Despite Colorado's best efforts I did end up getting to watch Heroes last night. In a spirit of desperation I sent Megan a Facebook message before I left work yesterday and at 7pm I had just resigned myself to watching the “Jesus is My Friend” video repeatedly when my phone rang. Nota Bene: I don't own a TV, so I need to find a regular Monday night venue for watching Heroes.
To the tune of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” I sped to Safeway, picked up some peanut butter M&Ms and a bag of caramel apple suckers (a personal favorite) I headed out to the Martin place where I enjoyed the last 15 minutes or so of the Heroes live premier party (which is not live if you live anywhere but in east coast time, stupid Colorado) before the Heroes two-hour season opener began. Thanks again Megan.
Spoilers Ahead, Seriously
Let me just say before I get into the thick of things that Heroes is the best thing on TV right now. If you've never seen it before you need to do some illegal downloading, move it to the top of your Netflix list, or head to your local Blockbuster and get caught up. Also, if you have to start halfway that isn't a problem. The three “volumes” of Heroes are all different stories, so feel free to start at the beginning of season 2 or 3 and rest assured that the fans are just as in the dark about most things as you are.
Not only does the world need some solid science fiction (though its “solidity” is definitely debatable), but the writing and storytelling are just plain good. Heroes doesn't play the same game as Lost, giving you 15 minutes of new footage per episode and then spending the other 29 on recaps and flashbacks. And, thought to the novice it may seem scattered, the greater Heroes storyarc is usually complete by the end of the season, leaving only a few unanswered questions (like why did they have the same guy who stole Claire's Nissan Rogue at the beginning of season two go down to Mexico only to be killed by Sylar without any real explanation?).
As for the premiere itself, it was pretty well done. It did, however, seem strange that in the first episode they spoon-fed viewers the answers to questions they've been asking since season one; like, what is Angela Petrelli's power? If Sylar does ever nab Claire's power, will she live through the process? If powers can theoretically be taken away, couldn't they also be given? And most importantly: Does Sylar actually eat brains?
But, the first two episodes also gave us some great new questions to ask: How is Claire “different” from the other heroes? Does that Rafiki-like fellow who found Matt have Isaac's power? Will present-day Peter be able to use his normal abilities in his new body, or will he be limited to “sound manipulation”? If your DNA determines how your ability manifests itself, why is it that Tracy can freeze things, whereas Nikki and Jessica have super-strength? And most importantly: Since when does Hiro not actually stop time? Because if that speed-demon girl can still move then evidently he's just making things go really really slowly.
Lastly, a few thoughts on where the season is going and a couple of predictions. Heroes is a great show because it generally resists prediction – mostly because the writers monitor fan forums and make sure that the best guess is never the right guess – but I always have to try. I think the real fun of “Villains” is not so much going to be that the escapees from Level 5 need to be tracked down, but that our favorite heroes will find themselves being manipulated into doing more harm than good and the fate of the human race will be entrusted to the more peripheral characters.
What do I mean? Let's establish our groups.
Typical heroes: Peter, Claire, Hiro, Mohinder, Matt, Micah
Typical zeros: Ando, Claire's dad, Angela Petrelli, Nathan, Maya, Elle
So, where do we stand? Well Peter is already confined to the body of a villain. Ando kills Hiro in the future and I'm betting it's because Ando is in the right and Hiro has been led astray by doubt and a desire to fulfill his destiny. Mohinder, out of a desire for power, has given up his standard role as the show's moral compass, Claire is more troubled than we have already seen her, Nathan has found God, and Angela Petrelli is finally taking some responsibility for her actions.
I'm guessing that present-Peter is going to spend half the season incapacitated (as usual), future Peter is going to do more harm than good, Claire is going be soul searching and dying (repeatedly), Angela is going to have do everything in her power to save the work of the company, Ando is going to get an ability and do his best to win Hiro over, Maya is going to try to hold back Mohinder and probably just cry and say “Dios mio” a lot, Elle will prove her worth, Nathan will become the show's moral compass after either getting the best of ghost-Linderman or discovering that he's a useful ally, and ultimately Sylar will be converted. Yes, that's right, Sylar will be converted. It has to happen sooner or later.
To wrap it up: zeros become heroes, heroes become villains, and villains change their stripes.
As long as they don't “bring in the Phoenix,” as the expression I just invented goes, I think they'll do fine.
3 comments:
Well zach I hope it makes you feel better...yesterday I watched both HIMYM and Heroes...not because I wanted to be on par with the rest of the country, I'm fine with waiting for them to come out on dvd or online later or whatever...but since you put a spoiler alert in your last post, I realized that you were very serious about the content of blog posts being primarily composed of items taken from those two and perhaps a couple other network tv shows. Long story short, I caught up on them so I could keep up on your blog. They were both de...wait for it...lightful.
Apparently I am influenced by guilt. Here is a comment. I have never watched Heroes because I never think that I'm going to like anything about heroes or superheroes until I have actually watched it. And then I sometimes do.
DON'T DO IT.
- The Pope
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