Thursday, September 27, 2007

Heroes Takes a Fall

Spoiler warning, and all that.

So, um, the "Heroes" premiere? Kind of disappointing. Not quite as disappointing as the season finale, but certainly lacking that sort of crazy dramatic energy that characterized most of the first season.

I think part of the problem is that some of the plotlines feel pretty predictable at this point. How long is it going to take Hiro to realize that he's going to have to take Kensei's place, for instance?

I liked the comic book touches, though. There's the turn toward hopelessness (a mainstay of "time has passed" reboots) with the end of Parkman and Petrelli's marriages, there's Nathan's drinking problem and Noah's undercover dealings. Not to mention the Legacy Virus. But the two most "comic book" moments of the whole show were the "Of all of us, I never expected it to be you" scene, with the silhouetted assassin, and the mysterious amnesia there at the end. Fantastic.

But still, it felt kind of...blah. Just, flat. I suppose the series premiere was pretty lackluster too, so I hope it'll just pick up again like it did before. I'm not sure about the virus plot or the fact that Sylar's still out there; I thought they cured the disease in the last season (in Molly, with Mohinder's antibodies), and I think Sylar's going to end up overused and boring. We'll get to the mid-season break, and the recently-revealed silhouetted assassin is going to head back to his headquarters, greeted by a mysterious voice. As he turns around to attack, the camera will pan around to Sylar, sitting ominously in a chair, and we'll get the "To Be Continued" screen for a month and a half. I guess it's a consequence of being so comic book inspired that it feels like the plots are predictable, but I really hope they pull out some twists and prove me wrong.

On the bright side with regard to predictability, once we saw Claire's classmate flying, I figured he'd turn out to be Peter, keeping an eye on her (did Peter ever meet the illusion-making woman?). Now, I have to wonder. It's possible that it's Sylar (can he shapeshift into something other than a cockroach? Can he use telekinesis to fly?), and it's possible that it's just another Hero with flight as a power, but the show so far (it seems to me) has been operating on the old-school Legion rules: no repetitive powers.

Now that I think about it, though, the obvious option is that he's related to Claire, and is another child (illegitimate or otherwise) of Nathan Petrelli.

So, yeah, despite a slow start, I'll be watching "Heroes" religiously this season. Every time I think I'm out...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hm...you know, I wouldn't mind if it turned out that What's-His-Face was some kind of relation to Claire and Nathan, but I think they're setting the two up to be a couple (at least, that's what I've read).

My assumption was that him being able to fly is supposed to remind Claire of her other family - the Petrellis (at least Peter). Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if the flying was just some kind of byproduct of a different power (like, say, he can astral project).

I think the problem is that, like the premiere, the show was spending its time reintroducing the characters and establishing where they're at more than anything else. A lot of people had complaints about the first episodes of Season 1, and then it kicked into high gear. I wonder if something similar will happen here.

-M

Anonymous said...

I have faith in the Heroes team to move the story quickly. Predictable, yeah, but I don't think it will last long. I was constantly surprised by last season at how fast they changed the status quo.

"Sylar & Mohinder on a road trip? Surely this is going to last 5 episodes! Mind-wiped Mr. Bennett hunting down The Haitian & Claire on the run? Bet it's until the end of the season."

I wouldn't be surprised if it's resolved within two weeks.