I liked Heroes Season 1, even though I thought it fizzled after Five Years Gone. It was silly, and every time Mohinder opened his mouth about evolution I wanted to claw my eyes out, but good TV with strong comic book inspiration.
Season 2 was okay, but a letdown. I was disappointed they couldn't come up with a better storyline than a new future catastrophe to avoid (season 1 was a nuke in NYC, season 2 was a virus). I forgave it, though, since the writer's strike cut it short. The main weaknesses were:
- Splintering into too many storylines.
- Heroes were getting too powerful, especially Sylar and Peter who absorb others' powers. It gets to the point where you can't even remember everything everyone can do, and every few minutes you wonder, "why didn't he/she just use X to avoid situation Y?"
- Everyone's related to everyone else. The first few, "oh my goodness, you're actually my mother!" moments are okay, but when it happens every episode, it loses its punch. Plus, like tracking the powers, it's just a headache keeping up with the connections.
And I can't stand the Mohinder storyline. It's a ripoff of the fly, he's always been a horrible portrayal of a scientist (though I will grant that this is consistent with most comic book scientists), and it's just not interesting how he stumbles onto discoveries instead of figuring them out. Now we've got the ability to give everyone in the world powers - maybe they'll do something interesting with this plot line, but I don't think so.
There is some good - I always like the Hiro storylines, and the interaction between Hiro, Ando, and speedy-girl is fun. I am curious to learn who Tracy is. I hope she's not just Jessica, that there are a dozen or so clones running around. And I look forward to Claire's development into a badass.
I'm still into it enough to keep watching it, even though it's been on a steady decline since the end of season one.
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Yeah, I'm going to be sad watching this show run into the ground, which it probably will.
They have lists of powers for Sylar and Peter on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylar#Powers.2C_abilities_and_skills
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Petrelli#Powers_and_abilities
But like you say, I shouldn't have to load up all this, in addition to all the familial relationships, before every show. And looking at Sylar's list, he hardly uses any of them, which makes it seem like the writers don't even know what powers he has.
Ah well, I still kind of enjoyed Episode 3, and I'll keep watching, but this will probably be the last season for me.
By the way, I did catch the first two episodes of The Mentalist. I liked the first one (except the goofy moment where he throws the African pick-up sticks at the psychiatrist), but the second one, not so much. Still, I'll keep watching...looks like it might be interesting.
Ah, I didn't realize he lost all his old powers (except, inexplicably, telekinesis) with the virus. I also don't know which of those powers lets him slice open people's heads by pointing at them.
That doesn't list future-Peter's abilities. And does now-Peter now have all those abilities because he was near future-Peter? Does he get super-screaming-voice now because he was inside Jesse? Can his blood bring people back to life, like Claire, or does he only absorb her power for himself?
Of course, if they gave us rules, they couldn't pull crap out of their asses whenever they felt like it.
By the way, I did catch the first two episodes of The Mentalist. I liked the first one (except the goofy moment where he throws the African pick-up sticks at the psychiatrist), but the second one, not so much. Still, I'll keep watching...looks like it might be interesting.
Yeah, I mostly liked it. He's kid of like Sherlock Holmes - it's just too hard to swallow how much he's able to figure out in a split second. But I like the disdain for superstition. He's kind of like Penn & Teller with a badge.
Heroes was super cool but now it's like watching a car wreck. You see it happening every week but you can't seem to look away.
Heroes was super cool but now it's like watching a car wreck. You see it happening every week but you can't seem to look away.
Wow, you think it's that bad? For all its weaknesses, I still look forward to it every week, and have gotten at least one or two enjoyable scenes out of each of the first 3 episodes. I'm just disappointed because I think it could be MUCH better.
I thought it was kind of picking up a bit, but the 4th episode of the season sucked.
Why exactly does Peter need Sylar's ability? He can freakin' absorb powers just by standing next to someone...why does he need to cut their heads open too?
And how is it possible to kill future Peter anyway? Isn't he just going to regenerate?
That episode was lame all over.
I actually enjoyed it. Things still don't make a lot of sense (like, why does Peter ever run away from anything - he can friggin' fly), but I liked the pacing.
Why exactly does Peter need Sylar's ability?
My take was that this is yet to be revealed. He doesn't need it just to absorb powers, so there must be something else about Sylar's ability that will let him deconstruct "the formula", or something.
And how is it possible to kill future Peter anyway
They've mentioned several times that a bullet to the base of the brain would do it. I'm guessing this is because he needs to activate his mimic power in order to mimic Claire's. Claire is "different", I think, because her power is ingrained in her blood, not in her brain, so she'll always be able to regenerate.
I wish they'd push the envelope on her power, by the way. She experimented on herself once by chopping of her toe and growing it back. What happens if she chops herself in half? Could we get 2 Claire's? Is there some core (her heart, her brain?) from which the regeneration must occur?
Mommie Dearest's dystopian future dream, I think, showed Claire decapitated. She's supposed to be immortal - so, maybe we'll get to see how she recovers from that.
Anyway, it's lame in many ways, but I thought this episode was more fun and opened up some interesting dynamics that the first 3 episodes didn't.
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