other things?) I almost feel stupid for sticking with the show, as if I'm playing right into the hands of some money-grubbing executive who's shaking me down for every last cent, with no intent of ever delivering on the promise of the show's premiere over 2 years ago.
That being said, last night's episode of Lost was certainly a step in the right direction. The plot is moving forward. Let's hope it stays that way.
And what would a Heroes post be without predictions and questions?
Prediction: Nikki/Jessica is going to kill Matt Parkman next week. He's not involved with any of the other heroes, his storyline has nowhere else to go, and no main character has been killed thus far. Sorry Matt, but I think your time has come.
Prediction: HRG, The Haitian and Claude were all part of a past group of Heroes who were called upon to save the world from disaster years ago. HRG was the leader and during their saga, The Haitian somehow became indebted to him and Claude was "killed," though we now know he is alive and well. Just a prediction, but I'm feelin good about this one...
Questions: 1) Why is Sylar afraid of HRG and The Haitian? Why can't he just kill them?
2) If every painting that Isaac has painted has totally come true, why should we expect the painting of a destroyed New York to be any different? How can the Heroes change the fate of that painting but none of the others?
For being a quintessentially very good (but not great) episode of Heroes, I happily bestow upon this episode the grade of A-
For being pretty average, but at least taking a step in the right direction, I give Lost a B
Heroes:
Favorite Scene: When Nikki/Jessica tasers the shit out of that psychiatrists back. Brutal.
Favorite Line: "You get to know people if you see 'em when they think they're alone. You see 'em for what they truly are: selfish, deceitful, and gassy." - Claude
Lost:
Favorite Scene: When Sawyer bashes that dude's head into the machine three times until he gets electrocuted. Brutal.
Favorite Line: "Don't get mad at me just because you were dumb enough to fall for the old Wookie prisoner gag." - Sawyer
Lost on the other hand, has continued its downward spiral into "I just don't care anymore" land. While last night's episode was certainly a good one, it feels like it just might be too little too late. I'm going to talk about some of the pros & cons of each episode and how these two episodes perfectly exemplify the current state of each show as a whole.
As usual, with Heroes we got some really exciting, important storylines, as well as some not-so-important supporting plot lines. Hiro's Dad? Boring. Everyone else? Exciting. I particularly enjoyed the totally freaky scene between Sylar and Mrs. Bennet, the super emotional reunion between Claire and Meredith, all the scenes between Peter and Claude (who form a very captivating and well-balanced duo), and the reluctant release of Nikki/Jessica back into society. Basically, every storyline but Hiro's was full, interesting, and most importantly (are you taking notes, Lost?), each storyline DEVELOPED-- nothing is the same as it was when the episode began, for no moment is wasted in propelling the story further, taking us closer to its end (thought not all that close I hope).
With Lost, we had the usual binary of plots- on the island and personal flashback. On the island? Not bad. Sawyer and Kate are on their way back to their island, Ben is alive, and Jack is, (what else?), pissed off. It's not a giant leap, but the plot is moving steadily forward, a good sign. Flashback? Eh. I might've enjoyed it more if I didn't find Juliette so damn irritating. If I ever meet her in real life, I will punch her in the face repeatedly until her stupid dumb face has some sort of expression on it for once.
We learned a LOT this week in Heroes. We learned that Claire's father is Nathan (who else could it possibly have been, but an awesome move nonetheless); we learned what Peter needs to do to control his powers; we learned that Simone's father's apartment has some significant role to play somewhere down the line; we learned that Isaac not only paints the distant future, but either the present or the very near future, as evidence by his painting of Peter against the taxi.
In Lost, we learned that Juliette was recruited by The Others for her scientific abilities and that she's been on the island for 3 years. We learned that something funky is going on with her, maybe in Walt-type vein, in that when she wished for her husband to be hit by a bus, he was (I will always love the shock of watching someone unexpectedly get hit by a bus. Call me sadistic, but it packs a mighty powerful punch). Oh yeah, and we learned that Juliette's sister is Calamity Jane from Deadwood and that just when you thought she couldn't get any uglier, she has.
What's the difference between these two types of knowledge? In Heroes, we learn crucial information about what's going on in the present and information that will affect the future. With Lost, we're just given more background information that may or may not be important ever again. This is the fundamental difference between these two shows, and is what makes Heroes such a better choice. With Heroes, I feel as if I'm in good hands. I trust that every week, we'll grow a few steps closer to the endgame in a logical, linear fashion. I know that each moment, each word, each clue, is there for a reason and that those reasons will be explained within a reasonably short amount of time.
With Lost, I have absolutely no trust whatsoever. I'm getting real sick and tired of being jerked around ABC. First we had to wait 3 months to get the SEVENTH episode of this season (what a joke), but they've been stringing us along for months now. It's no surprise that the creators have not had a clear vision of where the show is headed since the beginning, as Heroes certainly does. In Lost, plot elements are introduced and then they're never heard from again (the black smoke monster? Walt's comic book with the polar bear? Libby in the insane asylum? A million other things?) I almost feel stupid for sticking with the show, as if I'm playing right into the hands of some money-grubbing executive who's shaking me down for every last cent, with no intent of ever delivering on the promise of the show's premiere over 2 years ago.
That being said, last night's episode of Lost was certainly a step in the right direction. The plot is moving forward. Let's hope it stays that way.
And what would a Heroes post be without predictions and questions?
Prediction: Nikki/Jessica is going to kill Matt Parkman next week. He's not involved with any of the other heroes, his storyline has nowhere else to go, and no main character has been killed thus far. Sorry Matt, but I think your time has come.
Prediction: HRG, The Haitian and Claude were all part of a past group of Heroes who were called upon to save the world from disaster years ago. HRG was the leader and during their saga, The Haitian somehow became indebted to him and Claude was "killed," though we now know he is alive and well. Just a prediction, but I'm feelin good about this one...
Questions: 1) Why is Sylar afraid of HRG and The Haitian? Why can't he just kill them?
2) If every painting that Isaac has painted has totally come true, why should we expect the painting of a destroyed New York to be any different? How can the Heroes change the fate of that painting but none of the others?
For being a quintessentially very good (but not great) episode of Heroes, I happily bestow upon this episode the grade of A-
For being pretty average, but at least taking a step in the right direction, I give Lost a B
Heroes:
Favorite Scene: When Nikki/Jessica tasers the shit out of that psychiatrists back. Brutal.
Favorite Line: "You get to know people if you see 'em when they think they're alone. You see 'em for what they truly are: selfish, deceitful, and gassy." - Claude
Lost:
Favorite Scene: When Sawyer bashes that dude's head into the machine three times until he gets electrocuted. Brutal.
Favorite Line: "Don't get mad at me just because you were dumb enough to fall for the old Wookie prisoner gag." - Sawyer
1.30.2007
Heroes - Season 1, Episode 13 - "The Fix"
Let me start by saying that yes, for the second week in a row, Heroes beat out 24 to be the #1 show in its time slot. Booyah.
And yet, this is somewhat of a bittersweet victory for me because in my opinion, last night was the single worst episode of Heroes to date. That's right. #1 worst episode EVER. Here's why:
1. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
That's the sound of me snoring during the 99% action-less episode. There have been episodes of Heroes (like episodes 1-11) that have kept my heart pounding in excitement from start to finish. The only time my heart so much as palpitated last night was when Mama Claire (aka Meredith Gordon aka Firestarter) gave us a fleeting glimpse of her sweet, sweet power. This moment was far more satisfying than the actual moment of meeting Claire's mom because the damn marketing people over at NBC basically gave us this week's entire episode in the promo.
2. Pacing
This week's episode was ssssslllllooooowwww. Think about how little was accomplished last week. Nikki/Jessica? Nothing. Matt? Got suspended, big whoop. Issac? Not in the episode.
Mohinder/Nathan? A nice (and maybe in the future, important?) pairing for sure, but they didn't do much of anything. Peter? Finally hooked up with Claude (the Invisible Man), but their adventures won't begin until next week. Hiro/Ando? Meet up with Hiro's daddy. All of these storylines took teeny, tiny baby steps. Maybe the writers are starting to slow things down to draw the series out more?
3. Um, powers anybody?
If this is Heroes, show us some frickin super powers! The only displays of power we got were D.L.'s useless visit to Nikki's cell, Claude & Peter's invisibility (ok, that one was awesome), and the Firestarter. It's going to take a little bit more than that to keep me interested.
There were 2 notable power usages though, not mentioned above. The first, and one of the episode's highlights, was Micah's awesome re-wiring of the ATM. Up until now, it's been a bit murky as to what Micah's specific power is, but it's finally clear that Micah can manipulate any sort of electronic device with his mind. AWESOME.
The other notable usage of power was more subtle, so subtle in fact that you may have missed it. I'm speaking, of course, about Sylar absorbing the power of the cockroach in his cell in order to somehow come back to life! What the hell is going on?! I love where they're going with Sylar, but they need to throw us a bone pretty soon and explain some things. How does Sylar's power actually work? How did HRG get him back into custody in the first place? Why are they keeping him alive?
4. The good parts
Since we are talking about Heroes here, you can bet there were still some great moments. Other than those mentioned above, here are my favs:
- Hiro going back for Ando-- Ando has been a grade A dick to Hiro countless times, and yet in a moment of great peril, Hiro refuses to abandon him. That move gave Hiro some nice dramatic credibility. It's refreshing to be able to nod in appreciation of Hiro, since all I've been doing lately is smirking at his comic relief.
- Claire leaving the damn wind chimes hanging out-- Argh! Now HRG knows! What's going to happen?? I need to know!!!
- No Simone.
- Nathan Petrelli is on the right track-- I hated when Nathan consistently refused to acknowledge his own ability and the abilities of others. I love that the one guy who wanted nothing to do with any of the powers or heroics is the one character who keeps teaming up with everyone. A great move by the writers and a great move into my good graces for Nathan.
-Next week, we get another new character! Hana Gittleman aka Wireless. I don't want to spoil anything, but let it be known, her power is OFF THE CHAIN.
And as always, I will conclude this post with some questions (actually, a question and a prediction) that were brought up by last night's episode:
My prediction-- Claire's mom started the fire that both she and Claire supposedly died in. Meredith escaped alive, thinking she had murdered her own baby. Little did she know...
My question (brought to you by my viewing partners from last night)-- How the hell does everyone know he's a Haitian? I've never even seen a Haitian and yet everyone on the show seems to be able to pick one out of a line-up. Come on!
For being the worst episode of Heroes ever, I give this episode, (though it KILLS me to give so low a rating, but hopefully this will be the worst one ever) a C+
Favorite Scene: When Peter "flies" out the window, only to actually be hiding invisibly in the hallway!
Favorite Line: "No teaching, no Sunday School for the special. What I can do, you can't learn. You wake up in the morning and it's there. If you've got thin soup, then that's your supper." - Claude (The Invisible Man)
And yet, this is somewhat of a bittersweet victory for me because in my opinion, last night was the single worst episode of Heroes to date. That's right. #1 worst episode EVER. Here's why:
1. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
That's the sound of me snoring during the 99% action-less episode. There have been episodes of Heroes (like episodes 1-11) that have kept my heart pounding in excitement from start to finish. The only time my heart so much as palpitated last night was when Mama Claire (aka Meredith Gordon aka Firestarter) gave us a fleeting glimpse of her sweet, sweet power. This moment was far more satisfying than the actual moment of meeting Claire's mom because the damn marketing people over at NBC basically gave us this week's entire episode in the promo.
2. Pacing
This week's episode was ssssslllllooooowwww. Think about how little was accomplished last week. Nikki/Jessica? Nothing. Matt? Got suspended, big whoop. Issac? Not in the episode.
Mohinder/Nathan? A nice (and maybe in the future, important?) pairing for sure, but they didn't do much of anything. Peter? Finally hooked up with Claude (the Invisible Man), but their adventures won't begin until next week. Hiro/Ando? Meet up with Hiro's daddy. All of these storylines took teeny, tiny baby steps. Maybe the writers are starting to slow things down to draw the series out more?
3. Um, powers anybody?
If this is Heroes, show us some frickin super powers! The only displays of power we got were D.L.'s useless visit to Nikki's cell, Claude & Peter's invisibility (ok, that one was awesome), and the Firestarter. It's going to take a little bit more than that to keep me interested.
There were 2 notable power usages though, not mentioned above. The first, and one of the episode's highlights, was Micah's awesome re-wiring of the ATM. Up until now, it's been a bit murky as to what Micah's specific power is, but it's finally clear that Micah can manipulate any sort of electronic device with his mind. AWESOME.
The other notable usage of power was more subtle, so subtle in fact that you may have missed it. I'm speaking, of course, about Sylar absorbing the power of the cockroach in his cell in order to somehow come back to life! What the hell is going on?! I love where they're going with Sylar, but they need to throw us a bone pretty soon and explain some things. How does Sylar's power actually work? How did HRG get him back into custody in the first place? Why are they keeping him alive?
4. The good parts
Since we are talking about Heroes here, you can bet there were still some great moments. Other than those mentioned above, here are my favs:
- Hiro going back for Ando-- Ando has been a grade A dick to Hiro countless times, and yet in a moment of great peril, Hiro refuses to abandon him. That move gave Hiro some nice dramatic credibility. It's refreshing to be able to nod in appreciation of Hiro, since all I've been doing lately is smirking at his comic relief.
- Claire leaving the damn wind chimes hanging out-- Argh! Now HRG knows! What's going to happen?? I need to know!!!
- No Simone.
- Nathan Petrelli is on the right track-- I hated when Nathan consistently refused to acknowledge his own ability and the abilities of others. I love that the one guy who wanted nothing to do with any of the powers or heroics is the one character who keeps teaming up with everyone. A great move by the writers and a great move into my good graces for Nathan.
-Next week, we get another new character! Hana Gittleman aka Wireless. I don't want to spoil anything, but let it be known, her power is OFF THE CHAIN.
And as always, I will conclude this post with some questions (actually, a question and a prediction) that were brought up by last night's episode:
My prediction-- Claire's mom started the fire that both she and Claire supposedly died in. Meredith escaped alive, thinking she had murdered her own baby. Little did she know...
My question (brought to you by my viewing partners from last night)-- How the hell does everyone know he's a Haitian? I've never even seen a Haitian and yet everyone on the show seems to be able to pick one out of a line-up. Come on!
For being the worst episode of Heroes ever, I give this episode, (though it KILLS me to give so low a rating, but hopefully this will be the worst one ever) a C+
Favorite Scene: When Peter "flies" out the window, only to actually be hiding invisibly in the hallway!
Favorite Line: "No teaching, no Sunday School for the special. What I can do, you can't learn. You wake up in the morning and it's there. If you've got thin soup, then that's your supper." - Claude (The Invisible Man)
1.23.2007
Heroes - Season 1, Episode 12 - "Godsend"
Let me preface this post by saying outright that Heroes is my favorite show on television. I basically started this blog so that I could have a forum in which to discuss my thoughts about the show (of which, nerdily enough, I have a seemingly endless supply). You will probably never see an episode rated below a B, for I simply find every episode to be at least above average, though most are spectacular. If you don't watch Heroes, stop reading this blog and either go to NBC.com or click on the Peekvid or Alluc links to the left and catch up. You'll thank me, I promise.
On to last night's episode: As far as Heroes goes, this was certainly not the most action-packed hour and may in fact have been the least action-packed episode yet. The only real action we got was Hiro's sword stealing (how awesome was that slo-mo time! Imagine what it would look like from some random person's perspective, seeing this little Asian dude speed around like Superman).
Also, though it technically doesn't count as action since it's only a dream, we did get some INCREDIBLE new visions of Peter's impending implosion. We saw a conversation transpire between Peter and Nathan moments before the explosion, and then, most awesomely, we saw the explosion happen from Peter's point of view, saw Nathan's body melt away (and Simone's), and then saw the all too familiar shot of the New York skyline exploding (from the same angle as Hiro's initial visit to the future). AWESOME.
More importantly, we were introduced to a new character who, from what I can gather, is about to become a crucial part of the show. Going by Those Scenes*, the "Invisible Man" is going to be a sort of Obi Wan Kenobi figure for Peter. My guess (from some reading and some observation) is that the dude was part of an older order of Heroes, and is now burnt out, using his power to get by with a minimal existence. Peter will provide some direction for his life, and in turn, Invisible Guy will help Peter harness his ability (maybe even all his abilities, if he's held on to all his past ones, as I believe he has).
Equally as important is the connection made between Nathan, Hiro, and Isaac (and Simone and Ando). Nathan seems to finally (finally!) be buying into the whole "Save the world" thing, thanks to Hiro and Isaac's strong convictions. I can't wait to see how this team of heroes builds and develops. Also, all 3 men are linked by one more thing: Linderman. Linderman owns Isaac's pictures, Hiro's sword, a sex DVD of Nikki and Nathan, and who knows what else. He definitly has a bigger role to play. Which brings me to this thought: Does Horn Rimmed Glasses work for Linderman? Or better yet, is Horn Rimmed Glasses Linderman?
My only strong negatives about the show: Nikki/Jessica is getting less and less interesting. She needs to bust out and join the larger narrative soon or I'm going to lose patience. Same goes for her beau and kid. At least we can look forward to Micah busting out his powers next week. Also, all that suspenseful prodding about the strange marking on the Heroes' skin (Nikki's, Matt's, etc.) and it turns out to be Japanese characters for "Godsend" ? Kind of a let down...
Matt Parkman's storyline was so-so, but I like that he finally revealed his power to his wife. He's definitely being set up to make a nice run in this story.
Ted honing his powers in the Nevada desert = bad ass. Ted is going to be crucial.
Claire making her second attempt at friendship with that guy = eh. Get back to the real story. Claire needs to be talking to The Haitian and to Peter. When is she going to get involved?
As usual, the episode has left me with a few important questions (aside from the ones I've already stated above):
1. What's the deal with Peter's visions? In "Six Months Later," we learn that while he was asleep, he dreamt about Nathan's car accident as it was happening. So he wasn't really seeing the future and he was asleep. But in this episode and the last one, Peter dreamt a) in the first person and b) of himself in the future. Can Peter see the future? If so, can he change the future with his actions now? Up until this point, the answer has been no; every single one of Isaac's paintings has come true. It's as if Peter's attempts to change the future are what cause it to turn out the way it is supposed to. Something doesn't add up here...
2. How did Sylar end up back in the custody of HRG? Why are they keeping him alive?
3. Is Mohinder going to get a power? Because if not, he's going to really start sucking.
For it's important advancement of key plot elements, but because it's definitely not one of the best episodes, I rate this episode a B+
Favorite Scene: The replay of Peter's vision/dream with the added, more detailed new elements. Spectacular.
Favorite Line: "What you can do, what I can do: this is God. Respect the calling." - The Haitian
*Those Scenes refers to any program's "Scenes From Next Week"
On to last night's episode: As far as Heroes goes, this was certainly not the most action-packed hour and may in fact have been the least action-packed episode yet. The only real action we got was Hiro's sword stealing (how awesome was that slo-mo time! Imagine what it would look like from some random person's perspective, seeing this little Asian dude speed around like Superman).
Also, though it technically doesn't count as action since it's only a dream, we did get some INCREDIBLE new visions of Peter's impending implosion. We saw a conversation transpire between Peter and Nathan moments before the explosion, and then, most awesomely, we saw the explosion happen from Peter's point of view, saw Nathan's body melt away (and Simone's), and then saw the all too familiar shot of the New York skyline exploding (from the same angle as Hiro's initial visit to the future). AWESOME.
More importantly, we were introduced to a new character who, from what I can gather, is about to become a crucial part of the show. Going by Those Scenes*, the "Invisible Man" is going to be a sort of Obi Wan Kenobi figure for Peter. My guess (from some reading and some observation) is that the dude was part of an older order of Heroes, and is now burnt out, using his power to get by with a minimal existence. Peter will provide some direction for his life, and in turn, Invisible Guy will help Peter harness his ability (maybe even all his abilities, if he's held on to all his past ones, as I believe he has).
Equally as important is the connection made between Nathan, Hiro, and Isaac (and Simone and Ando). Nathan seems to finally (finally!) be buying into the whole "Save the world" thing, thanks to Hiro and Isaac's strong convictions. I can't wait to see how this team of heroes builds and develops. Also, all 3 men are linked by one more thing: Linderman. Linderman owns Isaac's pictures, Hiro's sword, a sex DVD of Nikki and Nathan, and who knows what else. He definitly has a bigger role to play. Which brings me to this thought: Does Horn Rimmed Glasses work for Linderman? Or better yet, is Horn Rimmed Glasses Linderman?
My only strong negatives about the show: Nikki/Jessica is getting less and less interesting. She needs to bust out and join the larger narrative soon or I'm going to lose patience. Same goes for her beau and kid. At least we can look forward to Micah busting out his powers next week. Also, all that suspenseful prodding about the strange marking on the Heroes' skin (Nikki's, Matt's, etc.) and it turns out to be Japanese characters for "Godsend" ? Kind of a let down...
Matt Parkman's storyline was so-so, but I like that he finally revealed his power to his wife. He's definitely being set up to make a nice run in this story.
Ted honing his powers in the Nevada desert = bad ass. Ted is going to be crucial.
Claire making her second attempt at friendship with that guy = eh. Get back to the real story. Claire needs to be talking to The Haitian and to Peter. When is she going to get involved?
As usual, the episode has left me with a few important questions (aside from the ones I've already stated above):
1. What's the deal with Peter's visions? In "Six Months Later," we learn that while he was asleep, he dreamt about Nathan's car accident as it was happening. So he wasn't really seeing the future and he was asleep. But in this episode and the last one, Peter dreamt a) in the first person and b) of himself in the future. Can Peter see the future? If so, can he change the future with his actions now? Up until this point, the answer has been no; every single one of Isaac's paintings has come true. It's as if Peter's attempts to change the future are what cause it to turn out the way it is supposed to. Something doesn't add up here...
2. How did Sylar end up back in the custody of HRG? Why are they keeping him alive?
3. Is Mohinder going to get a power? Because if not, he's going to really start sucking.
For it's important advancement of key plot elements, but because it's definitely not one of the best episodes, I rate this episode a B+
Favorite Scene: The replay of Peter's vision/dream with the added, more detailed new elements. Spectacular.
Favorite Line: "What you can do, what I can do: this is God. Respect the calling." - The Haitian
*Those Scenes refers to any program's "Scenes From Next Week"
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