After whining about how much Heroes season 2 sucks, I think it's only fair that I give credit where credit is due. This week's episode, "Four Months Ago," saw Heroes in (mostly) fine form; a rarity this season. Maybe the show is primed for a comeback after all.
Or maybe not. It's not all good news. Here are some quick thoughts on the episode and season:
*** Thar be spoilers ahead ***
- We finally got to see what the heck happened between Season 1 and Season 2. It's about freakin' time. Why this was not shown in the very first episode this season is beyond any logical reasoning I could come up with. One might argue that it allowed the reveal of Adam's identity. I say it's an attempt to make up for bad storytelling. (The identity of Kensei could easily have been the surprise had this episode aired first.)
- The Peter/Adam story line looks somewhat intriguing all of a sudden - most likely related to the fact that Peter finally recovered his memories.
- Regarding Belle, played by Kristin Bell (who must have some sort of Tony Danza clause in her contract that allows her to play characters with her real name): Is it me, or is Belle suddenly more annoying than Nikki? That's quite a feat. Kudos to the writers for making Nikki look sympathetic.
- And Kudos removed for Nikki's weepy family scenes before the saw-it-a-mile-away demise of DL. And yet another personality? Please.
- The Maya and Alejandro storyline is still sorta lame. Sylar as tag-along only draws attention to the fact that the sum of three zeros is still zero.
- Tim Kring, who was brave enough to apologize for fans for some missteps this season, should also spend more time listening to his characters. Micah called it when he said that his family should assume the roles of superheroes. I've been saying this all along. We need more superhero-like moments and less drawn-out, soap-opera nonsense.
Comments (10)
| PermaLink
| Category: Heroes, TV
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
I liked the episode too, but not as much as last week's. Also, Kristin Bell's name on the show is actually "Elle."
Posted by Dave Smith on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 8:43 AM at 8:43 AM
Well that totally voids the Tony Danza thing...
Posted by John on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 8:51 AM at 8:51 AM
"We need more superhero-like moments and less drawn-out, soap-opera nonsense."
John, that's so freaking spot on! I thought the show was supposed to be about heroes, not people with problems who just happen to have super powers.
Posted by Michael L. Wentz on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 10:03 AM at 10:03 AM
I can handle a bit of soap opera in between kicking butt. And I'd agree there's probably been an improper ratio between the two, lately. That said...
Heroes is not X-Men. It never was X-Men. This is more an episodic version of the movie Unbreakable.
Each character does not ride into the scene on a cloud layer and lightning bolts, like Storm in X-Men. If that's what you want, you're watching the wrong show. Frankly, I'm glad they don't do that.
Posted by E.v.R. on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 11:07 AM at 11:07 AM
I'm not looking for X-Men either. But even Bruce Willis in Unbreakable set out to be a hero and do some good. All the losers on Heroes reject their powers except for the bad guys. The good guys need to face up to the responsibility and play their part.
Posted by John on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 11:13 AM at 11:13 AM
The only heroic 'heroes' are Peter and Hiro... both were sidelined far too long. I think this season is a loss, and hope they try another reboot for season 3.
Posted by Jeff on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 1:01 PM at 1:01 PM
Jeff said:
>The only heroic 'heroes' are Peter and Hiro
What??? You don't think Maya is heroic, with her whole love affair with Sylar 
John said:
>We need more superhero-like moments
I agree with John. I would like to see the main characters form an alliance of superheroes like the original 12. I think that Tim Kring may have been planning on doing that by the end of Season 2, but now that it's going to be a short season because of the writers strike, he will have to wait until Season 3 to do it.
Posted by George on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 3:17 PM at 3:17 PM
What? You mean it got better? I so intentionally skipped this week. I have to agree that they need to figure out what the heck to do with Nikki, cause she's sucks, and another personality isn't doing it for me. (Lemme guess. Evil?)
I definitely want more Hiro and more "hero". And as a Latina, I want them to do something cool with the illegal immigrants. ; ) So far, from what I caught, the sister is an annoying, whiny doofus and her brother is an ineffectual wimp. Yeah, my raza is showing up seriously lame on that show. Dang.
Mir
Posted by Mir on Thursday November 15, 2007 at 7:19 AM at 7:19 AM
The only reason I even caught that episode is my wife hasn't bailed on the series yet. I have to say it wasn't bad, but far from redemption. They should have started S2 with this episode and I think I would have stayed along for the ride.
Posted by Michael Natale on Thursday November 15, 2007 at 7:45 AM at 7:45 AM
What summed up the horror of this season was when the "guard" watching over Hiro and the others in the tent wandered away for absolutely no reason for exactly as long as was needed for them to escape then came back for no reason at exactly the time needed to add some "tension". It was one of the most insulting scenes I've ever seen a show throw at a viewer. It's like these guys already went on strike months ago. Too many poorly written scenes. Too many cliches (amnesia, horror cheerleaders). Too many arbitrary uses of superpowers--taking them away only to add tension, letting them have them to move plot. Too many head-scratchers--DL turns immaterial when a fist comes at him but not when a gun is put into his stomach? And the list goes on. They need to seriously right this ship. And dump some of the crew overboard.
Posted by Bill C on Friday November 16, 2007 at 11:33 AM at 11:33 AM